Kawakawa Berries With Apricot~ Desserts

It's quite fun having our own unique native foods that are also medicines here in New Zealand.

Most people are family with Kawakawa, Piper excelsum that can be found in most parts of the country in our native bush & other spots. A member of the pepper family, the leaves are useful as a rongoa medicine plant but are also edible themselves. The female fruits that ripen around Christmas time are also excellent dried & ground as pepper . The ripe fruits are also fascinatingly delicious with a mango flavour but also spicy seeds. Since there are not many recipes out there for using the ripe berries I have been experimenting with them to see what works & what doesn't. My first post you can find just here. 

Now that there is only two of us & Rob works a lot of afternoon shifts we don't always get through the fruit that I buy, harvest so when I spotted a bowl of ripe apricots sitting there uneaten I decided to make a dessert with them & tried pairing them with kawakawa.

I love the result!

I'm not very good with exact recipes because I am mostly winging it as I go.

I cooked my 8 apricots over low heat & the lid on, without any added water.

When cool I added the same number of ripe berries- just slide them off the little stem.

Add 1/2 cup of honey & blended with a sticker blender until smooth.

I then added a cup of thick plain Greek yoghurt.

Then I beat 1/2 cup of cream to soft peaks adding a little vanilla & folding through half the apricot mixture.

Put in to a bowl & chill.

The other option for the other half was to add 1 dsp of  gelatine in a little water. Sit to bloom, then heat to dissolve. Mix in to the apricot puree & pour over your favourite cheesecake base.

Mine is always walnuts, coconut dates & coconut oil with a pinch of salt.

 1/3 cup each of broken cashews, walnut pieces (toast these first if you like) and coconut, 

add 4 or 5 soft dates (remove the stones first) 

Add a tbsp of melted coconut oil and briefly combine in a food processor until mixed to a fine crumb.

I used a little loaf tin for one of the "cheesecakes". Line with baking paper or glad wrap.

In the little green jug is s a simple yoghurt dressing with more Kawakawa fruits, olive oil, sea salt, orange juice & a little honey. Add some seedy mustard too if you like & even a pinch of turmeric. A yummy summer salad dressing- great with seafood.

Catherine X

Kawakawa Berries- what can I do with them?

 Kawakawa berries are a unique little fruit that taste a little like rockmelon with a hit of spicy seeds.

You don't really think about Kawkawa berries being Christmasy, but they are. Along with the flowering of the Pohutukawa trees, the sweet abundance of the Linden's, Kawakawa berries also serenade the years' end. I have one little local spot that is easy to access every few days. As long as the fruit is plump you can harvest them while they are still green and they will ripen over the next few days. If you click on the photo below you'll see the progression of the fruit ripening over 48 hours.

I have tried them in all kinds of ways now - in dressings, infused in honey, in various desserts & mixed through strawberries, but this year I have decided that I like them best just as they are.

There are some lovely peaches at our Farmer's market just now- this combo was amazing: Hohepa (local) mozzarella, local honey, good salt, fresh peaches & perfectly ripe Kawakawa berries. Brilliantly balanced & the Kawakawa flavours just shone. Baked peaches with a little maple syrup are also delicious with them.

Dressing with Kawakawa berries, orange or lemon juice, lemon zest, thick natural yoghurt yoghurt, olive oil, honey, salt, pepper.

Add a teaspoon of tomato paste to go with a seafood salad.

Thick natural yoghurt, Mango chutney and plenty of ripe Kawakawa berries, especially if you chew well and get the hit of all the spicy seeds. So good with a curry.

Fairy cheesecakes

All mixed in with Mascarpone.

Kawkawa berries are lovely with chocolate too. They can even be dipped in chocolate if you like.

Katie X