Raw Honey

Last night I tried out a few experimental recipes from various cookbooks I have in my kitchen library but it was my own dessert recipe, whipped up on the spur of the moment, that I got that 5 stars for.

The secret to this lovely sweet is the power of warmed, newly harvested raw honey. When I say raw, I mean honey that has not been preheated and remixed with sugar by the food industry. You can find it sold in the small boutiques and by beekeepers in your area.  As you know, I am a beekeeper, so it isn’t hard for me to find raw honey.

I had six very mature bananas resting in the fruit bowl on my kitchen counter, last year’s rosewater (liquid from aromatic rose petals immersed in brandy) and more jars of newly harvested honey than I can count, I set to work as follows:

Flambéd Fruit with Honey
Serves 4

4 mature (but not black) bananas peeled and halved lengthwise (it doesn’t matter if the bananas break into smaller pieces)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
50 g or 2 oz butter for sautéing
1 dl or 1/2 cup brandy, warmed
1 dl or 1/2 cup raw honey
Vanilla ice cream or whipping cream

Warm the honey in a small pan. Do not allow to boil. Whip the cream or remove the vanilla ice cream from the freezer. Place 4 dessert bowls on the counter so that it is easy to assemble the dessert quickly and serve.

Douse the newly sliced bananas in lemon juice. Sauté the bananas in a thick-bottomed pan in butter until lightly browned. Don’t over-handle the bananas as they will become mushy. Flambé the bananas for your dining audience by momentarily bringing the pan near the table, throwing the warm brandy over the bananas and setting it alight. As soon as the flame has died down, spoon the bananas into the bowls and top with one scoop of vanilla ice cream plus a generous drizzle of warm honey. Serve immediately.

As with all desserts, in fact all foods, please remember to stick to small portions. This is a lovely sweet to round off the meal, not the main feature of a second meal after the first meal!

The Makings of a Great Fruit Salad!

There are fruit salads and then there are FRUIT SALADS. I recently invited some friends over and one of them insisted that she must bring along her fruit salad: “I make a mean one”, she said. “O.K., O.K.”, I thought. Must let the guests participate.

My friend arrived here with several plastic bags full of fruit and promptly asked me for a large bowl. Within a short time, she walked in with the most luscious looking fruit salad that I have ever seen. Just the visuals were a joy to behold. The taste was out of this world. I was humbled. Never doubt the guests!

I asked my friend for her fruit salad recipe but she preferred to offer me a few principles which I share with you here:

Tips for the Ultimate Fruit Salad

1. Squeeze lemon juice into the bottom of the bowl.

2. Start with the apples – they are firmest.

3. Cut in small bit-sized chunks – no big challenging chunks!

4. Make sure you remove the peel – the secret to the softness of this delightful fruit salad.

5. Add in other fruits starting with firmest and progressing to least firm. Bananas always come last.

6. Don’t throw in any crunchy stuff – nuts, raisins, etc. – keep this a smooth affair!

7. Just prior to serving, pour over a fruit smoothie with a light color. Make sure you choose a high quality smoothie with low sugar and high fruit content. You can make this yourself or buy one from the supermarket.

8. Garnish with some decorative fruits such as physillis.

I warn you, if you do this right, it is an other-worldly experience!