tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60514560258257525632024-03-14T02:53:25.456-07:00Fair Trade Foodie Fairtrade activist on a quest to improve her cooking whilst promoting Fairtrade products. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-47119725789620574282014-05-05T03:42:00.004-07:002014-05-05T03:42:47.430-07:00Follow me on Fair Trade Living now! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Fair Trade Foodie has now become <span style="color: red;"><b>Fair Trade Living</b></span>, a brand new blog which will not only feature recipes with fair trade products, but also inventions, crafts, product reviews, competitions and much more!<div>
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You can follow me on the new address below:</div>
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<a href="http://www.fairtradeliving.com/" target="_blank"><b>www.fairtradeliving.com </b></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-15972067171240840082014-04-21T07:14:00.001-07:002014-04-21T07:15:09.047-07:00Desert Island Puddings #3: Fairtrade Chocolate Lava Cake (melt in the middle!)Well, I just couldn't possibly survive in my island without a chocolate dessert, so this next recipe is of a <span style="color: red;"><b>Fairtrade Melt in the Middle Chocolate Pudding, AKA "Lava Cake"</b></span>.<br />
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There is something simply perfect about a well made Lava Cake... with it's crunchy exterior and melted chocolate center... you will feel like you are being transported to heaven...and it's also surprisingly easy to make, here's all you need to do:<br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
-100 gr Fairtrade Dark Chocolate<br />
- 100 gr Butter (plus a bit for the ramekins)<br />
- 2 free range eggs<br />
- 90 gr Fairtrade sugar<br />
- 4 teaspoons (or so) of cocoa powder (unsweetened if you have it)<br />
- 100 gr plain flour<br />
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<b>Preparation:</b><br />
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1) Heat your oven to 160 C<br />
2) Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it with the butter in the microwave. Do it for 30 second blasts, stir well in between them to make sure you don't burn the chocolate.<br />
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3) Once melted, mix well until the chocolate and butter come together, then place in the fridge to cool for a little while.<br />
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4) Whisk the eggs with an electric mixer until they are pale and glossy.<br />
5) Add the chocolate mixture when cool and whisk again.<br />
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6) Butter the ramekins and add about a teaspoon of cocoa powder to each and turn to make sure it coats as much of the surface as possible.<br />
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7) Sift the flour into the chocolate and egg mixture little by little and fold it in.<br />
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8) Place the ramekins in the oven for 15 minutes.<br />
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9) When you take them out they should feel hard on the top... but still wobbly.<br />
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10) Leave them to cool until you can hold them, then using a knife cut around the edges and turn over. Cross your fingers now... and hope they come out whole!!!!<br />
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Decorate with some Fairtrade icing sugar and some strawberries, serve cut open and enjoy the lovely chocolate lava in the middle!!!</div>
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Oh yes, leave me stranded in an island with this type of volcano anytime!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-31710226999107016072014-04-08T03:40:00.002-07:002014-04-08T03:40:51.533-07:00Dessert Island Puddings #2 : Flan <div>
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I have been thinking a lot about what desserts I could '<i><b>cope with' </b></i>eating on my island forever... and this second choice, also from my childhood, is certainly one I could eat over and over and not tire of it. </div>
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It's called a <b>Flan</b>, and its origin is not clear, some recipes I found claimed it was a typically from Spain, whilst others claimed it was a Mexican dessert, in any case it's certainly very popular throughout Latin America, and I read that it might be perhaps because when condensed milk tins started to be imported they used to have the Flan recipe printed on the label! I think it's certainly very much like the French dessert: 'Creme Caramel', although I'm not sure if the recipes and cooking methods are alike.</div>
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Anyway, here's the recipe, and I must say, it's really very simple!</div>
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<b>Ingredients</b>:</div>
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1/2 cup Fairtrade Sugar</div>
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1 tin of Evaporated milk (standard UK size 400 g)</div>
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1 tin of Condensed milk (standard UK size if 400 g)</div>
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3 large free-range eggs</div>
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1 teaspoon of vanilla extract</div>
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Orange zest (optional) </div>
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1) Heat your oven to 170 C</div>
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2) Melt the sugar on a pan to form a caramel </div>
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3) Mix the egg, milks, vanilla and zest in a bowl </div>
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4) Coat the bottom of you mold or ramekin with the caramel, making sure it covers the entire bottom surface </div>
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5) Add the milky mixture </div>
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6) Place the ramekins or mold on a 'Banne Marie' (that is, swimming in about an inch of boiling water) </div>
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7) Cover with foil paper and bake for about an hour. You can test it's completely cooked by inserting a knife close to the middle, if it comes out clean, you are there. </div>
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9) Leave it to cool completely and place in the fridge until you need to serve it, although I recommend taking it out an hour or so before you plan to eat it so the caramel is runny when you carefully turn it out. </div>
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9) If you fancy decorating it like I did, just melt a bit more sugar and once you have caramel make whatever design you fancy on top of a non-stick surface. I tried to make mine like the sails of a boat that I will build in my island! (of course you have already guessed by seeing the picture!) </div>
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That's it. One of my all-time classic favorite desserts. Try it out! it's simple and homey, but can deliver on the wow factor with a bit of imagination!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-34346432711451548972014-04-04T11:29:00.003-07:002014-04-04T12:18:19.887-07:00Won 2nd place in the Fairtrade Banana Nut Bake-off!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After nervously waiting for what seems like forever, results of Liberation's Fairtrade Banana Nut Bake-off are in... and I've just found out that I've won second place! <br><br> The competitions featured in Good Housekeeping, Love It magazine, Student Noodles as well as on Facebook and Twitter, generating lots of interest (including over 1,000 entries from Good Housekeeping).<br>After all the entries were reviewed, Chris and I found out last week that we had made the final 6 in the shorlist, and then early this week the baked all our recipues and the judging panel formed by:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AllegraMcEvedy">Allegra McEvedy</a> (celebrity chef: http://www.allegramcevedy.com/Allegra_McEvedy/Home.html), <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harry-Hill/373138795952">Harry Hill</a> (famous comedian http://harryhill.wordpress.com/ ) and nutritionist <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fionakirkbooks">Fiona Kirk | Fat Bust Forever</a> (whttp://fatbustforever.com/) tries them all and selected the 3 winning ones... and mine came second, with a special mention on the decoration!<div>
<br>So, a great way to start the weekend... knowing that I have a basket full of Fairtrade Goodies for my cooking experiments on the way! Happy days!<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #898f9c; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-60342542743757931412014-03-28T04:30:00.000-07:002014-03-28T12:42:37.151-07:00Fairtrade Dessert Island Puddings #1 : Tres Leches<br>
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My first Dessert Island Pudding is a cake that my mum always made when I was growing up, and since it's Mother's Day here in the UK on Sunday, it fitted perfectly, plus I hope you agree that it looks a bit like a Desert Island!</div>
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Tres Leches (Three Milks) is the Latin American version of the British Trifle or the Italian Tiramisu, and it's basically consists of a soft sponge that is soaked by 3 types of milks: Evaporated, Condensed and Double Cream. We spent a few years in El Salvador and Honduras in the mid eighties and this is where my mum learned this recipe, and since then it regularly follows her <b><i>world</i></b> <i><b>famous </b></i><b><i>lasagna</i></b>, which we all still beg her to prepare when there is a sufficiently important cause for celebration in the family.<br>
