Zespri Kiwifruit: Original Recipes by Ieatishootipost!

The Zespri Kiwifruit Season is now well and truly underway and I have been asked to be Zespri Ambassador for the 2009 Season. As part of my duties, I had to come up with three original Kiwifruit recipes for the media launch which I am posting here for everyone to try at home. As I am more of a home chef rather than a professional chef, you will find that these are really simple recipes that anyone can do at home with ingredients that are easily available from the supermarket.

I hope you can try them at home and let us know what you think.


Zespri Green Kiwifruit, Surimi and Avocado Salad in Beancurd Skin

The first recipe is basically a salad which is presented in finger food form. The inspiration for this dish really came from my mom who introduced me to avocado and crabmeat salad with thousand island dressing years ago. The zesty green Kiwifruit goes very well with seafood such as crabs, prawns and lobster and I felt that the Kiwifruit would add a nice contrast to the creamy Avocado which can be a little heavy by itself. To give it a bit of Japanese twist, Goma dressing (Japanese Sesame dressing) was added to the mashed avocado as well as a dash of wasabi to give it a bit of kick. The idea of using inari skin actually came about because I was initially experimenting with the idea of a Kiwifruit rojak which is presented in a toasted Tau Pok Skin. But that didn't taste too nice, so I ended up using inari skin with avocado instead.

Ingredients:

1 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
6 sticks of Surimi
1 Ripe avocado
1 teaspoon lime juice
2 tablespoons Japanese Goma Dressing
6 sheets of prepared Inari Beancurd skin
Wasabi paste

Mash avocado with Goma Dressing and lime juice and half fill the Inari Beancurd skin. Add two peasized portion of Wasabi on top of the mashed avocado. Cut ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit and Surimi sticks and set on top of the avocado.

Serves 6


Video Clip of Recipe


Zespri Green Kiwifruit on ice with Oolong Jelly and Wolfberries

I have been drinking a lot more Chinese Tea lately, in particular Oolong and Pu Erh tea as they are great for lowering cholesterol levels. Hey, when you are eating stuff like Char Kway Teow, you really want to try balance it out with something that will help negate the ill effects of all that lard. One of those things I have been doing was to chill the tea in the fridge and drink it cold. When I got my supply of Kiwifruit, I thought that adding a few slices of Kiwifruit into the chilled tea might make it even more refreshing, and was quite surprised that the combination worked really well!

So rather than having just chilled Oolong with Kiwifruit, I thought it would be great to make a jelly using Oolong. With Konnyaku, people often add flavours, colours and sugar to make the jelly. But I just tried using just Oolong Tea with Konnyaku powder and found that it actually tastes quite refreshing without the addition of sugar. The Konnyaku powder does have a bit of sugar in it already, so the jelly is slightly sweet. With the sugar syrup, I originally used pandan flavoured syrup, but I felt that using wolfberries would give it some colour as well as flavour. Assemble all the ingredients in an ornate Chinese Tea cup and you have a dish that celebrates the Chinese origin of the Kiwifruit accompanied by the other Chinese ingredients of Oolong and wolfberries. It's a light, thirst quenching dessert for a hot day and you can make a big bowl of it like how we do with almond jelly with longan if you are serving at home.

Ingredients:

2 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
150mg Konnyaku powder
750ml brewed Oolong Tea
Half Cup wolfberries
2 Cup sugar
1 Cup water

Mix Konnyaku powder with brewed Oolong Tea and bring to boil. Pour into mould and set in the fridge. Dissolve sugar in the water and add wolfberries and bring to boil. Simmer for half and hour till wolfberries are soft and plump and chill in the fridge. To serve, shave or crush ice, top with cubed Oolong Konnyaku and Kiwifruit. Add wolfberries and syrup to taste.

Serves 4 to 6

Video Clip of this Recipe

Gold Kiwi Pudding with Sago

The idea for this final dish comes from the popular Mango Pudding dessert that we often get at Dim Sum restaurants. But it is difficult for gelatine to set with Kiwifruit because the Kiwifruit contains actinidine, an enzyme that breaks down protein. This is why if you marinade a tough cut of beef with Kiwifruit for half an hour, your meat is going to be nice and tender. Also you really don't want to cook the Kiwifruit as it would destroy the Vitamins. So in the end I just pureed the Kiwifruit and mixed it with the custard and was pleasantly surprised that it worked really well.

You can blend the Kiwifruit if you like but I find that if you use a blender, the seeds get cut and you get a grainy texture with your pudding. So after trying out a few ways of making pureed Kiwifruit, I suddenly realise that you can simply crush it by hand which is where the ziploc bag idea came it. With the ziploc bag, you can puree the kiwifruit, mix it with the custard and leave the whole bag in the fridge to chill. When you are ready to serve, cut off the corner of the bag and it turns instantly into a piping bag! The sago adds a local touch to the dessert as well as some texture to contrast with the smooth pudding.

