Robin Asbell's Real Food Digest

Brik Pastry purse at Milennium

It’s an oversimplification, but you could say that there are two approaches to food. One is home cooking. Most of us don’t have exotic ingredients or hours to spend in the kitchen, so we stick to things that are relatively straightforward. Then there is restaurant fare. Restaurant chefs need to give you more bang for the buck, so they source hard to find ingredients, or showcase some tricky techniques, or use their kitchen full of prep cooks to build multiple components and sauces for dishes.

And some restaurants pull out all the stops, and really put something interesting on the plate. Such is the case with Milllennium, where chef Eric Tucker applies creativity and technique to a menu of pure plant foods. The result is a beautiful presentation of amazing food, on a par with any high end restaurant.

You would think that vegans had something to prove.

This year’s conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals was held in San Francisco, and I was hungry to attend. I’ve been to SF once before, and made a pilgrimage that time to Millennium. This time, I would  tempt some less-vegan colleagues to come and sample really good plant-based food.

We were not disappointed.

In fact, my friend Dan from Napa, a dedicated omnivore, had a few doubts about coming, at first. It’s really good, we assured him, really, really good. You have to understand, members of this organization are really into food. When you tell them it’s really good, it had better be.

He asked whether he would have to stop for a burger on the way home. We did have something to prove.

As soon as Dan got a look at the menu and wine list, he looked relieved. Millennium has a selection of Organic and Sustainable wines that are paired with all the dishes on the menu, and as a Napa insider and wine aficionado, Dan was impressed with their choices. He recommended the Eight Arms The Octopod Syrah from Santa Cruz, and the Folkway Revelator, and over the course of a the meal, I enjoyed them both thoroughly. The syrah was a good pair with the spices of my entree, and the Revelator was a big, exciting wine full of dark fruits and balancing acidity.

I had a flatbread appetizer, but the main event was my entree, the Brik Pastry Purse. Here is the description:

Brik Pastry Purse
cashew saag with sun dried tomato, chard, potato & winter squash,
cardamom & fenugreek scented moong dal, seared brassicas with Achar-orange glaze,
caramelized red onion & tamarind chutney

The plate was a collection of flavor packed components, so that each bite might be spicy and savory, tangy and fruity, or sweet and sour, or a combination. The dal was deep and spicy, and chunks of cauliflower and brussels sprouts gave it some crunch, and the chutney and orange elements brightened the plate. Inside the shatteringly crisp pastry, a creamy cashew base gave some weight to the roasted vegetables and tangy tomatoes. The sensory effect was surprising enough to keep me engaged and focused on the dish, even with a table full of interesting conversation.

At that point, I really didn’t need dessert, so I shared a bite of one of my companion’s divine treats. The vegan dessert is often unfairly maligned, and at Millenium, they put the lie to the myth that you need butter and cream for a good dessert. Creamy, rich, and chocolatey, this intense dessert would thrill even the most skeptical omnivore.

Chocolate Almond Midnight

Chocolate Almond Midnight
almond cashew crust, mocha chocolate filling,
raspberry sauce, white chocolate mousse

Oh, and Dan?  He enjoyed the meal throughly, from the Cornmeal Crusted Trumpet Mushrooms to the Nettle Tamale filled with Pumpkinseeds and Sweet Potatoes, and of course, the wine.

There was no stop for a burger, he assured me when I saw him the next day.

So, if you are even in San Francisco, make a reservation at Millennium. It’s worth the trip.

Freekeh and Radish Salad

By now you have heard of Meatless Mondays, a growing movement in which people give up meat just one day a week. Well, that turns out to be really easy, and effective, too. When a million people opt for beans over beef, that means that thousands of pounds of beef are spared.

That single quarter pound burger patty represents 6.7 pounds of animal feed, 52.8 gallons of water, 74.5 square feet of farmland that were used to grow the feed, and 1, 036 Btus of fossil fuel energy. The US has a huge appetite for meat, second in per person consumption only to Luxembourg. All those farm animals that we consume are producing lots of waste and methane gases, too.

