Eden Project – A Different Kitchen

I’ve been keen to try out a new ingredient I discovered on my recent travels, while visiting Cornwall’s Eden Project.

Panela is a block of totally unrefined raw sugar cane. Produced in Colombia, it retains the good nutrients and vitamins that are naturally present, but usually screened out by the refining process. It is reported therefore to be a healthier alternative to even unrefined brown sugar. Used in baking, it adds a golden colour (see my main photo above) and natural caramel, or toffee, flavour.

Panela was featured in the Eden Project’s Rainforest Biome, as a good example of organic and sustainable, small scale farming in South America. It’s available to purchase in their shop, sourced (of course) from the original producers on fair trade terms (I’ve since found that it can also be purchased via the internet).

I decided to keep the rainforest theme going in these muffins, by combining it with organic cacao nibs bought from a local refillery. Bitter, chocolatey, crunchy and naturally low in sugar, cacao nibs come with their own good mix of nutrients.

It all makes these some of the healthiest muffins I’ve featured yet on A Different Kitchen. And they’re delicious.

Servings

Makes 12 muffins.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 25 mins to bake at 160C in a fan oven.

You Will Need:

280g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
100g grated panela
70g dried fruit
1 egg
150ml milk
90ml rapeseed oil
60g cacao nibs

Method

Switch on a fan oven to 160C. Prepare a muffin tin or mould.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir in the dried fruit so it is evenly coated in the flour.
Place another bowl on a weigh scale. Pick up the brick of panela and coarsely grate it into the bowl until you have around 100g. Add it to the flour. Originally I thought I would slice off a 100g piece, then grate it. However, the block of panela is so solid it is impenetrable by a knife!
In another bowl, crack the egg and mix it with the oil and milk.
When the oven has reached temperature, pour the egg mixture into the flour and combine. Spoon into the muffin tin or mould.
Finally, stud the cacao nibs into the surface of the muffins, pushing them down gently so they adhere to the mixture.
Place in the oven for 25 mins or until evenly browned.

Customise It!

If you are unable to source panela, then the best unrefined brown sugar you can find, such as muscovado, will do nicely. I included the soft dried fruit to complement the crunch of the cacao nibs and add interest to the texture. My choice was organic dried cranberries but you can use sultanas if you prefer.

Have you come across, or maybe even used, panela? I’ll be interested to hear in the comments.

Here’s a track from an album I’ve been rediscovering since returning from holiday. I really enjoyed The B-52s’ Cosmic Thing when it was first released, but haven’t played it in years. A few listens have reminded me how many brilliant tracks it contains. Here’s one of them: The B-52s with Roam.

Return to Eden

Cornwall’s Eden Project really is a modern day wonder. Not only is it a great day out – it really makes you think.

Walking around this vast green and floral park on a sunny September day, it is difficult to believe that, until just a few years ago, this was an abandoned mining quarry, grey and ugly, ravaged by decades of underground metal extraction.

The transformation began in the 1990s, with an ambitious vision to turn it into a vast green oasis, showcasing plant life from all around the world, over a 30 acre site. I visited it soon after it opened in 2001, and found it very impressive.

On my current travels around Cornwall I was keen to return, to see how it was progressing. I’m pleased to report it is thriving and continues to be a very popular destination for visitors to Cornwall.

The central attraction is the Biomes – the huge, golf ball-shaped structures nestled in the centre of the valley. The first maintains a warm temperate, Mediterranean climate all year round. The second contains a fully grown rainforest, no less. Both are big enough to lose oneself in, and host mature, fully grown trees.

I enjoyed climbing the steps to the Lookout high up in the Rainforest Biome. It was very humid up there, and the steps did swing around a bit, but the views were great looking down over the whole of the rainforest.

These are more than just large scale greenhouses. The Eden Project is on a mission to highlight the modern day challenges to the natural world through climate change and human behaviour. They do a great job of taking complex subjects and explaining them in terms that are easy to understand.

Amongst the cacao and coffee trees in the Rainforest Biome, I learned how deforestation simultaneously reduces carbon safely stored in trees and underground, and increases the carbon in our atmosphere, thereby contributing to global warming. Deforestation is largely driven by economic pressures on producers, and countries like Costa Rica come in for praise for their efforts to combat these through sustainable reforestation. I learned that we can all do our bit to support them by choosing to buy Fair Trade coffee and chocolate, which I will now try to do.

I like the art that is scattered around the landscape, such as the Rites of Dionysus, Greek god of wine, in the Mediterranean Biome.

We came across this mirrored tree goddess high up in the outdoor gardens, just inside what used to be the rim of the quarry, now known as the Wild Edge.

The art carries a loose theme that cultural diversity is important, and that resource management is better led by local communities than big corporations.

We had lunch in the Biome Kitchen. All the ingredients used are seasonal and locally grown. Suppliers are all Cornwall-based businesses, like soft drinks from Jolly’s, and ice cream from Roskilly’s. Even the catering promotes a sustainable local economy.

My choice for lunch was this griddled flatbread, topped with white bean pate, leaves, marinated roasted vegetables, tomatoes, balsamic drizzle, herbs and toasted seeds.

The overall message from the Eden Project is one of hope. If a team of people can successfully transform a disused quarry into a beautiful, green paragon of sustainability, then most things are possible. We learn that every one of us can do our bit – small changes made locally can contribute to wider scale positive change. It is never too late.

Time to add Coldplay to the ADK Playlist, with Paradise.