Ingredients:

6 ZESPRI Gold Kiwifruit
Half Cup Pearl Sago
400ml milk or alternatively skim milk may be used
200ml Evaporated milk
4 Tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
4 Tablespoon sugar (adjust to taste)
Vanilla essence

To make Sago:

Rinse sago and add to pot of boiling water. Bring to boil then turn off heat and leave for 20 minutes. Bring water to boil again and cook until sago is transparent. Rinse in cold water and set in fridge.

To make custard:

Add 50ml of milk to custard powder and sugar and dissolve. Bring the rest of the milk and evaporated milk to boil. Slowly whisk the custard powder mixture into the hot milk and bring to boil. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to taste. Chill in fridge.

To assemble:

Cube the Gold Kiwifruit. Save some of the Kiwifruit for the topping and place the rest in a Ziploc bag. Use your hands to crush the kiwifruit into a puree. You can also use a blender if you wish, but the seeds will get cut and it will not taste as nice. Add equal amounts of the chilled Custard into the Ziploc bag and mix. You can now leave the bag of Custard in the fridge to chill.
When ready to serve, spoon the sago into a Martini glass. Cut the corner off the Ziploc bag and pipe the Kiwifruit Custard into the glass. Top with cubed Gold Kiwifruit and garnish with a slice of Green Kiwifruit.

Serves 4 to 6


Video Clip of this Recipe

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Zespri Kiwifruit: Ever wonder where your food comes from?

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Team Zespri Singapore on top of Auckland Harbour Bridge

The mention of New Zealand conjures up thoughts of crazy adventure, untouched mountain peaks, bungee jumping and succulent lamp chops. I have always wondered how a country with the same population of Singapore could achieve so much. They have the All Blacks, managed to produce a movie like "The Lord of the Rings", three nobel laureates and control one third of the world's dairy trade. Then of course there is Kiwifruit which was developed in New Zealand who now produces 80% of the world's supply of Kiwifruit.

New Zealand is a country which is still very much unspoilt and the Kiwis have the wisdom to want to keep it that way. Mention all the really fashionable environmentally friendly words such as "sustainability", "renewable energy", "organic", "carbon footprinting" and you can probably tag the word New Zealand at the end of it.

I would be the first to admit that I had never really thought about where my food comes from in the past. I guess like most Singaporeans, food comes from the supermarket. Being a non-agricultural country, most of us grow up not knowing what a farm is except from TV or the farm stays you would do once or twice in your life.

But of late, I have taken an interest in how our food is cultivated and grown. I guess it was partly due to the recent melamine milk scare which really brought the issue of food safety and quality to bare. Yes, we can buy that chicken or fruit from the supermarket shelf, but how nutritious it is really depends on how it has been grown. I recently managed to watch "Hugh's chicken run" where the differences in farming methods between mass produced chicken verses free ranged chicken are shown graphically. Even though I still buy whatever is on the supermarket shelves, at least now I am starting to consider paying a little more for chicken of a better quality. You can really taste the difference if you are using it for Shabu Shabu or chicken rice.

With fruit and vegetable production there are a few things to consider as well. The obvious things are the overuse of chemical pesticides and genetic modification of fruits. But perhaps what is not really well known is how the growing conditions actually affect the nutritional value of the produce. Let's take for instance Kiwifruit. Magnesium is one of the trace elements which is found in high concentration in Kiwifruit. It is responsible for energy metabolism, muscle contraction, and nerve impulse transmission, and bone mineralization. Men might want to make sure that they have adequate magnesium in the diet because it is a vasodilator and you need good vasodilatation if you want to be able to father kids. But where do you think the Kiwifruit gets its magnesium from? It's from the soil of course. So if you have unscrupulous farmers who overfarm the land, the soil is bound to be deficient in minerals and the result is a Kiwifruit that is less than optimal.

Thankfully, the farming in New Zealand is very well regulated. You can see from the slideshow just how organized the farms are. The tall hedges that you see are Canadian pine trees which are grown as a shield for strong winds which may disrupt the Kiwifruit vines. The growers are very much into sustainability and are united in supporting programs like Kiwigreen which is an integrated pest management system that reduces the requirement for artificial inputs and pesticides.

In the past, I never really paid much attention to the brand of Kiwifruit that I bought. Most of the Kiwifruit are unlabelled. So I have ended up buying quite a few Kiwifruits that were better used as paperweights. However, having visited the Kiwifruit farms and the packhouses. I can safely say that when I pick up a Kiwifruit with the Zespri label on it, I am assured that I am getting the very best Kiwifruit in the world.


