Found in a bag of Hooton’s new potatoes.
This may be a record!
The Worlds Smallest Potato
How best to cook this?
Posts Tagged With: hootons homegrown farm shop
‘Uglies’ – The Jerusalem Artichoke
Sweet Uglies (after a hair cut)
I know Celeriac is sometimes called the ugly one, but surely the Jerusalem Artichoke takes this title. All those knobbles, lumps and hairy bits! We affectionately call them ‘Uglies’.
These ‘chokes’ are delicious though and have been a staple in the B.H.K. all winter, with Hootons Homegrown offering a cheap and constant supply. Although they grow in abundance in the U.K., they are a rarely used veg. I have been eating them with glee, without really knowing much about them. Were they from Jerusalem?
The Jerusalem Artichoke is regarded as one of the finest tubers, faintly mushroomy in flavour, sweet and nutty. When roasted they caramelise and when boiled make a great mash, treat them like a potato, with the exception that they are amazing raw. Grated or chopped on salads they can add great crunch and go best with something salty.
The name is completely misleading, the Jerusalem Artichoke is not from Jerusalem or an artichoke! They actually hail from North America where they were cultivated by Native Americans and are sometimes called a ‘sunchoke’ or ‘earth apple’ which are far cooler names. They are the root of a plant belonging to the same family as the sunflower, the ‘Jerusalem’ maybe comes from the Italian word for sunflower ‘girasole’.
A word of warning. These tubers store the carbohydrate inulin, which is a good source of fructose. However, the inulin cannot be broken down by the body causing flatulence and potential discomfort. This explains alot! In the 17th century, a disgruntled English gardener was quoted as saying:
“which way soever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine than men.”
They are sometimes used as cattle feed. In Germany they make a liquor from the root called ‘Topi’.
The ‘uglies’ should maybe called the ‘windies’, either way, they are coming to the end of their season in Britain and are well worth the risk of a little after dinner wind!
The Buzz Smoothie
The Morning Zing!
It’s called ‘The Buzz’ for a reason. It’s a real lipsmacker!
This beats a double espresso buzz any day. One glass and you’re de-fuzzed. After drinking this concoction, the fruit sugars (fructose) and vitamins get to work and the morning coffee jolt seems a little beige in comparison.
It’s a vibrant looking number and bursting with citrus, sweet apple and carrot flavours. Packed full of all the good stuff that you need in the morning to get you fired up for another day of life. It’s a wake up call for the body and mind.
We don’t have a juicer (yet) so we blitz it all up in a food processor. I imagine these ingredients will make an amazing juice, maybe you’ll need to throw in another carrot or so.
Organic fruit and veg will make all the difference in your juices and smoothies with bags more flavour and juice, even if they cost a few pennies more. They will definitely have more nutrients in them, keeping your insides and outside in better condition. After visiting a few shops in Spain, I feel fortunate that we have the choice of organic in Britain. The carrots in this were particularly special, from Hootons Homegrown, Farm Shop on Anglesey (thats in Wales for global readers). We are blessed with some amazing producers in these parts.
Enjoy responsibly, this is full-on juice!
This recipe will make enough for 4 glasses of what is more a chunky juice than a smoothie. We keep some in the fridge for later, it’s so full of good things that it takes care of any mid-morning hunger pangs.
The Bits
All chopped into chunks – 1 apple (unpeeled), 1 carrot (unpeeled), 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit (a squeeze of lemon if you really want a hit!), 2 cups of filtered water (or 1 cup of water, 1 1/2 cups of ice)
Do It
Put it all in a blender and whizz it up. Taste and add more water if needed.
We Love It!
The colour alone helps get my juices going. We like the balance of sweet and acidic in this one.
Foodie Fact
Grapefruit (Citrus Paradisi or Paradise Citrus in Latin) is full of vitamin C. On average, half a grapefruit contains 75% of your required Vitamin C for the day. It also contains the super antioxidant lycopene.
Without getting to grim and technical, eating more grapefruit (and Organic fruit and vegetables) lessens your chances of catching things and dying in general. Hooray!
The usual suspects
Categories: Breakfast, gluten-free, Juices, Low G.I. (glycemic index), Organic, Raw Food, Recipes, Smoothies, Snacks and Inbetweens, Vegan
Tags: breakfast, dairy free, espresso, fructose, fruit, gluten-free, good sugars, grapefruit, healthy living, high energy, high nutrients, hootons homegrown farm shop, juice, juicer, juices, Low carbs, lycopene, morning buzz, nutrition, organic, organic fruit and vegetables, raw, recipes, smoothie, snacks, vegetarian, Vitamin C
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