* At your table: dried fruits
Dried fruit is the perfect pick-me-up — and crammed with minerals and fibre * Dried figs and apricots always occupy a significant space in my cupboard, as I find their sweetness and convenience second to none. I can pop a few into a bag for a long journey or give some to my daughter Maya, aged 2, if she's hungry after playgroup. I also find a dried fig or two goes well with a pick-me-up cup of Earl Grey tea in the afternoon. I am, however, fussy about the dried fruit I buy. Although not all the food I eat is organic, when it comes to dried fruit I insist on it. The most important reason is because organic fruit cannot legally be exposed to the preservative sulphur dioxide. This is used routinely in quite large quantities to treat non-organic dried fruit, even though it is known to provoke extreme allergic reactions in a small number of people and can cause shortness of breath and aggravate digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome. It is used not only to give the fruit longer life but to "improve" its appearance. An un-sulphured apricot is dark brown; an apricot treated in sulphur-dioxide looks smoother, paler and, OK, more appetising — but this comes at a price. You can reduce sulphur dioxide levels by soaking and cooking the fruit, but if you're a nibbler like me and like them uncooked, you could be counteracting the health benefits of dried fruit with a hefty unwanted dose of sulphur dioxide. Fortunately, you can now buy organic dried fruit in supermarkets as well as healthfood stores. You need to watch how much dried fruit you eat at one time, as too much can cause bloating and stomach ache; and the sugar content — more concentrated per mouthful than fresh fruit — can give you a sugar high. Most of the time you can use this to your advantage, as dried fruit can give you a good between-meal boost if you want something more nutritious than a biscuit. But if you are sugar-sensitive you may find that more than a couple of dried figs at once upsets your sugar balance. When dried, apricots have a lower glycaemic-index (GI) value than figs, so may be a better alternative for some. Not only is dried fruit rich in the fruit sugar fructose but figs are also high in calcium, containing 250mg per 100g, which makes them a useful non-dairy source of the mineral we need for building and maintaining healthy bones. Rachel's Greek-style yoghurt (available from Waitrose), with some dried figs, banana and a sprinkling of hazelnuts or muesli, gives the perfect morning start. If you're a constipation-sufferer, cook some figs (which have a laxative effect) in fresh orange juice, purée them and add them to yoghurt for a morning get-you-going hit. Dried figs are a great natural way to kick-start a child's lazy gut. Apricots are rich in iron, containing 3mg to 4mg per 100g — more than lean beef (2.1mg/100g), though of course we tend to eat larger portions of red meat, which is why it is recommended for people with iron-deficiency anaemia. There is also a difference in the types of iron present in red meat and dried apricots. Whereas haem (red meat) iron is easily absorbed by the body, non-haem (in apricots) iron is not, which makes being a vegetarian a little tricky — especially if you suffer from iron-deficiency anaemia or low iron levels. You can boost the absorption of non-haem iron by including vitamin C in the same meal; eating fresh fruit or drinking fresh juice after your meal is one of the best ways to do this. Apricots are also a rich source of potassium. They contain about 2g per 100g, and this helps us to maintain a good fluid balance in our bodies. Try making a simple salad with a couple of large handfuls of watercress, a finely chopped spring onion, a handful of walnuts, half a handful of chopped organic dried apricots, 30g of crumbled mild goat's cheese, a few washed chicory leaves and half a ripe avocado, sliced. Toss it all in a little olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and plenty of black pepper — a good hearty lunch for one -- ~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~--- Connect your World with Us join Now - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dimpill_gang/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Adult Mails - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fantazies/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Health and Food Mails - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Health_and_Gourmet/join -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~