Transporting freshly picked kiwifruit to be packed

As a company, Zespri controls the whole supply chain of the Kiwifruit with the exception of the growers who basically grow their Kiwifruit according to their strict guidelines. Besides having pristine conditions for growing the fruit, it is interesting to note that when they grade their Kiwifruit in the packhouses, they only select the best Kiwifruits to be exported. Most of the lesser grade Kiwifruits are sold at home or fed to the cows (really, no kidding). For the Singapore market, they have Kiwifruit in two different sizes. The smaller ones are sold at the big retailers like Cold Storage and Fairprice while the Mom and Pop shops usually sell the larger ones. So, if you find that Kiwifruit at the supermarkets are cheaper than the ones at the Mom and Pop shops, there is a good reason for it.


Wharenui - The Maori Meeting House

Another interesting note is that our Kiwifruit comes from one specific packhouse which are managed by the indigenous Maori people. As you know, the indigenous people of many countries in the world were often displaced when new migrants take over the country. It seems to me that New Zealand is one country where the indigenous affairs are quite well managed.

During our trip, we were invited to the Wharenui (meeting house) to meet the elders of the Maori community who own the farms that grow the Kiwifruit. During the half hour ceremony, lots of things were said in Maori where there was no translation. So we can only gather that they were somehow telling us about their history and welcoming us into their community. It was only after we rubbed noses that I found out that the Maoris of the past were cannibals who would eat the heart of their enemies! Anyway, the meeting was a way of introducing the Maori kids to the people (us) who were buying their Kiwifruit and supporting their community.


The red Kiwifruit might hit our shelves in a few years

There are actually many varieties of Kiwifruit. The familiar one which we all know of was the Hayward cultivar which was developed in New Zealand in the 1920's. But Kiwifruit can come in all shapes and sizes, some are hairy, others are not. (Like humans really and incidentally, I wonder about the Gold Kiwifruit. Is it just a coincidence that they are yellow on the inside, not hairy on the outside and its scientific name is Actinidia Chinensis?). The Zespri Gold Kiwifruit was a cultivar which was developed by Zespri which is why they are the only brand that offer the gold variety. It was basically developed to suit the Asian palate who prefer fruits that are sweeter, typical of tropical fruits. One of the possible cultivars which might make it to our supermarkets shelves in the next few years is this red colour one which is currently being developed by the Zespri scientists. The flavour is even smoother than gold, but it would be a big hit with the Pastry Chefs as it is a beautiful fruit to decorate with.


Sunrise over Lake Rotorua

Conclusion

As the world grapples with the problem of food shortage, farmers worldwide need to be able find the balance between producing food in greater quantities but at the same time not compromising on the quality and safety. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. So, as consumers we do need to be a little more aware about the source of our food when we shop.

Fortunately, there are countries like New Zealand who are growing safe, sustainable and nutritious produce for the world. So, the next time you pick up a Kiwifruit with the Zespri Label on it, just remember that there is a difference in quality and taste and that you are also paying for a sustainable future and equitable farming methods.

Click here to read about the nutrional value of Kiwifruit

Here is a very recent clip from Channel News Asia highlighting the issues of food safety, sustainability and how Kiwifruit is being grown in New Zealand.

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Zespri Kiwifruit:: Super Nuitrition in one Small Package

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I often get asked how a Doctor can go about eating all these unhealthy hawker dishes. Well, the answer to that is summarized in my slogan "Never waste your calories on yucky food". Basically, that means that when I eat hawker food, or any other food for that matter, I want it to be worth the calories. The last thing I want is to get fat by something that is not tasty.

I might go out blogging at hawker centres perhaps once or twice a week. Of course, each time our kakis get together to eat, we might order several dishes, so that makes up for the three stalls I recommend every week. So, out of a possible 21 meals per week, I only eat around 3 meals at hawker centres and they are mostly eaten during lunch. Now, hawker food really isn't all that healthy as they generally lack fresh fruits and vegetables. In order to make up for the lack of vegetables and fruits, what I do is to have my five green juice every morning. This was a habit I picked up from my friend, Andrew, who never comes to visit me at the clinic because he swears by his five green juice. My dinner is usually at home after my evening clinic and it is a half portion meal of rice, meat and vegetables. The other half is made up of a big bowl of cut fruits. We usually have a variety of fruits which is all ready cut up in the fridge so that it is easily accessible. So between the five greens in the morning and the big bowl of fruit very night, I pretty much get all the necessary vitamins, minerals and fibre I need.

So really, a healthy diet is not just about "not wasting your calories on yucky food", it is also about eating a variety of different foods so that you get a balanced diet. If you think about it, you really are what you eat. Just look at your toes, they are made up of whatever you have eaten over the last XX years of your life. I almost wanted to say that if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. But that is not true. What really happens is that if you put rubbish in, it stays there and if you are unfortunate, one day, you might find that you have too much rubbish such that the machinery starts to break down. So, if you put rubbish in, you need to have some mechanism to take the rubbish out. That essentially is what a balanced diet is all about. Eat too much meat and cholesterol gets deposited in your arteries. But balance it with say some King Oyster mushrooms, which contain a naturally occuring statin (cholesterol lowering drug) and bingo, you just might have prevented yourself from ever getting a heart attack.