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Here's what you'll need:<br>
- 1 Cup of Sugar<br>
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- 1/3 cup of Milk<br>
- 1 tsp of Fairtrade Vanilla Extract<br>
- 1 cup of plain flour<br>
- 1 1/2 tsp of braking powder<br>
- 350 gr of Condensed Milk<br>
- 350 gr of Evaporated Milk<br>
- 2 cups of double cream<br>
- Fairtrade nuts<br>
- 3 tablespoons of Amaretto<br>
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1) Heat your over to 170 C<br>
2) Grease a pan with high sides<br>
3) Separate your 5 eggs<br>
4) Beat the yolks with 2/3 of the cup of sugar until pale and double in size. Slowly add the milk, vanilla, flour and baking powder<br>
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5) Separately beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar until they form stiff peaks<br>
6) With a metal spoon fold the egg whites into the yolks and place in the pan. Bake for around 30 minutes, test with a skewer. Leave to cool for about an hour<br>
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7) Once cool, pierce with a fork or knife repeatedly<br>
8) Mix the evaporated, condensed milk and 1 cup of cream in a jug and bathe the sponge. You may want to keep some of the mixture aside for serving.<br>
9) Leave in the fridge to soak for at least a couple of hours, but best overnight.<br>
10) Whip the remaining cream, decorate with the nuts and serve!<br>
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It's really very simple and has such a lovely homely feel to it, no wonder it reminds me of my mum.<br>
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Somebody once told me that it's not until you have children you really understand your parents and the miracle of truly unconditional love. I can see that now, and sometimes when I marvel at the impossible perfection and happiness that my children bring me, I feel very close to my parents, because I understand that I however old I may be, I am still their baby too.<br>
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But its mother's day, so here go a few words about my mum. I think I could write a whole blog about her, but I will just say that she is the most beautiful, kind and annoying person I know, and that when I hear people joke about how all women inevitably become their mothers as they grow older... I just sigh and quietly hope I can become even just a little bit as incredible as she is.<br>
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So happy mothers day <b>Mamuchita Morf - A - Lot</b>... the ultimate foodie of the family!<br>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-9019210413978384762014-03-26T04:11:00.000-07:002014-03-26T04:13:13.592-07:00Fairtrade Dessert Island Puddings Series My husband is convinced that I am turning into an old lady. The fact that I have started to collect glass jars and plan on making jam this summer, coupled with my newly found passion for Radio 4 (which has unleashed my inner-geek apparently) proves his argument.<br />
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I don't disagree. Maybe I have always been an old lady, one of those... 'old souls'. I remember my parents laughing at the fact that I used to sit in a small rocking chair and do crochet, while watching soaps when I was only 9 years old. But luckily all things 'vintage' are now 'chic' and so I can let my laughed-at passion for cream teas, blankets and all things with floral patterns, run wild!</div>
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One of the programs that I sometimes catch on Radio 4 when doing the school run, is Desert Island Discs, which basically asks all sorts of famous people to play a few songs that they would take to their Desert Islands and talk about what they represent to their lives. I often find it very moving because like food, music plays a big part of me and my family's story and it is most certainly connected to the best and worse times...but, as I go through the exercise of wondering what what songs I would take.... I also find myself choosing what foods I would take to eat while playing the records!</div>
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So, I thought I'd do my own version of the program for the next few recipes..... and I will call it " My Fairtrade Dessert Island Puddings" (get it... desert, de<b>ss</b>ert... see the geek is out, hence grammar joke below) and I will choose 4 recipes that I would be happy to take and eat on my island 'forever' without tiring of them. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-56322018949912536352014-03-08T10:29:00.004-08:002014-03-08T10:29:42.728-08:00Guest Post - Fairtrade Peanut Butter, Banana & Chocolate Swirl<div>
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Competition time! The wife entered Liberation's Banana Nut Bake Off. Emilia (my 3 year-old mini chef) and I thought we'd give her a run for her money this afternoon. </div>
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So this one is really easy.</div>
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1. We chopped two bananas and squeezed half a lime juice on top of it to stop it going brown. </div>
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2. We were feeling adventurous so also added the zest of the lime and also some grated nutmeg</div>
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3. Then Emilia rolled out the puff pastry and put on the chopped banana, then the chocolate chips </div>
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4. The last bit was some dollops of crunchy Liberation Peanut butter </div>
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5. We then rolled it up and cut it into slices about as thick as my thumb</div>
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6. Emilia then squashed each one under a plate and popped it onto the baking trays (make sure you use grease proof paper or silicon paper or a non stick mat)</div>
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8. We let them cool.... just for 5 minutes and gobbled them up while the chocolate was still a bit melted. </div>
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Puff pastry</div>
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2 Fairtrade Bananas</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-11023502651473665182014-03-04T03:59:00.001-08:002014-03-04T03:59:47.419-08:00Fairtrade's power to bring communities together I live in Edenbridge. A charming little village in the south east of England, which proudly boasts in a sign as you enter it that is it's 'Kent's first Fairtrade Town'.<br />
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Even though we moved out here from London almost 5 years ago, and all this while I have been working on Fairtrade, it is only recently that I have gotten involved with the local fellow activists from the Edenbridge Fairtrade Group; and what a lovely and passionate bunch they are.<br />
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I guess because my work to date has been focused on the other end of the spectrum, that is, on the impact that Fairtrade generates in producers in their countries, it is fantastic for me to now also discover the impact that it also has in bringing communities together in ours.<br />
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I have attended many events over the past few years where producers have been the 'stars of the show', but they have always said to me that meeting the many churches, schools, universities and towns and villages that promote their products, 'for free' is what touched them the most, because without them the movement really wouldn't be what it is today. I don't know what it is about Fairtrade, but something about it makes it very different from many other, very worthy consumer related causes, like say: free range eggs, or responsibly caught fish or local, seasonal and even organic food. Or even the work of many other conservation, environmental organisations or charities. And I think it's the fact that Fairtrade has also had this effect of creating such groups of community activists who are always thinking of different ways to promote it and spread the word. I may be wrong, but I have never heard of a say a 'free range town' or an 'seasonal school'!<br />
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My local group organised such an event to mark Fairtrade Fortnight last night and invited me to come along and blog about it. As a mum of very young children who hasn't 'gone out' on my own to any evening event (due to bedtimes etc!) in a VERY long time... it was a bit of challenge... but one that I was very happy to accept! and so with the support of my husband Chris, who took a day off and was left with lots instructions and tips on how to feed, and put the little ones down in my absence (why do mum's worry so much about this things!) I left home, at nighttime, during bedtime... on my own and without a nappy bag! wow... talk about small victories... :)<br />
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Anyway, the event was orchestrated by Rachel from the eAt@Eden cafe and was called Come Dine with Me, and it was to be a fun competition between local 'celebrity chefs and' food enthusiasts' who, in pairs, had to cook a dish in 10 minutes using Fairtrade products and then the crowd would vote on which dish sounded the most delicious. After the cooking demonstrations, people would be invited to sample all 6 dishes. The event was sold out (over 100 tickets!) which for a small village on a Monday night is a fantastic achievement on its own!<br />
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The demonstrations were great fun and there was fantastic banter between the 'local food celebrities' and the crowd throughout, and even though I didn't stay for the sampling bit of the evening, I could tell that everyone was having a really good time, and there was a real sense of community spirit.<br />