Link to NPR Story on Meat Consumption

So why not celebrate eating plant based, for a week? You’ll find that it is easier and more satisfying than ever. Already vegetarian? Pledge to go vegan for the week, and pare down your carbon footprint. It’s almost Earth Day, so it’s fitting that we are talking about making a move that is so friendly to the Earth.

It’s Spring cleaning season, so what better time to boost your veggie consumption? We read over and over about how beneficial plants are to your well-being. If you spent the winter eating hefty stews and cheesy casseroles, this is a perfect opportunity to lighten up.

So, if you are an omnivore, you just need to plan in some hearty protein foods, like beans and grains, as well as all those leafy greens. Some people like to transition by eating mock meats, like veggie burgers. I’m always going to recommend that you pick the most whole-food option, so look for the veggie burger that has whole beans, grains, nuts and seeds, not soy protein isolates. For that matter, maybe you can just opt for the beans, nuts and seeds. They are quite delicious in their own right.

So click on over to the pledge site, where you can receive some free materials in the mail on how to go veg.

Link to Compassion over Killing to sign up for the pledge.

For my part, I want to offer you a really satisfying, hearty salad that fits the season perfectly. A few years ago, I posted a blog and recipe featuring Freekeh, and it has been one of the most popular posts on my blog. I thought I might tickle your fancy with another Freekeh fantasy.

The Freekeh Blog and Recipe

Freekeh-Radish Spring Salad with Edamame

Serves about 6

1  cup Freekeh
2 1/2 cups water
12 medium red radishes, chopped, and a handful of the leaves, if they are fresh
1 cup shredded carrot
3 medium scallions, minced
3 cloves garlic
3 cups salad spinach
1 cup mint, fresh
1/2 cups olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shelled edamame, thawed

Boil water in a 2 quart pan with a tight fitting lid. Add grain to boiling water, be careful, as it can boil over as you add the grain. Cover and set on lowest flame. Check in 20 to 25 minutes. When water is absorbed,chill the freekeh. Chop radishes, shred carrots, and chop scallions. Chop garlic, spinach and mint, add olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and salt and process. Mix all in a big bowl with the edamame.

March is National Nutrition Month.

Isn’t it nice to have a whole month to reflect on healthy eating? The thing is, there are so many differing ideas on what constitutes a good diet that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I know, I read and write about food, and sometimes it feels like I’m in the middle of a food fight.

Ironically, we have this wonderful thing called eating, which should be a source of great pleasure, entertainment, and sustenance. But we can’t seem to agree on what to eat.

We have the paleos and the vegans, and everybody in between, weighing in on what to eat. Talk food anywhere and someone will interject, with great passion, “I heard flax makes men have prostate problems,” or ” Grains are bad for you.”

As a culinary teacher, I teach classes on vegetarian, vegan, whole grains and gluten free cooking across the country, meeting people who are hungry for good food, and for information about good food. I’ve been a private chef for about 20 years, too, specializing in cooking whatever the client believes is the best diet for her.

It’s taught me not to judge. Really. I love to eat, I understand that some people just love to eat differently than I do.

The one universal truth to all of these ways of looking at food? KEEP IT REAL.

By that I mean kick refined foods. Avoid processed stuff. Eat whole grains and beans and vegetables, and avoid danishes that come wrapped in thick plastic that keep un-refrigerated for a year. I also urge everyone to avoid industrial meat and dairy that are fed and injected with unnatural substances. Our hungers are no reason to treat animals like cogs in a machine.  On the vegan side, it saddens me to see people eating so much fake butter and fake cheese.

Of course, if you have ever read my blog, I would rather that you went meatless, and kept all dairy and eggs as very occasional foods, too. But I get it that the majority of the population is not going to go that way.

We all live in the same brave new world, where un-real food looks disarmingly delicious, tempting us from the grocery store shelves. Often it’s dressed up in sheep’s clothing, deliberately promising things it doesn’t deliver, like whole grains, when it’s really mostly white flour.

