Walnuts

Walnuts

A family staple

Mu grew up with a large walnut tree in her garden and she has many memories of eating raw walnuts as snacks or sprinkled on top of salads from a very young age. ‘‘Eat seven walnuts a day to keep the doctor away’ is a French saying she would often hear. Each year Mu’s family brings us a large bag of walnuts from that same family tree. So this year when we received our bag from France it seemed logical for us to spend the month researching this tasty nut.

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The original nut

Walnuts have been around for thousands of years and are one of the very first tree foods known to man. They are believed to have originated in Persia from where they have spread all over the world to become one of the most common nuts globally. In France and many other European countries the generic term for nuts is also the word for walnuts (in French une noix). The unique sweet nutty flavor of walnuts is immensely versatile, it’s used all over the world in so many different ways from rich chocolate brownies to pumpkin ravioli to the traditional Mexican dish ‘chiles en nogada’. Walnuts grow well in temperate climates, the largest producer these days is China followed by the US. In Europe the main producers are Ukraine, Romania, France and Italy. English walnut production has been in steady decline since the 18th Century and is now only present in a few counties like Devon, Somerset and Yorkshire. An interesting fact we found was that walnut trees produce a growth inhibitor that has a detrimental effect on other species of plant growing nearby particularly fruit trees. For this reason it is best to plant walnut trees in relative isolation.

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Walnut Nutrition

Being a vegetarian family, nuts are a very important part of our diet; they make a highly nutritious snack and add a unique flavor to many dishes. Like all nuts, walnuts are loaded with protein, fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Research has shown that walnuts contain twice as many antioxidants, in fact in a study of over 1,000 commonly eaten food items, walnuts measured the second highest for their antioxidant levels. It is thought that 90% of the antioxidants are found in the outer skin of the walnut; it’s very fiddly to remove the skin anyway so unless you really need them to be sweet and white for a particular dish, leave the skin on.
Unlike most nuts that are full of monounsaturated fats, walnuts are very rich in polyunsaturated fats, the majority of which is an Omega 6 fatty acid called linoleic acid. They also contain a relatively high amount of the healthy Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acid – Alpha Linoliec Acid (ALA) which is very good for heart health and reducing inflammation. Findings from an ongoing study presented in April at the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting in San Diego, CA, indicates that the daily consumption of walnuts has a positive effect on cholesterol levels, without increasing body weight. So there really is something in the old saying “Eat seven walnuts a day…”
Like with all nuts and seeds, raw walnuts contain enzyme inhibitors that make it difficult to digest. If you want to get the most out of your nuts it is best to soak them over night to release the nutrients and also to reduce the phytic acid. You can also remove the enzyme inhibitor by lightly roasting them but this also destroys many of the nutrients. Just like with almonds we recommend you find organic and raw walnuts that have not been pasteurised by irradiation. Because of the abundance of rich oils in walnuts they can turn rancid relatively quickly so they should be stored in airtight containers in a cold dark place. Unshelled walnuts should be shelled only as and when you are going to use them, once shelled they can be stored in the fridge or freezer for up to 1 year.

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Walnut Oil

Walnut oil is primarily polyunsaturated fats and is loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants. It is usually expensive and something of a luxury item but while we were in France this summer we picked up a 1 litre bottle of walnut oil from a local farmer at a flee market for 12€. Like all nut oils it doesn’t keep very long (typically 6-12 months) so we have been pouring it onto salads and adding it to all sorts of dishes, it has a glorious flavour that can really boost the most mundane of dishes. There are two different ways of making walnut oil, the more traditional is to toast the nuts first which gives the oil a rich, deep nutty flavour but this also destroys the antioxidants. The other is cold pressed virgin oil which has a lighter, more floral taste and also maintains all the nutrients found in raw walnuts. Typically 35g of cold pressed virgin walnut oil provides the same nutritional benefits as 50g of fresh walnuts. Walnut oil is not really suitable for cooking at high temperatures as it quickly looses it’s flavour, can become quite bitter and looses most of it’s nutritional value. We found it really shines on salads and drizzled on dishes right at the end of cooking.
Below is our recipe for a walnut, cauliflower and watercress soup perfect for this time of year. If you have any thoughts, questions or you have simply enjoyed this post please leave us a comment in the box below.