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I rushed back just before 8 pm (like Cinderella from the Ball).... half expecting to find an orchestra of babies crying and my husband by the door... but to my amazement... both babies were down... the house was still standing... and my husband was sorting out our dinner... wow... double success.<br />
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Some photos from the event below.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-41511417329415289002014-02-27T10:13:00.000-08:002014-02-27T10:13:11.742-08:00Fairtrade Banana cake with peanut butter frosting So, it's Fairtrade fortnight and as I mentioned in my last post, I decided to enter the #banananut bake-off organised by my friends at Liberation Foods. I'm not taking it too seriously or anything... but the 'creative process' (how fancy) has occupied my mind for the past couple of days! I even spent time yesterday sketching out the decoration of the frosting!<br />
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I decided to use my banana bread recipe (because it was so good) but to tweak it a bit and make it a bit 'healthier' by adding pumpkin and sunflower seeds for crunch... and then I came across a peanut butter frosting recipe and decided that would fit perfectly!.... my only problem was that I had run out of my last jar of Harry's Hill's Fairtrade peanut butter... and I didn't think I would find another Fairtrade pot in my village, but luckily, just this morning I had an e-mail from my lovely Traidcraft local contact, Jean, who sets up a stall to promote and sell Fairtrade food and crafts in my village cafe every month or so... reminding me to pop by... and so we did and luckily found a jar of Liberation's Crunchy Peanut Butter! so, all systems go!...The kids had a great time playing with Jean and for me, as always, I was so inspired to meet the incredible people who volunteer so selflessly for our 'cause' and without whom the movement would have never achieved as much as it has to date...<br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />285g plain flour<br />1 tsp bicarbonate of soda<br />½ tsp salt<br />110g butter<br />200g Fairtrade caster sugar<br />2 free-range eggs<br />4 Fairtrade ripe bananas, mashed<br />85ml buttermilk (or normal milk mixed with 1½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar)<br />1 tsp Fairtrade vanilla extract<br />100 g pumpkin seeds <br />100g sunflower seeds <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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And<b> for the frosting:</b><br /><br />1 cup of Fairtrade icing sugar<br /><br />1/4 cup of Fairtrade crunchy peanut butter<br /><br />1/4 water<br /><br />1 ts vanilla extract <br /><br />
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And for the 'special effects' we bought ready to roll and use icing and with the help of my daughter's play dough set we made super fun cake decorations,,,,<div>
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I guess the cake must have know it was made for a good cause, because like Emilia said, it came out smiling!</div>
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And so... drum roll.... here is our beautiful creation!</div>
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<b><span style="color: purple; font-size: large;">Fairtrade banana cake with a crunchy peanut butter frosting </span></b></div>
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Maybe I'm not quite ready to sign up for the great British bake-off yet... but I am very proud of this one and we all had great fun! </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-34345356774450021542014-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:002014-02-25T01:58:42.244-08:00Banananut bake off ! watch this space... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My good old friends at Liberation Foods have launched a great FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT COMPETITION: the 'Great Banana & Nut Cake Bake Off’ - which is an invitation for people to bake a cake using Fairtrade nuts and Fairtrade bananas, plus whatever else grabs the imagination. (more details here <a href="http://bit.ly/lnfbcomp1">http://bit.ly/lnfbcomp1</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/banananutbakeoff">#banananutbakeoff</a>) for a chance to win some fairtrade goody hampers.<br /><br /><br />I am not one to shy away from such fun challenge... so I have decided to enter... and I have decided not just to bake a cake... but also to DECORATE it.... <br /><br />Beware... this is what happened last time I tried to decorate a cake:<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 1.38;"><br /></span></span>
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It's my little man's 1st birthday cake. Obviously a dinosaur (NOT). </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-76614847070331165312014-02-20T05:22:00.001-08:002014-02-20T07:47:36.713-08:00Fairtrade homemade granolaI recently read an article where Cafedirect's new MD explained how his strategy to strengthen this Fairtrade company included, among other things, getting the message across to consumers that Fairtrade was not an 'act of charity'.<br>
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This statement really got to me and I made me think about what we really understand by 'charity' and why it often seems to have negative connotations. The way I see it, charity is essentially an act of 'kindness' towards someone in need... and so I don't understand why we feel the need to distance ourselves from such a noble attitude?... especially when it seems like, if anything, we are bombarded on a daily basis by news of the terrible acts that we humans are capable of committing.<br>
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I guess it has to do with the fact that we take great pride in achieving things independently (I see that all the time with my 1-year-old, who insists in feeding himself, going up the stairs unaided, etc) and perhaps there is also something about not depending on others in order to reach our goals. I completely understand both, and if I transfer this to how producers might feel about us purchasing their Fairtrade products, I can obviously understand that the reason for deciding to pay a fair price for a products is not, or should not be, about doing anyone a favour, but simply because it's the right thing to do.<br>
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But, bottom-line opting for Fairtrade <i><b>is </b></i>an act of charity because it involves a conscious decision to, through our purchasing power, 'help' others in their struggle to earn an honest living and provide for their families.<br>
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And we all need such acts of kindness, perhaps, us who are lucky enough to live in developed countries don't have livelihoods that depend on others making such decisions everyday, but I do think that we still do very much need such small acts of kindness in our everyday lives, whether it's a kind word of encouragement from your mother before a big day, or a smile from a stranger when you are about to lose the plot while juggling 2 babies, keys, your wallet and 20 bags at the checkout, or the act sharing that cup of tea with your best friend after a though day (or night in our case!).<br>
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I think in a way they are all small acts of charity, and even though they might not involve a donation of money, they involve giving some sort of boost, and we should not feel too proud to say that we all need one more often than we'd like to admit. For me, choosing a Fairtrade product is like sending a smile to all those hard working producers out there, not our pity, but instead our encouragement and understanding, and the message that we do also want to be part of a fair system where they can feed and look after their families in the same was as we can in our side of the world.<br>
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I'd like to think that the recipe I chose this time around is a little bit like such acts of kindness: to ourselves, because we are opting to eat a super healthy combination, and to others if you choose like I did, to make a big batch to share with your friends.<br>
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<b>Ingredients</b>:<br>
300 gr of oats<br>
250 ml of honey (I used a delicious local Kentish one)<br>
50 ml of vegetable oil<br>
3 tablespoons of water<br>
50 gr Fairtrade Brazil Nuts<br>
50 gr Fairtrade Pecans<br>
50 gr dried coconut<br>
50 gr pumpkin seeds<br>
50 gr sunflower seeds<br>
50 gr Fairtrade Almonds<br>
100 gr dried apricots<br>
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<b>Method:</b><br>
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1) Heat the oven to 140 C<br>
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2) Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl<br>
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3) Heat up the honey with the oil and water in a pan, until it gets very runny.<br>
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4) Combine it with the dry ingredients.<br>
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5) Spread on baking paper or non-stick baking sheets, and bake for 40 minutes, mixing it around every 10 minutes or so, so that it doesn't solidify.<br>
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6) It will still feel soft when you take it out, but it will harden once you let it stand for a few hours.<br>
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<b>The Verdict</b></div>
An absolute winner for me. I chose the nuts and seeds I had in the house left from previous recipes and some sent by my lovely friends from Liberation Foods (http://www.chooseliberation.com), but you can add any nuts of dry fruits that you prefer.<br>
