Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck

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Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
farm&food
                                                               February 2018 Edition
                                                                              N1000

 MAGAZINE                      from land and sea to table

                      Strawberries

                                                                Unilever ’s
                                                                Backward
                                                                Integration
Nutrition Corner

                                       Why buy
            Pig Processing             organic?

                                                    Calamari

                                                            more …

                         farm&food 1
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
HELPING
TO CREATE A
BRIGHTER FUTURe
Unilever is a socially responsible and responsive organization, delivering
significant social and brand investments that are helping to create a brighter
future for numerous Nigerians. Unilever Nigeria is delivering key interventions
that advance our corporate purpose ‘to make sustainable living commonplace’.
In driving these interventions, we are guided by the Unilever Sustainable Living
Plan (USLP), our blue print for achieving our vision of doubling the size of our
business whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive
social impact.

Our USLP is focused on three main pillars:

      -      Improving Health & Wellbeing
      -      Enhancing Livelihoods
      -      Decoupling growth from environmental impact

Unilever believes in taking small everyday actions that can make a big difference
for consumers, the communities in which it operates and the environment.
Unilever has confidence in the Nigerian economy and will remain a major player
in the country by continually investing, developing capabilities and growing
brands that most suit the consumers’ needs.

           farm&food 2
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
from the editor

   We would like to welcome you to the February 2018
   edition of Farm & Food magazine.

   Our exploration of produce from Jos starts in earnest
   with strawberries. I was presented with a bowl of
   the lovely fruit from Jos and I have honestly never
   tasted anything like it. There is so much we are yet to
   do with agriculture in Nigeria. A friend also made
   strawberry jam from the same Jos strawberries
   which we sadly couldn’t capture in this edition but
   we have it on good authority that the jam was
   delicious.

   Agriculture has, and will continue to feed various
   global industries. One of such is Unilever and they
   have graciously put out information on their efforts
   at backward integration in the Nigerian agriculture
   space in this edition.

   Publisher / Editor-In-Chief
   Babatunde Olaoluwa Jeje

   babatunde@alliantis-a.com
   +234 802 223 5455

farm&food 3
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
contents
 Fruit of the Land         …5
 Strawberries …6
 Lamb …8

 Fruit of the Sea       …11
 Calamari …12

 Food on the Table          …13
 Food Traveller: Caribbean Island Adventure    …14
 Nigerian Haute Cuisine …15
 Nutrition Corner …17

 Food Calendar         …19

 Food & Markets      … 20
 Why buy organic? …21

 Agriculture Pullout          … 23
 Backward Integration by Unilever …24
 Food Transport Primer — Post Harvest …25
 Processing Pigs for Meat …27

 Contributors

  Banji Ladipo               Uchechi Ogwo
Nutrition Corner             Travelling Chef

                                        farm&food 4
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
fruit of the land

                    farm&food 5
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
strawberries
                                                                        conquer the land. At first
                                                                        introduction to Europe, the
                                                                        plants grew vigorously but
                                                                        produced no fruit. It was
                                                                        discovered in 1766 that the
                                                                        female plants could only be
                                                                        pollinated by plants that
                                                                        produced large fruit. This is
                                                                        when the Europeans became
                                                                        aware that plants had the ability
                                                                        to produce male-only or female-
                                                                        only flowers. As more large-fruit
                                                                        producing plants were
                                                                        cultivated the Chilean
                                                                        strawberry slowly decreased in
                                                                        population in Europe, except for
                                                                        around Brest where the Chilean
A bowl of Nigerian strawberries                                         strawberry thrived.
                                     became more common. People
                                     began using it for its supposed    Strawberry cultivars vary widely
The first garden strawberry          medicinal properties and            in size, colour, flavour, shape,
was grown in Brittany, France       botanists began naming the          degree of fertility, season of
during the late 18th century.       different species. In England the    ripening, liability to disease and
Prior to this, wild strawberries    demand for regular strawberry       constitution of plant. On
and cultivated selections from      farming had increased by the        average, a strawberry has about
wild strawberry species were        mid-16th century.                   200 seeds on its external
the common source of the fruit.     The combination of                  membrane. Cultivation follows
                                    strawberries and cream was          one of two general models—
The strawberry fruit was            created by Thomas Wolsey in         annual plasticulture, or a
mentioned in ancient Roman          the court of King Henry VIII.       perennial system of matted
literature in reference to its      Instructions for growing and        rows or mounds. Greenhouses
medicinal use. The French           harvesting strawberries showed      produce a small amount of
began taking the strawberry         up in writing in 1578. By the end   strawberries during the off
from the forest to their gardens    of the 16th century three           season.
for harvest in the 14th century.    European species had been
Charles V, France's king from       cited, The garden strawberry        The bulk of modern commercial
1364 to 1380, had 1,200             was transplanted from the           production uses the
strawberry plants in his royal      forests and then the plants         plasticulture system. In this
garden. In the early 15th century   would be propagated asexually       method, raised beds are formed
western European monks were         by cutting off the runners. When     each year, fumigated, and
using the wild strawberry in        a French excursion journeyed to     covered with plastic to prevent
their illuminated manuscripts.      Chile in 1712, it introduced the    weed growth and erosion.
The strawberry is found in          strawberry plant with female        Plants are planted through
Italian, Flemish, and German art,   flowers that resulted in the         holes punched in this covering,
and in English miniatures. The      common strawberry that we           and irrigation tubing is run
entire strawberry plant was         have today.                         underneath. Runners are
used to treat depressive                                                removed from the plants as
illnesses.                          The Mapuche and Huilliche           they appear, in order to
                                    Indians of Chile cultivated the     encourage the plants to put
By the 16th century, references     female strawberry species until     most of their energy into fruit
of cultivation of the strawberry    1551, when the Spanish came to      development. At the end of the

