Living in Leicester is a privilege. It is one of the most multicultural cities in the UK - indeed, it may now have become Britain's first minority majority city (a title fought over with Birmingham). One of the happy results of this melting pot of cultures is access to a vast and diverse range of food stuffs.
A good place to shop for exciting ingredients is Narborough Road, in the West End of the city: a long stretch of Asian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish and African supermarkets, restaurants and hardware shops, with a few 'traditionally English' pubs and bars thrown into the mix, a couple of charity shops, a Wilkinsons and a great secondhand bookshop called Tin Drum. I spent the weekend cat-sitting that side of the city and took the opportunity to visit the 'International Supermarket' (does what it says on the tin), where you can buy Eastern European, Turkish, Lebanese and Syrian tins and packets and cartons and boxes. Bliss.
I'm planning to devote a few posts to each of the ingredients/foodstuffs I purchased, starting today with Mulberry Syrup.
A friend of mine who follows a low GI diet, alerted me to the existence of these jarred fruit syrups - grape (a candida no-no), carob and mulberry - which I believe are Eurasian (for want of a better word) and Middle Eastern in origin. Mine is Turkish (with a German label). It contains nowt but concentrated fruit syrup, dark and viscous and delicious-looking. I haven't yet tasted it; I don't want to open the jar until I know what to do with it.
I have found a 'recipe' for Sharab el Toot: a refreshing summer drink from the Lebanon. I'm sure xylitol or agave would replace the sugar content quite adequately. Quite possibly the mulberry syrup au natural would be perfectly sweet enough for my adjusted palate. I really don't know; I've never tried mulberries! There's also this: a milk and mulberry pudding, which sounds equally interesting. Again, I would substitute the sugar for agave or xylitol, use semi-skimmed goats milk and pick up some rose or orange blossom water on my next trip to Narborough Road!
So, candida diet hive-mind? What would *you* make with it?
4 comments:
Hi,
I'm just embarking on an anticandida diet (again!) after being on and off one for about 6 years and I'm over the moon to have found a blog in the UK!! thank you thank you thank you!! :oD I've just done an online shop and will be trying out some of your recipe ideas on my family. One thing I thought of right away for the syrups was to pour it over ice cream made only with frozen banans. The carob and mulberry one sounds delicious!!
Hi Shari - great to have you on board! The frozen banana icecream idea sounds intriguing. Do you have a recipe?
I should have added in my post that the syrups are unsuitable for people following a really strict Candida diet. Best for maintainers, or for occasional treats.
I'm just so glad I am not the only one!!!
I learned so much here, thank you so much for sharing, I am very excited about my diet and the maintaining aspect of it.
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