But overall, it’s really simple and straightforward to make Real Food choices. Stand facing the buffet and ask, which of these options is the most whole? Is it something I could make from real ingredients in my kitchen, or did it require an industrial process to create it? Is it white and refined?

Of course, you can decide how and when to go ahead and eat the cookie. I’d rather it were a whole grain, raw sugar cookie, but if the occasional white flour goodie passes your lips, that is between you  and it.

So there you go, nutrition month. If I can make any impact on anyone, I hope I can get them to eat more veggies, more whole grains, more incredibly beneficial beans and lentils. Whatever more is to you, is up to you.

Composed Salad with Creamy Cashew Lemon Dressing

Serves 4

Dressing:

1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/2 teaspoon salt, cracked black pepper

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup vegetable stock

1 tablespoon agave syrup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

 Salad:

1 1/2 cup black beans, drained, 1/4 small red onion, a splash of red wine vinegar

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, tossed with 1/4 cup basil or parsley, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon olive oil

1 head romaine

2 medium carrots, julienned

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large golden apple, sliced

1/2 cup broccoli sprouts

sprinkle of chipotle powder

1. Make the dressing, drain the soaked cashews and put them in a serious blender with the garlic and salt and process. Scrape down and add the lemon juice and vegetable stock and puree. Add the agave and drizzle in the oil with the machine running.

2. Mix the beans, vinegar and red onion,  quinoa and basil, and prep the veggies. On four large plates, spread the romaine, then arrange the veggies and toppings. Drizzle with dressing, then sprinkle with chipotle for a spicy garnish.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips and Guac

Maybe it’s because I am a middle child. These days, I’m trying to find a little common ground. I travel in the foodie world, where the next person I see might be on a gluten free diet, the next vegan, and the next is eschewing carbohydrates via a paleo style regimen.

It’s interesting to me, that the place where all these eating styles intersect is in the healthy plant world. And for some reason, one of the few rooty, starchy vegetables that paleos can have is the sweet potato.

It could not have happened to a lovelier tuber. The sweet potato wins by having so much fiber, a cup of cubes has 3 g fiber, and 3 g protein. The lively orange tones of the sweet potato give it a leg up on the oft-rejected potato, since the pigments are a giveaway of the amazingly high level of antioxidants. The carotenoids in that same cup of cubes gives you 711% of the days Vitamin A, which will protect you from several kinds of cancer, from sun damage, and keep your eyes healthy.

It’s also got a respectable dose of vitamin C, 27% of your day’s needs. It’s got B6 and and  potassium, all good for your heart and manganese, which pairs up with the fiber to keep blood sugar stable.

Overall, a pretty great root veg. So, since I usually use lots of them in everything from muffins to curries, I thought I should try making them into a slightly decadent snack.

If you don’t have a mandoline slicer, you might enjoy this recipe post on Sweet Potato “Fries” with Peanut Sauce.

For health conscious people, potato chips are a long-lost treat, and so a sweet potato chip might really hit the spot.

Evyone will love a sweet potato chip. These are brushed with coconut oil, baked at high heat, and then sprinkled with smoky chipotle and coarse salt. For a perfect paleo vegan dip, I threw together a simple guacamole, also made with nutrition superstars. You do need a mandoline or chop top slicer box, to make nice thin slices.

Sliced 1/8th of an inch thick

Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips with Guacamole

Serves 2 hungry people

1 big sweet potato, I used a 15 ounce Garnet Yam

coconut oil

ground chipotle powder

coarse salt

1 ripe avocado

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 pinch salt

8 large Santa Sweet pear shaped cherry tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 450. Set the mandoline to 1/8 inch and slice the sweet potato in rounds. Melt the coconut oil and brush two sheet pans lightly with the oil, then arrange the rounds on the oil, and brush  lightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes, checking for doneness at 10. Rotate the pans halfway. When the edges are curled and some of them are deeply browned and look almost burnt, take them out and sprinkle with chipotle and salt. Cool on racks for five minutes before transferring the chips to a large bowl, then repeat to roast all the rest of the slices.

