Experimenting with flavour - Pomegranate

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Pomegranate

Having I.B.S and an anxiety disorder, I avoid eating food with E number as much as possible.  Or to be more specific any foods that have additives.  The more I avoid, the happier my digestive system is.  

From an anxiety point of view, one of the side effects is that I can get really really really hyper.  Think of a stone rolling down a hill gathering speed, and that's without any extra stimulants.  I stick to herbal tea and pretty much stay far away from too much sugar or caffeine.  I hate to think what extra food additives do to me.....

So my latest food experiments have focuses on how to create natural colour and flavouring in my food.  One way of doing this is creating your own natural fruit simple syrups.  

Basic Fruit Simple Syrup

1 Cup Fruit (Berries, cherries, pineapple, mango and banana)

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Water

Cook all the ingredients together in a saucepan.  Smash the fruit to get the most flavour out.  

Stirring continually bring to a high simmer/boil and cook for another 1-2 Min's, to the sauce thickens.

Allow to cool to room temp before storing in the fridge

Thin Syrup - Sieve the fruit syrup

Thick Syrup - Puree in a blender was the syrup has cooled to room temp.

  ( If you blend when hot, you could burn yourself)

There is another way of making them though, by using fresh fruit juice. It was my first simple syrup so I wanted to make it as simple as possible for myself.  There was no way I was going to try and juice fresh pomegranate.  

I halved the below syrup recipe to make a test batch.  Was it perfect no, but then I always believe a recipe can be improved on.  Test batches are for finding out how not to make something, so you can improve for next time.  

I should have reduced my syrup mix a bit further, however the taste was definitely there.  I then used some to make a pomegranate cupcakes by adapting my Wacky Cake Recipe.  I swapped the cold water for 3/4 Cup fresh pomegranate juice and added a 1/4 cup of the simple syrup to boost the flavour.

Pomegranate Wacky Cup Cakes

You can change the flavour of a wacky cake recipe by using different fruit juices.  Try adding fresh orange juice and the zest of 1/2 an orange.  Citric fruit is easy to naturally flavour food with as you can use the zest, but It doesn't work with other fruit.  Can you imagine trying to zest a banana!!!!  

- Pomegranate Syrup   

- Pomegranate Molasses

- Salted Pomegranate Caramels

- Pomegranate Jam

- Apple Cider Caramel sauce recipe

This weekend was what I call my slow days, for my own mental well being I need to schedule these in my calendar so I remember to take them.  Slow days mean pottering in the kitchen, taking my time making meals from scratch or baking.  

Which is why after making my simple syrup I decided to try and make some pomegranate caramel sauce as well.   I find it easier to make dairy free versions of recipes Iv seen made in the normal way.  So after seeing how a sticky toffee sauce was made last week at the pantry, I was pretty much looking for any excuse to make one myself.  

I adapted the above Apple Cider Caramel sauce recipe, by swapping the cider for fresh pomegranate juice. It makes a lovely fruity caramel sauce, perfect for drizzling over desserts or frosted cup cakes.

Try your own experiments with your favourite flavours.  Home baking is about tailoring food to your own specific tastes xxx