Pohutukawa Flower Syrup and Spice

This December we set out to spend time with the magnificence of the Pohutukawa trees in flower throughout Hawke's Bay. Along the way we discovered that the stamens of the blooms can be used to make a delightful cordial. There is very little reference to the flower being used by Maori, however, there are two contemporary foragers that have been sharing about their use of these special blossoms on social media so I went ahead to see just what all the fuss was about.  

Once you start taking notice it is amazing just how many variations of the colour red Pohutukawas bloom in. We found these trees out at Waipatiki beach in the week before Christmas.

I adore that these tenacious native trees are known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.

There's a bit of an art to gathering the stamens as they don't just nicely fall in to your hand, unless they are ready to drop. Picking the whole flower head isn't much use as they are still quite difficult to remove even when dry. So, like many foraging practises the best idea is to slow down, be patient & grateful & take your time.

The stamens dry very quickly & have a lovely berry fruity fragrance.

Pohutukawa stamens with Kawakawa fruit

To make Pohutukawa cordial simply bring a cup of water & a cup of sugar to the boil & then stir to dissolve the sugar. Add 1 tsp citric acid & 1 1/2 cups of the stamens. Make sure that you've removed any of the hard green bits first. Cover & leave to infuse all day or overnight. Strain & bottle. 

This is the best post I have found so far about making this cordial over at Kailash Herbs.

You can reduce the sugar content of the cordial but it won't keep as well & the balance will be different. Same with the citric acid- it helps to acidify what would otherwise be a very sweet syrup. Lemon would swamp the delicate flavour of the Pohutukawa flowers.

Increase quantities according to what you have & how much cordial you'd like to make. The above amounts make just enough for a 500ml bottle. White cane sugar or raw sugar both work fine.

We think that the cordial tastes much like strawberry jam. It is lovely mixed in to fizzy water.

The dried stamens can also be ground in a spice grinder until very fine & then put through a fine sieve to produce a deep red delicious "spice". The desert below is a mixture of whipped cream, thick natural yogurt, honey & a large teaspoon of Pohutukawa spice. The strawberries are marinated in a little maple syrup and the green stuff is finely ground pistachio nuts.

The same mix can also be frozen to make a very nice semifreddo. Just remove from the freezer and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I learnt about making Pohutukawa spice from this post here at Finders Eaters Foraging.

The sauce in the above desert I made by simmering a few wild cherries for 20 minutes in a little water, (Prunus padus var padus) that we discovered out at Sacred Hill, & then adding a little honey.

Such a rich delicious flavour.

For Christmas I made a Spanish Cream using this recipe & adding a large teaspoon of Pohutukawa spice. I would leave out the vanilla next time as it overwhelmed the fruity flavour of the flowers. 

Charming served in pretty teacups.

Delicious served with roasted strawberries. When the strawberries are cooked but still have a little liquid left I mixed in a little honey & some Pohutukawa spice. The wafer was some Speculaas that Dutch friends gave us- perfect combination!

Katie x

Strawberry Coconut Shortcake

When I lived i Wellington 42 years ago, I fell in love with this strawberry shortcake from a little organic cafe I found upstairs in Cuba street. I eventually figured out how to make it and all this time later I am still reinventing it. I don't generally do dessert, for pudding's sake, but I sometimes work it in to being part of a meal. This take on the classic strawberry shortcake is made with a base of wholemeal, coconut and almond flours, the topping a mix fresh strawberries, coconut & brown sugar. 

This is the most brilliant recipe because it can be made with almost any fruit. Apricot and coconut are delicious together too. A great way to use up fruit that might otherwise be wasted.

Base: cream 100 gms of softened butter with 1/3 cup of brown sugar

Add an egg and beat again

Fold in 2 cups (total) of an even mix of coconut flour, spelt flour and ground almonds

And a tsp of baking powder 

Press mix in to a greased baking paper lined tin

Pop in to the fridge while you're preparing the topping.

Topping: slice up a large punnet (which I guess is a kilo) of washed strawberries in to a large bowl

Add 1 cup of fine coconut & 1 cup of shredded coconut (or whatever you have on hand)

And 1/2 cup of brown sugar

Lastly a splash of rosewater.

Add a tbsp of cornflour & a tbsp of almond flour if the fruit seems quite moist. 

Mix together 

Spoon the strawberry coconut mix over the base and smooth out

Bake for 40 minutes in a moderate oven until firm

Keeps really well in the fridge 

In the last photo the shortcake is topped with coconut chia pudding made with coconut cream chia seeds, rosewater and honey, red and gold raspberries, white alpine strawberries and pansies from the garden.

So good!

The next version I made was apricot.

 With juicy fruit it's a good idea to turn down the heat and cook for another 5 or 10 minutes until the fruit topping has firmed well and set.

I am thinking that Black Boy peach would be amazing and also pineapple and passionfruit.

Katie X

Strawberry Yoghurt Cheesecake

Sometimes it's nice to follow a recipe & go out & buy the ingredients especially & other times, it's fine just to use what you have & make it up as you go along. This, around Christmas time "cheesecake" was one of those make it up jobs & it was so delicious.

I have decided that the only base worth making for an uncooked cheesecake is this one. It is so good.

 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. Press in to a greased springform tin. 

The middle part is super easy- I had a kilo of strawberry Greek yoghurt in the fridge that I bought from Reduced to Clear for $2.50!

In a small saucepan soak a large rounded dsp of gelatine in a little juice, or water.

