Mardi Gras brings fruit-filled
treats at Tassleberry Farm
Like the first birds chirping, or the crack of bats at spring training, Mardi Gras is a harbinger of Spring.
And Moms Tassleberry loves Spring. It's almost planting season around Tassleberry Farm.
Every year when Carnival arrives, Moms whips up a treat for the celebration.
This Tuesday is Fat Tuesday, the magical culmination of the three-day ritual of riotous masquerades, constant revelry, persistent parades, strong spirits, movable feasts and fireworks, celebrated not just in New Orleans but around the world, from the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City to Sydney Harbor Down Under.
The Irish celebrate it. They call it Shrove Tuesday. The English too. For Belgians, it's the best time of year. In Italy, it's also a big deal, stretching 'til Fat Saturday. Most of Europe marks the season and in the capitals of the Caribbean it's been going on for weeks.
Moms gets up early every Fat Tuesday and pads on down to the kitchen to make her celebrated homemade doughnuts. In honor of Mardi Gras, she labels them beignets. "That's French for doughnuts," she laughs.
For Christians around the globe, Fat Tuesday ritualizes richer, fatty delights likes beignets before the long fast of Lent dawns the next day.
Mom first sampled beignets on a long ago trip to New Orleans and says she still enjoys Cajun food but leaves its cooking to the Cajuns.
"They know that world best... those spices... flavors. Hmmmmm... ", she purrs.
Smoothing out some dough with her rolling pin as the new light streams through a kitchen window, Moms peers over her glasses and quips, "And, every once in a while, the cook needs a night off too you know!"
Moms is getting in the Carnival spirit now, fondly recalling the crawfish gumbo and the jambalaya, and announces that Tassleberry Farm is extending its special Butter Kit offer another 10 days.
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| CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE Purchase your Whole Fruit Butter Kits at http://www.tassleberry.com/ |
"We started out this offer with 50 spreaders," says Moms. "So it's first-come, first serve."
The whole-fruit butters Tassleberry Farm produces are the result of a preserving process where the fruit is blended after being heated to give it a smoother butter-like consistency. Tassleberry Farm's whole-fruit butters are all natural and made from strawberries and blueberries handpicked in our fields with more than a pound of berries in each 10 ounce jar, along with a little sugar and some spice.
Despite the doughy nature of beignets, there is a sliver lining for nutrition-minded revelers. Fruit preserves carry through on the health benefits of the fruit they are produced from. And, hey, Fat Tuesday comes but once a year.
In the case of Tassleberry Farm's all-natural whole-fruit butters, blueberries are high in flavonoids, protect against prostate cancer, urinary tract infections, cataracts and brain damage from strokes and heart disease; strawberries are high in antioxidants and vitamin C, fight heart disease and provide many vitamins and minerals which support overall health.
Moms Tassleberry's Homemade
Mardi Gras Butter Beignets
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| CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE Purchase your Whole Fruit Butter Kits at http://www.tassleberry.com/ |
• 1/4 cup water, slightly warmed
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4-1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
• 1 10-oz jar Tassleberry Farm Blueberry Whole-Fruit Butter
• 1 10-oz jar Tassleberry Farm Strawberry Whole-Fruit Butter
• Oil for deep-fat frying
• Box of confectioner's sugar
Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water
Add the sugar, milk, oil and egg and 2 cups flour
Whisk until blended then smooth in the remaining flour until you have a doughy consistency, soft and sticky
Do not knead. Cover bowl and put in fridge overnight
Remove from fridge and flatten dough down
Turn onto a floured surface and gently roll out, leaving a generous thickness (at least 1/4 inch) to dough
Cut into squares, 4x4 inches or less
Fold squares gently into triangles, leaving interior pocket space in middle for whole-fruit butter, then knead edges to form a seal,
Place 1 jar Tassleberry Farm Whole-Fruit Butter in a microwavable bowl and whisk until thin
In an counter-top electric frying pan (for steady temp), heat oil to 375 degrees
Fry triangles, several at a time, making sure not to flatten while flipping, until both sides are golden brown but dough is still pliable
Place bowl containing whole-fruit butter in microwave for 45 seconds to thin further
Remove triangles from pan and place on paper towel to drain off oil
Draw whole-fruit butter in bulb baster
While still warm, use a knife or onion-peeler tip to make an ample hole in the seam of the triangle
Using bulb baster, inject warmed whole-fruit butter into interior pocket; knead over hole in seam
Roll in confectioner's sugar and let cool
Repeat processes until flour and whole-fruit butter supplies run out. Number made corresponds to size of triangles.
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| Available at www.tassleberry.com |
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