                                              farm&food 6
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
harvest season, the plastic is        delicate strawberries are still     foods, beverages, confections,
removed and the plants are            harvested by hand. Grading and      perfumes and cosmetics.
plowed into the ground.               packing often occurs in the         Sweetness, fragrance and
Because strawberry plants more        field, rather than in a processing   complex flavour are favourable
than a year or two old begin to       facility. In large operations,      attributes. In plant breeding and
decline in productivity and fruit     strawberries are cleaned by         farming, emphasis is placed on
quality, this system of replacing     means of water streams and          sugars, acids, and volatile
the plants each year allows for       shaking conveyor belts.             compounds, which improve the
improved yields and denser                                                taste and fragrance of a ripe
plantings. However, because it        In addition to being consumed       strawberry. Esters, terpenes,
requires a longer growing             fresh, strawberries can be          and furans are chemical
season to allow for                   frozen, made into preserves, as     compounds having the
establishment of the plants           well as dried and used in           strongest relationships to
each year, and because of the         prepared foods, such as cereal      strawberry flavour and
increased costs in terms of           bars. Strawberries and              fragrance, with a total of 31
forming and covering the              strawberry flavourings are a         volatile compounds significantly
mounds and purchasing plants          popular addition to dairy           correlated to favourable flavour
each year, it is not always           products, such as strawberry-       and fragrance. One serving
practical in all areas.               flavoured milk, strawberry ice       (100g) of strawberries contains
The other major method, which         cream, strawberry milkshakes,       approximately 33 kilocalories, is
uses the same plants from year        strawberry smoothies and            an excellent source of vitamin C,
to year growing in rows or on         strawberry yogurts.                 a good source of manganese,
mounds, is most common in             Strawberries and cream is a         and provides several other
colder climates. It has lower         popular dessert during the          vitamins and dietary minerals in
investment costs, and lower           British summer, famously            lesser amounts. Strawberries
overall maintenance                   consumed at the Wimbledon           contain a modest amount of
requirements. Yields are              tennis tournament. In Sweden,       essential unsaturated fatty acids
typically lower than in               strawberries are a traditional      in the achene (seed) oil.
plasticulture Another method          dessert served on St John's Day,
uses a compost sock.                  also known as Midsummer's           At an altitude of 1,217 m above
Strawberries can also be grown        Eve. Depending on area,             sea level, Jos in Nigeria enjoys a
indoors in strawberry pots .          strawberry pie, strawberry          more temperate climate than
                                      rhubarb pie, or strawberry          much of the rest of Nigeria.
Most strawberry plants are now        shortcake are also popular. In      Average monthly temperatures
fed with artificial fertilisers,       Greece, strawberries are usually    range from 21° to 25°C, from
both before and after                 sprinkled with sugar and then       mid-November to late January,
harvesting, and often before          dipped in Metaxa, a famous          and night-time temperatures
planting in plasticulture. To         brandy, and served as a dessert.    may drop as low as 8°C resulting
maintain top quality, berries are     In Italy, strawberries have been    in chilly nights. Hail is common
harvested at least every other        used for various desserts and as    during the rainy season, owing
day. The berries are picked with      a popular flavouring for gelato      to the cool high-altitude
the caps still attached and with      (gelato alla fragola). In the       weather. These cooler
at least half an inch of stem left.   Philippines, strawberries are       temperatures have meant that
Strawberries need to remain on        also popular, in which it is used   from colonial times until present
the plant to fully ripen because      for making the syrup in taho.       day, Jos has been a favourite
they do not continue to ripen                                             holiday location for both
after being picked. Rotted            Strawberry pigment extract can      tourists and expatriates based
and overripe berries are              be used as a natural acid/base      in Nigeria. These conditions are
removed to minimise insect and        indicator due to the different       exactly why the Jos plateau is
disease problems. The berries         colour of the conjugate acid and    the only place in Nigeria where
do not get washed until just          conjugate base of the pigment.      strawberries are grown.
before consumption.                   As strawberry flavour and            Strawberries that are reputed to
                                      fragrance are popular               be some of the best in the
The harvesting and cleaning           characteristics for consumers,      world. f&f
process has not changed               they are used widely in a variety
substantially over time. The          of manufacturing, including

                                               farm&food 7
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
lamb
A sheep in its first year is
called a lamb, and its meat is
also called lamb. The meat
of a juvenile sheep older
than one year is hogget. The
meat of an adult sheep is
mutton, a term only used for
the meat, not the living
animals. In the Indian
subcontinent the term
mutton is almost always
used to refer to goat meat.

Lamb is the most expensive
of the three types, and in
recent decades sheep meat
is increasingly only retailed
as "lamb", sometimes
stretching the accepted            cordero lechal asado) is generally     • Saltbush mutton — a term used
distinctions given above. In       thought to be finer than that of          in Australia for the meat of
Australia, the term prime          older lamb, and fetches higher           mature Merinos which have been
lamb is often used to refer        prices The areas in northern Spain       allowed to graze on a triplex
to lambs raised for meat.          where this can be found include          plants
Other languages, for               Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and       • Salt marsh lamb (also known as
example French, Italian and        León, and La Rioja. Milk-fed lambs       'saltmarsh lamb' or by its French
Arabic, make similar, or even      are especially prized for Easter in      name, agneau de pré-salé) is the
more detailed, distinctions        Greece, when they are roasted on         meat of sheep which graze ons alt
between sheep meat by age          a spit.                                  marsh in coastal estuaries that are
and sometimes by gender          • Young lamb — a milk-fed lamb             washed by the tides and support
and diet, though these             between six and eight weeks old          a range of salt-tolerant grasses
languages do not use             • Spring lamb — a milk-fed lamb,           and herbs, such as samphire,
different words to refer to         usually three to five months old,         sparta grass, sorrel and sea
the animal and its meat.           born in late winter or early spring      lavender. Depending on where
                                   and sold usually before 1 July (in       the salt marsh is located, the
Other Definitions:                  the northern hemisphere).                nature of the plants may be subtly
• Milk-fed lamb — meat           • Sucker lambs — a term used in            different. Salt marsh lamb has
  from an unweaned lamb,           Australia — includes young milk-         long been appreciated in France
  typically 4–6 weeks old          fed lambs, as well as slightly older     and is growing in popularity in the
  and weighing 5.5 to 8 kg;        lambs up to about seven months           United Kingdom. Places where
  this is almost unavailable       of age which are also still              salt marsh lamb are reared in the
  in countries such as the         dependent on their mothers for           UK include Harlech and the Gower
  United States and the            milk. Carcasses from these lambs         Peninsula in Wales, the Somerset
  United Kingdom, while it         usually weigh between 14 and 30          Levels, Morecambe Bay and the
  is popular in Iran and           kg. Older weaned lambs which             Solway Firth.
  Persian Gulf countries.The       have not yet matured to become         • Saltgrass lamb — a term used to
  flavour and texture of            mutton are known as old-season           describe a type of lamb exclusive
  milk-fed lamb when               lambs.                                   to Flinders Island (Tasmania). The
  grilled (such as the tiny      • Lamb — a young sheep that is             pastures on the island have a
  lamb chops known as              less than one year old                   relatively high salt content,
  chuletillas in Spain) or       • Yearling lamb — a young sheep            leading to a flavour and texture
  roasted (lechazo asado or        between 12 and 24 months old.            similar to saltmarsh lamb.

