Fruit du jour - Longan "Dragon Eyes"

Longan (Dimocarpus Longan) is tropical Asiatic fruit native to southern China and also found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The longan is named as "dragon eyes" because of its resemblance to an eyeball when it is shelled. The translucent flesh of thr fruit allows the balck seed to show through like a pupil or iris. The fruit has a shiny, small, black, round and hard seed. When fully ripened, the fruit can be easily opened by squeezing it out. The fruit is a cousin of the lychee but the longan has a mocha-brown color while the lychee has a red rind. Both fruits though, has bark-like skin and are extremely sweet.

Since this juicy and succulent fruit is very seasonal, most of the time it iscanned with syrup being sold in supermarkets. When in season, it is ingested raw as a desert, snack or an ingredient for soups and sweet-and-sour foods. In the Philippines, its more famous cousin, the lychee, is used in sherbets as an accompaninment with the Buco Sherbet. Longan can be used as a substitute, too. In Chinese medicine, it is believed to have an effect on relaxation. Thus, it is considered as a "warm" fruit.

The fruit is in season now. You can see it on fruit stands (a kilo is Php 80 - 90.00) or even in your backyard in the province. Most people barely gives attention to this sweet fruit but once initiated, they instantly fall in love with the fruit.

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Rose Petal Marmalade

1/2 pound pink or red edible rose petals
2 cups sugar, divided
4 1/2 cups water
Juice of 2 lemons (approximately 1/2 cup)
All roses that you intend to eat must be free of pesticides. Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries, or garden centers. In many cases these flowers have been treated with pesticides not labeled for food crops.

Procedures:
Clip and discard bitter white bases from the rose petals; rinse petals thoroughly and drain. Place rose petals in a bowl and sprinkle enough sugar to coat each petal. Let set overnight. In a saucepan over low heat, place remaining sugar, water, and lemon juice; stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in rose petals and let simmer 20 minutes. Increase heat medium-high and bring to a boil; continue boiling for approximately 5 minutes until mixture thickens and the temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 221 degrees F, or until a spoonful dropped onto a cold plate jells and holds its shape.
After boiling, transfer the jam into hot sterilized jars. Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Cover, label, and store in a cool place. Makes 1 pound of jam.

Florists

Please check out this new blog to find information about floristry. www.puringsflowers.blogspot.com

Nigori Sakura Hana

Nigori Sakura Hana

Sake
Soy milk
Jasmine essence or jasmine flowers
Simple syrup or sugar
A drop of grenadine syrup
Ice

Procedures:
Infuse soy milk with jasmine flowers by soaking them in the liquid for a few minutes. Discard flowers or use as garnish. In a shaker, combine sake, soy milk, simple syrup and ice. Pour onto a zombie glass and garnish with a pandan leaf, jasmine blossom and a drop of grenadine syrup.
This is a sake concoction I have come up with. It is still under experimentation to come up with the exact measurements to achieve the best taste and appearance. I'll keep you posted on the final measurements.

I got this idea when I was online looking for Sake concoctions when I stumbled on this site with a .pdf file showing a menu of their sake products. I saw something that says "Nigori Sake - unfiltered, sweet milky taste." I was inspired by the phrase "sweet milky taste." I thought of something that is milky in color and sweet and that is still cognizant of the Japanese beverage. Soya milk came to my mind and from there I started formulating a recipe. As a twist, I thought of infusing the soya milk with jasmine flowers and adding sugar or syrup to sweeten it. Japan is synonymous with cherry blossoms or "sakura" for cherry and "hana" for flowers or blossoms. I used Nigori to acknowledge the inspiration. Thus, I came up with Nigori Sakura Hana. Enjoy!

Ginju

Ginju

3 oz. soju

1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon and lime juice

1 oz. ginger syrup or ground ginger

3 mint leaves

ginger ale

In a tall collins glass, muddle ginger syrup and mint. Add ice and soju, then lemon and lime juice and a splash of ginger ale. Stir and garnish with a lime.

Haiku

Haiku

6 oz. soju
splash/hint of dry vermouth
2 thin slices of cucumber

Chill a martini glass. In a martini mixer, put ice, vermouth and one cucumber slice. Shake vigorously. Pour into chilled martini glass; garnish with cucumber slice.