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It's really delicious served with some plain yogurt or with milk and a banana or to just snack on as you wonder around the kitchen looking for something slightly naughty!. I think they also makes lovely homemade gifts to share with friends.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-62975133303467483572014-02-07T03:37:00.000-08:002014-02-12T02:34:57.555-08:00Fairtrade Banana Bread RecipeIt was my father's birthday recently. He lives in Bolivia and I haven't seen him for almost 2 years. Distance and the passage of time are especially hard for me when birthdays come up.<br />
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The days leading up to his birthday and a few after it, I found my mind drifting through various childhood memories, like visiting my grandfather's house in Obrajes, where my family spent most Saturday lunch times with the whole extended Castillo Clan (20+ people), and which was the most amazing house for any child to explore, with many secret closets and staircases and terraces to play the most incredible hide and seek imaginable, and where my siblings and I grew up so close to our cousins and uncles and aunts. What a blessing to have had that time and to now have such memories that will bind us close together forever.<br />
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Of course such memories are completely connected to food, but among the many food memories that flashed by, this one jumped out: 'Queque de Platano' or Banana Bread, which I remember eating throughout my childhood as a little treat when it was time for tea, and we had to come in from playing out in the garden (tea time in Bolivia is a cup of tea and little something to eat mid afternoon) and which, in my view, could not represent more vividly the feeling of the warmth and comfort of 'being home'.<br />
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It's a very simple recipe, for any old day, it's not a cake - that's fancy and needs a special occassion - this one is just a little treat for a day that is not really special, other than for the fact that you are home, you are well and warm when it's cold outside, and you have a nice cup of tea in your hand that's needs company.<br />
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And so here it goes, but as always beforehand a little word about my Fairtrade ingredient: Fairtrade Bananas.<br />
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Bananas are a big deal in the UK. I remember being surprised by this when I first moved here, since they seem to be the country's favourite fruit and somehow a bit of a status symbol and definitely a sign that you are interested in being 'healtly', You can still see them being sold in coffee shops and supermarkets for up to a £1 EACH, which is extortionate; and which could not be more different in Bolivia where they are, I guess because of their abundance, a bit of a poor-man's fruit.<br />
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Anyway, Fairtrade Bananas have had a very high profile in the UK, and this year's Fairtrade Fortnight efforts will be focused on them (will touch more on this in future posts). There has even been a phenomena called the 'banana wars', which is a very famous trade quarrel between the US and the EU, where the US made a huge fuss about a EU scheme that offered banana producers from former colonies in the Caribbean special access to European markets. Of course, Bananas are crucial to the Caribbean economy and half the population even now rely on them to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and education. Without the demand for Fairtrade bananas in the UK and Europe, islands like the Windward Islands (Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent) would be in real economic trouble. There is much more information about this on the Fairtrade Foundation's website: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/producers/bananas/winfa_2/<br />
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But aside from the positive impact of the Fairtrade banana trade in the Caribbean, I was moved recently by learning about the impact that Fairtrade is having in the Colombian banana plantations. The Colombian armed conflict has been affecting thousands of people since the mid sixties, and of course that includes smallholder producers, who are simply trying to make a living and who get caught in the crossfire. What moved me was the descriptions of producers who explained that now that they are able to make a 'decent' living from the sale of their bananas to Fairtrade markets, they could <i><b>resist</b></i> joining the armed conflict, which for many people living in the countryside, for a long time, represented the <b>only option for an income. </b>Yes, guerrillas have been the main 'employers' in the region for many years, but now that farmers can support themselves they can opt not to be part of the conflict they loathe. Of course, it's not all rosy, because they still suffer threats and violence from armed groups who want them to join them or who want to get their hands on their incomes. But standing together in their cooperatives, they feel stronger and less afraid of them. Perhaps by buying more of their bananas, more and more 'guerrilleros' will leave their groups and join cooperatives instead. Wouldn't that be great for Colombia.<br />
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And so, here goes the recipe (adapted from a BBC one):<br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
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285g/10oz plain flour<br />
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda<br />
½ tsp salt<br />
110g/4oz butter, plus extra for greasing<br />
225g/8oz caster sugar<br />
2 free-range eggs<br />
4 Fairtrade ripe bananas, mashed<br />
85ml/3fl oz buttermilk (or normal milk mixed with 1½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar)<br />
1 tsp vanilla extract<br />
250 grs of walnuts<br />
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<b>Preparation method</b><br />
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1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.<br />
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2) In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.<br />
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3) Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.<br />
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4) Add the eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk, vanilla extract and nuts to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.<br />
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5) Grease and flour a loaf tin and pour the cake mixture into the tin.<br />
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6) Transfer to the oven and bake for about an hour, or until well-risen and golden-brown.<br />
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7) Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.<br />
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Ta da<br />
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<b>The verdict.</b><br />
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Oh yes, a little slice of home. Definitely one to bake over and over, specially to cure the odd homesickness attack.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-49464078914411447522014-01-15T13:43:00.002-08:002014-01-15T13:43:50.539-08:00Fairtrade Brazil Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies <br />
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Happy New Year!</div>
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I have not written for a few weeks because of all the Christmas related rush and also because I suffered a minor concussion in a freak accident in the park (me being the freak)... which kept me away from my laptop.<br />
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Anyway, I'm back and now that all the lovely Christmas -overindulging, buying way too much stuff you don't need and generally 'treating' yourself and everyone you know- period has passed, I started to think about what recipe I wanted to try next, and I guess like everyone in January, I considered for a minute looking for some kind of 'healthy' recipe...but then I looked outside (cold, wet, dark and rainy... again!) and quickly came to my senses! there is no way I can deal with winter in the UK without something naughty to compensate for the lack of endorphins my body is suffering by not seeing the sun... ever....and so, for all of you rebels out there who are also resisting the urge to diet I selected a <em><strong><span style="color: #660000;">really naughty</span></strong></em> recipe that my husband has been requesting for a while... Fairtrade Brazil Nut and chocolate chip cookies (American style... big and gooey and yes... completely unhealthy!).<br />
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But before I get to the recipe itself, I wanted to just say a little bit about about my 'star ingredient': Brazil Nuts. These delicious nuts only grow in the 'amazing' Amazon region (I'm sure the word amazing must come from Amazon!) mainly in Brazil and in the north of Bolivia... in the tallest and most majestic trees one can imagine. They are not 'cultivated' like most Fairtrade products and instead grow wild in the forest and are gathered by producers who often risk their lives going deep into the jungle to collect them. Fairtrade is incredible and transformative in many ways for many producers and countries, but for me, Fairtrade Brazil Nuts represent an extra special success story that has the added benefit of having offered people from the region an alternative to cutting down the forest in order to obtain an income. I was lucky enough to visit the region a couple of times and it was incredible to fly into Cobija, in the north of Bolivia, and to see the devastation on the Brazil side of the border, where so much of the forest has been cut down in order to introduce bio fuels and/or cattle, and to hear from experts on the ground that once that forest has been cut... it will NEVER recover and grow in the same way again. Especially the Brazil Nut trees, which in many cases are hundreds of years old. The fact that there is an international fair market for Brazil Nuts has had a direct effect on the preservation of this incredible forest... and that really makes me feel like buying lots more bags of stuff and to feel less guilty about the naughty cookies I baked and ate!<br />
