winter 2015
Loads of fun activities and fantastic facts for kids!!!
fruity files !
free
what’s in season this winter?
Find out which fruits and vegetables are ripe to eat in winter.
mr. truffleupagus
Learn all about the elusive black truffle!
fun games and crafts!
Learn how to make super cool glittery snow-dough!
welcome! What’s better than rugging up inside on a cold winter’s day? To make your cozy house even more inviting, we’ve come up with a few awesome activities to do with your family and friends, like creating cool glitter slow-dough, and a fun winter wonderland crossword! Plus a yummy easy apple pie that will have the whole family grinning from ear to ear. We’ve also included a super fun read all about truffles, packed with interesting facts in celebration of our first ever Truffle Fair at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets. If you would like to contact Fruity Files for more information about our recipes and tips or if you have any great ideas for us, send an email to info@bffm.com.au.
What’s in season Each fruit or vegetable has a prime time when it’s at its seasonal best. Eating fruit or vegetables that are in season means extra flavour, extra crunchiness, extra juiciness, super-freshness and great value.
fruit
fig
Apple Banana
• Some people believe it was figs, not apples, that were the fruit in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
Fig Grapefruit Orange
vegetable Beetroot Cabbage Celeriac Eggplant Garlic
• Fig trees do not have any blossoms on their branches. The edible blossoms are actually inside the fruit!
• In Roman times figs were considered to be restorative, and were believed to increase the strength of young people.
garlic
• Related to the onion. • Native to central Asia. • Throughout the years, it has had culinary, spiritual, religious and medicinal uses. • Garlic has been used by humans for over 7,000 years.
recipes
easy apple pie ingredients 8 apples 1 lemon 3 sheets of puff pastry, thawed 2 tsps cinnamon ž cup of sugar 1 egg
method
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius. 2. Peel the skin off the apples, chop into small bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Discard the core. 3. Grate the zest of 1 large lemon into the bowl. Then, using a lemon squeezer, take the juice from the lemon and add to the bowl of chopped apples. 4. Add the sugar and cinnamon to the bowl and stir until well combined. 5. Take a sheet of pastry and place it into the bottom of your pie dish. Any pastry that hangs over the dish can be trimmed off with a knife (save the scraps for decoration!). If your sheet of pastry doesn’t cover the whole dish, slice up another piece and patch any spots that were left uncovered. 6. Fill your pie base with the apple mixture and put a sheet of pastry on top to create a lid. Using your knife, make 2 little slits in the top of the pie (this will let the steam escape while cooking). 7. Decorate your pie top with any left-over pastry. This is your chance to be creative! You can use cookie cutters or a small knife to cut shapes in the pastry. 8. Crack 1 egg in a little bowl and whisk it with a fork. Using a pastry brush, paint the top surface of the pie with the egg. This will give the pie a beautiful glaze once cooked. 9. Place in the oven and bake for 30 mins. 10. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy a slice with some vanilla ice-cream on the side.
mr. truffleupagus Truffle: am I a fruit, vegetable or mineral? Truffles are the fruit of a mycorrhizal fungi, which grow on the roots of trees. Truffles help the trees to find food in the soil. In return, the tree feeds the mycorrhiza sugars. This relationship is beneficial to both parties, and it’s called a symbiotic relationship. Truffles are part of the vegetable family, but you will probably know more about their more famous fungi cousin, the mushroom.
