Fresh Tanzanian Maize Cobs

Maize, Corn, Mielies or whatever you like to call them in your part of the world, I'm sure that everyone agrees - they're delicious ! Maize is also one of our staple foods here in Tanzania and indeed, in most of Africa. When I lived in South Africa I remember the maize cobs being a deep yellow colour - here in Tanzania they are a pale creamy colour instead.

One of the most simple and filling things to cook, maize cobs simply need to be thrown into a pot of rapidly boiling water (salted or unsalted - the choice is yours) and cooked for anything between 5 and 10 minutes - depending on the type of maize and on how tender you like eating it !

My favourite way to eat maize is hot with salt and butter - but there are many other yummy and slightly different ways of eating it -: (methods below taken from 'Femina' magazine 'Food Notes' of March 2010)

The Mexican Way - Braai (barbecue), spread with thick sour cream & roll in fresh chilli & cheese - a hard goat's cheese or Parmesan is perfect. If you like, add a good squeeze of fresh lime.

Braised - Soften chopped onion & red pepper in olive oil. Add crushed garlic, ground coriander, cumin & chilli. Pour in some stock, add the cut corn and cook briefly until just tender. Season & sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves. It makes a great side dish to grilled chicken or lamb.

Marinated - Immerse cooked chunks in a mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, crushed garlic, chopped parsley & seasoning to taste.

So - tell me, how do you enjoy eating yours ?!

Growing Sunn Hemp

Fields of Sunn Hemp line our farm road

The blog posts which I write about the crops which we grow on our farm are quite popular, and as I haven’t written one in a while now, I thought that it was about time to write another – this time about a new crop we’re trying for the first time called Sunn Hemp.

As you know, our farm is 3500 acres in size and the main crops which we grow are beans (seed beans – for export), safflower (for cooking oil) and wheat (for the local flour market) – you can click on any of the crop names mentioned here, which will take you to a previous blog post written about each specific crop.

The Sunn Hemp adds a lovely splash of colour to the surrounding green farm lands

We practice dry land farming – relying solely on rainfall as nothing is irrigated. We are also one of the first farms in Tanzania to practice Zero Till farming (click here to read more about that), a method which is fast catching on here in Tanzania and is being used by more and more of the smaller farmers as well as the bigger commercial farming concerns.

I'm lucky enough to have fields of brilliant yellow flowering Sunn Hemp growing in front of our house at the moment - it's certainly adds to the view !

In addition to all the crops mentioned above, this season we have also planted 160 acres of Sunn Hemp as a soil conditioner. (The seed we have originates from Mexico). Sunn Hemp has a long tap root which means that it aerates the soil nicely and also allows moisture to penetrate it. The roots also help to naturally loosen the soil – so the Sunn Hemp provides a natural way for us to prepare the soil for it’s next crop.

More Sunn Hemp fields in front of our house

The Sunn Hemp we grow will be harvested for it’s seed, which we will then replant as a soil conditioner for future crops. I believe that the crop can also be used to produce fibre and is also sometimes used as a green manure – as it is also a very good nitrogen source. I really like the little yellow flowers which it produces, they add a splash of brilliant yellow against the green backdrop of the farm and the fields are especially pretty when viewed en masse from a distance.

Gingerbread Squares

A freshly baked tray of Gingerbread Squares - hot out of the oven ....

This is a light, spicy gingerbread which is great cut into large squares for lunchboxes, afternoon tea or even served with custard or ice cream for pudding ! I have made a few changes to the original recipe (which I have noted in brackets below).

As always, if you need to convert the recipe quantities into ones which work for you, then you can scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the ‘Conversion Calculator’.

I also have another (egg free) recipe on the blog for a denser Gingerbread (which is more like a Ginger Loaf) which you can find over here.

Piled high on a plate, these are just the thing to enjoy with a nice cuppa tea !

Gingerbread Squares (from ‘The Complete South African Cookbook’ by Magdaleen Van Wyk)

170 gm Butter (or Margarine)
110 gm Sugar (I use brown sugar)
110 g Treacle (or Syrup)
450 gm Cake Flour
2 ml Salt
10 ml ground Ginger (I use 15 ml ground Ginger & also add 5 ml ground Nutmeg & 5 ml ground Mixed Spices)
2 Eggs, beaten
5 ml Bicarbonate of Soda dissolved in 50 ml Hot Water
Decoration: (Optional)
blanched, split almonds

Heat the butter (or margarine), sugar and treacle (or syrup) in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the stove and allow to cool. Meanwhile, combine the flour, salt and ginger (& other spices, if using) in a mixing bowl. Stir the melted sugar mixture into the flour, mixing well, then stir in the beaten eggs and blend thoroughly. Stir in the dissolved bicarbonate of soda and pour the mixture into a greased and lined 220 mm square baking tin (I used a 27 ½ cm x 21 cm tin – this is around 11’’ x 8 ½ ‘’). Arrange almonds on top and bake in centre of the oven at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 until firm, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly in the tin, then cut into squares, remove from the tin and cool thoroughly on a wire rack.