Local Locals

What up with this whole local thing?  Only in America do they take things to the extreme, food miles are not measured in Meters – how far did the cow travel to get to the restaurant dinner table?  How many meters were the winter spuds grown from the restaurant kitchen.  Yes you are right it is all getting just a little bit OTT

But wait a minute – you are happy to buy plums in winter time from Chilli, 10,000 km,  and  happy to purchase Garlic from China, 11,000 km so you tell who is a little bit OTT. Right lets meet in the middle and lets think about the middle ground.  Do you think you could eat well if you only purchased NZ grown and produced fresh product ?(I am talking about fresh only not processed goods).    Now that would be interesting, you would have to eat seasonally, no more strawberries in winter time, no more rockmelons in winter time from Australia, you would have to find NZ tree ripened Pears,  feijoas, persimmons, Oranges, Passionfruit, Bananas (yes they do grow in NZ), cranberries, grapefruit etc etc etc

Yes could be interesting, now the first thing that you going to say is where do I find all of this fruit throughout winter time, golly gosh I would have to start thinking about it, I will have to start keeping a calendar!, it all sounds to complicated and a lot like hard work – which is what we really don’t want to be doing in the kitchen after a hard days work.  Rest assured there will soon be a way to find all of the NZ produce with the touch of a button.

Well this is where we can help, eating and cooking should be a enjoyable experience (keep that mental picture in your head when it is -2 degrees ) and it does not matter what time of the year  it is there will always be NZ products available.   Look in your own backyard first you may be surprised that there really is a hidden localvore in us all

Poached Persimmons

6              x              Firm-ripe  persimmons,

1/2         cup         Dry white wine

3/4         cup         Strained fresh orange

1/4         cup         Sugar

1              tsp          Minced peeled fresh gingerroot

1/4         tsp          Cinnamon

Method :

Stem and peel the persimmons, discard any seeds, and cut each persimmon into 8 wedges. In a saucepan combine the persimmons, wine, orange juice, sugar, gingerroot, and cinnamon, bring the liquid to a boil, stirring occasionally, and simmer the mixture, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the persimmons are tender. Transfer the persimmons with a slotted spoon to a bowl, boil the syrup until it is reduced to about 1/2 cup, and pour it over the persimmons. The persimmons can be served warm or chilled over ice cream, rice pudding, or bread pudding.