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| Dried Fig Red Wine Jam |
This Dried Fig Red Wine Jam recipe
uses dried figs instead of fresh figs. Dried figs are cheaper and easier to
find. The fact that it is cheaper does not make the jam any less delicious, on
the contrary the flavor could be more intense. This is my guess, I haven't
compared jam made from fresh and dried figs.
This jam will go well with certain cheese, on
toast, in baking, as a sauce to accompany certain meats or on its own. Anyway
you have it, it will be delicious. It is sweet but not overly sweet, and
the crunch from the seeds is a real bonus. The recipe is available here.
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This news is specific to Sweden but this practice would well be happening
in other countries.
Almost 100 tons of fake beef have been imported into Sweden over the past 2
years, and 70 tons has already been consumed. Fake beef is pork fillets that
have been dyed pink to resemble beef. The meat was imported from Hungary and labeled as Argentinian,
Hungarian and Italian beef tenderloin.
The problem was discovered by the wholesaler when the meat was returned by
a customer who complained it was too moist. The meat was sent to the national
food agency for testing, which found it was dyed pork.
I suppose Muslims who don’t eat pork would be pretty annoyed by this
discovery, even though the meat they had was probably much more tender, and
possibly delicious too.
I wonder if any customers who ate the pork raw, rare or medium got sick. If
they didn't get sick it may dispel the myth that pork should be fully cooked.
The Dried Fig Red Wine Jam
will go well with pork and fake beef, but maybe not with real beef. If you want to try this jam with beef, look for fake beef!
Wow that jam looks super good!
ReplyDeleteMary x
Now that's an interesting post title-something that sounds delicious alongside something that doesn't sound so good! :P
ReplyDeleteJust to balance things out:)
DeleteThe jam is an excellent idea! I even prefer dried figs to the fresh ones, which are rarely good and often bland (unless really fresh and of very high quality like the ones I picked once from a tree in Southern France...). I often make a dried apricot and chili jelly (posted it some time ago) and it's much better than if I made it with fresh apricots.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read "fake beef" I thought it was one more disgusting product for vegetarians. Reading the details I cannot stop myself from thinking: do the people who had eat actually have a nose or tastebuds??? I mean I can understand taking rabbit for chicken or horse for beef or meat disguised in tons of sauce and spices (this is why cheap chicken tastes better in Indian restaurants than anywhere else), but unpacking the meat and not noticing it smells pork? Pork is so strong! Especially muslims who are not used to pork should smell it at once.
Agree, fresh figs can be inconsistent - you have to be lucky to get the good ones! Dried is almost always good.
DeleteSome of the factory produced pork tenderloin has little or no smell, and not much of a pork flavour. I haven't bought such pork in Sweden but when I see it I can imagine it being not so porky, unlike organic pork or even pork leg etc! I bought pork from a supermarket in Aust, they didn't have much choice so I had to buy factory pork. There wasn't much pork smell. Given a choice I will never buy that again. Maybe muslims really enjoyed fake beef and now they are searching for it:)
It's true about some bad-quality meat... For me the biggest difference is in chicken though: when I go to restaurants or friends who buy cheap chicken, I instantly feel the difference. I think I have told you this already, but I travel one hour to get good meat from happy French pigs (though I could make 100 m on foot and buy meat from the ones raised in horrible conditions). Do Swedish supermarkets sell organic/free-range meat? I know it's practically non-existent in some countries.
DeleteStill about the fake meat... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXhJPey3i_A I have posted it once but I could watch it on and on and on so I couldn't stop myself from linking to it... If you ever have a chance to see this comedy, it's one of the best I know and Ron Swanson (the moustache guy) is a legend.
I agree, difference in chicken in huge. With pork the difference is less, organic has stronger smell and the meat is little tougher. Organic/free range meat is quite easily available here. The larger supermarkets have it, and even some smaller ones have it. I suppose it might be harder to find in smaller towns. The inorganic meat quality is OK too (except fake beef!!). The animals get better treatment here compared with US for example. Chicken/milk is supplied by individual farmers to a cooperative/company rather than big companies having large factories.
DeleteThanks so much for the link, really funny clip. I never heard of Ron before.
It's good to hear that. I observe that here and in France the choice of organic/free-range meat and produce gets bigger every year. Now in France I can buy even exotic organic fruits or vegetables such as kumquat or yam!
DeleteOrganic exotic fruits/veges? Thats a surprise
DeleteHappy New Year! That is a lovely jam and I totally agree in such recipes dried figs can be the best choice. And I am sure it would go with fake beef. Wow what a story. Similar to tuna cans not really being tuna. Amazing what people will do to save money and gip people in the process.
ReplyDeleteHappy NY to you too. I haven't heard of fake tuna yet - wonder what they fill it up with since tuna is relatively cheap
Delete