Roast Gammon with organic clove essential oil

Modern curing methods mean that gammon no longer needs to be soaked for hours before cooking. These days it’s as easy to cook as any other roast joint and the following recipe uses Florame's organic clove essential oil instead of cloves themselves so there’s no danger of you accidentally biting into a whole clove! In addition, there’s a recipe for a yummy gravy to go with it which includes organic sweet orange essential oil.

The following recipe feeds up to six people so increase or decrease amounts as required.

Equipment
Sharp knife
Roasting tin
Zester
Large frying pan
Measuring jug
Skewer
Juicer

Ingredients
For the joint
2.25kg/5lb gammon joint
1tbsp black treacle
Rock salt crystals
3 x drops of organic clove essential oil

For the gravy
1 large orange – zested & juiced
300ml/10fl oz chicken stock
2tbsp port or rum
2tbsp medlar jelly or apple jelly
2 x drops of organic sweet orange essential oil

To make
Once you’ve bought the gammon, take it out of its packaging and rub dry with kitchen paper. Then score the top fat skin in crisscross fashion into one inch ‘diamonds’ using a sharp knife – just as you would the crackling on a pork joint. Then store in the fridge uncovered to allow it to dry out as much as possible. Do this as early as you can on the day you plan to roast it – or even a couple of days beforehand – to allow the skin to dry so that you get a really good crackling when it’s roasted.

When you’re ready to start cooking, preheat the oven to 240C/465F/gas mark 9. Put the gammon joint in a roasting tin then get a skewer and pierce the joint through the middle from top to bottom making a hole by wiggling the skewer around. Into the hole pour 3 x drops of organic clove essential oil. This will ensure the whole joint is gently flavoured with cloves. Then get your soft (i.e. warm) black treacle and smear it over the crisscrossed skin followed by a sprinkling of rock salt which you should press well into the scored skin.

Bung the joint in the oven, skin side up, for 25mins then reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and continue cooking for 1 ¾-2hrs (approx 25 mins per lb/500g). To ensure the joint is cooked take your skewer and pierce in the middle from side to side. The meat should feel tender all the way through. Once cooked, cover with foil to keep warm and let the joint rest for 30 mins.

While it’s resting, make your gravy. Get a large frying pan on a high heat and into it pour the chicken stock, followed by the juice & zest of the orange, then the port/rum, the jelly and the 2 drops of organic sweet orange essential oil. Stir well with a wooden spoon until the jelly has dissolved and let the juice reduce by approx two thirds, or until it feels quite thick.

Take off the heat, then carve the gammon, giving everyone some cracking, and serve with your favourite veg.

BEETROOT CHUTNEY WITH ORGANIC ESSENTIAL OILS

Beetroot has been a forgotten vegetable for the last 30 years or so but now is enjoying a renaissance. It is one of the most versatile of our root vegetables, certainly one of the tastiest and without a doubt the healthiest as it’s full of nitrates that lower blood pressure, it’s a great source of fibre, it’s high in iron and so on.

Many people who were force fed beetroot when they were little – either pickled or boiled – dislike the taste but it’s actually very easy to make beetroot taste yummy and this chutney recipe, using Florame’s organic essential oils, is not only a great way to preserve beetroot but also tastes fab and goes incredibly well with cheeses, cold meats and game. I’m not usually a fan of chutneys and pickles but this really is a stand out flavour!

Equipment
V large saucepan or preserve making pan
Wooden spoon
Knife
Chopping board
Peeler
Grater
Corer
4 or 5 large jars (mayonnaise size)

Ingredients
1.5kg/3.5lbs raw beetroot, trimmed & peeled
3 medium sized onions
3 eating apples, peeled, cored and grated
3 oranges
2tbsp mustard seeds – preferably yellow or white
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 drops clove organic essential oil
2 drops cinnamon organic essential oil
1 drop sweet orange organic essential oil
700ml/1pint (just over) red wine vinegar
700g/1.5lbs golden sugar or unrefined sugar

To make
As you chop the ingredients chuck them into your large saucepan.

