LOQUAT WITH DRIED APRICOT KERNEL TONG SUI

It's HARVESTING time!!!

No! No! I am not referring to my bountiful crops in Farm Town or Country Story or Farmville or the endless farms I owned in Facebook. Goodness, do you know how much time I actually spent in Facebook everyday tending my farms and restaurants? More than a full-time job! If I could convert all these virtual games into the real world, I am a rich woman now.

Anyway, Loquat is in season!! As mentioned in my previous post, Loquat is also known as 'Pipa' in Cantonese because the pear-shaped fruits resemble the Chinese musical instrument Pipa. Most probably heard of Pipa because of the well-known traditional Chinese cough mixture "King To Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa" or fondly known as "Ubat Batuk Cap Ibu dan Anak" in Malaysia.


Best eaten only when it is ripe as it could be really sour when it is not ready. It sent my nephew running around the yard screaming when he took a bite of the unripe loquat few weeks ago. Did a bit of 'googling' on loquat and found out that it could be used to make jam, chutney, pie and even wine too.


Since the weather is getting warmer over here, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to boil the loquat with rock sugar and stock it up inside the fridge. Preparing the loquat was not as easy as I thought it would be. Similar to apple, it goes brown very fast. I ran out of lemon so I sprinkled a bit of salt into the pot of water to prevent oxidation. Oh, be prepared to end up with brownish finger nails too!


I added some dried apricot kernels into the drink as they are good for throat and dry cough. Although the two packets below looked the same, they are actually different. One is called Nam Hanh (south apricot kernel?), the other is Bac Hanh (north apricot kernel?). I really could not tell the difference as they tasted and looked the same! I tried to google for an answer but couldn't find any. Anyone could enlighten me on the difference between the north and the south thingy?? Anyway, the apricot kernel is similar to almond taste but at a much milder level, a level that I could still tolerate. But if you really dislike almond taste, omit it altogether.


To make approximately 5 cups of the drink, I used about one bowl of loquat flesh, 1 tablespoon of both the north and south apricot kernels, rock sugar and 2 liters of water and boil it over low fire for about an hour. I love the drink as it is so refreshing and soothing to the throat! I prefer to have it icy cold. Ahhh...time to boil more to prepare myself to this Thursday, a crazy maximum of 36 degree Celcius!!!

So, it's back to harvesting time...well...I mean in Facebook this time..hehehe.