Walnut, Cauliflower and Watercress Soup

Ingredients:
1 Medium white onion
1 Cauliflower
1 Bunch of watercress
40g Walnut pieces
Splash of white wine
Good quality light vegetable stock
Walnut Oil
Salt and Pepper

Method:
Dice the onion and fry over a medium heat until they are soft and taken a little colour. Add the cauliflower, walnut pieces, white wine and then cover with teh stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the cauliflower is tender. Meanwhile puree the watercress, (you will may need to add a splash of water or stock to blend the watercress). Once the cauliflower is cooked season the soup well and blend it.
Serve the soup in a bowl with a good drop of the watercress puree and a healthy drizzle of walnut oil. If you like blue sheeses a sprinkle of stilton would work very well with this soup as well.

Useful links:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260288.php
https://whatscookingamerica.net/LindaPosch/WalnutOil_HealthBenefits.htm
http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18656
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/8005.pdf

Chocolate

Chocolate

As the festive season is fast approaching, we are all planning and preparing to cook, eat and share the most wonderful foods. So what could be a more appropriate time to talk about one of the most eaten delicacies, the food everybody loves, the ‘food of gods’ : chocolate. We English are the biggest consumers of chocolate per capita, eating an average of 11.5kg a year each.
From the fine dark chocolates to the mass produced confectionaries, chocolate is very much taken for granted in the western world and there is little appreciation for the lengthy process and complexities involved in creating a bar of chocolate.

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The cacao beans come from the cacao trees ‘Theobroma cacao’ which is Greek for ‘food of the gods’. The cacao trees originate from South America where they were first cultivated by the Mayans around 600 BC. They then traded them with the Aztecs who roasted and ground the beans to make it into a drink used for religious ceremonies. The Aztecs valued the cacao beans enough to use them as a form of currency.
Nowadays most cacao is grown by the 2.5 million cacao farmers on smallholdings in West Africa (Ivory Coast being the largest producer).
The cacao trees need to be planted in hot and damp climates next to tall trees in order to protect them from direct sunlight often amongst papaya and mango trees. It takes 3 to 5 years before the cacao tree bears fruits and once mature each tree produces around 1,000 beans a year, which may seem like a lot but it is only enough to make 1kg of chocolate.
The trees bear large fruit pods from its trunk each containing 20 to 40 seeds or cacao beans which are embedded in a white pulp. When the fruits are ripe the farmers break open the pods and put the pulp and the beans in a large pile to ferment in the tropical heat for anything between 2 to 8 days. During this period the sugars in the pulp ferment and the bacteria penetrates into the beans breaking down the astringent particles and creating a wide variety of desirable flavours and flavour precursors that will be developed in roasting. This is one of the least controlled parts of the chocolate making process but it has a massive impact on the taste of the final product. Poorly fermented beans will give the final chocolate unpleasant aromas. Sometimes if the beans are left too long they will go mouldy and sometimes the fermentation process is skipped entirely. It is up to the buyer to determine which beans have been well fermented and select them for their flavour potential.
Once the beans have fermented they will be dried to preserve them. The main method of drying is still to lay out the beans in the sunshine for several days, although sometimes they are dried over stoves or heaters to speed up the process. At this stage the beans are still very far from being anything like the chocolate we know and love, they are bitter, dry and astringent. The transformation from these beans into a chocolate bar is complex and very rarely happens in the same place as the beans are grown, instead they are shipped to Europe and America where the beans are made into chocolate in large factories. To get an idea of how far removed the growers are from the end product watch this video showing cacao growers in the Ivory Coast trying chocolate for the first time.

On arrival at the chocolate manufacturer the cacao beans will be gently roasted to develop their flavours further. The beans are then cracked open and the ‘nibs’ are extracted and the husks are discarded. To transform the nibs into a solid bar of chocolate which is glossy, smooth and with a good ‘snap’, they have to be put through various stages of milling, refining and tempering. The reason chocolate is so appealing to us is that it is one of the few food products that melts at body temperature so it literally melts in your mouth. Also after the roasting and refining it has an extraordinary 550 flavonoids (a carrot typically has 96), it is literally a flavour explosion. The industrial processing of cacao was first developed by a Dutchman called Conrad van Houten in 1828. The chocolate manufacturers Fry and Sons in Bristol then made the very first chocolate bar in 1848. By the end of the 19th Century the Swiss company Nestle had developed methods for creating ultra smooth chocolate and incorporating powdered milk. The milk chocolate bar as we know it was born.