                                                  farm&food 8
Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
Butchery:
The meat of a lamb is taken from
the animal between one month
and one year old, with a carcase
                                             as
(carcass in American English)
                                      braising or
weight of between 5.5 and 30 kg.
                                      stewing, or by
This meat generally is more
                                      slow roasting
tender than that from older sheep
                                      or American
and appears more often on tables
                                      barbecuing. It is, in
in some Western countries.
                                      some countries, sold                   • chops and arm
Hogget and mutton have a
                                      already chopped or                       chops
stronger flavour than lamb
                                      diced.                                 • Rack — rib chops
because they contain a higher
concentration of species                                                       and riblets, rib
                                      Lamb shank definitions                    roast
characteristic fatty acids and are
                                      vary, but generally                    • Loin — loin
preferred by some. Mutton and
                                      include:                                 chops or roast
hogget also tend to be tougher
than lamb (because of connective      • Lamb shank is cut                    • Leg — sirloin
                                         from the arm of                       chops, leg roast (leg of
tissue maturation) and are
                                         shoulder contains leg bone and        lamb)
therefore better suited to
                                         part of round shoulder bone,        • Neck
casserole-style cooking, as in
                                         and is covered by a thin layer of   • Breast
Lancashire hotpot, for example.
                                         fat and fell (a thin, paper-like    • Shanks (fore or hind)
                                         covering).                          • Flank
Lamb is often sorted into three
kinds of meat: forequarter, loin,     • Lamb shank is a cut of meat
                                         from the upper part of the leg.     Lamb & Mutton Dishes:
and hindquarter. The forequarter
                                      Mutton barbeque is a tradition in      Meat from sheep features
includes the neck, shoulder, front
                                      Western Kentucky. The area was         prominently in several cuisines of
legs, and the ribs up to the
                                      strong in the wool trade, which        the Mediterranean, for example in
shoulder blade. The hindquarter
                                      gave them plenty of older sheep        Greece, where it is an integral
includes the rear legs and hip. The
                                      that needed to be put to use.          component of many meals,
loin includes the ribs between the
two.                                                                         including religious feasts such as
                                      Thin strips of fatty mutton can be     Easter; Turkey, in North Africa, the
                                      cut into a substitute for bacon        Middle East, in Jordan, Pakistan
Lamb chops are cut from the rib,
                                      called macon.                          and Afghanistan; in the Basque
loin, and shoulder areas. The rib
chops include a rib bone; the loin                                           culture, both in the Basque
                                      Lamb tongue is popular in Middle       country of Europe and in the
chops include only a chine bone.
                                      Eastern cuisine both as a cold cut     shepherding areas of the Western
Shoulder chops are usually
                                      and in preparations like stews.        United States. In Northern
considered inferior to loin chops;
both kinds of chops are usually                                              Europe, mutton and lamb feature
                                      Cuts:                                  in many traditional dishes,
grilled. Breast of lamb (baby
                                      Commonwealth countries                 including those of Iceland and of
chops) can be cooked in an oven.
                                      • Scrag end (of neck)                  the United Kingdom, particularly
Leg of lamb is a whole leg; saddle    • Middle neck                          in the western and northern
of lamb is the two loins with the     • Best End (of neck)                   uplands, Scotland and Wales.
hip. Leg and saddle are usually       • Loin                                 Mutton used to be an important
roasted, though the leg is            • Chump (and chump chops)              part of Hungarian cuisine due to
sometimes boiled.                     • Leg (gigot in Scotland)              strong pastoral traditions but
                                      • Shank                                began to be increasingly looked
Forequarter meat of sheep, as of      • Shoulder                             down on with the spread of
other mammals, includes more          • Breast                               urbanisation. It is also very
connective tissue than some                                                  popular in Australia. Lamb and
                                      US and Ireland                         mutton are very popular in
other cuts, and, if not from a
young lamb, is best cooked slowly     • Square cut shoulder —shoulder        Central Asia and in certain parts of
                                        roast, shoulder                      China, where other red meats
using either a moist method, such

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Farm&food February 2018 Edition - Strawberries - Pig Processing - The Upper Deck
mutton. This dish led to the
                                                                      famous Biryani.

                                                                      In Japan, although lamb is not
                                                                      traditionally consumed in most
                                                                      of the country, on the Northern
                                                                      island of Hokkaido and North-
                                                                      eastern Tohoku regions, a hot
                                                                      pot dish called Jingisukan (i.e.
                                                                      "Genghis Khan") is popular. In
                                                                      that dish, thin-sliced lamb is
                                                                      cooked over a convex skillet
                                                                      alongside various vegetables
                                                                      and mushrooms in front of the
                                                                      diners, then dipped in soy-sauce
                                                                      based dipping sauces and eaten.
                                                                      It was so named because lamb
                                                                      was thought to be popular in
                                                                      Mongolia.

                                                                      Lamb's liver, known as lamb's
                                                                      fry in New Zealand and
                                                                      Australia, is eaten in many
                                                                      countries. It is the most
                                                                      common form of offal eaten in
                                                                      the UK, traditionally used in the
                                                                      family favourite (and pub grub
Nigerian Lamb Chops                cut in the leg, and rosemary       staple) of liver with onions and/
                                   leaves sprinkled on top. The       or bacon and mashed potatoes.
may be eschewed for religious      lamb is then roasted for two       It is a major ingredient, along
or economic reasons.               hours at 180 °C and typically      with the lungs and heart (the
Barbecued mutton is also a         served with carrots and potato     pluck), in the traditional Scottish
specialty in some areas of the     (also roasted), green vegetables   dish of haggis.
United States (chiefly              and gravy.
Owensboro, Kentucky) and                                              Lamb testicles, also known as
Canada. However, meat from         In Indonesia, lamb is popularly    lamb's fries (a term also used
sheep is generally consumed far    served as lamb satay and lamb      for lamb offal), is another
less in the US than in many        curry. Both dishes are cooked      delicacy.
European, Central American and     with various spices from the
Asian cuisines; for example,       islands, and served with either    Lamb kidneys are found in many
average per-capita consumption     rice or lontong. A version of      cuisines across Europe and the
of lamb in the United States is    lamb and bamboo shoot curry is     Middle East, often split into two
only 400 grams per year with       the specialty of Minang cuisine,   halves and grilled (on kebabs in
half the population never          although similar dish could also   the Middle East), or sautéed in a
having tried it.                   be found inThai cuisine.           sauce. They are generally the
                                                                      most highly regarded of all
In Australia, the leg of lamb      In Mexico, lamb is the meat of     kidneys.
roast is considered to be the      choice for the popular barbacoa
national dish. Commonly served     dish, in which the lamb is         Lamb sweetbreads are a
on a Sunday or any other special   roasted or steamed wrapped in      delicacy in many cuisines. f&f
occasion, it can be done in a      maguey leaves underground.
kettle BBQ or a conventional
oven. Typical preparation          In Medieval India, the armies,
involves covering the leg of       unable to cook elaborate meals,
lamb with butter and rosemary      would prepare a one-pot dish
sprigs pushed inside incisions     where they cooked rice with

                                            farm&food 10
fruit of the sea

farm&food 11
calamari
                                                              saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol. While the
                                                              breaded and fried version of calamari is the most
                                                              popular version served in restaurants, there are also
                                                              versions of the squid not breaded that you can find in
                                                              pasta, paella, soups, and salads.

