Food
Fair and square
by Lois Daish
Increasingly, shoppers are adding “fair trade” to the list of considerations when deciding what food to buy.
Rational thinking is only part of the story when it comes to deciding which foods to buy. This is demonstrated time and again by market research findings, such as the one that indicates that 84 percent of New Zealanders still prefer Wattie’s baked beans, even though a laboratory test showed that the ratio of beans to sauce was higher in some other brands. Or a survey which shows that even consumers who give top priority to convenience still want to add their personal touch to the meal, by browning the meat or cutting up the vege-tables before adding a canned sauce. It is no wonder that we find shopping for food so exhausting. Each of our choices will have involved ranking a long list of factors, including the obvious ones such as familiarity, taste, price, packaging, nutrition and ease of preparation, as well as other more subtle parameters such as which products are placed at eye level on the supermarket shelves and whether we have just had lunch when we go shopping. It must be a nightmare for manufacturers trying to work out the best lures for each of their products.
But the consumer’s job has just got harder. We are now called upon to make ethical choices. Genetic modification, organic growing, sustainability, animal welfare and food miles all cry out for attention. Right now, fair trade is getting a turn.
During Fairtrade Fortnight (April 29-May 13), consumers are asked to buy coffee, chocolate, cocoa, tea, sugar and spices that carry the Fairtrade label. During the same promotion last year, sales of Fairtrade coffee doubled. Many coffee drinkers were prepared to put concern about the working conditions of coffee growers at the top of their priority list. Several coffee marketers took note that consumers care about the Fairtrade ideal of sharing the benefits of trade more equitably between consumers, producers and the environment. Since then, the Fairtrade sticker has found a place on many brands. If you have put some Fairtrade coffee and cocoa in your shopping bag this week, here are two sweetmeats to have with your espresso.
Although meringues are supposed to be as white as possible, I prefer them when they are a pale biscuit colour, as this gives a hint of caramel to the flavour. The coffee-cream filling is a perfect match.
CARAMEL MERINGUES FILLED WITH COFFEE CREAM
Caramel Meringues
1 large egg white, at room temperature; pinch cream of tartar; 50g caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 125˚C. Put the egg white and cream of tartar into a medium bowl and whisk until snowy. Add the sugar gradually, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Line a baking tray with baking paper and drop 20 (approx) heaped teaspoonfuls of the meringue on to the tray. Use the back of a teaspoon to flatten each meringue into a small, thick disc. Bake for 1 hour or until the meringues are a pale biscuit colour. Turn off the heat, open the door of the oven and leave the meringues in the oven for another 30 minutes to dry out. As soon as the meringues are cool, put them into an airtight container so that they won’t become sticky.
Coffee-Cream Filling
1⁄3 cup cream; 1 tbsp very strong coffee, cooled; 1 tbsp icing sugar
Put the cream, coffee and icing sugar into a small bowl and whisk until firm.
To Assemble
Place half the meringues, bottom-side up, on to a tray and dab a heaped teaspoon of coffee cream on each. Carefully press the remaining meringues on top. Place on a serving dish and sieve a dusting of icing sugar over the top. Makes 10 small, filled meringues.
This recipe makes a delicious moist cake that is firm enough to eat with your fingers without having to resort to using a fork. The chocolate flavour is gentle enough not to overwhelm the almonds and the touch of grated lemon zest. The idea of adding lemon zest to a chocolate cake comes from a recipe for Australian chocolate cake in a new edition of Margaret Fulton’s Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery (Hardie Grant, $79.95). Cover the cake with a thin chocolate glaze if you wish, but it is fine without it.
CHOCOLATE ALMOND CAKE
200g soft butter; 200g caster sugar; 4 eggs at room temperature; grated zest of 1 lemon; dash almond essence; 150g standard flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 3 tbsp cocoa; 100g ground almonds; 1⁄2 cup milk
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