New Rebel Kitchen Coconut Yoghurts

It has been a while since my last post and I profusely apologise. Final year at university has been demanding, but in a good way. I love being busy and my Honours Research Project, creating an innovative product, has been a wonderful journey.
 
From now on I'm going to post more short posts on new food product launches. Food trends and discovering gustatory delights across the global has always been a huge passion of mine, so these posts will be a great way for anyone who reads my blog to keep up to date with the new, the innovative, the weird and the wonderful within the food and drink industry.

 Part of my daily ritual is scouring The Grocer to see what’s new and what I’ve observed is that the free-from sector is rife with new product development. For instance, has anyone tried Koko’s coconut yoghurts? They’re delicious. Although the coconut frenzy may be on its way out, I was so pleased to discover that Koko had created a subtle and delicious range, especially after trying the chocolate Coyo product, the pioneers in coconut yoghurt, which left a bitter and plastic after taste. Now Rebel Kitchen, the coconut milkshake company, have expanded into yoghurts and I can’t wait to get my hands on them! They’re available in Ocado and Wholefoods (rsp: £2.49/ 125mL) in four flavour varieties; original, cacao, coffee and vanilla.

Orange is the new...green?!

Whilst sitting in my 'Food Product, Manufacture & Supply' lecture last week, our knowledgeable and  gnome sized lecturer Yunus shocked us all when he told us oranges are often dyed to become that golden hue. "Why are oranges called orange then?" exclaimed one of the other students. I thought this was a rather good point and so started my investigation to get to the root of the matter.

What came first, the colour orange or the orange?

The fruit came before the colour. The word “orange” derives from the Arabic naranj and arrived in English as “narange” in the 14th century, gradually losing the initial “n”. This process is called wrong word division and also left us with apron (from naperon) and umpire (from noumpere). Orange was first used as the name for a colour in 1542 (Oldfield and Mitchinson, 2011). 

 The Arabs brought what we now call the Seville orange, or bitter orange, to Sicily in the Middle Ages, and from Sicily it was introduced to the rest of Europe. In the 16th century the Portuguese brought the sweet orange from China, and gave us the fruit which we now know simply as the orange, at first distinguished as a China orange (Oxford Dictionary, not dated).

 Oranges are a subtropical fruit, whose colour depends on where it is grown. In more temperate climes, its green skin turns orange when the weather cools; but in countries where it’s always hot, the chlorophyll is preserved and the fruit stays green (Oldfield and Mitchinson, 2011).  

 The orange fruits are often picked unripe, to develop throughout transport to their final destination. However, green oranges do not indicate an unripe fruit. The greenness is a result of chlorophyll present within the oranges skin. It is only when the fruit is exposed to cold temperatures that the chlorophyll will diminish, leaving the bright golden hue to radiate through.    

Because consumers have come to believe that orange indicates edible, supermarkets have some crafty tricks up their sleeve to transform your fruit. As mentioned earlier, they may shock the fruit with cold temperatures. Other methods include subjecting the fruit to ethylene gas which breaks down chlorophyll. Orange skins can even be dyed if they are not intended or used for processing and meet the maturity standards.

It seemed the history of the fruit was a no-brainer, but nothing is ever straight forward! So don't be put off by green orange residing in your fruit bowl, it's perfectly good to munch on now probably.

References.

Oldfield, M. and Mitchinson, J. 2011. QI: Quite interesting facts about orange. Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/8345477/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-orange.html

Oxford Dictionary. Not dated. Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/orange

Easy, puy-sy! Lentil, Coconut and Butternut Squash Bake

My final year at University is demanding; the days are long with lots of required extra reading and all of this whilst writing my dissertation. So when it comes to my evening meal I want my meals nutritious, wholesome, economical (student budget and all) and quick. My auntie, months and months ago, introduced me to Honestly Healthy's recipe for Puy lentil, Coconut and Goat's Cheese Bake and it has remained a firm favourite ever since. However, I felt the recipe didn't make enough as I like to cook a large batch for a few nights dinner so I have increased the amounts slightly.

Serves 4.

Ingredients
250g Puy lentils
500g Butternut squash, diced
3 tbsp Olive oil
2 garlic Cloves
400ml Coconut milk
80g Goat's Cheddar, mature cheddar works just as well

Method
Cook the lentils according to the packets instructions. Drain and set aside. If you're like me and hate the faff of cutting up a butternut squash, buy the prepared version. Waitrose sell a prepared butternut squash in their frozen section. Place the diced butternut squash on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake until tender t around gas mark 5, 190°C electric, 170°C electric fan. Leave the oven switched on. Meanwhile thinly slice the garlic and sauté in a large pan until soft. Stir in the lentils and coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Remove, sprinkle over your grated cheese and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until everything is bubbling away nicely and the cheese and started to turn golden. Serve with whatever greens you fancy such as watercress.

Mac'n'Cheese Toasted Sarnie

So simple so why put up a post? Well this isn't going to be just the recipe, but also explaining the root of the inspiration. A month ago on a whim and an empty stomach, my friend and I thought we'd see what all the fuss was about at the Dalston Street Feast.

"The food market that knows how to party."
- Time Out London

It certainly lived up to expectations; it was food, fun and cocktail heaven. The only problem was knowing where to eat first! Amazing vendors such as Bill or Beak, Rola Wala, the Meringue Girls and a whole lot of other dribble worthy places made an appearance over this 22 week long market. What really stood out for me were the Grill My Cheese offerings. Artery clogging overload commenced when we ordered a portion of their Buff Tings; buffalo wings with a perfectly tangy blue cheese sauce. It was the Baby Got Mac that really did it for me..Oh holy mother of cheese it was good. Basically macaroni cheese stuffed between slices of bread, but grilled to perfect, cheesy ooziness perfection. I just had to have it again, but now I've returned back to Harper Adams University in Shropshire, I felt it was slightly over the top to drive the 5 hour round trip to get my fix, so here is my interpretation.

You'll see I posted a recipe for Macaroni Cheese recently with chorizo, but please feel free to experiment with anything and let me know what crazy concoctions you create.

Ingredients
2 door wedge slices from a Sourdough loaf
Butter
A generous slap of left over macaroni cheese 
Extra grated cheese for good measure

WARNING THIS IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO GET IN THAT TIGHT OUTFIT FOR WORKS CHRISTMAS DO! OVER INDULGERS ONLY!

Heat up the macaroni cheese you intend to use for a couple of minutes to ensure the end toastie is hot all the way through. Butter the outside of one bread slice and start to fry, butter side down, in a pan over a medium heat. Sprinkles half of the grated cheese on the frying slice of bread, then carefully load the macaroni cheese and spread over evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the macaroni cheese. The cheese as it melts will help everything stick together for when you have to flip over the toastie. Now butter one side of the remaining bread slice and place on top of the cheese butter side up. Continue frying for around 5 minutes, checking that the bread hasn't started to catch and burn. Now it’s time to flip this baby over..careful does it! Fry on the remaining side until golden and crispy then enjoy!

Click on the link for more information about upcoming Street Feast events http://www.streetfeastlondon.com/

Also check out http://grillmycheese.co.uk/welcome/ for some serious cheese toastie inspiration.