Another example is sodium. Now if you love salty food, you are going to get a whole load of sodium in your system which might translate to a high blood pressure. If you want to lower your blood pressure, what you need to do is to take less sodium and more potassium. These two elements are like kids on a seesaw. Eating more potassium will push the sodium out of your system and thereby decrease your blood pressure.


Zespri Kiwifruit Season starts!

Now, with that lengthy pre-amble, we can now discuss Kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit is one of those newish fruits which you might still be able to find some people who have not tasted it yet. It's in the same category as dragonfruit and pomegranates. Unlike apples, oranges, bananas and watermelon where you really have to be a Sua Gu (mountain tortoise) if you have never tasted these fruits.

Everyone probably knows that Kiwifruit is somehow linked to New Zealand. Afterall, the fruit is named after the famous flightless bird of the country. Twenty years ago, if you said Kiwi, you probably thought of the famous shoe polish brand. I guess twenty years ago, I was doing my NS and in the army everyone just refers to shoe polish as Kiwi. Incidentally, Kiwi shoe polish is not from New Zealand. Ironically, it was invented by an Australian who named his invention after his wife who was a New Zealander aka Kiwi.

Nowadays, if you mention Kiwi, you'd probably be talking about Kiwifruit. The name Kiwifruit was only coined in the 50's when the fruit started to be exported out of New Zealand. Before that, it was known as the Chinese Gooseberry (The Chinese call it "Yang Tao") and is actually native to China. The seeds were brought back to New Zealand by a school principal in 1906. Soon they began to cultivate the fruit and by 1924, the "Hayward" cultivar, which is the familiar emerald green Kiwifruit which we all know, was developed.

The Kiwifruit is quite an amazing fruit with it comes to its nutritional value. Not every fruit is created equal, and Kiwifruits, it seems have been endowed with a disproportionate amount of nutritional value. According to a paper by Dr Paul LaChance that was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (1), Kiwifruit came up tops as the fruit with the highest nutritional value, gram for gram, amongst a list of 27 popular fruits. In other words, you get more nutrition out of eating a mouthful of Kiwifruit than a mouthful of any other fruit.

Since everyone knows that "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away", let's just compare Apples with App.... er... Kiwifruit.


Source: www.nutridata.com

As you can see, even though apples are highly nutritious fruits, they don't seem so great when they are placed side by side with Kiwifruit.

Now that doesn't mean that you can just eat Kiwifruit alone. You still need a balanced diet of all the different coloured fruits. However, if you are looking for a Vitamin C boost, then a Kiwifruit might be what you are looking for. The amount of Vit C contained in one Kiwifruit is equivalent to two oranges. By eating just one Kiwifruit, you get 95% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C. Everyone should know by now that Vit C has a big role to play in boosting the immune system which is particularly important during this period of the H1N1 (Swine) Flu.


Source: www.whfoods.com

Besides being packed with Vit C, Kiwifruit also has a particularly high amount of dietary fibre. One Kiwifruit an equivalent amount of soluble fibre as a cup of bran. Another interesting fact about Kiwifruit is that it contains an enzyme known as actinidine which is able to tenderize meat much like papain which is found in papaya. The combination of an enzyme that can breakdown proteins and high dietery fibre means that the Kiwifruit is very good for promoting digestion and is especially good for people (esp kids and elderly) who have problems with constipation.

A fruit which is so packed with nuitritional value is especially important for kids whose appetite is not as big as an adult. By taking just one Kiwifruit, which is only about the size of an egg, the child will be able to get all the Vit C he needs for the day, plus a whole lot of fibre and other Vitamins as well. In one study by an Italian team of doctors, it was found that kids eating a diet high in Vit C had significantly less asthma attacks than the kids who don't. (2) If your child is a small eater, then feeding him with one Kiwifruit might be much easier than to get him to eat a bowl of bran cereal to get some dietary fibre into him.


Zespri Gold Kiwifruit is really sweet!

Now, the main problem with Kiwifruit, given all its wonderful nuitritional value, is the fact that a lot of us have probably eaten ones which were sour and that sort of turned us off Kiwifruit. Well, my personal experience is that Kiwifruit can indeed be very sour especially when they are not ripe. (And if you bought the cheap 7 for $1 type) But then a mango that is not ripe can be sour too, but I am sure that hasn't turned you off mangos right? What you need to do is to actually taste a good quality Zespri Kiwifruit that is ripe and you would be won over. Having said that, I have to admit that even the ripe Green Kiwi Fruit is still a little zesty, very much like a ripe Strawberry. The good news is that the people at Zespri have cultivated a yellow (Zespri Gold) version which is much sweeter and less zesty than the green version.

