apricots as a love language
wintering your summer fruits, and an upside down cake you need to make
During my time working in mental health, I have encountered a number of people who spoke to the cycles of their emotions and mental state, and specifically the apprehension the descent into winter months would bring; as their symptoms would routinely peak with this seasonal shift.
Part of my advice would involve the early establishment of positive routines around sleep, exercise and diet during the summer, when feeling their most mentally robust. The theory being that when the impending decline in outlook came, these positive routines would be strong enough to withstand winter’s weight and support the person’s wellbeing through to spring.
One of the tricky parts about winter is that many of the fruits and vegetables that tend to lift our spirits, through their nutritional content, the emotions we associate with the gathering or eating context (ie the foraging of wild blackberries with whānau, as shared in my previous newsletter), and the eating experience itself (the burst of life from a bite of summer peach, the carefree abandon when you relinquish to its juicy mess dribbling down your chin and onto your fingers), are no longer in season. While the nutrients in some winter kale or orange can make you feel better, it’s really nothing to what a bowl of thawed and warmed stewed stone fruit can do to raise the morale - transporting you straight to summer’s glory with a mere spoonful.
‘Wintering’ is what I like to call it - the art of preserving summer fruits for cold nights, waning daylight and dropping moods. Sending yourself an edible hug for the future, for when it might be just the thing you need to pick yourself up.
If you come to me with a bowl of roasted apricots in August, I’m in love.
So do your winter’s self a favour, and make the recipe below while the fruit is ripe and you’re feeling good.
For this week’s bonus newsletter, there’s also a recipe for an apricot upside down cake which you really must try; it’s equal parts simple and moreishly delicious.
Plus keep scrolling for some other foodie reads I’ve stumbled upon in the past week, that I felt were worth sharing.
Enjoy,
Alby xx
Thyme & spice roasted apricots
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