Welcome
to Culinary Captures!
This
will be my monthly (or thereabouts) round-up of food and/or food related goodies
that have come my way or that I have
seen on my travels and want to share with you!
I
hope you will enjoy reading about them and that it will give you a snapshot and
flavour of different things to investigate or try!
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With
so much emphasis on protecting the bee population right now and labouring the
rather sober fact that without bees we won’t have crops, it was nice to see a
positive side.
At one of Herefordshire’s
National Trust properties Croft Hall, I saw they were having a honey tasting
session whereby you could sample of the local honeys for sale at their gift
shop. As well as being a functional spread
or baking ingredient, it was nice that the honeys were being sold in aid of a
good charitable cause.
~~
New
Shirley/Solihull eatery Frais Living is renowned for its gluten-free menus and
of being purveyors of healthy food in general at their Parkgate Centre
outlet. They were recently testing out a
potential new item for their drinks menu which is the Jellynut.
A tropical fruit (same principle as a coconut
but more mango looking) which when you slice away the top and piece the pith
with a straw, you can drink the refreshing nut water. A great alternative to a soft drink and much
fun to consume! I hope their trial was
successful and that they add it to their menu as a standard item.
~~

Now
then. This funny, spikey little fruit
when prepared resembles something that could be mistaken for a Bushtucker Trial
item in ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’!
These are known as Rambutans. When you cut them open, you will see they are quite small, a white ball with
a stone in the middle. This Thai
specialty is lychee-esque surprisingly sweet when eaten and I chose to have it with my
cereal which against the crumbly granola granules, it makes for a contrasting
texture.
I
purchased my pack of rambutan from my local Tesco supermarket but they can be
purchased at speciality food stores also.
~~
When
attending last month’s Asparafest (see my post), one of the stallholders I came
across was selling Croome Cheeses, a Worcestershire company that specialise in
different flavoured cheeses. Many
flavours were for the taking, but I have to give a special shout out to the Worcestershire Honey & Fig one.
On a Cheddar-esque base, the sweetness from
the honey and fig comes as an aftertaste and is truly scrumptious. I used it as a topping for my aubergine
parmigiana this week and it worked a treat.
But to have it on a cheeseboard arrangement will have you receive
plaudits at any dinner party you host!
~~
How I
smiled when I saw the Bhangra Bus! As
one of the catering vendors at the Lunar Festival in Tanworth In Arden
Warwickshire this month, I loved their attractive decoration and their Indian
inspired food and drink.
As festival
season is now in full flow, I hope you come across it yourselves and if you do,
then try their mango lassi or if you want to warm your bones then a nice cup of
chai!
~~
Walking
past my local Le Creuset store in Solihull, I was greeted by one of their team
who presented me with a very vivid Le Creuset shopping bag with a number of
recipe booklets inside.
Noting their new
aqua coloured ‘Cool Mint’ range, a contrast to their trademark orange, the
booklets highlighted the various recipes which could be achieved using their
dishes/pots. With a number of vegetarian
offerings to try, it’s tempting to purchase one of their orange (or cool mint)
beauties to road-test the recipes in!
~~
Everyone
is going mad for spirilizing their veg right now and with the mighty success of
the carb-free ‘Courgetti’ (courgette-spaghetti), the guys at www.lovesweetpotatoes.com
have introduced Spoodles which using the same principle are sweet potato
noodles! With some recipes online, take
a look to see what you can make. What
are your thoughts on spirlizing?
~~