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<strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />
250g plain flour <br />1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda <br />1/2 teaspoon salt <br />170g unsalted butter, melted<br />200g dark brown soft sugar <br />100g Fairtrade caster sugar<br />1 tablespoon vanilla extract <br />1 egg<br />1 egg yolk <br />150g Fairtrade Dark Chocolate
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150g Fairtrade White Chocolate<br />
200g Fairtrade Brazil Nuts <br />
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<strong>Method: </strong><br />
1) Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.<br />
2) In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. <br />
3) Chop the nuts and chocolate
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4) Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts by hand using a wooden spoon.<br />
5) Let the dough rest. I read in many recipes that it's great to 'age the dough' so I actually left it in the fridge overnight.<br />
6) Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 2 tablespoon of dough. Do not flatten the dough. Keep cookies apart since they will grow.<br />
7) Pre-heat the oven to 170C and then bake for around 12 minutes until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.<br />
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<strong>The Verdict:</strong><br />
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<strong>AMAZING. </strong>I will definitely will make them again. Next time I will probably not use white chocolate, since it didn't really add much and made them a bit to sweet for me... and might add some more nuts. TRY THEM, they are super easy and you will never crave another cookie so bad...<br />
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Just a few photos of my visits to the Amazon below...<br />
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Anyway, what really struck me, was their technique to colour the inside of the piping bag in order to create the most beautiful coloured meringues... and so I decided to give it a go... here goes my experiment:<br />
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<strong>Ingredients</strong>:<br />
- 3 egg whites<br />
- 175 grs. of Fairtrade caster sugar<br />
- pink and purple food colouring gel<br />
(cream and berries optional!)<br />
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<strong> Method</strong>:<br />
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1) Heat the sugar under the grill until it is just about to start melting (starts to turn slightly brown). This is also part of the Meringue Girl's technique.<br />
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2) Beat the eggs (in a clean and dry bowl) until partly stiff.<br />
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3) Add the sugar, a spoonful at the time, and beat again until very stiff.<br />
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4) Prepare your piping bag, by turning it inside out and colouring lines with a small paint brush (I used pink and purple food colouring gel)<br />
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5) Insert the beaten egg-whites and start piping!<br />
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6) Bake in the oven at 120C for 1 1/2 hrs, until they can be lifted easily from the bottom without sticking. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and leave them in there until cold. Enjoy!<br />
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<strong>The verdict:</strong><br />
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Well, they were actually quite easy and fun to make... and they offer so many 'funky' possibilities (no wonder the 'meringue girls' are doing so well) and certainly deliver on the 'Wow factor'... but, for me, the problem is that meringues are simply too sweet.... and after 1-2 small bites, I just didn't want any more... <br />
In the summer we often have them with Greek yogurt and fresh berries... and that works well... so perhaps I will try them again then... but I don't think they delivered what I was hoping for in terms of a winter dessert!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-4014904827212012222013-12-19T08:23:00.002-08:002013-12-19T08:23:28.074-08:00In support of all visionaries out there!Now, I know that this blog is about Fairtrade Food... but I just have to include a little paragraph about this company that I am in awe of ... it's called Visionary Soap, and it sells a wide range of Fairtrade bath & body care products manufactured here in the UK.<br /><br />All their products are handmade using natural ingredients from producer groups in Palestine, India, Sri Lanka, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and South Africa and they use a very high percentage of Fairtrade ingredients in all of their formulations, which is fantastic already, but what makes them even more special is that all their products are made through a job training programme within marginalised communities in southern England ,offering opportunities to individuals that are in need here in the UK too. WOW!<br /><br />They are now trying to develop a Fairtrade certified, organic liquid soap range using coconut oil from Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) in India (remember them from my cashew posts?), and need out help! they are trying to raise £10,000 to fund the first production run, through a crowd-funding campaign.<br />
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Please check out the details of how you can get involved, and also their website where there is much more information!<br /><br />
https://www.buzzbnk.org/ProjectDetails.aspx?projectId=129<br />
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http://visionarysoap.co.uk/<br />
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We need more of this type of visionaries in this world, and I for one have contributed my bit... hope they can achieve this, and MUCH MORE!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-23101664957186533192013-12-15T04:52:00.000-08:002013-12-15T04:52:03.687-08:00About Fairtrade Sugar and early forms of fairtrade campaigningThis week I will talk about Fairtrade Sugar. <br />
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Sugar, like coffee and cocoa, is one of the most successful Fairtrade products sold in the UK. I clearly remember how in 2008 the Fairtrade world was rocked when the giant Tate & Lyle announced its commitment to convert 100% of its retail branded sugar to Fairtrade.This was one of the biggest switches ever to be made to Fairtrade, and according to the Fairtrade Foundation website, the increase in the total volumes of Fairtrade sugar sold in comparison to the previous year as a result was around tenfold! Now that is significant.<br />
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But, of course, sugar as a commodity has an enormous amount of history and the bit that really interests me is the sugar boycotts of the late 1700s when , thousands of pamphlets were printed both in the UK and the USA which encouraged people to boycott sugar produced by slaves. According to the BBC's History website around 300,000 people abandoned sugar resulting in sales dropping by a third to a half.<br /><br />Hundreds of thousands of people also signed petitions calling for the abolition of the slave trade. Many even supported the campaign against their own interests. The size and strength of feeling demonstrated by these popular protests made even pro-slavery politicians consider the consequences of ignoring public opinion. <br /><br />Mobilisation of the public remains an essential tool in achieving political change, and it's certainly at the core of the Fairtrade movement. The sugar boycott is one of the earliest examples of consumers using their purchasing power to reject the trade in goods that had not been ethically produced.<br />
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I have the greatest admiration to all of those activist around the world, who in most circumstances, lobby for or against something they believe in and dont just ignore the great challenges out there and who are not to wrapped in their own lives to see all the major things that still need changing in the world.<br />
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I love some of the images of labels at the time:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-89351066523699563172013-12-10T06:15:00.005-08:002013-12-13T03:35:53.485-08:00Fairtrade Walnut Panettone... disaster So, I was feeling all christmassy and reminiscing about being back home (in Bolivia where I'm from) where it's not Christmas until someone has given you a huge panettone, you didn't want and probably don't like very much! <br />
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Nonetheless it was wonderful to watch everyone leave their offices on Christmas Eve with the customary (and dare I say almost obligatory) box of panettone, a pretty dodgy bottle of wine and a whole chicken. I have lived abroad for too long to know if this still happens... but I certainly have very fond memories of this... especially when I proudly received them for the first time and my mum used them to make our family's traditional Picana (a Christmas soup with several meats and several bottles of wine!) and so, I decided to give it a go.... how hard could it be?<br />