Eat them up, they soften after they sit for a few hours.

For the Guac, mash the avocado and then add the garlic, lime and salt. Mash and stir to a chunky paste. Stir in the tomatoes.

Serve chips with guac.

Cranberry-Pecan Muffins, Yum!

Raise a spoon and cheer, if you love peanut butter, or almond, pistachio or cashew butter. Robin Robertson, the incredibly prolific cook book author, has just revamped her 10 year old classic, Peanut Butter Planet. Her latest, Nut Butter Universe:Easy Vegan Recipes with Out Of This World Flavors (Vegan Heritage Press Books) is an updated and expanded treatise on the use of all kinds of nut butters in cooking, baking, and just eating plain.

And if you are a US resident, you can enter to win, simply by commenting today!

WIN A COPY!

I think everyone loves peanut butter, but I’d almost bet that vegans love it just a little bit more. In a dairy-free kitchen, nut butters are often the rich, creamy answer to that craving that might once have been met by cheese. And according to Robertson’s introduction to the book, we can all do well to eat more nut butters for health. Packed with antioxidants, good fats, and of course, healthy proteins, nut butters are a real nutritional powerhouse.

The book covers nut butters of all kinds, homemade or purchased. Then, in a creative and exciting way, Robertson explores using nut butters in every course of your day, from Breakfast to Soups, Starters and Salads, Sides, Mains, and of course, Desserts and Treats. Creamy “cheese” sauces and tangy dressings made with nuts rub elbows with cakes and puddings, all redolent of the nutty flavors you love.

I made the Cranberry-Pecan Butter Muffins, a great wintry breakfast, lunch or snack treat. To make the pecan butter that is baked into the muffins, I toasted pecans and ground them to butter, with a little bit of canola oil to make it creamy. I was glad I made a little extra, to smear on the muffins later, because it was delicious.

The recipe was simple and straightforward, with flaxseed and water blended to replace eggs, and a nice spice mixture added to give the muffins fragrant appeal.

So if you want to revel in the rich, creamy, crunchy goodness of nut butters, all day long, dip into Robin Robertson’s new Nut Butter Universe. It’s finger-licking good!

TO WIN: Comment below, and I will pick the most persuasive comment to receive a copy of this fun, flavorful book! DEADLINE TO ENTER 2/28/2013.

Pecan Butter Batter

The muffins baked up beautifully fluffy, and the chopped pecans on top were a pretty touch.

Hot out of the oven

Cranberry-Pecan Butter Muffins

The only thing better than savoring the aroma of these fresh-baked fragrant muffins is biting into one. Bejeweled with sweet-tart cranberries, and loaded with protein and calcium, they are a good choice for breakfast or a between-meal snack served with coffee or tea.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup pecan butter
• 3 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of water in a blender and blend until the mixture thickens, about 1 minute.
• 1/2 cup natural sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a muffin pan.
2. Blend the pecan butter and oil in a large bowl. Add the milk, flaxseed mixture, and sugar and blend until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Stir into the pecan butter mixture until just blended.
4. Fold in the cranberries, then transfer the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the cups about two- thirds full. Sprinkle the tops with about 2 teaspoons of chopped pecans.
5. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.

 Makes 12 muffins

From Nut Butter Universe by Robin Robertson. ©2013 Robin Robertson. Used by permission from Vegan Heritage Press.

Heart-Healthy Hearts!

Valentine’s is a big chocolate holiday. The chocolate industry predicts that this week, 60 million pounds of chocolates will be purchased, and most of them will be snatched off the shelf on the day before Valentine’s Day.

Nothing like putting it off!

So this year, I am planning ahead, and making some super-simple chocolate for my sweetie. As long as I am at it, I’m going to sprinkle in some healthy stuff, that just happens to be delicious. Dark Chocolate, Cherries, and Almonds, a triple threat of superfoods, but once you take a bite, health will be the last thing on your mind.

