All about Honey

A product just as sweet as sugar, and produced by flowers and bees.

It’s been said that honey is one of the products for immortality. Well, it could just be. With all the vitamin C, different minerals and antioxidants it is good for one.

In ancient Egypt honey was used to sweeten cakes and biscuits, as an offer to the fertility God and embalming the dead. Whereas in China the importance of beekeeping and the wooden box was defined that would help with the quality and effects of the honey. And in Spain the oldest rock painting of honey seekers was dated to about 8000 years ago.  The oldest found honey was found in a vessel unearthed in a tomb that dated back to between 4500 and 5500 years ago.

Honey is made from the nectar of flowers. The honey bees that mainly produces honey is also more commonly known as by beekeepers. Honey is produced from regurgitation and evaporation. It is stored in honeycombs inside the beehive.

Due to honeys low water content it is difficult for bacteria to grow on or in it. However thee natural enzymes found in honey van be dangers to infants, which can leas so illness.

In general honey is enjoyed with a lot of food types. Mostly sweet. Like with Rooibos tea, apples in a honey-apple cake, on bread. Even sauces and dressings, like honey and mustard. Traces of honey can even be found in beer and wine.

Honey contains natural: fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, water sugar and a very small amount of ash.

Honey can also be found in a variety of natural flavours such as Fynbos, Buchu, citrus and many more.  Other products such as candles and body products are also made from honey and the honeycomb.

So then the main question is, do you have a favourite flavour honey or do you like it natural or honey product?

 

Salt of the earth.

It is said that the human body would perish in the absence of salt, that salt will cleanse an area of negative or harmful energy and that salt had once created and destroyed empires.

Civilization was catapulted forwards upon the discovery of this magic element, for it can be used in a thousand and one ways – from ferociously attacking harmful bacteria in precious food, to purification of the skin.

The word “salary” is derived from the word ‘salt’, as this was the monthly reward for the service of Roman soldiers and most important of all – salt is seen as a symbol of goodness in multiple religions.

Readily available to us today, we are ignorant of the fact that salt was once worth more than gold.....and if we think about it – we need it for our survival more than we will ever need money. We have a physical relationship with salt – it makes EVERYTHING taste better! Even sugar. Especially when sprinkled over a glass of cold chocolate milk... J

 

This particular picture was taken in Paternoster – a small coastal town on the shores of the Western Cape, and was harvested by hand in Tietiesbaai by Chef Kobus van der Merwe.(see http://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-Light-Writers/501763773193147?ref=hl)

To chefs, seeing salt in its crystalline form is nothing out of the ordinary, but the salt above is a beauty – some of the flakes were as big as a 5 rand coin – indicating the purity of this product. And immediately appealing to the Wild Child within me, for I know if I lived a thousand years ago, I would also have harvested this with my own hands – living an uncomplicated, natural life.

No matter the amount of salt your palate demands or what religion you are (if any), may every salt crystal you consume from this day forth, remind you that you have goodness within you.

That you are worth every salt molecule that resides in your blood.

That you could be Salt of the Earth!

....may you claim this.

And may your words be filled with grace, seasoned with salt.

Col.4:6

Paternoster- A treasure within

Who would’ve ever thought that a quaint little West Coast town can hold such beauty and talent? When we drove into the town on the narrow, poorly paved gravel I did not expect much at all! I was wrong…It is the South African equivalent to Europe’s Greece. White houses with coloured shutters are lined all along the beach front and the slim roads are bustling with energetic people. School children are cheerfully running around and older people are sitting on their porches, sipping tea and looking out over the picturesque turquoise ocean.  Vendors are walking around trying to sell crayfish that they claim, ‘they just took out of the water’ and seagulls are assaulting each other for the last morsel of leftover crumbs. There was not even the hint of a breeze – very rare for the West Coast- and the sun was sitting high. It was, in truth, the perfect day.

 

We stopped in front of a little white building with a bright red wooden door. A sign on the wall said “Die Winkel Op Paternoster”.  In front of the petite shop stood an old black bicycle and a wine barrel filled with old grass brooms- the same ones the older residents still use today out of habit, although they are not very effective. On the side of the building bougainvilleas of every colour were leaping over the low white wall. We had absolutely no idea what the day would hold for us, but the excitement was beginning to rise.

