Little Green Dot

The Gift of Food

Cheese

My husband recently spent a week in  Amsterdam – riding his bicycle along the canal, taking in the sights, indulging in Dutch cuisine… Yeah ok, I may have been the tiniest bit jealous – but any of that immediately disappeared when he presented me with the most perfect gift – a selection of Dutch cheeses. I know, it’s not the normal, honey I’m back from my trip kind of a gift – but that’s why I loved it so much. All travel-envy was forgotten and now I’m busy thinking of ways to use all my glorious cheeses! Thoughts of wine, cheese and friends are filling my mind!

It’s a reminder about what makes food so special –  it creates new experiences. Food brings people together and a new flavour can transport us outside the everyday. What an incredible gift!

I’ve decided this will be my new thing (ok, my husband started it) –  to find and share with friends foods that inspire. Homegrown, artisanal provisions that celebrate cultures, traditions and everything we love about about real food!

Here are a few for the collection – Singapore Edition!

made-in-singapore

 

1. The Hunter’s Kitchenette Nut Butters // 2. A. Muse Projects Specialty Teas // 3. Two Rabbit’s Smokey Chilli // 4. GSH Conserves // 5. Jungle Beer // 6. The Edible Co. Granola

Comments

4 responses to “The Gift of Food”

  1. Mascha Avatar
    Mascha

    Wow!! Nice ;-P
    That’s what we always ask our friends to bring if they come over to Singapore: ‘Please bring some OLD Gouda!’
    One way to serve cheese the Dutch (pub) way is to cut it in dice size pieces with some mustard on the side – to dip – or you can try ‘appelstroop’, something typical Dutch, instead of mustard.
    I have a little jar for you if you like to give it a try.

    Reply
    1. militza Avatar
      militza

      Hi Mascha!

      I’m going to try the mustard idea – I’ve never heard of that before! What is applestroop? I’m so intrigued! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Mascha Avatar
    Mascha

    Hi Militza,

    Appelstroop looks a bit like molasses in colour and consistency, but then it’s made from apples. It’s completely different from the apple butter you can find in the organic shops!
    I found a recipe in an old fashioned Dutch preserves cook book.
    You need 4 kg of (ripe) organic apples – I like the tarty ones.
    Don’t skin and core the apples, but wash and cut in four. Cook them in a pan with a little water until it’s pulp (a bit like apple sauce). Put this in a sieve covered with fine cheese cloth and catch the juice – this can take up to 24 hours.
    Boil the juice [if you used apples that have fallen from the tree you can add some (brown) sugar] until it’s reduced about half to three quarters in size. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon! The appelstroop is ready when it comes from the spoon in a thread.
    Let it cool completely, it will thicken even more. Keep it in a glass mason jar.
    Use it as a spread for bread, on pancakes, in yoghurt instead of honey or as a substitute for blackstrap molasses.
    Some people like to spice it up with cinnamon, but I like it the way it is.
    Hope you like it as much as we do! The boys especially like it on their pancakes 😉 I like it on a slice with real dark bread with old gouda!!
    Mascha
    PS you can skip the first step and use natural apple juice, but not the cloudy one.

    Reply
    1. militza Avatar
      militza

      Hi Mascha,

      Thanks a million for the idea – sounds like a fun weekend recipe! I think I’ll go for the tart apples as well… I’ll give it a go 🙂

      Reply

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