In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There”, the White Queen offers Alice “jam every other day” to entice her to work for her.
“I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!” the Queen said. “Two pence a week, and jam every other day.” Alice couldn’t help laughing as she said, “I don’t want you to hire ME – and I don’t care for jam”. (I’m with Alice on this one.)
“It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.
“Well, I don’t want any TO-DAY, at any rate.”
“You couldn’t have it if you DID want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.”
“It MUST come sometimes to ‘jam to-day’.” Alice objected.
“No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every OTHER day and to-day isn’t any OTHER day, you know.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Alice. “It’s dreadfully confusing.”
Well, it’s not really, and Alice didn’t want the jam anyway. I not sure I do either. What can I say about jam? It’s a pretty everyday thing and not really my favourite food because it’s always sweet and often sugar based. But jam making has a very long history and is still surprisingly popular today. I know several people who make jam – and give me jars.
I accept them with a little thrill of excitement and then they sit in my cupboard. I know people who love jam, eat it almost every morning and wouldn’t be without several jars open at once, whereas mine is always mouldy when I take it out of the fridge. When I was growing up (in America), we were given peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I suppose it was a way to get kids to eat peanut butter – by throwing some sugar on it. Not the best idea, really.
Now, nut butters are much more interesting, and they’re loaded with nutrition. In 1890, an unknown physician in St Louis encouraged a food products company to make and package ground peanut paste as a protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn’t chew meat. Dr John Harvey Kellogg, who was looking for a high quality vegetarian protein, patented a ‘Process of Preparing Nut Meal’ in 1895. And so began the tradition of peanut butter, happily followed by other nut butters in years to follow.
Nut butters and seeds butters have been used for a long time by vegetarians and vegans as a substitute for butter on toast and sandwiches. The first seed butter was probably tahini, made in the Middle East centuries ago. This ‘butter of the Middle East’ became an essential ingredient in hummus and baba ghanoush. I personally love nut butters – especially almond – because it’s a great way to add protein, calcium and good oils to toast in the morning or a snack in the afternoon – for me or the kids.
Nut Butters
Nuts are great for you – whether you’re snacking on a handful to fill you up – and keep you full or using nut butter as a spread. Nuts contain unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids and L-arginine, a substance that may help improve the health of your artery walls by making them more flexible and less prone to blood clots that can block blood flow. All nuts contain fibre, which is important in keeping your bowel healthy and may play a role in preventing diabetes. Nuts are rich in vitamin E and some nuts contain plant sterols, which can help lower cholesterol. Here’s what we have:
- Almond Butter
Ground, whole almonds. Great on toast or bread for a protein, calcium rich snack. - White Almond Butter
Ground, skinned, untoasted almonds – perfect for making almond milk. Almond milk is a wonderful milk substitute for children with much better calcium. - Cashew Butter
Cashews are lower in fat than most nuts and 65 percent of the fat in unsaturated fatty acids. Of this, 90 percent is oleic acid, the heart-healthy fat found in olive oil. - Hazelnut Butter
Ground, whole hazelnuts. A great snack on savoury biscuits or bread. Provides excellent oil, protein, fibre and phytochemicals. - Pecan Butter
A rich nut butter, pecans have the highest oil content of all nuts. Rich in vitamin E, a natural antioxidant, pecans can help protect against cell damage and can fight diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and heart disease. - Peanut Butter
We have crunchy and smooth with no salt, and crunchy and smooth with salt (Whole Earth) - Rainforest Nut Butter
A gorgeous combination of brazils, cashews and macadamias. - Raw Brazil Nut Butter
Nutrient-rich, brazil nuts contain protein, copper, niacin, magnesium, fibre, vitamin E and selenium.