black truffle
Hide ‘n’ seek - where do truffles grow? Truffles grow around the roots of Hazelnut trees, Holly Oak trees, English Oak trees, Cork Oak trees and other Deciduous and Evergreen Oaks. All truffle producing trees have been infected by the truffle mycorrhiza on the roots. Sometimes truffle fungus grows naturally in the wild. Australia has hundreds of native truffles that small animals, like Poteroos and Bandicoots, love to eat. However, humans don’t think they’re quite as delicious in their natural form. If you want a really special type of particularly delicious truffle, like the black one we are now growing here in Canberra, Mother-nature needs to provide a helping hand. To produce truffle that us humans like to eat, farmers must buy their trees with the special truffle fungus already infecting its roots. The process of infecting the roots is called inoculation. Truffles can grow close to the surface and are seen pushing through the soil. Sometimes truffle may be buried quite deep beneath the surface, but usually no more than 20cm down. Only animals with the sharpest of noses can sniff out deeply buried truffles, such as dogs or pigs. The cycle Spring: the truffle baby is born when the ground is warm and moist. Summer: the truffles begin to form. It’s important to keep the trees well watered to stop the truffles from becoming too dry. Autumn: the truffles start maturing and their colour darkens from beige to almost black. Winter: JACKPOT! This is the season when the truffles are ready for harvest. Release the hounds!
Truffle Hunters Truffle dogs: Scooby-Doo truffle detection squad Did you know that a dog’s sense of smell is 1,000 to 10,000 times better than ours depending on the type of dog? For example, a Sausage Dog has 125 million scent receptors, while a Bloodhound has 300 million. The poor old human only has 5 million, so it is no wonder these animals can pinpoint the buried treasure faster than us! Could my dog be a truffle dog? Any obedient, energetic, hardworking dog with a good nose can be trained to be a truffle hunter. However, the preferred breeds for most hunters are Beagles, Pointers, Spaniels and Labradors. Truffle pigs! Porky Pig, Miss Piggy, Babe and Wilbur have all been given their chance to be top dog at truffle hunting too. In France, some farmers use truffle pigs instead of dogs and are also very successful. This is because pigs love to eat truffle just as much as we do, and need little training to sniff them out. However, Aussie famers find dogs easy enough to train, and the dogs don’t gobble up the truffles like the pigs do. Oink! Truffle with what? Truffles can be added to make many foods even tastier. The truffle aroma is absorbed by fats, such as egg yolks, cream and oils. Cooks experiment with combining truffles with foods like honey, mustard, cheese, meats, pasta, salt, butter, chocolates and many more to bring on a new flavour boom!
you did ? ow kn
Truffles have been eaten by humans for thousands of years and were loved by the Romans and Greeks. There has also never been a recorded allergy to truffle!
make & do! glittery snow-dough materials 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of salt 2 tbsp of cream of tartar 1 tbsp of oil blue food dye (8 drops) 1 cup of boiling water 1 pack of silver glitter
method 1. Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil into a large saucepan. 2. Add 8 drops of the blue food colouring to 1 cup of boiling water. 3. Add the boiling water to the saucepan and mix well. 4. Stir mixture over a medium heat for 4 - 5 minutes. 5. Place your mixture onto a clean flat surface and add your glitter. 6. Knead until your glitter is evenly spread throughout your dough. Now you’re ready to play!
wordsearch winter wonderland! Find all of the winter words hidden in the letters below.
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BOOTS COLD FIREPLACE FROZEN GLOVES HIBERNATE HOT CHOCOLATE
INDOORS JACKET SCARF SNOWFLAKE SNOWMAN SOUP TRUFFLES
Kids 'n' Truffles belconnen fresh food markets truffle fair - kids activities Kickin’ off the School Holidays // Saturday 11 July (free event) Excited school’s out? We are too! Head down to the markets for face painting, colouring in and live music! Kids ‘N’ Truffles // Sunday 18 July (free event) A day jam packed with kids activities, including a kids truffle talk, truffle hunt, cooking class, face painting and a jumping castle. Christmas in July // Saturday 25 July (free event) It’s Christmas in July at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets! Watch the markets transform into a winter wonderland in celebration of all things Christmas. Complete with decorations and all of your favourite Christmas specials. We’ll also have face painting, a petting zoo, and an A Capella Choir Group!
At Belconnen Fresh Food Markets, you can B! W E D N E S D AY- S U N D AY LATHLAIN STREET, BELCONNEN SELECT ED STORES OPEN 7 DAYS
bffm.com.au