We entered the shop and I was stunned by what you could buy there- literally anything from biscuits to cutlery to clothes.  The walls were filled with portraits and old bookshelves with hundreds of books. In one corner was an old fashioned typewriter and in another corner was a shelf filled with enamel pots and mugs- just like my grandmother used to have in her kitchen on the farm.

We were greeted by big, friendly faces and were then led to the back, into the courtyard where the restaurant is. It was closed due to the fact that it was a Monday, so we had the whole place to ourselves. There we met the pleasant chef/blogger, Kobus van der Merwe, who shared his views and beliefs with us…

Fynbos is local to the West Coast and because it is so widely obtainable and freely available, Kobus uses it in plenty of his dishes, if not all of them. We learned a great deal about the different types of Fynbos and what you can do with each one of them. It was mind-blowing. He also uses seafood predominantly because it is readily available and in demand. Paternoster is well known for their mussels, oysters and bokoms- which is dried fish- and thus he almost always has them on his menu. The menu is written on a black board and changes daily, depending on what he can get hold of. Like he says; “fresh is always best”.

He cooked up four different dishes for us so we could taste it and take some photos of it. The flavours were incredible together…nothing like you would ever expect!

This is one of the dishes that we tasted. It is kabeljou- farmed in Paternoster- on a fig leaf with a buchu stalk and some Darling farm butter on top of it. It is then put into a bag and cooked ‘en papilotte’ in the oven for six minutes.  It is amazing how the subtle flavour of the crispy fig leaf complements the fish and how the melted butter connects everything.

 

It was an incredible experience and I will definitely make the drive to Paternoster just to go and have a stupendous meal at “Oep Ve Koep - Die Winkel Op Paternoster”!

Afterwards, we drove down the narrow main road towards the pale, white beach to have a late lunch at the local ‘Voorstrandt ‘restaurant – seemingly the best (and only open) restaurant in town. The red wooden building is situated directly on the beach. They were jam-packed but luckily we got a table outside on the deck and could enjoy a plate of fresh hake and chips with a stunning sea view. 

This was a fantastic experience and I would definitely go to Paternoster again tomorrow if I got the chance… a place that would permanently be remembered.

 Marvellous Mareli

 

Babelonstoren - The Promised Land

A garden of utter abundance. Rows of fig trees, olive tree orchards, bright orange pumpkin patches and golden, sweet fruit dangling from the branches.  A garden overflowing with milk and honey.  Babelonstoren must be what God meant when he spoke of The Promised Land.

A recent day spent in the kitchen at Babel Restaurant left me in awe of their striking gardens.  The morning started with obtaining our ingredients.  I got handed a basket and sent into the eight acres of lush, green gardens to harvest for the day’s needs. 

In previous restaurants you just asked ‘Did the deliveries come in yet?”

On our morning harvest I was handed a plum. With the first bite of breaking into that skin to expose the bright yellow flesh, I was grinning from ear to ear.  Soon I had the sweetest plum juices dripping down my face.  This is how we were meant to eat. 

I don’t think the Greek gods ever intended for us to push a cold metal trolley, impassively placing fruit in a plastic bag and handing it to a poker-faced cashier, paying through your neck, getting stuck in traffic and eventually placing your fruit in the veg compartment of the refrigerator to ‘enjoy at leisure’.

Perhaps Babel got it right?  You move through the gardens in the morning, find what in the vegetable patch is ready – perfectly ripe – and use that.  A menu dictated by the garden.  What the garden is ready to give you.

I distinctly remember getting my hands dirty as I gathered some beetroot, a humbling experience that made me treat my produce throughout the day with much more respect.  A concept I think the Babel team fully grasp.

What is put on your plate isn’t bashed or pounded.  It isn’t cut up into mind bogglingly precise blocks.  They maintain the integrity of the product, letting it speak for itself.

Walking through the gardens is humbling.  It makes one realise how far the human race has wondered off the path onto the well travelled road of consumerism. I hate myself for sheepishly following the herd.

