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Fruit and Nuts When grating the zest off a citrus fruit, only take the coloured part, if you go too far into the skin, the white pith will add bitterness to the taste.
The quickest way to squeeze the pip-free juice from an orange or lemon is to simply cut it in half and squeeze it with one hand above the other, letting the juice run through the fingers and trapping the pips in the free/filtering hand. Alternatively, squeeze the lemon over a tea strainer.
Blackcurrants and other similar fruits will make a richer sauce if they are first frozen for a few days and then de-frosted before use.
Did you know that peanuts are not actually nuts! They are in fact a bean (legume family).
To remove the seeds from a pomegranate, simply cut in half then whack it repeatedly with a rolling pin over a bowl and the seeds just pop out.
To split open a whole coconut, hold it over a bowl in the open palm of one hand. Using the back of a heavy knife, repeatedly hit the coconut in the centre and keep turning it on the top/bottom axis, keep hitting in the centre. It should fall into two halves after about 10 good hits and the juice will flow into the bowl.
To remove skins from shelled roasted peanuts or hazelnuts, place them into the centre of a tea towel, pull up the edges, roll them around for a few minutes then let the wind blow away the loosened skins.
When thinking of herbs to go with fruits in a dessert, instead of simply adding mint leaves, try cooking peaches, apples or other fruit with some fresh thyme or rosemary.
To get more juice out of a lime, microwave it for 8 seconds before squeezing!
When buying vanilla pods, try to get 'bourbon' vanilla pods (from Madagascar), they are fatter, moister and have the best taste. When using them, split the pod lengthways and scrap out the seeds, this is what is used to add vanilla flavouring. The pods can be discarded.
Salads Lettuce should never be cut with a knife, this will bruise the leaves and much vitamin C will be quickly lost. Always tear a salad leaf by hand.
To remove the core stem from a lettuce, especially ice-burg, just bang it on a solid surface 4 or 5 times then twist out the core.
To remove the skin from tomatoes, cut a small cross on the base of each one then plunge them into boiling water for 10 to 20 seconds. Remove them and immerse into iced water to stop them cooking further. They should now be very easy to peel.
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