Firstly dice your trimmed & peeled beetroot into squares about 1cm/0.5inch large. Then peel & chop your onions to approximately the same size. Grate the zest of the 3 oranges as finely as you can (use a proper zester if you’ve got one – you can buy them at any decent cook shop or department store) then juice the oranges and add to the onions and beetroot. Core and peel the apples then grate the flesh. Add in the mustard and coriander seeds, the organic essential oils, the vinegar and sugar.

Mix everything together in the saucepan, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and leave for at least 1 hour, stirring every now and then, until the chutney is thick and the beetroot feels tender.

This will make your kitchen pong (because of the vinegar) but it’s worth it for the end result!

In the meantime wash your jars then, when the chutney is ready, bung your jars in a hot oven for approx 15 mins to sterilise them. Meanwhile take the chutney off the heat and set it aside to rest for 10 minutes. Spoon the chutney into the jars and enjoy!

You can eat this chutney straight away but if you leave it for a month or longer you’ll get the full, rich, seductive flavour of this wonderful accompaniment. The beetroot chutney will keep for 6 months if stored in a cool, dark place. Once opened, keep in the fridge and use within 6 weeks.

Beat the Blues with mood lifting organic essential oils

For many of us who live in the northern hemisphere, January can be a bit of a downer for several reasons. In fact, the third Monday (though some say fourth) in January is now widely referred to as the most depressing day of the year in the UK – it’s a Monday, it’s January, it’s four weeks since Christmas, it’s a week and bit until pay day so we’re all skint, most of us have broken our New Year resolutions and there’s a general sense of nothing to look forward to on the horizon. In addition, the lack of sunshine really doesn't help. Great!

In order to help you beat the blues this January we have devised a mood lifting aromatherapy cocktail of essential oils. These mood enhancing organic essential oils with anti-depressant properties and wonderful exotic fragrances will help create a light, stress free, happy ambience in your home or office.

You can diffuse the organic essential oils in a perfume burner to release the fragrance, just ensure that you put a tablespoon of water in the burner first before adding the oils and lighting the candle. This stops the oils from burning and congealing on the surface of the burner. Alternatively, you could use one of Florame’s electric diffusers which don’t heat the oils and as a result the essential oils retain their molecular composition, so that the molecules remain suspended in the air for a much longer period of time than when heated, thereby giving a much stronger ‘hit of happiness’.

When blending essential oils you need to ensure that you mix the blend properly otherwise the base note oils will overpower the top note oils and you won’t get an even spread of the different fragrances. However, you should experiment in small quantities until you get a blend that you really like as our sense of smell, just like our taste buds, is unique to each of us.

A good rule of thumb is to check the perfume note as well as the aroma family of each essential oil. See Florame’s tips on blending to help you get started.

So for a generally uplifting, mood enhancing, anti-depressant blend we would recommend the following:


3 drops of Yunnan verbena essential oil (aka may chang)
3 drops of grapefruit essential oil
3 drops of clary sage organic essential oil
3 drops of sweet orange organic essential oil
2 drops of frankincense essential oil
2 drops of complete ylang ylang organic essential oil
2 drops of bourbon geranium organic essential oil
2 drops of neroli orange blossom organic essential oil
1 drop of jasmine organic essential oil
1 drop of myrrh essential oil
1 drop of amyris sandalwood essential oil
1 drop of vetiver organic essential oil

All of the oils listed have either healing, wellbeing, calming, stress relieving or relaxing properties and generally blend well together to create a gorgeous, rich aroma. However, one of the best ways to learn about which essential oils tickle your scent buds is to experiment so whilst this is a guide, feel free to mix and match your own essential oils based on your favourite smells, be they herby, woody, earthy, floral, spicy, minty or whatever. Have fun and beat those blues!