An occasional breath of fresh air from the lush, green gardens is needed, if only to remind you of how it was designed to be enjoyed.

Babelonstoren might just be the gift from God in this wearisome age of consumerism.  The Promised Land of the twenty first century.

Lady Liezl

By the Fig and the Olive

By the fig and the olive

Cultivated  9400 years before Christ already,  the Romans were the first to feast on the fig. Seductively shaped like a round buttocks, inky-black skin and the way the flesh yields when slightly pressed between two fingers......how can it NOT be seen as the Fruit from Paradise?

 

It is said that the red-faced Adam and Eve clad themselves in fig leaves after sinfully indulging in the forbidden fruit and after that, fig leaves can be seen throughout ancient artworks – covering the genitals of nude statues or gods in paintings or sculptures. In the Bible, Jesus sought a fig tree when he was hungry and in the holy Qur’an, there is an oath which rings: “By the fig and the Olive” I swear.  Muhammad states that if he had to mention one fruit which descended from Paradise – it would be the faithful fig.

Eaten fresh, dried or in spreadable preserved form, the fig does not disappoint. Though not very fragrant on the nose, the fig is robust with rich flavour – its sweetness similar to that of dates or raisins, even though it is not dried. Beautifully shaped and coloured, you can find them in shades of black, to purple to green. Inside, though, they are all painted with hues of pink.

The gluttonous Romans feasted on them, the gods searched for them, Jesus nourished the hungry with them and apparently Buddha achieved enlightenment under a sacred fig tree....... all I can say for sure, is that when my teeth sinks into the soft tendrils of this sacred fruit, I suddenly become a roman goddess – nourishing myself with its  flesh.... and finding myself in Nirvana.

 

Elsebe Cronje

Salt and Pepper

The 2 main seasoning ingredients to lift the flavour of any dish. In such a way that the flavours burst in your mouth and do something similar to a happy dance on one’s taste buds. It can lift the flavours of even a simple dessert dish.  

Salt is seen as of the purest ingredients and products in some cultures.  It is believed to keep out all bad energy, ghosts and even demands.

Pepper was seen as a very expansive trading item.

Then you get all the salt and pepper saying:

Like: back to the salt mines; eat someone’s salt; to have something hung up and salted; and then also the more common rub salt in the wound; salt of the earth and worth ones salt.

In Afrikaans it’s said that something is “Peper duur” and another is pepper someone or something with something.

Well the Pink pepper corn as I allocated is not a pepper corn. It is in fact a berry of 2 trees that are native to Brazil and Peru.  And these berries are related to the cashew nut and mango family. The flavour and aromatics are citrus with pepper and that is why it compliments all types of dishes so well even desserts.  The American has also managed have the trees grow wild in California, Texas, and Florida. The pink pepper corn can also refer the ripeness of the red pepper corns. They have the texture that is more fluffy almost hollow.

For the salt that accompanies the pepper I have Himalayan Pink salt.  It is commonly known as rock salt from Pakistan. These wonderful from pink to almost translucent white salt crystals are mined in the second largest salt mine in the world that is situated 300km from the Himalayas. These salt crystals contain up to 84 minerals, and have a good amount of iodine that is very good for one self and for ones off spring if you should conceive.  This wonderful range of reddish to white salt can be used as bath salt, table salt or for brine.

Recipes:

Pink pepper corn Macaroons with a Himalayan Pink salt Ice cream:

Pink Pepper corn Macaroons:

30ml corn flour

165g almond flour
20ml pink pepper corns- grounded
200g icing sugar
200g caster sugar
120g egg whites

 

Whisk egg whites till soft peak
Add icing and caster sugar- spoon by spoon
Mix the corn flour, ground pink peppercorns and almond flour in a spate bowl
Fold the flour mix into meringue
Pipe and let it stand for 5-10min
Bake at 120˚C for 23min

 

Himalayan Pink Salt Ice cream:

500ml milk
250ml cream
8 yolks
200g sugar
1 vanilla pod- seeds
15ml glucose
10ml Himalayan Pink Salt

 

Scald milk, cream and vanilla
Cream yolks, salt and sugar together
Add hot liquid to egg yolk mix while whisking
Return to heat until thicken
Leave to cool and churn.