If Green Kiwifruit tastes like a cross between Strawberry and lime, Gold Kiwifruit tastes like a cross between a Mango and Banana. I first picked up a Gold Kiwifruit last year and it won me over immediately. Even my kids love Gold Kiwifruit even though they would only take Green Kiwifruit if it was on top of a cake. Of course, you need to eat Kiwifruit when it is ripe if you like them sweet. The ones they sell at the stalls are generally ready to be eaten. But if you leave them in a paper bag together with a banana for 2-3 days, the fruit really ripens and it tastes almost like a nice sweet wine!

It is interesting to note that Kiwifruit are now produced by many countries outside of New Zealand, so you can actually get them year round. However, the Gold Kiwifruit is only available from May till November (the Kiwifruit season in New Zealand) as it is produced only by Zespri who are the sole distributor of New Zealand Kiwifruit. So if you spot the Zespri logo, you know you are getting quality Kiwifruits from New Zealand.

So if you have never liked Kiwifruit, the next time you are at the fruit stall, pick up a pack of Zespri Gold Kiwifruit and see if it will change your mind. It sure did mine.

References:

1 Lachance P, 1997, Journal of the American College of Nutrition
2 Francesco F et al, Consumption of fresh fruits rich in vit C and wheezing symptoms in children, Thorax 2000: 55 283-288

This advertorial was sponsored by Zespri

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Ah Loon & Ah Teck Durian Stall: Let's give this D88 a name!

D88

I have made it my goal to document as many cultivars of durian as possible so that they can all be nicely cataloged on this blog. So with around a week left before this durian season ends, I am posting this to remind you that you only have around one week left to get your durian fix.

Here are another 2 cultivars that I managed to come across. The first one is the D88 which surprisingly does not have a name like "Hong Xia" or "Mao Shan Wang". Now, I could be wrong, so if you know the name of this cultivar do let us know. If not, why don't we all come up with a name for it?

Just look at that beautiful, luscious, golden yellow flesh! Doesn't it lure you like a sotong (squid) to the light? The taste of it wasn't as good that day because, as Ah Loon explains, it was not the right time of the harvest. The flesh was a little fibrous and it wasn't as sweet. However, I can just imagine what it must taste like at the peak of the season! 3.5/5


Tawa

The Tawa is a oblong shaped durian with flesh that is pale yellow, less creamy and more watery and very pungent. Quite similar in flavour to the XO. 4.25/5

Conclusion

So what do you think is a good name for the D88?

Update 5 Aug 2008

Had a good D88 today. Nice and creamy, soft and pungent. Like a cross between XO and Hong Xia with a milder flavour. 4/5

Ah Loon and Ah Teck Durian
231 East Coast Road
97514828






What to do next?

Check out the other durian breeds.
Check out what durians our forummers are eating.
Trying to find something to eat before durians? Try these

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The Ieat Durian Degustation II: Ah Loon and Ah Teck's Boutique Durian Stall

The pictures say it all. When it comes to Durians, we Singaporeans will throw any manner of decorum to the wind. It is one of the few times that you can actually eat with your hands, get durian all over your face, and talk with your mouth full without mom telling you off. This is especially so when mom is also in the thick of things.

Yes, when it comes to durians, it is the fruit that is the main focus and nothing else matters. No one bothers that the tables are not cleaned, that you can throw the seeds into a dirty plastic box and it is permissible to stuff a whole durian segment in your mouth because you got to use your hands to open the durian. Do it with a chicken drumstick and everyone will be staring at you!

So it is when over 80 durian kakis gathered outside a provision shop to enjoy the fruit together. From Neurosurgeons to students, retirees to property developers, there are no social barriers when it comes to durian. The only criterion for admission is that you love the fruit.

The degustation session covered 5 varieties of durians that evening. We started with D24, then move on to Hong Xia, Black Pearl, XO, Golden Phoenix and finished up with the prized Mao Shan Wang. The characteristics of most of these have already been covered in my previous posts, so I will only highlight the Black Pearl which was voted best durian for the night.


The Black Pearl

The Black Pearl is easily recognizable by its elongated Rugby Ball shape which is something close to the heart of this ex-Saint/Rafflesian.



The flesh is is greyish white and most of them have little "pearls" of black in the flesh. The shape of the segments are also elongated and looks very much like those fried fish cakes. The texture is pastey and the aroma is only mildly pungent. However it is distinctly sweet with a taste that I find as difficult to describe as the colour Red.