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A fine quality dark chocolate will contain around 70% cocoa solids the remaining 30% is sugar. Mass produced chocolate is made with a minimum amount of cocoa solids and the maximum amount of sugar and milk, in fact most ‘chocolate’ in the UK contains less than 1% cocoa solids. The reason chocolate gets such a bad reputation for health is simply because of the large amounts of added sugars. In fact cocoa itself is really exceptionally good for you. Although it is high in saturated fats it is a specific fat that does not raise your cholesterol. It is high in potassium and is number one for magnesium after seaweed. It also contains phosphorus and calcium, which build bones, tissues and nerves in the body. If you eat cocoa in it’s raw form (ie not roasted) the nutritional benefits are massively increased. Like all seeds cacao beans contain all the nutrients and fatty acids for the seed to germinate and grow into a tree. Cocoa has an incredibly high amount of antioxidants it has been linked with anti ageing and it has at least seven phenathalamines, which are the ‘love chemicals’ or aphrodisiacs. However these get destroyed in the roasting process and then if you add milk in, it binds itself to the antioxidants and prevents us from absorbing them. It is getting easier to buy raw chocolate from health food stores, Mu has recently been on a workshop learning how to make our very own raw chocolate with The Raw Health Bar in Brighton.

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A friend of ours recently moved to Ecuador and has been working directly with the cacao farmers there and he has kindly shared some of his knowledge and experience of the industry with us.

Growing cacao does not require huge amounts of space and most of it is done on small scale farms but the farmers are not paid enough for their beans so more often than not they use logging of the rainforest to subsidise their income. Unless it is a protected reserve, if you own the land you can log as much as you like on the property. The logging companies know that cacao producers earn very little and they put pressure on them to sell the trees and the land.
The second main problem is that the buyers and intermediaries will not discern between good and poor quality beans and they will offer the same price for them. This has a knock on affect where there is no incentive for farmers to grow a high quality product. For organic producers in particular, the certification is often tedious and long with many trainings and a lot of paperwork. To then have to sell the beans at the same price as non organic means it is often simply not worthwhile for the farmers. But times are changing with the US and some parts of Europe (mainly in the UK) consuming more organic chocolate. Hopefully if the market for organic chocolate keeps growing, it will then encourage the producers to turn to organic certification.
Fair Trade chocolate also faces similar issues. Even though small producers have benefited from Fairtrade International’s support: gender equality, training on the organic certification, knowledge on climate change, better livelihoods, offering educational opportunities to children in the communities, access to health, etc, the impact is still too little and the Fairtade minimum price is often not much higher than the market price. As of 2014, less than 1 % of the chocolate market was Fair trade.
It is us as consumers that can change this, by buying organic and Fairtrade, it will boost the market and encourage a more sustainable industry where farmers can provide for themselves and their families.
Our friend Martin is working on a new project in Ecuador in the Choco rainforest where the cacao producers are making a very high quality cacao and asking for a high price. The extra money is then re invested in conservation and research and also saving one of the most endangered species on our planet, the brown headed spider monkeys. Here’s a little video that Badj helped to create that explains the project and a link to the fundraiser, please support it.

 By spending a little extra on your chocolate you will not only get a much better tasting chocolate but you will be helping the farmers that grow the cacao to make a sustainable living, so they don’t have to destroy the environment and hopefully they too can enjoy the delights of the ‘food of the gods’.

Raw Chocolate Recipe


Ingredients (makes around 16 chocolates):

    • 40g of organic raw cocoa butter
    • 20g of organic raw cacao powder
    • 20g of carob powder
    • 20g of lucuma powder
    • 1 to 2 tbsp of organic coconut oil melted
    • 1 to 1.5 tsp of maple syrup or raw honey or coconut sugar
    • Toppings: goji berries, almonds, seeds, vanilla powder, orange oil, cayenne pepper or anything you fancy

Method:

  1. Melt the cacao butter over a bain-marie. The water needs to be no higher that 50C
  2. Once melted add the cacao powder and stir. Then add the carob and lucuma still stirring over the bain-marie.The chocolate mixture should reach a temperature of no more than 31C. If it gets too cold and stiff, discard some of the cold water in the bain-marie and replace with hot.
  3. Add some of the coconut oil to the mixture so you have a silky and shiny chocolate. Keep stirring. When the chocolate looses its shine you will know that the chocolate has gone out of temper. You could then add more hot water to the
    bain-marie.
  4. When you have reached a shiny and runny consistency, you are then ready to pour the chocolate into the silicone molds.
    You can then add your favourite ingredients either in the chocolate or directly in the molds.
  5. Place in the fridge until the chocolate have set.
    When ready take out of the molds and store in the fridge.
Honey

