Fair Trade Fortnight
We're already a couple of days into theFair Trade Fortnight which runs from 26 February - 11 March. There's an online calendar of events including a talks by fair trade farmers, a banana race, and lots of coffee mornings, wine tastings, concerts and loads of other things. Find out what's going on near you.Fair trade is a brilliant idea. A heck of a lot better than the alternative. I used to "hum" and "hah" about the extra cost which is usually a few tens of pence. But then I thought "If a Bolivian coffee farmer was standing here in the supermarket aisle asking for 30p to help feed his family, I'd give it to him without hesitation". So now I always choose the fair trade option.
Having said that, fair trade products come from developing countries by definition, which means they have travelled a lot of food miles. I generally try to avoid products which have come so far, preferring local alternatives. But I wouldn't want to give up coffee and tea, or chocolate, and I pick up the odd banana and citrus fruit, so these are where I look for fair trade options.
Here's my favourite fair trade recipe.
Banana-Choc Ice Lollies
A banana makes two lollies, so decide how many lollies you want and get half that number of fair trade bananas. Peel the bananas and cut them in half so that you have two short stubby halves (not two long skinny halves, if you see what I mean). Shove lolly sticks up the flat end of each banana-half to make a banana lolly, then dip the banana in melted fair trade chocolate. I use milk chocolate when I'm making these for the kids, but plain chocolate would make a more grown-up lolly. Then roll the lolly in roughly grated or chopped fair trade white chocolate. You could also use chopped nuts, multicoloured sugar strands, chocolate strands, cocoa powder- use your imagination. Now freeze for a few hours until they're solid and enjoy.
If you've never had frozen banana, you must try it. The banana flavour is intensified, and the flesh takes the consistency of ice-cream.
Home-Made Pan Scrubbers
It's nearly the end of February.Hurrah! How are you getting on with the Ditch the Disposables challenge? I've been saving the plastic net bags that things like onions and mini cheeses come in (don't look at me - the kids like mini cheeses, I think the wax coating on them has more flavour). When I had enough I made them into home-made pan scrubbers.You need a few net bags, then you cut off the metal ends. This is important otherwise they'll scratch your pans. Gather them together and fold them over double, as shown.
Wrap some twine around them and make a neat finish. Leave plenty of "tail". You can trim it neat later, but you don't want any of the bags to come free because they weren't fastened securely.
To make it extra secure, I melt all the ends together by holding them over a candle briefly. DISCLAIMER: fire is dangerous, boys and girls. If you set fire to your house or yourself it is not my fault. When I have done this the bags just sizzle a bit and melt nicely, but if your bags are made of something which bursts into flames or explodes or whatever, don't come crying to me. Be sensible.I made a few of them because I had plenty of little bags and they're really quick and easy to do. They're very effective at cleaning mucky pans, and they're safe for non-stick.
It's not too late to join in the Ditch the Disposables challenge. Just pick one disposable product you can do without or replace with a reusable alternative, like pan scrubbers. See the original post for more ideas, or the post about real cloth hankiesthat started it all, or the one about washable menstrual pads. Or find out what's so bad about disposables anyway? Then vote in the poll in the right-hand sidebar.
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