The small size of the segment is offset by the tiny shrivelled seeds, so you still get quite a nice mouthful of flesh. I am told that is it best eaten by popping the whole segment into your mouth, spitting the seed out and then spend the next few minutes savouring the taste while swallowing a little at a time. 4.5/5

Conclusion

I think all our durian kakis went home very full and very satisfied that night and woke up this morning with Durian breath! Don't forget to drink lots of water everyone!


Ah Loon showing off the characteristic star shape pattern of the Mao Shan Wang

Ah Loon and Ah Teck Durian
231 East Coast Road
97514828





Acknowledgements

Thanks to Sumosumo, Holydrummer, Holybro, Holybunny and Cactuskit for helping to organize the event!

Photos by Cactuskit and Ieat

Read about the other breeds of Durians here



Remember to vote today! Click here

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Next Durian Degustation on 18 July

Places are filling fast at the next Durian Session on 18 July 2008!

We are in the thick of the durian season and we have managed to engage a reliable seller who is going to give us the likes of Black Pearl, XO and Mao Shan Wang.

So far over 40 people have already signed up and we can only cater for 60. This looking to be the Daddy of all Durian Degustations! So do sign up and join the fun!

Details and registration at the forum. Click here



Remember to vote today! Click here

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The Durian Tutorial: Made Possible with my Creative Vado

I just got my hands on the new Creative Vado which has just been released during the last PC show. This is basically a small video camera which has an inbuilt 2 GB memory that you allows you to capture video clips and upload it onto the web instantly.

So as we get into the thick of the Durian season, I thought it would be interesting to film a short tutorial on how to choose a good durian. As with many things, choosing a Durian might seem like a daunting task at first, but once you know a few simple tips, it can really help you avoid being conned.

So do be patient and download this 5 minute clip. You might pick up a few important tips on how to choose a good durian.


To watch a higher resolution clip click here and choose "watch at high quality"

I hope you found that useful. I especially appreciate the bit where Mr Wong explained that one has to choose a Durian that is shapey rather than round and how the shapey ones give you thicker flesh and smaller seeds. Doesn't the deep red colour of the D13 durian just make you drool? Oh, and they ARE very good and worth the $8/kg price tag!

I have always toyed with the idea of adding video clips to my blog but so far it has been too complicated for me to consider it. I have a camcorder that records on DV tape. If I wanted to capture the clip above, I have to bring the bulky camcorder to record the clip, then come home, download it onto my computer, startup a video editing program to change the resolution, size and quality of the clip so that it is small enough to be uploaded and only then be able to upload it to youtube.

With the Creative Vado, all I needed to do was to push a button to start recording, push the same button to stop. Come home, attach the Vado directly into my USB slot, click a special youtube button and voila! It's hosted and ready to be embedded into my blog post.



The Vado's inbuilt 2GB memory can store up to 2 hours of video at 640X480 resolution which looks alright if you connect it directly onto the TV. The resolution on the monitor is similar quality to that of a VCD. I think this is done on purpose to keep the size of the clip small enough to be uploaded directly to youtube without having to downsize it. When you view it on youtube, it is like any other youtube clip which is never as high quality as a DVD video clip.

The Vado also comes with a rechargeable battery which lasts for 2 hours on a full charge. Charging the battery is as simple as plugging the Vado directly to the USB port. So there is no need for an extra charger.



This is a very simple machine to operate. It really has only four buttons and one directional pad. One button to start and stop recording (1) . One button to play (2). One to turn the machine on and off (3) and one to delete your clip (4). The direction keys are used to forward and rewind the clips, change the volume and to zoom in and out during video recording.



When you plug the Vado to the computer, the interface is automatically loaded and you get to choose what to do with the video clip. From here you can either (1) copy it onto your computer or (2) click the youtube or photobucket button to upload your clip directly onto your youtube or photobucket albums. So it really took less than a minute to start uploading my clip onto youtube.

Here's another clip for those of you who are interested to know more about the Mao Shan Wang Durian. Not all Mao Shan Wang are created equal. There are grades of Mao Shan Wang depending on which plantation they come from, the age of the trees and whether the fruit is an early harvest or late harvest. I will let Mr Wong explain more:



To watch a higher resolution clip click here and choose "watch at high quality"

Hope you now know a little about Mao Shan Wang. Incidentally, this particular harvest is winding down and the next one starts around 10th July. That is when we can expect a bumper crop of Durians and prices to come down.

I hope you found this short Durian tutorial useful. I had quite a bit of fun filming it with my new toy which is so simple and intuitive that I only took a few minutes to learn how to use it.