                                                              How It's Served
                                                              This batter-coated fried squid is perfect when paired
                                                              with salt and lemon on the side.

                                                              Deep-fried or crispy baked calamari is typically served
                                                              crisp and golden brown with a warm tomato sauce to
                                                              dunk it with. You can also find it garnished with parsley
                                                              or sprinkled with parmesan cheese. Dips like peppercorn
Calamari is made out of squid. In Italy, squid translates     mayonnaise, tzatziki, or tartar sauce can also be found
directly as calamari, which is how the popular appetiser      next to the calamari appetiser.
gets its name. In fact, calamari is most often referred to
as a squid dish from the Mediterranean area. This is a        The dish is also popular in countries like South Africa and
staple in both Italian and seafood restaurants, though        Australia and can be found in fish and chip shops.
there are other versions like the Asian "salt and pepper
fried squid" found in bars and food trucks.                   Eating Squid
                                                              Squid lends itself to just about every cooking method
The Squid                                                     imaginable and is often eaten raw in sushi dishes. A
This particular type of squid is a mollusk related to the     versatile food, squid is available fresh, canned, frozen,
cuttlefish and octopus and has 10 tentacles.                   dried, and pickled. Squid belongs to the same family as
                                                              oysters, scallops, and octopus. When it is not deep-fried
                                                              or breaded, squid is full of many health benefits because
                                                              it is low in saturated fat. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids,
                                                              protein, and healthy fats.

                                                              How Cultures Prepare Squid
                                                              Popular in many countries, squid can be found in
                                                              restaurants all over the world in places like Spain, Italy,
                                                              Portugal, Croatia, Egypt, Malta, Korea, and more. Spain
                                                              and Italy make squid in paella, risotto, soups, and pasta,
                                                              while Portugal makes lulas, grilled whole kebabs of
                                                              squid rings with bell peppers and onions. In Korea, fresh
                                                              squid is often served with mustard and sauce before
Like its cousin the octopus, it also has a protective         being salted and wrapped in lettuce or pillard leaves.
mechanism which releases a dark ink into the water
when it senses danger. The squid ranges from one inch         Squid is found in additional Asian countries like China,
in size up to 80 feet, but the most common size for           Thailand, Japan and Taiwan. Usually, the squid is grilled
eating is less than 12 inches. Although the tentacles are     whole and sold in food stalls and stands. You can find
edible, the body is the prime section of meat which can       more heavily spiced squid in stir-fries, rice, and noodle
be stuffed whole, cut into flat pieces, or sliced crosswise     dishes in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine.
into perfect rings.
                                                              www.thespruce.com
The Taste of Calamari
Calamari meat is firm and white with a mild, slightly          f&f
sweet, and almost nutty flavour. Eating small fried squid
is an often firm and chewy experience, rich in vitamins
and minerals. However, it does have high levels of

                                                      farm&food 12
food on the table

                    farm&food 13
food traveller | caribbean island adventure
                                                                                     by Uchechi Ogwo

                                                                                     “Welcome to Jamrock” said
                                                                                     the petite looking attendant
                                                                                     behind the counter, we both
                                                                                     acknowledged her greeting
                                                                                     eager to know what was on
                                                                                     the menu and if it was
                                                                                     pocket friendly. Indeed it
                                                                                     was a decent menu and
                                                                                     pocket friendly. However,
                                 journey turned into a 30-minute rigmarole in
                                                                                     because we came a tad bid
                                 Lekki Phase 1. Alas! We were lost in Lekki Phase
                                                                                     late they had run out of
                                 1, unbelievable but true. By this time Dipo and I
                                                                                     some of the menu items and
                                 were “hangry” (hungry and angry). Frustrated
                                                                                     so Dipo settled for their
                                 at the drivers’ efforts to locate our destination
                                                                                     Grilled Chicken Burger with
                                 we asked him to retrace his route and take us
                                                                                     Sweet Potato Fries while I
                                 back to the pick-up point.
                                                                                     had their Rice and Peas with
                                                                                     Jerk Chicken, Steamed
                                 With rumbling tummies desirous of good spicy
                                                                                     Cabbage and Fried Plantains.
                                 food, I felt we could save ourselves the trouble
                                                                                     Wow! It was quite a spread
                                 and just eat at any of the eateries just to
                                                                                     and a tasty one at that.
                                 quench the hunger pangs. Just as a Tuareg
                                                                                     Halfway through our meal, a
                                 would spot an Oasis, I suddenly notice a well-lit
                                                                                     gentleman who I reckon was
                                 signboard which read “JAMROCK CARRIBEAN
                                                                                     the Restaurant Manager/
                                 CUISINE” as we drove onto admiralty way.
I love my Fridays usually, as                                                        Supervisor walked up to us
                                 Now, since we could not have our fish and a
it affords me the time to                                                             to enquire about our meal,
                                 regular meal was a choice made in frustration,
have a good meal whilst                                                              he said he had never seen us
                                 my sense of culinary adventure was rekindled
unwinding with great                                                                 here before and would like
                                 so I asked the driver to stop and end the trip
company and that’s exactly                                                           to know who told us about
                                 (he definitely wasn’t getting a 5 star rating
what I set out to do last                                                            them… (now wouldn’t he
                                 from me). As we walked into the restaurant we
Friday as against the usual                                                          want to know). We both
                                 could hear the soft vibes of Bob Marley wailing
expectation of grooving and                                                          laughed and said it was a
                                 in the background and there were two hefty
clubbing for most of us.                                                             random walk in…he was
                                 dreadlocked Jamaican men sitting having a
                                                                                     pleased and I told him he
                                 meal.
In line with my Friday                                                               would definitely hear my
routine I called my friend                                                           review about the place later
Dipo to meet me in Lekki                                                             on.
Phase 1 to set off on a
culinary adventure at a                                                              Done with the meal and
restaurant I had heard about                                                         feeling royally stuffed, we
that features the                                                                    paid our bill and hopped into
Cameroonian Fish Lady                                                                the cab which I had hailed (I
which led me to have a                                                               used Taxify this time!).
craving for a Spicy Fish Meal.
The Uber arrived on time                                                             Surely, I will be back to
and so began our journey                                                             Jamrock for some more
which had an unexpected                                                              tasty and affordable
twist.                                                                               Caribbean Cuisine. f&f