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I guess the fact that all the recipes and websites I came across almost <i>encouraged</i> you to opt for something else should have been a clue... but off I went and purchased my special panettone baking cases on line, some lovely Fairtrade walnuts from Traidcraft and I chose the easiest recipe I could find (with only one rising period) certain i would be able to pull it off.<br />
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Well... I don't think I need words to describe what happened next... I'll just show you.<br />
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Complete <b><i>sticky mess</i></b>.<br />
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Which I <i>somehow</i> managed to get into the (very expensive by the way) cases, and which simply failed to rise... <b>AT ALL</b>.. after 4 hours in the warm airing cupboard:<br />
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Still holding on to my optimism and thinking it couldn't be that bad... after all -I had added loads of Amaretto to the recipe - so it could only taste great... I decided to still go ahead and bake them.<br />
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And when they came out... they didn't look that bad...<br />
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But... don't be fooled. The were <b>foul</b>. We all had a couple of mouthfuls of the weird sweet bready mess that could <b><i>not</i></b> be called a panettone... and to the bin the went.<br />
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What went wrong? well... I think I may have <i>accidentally</i> used 4 eggs and 3 extra yolks, rather than 3 eggs and 4 yolks... I <i>guessed</i> that 15 teaspoons of butter it would be half a pack...and finally because of all the flour I added while trying to knead the dough (sticky mess)... and Chris thinks that my addition of walnuts and amaretto might have had an effect as well... perhaps the alcohol killed the yeast?<br />
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Oh well... I guess I've learned my lesson... and after all, I admit it, I am one of many Bolivians, that don't actually like it anyway!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-33006471653259632582013-12-02T09:55:00.003-08:002013-12-02T12:09:38.682-08:00Fairtrade coffee bean chocolate bark<br>
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The key ingredient for this recipe is Fairtrade coffee beans (whole). Coffee is another one of the most successful Fairtrade products in the UK. Most big brands and supermarkets have their own Fairtrade lines and there are also many specialised and boutique brands.<br>
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I love coffee.I wish I could drink more of it! but I can only handle 1 cup a day before I have trouble sleeping at night... but I do cherish and look forward to my 10:00 a.m. cup, once Lucas goes down for his morning nap.<br>
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Like wine or tea or beer I suppose, I find that coffee has such a culture around it, from how anyone prefers to drink it, to its origin, all it's tasting notes and the snobbery around 'ruining it' by adding milk or sugar. <br>
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I wanted to find a recipe where coffee was not just another ingredient, like in many of the cake ones I came across... but where it was king! and so I remembered a Cafe back home, where instead of crisps, they would offer you a small bowl of chocolate covered coffee beans and how divine it was to crunch the beans and get the sweetness and creaminess of the chocolate. It was then that I stumbled upon the concept of chocolate 'bark' (looks like tree bark, as in the picture above) which is a popular handmade gift in the US... so with the festive period approaching (and a Xmas party around the corner) I decided to give it a go.<br>
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It's actually very simple... and I warn you... I'm not sure I can really call it cooking... but in any case here it goes:<br>
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<strong>Ingredients</strong>:<br>
- 150 grs of dark chocolate<br>
- 150 grs of white chocolate<br>
- 1/4 cup of fairtrade coffee beans (whole)<br>
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<strong>Method</strong><br>
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1) Prepare a sheet of non-stick baking paper.<br>
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2) Grind the coffee beans a bit, but so that some of them are still whole.<br>
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3) Break the chocolate into small squares and melt it. I just used the microwave, but you need to remember to only blast it for 30 seconds at the time, then stir and repeat until it's all melted.<br>
Do the same with the white chocolate.<br>
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4) Spread it on the paper, sprinkle the ground coffee and then using a spoon, spread the white chocolate on top making lines for the bark 'look''.<br>
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5) Or you could spread the white chocolate and just sprinkle the coffee on top.<br>
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5) Pop them in the fridge for at least a couple of hours until they become solid again and you can peel them off the paper.<br>
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6) That's it, simply break them into pieces and enjoy!<br>
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<strong>The verdict</strong><br>
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Well, they were nice, but I think you have to really like coffee to love them... it could easily be too strong a flavour for some. I also thought they would make great handmade gifts, but because they were quite delicate and prone to melting... it could be difficult to either wrap them or get them to their destination intact. <strong><br></strong><br>
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I also felt that actually they needed to be part of something else, like perhaps to sit on top of the coffee cake i didn't make!<br>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-se9qAQMjpco/UpyzeVubAUI/AAAAAAAAPIQ/zigBW0JK-uY/s1600/P1060533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br></a>The best part for me was how fun it was for my daughter to make her own version...<br>
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<br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-35209227199283520282013-11-22T06:39:00.001-08:002013-11-23T00:38:57.947-08:00Week 2 - Fairtrade Dark Chocolate Souffle <br />
What I am learning in this journey is that in cooking it's all about <span style="color: magenta;"><i><b>the method</b></i></span> and that the tricks that chefs and bakers know is what distinguishes them from us common amateurs. It may seem obvious to you, but it's a bit of a revelation to me!<br />
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So, it's not just about knowing a bit about the ingredients and how they go together and following (or trying to in my case!) a recipe... but it's all about the '<b><span style="color: magenta;"><i>secrets of the kitchen</i></span></b>', like for a souffle, after reading about many amateur's flops, I learnt that's it's crucial to never use a wooden spoon with the egg whites,to always have a dry clean bowl when beating the eggs and that one must ONLY use a metal spoon to fold the chocolate in... with these newly learnt tricks I am happy to say that my souffles didn't only rise, but they didn't collapse shortly after leaving the oven, and they were actually very delicious.<br />
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Here's is how you can do it.<br />
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<b>Ingredients</b><br />
<b>- </b>135 grs of fairtrade dark chocolate<b><br /></b><br />
- 150 ml of double cream<br />
- 3 eggs + 2 more egg withes<br />
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract<br />
-3 tablespoons of caster sugar (fairtrade of course)<br />
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (for the African twist)<br />
- Icing sugar for decoration<br />
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<b>Method</b><br />
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1) Warm up the oven to 220<b> degrees</b><br />
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2) Butter the ramekins and coat them with sugar. (Ramekins are basically small dishes that can go in the oven.)<br />
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3) Break up the chocolate and put it in a non-stick (a heavy pan if you have one) with the cream on a low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon, until it all melts and is combined together.<br />
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4) Take it off the heat and add the 3 egg yolks and the vanilla and cinnamon. <b><br /></b><br />
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5) On a clean and dry bowl, with clean and dry beaters, beat the eggs until stiff. Add the sugar slowly as you do.<br />
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6) Take 1/4 of the the egg whites and pour it on the chocolate. With a metal spoon, fold them in, just to loosen the chocolate mix.<br />
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7) Add the loosened chocolate to the rest of the egg whites, and fold, until it's all combined but still fluffy. DON'T stir... and don't over work it or you will lose all the air bubbles.<br />
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8) Quickly pour into the ramekins (almost the the top) and put into the oven, for <b>7 minutes. </b><br />
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9) Take out from the oven, quickly dust with powdered sugar and serve.<br />
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Tadaaa... Pass the spoons and see the jaws drop. Enjoy.
