Happy Christmas from Zest News!
Just 7 more sleeps until Christmas, things should be wrapped and shoved up into the loft/under the bed/back of the wardrobe etc
You’ve had so many mince pies you’re beginning to look like one.
You’ve drunk most of your Christmas booze already, even the advocaat, so another trip to the rammed supermarkets looks on the cards.
Christmas time is about preparation. Don’t leave things until the last minute.
With that in mind, make sure you get your orders in early for produce, speciality items and prep, to avoid disappointment.
Cauliflower – Still extremely short and very expensive, but prices could ease over the next 2 weeks. English, if you can find anything, is very expensive and quite frankly, poorer quality than the French.
Round Tomatoes – Prices remain high and stock is short – due to reduced availability from imports.
Brussel Sprouts Prepared – Due to reduced quantity availability the price of the prepared sprout is running much higher than average for this time of year and at this late stage we will have a cut-off for replenishing our supplies, so get your orders in now!
Most importers are asking to preorder to guarantee a delivery.
Our advice, – don’t leave it until the day before you need them to order prepared sprouts. Make sure you’ve got them in your fridge.
Brussel Sprouts Raw – Availability is down, so the price is running above average. Cold, frosty and frozen temperatures will hamper things, forward thinking will help.
Potatoes – This will be an ongoing problematic area. Even when the ground does dry out, potatoes have already started rotting in the ground. This will only get worse over the next few months.
Broccoli – The price has eased and may do further, I would say stabilised.
Berries – In general, all seems relatively normal for this time of year now, both in price and availability. Redcurrants are on the annual Christmas increase.
Aubergine is our vegetable of the week or as the Yanks like to call it ‘Eggplant’, presumably, because it looks vaguely egg-shaped?
You gotta hand it to the Americans, they do like to call a spade a spade, after all, you don’t ‘ment’ on a ‘pave’, but you do ‘walk’ on the ‘side’, of the road.
Anyhow, the aubergine has a fascinating history and is a proper world traveler or at least, it’s travelled around the world over the past two thousand years.
Starting in India, where it still grows naturally today in the wild, it then moved east to China and was cultivated there from the 5th Century.
The Moors brought it to Spain in the Middle Ages where it then spread to the rest of Europe and Africa. Propagation was popularised by Arab influence which helped the aubergine find fruitful reproduction in the Mediterranean region.
However, aubergines were regarded with suspicion when they first arrived in the Mediterranean and were grown more for decorative purposes than consumption.
It was falsely believed that aubergines could cause epilepsy or diseases and fevers, although this was more widely believed in Northern Europe.
They were introduced across the Atlantic to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese explorers and eventually became staple parts of American diets and cuisine.
Thomas Jefferson received one as a gift from a friend in France and introduced it to the United States in 1806.
This spread and popularity around the globe for the aubergine has led to its inclusion in many world cuisines:
India – Baingan Bharta
Italy – Melanzane Alla Parmigiana
Middle East – Baba Ganoush
Greece/Turkey – Moussaka
France – Ratatouille
China – Fish Fragrant Aubergine and suchlike
Over the years many different varieties of aubergine have been developed; in the Western world we know the dark-purple elongated egg-shaped type, but in other countries you will find spherical shapes and colours of white and green.
Cultures around the world also see the aubergine as more than just a culinary delight. In India, the vegetable is used in traditional Indian medicine to treat conditions like asthma and diabetes.
In China, it’s used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to balance your internal Qi, regulate blood pressure and help you cool off during hot summer months.
It has become popular in so many dishes and often as a substitute for meat due to its meaty texture.
Botanically speaking, it’s not even a vegetable, it’s a berry and belongs to the Nightshade family, which has close relations to tomatoes and peppers.
Aubergines are versatile and widely used in UK cuisine, especially as many of the aforementioned dishes can now quite easily be found in the UK. They soak up flavours well and can be baked, roasted, grilled or sautéed.
Interestingly, although aubergines are another example of a superfood, due to their antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibre, but lack of calories, they also have a strange quirk.
A compound called Solanine is present in aubergines and can be toxic in large amounts, however, you would need to consume an atypically large amount to suffer any ill consequences.
As it’s Christmas time, let’s look at a sweet recipe you can indulge yourself with over the holiday period.
Aubergine and Chocolate Cake
This unique combination may sound surprising, but the aubergine contributes a moist, rich texture to the cake, enhancing its depth without overpowering the chocolate flavour. Here’s how to make it:
Ingredients:
2 medium-sized aubergines (about 200g)
300g high-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
50g cocoa powder
60g almond meal (ground almonds)
3 medium eggs
200g golden caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
Icing sugar (for dusting)
Instructions:
Preheat the Oven: Set your oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and line an 8-inch round cake tin.
Cook the Aubergines: Pierce the aubergines with a fork and microwave them whole until soft (about 8 minutes). Alternatively, bake them in the oven. Once cool, peel and puree the flesh.
Melt the Chocolate: Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it gently using a double boiler or in short bursts in the microwave. Let it cool slightly.
Combine Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, mix the aubergine puree with the melted chocolate.
Dry Ingredients: In another bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, almond meal, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Beat Eggs and Sugar: Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. This step is important for the cake’s texture.
Combine Everything: Fold the chocolate-aubergine mixture into the egg mixture. Then gently fold in the dry ingredients until everything is combined.
Bake the Cake: Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Cool and Serve: Let the cake cool in the tin for a while, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Serve this unique cake with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for extra indulgence.
Get your ‘cake mix’ here with aubergines and high-quality dark chocolate!
Special Offers
We still have a few of our special offers from last week and we’ll set up new offers in the New Year, to try and save you money on dried goods, especially after the purse strings have been pulled tight over the festive period.
Belgian Chocolate Callets 2.5kg bags are available, which you can use for the aubergine chocolate cake recipe just above. The dark 70.4% bags are the ones you need.
Other items on short dates are selling fast, because of the great pricing we can offer. Essential Cuisine Chicken Stock and Lamb/Veal Jus remain popular, as are the sauces from Macphie, including Brandy Sauce, Crème Anglaise and Crème Brûlée.
But don’t forget it’s not just traditional British cuisine that people sample over the festive period, with many groups going out to enjoy food from around the world and who doesn’t like curry over Crimbo?
We have Thai Red Curry Paste on a fantastic offer and Chipotle Chilli Paste, so don’t miss out on your spice.
Some of these items have short dates, so we’re able to offer big discounts.
We’re also delighted to offer cheese platters and mince pies, fresh daily from our partner artisanal bakeries.
Call us today on 01332 83 42 42 to get the best price on all these items and get them delivered tomorrow morning, as part of your existing order.
Send your thoughts about this newsletter and any other feedback here. And keep the jokes coming, if they’re bad enough they’ll be featured and as you can see, they can’t be any worse, this week is probably the worst ever!
Community Spotlight – if your business or someone you know is having an event or has achieved something in this industry and we can promote or even sponsor it, let us know.
Thank you for being a part of Zest News. We look forward to sharing more exciting updates and content with you in the coming weeks!
In the spirit of Christmas and Pantomime season:
My friend Jack claims that he can communicate with vegetables.
Jack and the beans talk.
There won’t be a Zest News next week, but we’ll be back in 2024, so have a Happy New Year too and we’ll speak again soon!
Zest regards,
The Zest Team