Goodies from the International Supermarket: Mulberry Syrup

Wow, no posts for three months, and then two come along at once! ;)

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?

A delicious apricot fool

This evening, craving something sweet, I decided to make Miriam Polunin's Apricot Almond Fool, minus the almonds, but plus chopped brazil nuts. It was delicious!! So good, in fact, that rather than just direct you to the page in the book (p. 130, btw), I'm going to reproduce it here. A great recipe for the candida diet repertoire.

Apricot Almond Fool

Serves 4 (I made half the quantity and got two decent servings from it)

250g dried apricots (go for the dark, unsulphured type - much better flavour, almost caramelly)

500ml live, low-fat natural yoghurt (I actually used a half yoghurt, half creme fraiche mixture, cos that's what I had in the fridge!)

1 tbsp honey (optional, I felt the mixture was sweet enough without it, to be honest)

40g unblanched almonds, roughly chopped (I used brazil nuts instead)

fresh mint or edible flowers (for poncey decoration, if that floats your boat!)

1. Place the apricots in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for five mins. Drain and add fresh cold water to cover the apricots.

2. Return to the boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins, or until the apricots are soft.

3. Cool slightly. Liquidize with just enough cooking water to make a thick puree. Cool until lukewarm.

4. Stir in the yoghurt and honey, if using. Chill until ready to serve.

5. Just before serving, heat the almonds in an ungreased frying pan over a low heat for two-three mins, until just starting to turn golden. Sprinkle over the fool, decorate with the fresh mint or edible flowers, if using, and serve.

A great find

During my very successful trip to Tescos last Friday I came across 'Clearspring' Organic Apple and Apricot Fruit Puree Dessert (see pic). They also do Apple & Blueberry and Apple & Strawberry varieties: two 100g tin foil trays of pureed fruit per pack, great mixed into yoghurt with a sprinkling of cinnamon. And they contain nothing but fruit...even better!