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<b>The verdict</b></div>
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Well, once you know the tricks I mentioned above, it really is a very easy dessert to make, and one that has the potential to cause a bit of drama and high impact. It was really very tasty, although next time I will add a bit more chocolate of try a higher percentage cocoa, and forget the cinnamon, since it just got lost in there.<br />
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It's also important not to be tempted to leave it in the over for any longer than the 7 minutes, or you might get a squeaky, quiche like dessert instead of the light and fluffy almost gooey one.<br />
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Will I make it again? definitely, my daughter will see to it that I do!<br />
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<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-35933045034177261372013-11-21T13:08:00.000-08:002013-11-22T05:32:54.239-08:00Brief note about cocoaWell, it is only today that I have the chance to sit down and talk about this week's challenge, and as I did last week, and intend to do so going forward, I'd like to start with a brief note about the chosen ingredient: <b><span style="color: #660000;">fairtrade dark chocolate</span></b>.<br />
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Cocoa is one of the commodities that has enjoyed most success in the fairtrade market in the UK, and it's really no surprise since I was reading that we have the highest amount of retail chocolate and are one of the biggest chocolate consumption countries per capita (I'm sure doing my bit there!).<br />
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There is a strong fairtrade chocolate brand called Divine (also set up by Twin) which has excellent products and a very appealing brand image, and which I'm sure I will use in future, but you can also find many fairtrade varieties of supermarket own brand products, and even giants such as Cadburys and Kit Kat have now converted to fairtrade in recent years... in what we have been calling the 'mainstreaming of fairtrade', which again can give rise to much debate on whether is a good or a bad thing, with many alleging that it's just big bad brands jumping in the bandwagon for the marketing value, and diluting the principles that the label represents, but <i><b>to me</b></i>, as long as it offers better price and volumes to more producers and it helps consumers to find their well loved brands with the fairtrade mark...It can only be a good thing.<br />
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But back to cocoa. One of the things that I learnt about it when I worked with producers, is that its origin is really very important in relation to its taste and that even though that cocoa tree itself seems to have been native to the foothills of the Andes, most of its worldwide production nowadays comes from West Africa. The African cocoa certainly tastes very different to the Latin American varieties and the Europeans seem to favour the taste of the African beans, which is why even though many Latin American coffee producers would like to diversify into cocoa production (which makes sense for many agricultural reasons) they can often struggle to find European buyers for their cocoa's taste profile.<br />
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Even so, one can now see the emergence of many 'peruvian cocoa' chocolate bars in UK supermarkets, but I have to say, that perhaps my palate has become European, because I do find myself preferring the African cocoa varieties too.<br />
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Which is why this week I chose a Ghanaian 70% dark fairtrade chocolate bar from the Co-operative's own brand range. The Co-op has been in the news a lot this week and seems to be in great trouble, which I find is a real shame, since it is one the most 'ethical' supermarkets, at least in discourse!<br />
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I really wanted to add a Ghanaian twist to the souffle, but another thing that I found is often the case is that many cocoa producers never get a chance to try chocolate!, it seems that sadly it's mainly exported for our enjoyment... so, i couldn't find any recipes of Ghanaian desserts containing chocolate, the only thing I found was a version of hot chocolate with lots of cinnamon and ginger. Therefore I decided to add cinnamon to the souffle... it's not much of a twist this time I'm afraid.<br />
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But, enough of that, get your pen an paper ready for this super easy recipe, that can generate great drama and impact! <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-87524076550363506892013-11-13T07:52:00.001-08:002013-11-15T06:02:41.248-08:00Week 2: Ingredient and Recipe chosen Still riding high on last week's success.I have now decided that the ingredient for this week will be <b><span style="color: #660000;">fairtrade dark chocolate,</span></b> which I'm sure I will be able to find in abundance!<br />
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I haven't decided whether to go for a chocolate with Ghanaian or Peruvian cocoa yet... I think I'll do a bit more research into the recipe and method before I do.<br />
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And... just because I'm feeling invincible... I will risk it and aim to make a <b>chocolate souffle</b>! I've never made one before... and know that they are notoriously difficult to make since they have a tendency not to rise... or to collapse as soon as they leave the oven. But hey, it's supposed to be a challenge right?<br />
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Depending on the origin of the cocoa, I'll try to add either a Peruvian or Ghanaian twist as either and ingredient or accompaniment.<br />
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So.. I've got my ramekins at the ready.... but will they rise????<br />
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Here's what they should look like!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-51114019197281654562013-11-11T05:58:00.001-08:002013-11-15T06:01:57.979-08:00Week 1, the results! <h2 style="text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="color: red;">KAJU KATLI using Fairtrade Cashew Nuts </span></b></h2>
So, Lucas (my 1year old) is down for a nap and I'm sipping some coffee and nibbling some <b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">delicious</span></i></b> Kaju Katli sweet (yes, they were delicious!) and I'm very excited about telling you about this week's experience.<br />
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Well, we had a bumpy start because on Saturday after Chris and I visited our favourite 'Exotic Food Shop' and a couple of supermarkets on the quest to find the ingredients...we just couldn't find the cashews we needed! When I chose the recipe I knew i would have no problem finding baked cashew nuts, (because I know Liberation sells them) but I thought that I would surely be able to find raw fairtrade cashews in supermarkets under their own label products... but I was wrong! there were loads of conventional and organic cashews but no raw Fairtrade ones!!!... so, I had a bit of a panic and even thought about baking something else etc... but I had done so much research into the recipe and to the method that I really didn't want to start again... so I just decided to go ahead using organic raw nuts for the paste, but since I would use Fairtrade sugar and the Fairtrade baked cashews to decorate them...I could just about get by calling them Fairtrade! This will serve me as a lesson for planing and preparation in future and it also made me think that there is perhaps a gap in the market!<br />
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Now, to the recipe and preparation method.<br />
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My best friend (through thick and thin as she says.. thick being 2 pregnancies and thin... the bits in between!) Sandra always laughs whenever I mention a recipe I've tried, because she knows that I am simply unable to follow a recipe 100%... I always think that there is too much of this, or not enough of that and that surely it would be better to add this... so in this case it's no different!<br />
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The basic <b>ingredients</b> for Kaju Katlis are:<br />
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1 cup of raw cashews<br />
1/2 cup of Faitrade sugar<br />
1/4 water<br />
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But I saw many variations that also added, either Rose Essence, or Cardamon. So I decided to add both and some coconut rum!, so in my version I also used:<br />
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1/2 teaspoon of Rose Essence<br />
1/2 teaspoon of freshly grounded Cardamon Seeds<br />
1 teaspoon of Caribbean coconut Rum<br />
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Cardamon is I think one of my all time favourite spices, and the smell that most reminds me of India... and reading up about it I found that India is not the main producer and exporter of it... but Guatemala! how random.... especially because I really can't think of any Latin American food that would have it... but that's something to research in future!<br />
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On spices, I should say that I was also kind of hoping to find fairtrade spices... but only saw a ridiculously expensive bottle of vanilla essence (more than £5 for a tiny bottle!) in my quest... again gap in the market?<br />
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To the <b>method</b> itself... which was very simple... but had a couple of sticky steps
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that could go wrong:<br />
