A Citrussy Start to the Year

So a new year has finally begun and that means a lot of people are probably struggling with the New Years resolutions they made 10 days ago. I hope quitting on sweets isn't one of them cause there is going to be a lot of that on the road to hell and sweetness this year, I promise.

You all probably know by now I didn't have the best ending to my year due to the brain cancer that suddenly decided to pop up but in 2014 I'm full of good intentions and ready to move forward. I'm also planning on pulling these good intentions al the way through to the road to hell and sweetness, starting with my "A dessert state of mind" benefit I brought up a few month ago to raise money for brain cancer research. The response has been great so far and I do hope I can make this benefit happen in 2014 with all of you're help. Second comes the spoon project I picked up again in November after a year of silence. And again, with surveys filled out by chefs out of more then 25 countries all over the world the response has been tremendous and work on this project is well underway, so let's hope I can give you all an update on that in 2014. finally I will try and post more frequently in 2014, starting with right now!

The winter months mark the arrival of citrus fruits in Europe, so I've decided to name this January "citrus month" on the road to hell and sweetness. I will put some citrus related recipes and stories on the blog this month and maybe I even drag it along into February.

Starting of citrus month is a playful Pomelo marshmallow! There are not really that much pictures cause making marshmallows is kind off a hands on job, so taking pictures during the making was a pretty hard and messy affair. For those of you who don't know a pomelo, which is possible. It's a native Southeast Asian fruit and is not so popular here in Europe. There are two kinds of Pomelo to start with, a sweet one and a slightly more sour one. For our marshmallow we want the sweet one. When you will cut the Pomelo in half, you will see that the skin is very thick and that there is not much flesh. In some countries the skin would be used to make marmalade or be candied and covered in chocolate.

We on the other hand will be using the flesh for our marshmallow. First things first, we got to make a puree from the flesh by mixing fresh Pomelo flesh with 10% sugar. Very important is to make sure u only mix the flesh and not the membranes between the flesh cause those are bitter and will make the marshmallow taste bitter in the end. After its mixed we pass it through a sieve and we got our Pomelo puree, Now we can start with the prep! As I said before, making marshmallows is a messy affair so you need to be well prepared. So before you start you line a frame with baking paper and you make a 50/50 mixture of corn flour and icing sugar, which we will use to dust our frame to prevent to marschmallow from sticking.

575 gr Sugar
160 gr Trimoline(1)
140 gr Pomelo puree
60 gr Water
22 gr Gelatin leaves
160 gr Trimoline(2)

Start by putting the gelatin leaves in cold water to soak. After we can bring the sugar, trimoline(1), Pomelo puree and the water to a boil. Make sure the pot is big enough cause the syrup will rise up. Keep the trimoline(2)in the mixing bowl and when the syrup reaches 115C we poor it slowly over the trimoline while mixing at almost full speed. After squeeze out the gelatin leaves and add them to the mix. they will desolve in the mixture from the heat. Once beaten cold you spread out the mixture in the lined and dusted frame. Cover the top of the mixture by dusting with the corn flour mixture and lay a baking paper on top. Let it set overnight.

The day after, all that's left is to cut them, cover them in the corn flour mixture and enjoy! Because it's citrus month, and I want some variety in my following posts, I have used a Pomelo, but please do feel encouraged to use other citrus fruit like a bergamot or blood orange. Talk to u guys soon with more citrus fruits and happy New Year!