Taste - Pure and Simple

VANILLA STEWED SANTA ROSA PLUMS WITH YOGHURT LABNE

I drizzled just a bit of Heilala vanilla paste mixed with a little bit of water over - enough to delight, but not overwhelm

We were doing a shoot for Clean Food Organic magazine on Friday, an article on Nourishing Young Children.... including early foods (after first foods). I wanted to present a simple yoghurt with a fruit puree, settling on Santa Rosa Plums as they are in season and glorious. The chapter for first foods in my book Wholefood for Children, Nourishing Young Children with Whole and Organic Foods, is headed Pure and Simple, and honestly this very much what it's all about. Pure, simple food is exceptionally grounding - I honestly think our recipes have become far too complicated, and the real taste of ripe, seasonal food, grown in nutrient rich soil in a sustainable manner is really, quite astonishing. This is equally as important for teenagers and adults. Pure and simple.

I do love fresh fruit don't get me wrong, but when the flavour is concentrated by stewing or baking, it simply crosses the blood brain barrier, and whacks you directly in the taste centre of the brain. Now that's not a scientific opinion but it's my belief that it absolutely becomes more than it's initial ripe self. I have a particular way I like to stew fruit - and that is with as little liquid added as possible which only serves to dilute the flavour. Remove peel or stone as indicated by the fruit (peel apples, stone plums etc) and chop them into desired size - as a rule, I cut wet fruit (stone fruit) into halves, and berries left whole. Drier fruit such as apples I cut into very thin slices or cubes. Add them to a pot with the smallest amount of sugar if needed - just enough to take the edge off - I like to use the Billingtons Golden Castor sugar - the least refined, clear crystallised sugar available to me - this allows the pure flavour of the fruit to come through, 1 - 2 teaspoons, more for a larger amount. This is no place for rapadura, maple sugar etc. Add 1/2 - 1 vanilla bean, cut down the middle ( I'm in love with Heilala, has a beautiful nuance of flavour). For very dry fruit such as apple, I'll add a tiny bit of water. Cover and place over the gentlest of flames until juices are seeping from the fruit - this takes from 10 - 15 minutes, so be patient. Take the lid of, taste and adjust sweetness as desired, increase the flame to high and reduce to desired consistency. I leave the vanilla bean in because I'm making enough to last me for a few days - ooh, a quick dessert to serve with a rice custard - yes thank you, or serve on an autumn porridge or pikelets, yes thank you, or morning tea with yoghurt, yes please :), and let's not forget, fold into a vanilla ice cream Yes, Yes, Yes ! Puree for baby.

Labne - really, this is simply strained yoghurt or kefir and this is proper thick yoghurt, where the watery part of the milk - the whey - is dripped off. Those thick yoghurts you find in the shops - albeit organic? You don't want them. They're thickened up with milk solids (no, no, no). My favourite brand is Paris Creek (Bio - Dynamic) - but when I can get it, I like the Shulz Organic Yoghurt also (couldn't find a website for them) and you'll notice they are decidedly more watery than the others. This is what real yoghurt looks like. The idea is to take a sieve (but you know, you could use a colander though it's a little large) and place over a bowl to catch the whey. Line it with 4 layers of muslin. Add the yoghurt and fold the corners of the muslin over the yoghurt. In the cooler weather you can leave it out to drip, when warmer, put it in the fridge. There's no time rule - the longer it drips, the thicker it becomes as more whey drips out. You choose what consistency you'd like. And keep that whey - place it in a clean glass jar in the fridge for up to 2 months. You use this for all sorts of things - soaking your grains, porridge,  legumes, culturing dried fruits (see Wholefood for Children), adding to pancake or pikelet mix to culture overnight etc. The labne is gorgeous also in a savoury format - drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and herbs, or served in place of cream - mix with cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup.

There are some beautiful fruits right now at this point of time in Australia - late summer, very early autumn. Plums, Figs, Peaches. Find some, keep them simple, taste their pure essence and take a snapshot of that flavour with your mouth. When you are tired of apples in the deepest parts of winter, you can file back through your taste memories and I know you will smile, and feel that essence flow through you once again. This is what good food, healthy food truly is. It gives you life, and makes you feel alive, all in one glorious, delicious whole moment. Go grab that moment.