Pistachios for breakfastSince I have cut out all dairy from my diet (I now feel 100% better) I am still unsure of what to eat in the mornings. I absolutely loved cereals and yoghurt and muesli and lots of milk so now am a bit stuck. Am trying to have fruit juice and fruit in the morning but sometimes I need a little more. I am having toast and jam, sometimes granola bars but today I had a bag of pistachios.

I know it is odd but that was the only thing in the kitchen this morning. I ate the unsalted Marks and Spencer brand ones which were great. I then Googled what they are exactly and found out that the pistachio is the name of the tree and we eat the seed of the pistachio fruit. Did you know that –it is a fruit seed not a nut.

The reason why the Diabs were always eating nuts like pistachios are that the trees are native to the middle east, namely Iran and Afghanistan but the US –mainly California is now the second largest producer and exporter of the tree’s seed. I guess we call it a nut to make life easier and because it looks like a nut. Unlike olives which need to be cracked by hand, the pistachio shell cracks itself when the fruit ripens, apparently you can hear the pop.

Just some interesting food for thought today – I was unaware of any of these facts but they say, you learn something new every day!

Ouma's Rusks

Ouma Rusks (Afrikaans: Ouma Beskuit - literally "Ouma Rusks"; "Ouma" is a brand and proper noun meaning "Grandmother" ) are South Africa's best-known brand of rusks.
They are dipped in coffee or tea before being eaten.

It is an iconic South African product that is consumed all over the world. It is usually marketed with the slogan Doop 'n Ouma (in Afrikaans) or Dip 'n Ouma (in South African English) (Dip a Ouma).

According to the manufacturer, the history of Ouma Rusks began in the 1939 in the small Eastern Cape town of Molteno, where the effects of the Great Depression were bringing people to their knees. During this time, a certain (grandma)Ouma Greyvensteyn and her friends attended a church meeting to find out ways to help.

At the end of the meeting, each of the women were given a half-a-crown coin and told to multiply it using their talents, as in the Bible. Ouma Greyvensteyn used this money to buy ingredients in order to make rusks using her family recipe. The rusks she baked proved to be extremely popular and orders continued to be placed for her rusks.

You can still visit the factory and Ouma's home in Molteno. They produce 37 million rusks a year. 12.4 tons a day in winter and 8.4 tons in summer.

The rusks come in different flavors like wholewheat, buttermilk, condensed milk, muesli and more...


pic of the factory and the original Ouma in the frame.