Seaweed pasta, beetroot soup or a rhubarb chocolate bar. Not the most obvious combinations with fruit and vegetables, but they do stand out and tickle the taste buds. For instance, oysters are said to be perfect with kiwi. Here’s a selection of unusual products.
Organic vegetable soups with superfoods
Something else than regular tomato soup. Tideford Organic Foods from the United Kingdom makes fresh soups using only organic ingredients. How about the summer soups with beetroot and pomegranate, cucumber with dill and kefir, or watercress with spirulina and lemon? The winter soups also have interesting combinations, like a soup with red lentils, apricots and chili pepper, sweet potato with chia seeds and quinoa, and beetroot with kale. Tasty and healthy combinations without additional flavourings or colourings. The Tideford soups are available at stores including Asda, Tesco and Whole Foods Market.
Fruit sushiSushi is very popular, and the snacks of sushi rice and raw fish have become well-established. There is another version though, which is at least as tasty and healthy: frushi, sushi rice with fresh fruit. Frushi is often served as a dessert, but can also be a refreshing snack. Almost all types of fruit are possible, but soft fruit, melon and kiwi are used most often. Frushi is served with all sorts of fruit sauces. A good idea for the greengrocer.
Chocolate bar with rhubarb
In summer, Tony’s Chocolonely introduced two new flavours: milk-rhubarb-crumble and dark-pecan-coconut. Dark-pecan-coconut is a new Tony’s classic. The new dark bar is filled with crunchy bits of coconut and broken pecan nuts. Especially for Albert Heijn, Tony’s made milk-rhubarb-crumble, a chocolate bar with bits of rhubarb and crumble biscuit. A rhubarb chocolate bar may be new, but the chocolate-rhubarb combination has been known for some time. The vegetable adds a nice tang to the sweetness.
Seaweed pastaSeaweed is on the rise. In Asian countries like Korea and Japan, seaweed has been on the menu for centuries, but in the Netherlands, more and more seaweed products are showing up as well. Restaurant La Place has put seaweed on the menu with its algae smoothie. Seaweed pasta is a novelty. When Willem Sodderland, founder of Seamore, first saw seaweed, he thought it could be a great replacement for pasta. He says seaweed has a neutral flavour, more bite than pasta, and can be very easily combined. Because seaweed can only be harvested on a small scale, he started a crowdfunding project to be able to harvest on a large scale in Ireland.
Odd ice cream flavours
Ice cream flavours have been experimented with for years now. In Japan, odd ice cream flavours are totally normal, with flavours including chestnut, spinach and cherry blossom. In the American state of California, garlic ice cream is a popular flavour. In this country, you’ll also find the bizarre ice cream flavours horseradish, pear-blue cheese and fig-turkey. All over the world, ice cream parlours are experimenting with new flavours. Basil ice cream, fresh mint ice cream, rosemary ice cream, celery ice cream, lavender ice cream, wasabi ice cream, chili pepper ice cream, poached pear ice cream, cucumber ice cream, sauerkraut ice cream, avocado ice cream, Brussels sprout ice cream and asparagus ice cream. Nothing is too crazy to make ice cream of it.