Unbeknownst to me the
Uber driver could not read a
map and so a 10-minute

                                              farm&food 14
nigerian haute cuisine

Passion wasn’t the problem. Kolawole Dosunmu              unannounced. And so the evening came and diners
had that in spades. After all, he was a motorbike         gathered at the location, all trusting that the
rider of the touring type. The dedication to the          evening would be an enjoyable and memorable
motorbike lifestyle is almost cult like and Chef KD       experience. One of the other skills Chef KD Prime
Prime, as Kolawole is better known in his cooking         possesses is mixology, so cocktails were on tap all
persona, brought the same dedication to cooking.          evening.
KD Prime is a regular at the better food festivals in
Lagos with his very tasty adaptations of Nigerian         Chef KD Prime’s partner in cuisine on the evening
food. One popular dish he does is pork nkwobi, an         was Chef Dave Gunn who is behind the Road Chef
Igbo dish typically made with cow feet sautéed,           location in Lekki Phase 1 in Lagos. The energy they
after cooking until soft, in a very tasty sauce made      both brought to the evening was seriously
with local spices. His version is really rather tasty.    infectious. The menu was unfolded and assembled
                                                          dish after dish and they were all interpretations of
It wasn’t a surprise to hear that KD Prime had            Nigerian Classics indeed. The experience was made
decided to go the food tour route. In fact, it was        even more interesting as the kitchen was open and
more a question of what took him so long. The very        next to the dining area.
first one took place on the 27th of January this
year. The only information on what was going to           The first course was goat meat pepper soup.
be had on the evening was that it was a 5 course          However, the goat meat was cooked separately
dinner based on Nigerian Classics. Menu was               and the soup was cooked separately. The marriage

                                                  farm&food 15
of soup and meat came
                                                                                        at the table as shown.
                                                                                        Goat Meat pepper soup is
                                                                                        a well known Nigerian
                                                                                        Classic. The
                                                                                        interpretation was lovely
                                                                                        as the taste of the meat
                                                                                        was clear and distinct
                                                                                        from the broth which

was also quite good. The
marriage tasted very
moreish.

The next course on the
unfolding menu was
native palm oil rice
topped with fried croaker
and a mixture of scent

                                                                                        leaves and greens.
                                                                                        Ahhh…

                                                                                        The third course was
                                                                                        puréed yam pottage
                                                                                        topped with six-day
                                                                                        brined chicken that was
                                                                                        poached and then seared
                                                                                        before serving. The

pottage was topped with      fried cassava and is a        KD Prime and Dave Gunn
chilli sauce, the chicken,   very popular Nigerian         indeed produced what
crisp chicken skin,          food choice. The beef         could only be called
shredded utazi vegetable     was flambeed before the        Nigerian Haute Cuisine. It
and sticks of fried          dish was assembled.           was a great evening and
plantain. The fourth and                                   we look forward to the
main course was eba and      The dessert was Canjika       next KD Prime
vegetable (afang) with       served on a bed of frejon     experience. f&f
beef. Eba is made from       topped with salted
fermented, ground and        caramel -- a Lagos classic.

                                                  farm&food 16
nutrition corner | hidden in plain sight — dangerous
      by Banji Ladipo
                      substances in processed foods
                                                                                       Seasoning Oil: Refined palm oil
                                                                                       (contains TBHQ), onion. sweet soy
                                                                                       sauce: sugar, water, salt, wheat,
                                                                                       soybean, sesame oil. Chili Sauce:
                                                                                       Chili, water, sugar, salt, tapioca
                                                                                       starch, acetic acid, citric acid, (these
I like writing about the things that        this by the box and/or feeding it to       two could have been made natural
are good to eat. Where Nigerian food        children, I would look a little harder,    by using vinegar and lemon juice but
is concerned, this covers most of our       the plantain chips were made in            industrial versions are cheaper)
traditional foods. It's much more fun       Colombia and the ‘vegetable oil’ is        herbs, monosodium glutamate,
working with those things, I get to         palm and soya that hasn’t been             disodium inosinate, disodium
cook them for the camera or for             partially or fully hydrogenated, that’s    guanylate, flavours, sodium benzoate
analysis. Then I get to eat them, for       good, but for me to include this as a      & sodium metabisulphite
strictly scientific reasons, of course.      regular feature of my family’s diet, I     (preservatives). Fried onions.
Sadly, sometimes I have to speak up         would need to know that the soya is
about the things we shouldn't eat           not genetically modified (as it often       It’s pretty obvious that there are
which is equally important for a            is).                                       many things here that you wouldn’t
Nigerian diet (or any other) but                                                       walk into a market or grocery store
woefully less fun. This is that kind of     This sort of thinking is Grandmaster       and ask for. Can you imagine it, just
article.                                    Ninja level 9000 foody-health-nut          shopping for dinner, you pick up a
                                            thinking and let’s be honest, apart        chicken, a tuber of yam, some greens
I will always advocate eating real          from the food-obsessed like me, who        and 20 grammes of disodium
natural food, either fresh or with          has the time, energy or inclination to     guanylate? Rather than try to get
simple processing like peeling or           be analysing food labels to this           everybody invested in understanding
drying. Once food is in a packet, you       degree? Here is a sample ingredient        everything about food labels, in this
must read the label to see what’s in
it. As my children got old enough to
buy snacks in shops away from my
influence, I taught them a simple rule
to apply when reading the label on a
food packet. It is this, “If there is any
item on the ingredient list that your
grandmother would not recognise as
food, don’t eat it.” We call this the
Granny What Is rule. If you know that
Granny is going to say, “what is
maltodextrin?” or “what is soya
                                            Bad label, lots of E-numbers, I got as far as E319 which is TBHQ (see below)
lecithin” then you can’t eat those
things. This is a good starting point       list from a packet of Indomie              article, I’m just going to call out some
for reading labels with a view to           noodles. Non-food items are in Bold        of the major baddies. The sorts of
healthy eating.                             Italics.                                   ingredients that deserve protection
                                            Noodles: wheat flour (62%), refined          prayers, “any carcinogen fashioned
A friend gave me a packet of plantain       palm oil (contains TBHQ), salt,            by the forces of evil against you shall
chips yesterday, he had a box of            sodium tripolyphosphate, potassium         not enter your kitchen!” sort of
them in his car and offered me one as        carbonate, sodium carbonate, guar          thing. . .
I saw him off after a visit. It passed       gum, riboflavin. Seasoning Powder:
Granny What Is rule easily, the             Salt, Sugar, monosodium glutamate,         For the sake of clarity, DON’T EAT
ingredient list has two items;              disodium inosinate, disodium               THE FOLLOWING!
plantain and vegetable oil (not even        guanylate, garlic powder, onion            Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil. Or
any salt). Perfect for an occasional        powder, yeast extract, artificial           Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable
snack. If I were to consider buying         flavour, pepper, silicon dioxide.           Oil. .AKA .Trans fat.

