I grew up in a tiny country town. We didn’t have much but we did have great water.
When school finished it was time for me to explore the Big Smoke, well, perhaps not quite the Big Smoke, but certainly a town considerably larger than I had ever known. The first thing I realised when I moved into my little unit was that the water was horrendous! Undrinkable. This was the beginning of my soon to be very long ‘things I took for granted when I lived at home’ list.
Perhaps some people adjust to the taste. Perhaps some people are not too phased about drinking water, but for me this was a big problem. I love water. I am one of those people who gasp when others tell me they can get to lunch time without having a drink. I have had close to a litre of water before I even eat breakfast, and I have my breakfast early.
For many years I spent far too much money on bottled water. I used bottled water for drinking and for cooking. I couldn’t adjust to the stuff that came out of my tap. I could taste it in my tea, in my soup, and I really didn’t like it. So that is what I did, even as a poor student.
This water scenario reminds me of my Dad comparing homegrown tomatoes to the store bought variety, the ones he refuses to buy. He will only eat home grown because, in his own words, “they taste like tomatoes”. That is how I feel about filtered water, it tastes like water.
Now I have a BRITA 3-way filtered water tap. I still drink filtered water. I still use filtered water in all of my cooking, but now it is simple, inexpensive and convenient. I believe that you can taste the difference between a chia porridge or a stock made with filtered water over standard tap water. The water I consume out of my filtered tap is certainly the closest I have come to the water I had in my childhood.
The delightful and charismatic Gary Mehigan is passionate about the BRITA filtered water range, stating that “cleaner and clearer filtered water is perfect for bringing out the full potential of your dishes. It enhances the natural flavours and goodness of your other ingredients.” Gary has put together this fabulous collection of recipes at betterwithbrita.com to demonstrate that water is a fundamental component of food preparation and that when you use the best ingredients you will get the best results.
Now on to our own, much-loved, water-based recipe and the very exciting Fresh Recipe giveaway that is happening!
Choc Coconut Pudding
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 6 medjool dates, seeds removed
- 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
- 2 tablespoons cacao / cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon concentrated natural vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
Place all of the ingredients except for the chia seeds into your food processor and blend at high speed until smooth. Pour the mixture into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle the chia seeds over the top and whisk to combine. Cover and place in the fridge to thicken. You can leave this to set for anything from 5 minutes to overnight. If I am leaving the mixture for several hours I typically reduce the chia seeds to two tablespoons. You can also heat the liquid mixture and have this as a hot pudding. Enjoy.
GIVEAWAY TIME! Jump in and share your ideas, I am looking forward to being inspired!
Nuffnang have launched a fabulous ‘Fresh Recipe’ network competition that is running from August 6 – 27. Simply write up your own ‘fresh recipe’ blog post and share your URL on the Nuffnang blog post for a chance to win a $500 or $250 gift voucher for The Essential Ingredient
Brought to you by Nuffnang and BRITA
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