Crumbs to Crunch

Are you a fan of apple pie? If you are, then Hirosaki might just be the place for you! Hirosaki is in Aomori, a prefecture in the Tohoku region in the north of Japan. Aomori is famous for its delicious apples, and nowhere is this fruit more greatly celebrated than in the city of Hirosaki. There are over 50 shops in the town selling different types of apple pie. With so many options, it can seem overwhelming. How can you possibly find the perfect pie for you?! Well, the answer is simple. All you need is the Apple pie map !  Not only does the map tell you all the different locations for pie shops and bakeries, it also rates each pie on its sweetness, sourness and amount of cinnamon. My personal favourite is  スリーブリッヂ or Three Bridge, a cute little bakery near Hirosaki station. Their pie is rated 3/5 for sweetness and sourness. But don't take my word for it, head to Hirosaki and do your own research! There's plenty of pies to enjoy and beautiful sites ...

Our kitchen has turned into an orchard. We have so many pears from the garden, we are literally tripping over them!  Here is a recipe for the ultimate comfort food to solve the pear overload - pear and blackberry pie. Ingredients - 1 pack of shortcrust pastry - 500g (or you could make your own) - a handful of blackberries - 4  ripe pears - 1 tbsp brown sugar - 1 tsp cinnamon - milk - 9 inch/23 cm pie dish Method 1. Cut the pears into bite-sized chunks. 2. Put the pears in a saucepan. Add the sugar and cinnamon. Stew on a low heat for 5 minutes or until the pears become softer. 3. Roll out half of the pastry and put onto the bottom of a greased pie dish. 4. Put the pear filling in the pie dish and then add the blackberries. 5. Roll out the other half of the pastry. Put the pastry on top of the fruit to make a lid for the pie. Neaten up the edges and add some slits in the pastry to let the steam escape during cooking. 6. Brush...

One of life's simplest pleasures is fruit picking. There is something so relaxing yet satisfying about going out with your friends or family and collecting some of nature's goodies. I've just been on holiday in Alsace and I went for a lovely walk in a forest that had an abundance of wild blueberries. We picked so many of these little beauties, I was pondering what to do with them until I remembered Blueberry Grunt (yes, it really is called that!) My Canadian friend gave me the recipe a couple of years ago but I never got round to trying it till now. Blueberry Grunt is a traditional dessert from Nova Scotia invented by early settlers. Its unusual name comes from the sound that the cooking pot makes when steaming the dumplings. As far as I can tell, this dish is essentially dumplings in a gorgeous blueberry sauce. If you think that dumplings sounds too stodgy for summer, have no fear because they puff up a lot so are quite light. The hint of orange give them quite a fr...