By making my own, I can use organic, fair trade chocolate, free of GMOS and high-fructose corn syrup, which lurk in mainstream candy brands.

So I’ll fill you in now to get you motivated, and stave off any guilty you may have about eating treats!

Did you know that cherries are a bonanza of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory chemicals? Pick dried sour cherries to put in these chocolates, and you are staving off aches and pains that are definitely un-romantic. The complete package of super-nutrition in cherries improve heart health, fight gout, and speed up recovery from exercise. Buy extra and throw the leftovers in your salads, cereal, and muffins, and you can eat your medicine in the most delightful way.

Almonds are another superfood, packed with fiber, protein, good fats, potassium, folic acid, and Vitamin E. eating them on a regular basis contributes to healthy body weight, good blood pressure and heart health, and glowing skin. They are even a pre-biotic, that feed good bacteria in the gut. Don’t worry that nuts have fat. It’s worth it.

Oh, and if you haven’t already heard, dark chocolate is also a health food, full of antioxidants and pleasure-inducing chemicals. Go for higher cocoa content for maximum intensity.

As always, a combination of amazing real, whole foods is both swoon-inducing delicious, and darn good for you.

Good thing, because I want my sweetie around for a long time. This way, we can enjoy the ride!

Easy Valentine’s Day Clusters

I made these in a special pan with little heart-shaped cups, each of which holds about a tablespoon. If you don’t have such a pan, you can just drop these by the spoonful onto waxed paper, or into muffin cups. The cocoa serves two purposes, it helps release the candy from the pan, and it covers up that you didn’t temper the chocolate. If these even last long enough to care.

1 tablespoon cocoa

neutral oil, for pan

1/4 cup dried sour cherries (sweetened with apple juice)

a couple of tablespoons of brandy, optional

12 whole almonds

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Lightly oil the cups of your pan, or just spread some waxed paper on a sheet pan. Dust the cocoa powder on the oil or paper, using a fine sieve to spread it evenly over the oil. This will help you release the chocolates. Soak the cherries in brandy, if desired, then drain. Toast the nuts for about 15 minutes in a 325 degree oven, until quite toasted. Cool and chop very coarsely.

Low-Tech Candy Making

Drop a few cherries and chunks of nut into each cup, then melt the chocolate. Either use a double boiler, or microwave for two minutes and stir. Use a spoon to drop chocolate into each cup, and tap the pan on the counter to make the chocolate creep down into the crevices around the cherries and nuts. Chill the chocolates until firm.

Turn the pan over on your cutting board and tap it, hopefully the chocolates will fall out. If not, run some warm water in a sheet pan, and set the pan in the water for about 30 seconds, then dry it off. Return to your cutting board and use a paring knife to extract the chocolates. Serve fruit side up.

Plant Foods Fight for You

Vegans and vegetarians have always been mostly women. I’m not sure why, maybe women are more aware of how food makes them feel, or weight control, or are more easily moved by animals.

It turns out that maybe the vegan diet loves them back. An ongoing study funded by the National Cancer Institute and done at Loma Linda University has crunched some pretty important numbers.

In the analysis, it turns out that vegans have markedly lower rates of cancer, even when compared to omnivores who ate much less meat than the average  American. Vegan women had a 34% lower rate of breast, cervical and ovarian cancers. Overall, vegans have 9% lower rates of all kinds of cancer.

Vegan Cancer Study

The name Loma Linda always comes up when we are discussing vegetarian diets and health, mainly because the area is the home of many Seventh Day Adventists, a group that advocates a vegetarian lifestyle, along with not smoking or drinking alcohol. They are a perfect control group to study, since  most vegetarians are scattered among the population, rather than clustered in a town. The University has been studying vegetarian diets since the 1970′s, and recently released some teases from the Adventist Health Study-2, preliminary reports coming from research they are compiling for a newer larger study due out in two or three years. These preliminary results suggest that vegetarians have half the risk of type 2 diabetes, 5 points lower body mass index, and lower risks of heart disease.