-Lovley Lize

"Black Magic"

Garlic, one of the most underrated aromatics within cooking. Everyone goes on about the importance of salt and pepper and how essential it is to make a killer dish, I say they are wrong!

Garlic is an aromatic that lays the foundation of a good dish or meal, it’s that one ingredient that is not seen as ‘high class’, but packs a power full punch. It’s the Mohamed Ali of aromatics. You know when it floated through a dish like a butter fly and you KNOW when it stings like a bee.

Black Garlic is the all new and improved aromatic - the Mike Tyson if you want to call it that. Black Garlic is not a garlic variety; it’s rather original garlic in an aged state. Garlic contains sugars and amino acids. When it is metabolised, the element melanoidin is found. This results in the garlic turning black. The Garlic is placed in a sealed container and kept at 60˚c for six weeks. You can keep the garlic in for longer periods because the process will just further. 

Garlic has plenty of antioxidants which help to fight against diseases and your common flu and cold infections and does not get destroyed in the process; acid cytosine was found to have increased within the black garlic due to the process it goes through.

And No! Garlic does not keep vampires away; it would if there were such things as vampires. There is one true myth about garlic and that’s “garlic breath”, but being a garlic fanatic I have come up with a way to solve it …everyone should just eat garlic!

 

-          Gourmet Garth

Quince: Beauty in a Bottle

 

 

Quince - a somewhat peculiar fruit.  Is it in fact an overgrown, deformed pear?  To me, it resembles the rock slopes it is found on, with its robust shape – not one looking the same- with its grey and brown stains on its slightly furry outer layer.  This yellow-green produce is truly the ugly duckling of the apple-family.

In my opinion this might simply be the reason for its numerous uses- because this isn’t really a spectacle fruit we rather transform it. We put it in glass.  The natural high acidity in the quince lends itself toward making a quince wine.  In its turn the high level of pectin found in it makes it an excellent contender for preserves.  The most striking, pink blushed preserve.   And that’s the way I’ve come to see beauty in this unattractive yellow-rock-fruit. 

Anyone who has ever made a preserve knows that it’s a process of endurance.  Love, care and a lot of time is put into that little glass jar.  A little bit of yourself is canned in that jam jar.  So naturally every culture’s preserve will also look a bit different.

The Lebanese dress up their jelly with a pomegranate paste to be enjoyed with shank and other meat.  Portuguese make quince cheese, their Spanish neighbours use the pectin-bomb-jam for terrines and Italians make a mustard like preserve.

 For me, my family makes a plain Afrikaans kweper konfyt.  Simply a process of cooking the fruit, passing the pulp and waiting for the sweet aroma which calls you for a final taste before it is sterilized in bottles and placed prominently on the highest kitchen shelf to showcase, your  now truly beautiful quince. 

All said, yes the quince is ugly.  But when you know the treasure that it holds, you can see the beauty despite its exterior.  A natural gift you can interpret in your own little jar.

 

Lady Liezl

Dragon fruit:

Dragon fruit or maybe to some more commonly known as the ‘beautiful pink fruit’, is native to Mexico, South America and the Central America. It comes from the cactus plant, Hylocereus, which only blooms at night time and has large, white, fragrant flowers that are just as beautiful as the fruit itself.  The fruit comes in 3 colours: two have pink skin, but with different coloured flesh of which one is white and the other one red, while another type is yellow with white flesh.

This red skinned fruit can weigh up to 1kg and is even used in some folk medicine to reduce headache symptoms. It has a juicy flesh, but regrettably has a dull and bland taste with a mild sweetness as most people would describe it. Almost like a melon or kiwi fruit.

The seeds can be dried and used for numerous things- the best of which would be to eat it just as is. Like I believe- natural is always best. It is unpretentious and genuine. 

Dragon fruit can also survive temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius which is probably why they originated in Mexico.  It contains several vitamins and antioxidants and is also very low in calories for those who are on a strict diet- although I think that food is too glorious to waste your time and energy on dieting and not be able to enjoy the contentment that food gives you…especially dragon fruit sorbet on a hot summers day!

