O.N.E. Cashew Fruit

I’ve had cashews before, lots of times, they’re fairly common in Indian dishes, and pair well with dark chocolate, but didn’t realize that the nut has a fruit around it, let alone that you could make juice out of it, or that it would taste so good. This cashew fruit comes from Brazil. O.N.E. makes juice from interesting and different sources. The cashew fruit has many health benefits, calming the stomach, soothing the throat, promoting healthy skin, it’s a rich source of Vitamin C (more than orange), is also a source of such important nutrients as beta-carotene, B1 and B2 and B3 vitamins, calcium and iron. It’s also low in acidity. They added cane sugar and citric acid and Vitamin C along with water and cashew fruit puree, but it still tastes great, like a light mango, very refreshing and something I’d like to drink on a regular basis (though, like most fruit juices, it is high in sugar, almost like drinking a pop, but nutritionally better for you).

Red Curry with Duck and Lychees

I’ve had duck before, prepared the Chinese way and the European way, and found it mostly to be very oily. Now, this dish is a whole different matter, the roasted duck that we used paired excellently with the lychees and tomatoes (which sort of explode in your mouth when you bite down on them, delicious). You can also make this with pineapple or young coconut instead of lychees. Serve this over steamed Jasmine rice and garnished with a few leaves of Thai basil.

Red Curry with Duck and Lychees
Adapted from a recipe from Fresh Thai by Oi Cheepchaiissara
1 lb boneless duck breast, or 1/2 roasted duck
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2“ fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1-1/2 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp red curry paste
3/4 cup canned coconut milk, shaken well
3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1-1/2 Tbsp palm sugar
8 oz canned lychees, drained
4 oz cherry tomatoes
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn in half

Remove the skin and fat from the duck breasts; thinly slice the raw meat or shred the roasted duck meat. Mix the meat with the sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and allspice and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok or heavy-bottomed frying pan and stir-fry the red curry paste over medium heat for 2 minutes, until fragrant.

Add the meat, coconut milk and stock and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the meat is cooked (half the time if using roasted duck meat). Add the fish sauce, sugar, lychees and tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 minutes (don’t let the tomatoes overcook). Add the kaffir lime leaves and let heat for another minute.

St. Francis Herb Farm Mineral Matrix Pure Dehydrated Goat Whey

Having tried their Goat Milk Protein Powder, I also was able to try some of their dehydrated goat whey. Whey is a by-product of the cheese-making process, essentially the liquid portion of the milk. The healthfulness of it, is that it has a high concentration of various minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium), and is alkaline-based (to offset the acid-ness of your body). It is also rich in electrolytes. This is not as good tasting as the goat milk powder, but not bad.

Thames River Melons - Melon Blossom Liquid Honey

A new vendor at the Square One Farmer’s Market, or at least this product is new, Thames River Melons from Innerkip, Ontario, makes honey from melon blossoms. Melons is one fruit that requires bees to pollinate, so it’s perhaps a match made in heaven business-wise (pollinate your crop and sell the honey made from that). I don’t know what I expected this to taste like, melons?, but it is a good tasting honey, with a light flavour that is pleasant.

Gai Krapao (Basil Chicken)

This is another recipe from Wandee Young’s Simply Thai Cooking, a dish that is very Thai. The choice of basil here makes for a different dish; the pepperiness of Thai Basil; the sweetness of Italian Basil; or the fragrance of Holy Basil (what we chose, because of its fragrance and flavour and health benefits - you can get this in better Chinese supermarkets). We would normally substitute chicken thighs for chicken breast, but you could also use trimmed pork tenderloin, to make Moo Krapao (Basil Pork). This is a quick dish, and serve with steamed Jasmine rice, but we made it even quicker to make, by using roasted chicken.

Gai Krapao
Adapted from a recipe from Thai Simply Cooking, 2nd Edition
300 g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1/2 medium red pepper
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 hot chili, roughly chopped (more to taste)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp water
20 whole leaves fresh basil
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water

Slice the chicken thighs thinly. Set aside.

