'the MIRACLE FRUIT PLATTER .'

Fruit platter of Miracle Berry, Kumquat, Tahitian Lime and Meyer Lemon served with Kumquat, Lime & Lemon syrups and fresh ginger mint leaves.

                        Making this dish ticked a box on my to do list finally after a number of years. The miracle berry was first made known to me about 12 or so years ago by my sister whom has a friend that is the owner of 'tropical fruit world', located on the north coast of New South Wales. Tropical fruit world were harvesting these fruits many many years ago and my sister was lucky enough to experience the berries unique properties, prompting me to place this on my to do list. Last weekend we had a friend down staying with us from Townsville and we decided to pay a visit to our local markets on the Sunday. Amongst the many vendors selling plants,seedlings and fruit trees I spotted out of the corner of my eye two small shrubs, one with the berry you see still attached. Which was very rare for this time of the year as they tend to fruit in summer and then again in the onset of spring. So for just $10 AUS. I killed two birds with one stone and was now the owner of my own miracle berry bush with a berry to try for a bonus. For those that are unfamiliar with the fruit , miracle berry contains a protein called miraculin that, when eaten, temporarily effects the tongues sweetness receptors making foods that normally are acidic or sour, sweet. At a neutral ph, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors but at a low ph. (sour foods), the miraculin binds protons and is able to activate the receptors, making these foods sweet. The West African berry itself has a low sugar content and tastes quite tart but having said that miraculin is used commercially as a sugar substitute. An attempt in the 70's was made to commercialise the fruits ability to turn sour foods sweet without a single caloric penalty, but was ended when the ( FDA) declared the berry as a food additive. Controversial claims were made that the project was sabotaged and the research burgled by the sugar industry to avoid loss in business.                                        
                       For this application I used some of the acidic winter citrus that was available in abundance at the markets. I prepared some syrups from Kumquats, lemon and lime by simple juicing the fruits and separately bringing each one to a simmer, removing a little of the juice and adding some arrowroot flour to form a paste. The paste was then placed back into the juice and simmered for a further few minutes, whisking to form a thick syrup. This process was done to each of the three fruits. Next I prepared samples of each fruit to also go on the platter, segmenting the lemon and lime and slicing the kumquat in half. Apart from a quick forage in the back yard for some ginger mint leaves this platter was complete. This was a very simple application but a very theatrical one at that. After consuming the berry, kumquats tasted like marmalade, limes were like key lime pie and the meyer lemons could have been mistaken for lemonade. A truly amazing experience and one that should not be passed up if the occasion arises. Unforgettable.                                                                                        

' deconstructed LEMON MERINGUE PIE .'

Deconstruction of a Lemon Meringue Pie - Lemon Curd , Crumbled short crust pastry , Toasted Meringue, Crumbled meringue , Lemon gelato , Lemon zest , Lemon sherbet and micro lemon balm leaves. 

                   Those that follow the blog or have browsed before may remember the deconstructed carrot cake. Lately this dish has attracted attention and raced up the most viewed in particular the states. Well I decided to release the second of my deconstructed desserts ' Lemon meringue pie'. In this dish I've pulled apart an old classic pie in a modernist fashion played with the elements of the recipe and presented the peoples favourite pie deconstructed. There are four lemon elements and two meringue elements, and there is the lemon balm leaves and of course the crumbled pie base. Lemon meringue is one one of my lovely wife Melanie's favourite dessert pies and she gave this dish a big thumbs up, with comments of incredible if I recall proudly.
                  The lemon gelato was the first prep and was started the night before by juicing some lemons and in a saucepan adding the juice and half that amount of sugar. This was gently brought to the simmer reducing by a third until thick and syrupy before being set aside to cool. In the meantime in a bowl I beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, to this I added some cream and milk and poured the mixture into a saucepan on low to medium heat stirring while cooking until the custard becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon. The custard was then removed from the heat and the lemon syrup was added gradually before pouring the mix into an airtight container. The mixture was allowed to cool before being placed into the freezer overnight, the next morning the the gelato was scooped onto a blender and processed until smooth before being poured back into the airtight container to be placed in the freezer for a further four hours.
                While this was freezing I let egg whites stand in a bowl at room temperature for half an hour before beating the egg whites with a little lemon essence, and cream of tartare on medium in an electric mixer until soft peak stage. Gradually I beat in some sugar tablespoon at a time on high to form stiff peak stage. I then spooned the meringue into a piping bag with a large star nozzle fitted and piped the meringue in strips onto a baking paper lined flat tray. The meringues were then placed into a 140 deg.c. oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until hard, dry and set. The oven was turned off and the meringues were left to harden in the oven with the door closed for around an hour before being removed and set aside to fully cool. Once cooled I broke some large pieces apart and toasted them and crumbled some more into a large crumb. The lemon curd was next and was made by placing butter, sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water avoiding the bowl from touching the water I cooked, stirring constantly for around five minutes dissolving all the sugar. The bowl was then removed from the heat whisking in beaten eggs the mixture was returned to the heat and cooked for a further 8 or so minutes until the curd coats the back of a spoon.
                 To make the sweet short crust pastry crumb I simply brought flour, butter and sugar together in a food processor to make a fine crumb. To this I added egg yolks and brought the dough together, this was then turned out on to a floured board and rolled out to 5mm thick and placed between baking paper and placed in the fridge for half an hour. The pastry was then removed and baked until golden before being crumbed fine. The lemon sherbet is a mix of caster sugar, lemon oil, and a little citric acid. This was placed in a coffee grinder and ground to a fine powder.