The Vegan Chocolate Mousse Fruit

Sapote ripening

Sapote eaten after ripening

Black Sapote is known as the Chocolate Pudding Fruit. Diospyros nigra is a species of persimmon (Sapotaceae). Like so many fruit, it has been cultured by the peoples of the Mexico, Central America and Colombia. The tropical fruit “has more than three times the amount of Vitamin C than an orange does."

Davidson's Plums with Cashew Cream

GET
Plums
15 Davidson's plums/ Oorays
1 Vanilla pod (forget extracts)
10 Tbsp maple syrup

Cashew cream:
120 g cashew seeds
5 Tbsp filtered water
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
A dash of lemon juice
A pinch of salt

Click to enlarge

DO
Soak the cashews 2 - 6 hours before in water. Preheat the oven. Wash plums, cut and remove seeds. Cut the skin very fine and the pulp can be chopped. Mix the content of the vanilla orchid pod and the syrup and add it to the plums. Place in a casserole and roast for 20 - 30 min at 190°C. Keep an eye on the roasting process. Stir if necessary or even add water. It is not to go black!

Place cashews in a sieve and rinse. Pound in a mortar (or blender). Add the remaining ingredients as you go. Taste and add more sweetener or water if necessary.

The plums can be served warm or cold with the cashew cream.

Davidson's plum sauce
Cinnamon biscuits filled with Davidson plum jam

Creeping Cucumbers, Cucamelon or Mouse Melons

The Mexican miniature watermelons (Melothria scabra) are an edible fruit. They look like 'mouse' melons but appear like little cucumbers when cut up. The skin is rather tough and the center is like a juicy center of a cucumber.

Our mouse peeled them and chopped them into a salad.

Another method was to pour boiling water over them, let them stand for 30 min. Cut the tops off and press out the 'cucumber' pulp into dressings or salads. Capsicums, cut into thin strips were also mixed in a salad with the cucamelon pulp.

The fruit of the pretty, high-yielding vines are also very suitable for pickles.

Yet again another meso-american cultural product.

Bunya and Lima Bean Soup

GET
40 bunya nuts
350 g lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) or
the burgundy-speckled heirloom variety
5 carrots, finely chopped 
2 leeks, the white bits only finely chopped
Some green beans, finely chopped
2 zucchinis, finely chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
Bouquet garni
Pepper
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Olive oil
all organic and filtered water

Click 10 kg Bunya pine cone pattern

DO
Wash and soak the 'butter beans' the night before. Add fresh filtered water, the bay, bouquet garni and pepper, cover and boil. Scoop off possible froth and discard. Turn down the heat and cook for 30 min. Add the peeled bunya nuts and cook for another 25 min.

Fry the onion in olive oil golden. Add the leek, the carrots and then the beans. Fry for 15 min and stir. Add the content to the soup pot. Add the zucchini bits and the garlic and some of the parsley. Cook for another 10 min. and remove the bouquet garni.

Both the beans and bunya nuts will sink to the bottom of the pot. Stir before serving, sprinkle with parsley and serve with a baguette.

Lima beans cultured by Meso-American civilisation

All Bunya dishes  
Bunya Nuts Pine Nuts: How to Prepare for cooking
Bunya Pine Nuts with Aubergine
Bunya Spaghetti Napolitana
Kumera Bunya Soup
Bunya Pine Nuts in Coconut Milk 
Bunya pine nuts in green tomato sauce 
Bunya Mushroom Ragout with Buckwheat noodles

Bunya kernels cultured by Australian indigenous civilisation

Omelette with Heirloom Green Zebra and Other Tomato Varieties

Click to enlarge

Here are two varieties of egg dishes with green heirloom tomatoes or yellow and cherry tomatoes. For vegans the eggs can be substituted with tofu. The dish can be served as a hearty breakfast or a lunch. All ingredients should be organic.


GREEN Tomato Eggs
2 -3 medium  “Green Zebra” (Solanum lycopersicum)
NB they are not unripe tomatoes!
Basil

DO
Skin the ripe tomatoes using boiling water. Slice them and add to the hot olive oil. When cooked, push to the side and add the scrambled eggs into the rest of the pan. Cook and serve with 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh basil.

YELLOW and Cherry Tomato Eggs with Dill
Heat oil in the pan. Add cherry and yellow tomatoes and fry for a few minutes. Slide egg mixture into the pan. Cook until set. Turn over. Sprinkle with chopped dill. Feta pieces could also be added.

The EGGS
1 1/2 bantam eggs per person
Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl with a little water and mix well with a fork.



VEGAN
225g silken tofu
1 tsp Soya sauce
1 small onion
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 small potatoes ( boiled yesterday)
Olive oil
Chives

DO
Fry finely chopped onions in hot olive oil, add small potato cubes. Mash the silken tofu in a bowl with a fork and add the Soya sauce and the finely grated turmeric. Add mixture to the pan and cook. Sprinkle with finely chopped chives.

More on ripe green tomatoes
The Battery Rooftop Garden has an interesting post on the heirloom Green Zebra. And there is some tomato art of Uli Westphal giving an insight into the amazing variety of the tomato plant family.



More egg dishes
Omelette with mushrooms and thyme
Asparagus eggs

Dragon fruit - Pitaya Cactus with Lychees

Another fossil fuel powered heatwave calls for just fruit. Pitaya or "dragon fruit" is a night-blooming cactus with an edible fruit of various colours. This Hylocereus is yet again another food developed by Mesoamerican culture.

It has to be just ripe, overripe leaves an unpleasant taste behind. The seeds have a similar crunch to that of the Kiwi. The skin should be bright and even-colored. One can cut it in half and scoop it out (for further dessert processing) or peel it and cut it into chunks. The skin is discarded. When cut into slices, cookie cutters  can make decorative shapes.

The lychee fruit (Litchi chinensis) are best refrigerated and peeled just before consumption. The tastes vary from sweet to sour. Some have very large stones, some hardly any.

Black and White Sapote

Black Sapote

Black sapote, (Diospyros nigra) is like the best chocolate mousse without all the animal matter and sugar. When ripe it is one of the most delicious desserts. The tropical Chocolate Pudding Fruit or Chocolate Persimmon has been cultured in Mexico and Central America, but is now widely grown. A light cooling in the fridge, cut in halves and served with a spoon.

Black Sapote

The white sapote, (Casimiroa edulis) was also cultivated in the same region. When ripe the flesh tastes like vanilla custard. The seeds are larger than in the black sapote. One could use the pulp in a smoothie or desserts. With both fruit over ripeness is to be avoided.
 

White Sapote

Hot chocolate

Get
1½ heaped tbsp organic pure (100%) cocoa powder from fair trade
⅓ l organic milk (or unsweetened soya milk)
½ l water

Do
Boil water.
Mix dry cocoa powder in a jug to reduce lumps.
Mix boiling water into the powder.
Heat milk in a small saucepan until it rises.
Add to the liquid and mix well.
Serve hot.

Sweetness
Hot chocolate tastes best unsweetened. It is important not to use too much cocoa powder or it becomes bitter (rather than stronger). Soya milk is naturally a little sweeter than cow milk. If anyone requests it sweeter they may add a sweetening agent to their cup.

Sweet Cacao & Vanilla