Seed Butters
Seeds are wonderful for you. Seeds are the plant’s storehouse that contains all of the nutrients needed to nourish the growth of a new plant. Adding seeds to your diet – and seed butters – is a great way to add nutrition. All seeds contain minerals, niacin and folic acid, and are very good plant sources or iron and zinc. They are also full of fibre and a good source of protein and vitamin E. We do these:
- Mixed Seed Butter
Made from cool milled seeds and containing five organic oils, this includes hempseed, linseed, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seed. This is rich in omega 3s. - Raw Apricot Kernel Butter
Known as a preventative against cancer, apricot kernels are rich in vitamin B17, normally missing from diets today. - Raw Pumpkinseed Butter
As well as having great essential fatty acids and zinc, pumpkin seeds were used by Native Americans to treat intestinal infections and are excellent for getting rid of parasites in the body. - Tahini
Made from ground sesame seeds, there are light and dark tahinis, which are excellent in hummus and a great source of calcium. For a great snack, try spreading tahini on a corn cake, then putting either a slice of fresh or a few sun-dried tomatoes. Or spread it on Japanese brown rice crackers. Yum.
Jams & Spreads
Used occasionally, jam or fruit spread makes a nice treat, but don’t get hooked on having something sweet for breakfast every morning. It’s nice to rotate jams with a nut butter, seed butter and/or Marmite. We have a selection of organic jams with great flavours from the favourites like apricot and blueberry to some treasures like blood orange and Morello cherry. And the St Dalfour range of non-organic, but no-added-sugar spreads that are packed with fruit and fruit juice. Fig Royale sounds divine, as does the Four Fruits Spread with raspberries, cherries, strawberries and blackberries.
Organic Chocolate Spreads
We have Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, Dark Chocolate Spread, Vegan Chocolate Spread, Raw Chocolate & Almond Spread, Raw Cacao Brazil Spread and Carabio with carob instead of chocolate. These, I think, to be used in moderation.
Pâtés
We also have Marmite and Yeast extract, loaded with B vitamins and a great addition to your toast in the morning, and a few vegetarian yeast based patés from Tartex.
Every product in our Jams & Spreads Section can be enjoyed on bread, toast, oat cakes, Japanese brown rice crackers, rice cakes, corn cakes and/or crispbreads to add flavour and nutrition to your meal or snack. And jam is wonderful used in between layers of sponge cake. But here is how I like to use jam, as well as nuts.
Recipe: Nut & Jam Crostata
Summary: A traditional dessert served in Italy, crostatas are a wonderful way to use fruit and nuts in a healthy breakfast, snack or dessert. Like many Italian baked goods, the pastry in this is made with olive oil instead of butter. With its wholemeal spelt crust, this makes a delicious, protein-rich and not-too-sweet breakfast.
Ingredients
- 180g/6¼oz/1½ cups wholemeal spelt or wheat flour, plus extra for rolling
- 60g/2¼oz/½cup white spelt or wheat flour
- 50g/1¾oz/¼ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- 90ml/3fl oz sweet (not spicy) olive oil
- 3-4 tbsp of your favourite jam
- 20g blanched almonds
- 20g hazelnuts
- 20g walnuts
- 20g pecans
Instructions
- Put the flours, sugar and salt in a medium bowl and mix well. Add the olive oil and mix with a fork. Sprinkle 2-4 tablespoon of water and mix again with the fork, then gather it together into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Take 50g of pastry and set aside. On greaseproof paper, roll the remaining pastry out to 26cm/10½in and smooth the edges into a tidy circle with your fingers. Because the pastry is not very flexible, put a 25cm/10in tart tin over the pastry, then flip the greaseproof paper and tart tin over so that the pastry drops into the tin. Fit the pastry into the tart tin with your fingers, then prick the sides and bottom with a fork.
- Spread the jam evenly in the bottom of the pastry with a spatula. Take the remaining pastry, divide in half and pinch and roll each one between your fingers until they are long round strips, one 20cm/8in and other 23cm/9in. Place the longer one in the pie, then divide the other one in half and lay in the pie to make a cross.
- Put the almonds prettily in one quarter, then the hazelnuts, walnuts and pecans, so that you alternate dark and light colours. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the nuts and pastry are lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cooking time (duration): 45
Meal type: dessert
My rating:
![](http://www.planetorganic.com/media/pie.jpg" "pie")
Loading...