Cut the red pepper into small squares. Set aside.

Heat oil on high heat in a wok or heavy-bottomed frying pan until just about to smoke. Add garlic and chilis and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add fish sauce, sugar and soya sauce and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add oyster sauce and water and cook for 30 seconds.

Add peppers and three-quarters of the basil leaves and stir-fry until the peppers begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Mix cornstarch with water and add to wok, stir-frying until the sauce is thickened somewhat, about 1 minute.

Fairy's Tonic Luv-Yur-Liver Ginger

I have tried Zoey’s Fairy’s Tonic Kombucha Teas Digestif and Uplift with Lemon (which I preferred of the two); this one features the flavour of ginger.

I like ginger, as you might know, and was looking forward to trying this. This also comes in a much larger bottle size, 750 mL, so more to enjoy. The kombucha is made from a combination of green and black teas.

Of its many health benefits, ginger stimulates liver and gallbladder function to aid in digestion.

This tastes as good as other kombuchas from Zoey. The taste of ginger is not very strong, but still there. I think I like this second best of her kombuchas.

Pacari Esmeraldas

The Ecuadoran chocolatier Pacari uses organic Arriba Nacional cacao varietal beans, in this case from a single region, the Esmeraldas region on the north coast of Ecuador. The ingredient listing looks good, cacao beans, evaporated cane juice and sunflower lecithin. The cacao content is at 60%. They control all steps from pod to bar.

How does it taste? The bar snaps well, is very dark in colour, and smells fruity. The chocolate melts well in the mouth, and has a good aftertaste, but suffers somewhat because of the taste of cane sugar that underlies the not strong flavour of this bean. The bar cost me $3 (for a 50 g or half-size bar) at a health food store, and I enjoyed eating it (as I do most Ecuadoran chocolate.

St. Francis Herb Farm Go Pro Matrix Goat Milk Protein Powder

My sister gave me this trial sachet of St. Francis Herb Farm's Go Pro Matrix goat milk protein powder. Goat milk has more health benefits that cow's milk, it has short chain fats and proteins, similar to human mother's milk, as opposed to the long chain fats and proteins of cow's milk (which is likely why many people experience issues with digesting cow's milk). The protein content of this protein powder is 15 g per 2 level tablespoons of powder. It has a pleasant vanilla taste, and blends easily in smoothies, or added to hot or cold breakfast cereal (what I did with this). It's likely much more expensive than the more available cow's milk protein powders, but I've seen it available for sale in a number of health stores near me.

Fiddleheads

I've never really eaten fiddleheads before. My mother liked and ate them occasionally, though mostly from frozen, as they were hard to find fresh. This past weekend, the Square One Farmer's Market opened, and one vendor was selling some, so we decided to finally take the plunge and see whether what I had heard, that they were good tasting, was true. I thought that they come out in early Spring, but perhaps it's mid to late Spring (mid May to early June).

Fiddleheads are the curled edible shoots of the ostrich fern, and are supposed to taste like a combination of asparagus and green beans. You need to cook them before eating; eating them raw will likely cause you to be ill, so be cautious.

Warning aside, it's relatively easy to cook fiddleheads. First, cut off any black parts at the end, and remove any brown husks with your fingers. Then, clean them several times in changes of water (and dispose of this water). Boil them for 12-15, or steam them for 10-12 minutes (disposing of the water). You can then use them in any way you like, in a recipe that you have that has asparagus, for example, in stir-fries (which is what we did and see there), really any vegetable dish.

They tasted quite different than anything I've eaten before, but interesting, and I would like to try them again when Spring rolls around again.

Smarties Blue is Back Contest

To celebrate the return of blue Smarties, Nestle has a contest running, where you can win one of 5 MacBook Pros, or Smarties for a Year. You can enter here. I didn't win the MacBook Pro, but I'm also glad I didn't win the Smarties for a Year, because, in eating them again after a long while, and I applaud their use of natural colours, I find the taste of some of them quite off-putting, that I couldn't finish them even. Not even good chocolate to compensate! Blech!