Honey

Honey is one of the staples we always have around the kitchen. We use it frequently in our baking and our boys really enjoy the sweetness and the many flavours honey has to offer. It is part of our lives as friends and family have hives and often treat us with this sweet natural syrup. The harvest season is in full effect and local markets and autumnal festivals show an abundance of colours, flavours and textures. It has been a pleasure sampling all the different local raw honeys and we thought this was the perfect time to learn and find out more about this delicious natural treat.

A few interesting facts show that people have been eating and collecting honey for at least 10,000 years and we have been domesticating honey bees for at least 4,000, according to ancient hieroglyphs. Honey has had countless mentions in literature and songs throughout the years. It was one of the first sweet and luxurious foods before the discovery of sugar cane so it is not surprising that it was referred to as ‘a little piece of heaven fallen to earth’.

honey pots

To understand what honey is we first had to learn a little bit about sugars. There are 3 main types of sugars: glucose, fructose and sucrose. Glucose is one of the simplest and most common sugars and it is what plants use to make starch chains. Fructose is also found in plants, particularly fruits, it is almost exactly the same as glucose in terms of chemical make up but the atoms are just arranged differently. Fructose is the sweetest of all sugars. Sucrose is what we commonly call sugar, it is one molecule of fructose and one molecule of glucose joined together. Plants naturally produce sucrose in photosynthesis.

Honey is made from sucrose in the form of nectar that the bees collect, they then use enzymes to separate the sucrose into its component glucose and fructose elements. This is what is known as an invert sugar and can be highly concentrated without crystallizing, which is why honey is runny in it’s natural state. Once they have split up the sugars, the bees will spend several weeks fanning the honey with their wings to reduce the water content and get it as concentrated as possible before storing it away in the waxy comb.

honey comb

From a nutritional point of view, honey is really not very different from standard table sugar, it has the same amount of calories as sugar and so if you are dieting or diabetic it shouldn’t be used as an alternative. Raw unfiltered honey does have some vitamins, minerals and enzymes but these are negligible compared to the amount of sugar you would need to eat. Mass produced honey is pasteurized and filtered which kills any enzymes and strips it of its minerals, so buying unfiltered raw honey is a must. For us one of the best things about honey is it’s flavour, each honey is unique to it’s location and the flowers and fruits that are grown in the area. The colour of the honey is determined by the source of the nectar and the mineral content of the flowers. Generally the lighter the colour the milder the flavour.

honey types2

There is however another food made by bees which is very nutritious; bee pollen. Bee pollen is commonly referred to as nature’s most complete food. It has everything a human needs for survival. It is high in complete proteins, half of which are in the form of amino acids which can be absorbed directly into the body. In addition, bee pollen provides more than a dozen vitamins, 28 minerals, 11 enzymes or co-enzymes, 14 beneficial fatty acids, 11 carbohydrates and it is low in calories. This is truly a superfood, but it is also food for the bees so, like with honey, beekeepers must be very careful as to how much pollen they take. Eating bee pollen regularly has many benefits, it aids digestion, boosts energy and can also stimulates ovarian function thus can help with infertility problems. Bee pollen is best eaten at mealtimes especially with fruit as it helps to cleanse the intestinal flora.

bee pollen

Royal jelly is another food found in the hive which is also very nutritious. Royal Jelly is released from the top of a bee’s head and is used in the nutrition of larva as well as adult queens. In fact, queen larvae are put into these special queen cells and are surrounded by royal jelly. This is what helps them to develop their “queen morphology”, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.  A queen bee lays over 1,000 eggs a day.  Like bee pollen, royal jelly contains a rich variety of nutrients and essential amino acids. Royal jelly has been proven to lower cholesterol, is good for blood pressure and like bee pollen has been proven to increase fertility among many other things.

All these products made by bees can also reduce seasonal allergies like hay fever. In laboratory tests, honey has been proven to have strong antibacterial properties particularly Manuka honey. It is one of the best thing in treating wounds because of its ability to absorb water. Honey also has anti-inflammatory qualities and is known to soothe coughs and sore throats (especially buckwheat honey).