Summary

The Pros:

The Creative VADO is an interesting gadget. I think it is useful as a blogging tool because it is portable and easy to capture short clips to upload onto the web. The built-in rechargeable battery and 2GB memory means you don't need anything else but to plug it into your computer. The interface is straightforward and the ability to upload directly to youtube and photobucket make it even easier. The lightweight and small size means I can easily put it into my camera bag rather than having to lug another bulky piece of equipment around. For those who do not carry around a bulky camera like me, it fits right into your pocket. And the best thing is that it is surprisingly affordable. At $169 it seems almost too affordable for a device which would have made James Bond (Sean Connery's era) smile.

The Cons:

At first the resolution of the video might seem less sharp when compared to a camcorder. But when you realize how you always have to reduce the quality of the video to upload onto the web then it makes a lot of sense. However it does mean it will not be able to replace your comcorder if you intend to make DVD quality videos. I feel that a slot for headphones would have been useful as it is difficult to listen to the playback when you are outdoors. It would have been useful to be able to take some still shots as well.

Conclusion

I think the Vado is an excellent tool for blogging purposes and I have been having a lot of fun capturing not only clips of eateries but I also have it in my pocket every time I am out with the family to capture those special moments with the kids. The ease of use, portability and simplicity more than justifies the lower image and sound quality but what I think would astound most people is the unbelievebly affordable price tag of $169 for such a useful gadget! I think we are going to see an explosion of video clips on blogs very soon.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to our Durian expert, Mr Wong who runs a small boutique durian stall at 231 East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close). You can contact him for your durian needs by calling 97514828. At the time of blogging, his Mao Shan Wang was selling for $16 per kg. Having been in the durian trade for 20 years, he has established a good relationship with his suppliers who would pre-select all his durians so that his customers can look forward to a really good durian experience.

This Durian Tutorial was proudly sponsored by Creative Technologies.

You can learn more about the Creative Vado by clicking here.



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Geylang Claypot Rice: Still using Charcoal!

With oil prices soaring, we should all turn to alternative fuel sources like charcoal for instance. That would be good news indeed except for one problem --NEA. Yes our friends at NEA will not allow this wonderful food enhancing fuel source in any of their hawker centres or coffeeshops, so we can only find them in private places.

I can understand that charcoal can infuse a nice smoky flavour when used to grill meat, but I have yet to comprehend the scientific basis behind using charcoal to cook claypot rice or fry hokkien mee. How can the smell of the charcoal somehow permeate a metal wok or claypot to infuse flavour to the food? According to the Lor 29 Geylang Hokkien Mee uncle, it is supposed to have something to do with the wider coverage of the flame such that the whole bottom surface of the wok is sizzling hot. So with claypot rice, maybe it has something to do with the flames coming up the side of the claypot and making all burnt rice round the sides of the claypot?



It takes quite a while for the claypot to get to your table since they cook everything from scratch. I have eaten here quite a few times in the past before they opened their new extension. It used to be that you needed to call up to order your claypot rice before you came or risk waiting an hour to eat. However, with their newly opened extension, I managed to get my claypot rice within 20mins.



For me, the beauty of eating claypot rice lies in the crunchy burnt bits of rice that is stuck to the side of the claypot mixed with the flavour of the salted fish. Alas there wasn't enough salted fish that day so it lacked a bit of ooomph. 4/5



There are two dishes that you won't waste your calories on though. The deep fried soon hock is wonderfully crispy on the outside and moist on the inside and the sauce has got just the right amount of sweet umami to make you want to eat more rice. 4.25/5



The other dish that the whole family loved was the tofu prawns. They make their own egg tofu here so it was wonderfully silky and tasty. The sauce again was excellent and the prawns were fresh. The kids finished up all the tofu. 4.5/5


Unbranded durian $5 each

The best thing about eating around Geylang is that you can find Durians there all year round. However, the best time of the year for Durians is still around this time when they are in season! I know we have a lot of Durian lovers out there, so this should get you to start drooling!

Conclusion

Claypot rice was a little disappointing this time around, but the other two dishes were still as good as before! Now with their new air con extension, they are even opened for lunch!

Geylang Claypot Rice
639 Geylang Road
Jn of Lor 33
67444574, 67443619
11.30am to 2.30pm
5pm to 12am

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The ieat Durian Degustation Session: Four Seasons Durian Cafe

Please see updates at end of post

Ever wondered what the big fuss is over Mao Shan Wang? Or what is the difference between XO and D24? Or whether you can eat Hong Xia (lit Red Prawn) if you are allergic to prawns?

There are now so many branded Durians out there that there should be Durian appreciation courses just like what we do with wine! I think it's all to common that when Singaporeans eat Durians, the main concern is about where to go so that they don't get cheated. A lot of times, you either need to know a trusted Durian seller or know someone who does. Why can't there simply be a place where you can buy good Durians at an honest price?

