719. Hunza Apricots

Hunza apricots are a specific variety of apricot grown in Afghanistan and dried. They’re smaller and paler than regular dried apricots, and they come fully dried so you have to soak them in water for a couple of hours before you can use them. They’re recommended as being good for using in tagines and stews, but on this occasion I decided to make a compote out of them to eat for breakfast.

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678. Caramelized Oranges

I’m constantly on the lookout for different foods to have for breakfast. When I saw that there were caramelized oranges on the list I figured that they would be a perfect way to start the day when paired with some lovely Greek yogurt. They were really simple to make - I peeled and then sliced a large orange then pan-fried it with a small knob of butter. As they were cooking I sprinkled a tiny bit of brown sugar onto the slices just to help them get as caramelized as possible. 

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634. Tamarillo

This was one of the foods that I thought I might have trouble getting hold of, but then I was just wandering around my local supermarket one day and they were right there in front of me. Sometimes my local supermarket is awesome. Anyway, I read up quite a bit about tamarillos on the internet as I wasn’t sure of the best way to eat them. There seemed to be a lot of debate between people saying they were the best thing ever, and people saying they were awful. It seems like most of the people who said they were awful did not do their internet research before eating them and just bit straight into the skin (which is supposed to be bitter and gross). I decided to keep it simple and eat it raw, scooped out of the shell (like you would eat a kiwi) with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on the top. It was delicious. A little bit like a cross between a tomato and a papaya.

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633. Tangerine

Like the other types of oranges I’ve eaten for the blog before, tangerines are nice and sweet and tasty and tangy, but frankly I can’t really tell the difference between them and other small, orange-type fruits. They always make a good snack though.

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616. Comice Pear

Pears are not one of my favourite fruits; they lack the tanginess that I like in fruits and they also sometimes have a weird grainy texture. They get much better when they’re cooked though, so I decided I would put the comice pears in a crumble. I mixed the pears with raspberries and vanilla and then added my usual crumble topping before baking it.

Crumble is one of my specialities - I think it’s one of the best dishes I cook even if I say so myself. This is mostly because I use a much higher ratio of butter and sugar to flour than you find in most recipes. I hate when you have a crumble and the topping is loose and dry. My crumble is chewy and crunchy and caramelly. Basically, if you mix half and half flour and demerara sugar, then blend in butter until it looks like chunky breadcrumbs you will end up with an awesome crumble.

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514. Black Mulberry

We went on a day trip to Delphi, and as part of the visit you can walk up the hill to go see the ancient stadium. Whilst my brother was super excited about the ruins, I got probably just as excited about finding this mulberry bush. Unfortunately most of the ripe fruit had been picked already but I found a couple of berries. They were at the point of ripeness where they’re almost liquid and the juice runs right down your arm as you eat them. They were sweet but tart (just how I like my fruits) and I only wished we could have eaten more!

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513. Green Walnut Gliko

One of the mornings in Athens we went to the Central Market. It was incredible. There was just stall after stall of fresh fish and meat (being hacked up then and there with worryingly huge cleavers), luscious fresh fruit (at a tiny fraction of the price we pay at home), a huge range of spices, and then candied fruits like these. This is a green walnut - a young walnut before the shell has hardened - and the whole thing is candied in sugar syrup. The shell tasted a little fruity, but the centre still tasted like a walnut. It was interesting for sure. Enjoyable… I’m not so sure, but considering how amazing the rest of the Greek food was I couldn’t expect to love everything!

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491. Jaffa Oranges

Oranges are always a nice fruit, and Jaffa oranges are definitely a good variety, they are always nicely sweet. In my mind no orange can ever compete with a blood orange though, there is just no competition. Oh yeah, and I just couldn’t resist getting one of my pink knives in the picture again. I love those knives.

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464. Clementine

I must admit, 90% of the time I have no idea whether I’m eating a clementine, mandarin or tangerine. I know that clementines are usually the roundest (like these), but otherwise they taste pretty much the same. They are all good though so I shan’t complain.

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