Let stand for 5 minutes & then stir over low heat until the gelatine is dissolved. 

Stir in a large dsp of honey.

Once cooled, stir in 1/2 cup or so of the yoghurt & stir again.

Now pour the gelatine in to the yoghurt & stir through thoroughly.

Pour over the base. Pop in to the fridge.

The topping is so flavoursome & a great way to make use of an abundance of gorgeous strawberries at this time of the year. I had a large punnet of juicy fat strawberries (seconds are brilliant for this) in the fridge that I washed & sliced & spread out in a roasting pan. Sprinkle a dsp of raw sugar over the fruit (actually I did this part the night before). Cook at around 130o until well roasted & syrupy, but not dry.

The process is the same again- 1 large rounded tsp of powdered gelatine soaked in the liquid of the roasted strawberries, once bloomed, gentle heat to dissolve. Stir through the strawberries add a splash of rose water & once the yoghurt part has started to set, gently pour over the cheesecake. 

Cover & refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Back in the day, when no one even knew what they were, my grandmother Edna would serve bowls of whole strawberries & tinned lychees for dessert. These Japanese wineberries are ready in our garden over summertime & are equally as good with lychees & especially this strawberry cheesecake.

A cheesecake that is light & still nourishing yet feels like a celebration food. It also lasts well in the fridge.

Katie X

Raw Strawberry Macaroons

I think these have to be one of the yummiest little sweet treats that I have ever made!

They are so easy to whip up & healthy too.

In my usual style I have tweeked the original recipe that I found just here.

~ 1/3 cup of cashews or almonds
~ 3/4 cup shredded coconut
~ 2 1/2 tbsp coconut flour
~ 1/4 cup diced strawberries
~ 2 large tbsp honey
~ 1 tsp vanilla extract
~ A good squeeze of lemon juice
~ A tiny pinch of salt
~ 2 tbsp of melted coconut oil

Blitz the cashews or almonds in a food processor until finely ground.
Add all other ingredients & process until well combined.

If you don't have coconut flour on hand then begin by whizzing 2 1/2 tbsp coconut to a fine powder before adding the nuts.
I had some slow roasted strawberries in the fridge so I used some of those too.
The flavour of them is intense but probably made the colour a little darker.
I had been given some freeze dried strawberry powder (but never managed to use it) so added a 1/2 tsp in to the mix to intensify the strawberry flavour & then sprinkled a little over the finished macaroons. The addition of the lemon juice really helped to bring out the lovely flavours.

Add a little more coconut flour if the mixture seems a bit soft.
They will harden up further as soon as they are put in the fridge.
I am sure that there are lots of other flavours that would work well with the same recipe too.

Perfect for summer sharing & celebrations.

Best left in the fridge.
My mixture made 18 decent sized balls despite the bits I ate along the way.

Passionfruit & Mango Version for Autumn

Use the basic recipe above to your own taste.

Chop 3 or 4 dried mango slices in to bowl.

Scoop out 3 ripe passionfruit & add the pulp to the mango pieces

Add 1 dsp chia seeds & the 2 1/2 tbsp of coconut flour (as above)

Juice of a lemon

1 tsp of vanilla essence

2 large tbsps of honey

& a pinch of salt

Let sit for 20 mins or so until all the liquid is soaked up.

Whizz the 1/3-1/2 cup of cashews or almonds in a food processor until fine

Add 1 1/2 cups coconut pulse again

Add everything else & work together

Pour in 2 large tbsp melted coconut oil or ghee or unsalted butter

Pulse together one last time

Roll in to small balls & in to coconut

Store in the fridge

Delicious!

Catherine x

Strawberry Cloud Cake

This is the most amazing, magical dessert & so much fun to make. The original recipe from Annabel Langbein is just here (or will be when the link is working on her page) or at the bottom of this page.

My version requires perhaps 2 punnets of strawberries or most of a large one

2 or 3 room temperature egg whites

2 large tbsps of runny honey or 1/2- 1 cup of sugar depending on your taste

Then either: 1 tbsp lemon juice & 1 tbsp vanilla essence 

or 1 dsp rosewater

Whizz the washed hulled strawberries in a blender or food processor with 1 tbsp of honey

Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with another large tbsp of honey

add the strawberries a bit at a time to the whipped egg whites & continue beating

about now, if you are using a handbeater like I am, call for help from any available child & bribe them with licks from the bowl & future frozen delights if they take over & do some beating for you...

Beat until really smooth & thick & marshmallowy.
I poured half the mixture into the four small pots pictured & put them into the freezer & then added 1 dsp of gelatine to the remaining mix before setting in small containers in the fridge.
Gelatine: sprinkle 1 dsp of gelatine powder over 1/3 c of fruit juice: apple, pomegranate etc
stand for 5 mins until it has swelled, heat the gelatine over low heat, stirring constantly until the gelatine has dissolved,
remove from heat & cool a little
stir in a couple of tablespoons of the strawberry mixture & then add to the big bowlful
To the final heart shaped bowl I added some plain Greek yoghurt.
All of the variations above are fabulous!!
We love the frozen version the best.
It will keep in the freezer for over a month.
Take out of the freezer for 10 mins before serving.

If you want to make this as a full cloud cake, here is the full recipe, including the base.

Click the photo to see the writing larger. 

Raspberry cloud cake here.  Our black doris plum version was delicious too.
Hope you love it!

Catherine x0x0x