Fruits Enzyme Cooking

Betting on Fruits’ Gold

When did you last hear that lots of sugar is good for you? Never? Me either, until I started making fruits enzyme extract. The sugar used in the process to make this magical enzyme actually has great benefits to your health…OK don’t quote me on it,  I’m just summarizing what it said in the cookbook. It's saying that the enzyme is a type of protein that breaks down food we take in and also boosts metabolism. It is not a snake-oil sales pitch… I hope.

Making fruits enzyme is not very hard. I found many recipes online. It seems that you could use any fruits or vegetable except ginger. The most difficult part is timing I guess. So if you don’t mind me sayin’ I’m not quite sure when to hold ‘em. Anytime you see mold or smell something funny that’s when you walk away. Like I said, the secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away…just singing (kidding).

Ingredients and Instruction for Fruits Enzyme Extract (Print recipe here)

Necessary equipment: Large wide mouth glass jar 3 liter or larger

• 1000g of your choice of fruits and vegetable – avoid ginger or strong aroma food such as garlic, garlic chives, bitter melon. Cut in chunks.
• 1000g of sugar (although I used tensai sugar, you could use regular sugar but not brown sugar)

1. Put 1/4 of fruits/vegetables in the glass jar. Add 1/4 of sugar on top. Stir with your clean and dry hand (harmless bacteria in your hand promote fermentation process faster…sounds gross doesn’t it?). Repeat three times more and mix well each time.
    
2. Cover with paper towel or cloth and secure with rubber band or twine. Do not put an air tight lid on it. Avoid direct sun, leave it at room temperature of 68 to 77 degree. If it’s lower than that, fermentation is slow. In ideal atmosphere, it will be ready in about 10 days. Make sure to stir the contents 1-2 times a day.
3. When lots of tiny bubbles are evident then it’s ready. Strain the fruits/vegetable from juice through a sieve without pressing. Keep refrigerated (if you leave the juice at room temperature, fermentation continues and may turn into alcohol) Note: fruits part should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consumed within 5 days.

Ingredients and Instruction for meat wrapped broccoli

• 2 Tablespoons tonkatsu or Worcester sauce
• 2 Tablespoons of fruits enzyme extract
• 1 teaspoon of stone ground mustard
• 1 pound each of ground beef and ground pork, combine well
• 1/2 of medium onion finely minced
• 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
• 1 Tablespoon of finely minced ginger
• 2 Tablespoons sake
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pepper
• 1 head of broccoli divided in small florets Note: broccoli must be dry other wise it will cause spattering in the frying process
• Cornstarch or flour for dusting
• Oil for frying

1. Make sauce – combine tonkatsu sauce, enzyme juice and mustard in a small bowl. Set aside. Option: Go spicy by adding hot pepper sauce.
   
2. Heat oil in thick deep pan to 338 F.
3. Mix well meats, onion, garlic, ginger, sake, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Divide into however many broccoli florets you have.
4. Flatten the divided meat and wrap floret top tight. Dust lightly with cornstarch.
5. 
   Fry for 3-4 minutes. Receive in 2-3 layers of paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve with prepared dipping sauce.

Oatmeal cookie with minced enzyme fruits Yield approximately 2 dozen

• 140g butter room temperature
• 40ml fruits enzyme extract
• 140g low viscosity flour 
• 60g oatmeal, chopped small
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 140g fruits enzyme fruits/vegetable, minced
• 50g corn flakes (optional)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional) I used mini chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 356F
2. Whisk butter in a large bowl until creamy. pour fruits enzyme extract and continue to whisk for an additional minute.
3. Add flour, oatmeal and baking powder. Combine with wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Fold minced fruits/vegetable in, then fold in corn flakes and chocolate chips if you are using.
5. Drop 1-2 Tablespoons of the dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the dough with back of spoon if you like the uniform look
   .
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
   Without additional sugar, cookie has gentle sweetness and scone like texture. Care for tea? Why yes!

Spicy Hot chocolate – a single serving

• 1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons fruits enzyme extract
• 3/4 cup milk
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Put cocoa powder and fruits enzyme extract in a small sauce pan. Combine well to make pasty mixture.
2. Gradually add milk to thin it out. Grind pepper in then heat up to desired temperature at low heat.

Cul de sac tale…We share what we make with neighbors sometimes, then neighbors return the favor. One of our neighbors tried this Marshmallow Gelato recipe from my blog. With her blueberry compote. Life is really cool!

Weekend warrior –  the store that specializes in orchids was moving to another location. This table was used as a display table and sold to me at a huge discount. I gave my husband a project to refinish it. I think this will be a great piece of furniture some weekends later.

Mahalo for reading this post thus far….we’re going to take a few weeks off from blogging and projects, plan to do mainly nothin on the sandy beach.

 

Sorbetti

Watermelon Sorbet

Trying to rescue the watermelon which…you know…tastes not all that great, from going into the compost bin directly is such a toss up. Since the watermelon needs a bit of sweetness, I added honey and lemon juice then put in the freezer…Wowzer! Watermelon Sorbet!

Over zealoused, I add tomato puree to the watermelon because I thought we need to eat more vegetables…that was not a very smart move…My husband gave me a strong H word which rhymes with ‘ate’. I conceded, it’s a little tomatoey, this and chocolate chips don’t mix. Hey you never know until you try it, right?

Ingredients and Instructions for Watermelon sorbet (Print Recipe Here)
Watermelon and friends portrait – Cheese! I mean veggies!

• Watermelon (seedless preferred) meat (200g to 400g)
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• Honey to taste
• Handful of mini chocolate chips 

1. Remove seeds from watermelon if not seedless, cut in cubes then put in a blender to puree. Add lemon juice and honey and give another run to mix. Pour in a metal tray and transfer to freezer.
2. Whip with fork after an hour in the freezer while it is not yet frozen solid. Do this a couple more times every hour until it reaches the desired hardness. Add chocolate chips at the last mix.