So with those concerns in mind, I set out to see if I could find a place to conduct a Durian Appreciation session for our readers. As fate would have it, I met an old boy whom I used to book for coming to School late (I was a prefect then -- not so uptight now) who just happened to be the brand manager of Four Seasons Durians. They have just opened a new Durian cafe at Joo Chiat and it was also his idea to challenge the way Singaporeans enjoy the fruit. So when I broached the idea of a Durian Degustation, he readily agreed organize a session for us.

The idea is simple. Eat several breeds of Durians in a set course so that each one can be appreciated and have a Durianologist educate us on the different breeds so that our kakis can learn to differentiate between the real stuff and the fake stuff. Another important point was to fix the price per head so that we can all enjoy the session without worrying about whether we are still going to have spare change end of the night.

Now it takes a true Durian lover to gather at 10pm on a Monday night and pay $25 in order to eat the fruit. This gathering really did separate the true believers from the pew warmers. For those who don't have a habit of buying Durians by the kilo, $25 might seem a lot of money, but for the faithful Durian Devotees, $25 can sometimes mean only half a fruit. Our group of Devotees that night came from all walks of life and at different levels of enlightenment. But we were all gathered for the ritual shucking of the Durian followed by the partaking of instant gratification.


Hong Xia (Red Prawn) aka 101 12/kg

Our Durianologist, Richard started off the night by showcasing the Hong Xia* (Red Prawn) Durian which is easily recognized by the reddish colour of its flesh. Before he brought out the actual Hong Xia, we were presented with the cheaper D13 which was $8/kg which can easily be mistaken for the real Hong Xia which is the D101 $12/kg. The D13 and D101 are really very different fruits but both have similar red-orangey flesh. The big difference between the D13 and the D101 is that the D13 can sometimes be bitter while the D101 is always creamy, sweet and easy on the palate. Fashionfoodie remarked that it was one that you can eat a lot of without getting too jialat because it was not as pungent as the rest. The Hong Xia got the most votes for the favourite breed that night. 4.25/5

*A note about Hong Xia. It spoils quickly, so if you plan to buy it home, eat it immediately as it might be spoilt by the next morning.


D24 Durian $15/kg

The D24 is a popular breed which I think is so ubiquitous now that one really doesn't know which is the real D24 and which is not. The real D24 is thick and creamy (almost pastey) and very aromatic. 4.25/5 There was another D24 XO ($18/kg) version which was a little runnier and bitter which was my personal favourite for the night. 4.5/5

We had a brief intermission after the third course of Durians for people to run to their cars when the traffic police came to book people for parking illegally. Fortunately no one was issued a ticket, but the brief adrenaline rush was great for digestion.


Mao Shan Wang $20/kg

Mao Shan Wang is by far the most famous and sought after Durian amongst Durian lovers. But as with all the hype surrounding this particular breed, our expectations were very high. Most of the seeds were what we Teochew call "Zhu Hook" ie shrunken. So you get lots of flesh and very little seed.

I have now eaten this breed a few times and personally I feel that there were times when it was really good and other times when it was just so so. The really good ones were sweet, really creamy and had a bitterness that really hits you at the back of your palate leaving a nice "Karm Karm" (neutralized) aftertaste. The ones we had that night were not quite up to most of our expectations so a lot of our kakis came away feeling that it was "overrated". I felt it might have been that particular shipment that day because you really can't explain why people would be willing to fork out $20/kg for it otherwise. For that amount of money one would almost expect them to guarantee that the Durian would make you swoon or your money back! 4/5


XO Durian $18/kg

Richard served the XO* last because it was the most pungent and bitter of the lot. Served slightly runny so that it has some time to ferment, the XO was not as creamy but really very pungent so much so that our Japanese guests that night were holding their breaths while politely nodding their heads at the same time. Actually this was my second favourite of the lot. If you think of Hong Xia as Gouda then this is Blue Cheese. Might not be for everyone but it's the one to choose if you wish to scare some unsuspecting foreigners! 4.5/5

*There were only 9 XO durians available that night. They are usually reserved for the owner's personal consumption and only available on special request.


Boss Victor and his "Tao Chiu" (Expert)

Conclusion

It was a great night of fruit and fellowship for the true believers. Some actually got scolded by their partners for overindulgence but we rejoice for being persecuted for our devotion. I think we all got to learn a few things about Durians from Richard who also tells me (this is the promo part) that Four Season's policy is to build its reputation on honest dealing and to ensure that the customer always get what they pay for. In the next few months, they plan to open an air conditioned cafe proper which will showcase their Durian processing kitchen as it churns out Durian confectioneries like cakes and puffs. I think the future is indeed looking very bright for our next generation of Durian Devotees!

Thanks to Cactuskit and Holydrummer for helping me organize the session and to Richard for agreeing to do a degustation.

Update: 10 Dec 2008
Our kakis report that this store is now closed.

Four Seasons Durian Cafe
212 Joo Chiat Place, Off still road.
For corporate functions and parties contact
Richard at 96536625

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