Honey is truly an amazing food and it is even more marvelous when we consider the way it’s made. While its sugar content is high and should be used in moderation, the minerals, vitamins and amino acids make honey a unique produce. It is a treat and a joy, ‘a little slice of heaven.’

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In the UK, we only produce 15% of the honey we consume, so most commercial honeys are imported. However, there is a thriving community of small scale beekeepers in the UK. There are 24,000 registered members of the British Beekeeping Society with most of them just owning one or two hives. Organic honey is very hard to certify as the bees can get their nectar from such a large area. With most commercial honeys, it’s highly likely the bees are feeding off flowers with pesticides on them and the hives are being given veterinary medications. This is another reason why you should find locally produced honey and get to know your local beekeeper .

Have a look at this video we made of our friend Darren Hougham and his son Leo collecting their first honey harvest.

Also here is a video we made of us making Dutch honey cake while visiting Badj’s mum in Devon using honey she collected from the bee hives in her garden

DUTCH HONEY CAKE

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups plain white flour
  • 1 1/2 cups rye flour
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup runny honey
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tbl yoghurt

Method:

Set the oven to 170º C. Combine all the dry ingredients on a large mixing bowl. The spices are just guides and you can really add whatever spices you like and have to hand. Add all the wet ingredients and beat well. Line a 5″ x 9″ bread loaf tin with baking parchment. Pour in the batter and bake in the oven for 1 hour. You may want to check it before the hour depending on your oven. If you can put a knife in and it comes out clean, your cake is ready. It will keep fine for several days but by far is best while warm from the oven with lashings of butter.  Enjoy

 

RESOURCES: Here’s where we got our information from and some useful links:

McGee on Food & Cooking – Harold McGee

Healing With Whole Foods – Paul Pitchford

http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/

http://www.bbka.org.uk/

 

Almonds

Almonds

We eat a lot of almonds, well not just almonds but nuts in general. The interest in almonds grew when Badj’s sister Joss brought over fresh almonds, in the shell, that she had hand picked while living in the South of Spain at Las Neuvas. The first thing we did was crack them and make a jar full of beautiful fresh almond butter, everyone joined in with the process including the kids.  Finding ourselves surrounded by these raw almonds, we decided to research more about their health benefits, nutritional value, where they come from and what to do with them.

Raw Almonds from Joss

Almonds are very healthy and versatile. They get used in thousands of ways all over the world, from the marzipan on your Christmas cake to Indian curries, from Italian amaretto to Chinese almond tea; almonds are a globally loved food source. Because they have a dietary fibre content of 12% they can be ground into flour making it perfect for people with a gluten intolerance. Almonds are a very good source of vitamin E and vitamin B, as well as being rich in essential minerals such as magnesium, copper, manganese, calcium, potassium and monounsaturated fats.

BUT one of the most interesting things we found out in our research was the importance of using raw almonds and soaking them. Almonds are amazing, they have everything they need in them to start the growth of an entire new tree, however these nutrients and vitamins are locked up by an enzyme inhibitor to protect them until the conditions are right for the seed to start growing, (isn’t nature clever). By soaking almonds, or any nuts and seeds, you trick them into thinking it’s time to start growing, this removes the enzyme inhibitor and releases all the nutrients, making them readily available. If you don’t soak nuts it means your body has to work extra hard to get through the enzyme inhibitor to get the nutrients out of the nut or seed. The other way to remove the enzyme inhibitor is to lightly roast the nuts, which does make them taste extra good but also damages the nutrients and vitamins inside. It’s also worth mentioning that most of the ‘roasted’ nuts you can buy in the shops are actually deep fried and heavily salted. Check the ingredients list and you might be surprised as to what’s also in with your nuts.

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The vast majority of almonds are grown in the US and in particular California, in fact it was estimated that in 2013 80% of the worlds almonds were grown in the US. The pollination of the almond trees in California is one of the largest managed pollination operations in the world, over 1 million bee hives are brought in from all over the US to pollinate the almond blossom. Also 10% of all the water used in California is used to grow almonds. With California in the middle of a 4 year drought these thirsty little trees are causing something of a controversy.