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1) Grind the raw cashew nuts to a fine powder. Now, this is one of the tricky bits. I read I could use a coffee bean grinder... but that was a disaster, because the nuts just became a paste and clogged the whole internal mechanisms of the grinder. So, I then just used a normal food processor, which was fine, but the other tip I read about, was to be careful to grind in just one go, rather than stopping and starting, because if you do, the oil from the nuts starts to cluster in small balls and then you will never get smooth Kajus. Also it's important to use nuts at room temperature, and never from the fridge.<br />
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2) Boil the sugar and water on a pan to get a syrup (don't ask why I used sugar cubes... picked up the wring box!). Use a low heat and keep stirring . This is the other sticky point... because you don't want the sugar to burn... in which case you will get caramel. A good tip I found was that if you keep dropping a few drops of water, when they don't dissolve and instead just sit on top, you are there.<br />
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3) Add the Rose Essence, Ground Cardamon and Rum. and stir.<br />
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4) Add the ground cashews and stir for about 3-4 minutes, until the mixture thickens up. You will know when it's ready when you can take a little bit and roll a tiny ball between your fingers, and becomes a little dough ball.<br />
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5) Whilst still hot, you need to transfer it to an oiled work surface. I used baking paper.You also need to grease your hands. You can use Ghee (the Indian clarified butter) if you can find it, but I just used sunflower oil, and it was fine.When it's cool enough to handle, you need to knead the dough for a few minutes, and at this point it will lose its grainy texture and become quite smooth.<br />
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6) Grease your roller pin as well, and roll the dough to a thin layer. I rolled mine to the thickness of about a pound coin, but I think when I do it again, I'll roll them a bit thicker and perhaps cut them smaller... so that they sit nicely next to a cup of coffee. Then using a knife, draw lines and cut out diamonds. At this point I also added that Fairtrade cashew nuts for decoration.<br />
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7) Leave them to cool and ferment, for at least 15 minutes, and then you can remove them and place them in a serving plate. etc. I spent ages trying to arrange mine in the India Star fashion!<br />
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Now to the judges for the results!<br />
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While I cooked, my lovely husband Chris and (master chef extraordinaire of the Minter family) and mum in law Peter entertained the kids by making individual score boards for us to use every week.<br />
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So, what was their verdict (from 1 -5 fingers)<br />
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Big smiles from Lucas and desperate attempts to eat them (he tried a little bit of the sweet bit) and Emilia had stuffed her face with 3 before the others got to them... so i think she liked them too!<br />
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Chris really liked them, but would add more cardamon next time and Pete wasn't sure she liked the saltiness of the baked nuts on top.<br />
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My verdict? To be honest, I've had Indian sweets in the past and have never been able to finish them because they were simply too sweet for me, however that is not the case with them. They reminded me a lot of Baklava... they are sweet, but nutty most of all and yes next time I will add more cardamon and will forget the Rose Essence and Rum, since they just got lost in the mix.<br />
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The real test is whether I will make them again... and the answer is YES... I think they were very easy and are fantastic with a cup of coffee... and since they don't have any milk or eggs, they have a great shelf life, so would make excellent homemade food gifts, perhaps for Christmas maybe in a lovely jar or box (there a millions of ideas in Pinterest!).<br />
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So 5 from me too!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-41544731783935227912013-11-10T08:23:00.000-08:002013-11-15T06:00:16.901-08:00About Liberation and FTAK Before I tell you about the cooking experience, I want to say a little bit about the product I chose for this week's cooking experience: Fairtrade Cashew Nuts, especially because the 2 organisations I will mention are very dear to me.<br />
During my work with a charity called <a href="http://www.twin.org.uk/">Twin Trading </a>, where I leaned everything I know about Fair Trade and where I met and worked with the most committed, intelligent and wonderful people I could have ever hoped for, I was fortunate to work closely with smallholder nut producers from all over the world who sell their nuts in the UK marked via a company that Twin and other committed organisations established in 2007 called <a href="http://www.chooseliberation.com/index.html">Liberation Foods </a>. Liberation is not only special because it's one of the biggest (if not the main) fairtrade nuts importer in the UK, but also because it's mainly <i><b>owned</b></i> by nut producers themselves.<br />
The other organisation I want to mention is Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (<a href="http://www.elementsindia.net/about_e.htm">FTAK</a>), which is a cooperative from Southern India which supplies its cashews to Liberation, and which hosted us in 2008. In particular I want to mention my dear friend Tomy Mathews from FTAK, who is one of my Fair Trade <b><i>heroes</i></b>. Tomy has served in several boards (including the Fairtrade Foundation one) over the past few years and I'm wouldn't be surprised if he ended up taking the role of Head of the United Nations!<br />
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So, this week it was easy to choose the ingredient, because I am a confessed nut-aholic, who had the pleasure of working with many other committed fairtrade nutters from all over the world!.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-24255089986743705222013-11-08T02:11:00.000-08:002013-11-15T06:00:01.068-08:00Momories of India <br />
So, I hinted at our trip to India a couple of posts ago, and since then I
have been reminiscing about the amazing time we had and about how much the
Indian culture and amazing people we met there touched us and I guess in a way
changed our outlook ever since.<br />
I remember reading a passage in my favourite book 'Shantaram' just before
travelling, where the author said that one has to 'surrender' to India... and I
guess I didn’t know what he meant until we got there... I certainly had to
surrender my London notion of personal space very quickly and get used to
crowds of people having no reservations about touching you!... but more importantly
to completely surrender to their genuine smiles and amazing warmness and
generosity... I can’t count how many people we met along the way to couldn’t be
more hospitable and in one case even kidnapped us to their home and offered us
their own beds just so that we could get up early enough to go to their Hindi
temple drumming celebration and dressing of the elephants the next dawn.<br />
I also often think about the yoga sessions we had at dawn on the rooftop of
the monastery where we were staying with, a ‘real’ Yogi instructor... and
sometimes when I am doing my morning Pilates my mind wanders to that place and
looks for that sense of calm and well being. <br />
And don’t even get me started on the backwaters and the tea plantations of Munnar...
but the list is long and I wont bore you anymore... I’ll just make a quiet
promise to return one day.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051456025825752563.post-60809561325993852182013-11-07T02:44:00.001-08:002013-11-15T06:03:56.034-08:00What is Fairtrade anyway?One thing I have been thinking about, is that since many of my family and friends live abroad and might not be familiar with the notion we have here of Fairtrade, I should do a quick paragraph about what Fairtrade is.<br />
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Of course you can find a lot of detailed, and probably more technical and precise information on websites such as this one: <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/what_is_fairtrade/faqs.aspx">Fairtrade Foundation UK</a>, but having worked in the field for the last 8 years I will give you <b><i>my</i></b> <b><i>understanding</i></b> of it.<br />
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Fairtrade seeks to help people in developing countries <b>trade</b> their way out of poverty. This means, on the producer side, that people receive a 'fair' minimum price as well as a premium for development. It most cases it also means that they can develop relationships with buyers that often transpires in technical assistance, capacity building and general guidance, all of which helps them improve the quality of their products and to become more competitive and resilient in the international markets in which they trade in.<br />
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On the consumer side, people can recognise and choose products which carry (in the UK) the below label:<br />
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The label tells consumers that the company that bought and commercialised the product has adhered to internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. </div>
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There are other labels and much debate about other types of 'ethical' trade certifications, but for the purpose of this Blog, I will not go into that and will simply limit my 'cooking experiments' to products that carry this one. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17205507427402880146noreply@blogger.com0