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| Kei Apples UHG |
Those of you who know me or have been following my blog will know that I’m a chronic attention seeker. I just cant seem to help myself. When I went to collect some Kei apples
from a spot I have been told about my excitement started to bubble like fruit
in a jam pot, as I saw an opportunity to show off. I know that you won’t
believe me, but the only ripe fruit that hadn’t already been plucked from the
tree was out of reach, so to collect a bowl of fruit required some sign climbing. The
showing off was incidental, or at least that's the story I’m sticking to.
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| My new and exciting secret spot, just don't tell anybody Laura |
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| 'Mind the gap' Laura |
The 'proper' name for Kei apples is Dovyalis Caffra. ‘The
pejorative botanical term ‘caffre’ invokes the history of colonization on the
frontier of the Cape colony. This fruit is indigenous to southern and eastern
Africa and ‘Kei’ apples draw their name from the river in the Eastern Cape,
which marked the boundary of the conquered territories for much of the
nineteenth century.’ So writes our resident historian and in this case part
time photographer, Dr Laura Evans. They are known in isiXhosa as umkokola.
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| Kei apricots? UHG |
Sticking with the spiky season theme, Kei apples are
fiercely guarded by their vicious thorns, and the branches were/ are used as
barriers to contain livestock and to keep intruders out. The fruit is more like
an apricot than an apple in appearance, texture and flavor. If picked fresh they are
mouth-puckeringly sour and unless perfectly ripe are challenging to chomp
without a crinkled face. You might think that simply poached in sugar and water
they would make a fine and simple dessert, but, as I found out, this is not so. After only a few minutes of cooking they seem to collapse into an orangey mush,
so they are best suited for jams, jellies and syrups. If eaten fresh, try them
quartered and sprinkled with sugar. I might add that the pips add a crunchy
pop, which is rather fun.
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| Not the same tree! UHG |
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| Spiky season UHG |
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| Ready for jamming UHG |
Try cooking chutney with them,add strips of red, yellow and green pepper, as well as a few handfuls of raisins to the mix. Or use tomato, extra onions and garlic to make a delicious variation. Kei-appels should be covered in boiling water to slip the skins off. To get rid of the pips, I cook them about 10minutes before squashing them with a potato masher and stir the pulp through a sieve I made of a 1 litre yogurt container that I burnt small holes through the bottom with a hot soldering iron. Hope it helps for cooking a delicious sauce!
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