                                                       farm&food 17
these. Some have been shown to
                                                                                     be carcinogens while all seem to
                                                                                     amplify the sweet tooth of
                                                                                     anybody taking them. In my
                                                                                     experience, the more people use
                                                                                     sweeteners, the more they want
                                                                                     sweet things. It is also very difficult
                                                                                     to get good science on these
                                                                                     things. They are a huge business,
This is a good label, no chemicals, no strange items                                 largely due to their use in soft
                                                                                     drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Each
This product is produced by an              I still it think has no place in a       sweetener manufacturer spends
industrial process that solidifies           healthy diet for the following           big bucks sponsoring 'scientific'
vegetable oil making it a cheap             reasons.                                 studies that either 'prove' their
alternative to butter and extending         • The chemical process that              version is safe or prove that their
its shelf-life. It has been banned in          creates it is known to leave traces   rival's is not. There is a story about
6 European countries and even in               of nasties behind (like mercury)      how Stevia, which is arguably the
the USA, where large corporations           • It is a really cheap alternative to    best of the lot was blocked from
have too much influence over food               sugar. This means that it tends to    entering the U.S. market for years
regulation policy, the FDA have                show up in large quantities and in    by the FDA under pressure from
given companies until 2018 to                  foods (or food-like substances)       the manufacturers of Nutrasweet
remove it from all foods. It has               that are designed for maximum         (aspartame).
been strongly linked to heart                  profit with no thought given to        Despite all this, as a nutritionist I
disease.                                       health. It is an easy way to          have to balance the harm from the
High Fructose Corn Syrup                       identify junk.                        possibility of long-term issues like
Abbreviated to HFCS, sometimes              • Any conscious effort to eliminate       cancer and organ failure suggested
called ‘corn sugar’ and found in               HFCS from a diet will almost          by studies on artificial sweeteners
many packaged foods and sweet                  inevitably lead to lower sugar        with the more imminent problems
drinks, this sweetener has a bad               intake and that’s a good thing for    like diabetes and obesity that come
reputation. It is created by                   most people.                          from overloading on natural
chemically processing corn and is           TBHQ (Tertiary                           sugars. I can accept sweeteners as
mostly found in the United States.          butylhydroquinone) and friends           a transitional measure, a bit like a
It is believed by many to be the            This chemical is used to prevent         smoker's nicotine patch to help
single largest single contributor to        oxidation of packaged processed          with training your taste-buds to
the American obesity epidemic. I’m          foods, especially fats. (e.g. palm       require less sweetening. A
not sure I’d necessarily go that far        oil) It tends to show up as part of a    progressive reduction in
myself on the grounds that there            chemical gang including propyl           sweeteners, either natural or
are many things wrong with the              gallate, BHA and the notorious BHT       artificial will make your body adjust
average person’s diet and/or                (butylated hydroxyanisole and            and need less.
lifestyle in the U.S.A. One must            butylated hydroxytoluene                 Wetin you dey chop? (Seriously!
also consider that other countries          respectively). These gang                You need to know!)
(including nearby Mexico) that              members are all known to the
largely don’t use HFCS also have            police (regulators) and there are        Major Takeaway
widespread obesity issues.                  quite low limits imposed on the          It is always better to eat natural
There are a number of ‘scientific’           food industry but they are               foods as created by nature. If the
articles that suggest that HFCS is as       permitted in food despite being          need for speed or convenience
healthy as plain sugar. Sadly, if you       known to cause cancer in animals         forces you to eat processed and
have enough money, you can get              and aggravate ADHT in humans.            packaged foods and drinks, then
your own ‘scientific’ studies to             Apply Granny What Is rule, avoid         you must always read the label.
show whatever you want them to.             them!                                    Try to avoid any packaged food
There were many ‘scientific’ studies                                                  that includes obvious non-food
sponsored by the tobacco industry           One last thing. I’m not a fan of any     items and never eat any of the
that ‘proved’ that smoking                  artificial sweetener like acesulfame      items on the list above. And please
cigarettes was not detrimental to           K, aspartame, saccharin, sorbitol,       do not feed them to children.
health some years ago.                      sucralose, stevia and xylitol. There
                                            are many reasons for my dislike of       f&f

                                                       farm&food 18
brought to

food calendar                                                             you by

February Produce

Each row from left to   Nutritional Facts           magnesium. Mango fruit         help the body to fight
               right:                               pulp is rich in vitamin C,     against bacteria.
                        You Need To Know            pre-biotic dietary fibre
  African Star Apple;                               and many kinds of              Avocados contribute
   Ginger; Pineapple;   African Star Apple is a     polyphenols. It is free        nearly 20 essential
            Beetroot    good source of calcium,     from fat, sodium and           nutrients, including a
                        vitamins and fibre. The      cholesterol.                   good amount of fibre
   Mangoes; Carrots;    calcium lends strength to                                  and folate, potassium,
   Bananas; Avocado     your bones and teeth,       Carrots give good              Vitamin E, B-vitamins,
                        and it may also lessen      amount of vitamins A, C,       folic acid, minerals and
  Papaya (Pawpaw);      symptoms of                 D, E and K, as well as         phytonutrients, vitamin
  Plantains; Oranges;   premenstrual syndrome.      minerals such as               C, iron, potassium and
              Onions    It contains good            magnesium, potassium           lutein. They also act as a
                        measures of vitamin C       and calcium. They              "nutrient booster" by
                        and vitamin A.              are highly nutritious and      enabling the body to
                                                    cleansing due to their         absorb more fat-soluble
                        Mangoes provide energy.     high fibre content and a        nutrients.
                        They contain vitamin A,     good source of
                        vitamin C, calcium, iron,   antioxidants. They boost
                        potassium and               the immune system and