What we found really interesting though is that in 2007 there were a couple of salmonella outbreaks that got traced back to almonds from California. Straight away legislation was passed that all almonds grown and sold in the US have to be pasteurized. Why is pasteurization bad I hear you say? Well first off there are several methods of pasteurization. The primary one used for organic almonds is steam, which heats the almonds up to 93 degrees C which as well as killing off any potential bad bacteria also kills off all the good enzymes and vitamins inside the almond. The second and most common method is fumigation treatment and this is used for all almonds that are marketed as ‘raw’ because they haven’t been heated. The fumigation is done with propylene oxide, which is a chemical that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has declared a carcinogen responsible for neurological, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and immune system dysfunctions, as well as liver disease. NOT GOOD. The Almond Board of California claims “PPO residue dissipates after treatment”. However the EPA have found traces of PPO in almonds on the shop floors.

I don’t know about you but we’d rather try and avoid that please. Californian almond farmers are allowed to sell unpasteurised almonds in small quantities ie. at farmers markets or small stalls etc. and also they can export unpasteurized almonds outside of the US, but as a consumer outside of the US it is very difficult to know if they’ve been pasteurized or not.

So the best option if you want raw untreated almonds is to get certified organic almonds grown outside of the U.S.

It turns out that Spain is the second largest grower of almonds worldwide, so when we can’t get Badj’s sister to pick us some we always make sure the ones we buy are organic and usually they come from Spain.

Recipes

Now we understand a little more about this fantastic nut check our 2 minute video on how to make your own almond milk, it is so easy to make and so delicious that you won’t ever want to buy it in the shop again.

ALMOND MILK

Measure 1/2 cup of organic almonds, put in a large bowl and cover with filtered water. Leave the almonds to soak for 8 hours, overnight is perfect.

Once soaked rinse the almonds thoroughly and place in a blender, food processor or a tall measuring jug if you’re using a hand blender. Add 2 cups of filtered water and blend really well until all the almonds have been crushed and you are left with a creamy white mixture.

Place a nut bag or muslin over a jug and pour the milk through the muslin. Squeeze as much of the liquid out as possible. You can now add a little sweetener and flavour of your choice to the milk. We like to add a little maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla or you can blend it with fresh fruit to make a wonderful smoothie.

Keep hold of the almond pulp that is left after you make the milk, you can store it in the fridge for a couple days or you can dehydrate it. There is still lots of flavour and good fibre which makes it perfect for cakes, muffins and our very own granola recipe which we’ll tell you all about in our next post….

ALMOND BUTTER

Here is another video we made on how to make your own almond butter. This really is the simplest and best recipe and it makes such fantastic tasting butter, perfect for warm toast in the morning. No additives or anything just pure almonds.

Roast 2 cups of organic almonds in the oven on a low heat, (around 120 degrees) for 1/2 an hour or until you’re kitchen begins to fill with the scent of toasted almonds.

Put them in a food processor (not a blender) and process for 10 minutes. If you’re processor begins to heat up too much then give it a rest but you do need to give the almonds 10 minutes in total. There’s no need to add any oil or salt or liquid. After about 3 minutes something magic begins to happen as the oils are released and the chopped nuts turn into a butter.

Once finished place in a jar and store in the fridge. This is amazing on toast! It won’t go off quickly but you won’t be able to keep it long as it’s so delicious.

GREEN ALMOND PESTO

Green Almonds

If you are lucky enough to live in a place where they grow almonds, in the spring time you can pick and eat the fresh green buds that eventually turn into almonds. They have a zingy tartness similar to sorrel. This is a recipe from my sister Joss in Spain for a pesto that she only makes once or twice a year as a special treat. It is perfect for a light pasta lunch or mixed in with rice.

Ingredients:

1/2  cup of freshly picked green almond buds

2 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cups of fresh parsley

1/2 cup of parmesan

squeeze of lemon

a good pinch of salt

1/2 cup of olive oil.

Place all the dry ingredients in a food processor, add a little olive oil and begin to process. Keep adding oil until you get a consistency you like. Check the seasoning. You can store it in the fridge, but is best eaten straight away.


 

If you have more information about almonds or if you have any questions or you’ve just enjoyed this post please leave a comment for us.

 

RESOURCES Where we got our information from and where you can find out more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond

One of our favourite blogs takes you through almond health with some great recipes: http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2012/03/diy-almond-butter-almond-butter-jam-sandwich-cookies-2/

A great piece on the pasteurization of almonds:  http://www.livingnutz.com/2011/04/the-truth-about-almond-pasteurization-methods/

Good piece about shop bought almond milk: http://theprimalparent.com/2012/05/16/additives-almond-milk-how-to-make/

Good piece about bee pollination and pesticides in almond farming: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/04/california-almond-farms-blamed-honeybee-die