folkmann.ca » Food

Yuzu honey

jfolkmann — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:51:30 +0000

Yuzu is nothing short of a flavour orgasm. It’s inclusion is just about any dish adds a wonderful citrus edge unlike anything we have in the west. Since we couldn’t take the actual fruits back with us from Japan we sought out as many Yuzu based products as possible. Our favourite find is Yuzu honey made by the Sugi bee farm. It’s all we can do not to just suck the nectar straight out of the bottle. Included in the packaging was a handy list of practical applications…

1. Use as you would jam on bread and in yogurt.

2. As a cold beverage: Mix Yuzumitsu honey and cold water.

3. As a hot beverage: Mix Yuzumitsu honey and hot water.

4. Yuzumitsu honey and vinegar drink: Mix Yuzumitsu honey, vinegar and ice water. (not sure about this one)

5. Yuzumitsu honey miso paste: Combine honey, miso, soysauce and sesame seeds. Mix well and add to boiled spinach, broccoli or cauliflower.

6. Yuzumitsu chicken: Rub chicken lightly with honey, salt and pepper. Bake, roast or fry – We tried this recipe tonight with two lovely little cornish hens. Delicious.

7. Yuzumitsu apple: Cut an apple into four pieces and bake in the oven for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Dip into honey.

8. Yuzumitsu sweet potatoes: Boil sliced sweet potato in water and honey.

9. vodka and yuzumitsu honey: Mix vodka with yuzumitsu honey and soda water. Apparently good with other types of alcohol as well.

Autumn treasure – Crabapple jelly

jfolkmann — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:25:19 +0000

Sneaking through the field around the corner from our house in the dark, we made our way to the small stand of crabapple trees. Our mission was to bring back at least one grocery bag full of crabapples. Although fair game, somehow skulking around in the dark made our crabapple hunt that much more exciting. Hey, what else do you do for fun in the suburbs.

Taking our treasure home, we turned the entire bag into juice to make jelly, using the same recipe we used to make currant jelly. For every cup of juice add one cup of sugar. If you want to get more yeild, add in a package of certo and the jelly will set faster and you won’t have to boil it as long.

(note: I went back the next day to get the photo. We were cameraless on our night time raid.)

Blackberry jam

jfolkmann — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:16:58 +0000

Our first blackberry jam making experience was nothing short of an olympic event.

Day 1

On Saturday we went to the Millarville market to pick up a few things with our visiting friends. We couldn’t resist buying a flat of blackberries fresh from B.c., their daughter Issey (1.5 years old) couldn’t resist them either! Once home we cleaned enough for two batches. We followed a recipe from ‘Sensational Preserves’ (that told us not to stir the jam whilst boiling) and managed to have a catastrophic overboil, burning molten sugar and fruit to the stove top. We continued to follow the no-stir rule, and returned the fruit to the boil burning the mixture so badly that the house stunk of burnt sugar until morning. Our pot had so much blackened sugar in the bottom that it took four of us 3 hours to get it clean. We tried every trick in the book, baking soda, vinegar, Bar Keepers Friend, etc. We even tried boiling vegetable oil which only resulted in heavy smoke, burning eyes and a short house evacuation. What you read on the internet doesn’t always work. Live and learn.

Day 2

Although we were grumpy for having wasted half a flat of blackberries on Saturday we decided to give it another go. This time we followed the recipe from inside the pectin package. Not only was the recipe faster, we had success with consecutive batches, restoring my faith in jam making. We now have 13 lovely jars of jam.

Lessons:

1. Only make one batch at a time. Don’t be tempted to add more fruit and sugar. Don’t double recipes. It’s not worth the potential disaster.

2. STIR! Stir constantly.

3. Prepare everything before starting. Measure the fruit, sugar etc.

Preparation time: 30m
Cooking time: 10m
Difficulty: 2
Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 kg blackberries
1 kg sugar
Juice from ½ a lemon
1 package of pectin

Preparation

1. Add the fruit, pectin and lemon juice to a large pot. Squish all of the ingredients together with a potato masher.

2. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly.

3. Add all the sugar at once, return the mixture to the boil and boil for 1 minute.

4. Remove from the heat, stir and skim the scum from the top of the jam for about 5 minutes allowing the jam to cool a little bit.

5. Transfer to sterilized jars and seal.

Sencha Green Tea Mints

jfolkmann — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:33:45 +0000

It’s amazing how many different mints have surfaced in the last few years. Just about every coffee chain has their own variety and what seems like hundreds of “luxury” options are available – Altoids, Oral fixation, and Hint to name a few.

Our local coffee shop sells Sencha Naturals green tea mints. In all honesty I was intrigued by the packaging (sucker!) and had to buy some ($6.95). I opted for the pear variety (which is lovely) and i’ll be going back to get the other kinds.

I find this end of the candy market facinating…what’s next micro organic candy makers?

Aga

jfolkmann — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:49:37 +0000

One day, when I grow up, I’m going to have one of these amazing cookers! Friends of ours are lucky enough to have an Aga range cooker in the country house they are renting…and nothing cooks quite like it. Put it together with a Smeg fridge and you’ve got yourself a proper kitchen.

Almost makes me want to grow up…almost.

Chocolate heaven

jfolkmann — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:41:49 +0000

Every once in a while I stumble upon a product so delicious that I don’t want to share it with the world. Discovering See’s was one of those moments. I’m sure lots of people on the west coast of the US know about See’s already, but for those that don’t…they make some of the most amazing chocolate treats i’ve had in a very long time. You can satisfy your cravings by ordering online…give it a try. I promise you’ll love them.

Luckily one of my clients brought me two boxes of the Scotchmallow®, so i’m set for a week at least.

Sandwich

jfolkmann — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:36:53 +0000

Best sandwiches in London. Hands down. Lots of meat, a full ball of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, rocket and olive oil. HT Harris. If you’re interested, i’ll let you find it.