 

- Marvellous Mareli

Introducing the Foodlightwriters team:

(In order of the pictures from the left hand corner)

Since the age of 7 I wanted to be a chef. My passion for cooking started with me helping my mom in the kitchen. I'd always give her a hand where I could, even if it was just to break eggs into a bowl for her...Little did I know that it was there where the foundation of my cheffing career was built.

In 2011 I packed my bags and came to the beautiful Cape Wine lands to start my studies at the ICA.

My food philosophies are:
To use only the freshest produce and ingredients.
Only to use good quality meat.
I believe in 'nose to tail' cooking.
Never stop learning from anybody.
It is about the food and customer not just money.

I am a chef with passion, dedication and the desire to make a name for myself in the industry one day! Follow me and join me in my growth within the industry…

-Gourmet Garth

To be lady like when confronted with food is difficult.  It might even be near to impossible.  When a tall, dark cake covered with a glistering chocolate ganaché  is placed in front of me, I can honestly say that a thought such as ‘I want to put my face in it’ is probably passing through my mind. 

As a Chef I’ve been trained and become accustomed to fine dining etiquette, foams and spheres and 14 smaller portions rather than a Sunday roast – all aspects that add to my admiration for the art of fine dining.  Yet I am also captivated by the beauty of a simple raw candy striped beetroot, without all the make-up chefs can paint on it.

However presented, for me it comes down to this:  Food is the only art form that entices all five the senses. It is the experiences with food that entrance me, that make me utterly in love with food.  So please pardon me if I am sometimes not too lady like when it comes to food, for I want to know that I’ve experienced food in all its forms and facets and indulged in my love… my food.

-Lady Liezl

 

 

artist. naturalist. lover of delectable things.

Food is Love,

Love is All.

My aspirations include seeing the world in all its tastes, textures, smells and sounds and to make my life - a living work of art.

It is good to be aware of the feel of the world around you.

It is good to see the world through the lens of beauty.

Showering in salted caramel? Yes please.

-Exquisite Elsebe

I have a great love for good food- if it is off the braai, at a sit down dinner in an excellent restaurant, or even to indulge in a nice cold apple. 

One thing that I have to get used to is being able to get produce from my garden. To select the perfect vegetable and pulling it out of the ground to see how gorgeous it is, has a certain thrill to it.

My love for pastry and desserts come first in the kitchen.  I enjoy working cold section as well as larder section, but pastry section is my love. Pastry and desserts are like the round off to the perfect meal.

My heart lies in the kitchen.  I love the thrill of the kitchen and all the adrenaline. The kitchen becomes your home and the people become your family. Food is definitely my passion in life.

-Lovely Lize

Being a chef was what I dreamed about for most of my life- or rather, being a pastry chef. My family refers to me as the ‘Queen of Cakes’, because my life literally revolves around eggs, flour, sugar and butter- the key ingredients to making any kind of cake, cupcake, tart or pastry.

Baking takes time, concentration, patience and sometimes a lot of effort, or as we were taught in chef school, the 4 P’s of pastry- persistence, patience, perfection and precision. It is a form of art that I find comfort in.

To know me you need to know that I can be a very stubborn person- just like a cake can be when the icing doesn’t want to set or the meringue just does not want to fluff enough. Thus we need to reach an agreement- which of course always has to come from my side. I mean, can you see a cake understand a humans mind?

I’m very enthusiastic and eager to learn. I try to rather see the positive in life and enjoy challenges immensely. I’m a sensitive person (although you should probably not say this when you are a chef) and of course....I am in love with food!

The contentment that a piece of freshly baked bread with farm butter can give you is immense. The satisfaction that you get when people eat your food and cannot get enough is marvellous. The glee a single cupcake can give you is mind-boggling.

I call myself Marvellous Mareli, because the concept that food brings people together, is absolutely marvellous.

-Marvellous Mareli

Hatching

Hatching from being JUST a chef...

To being a glamorous food stylist, a creative food photographer, an inspiring celebrity chef or an innovative food writer! We are all embarking on our dream food journeys, each with our own unique destination. 

We invite you to follow us on this journey as we expose you to the enticing world of FOOD.