Iodised Salt

New Zealand soil is low in iodine, therefore foods grown in our soil are also low in iodine. Iodine is necessary to a healthy diet in order to support thyroid function - thyroid problems can lead to illnesses such as goiter.

In New Zealand, iodine consumption has been increased through the use of iodised salt. New Zealand bakers used to use iodised salt in the commercially produced bread, which we all used to eat in much greater quantities than we do now, once again requiring us to look to other ways to include iodine in our diets.

I use Marlborough salt at home. It is as good, if not better, than the imported Maldon salt that is so celebrated by chefs around the world. It certainly has not traveled as far and is also organic. It has a wonderful light flakes and is produced from the clean waters at the top of the east coast of the South Island. I was very happy to find that there is now an iodised version, which tastes great, not at all metallic like the fairly unpleasant traditional iodised salt.

Frugal Food

Delia, you have to love her. I think this is one of her best. Published in 1976, my copy is frugal by name and by nature, bearing the inscription, from my mother :

Frugal Cooking recycled for Em,
from Ma.
March 2003

The byline reads "Tempting recipes for careful cooks". The book is a small paperback with chapters such as :

• The Cheap Charter
• Chickens Lib
• Forequarter Front
• Offal - But I like you
• Go with the Grain
• Quickening Pulses

Along with the many, good and still applicable recipes, there is an education to be found within the pages. It is interesting to realise that rabbit used to be such a cheap meat ; the portions I find here in Wellington, are priced as a premium meat rather than a cheap as chips option.

This is the kind of book that, should you find it languishing on the shelf of a second hand bookshop, you should snap up before someone else does.

salt

Salt. NaCl (well, mainly).

Salt is so cruicial to our well being. Both for the chemical processes it facilitates in our bodies, but also for what it does for food, making it taste good. A little salt can bring out subtle flavour nuances that might otherwise be lost. Too much salt can render a dish unpalatable and too much salt as a regular part of our diet can be downright dangerous.

Salt is mainly composed of Sodium Chloride, with sodium being one of the three primary electrolytes, along with potassium, and calcium, required in the body for normal function. I say mainly because there are countless other compounds present in the product we call salt and sprinkle on our food, as a matter of habit, to create a flavour we desire, and need.

Salt is one of the basic tastes we can detect on the tongue. Each of these, salt, sweet, bitter, sour and umami, seem to have a evolutionary reason for detection by humans. We need salt, so we need to be able to detect salt in food to provide the electrolytes we biologically crave.

For the cook, there are many ways to add salt to food, and as we highlight salt this week on Nihowera we will explore some of the options.

Feijoa Chutney

This is a great time of year to make chutney. There are so many fruits and vegetables that are at the end of their season, that you may not want to eat fresh. Perhaps you are sick of them having had a glut in garden, or maybe you have so many on hand that you need to do something with them before they go bad, maybe you have bought a whole lot especially to make chutney.

Feijoas make a great chutney ; they are aromatic and I think their flavour still manages to shine though in the finished product.

Chutney making is almost a fool proof technique. All you need to remember is to cook the mixture until it is thick and to seal the finished product in sterilized jars. The vinegar, sugar and spices all help to preserve the contents, but you don't want to disadvantage the chutney by confining it to a less than sterile jar.

Aside from the most wonderful cheese and chutney sandwiches, you could try serving the chutney, as I have done in the picture above, on thin toasts with a crumble of feta on top for an easy, quick and delicious nibble to serve with drinks.

You can find a recipe for feijoa chutney here.

A collection of bread recipes

Here's a collection of gorgeous bread recipes and all from Kiwi Food Blogs, to get you started and baking some of your own fresh bread.
It's not a complete list mind, this is only a very small selection from our Kiwi blogs. Between us all we've made and baked a lot of bread, so have a good hunt around each blog for more doughy goodness!







Baguette (French Stick)
Brioche
Buckwheat and Corn Tortillas
English Muffins
Gluten Free Bread
Hot Cross Buns
Indian Naan
Maori Rewena Bread
Walnut and Rye Loaf


Image courtesy of Nigel @ Curious Kai

The staff of life - Bread!

Bread is one of the oldest known prepared foods, a definite daily staple for most cultures around the world, even today. There are a large variety of types and favours, most are prepared by baking, steaming, or frying dough.

One thing all breads have in common however is that they all start out as flour and water; salt is present in most cases. The first breads produced were probably cooked versions of simple grain pastes. Pastes made from various ground cereal grains and water. These may have been developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grains. Variations of these first experiments and early breads are still commonly made worldwide with different grains, for example... Mexican tortillas, Indian and Pakistani chapatis, rotis and naans, Scottish oatcakes, North American Johnnycakes, Middle Eastern Pita bread (Kmaj in Arabic and Pitot in Hebrew) and the Ethiopian injera. These basic flat breads formed a staple in the diet of many early civilizations.

Bread in more modern times has often included a leavening agent such as yeast or a fermented starter. This development of leavened bread can however probably also be traced back to prehistoric times as yeast spores occur everywhere, including on the surface of cereal grains. If any dough or grain paste is left to rest it will become naturally leavened. Archaeological evidence has detected yeast cells in some ancient Egyptian loaves.
Leaven breads today can have added amounts of sugar, butter and eggs for enrichment and flavours from spices, fruits or vegetables, nuts and or seeds are also common.

All breads are prized for their freshness and fresh homemade bread has taste and texture like no other!

42 Below Feijoa Vodka

42 Below is New Zealand vodka ; 42 Below Feijoa vodka is the meridian.

This vodka really does have a distinctive feijoa flavour ; lending itself to mixing in cocktails - both long and short.

My favourite way to drink feijoa vodka is in a long cocktail with elderflower cordial and soda water. Not too sweet and not too strong.

Go make yourself a drink, then come back and amuse yourself with some 42 Below adverts.

Their PR strategy has to be admired.