Preliminary AHS-2

Another study found that vegetarians reduce their risk of cancer 10-12% overall. In the analysis, the researchers pointed out the preponderance of evidence that high red meat consumption correlates with higher cancer risk, and higher consumption of vegetables and fruits corresponds with lower risks.

Another Cancer and Diet Study

If you want to see actual cancer cells being killed by a vegan diet, watch the link below at Dr Michael Greger’s site. Researchers fed subjects a vegan diet for as little as two weeks, then took blood and dripped it onto cancer cells growing in a petri dish. The vegan blood took on the cancer cells and fought them 8 times more effectively than blood from omnivores.

Vegan Blood Fighting Cancer in a Petri Dish

So, if you are “vegan-ish”, flexi-vegan,” “leaning in,” or want to go more vegan, this should be very motivating news. Even if you are not vegan, eating more plants is going to pull you closer to the kind of risk reductions you see for vegans.

For anyone who is looking to kick the cheese habit, check out this previous post about making your own cashew cheese. It really helps.

Cashew Cheese

Miso Peanut Dressing, sweetened with apple juice

There is nothing quite so perfect in this icy cold winter than a steaming bowl of soup. And a really delicious, healthy way to make a simple soup sing is miso. If you are not already a convert, miso is a salted, fermented paste from the Japanese pantry, and is often used in traditional Korean fare, too. It’s usually made from soybeans, although it can be made from other beans, grains, and combinations of all of those.

Miso has always had a reputation as a nearly magical health food, and has racked up many studies showing that it fights cancer and builds immunity. It may also be because of the nuclear bomb. It’s a sad story, the US bombed Japan, and once the smoke cleared, scientists descended on the area to study the after effects. One big surprise was that people who ate miso soup every day, the traditional Japanese breakfast, suffered far less damage from radiation. It’s been studied extensively since, and continues to show significant protective effect. So if you are looking for protective foods, miso is for you.

More info on soy and cancer

In all the controversy around soy, experts always recommend eating whole, fermented soy products above processed soy, and miso is the ultimate fermented soy food. In the process of fermenting the beans, many elements are broken down by the good bacteria, freeing them up to be easily absorbed by your body. Anti-cancer and anti-oxidant phytochemicals are multiplied, as they are divided into their components by microscopic friends.

Red Miso

But one of the other magical things miso has is umami, that sensation of meatiness that makes light, vegan food more satisfying. All fermented proteins have the amino acids that add umami. That’s the reason a simple cup of hot water and miso has more satisfaction in it than a cup of hot water alone.

So how do you add miso to your life? Buy some organic miso, start with red, or maybe one red and one white. That miso soup for breakfast thing is actually a good model, or even for snacks. Keep a tub of miso handy, and instead of your usualy between meal nosh, boil water, pour it in a cup, and whisk in a teaspoon or two of miso. If you have more time and appetite, drop in some spinach leaves, or leftover veggies, or even cooked beans.

Miso can replace salt in things like salad dressing, dips, spreads, even on sandwiches. The funky, salty flavor will give your usual vinaigrette a new twist. Add a gob of white miso to hummus, or spread a smear of red miso under your almond butter, and enjoy that sandwich even more.

Bean soups, always good in winter, can be so simple with miso. Just cook lentils or beans, add carrots, onions, celery, whatever you have, and when the beans are done, stir miso and water in a cup to make a past, then stir into the soup. Taste and adjust. Don’t boil, or you will lose the bacteria and enzymes.

And feel the tasty, hearty magic of miso as you feed yourself well.

Miso Peanut Dressing

This dressing is quick and easy. Embellish with grated ginger, crushed garlic, whatever you feel in the moment.

Makes about 2/3 cups

2 tablespoons of red miso

3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil

In a cup, mash the miso and peanut butter together with a fork, then stir in the apple juice concentrate gradually. Whisk in the remaining ingredients, and drizzle over salads.