                                            farm&food 19
food & markets

                 farm&food 20
why buy organic?
Organic food sales are growing,                                         problems, disrupted hormone
yet the lion's share of the food                                        function, autism, and cancer.
market is still overwhelmingly                                          Pesticides and chemicals have
controlled by conventional                                               also been linked to infertility
food.                                                                     problems in males and
                                                                            females. When parents-to-be
Below are some ready-to-go                                                   choose organic food, their
facts about organic food                                                     baby-to-be is exposed to
that consumers need to                                                       fewer health risks.
know.
                                                                           3 Organic Food Keeps Our
1 Organic Food is Healthy and                                              Water Clean
Safe
You may hear, "Organic food                                              Pesticides and chemicals don't
isn't more nutritious - don't                                           belong in drinking water, lakes
waste your money." However,                                             or oceans, but right now most
The Soil Association notes that                                         of the water on earth is at risk.
an organic diet increases                                               Surface water runoff from non-
consumption of vitamins,           Pesticides can cause                 organic farms and other non-
minerals, antioxidants and         neurological problems, cancer,       organic food operations can
essential fatty acids.             infertility, nausea, vomiting,       deposit pesticides into lakes,
Health and safety should not be    diarrhoea, allergies and asthma,
confused with nutrition. While     wheezing, rashes and other skin
most research can't prove,         problems, ADHD, birth
beyond a doubt that organic        defects and more. Logic
food is more nutritious, it is     101 says don't eat
much safer, which may translate    poison, right? Why not
to a healthier body, able to       go organic and avoid
absorb healthy nutrients.          pesticides?
Non-organic food often
contains harmful hormones and      2 Organic Food
pesticides. Pesticides are         Builds Strong Future
poisonous - by nature,             Generations
they're designed to kill.
                                   It's comforting to
                                   imagine unborn babies
                                       protected and safe in
                                         the womb, but
                                           research by the
                                            Environmental Working
                                              Group (EWG) shows         rivers, and reservoirs.
                                               that chemicals,          Companies who dispose of
                                               pesticides in food and   pesticides incorrectly can
                                               other pollutants cross   contaminate soil and drinking
                                               the placenta.            water supplies as well. Many
                                               These pesticides and     pesticides don't break down in
                                              other toxins can          water and may remain in the
                                             create health risks for    water system for years. Organic
                                           babies. Many studies link    food farming methods help to
                                          pesticides to low birth       keep water clean plus use less
                                       weight, birth defects,           water, thus preserving the
                                   neurological and behavioural         earth's water supplies.

                                            farm&food 21
4 Organic Food Helps Protect       7 Organic Food Offers
Animals                            Outstanding Flavour

Wild animals, fish, and birds       Taste is subjective, but
depend upon healthy plants,        you're more likely to get
streams, rivers, and lakes in      fresher flavour with
their habitat. When pesticides     organic. Organic foods
infiltrate animal habitats many     don't contain artificial
creatures suffer.                   preservatives, so they sit
                                   on the shelf for less time,
5 Organic Food Results in Less     and consumers get a
Soil Erosion                       fresher, better tasting
                                   product.
Everyone should be worried
about soil erosion. Soil erosion   Prepared organic foods are
promotes flooding and drought.      really where taste difference
                                                                      that demand with better, more
Soil erosion results in excess     come in. Organic foods don't
                                                                      competitive prices.
dust in the air, which blows       contain chemical fake flavours,
                                                                      The only way to show the
around causing air pollution.      so the true taste of the food
                                                                      government and businesses
This excess dust, "Carries about   shines through. For example,
                                                                      that people care about quality,
20 human infectious disease        try a taste test between organic
                                                                      affordable organics is to buy
organisms, including anthrax       and non-organic ketchup - the
                                                                      quality organics. Your organic
and tuberculosis." Conservation    organic ketchup tastes like
                                                                      purchases now make a
tillage, cover crops, windbreaks   fresh tomatoes while the
                                                                      difference in the long run.
and other sustainable farming      conventional tastes like it was
                                                                      Luckily, for now, organics are
methods used on organic farms      seasoned with fake tomato
                                                                      becoming more affordable.
help control soil erosion. Soil    flavouring.
from organic farms is also
                                                                      9 Organic Produce is not Force
pesticide-free and won't add       8 Organic Food is Becoming
                                                                      Ripened
pesticides into the air.           More Affordable
                                                                      Going to the open market can
6 Organic Food Conserves Fossil    Many people complain that
                                                                      sometimes be a game of
Fuels                              organic food is too expensive.
                                                                      Russian Roulette when it comes
                                   Organic food can cost more
                                                                      to buying fresh produce.
Conventional agriculture           than conventional foods.
                                                                      Carbide is used more and more
production uses more fossil        However, money talks. When
                                                                      to ripen fruit quickly. Calcium
fuels than organic food            people continually purchase
                                                                      Carbide contains arsenic and
production. In fact, one study     organic food it shows consumer
                                                                      phosphorus, both of which can
shows that sustainable farming     support for organics and
                                                                      be fatal for human beings. It is a
methods may use 23% to 56%         then companies will try to meet
                                                                      known carcinogen and can alter
less fossil energy than
                                                                      human cells into cancerous
conventional farming
                                                                      cells.
methods. Buying organic
food supports
                                                                      10 Organic Produce is best found
sustainable farming,
                                                                      at your local farmer’s market.
which in turn
preserves non-
                                                                      f&f
renewable fossil
fuels, saves money
spent on energy
resources and
reduces global
warming impacts.

                                            farm&food 22
agricultural pullout

                  farm&food 23
Sponsored Article

backward integration
           Unilever Nigeria            has spurred us to enhance our        facing. However, this is not a
           partners local              local sourcing capabilities.”        deterrent factor but an
           farmers, to reduce                                               opportunity to help them scale
           importation of inputs       Yaw cited examples of steps          up their skills and compete at
                                       taken by Unilever to achieve this    the international level. The
In line with the Federal               drive in Packaging and agro-         Procurement Director-Markets,
Government of Nigeria’s                based materials. “Already,           Unilever West Africa, Supply
strategy to deepen the quality         Unilever has achieved over 80%       Chain, Mwanza Thomas stated
of growth through the                  in local sourcing of packaging       that, “Our motivation and
backward integration policy,           materials. The aim is to achieve     commitment to operate
Unilever Nigeria Plc has               100% by the end of 2019 and          sustainably is far superior to
expressed, as well as                  overcome the current                 these challenges. We are
demonstrated its support for           challenges of local vendor’s         working with relevant
the policy through its “Partner        capacity to meet up with global      authorities and local investors
to Win” initiative.                    best standard.” In agro-allied       to ensure their produce meet
                                       sector, Unilever is partnering       the required standard for our
Partner to Win is Unilever             with intermediary companies,         products.”
Nigeria’s initiative of investing in   for the supply of cassava and
capabilities of intermediary           starch.                              It would be recalled that the
companies to enable them                                                    Federal Government of Nigeria
convert farm produce to usable         Speaking on the economic             designed the backward
goods that will be sourced by          benefits of aligning with the         integration policy to deepen the
the company as part of its raw         government on this strategy,         economy and achieve robust
materials locally. The                 Yaw said, “By working with the       growth. As it currently stands,
organisation believes this will        intermediary companies to            imports are still the dominant
enable it achieve a significant         source these materials, we are       source of inputs into food,
reduction in the importation of        contributing to up-scaling the       beverages and tobacco in
raw materials by working with          technical skills required for        Nigeria, accounting for more
local partners.                        sustainable commercial farming       than 70% of all raw materials.
                                       in Nigeria. We are also investing    The Economic Recovery and
According to Yaw Nsarkoh, the          in the production of palm oil for    Growth Plan (ERGP) blueprint
Executive Vice President,              use in Blue-Band spreads and         anticipates a strong backward-
Unilever Ghana Nigeria, 90% of         soaps, and exploring local           integration led growth in the
its brands in Nigeria are              production of herbs and spice        agro-processing, food and
manufactured locally. The goal         for our seasoning cubes. We          manufacturing sector.
is to achieve 100%. In December,       believe that our partnership
2017 the Company                       with these investors will not        Unilever Nigeria PLC (RC 113)
commissioned its Blue-Band             only create jobs within the          1 Billings Way, Oregun
Margarine factory with the aim         agriculture sector but also          P.O. Box 1063, Ikeja Lagos
of ending the importation of the       provide support that will            T;+234 (1) 279 3000
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integration programme of the           The ability of the local suppliers
Federal Government is a sound          to meet international standards
policy and as an organisation we       for such materials and the
are committed to this initiative.      possibility of locally produced
We have found strong                   goods being more expensive
connections between this policy        than imported goods are key
and our business model. This           challenges the company is