In case you want to try Watermelon and Tomato Sorbet version

Above ingredients and plus -

• 2-4 tomatoes – stem removed, peeled (cook in boiling water for 1 minute then plunge in ice cold water, skin should come right off), cut in chunks.
• Salt about 1 teaspoon

A.  Sprinkle salt on cut tomatoes. Place on sieve with a bowl underneath to drain juice from tomatoes for 20 to 30 minutes.

B.  Add to the process # 1 above and follow the instructions.

Another watermelon recipe we love -The watermelon and chocolate mint (from my garden) salad recipe I borrowed from Chow and Chatter blog. Very effective and this is worth repeating.

Also Fruits Enzyme Extract added to watermelon smoothies was a hit! 

A group of friends gathered for Paella meal (paella valenciana) –  hosted by a couple recently returned from their missionary service in Barcelona, Spain.
The official paella pan they transported from Spain, isn’t that neat? It was muy delicioso! Muchas Gracias!

The spectacular sunset scene was a nice closing of an enjoyable evening.

Last Saturday - We usually participate in the Annual Neighborhood Garage Sale but we didn't this year. It was more fun to go treasure hunting house to house.
Lucky to find Portland born artist  Mike Smith’s  framed prints for $3 each, a $2 basket and a DVD for a dollar!
It’s time to re-decorate the Grandkids room?

Noodling

Tomato and Basil Cold Noodle Soup

I quite like watching documentary films on Netflix such as ones from Animal Planet. I was alarmed by ‘Forks over Knives’ . Can I stick to a plant based diet for the rest of my life?…probably not…the opposition is too great in my household…What can you expect from a farm boy, right? (Not an) As You Wish situation here…and I’m not ready to commit either.

I could make small changes however, ‘eat less’ meat for a number of reasons. Today’s recipe is just that. And the weather is cooperating and this is something easy and refreshing for a meal on a warm summer evening.

Ingredients and Instruction for 2 to 4 servings (Print Recipe Here) 

• 600ml of water
• 1 cube of vegetable bullion , for those who prefer a stronger taste, 2 cubes
• 2 Tablespoons of sake
• 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• Angel hair pasta (I used half package)  Note: For gluten free recipe, use rice noodle.
• 3-5 tomatoes,stem removed and cut in wedges or chunks
• 6-8 basil leaves, roughly chopped if the leaves are large
• 3 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

1. Pour water in sauce pan, add vegetable bullion, sake and lemon juice bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Leave in a pan until it cools to room temperature then transfer to refrigerator to chill.. Note: You could use ready made vegetable stock/broth in place of water and bullion. 
2. Cook angel hair pasta according to the package. When it’s done, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside
3. Mix tomato and basil with olive oil and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Assemble by piling up pasta in a dish then add tomato and basil mixture on top, don’t  forget to add the liquid left in the bowl, then pour some chilled vegetable soup over and finally top with ground black pepper. More salt and pepper to taste if needed.

 

Our project for last 3-4 weeks – making Fruits Enzyme Extract - basically fermented fruits (in this I used apples, kiwis, oranges and carrots).Three weeks later, it turned to umber color and bubbling… 

Diluted with water is easiest way to use it. I wasn’t sure for food safety though…Here honey, drink it all up! Good, right?

Then my husband used the juice in kefir pancakes…mmmm, not so angry bird!

I used the fruits pulp paste to make ice cream. The texture is quite interesting.

The cook book clamed that fruits enzyme makes you beautiful and look younger from inside (your body). I don’t see that result yet but this is expensive to make. The key ingredient is the special sugar, which cost nearly 10 bucks and you need two bags.  Ah oh! Seems like someone forgot to spell check…’beet’ not ‘beat’ I guess you can beat the argument that the sugar turn sucrose into beneficial glucose in the process which is an energy source for your brain. No I’m not sugar coating the facts.

My husband spent a couple of hours and thinned one Asian pear tree. Three more to go. What? You missed the bucket? With all of them?

Have a happy July!

Marshmallows and Milk

Marshmallow Gelato

Wouldn’t it be nice to have this with ice cream? I pointed at the home made cherry compote our neighbor brought to us the other day. My husband nodded in agreement. Hummm…Honey, this is interesting….marshmallow gelato…found on Cookpad site. Wow! Only two ingredients!The cherry compote paired well with the gelato. Thanks neighbor!

My husband is not enthusiastic ever since I made that ‘Strawberries and Cabbage’ thing. He wants me to avoid interesting, unique or one of a kind recipes….
Oh, come on! What could go wrong with marshmallows and milk?

Ingredients and Instructions for approximately 4 servings (Print recipe here)

• 80g of marshmallow about 24 regular size
• 280 ml milk

1. Put marshmallows in a microwave proof bowl. Pour milk in and stir.
2. Cover loosely with plastic film. Microwave for 2 minutes on 50% power.
3. Whisk vigorously to melt marshmallows. Note: if the marshmallows are not melting well, put back in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds more on 50% power.
   
4. Place in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Whisk every hour for a smooth texture – the more you whisk during the freezing process the better results you get.
5. Serve with cookies, nuts or fruits.
    It might seem crazy what I’m about to say….marshmallow gelato makes me Happy! Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth!The sweet scent roses from our backyard…Happy! (Minions version for my grandkids)

Variations!

Strawberry marshmallow gelato – just add your favorite jam!

Add graham cracker and chocolate fudge, wait a sec…it’s tastes like S’mores! Oh yeah? Duh! – created by my husband.

Let freedom ring! - Have a happy 4th of July!