Link to a Winter Squash Salad with Miso on my blog at Stronger Together.com

Exotic Citrus Fun

Greetings from Minnesota, where things are grey and cold. Nothing epic, but it’s definitely a time when folks feel a little low on energy. Add the recent outbreaks of flu and you have a real yearning for some healthy fruit that just might give you an edge in the war with germs.

Luckily, this time of year is citrus season, somewhere far far away. Places like Peru, Israel, South Africa, and Spain. As much as we love to eat local, these bright, tart fruits are exactly the antidote to the heavy food and weather we are slogging through right now.

So, when I visited my nearby Seward Community Coop to shop, I was delighted to see a display of some new, exotic citrus that is not usually available. In the front of the photo above, the tiny yellow fruits are Limequats, a cross between a kumquat and a lime. To the left are wrinkly green Kaffir or Makrut Limes. Behind them, yellow-greenish Meyer Lemons. The three deep orange, small fruits are Tangerinequats, and to their left, smaller Kumquats. The big ones in back, Cara Cara oranges, to their right, a group of Blood Oranges, and in the center, Satsuma Mandarins, with the stem and leaf attached.

I didn’t pick up the Buddha Hand, but bravo for having it.

You see, all that stuff they say about vitamin C and colds, well, there is something to it. Linus Pauling, the scientist and nobel laureate, studied and popularized C throughout the 1970′s and 80′s. Pauling recommended megadoses of C as the key to a long and healthy life, and he lived to be 93.

C has been shown repeatedly to shorten the length and severity of upper respiratory infections. It also boosts your phagocytes and T-cells, the immune system warriors that patrol your body. C is also a potent antioxidant, which boosts healing and prevents problems.

But don’t think that taking C pills is a better option that the fruit. Whole foods are always best. My basket full of citrus contains far more than just vitamin C. The blood oranges are red from anthocyanin, a potent antioxidant. The edible peels of the tangerinequat and kumquat are full of terpenes, valuable anti-cancer chemicals. All citrus has zeanthin and carotenoids that also protect.

But mostly, they are ourageously delicious, juicy and fun.

I immediately took my citrus home to give these newcomers a try. I’ve had kumquats, but the lime-and tangerinequats were new to me. All the ‘quats are edible peel and all, so I took a juicy bit of a tangerinequat first. Yow, it was tart, with a definite tangerine undertone. Then, a bracing chomp on the limequat. It was also intensely tart, but with a more mysterious perfumey quality. I sliced some of the fruits and took a look at their jewel-toned sections.

My Citrus Sampler

They were gorgeous, right? So, since I was going to a friend’s house for dinner that night, I decided to play with making this citrus haul into an interesting salad. I got out my sharp chef and supremed all the fruit- you know, slicing off all the peel and pith, then slicing out the sections, leaving behind the membranes and removing the seeds. I went with lots of blood oranges, since they were so beautiful, and a medley of everything but the kaffir limes, which are really all about peel, not the juice. I will use those to flavor a Thai curry or something. This is what I got:

My Supreme Citrus Medley

It was a little messy, the juice was definitely flying. So, then I took all those membranes that had been cut away and squeezed them into a strainer over a bowl, and extracted all that precious juice. I whisked in some agave, to balance the tart ‘quats, and salt, pepper and olive oil. I poured it over the fruit and let it soak on the way to the party, where I arranged some cress on a platter, mounded the fruit in the center, and drizzled the remaining dressing over it. I scattered some sugared pecans over it and we dined.

Sorry, didn’t get a picture of that.

It got eaten up pretty quickly, which is a good sign, right?

The other things I would love to do with these exotic ‘quats in the future include salting them like Moroccan preserved lemons, and candying them in an agave syrup. I did throw one into my juice mix today, and it added that bit of tartness I like with my greens and cukes.

So, if you see some exotic new citrus out there, pick some up. It’s great fun to play with!