                                                farm&food 24
food transport primer — post harvest
The preservation of food is a       and possess large, highly                 unfavourably to storage at low
very important aspect of food       vacuolate cells. The freezing             temperatures which are well
production. Losses are              point of their tissues is relatively      above their freezing points, but
experienced in Sub-Saharan          high (ranging from -3 °C to -0.5          below a critical temperature
Africa during transportation of     °C), and disruption caused by             termed their chilling threshold
food such that up to half of        freezing generally results in             temperature or lowest safe
what is transported could be        immediate collapse of their               temperature. Chilling injury is
rotten by the time the              tissues and a total loss of               manifested in a variety of
consignment gets to market.         cellular integrity. Freezing              symptoms including surface and
Effective food preservation is all
underpinned by cold chain            Lowest safe    Commodity
logistics. Farm & Food published    temperature
an article in the first edition          (°C)
about cold chain logistics but
                                          3         Asparagus, cranberry, jujube
will now start to look at the
separate components of the                4         Cantaloupe, certain apple cultivars (such as McIntosh and
cold chain in the transportation                    Yellow Newton), certain avocado cultivars (such as Booth
of temperature sensitive                            and Lula), lychee, potato, tamarillo
produce, fruits and vegetables.
The first point for the                    5         Cactus pear, cowpeas, durian, feijoa, guava, kumquat, lima
introduction of the cold chain is                   bean, longan, mandarin, orange, pepino
right at the point of harvest. We
                                          7         Certain avocado cultivars (such as Fuerte and Hass), chayote,
shall be looking at what is
                                                    okra, olive, pepper, pineapple, pomegranate, snap bean
needed to kick start the cold
chain process.
                                          10        Carambola, cucumber, eggplant, grapefruit, lime, mango
Temperature is the most                             (ripe), melons (casaba, crenshaw, honeydew, persian),
important environmental factor                      papaya, passion fruit, plantain, rambutan, squash (soft rind),
that influences the deterioration                    taro, tomato (ripe), watermelon
of harvested commodities. Most
perishable horticultural                  13        Banana, breadfruit, cherimoya, ginger, jackfruits, jicama,
commodities have an optimal                         lemon, mango (mature-green), mangosteen, pumpkin and
shelf-life at temperatures of                       hard-rind squash, sapotes, sweet potato, tomato
approximately 0 °C. The rate of                     (maturegreen), yam
deterioration of perishables
however increases two to three-     occurs in cold storage systems            internal discolouration, pitting,
fold with every 10 °C increase in   either due to inadequate                  water soaking, failure to ripen,
temperature. Temperature has a      refrigerator design, or to                uneven ripening, development
significant effect on how other       thermostat failure.                       of off flavours and heightened
internal and external factors       Freezing can also occur upon              susceptibility to pathogen
influence the commodity, and         exposure to inclement weather             attack.
dramatically affects spore           conditions as occurs when
germination and the growth of       produce is allowed to remain for          Heat Injury
pathogens. Temperatures either      even short periods of time on             High temperature conditions
above or below the optimal          unprotected transportation                are also injurious to perishable
range for fresh produce can         docks during winter.                      crops. Transpiration is vital to
cause rapid deterioration.                                                    maintaining optimal growth
                                    Chilling Injury                           temperatures in growing plants.
Freezing                            Some commodities (chiefly                  Organs removed from the plant,
Perishable commodities are          those native to the tropics and           however, lack the protective
generally high in water content,    subtropics) respond                       effects of transpiration, and

                                               farm&food 25
direct sources of heat, such as         percent RH. RH can be                    sweet corn, and summer
sunlight, can rapidly elevate           controlled by one or more of             squash).
the temperature of tissues to           the following procedures:
above the thermal death point           1. adding moisture (water            Cooling Methods
of their cells, leading to                  mist or spray, steam) to air     Temperature management is
localised bleaching, necrosis               with the use of                  the most effective tool for
(sunburn or sunscald) or                    humidifiers;                      extending the shelf life of
general collapse.                       2. regulating air movement           fresh horticultural
Relative humidity (RH) is                   and ventilation in relation      commodities. It begins with
defined as the moisture                      to the produce load in the       the rapid removal of field heat
content (as water vapour) of                cold storage room;               by using one of the cooling
the atmosphere, expressed as            3. maintaining the                   methods listed in the table.
a percentage of the amount of               temperature of the
moisture that can be retained               refrigeration coils in the       Packing fresh produce with
by the atmosphere (moisture                 storage room or transit          crushed or flaked ice provides
holding capacity) at a given                vehicle to within about 1 °C     rapid cooling, and can provide
temperature and pressure                    of the air temperature;          a source of cooling and high
without condensation. The               4. providing moisture                RH during subsequent
moisture holding capacity of                barriers that insulate walls     handling. The use of crushed
air increases with                          of storage rooms and             ice is, however, limited to
temperature.                                transit vehicles;                produce that is tolerant to
RH can influence water loss,             5. adding polyethylene liners        direct contact with ice and
decay development, the                      in packing containers and        packaged in moisture-resistant
incidence of some                           using perforated                 containers.
physiological disorders, and                polymeric films for
uniformity of fruit ripening.               packaging;                       Clean, sanitised water is used
Condensation of moisture on             6. wetting floors in storage          as the cooling medium for the
the commodity (sweating)                    rooms;                           hydrocooling (shower or
over long periods of time is            7. adding crushed ice in             immersion systems) of
probably more important in                  shipping containers or in        commodities that tolerate
enhancing decay than is the                 retail displays for              water contact and are
RH of ambient air. An                       commodities that are not         packaged in moisture-resistant
appropriate RH range for                    injured by the practice;         containers. Vacuum cooling is
storage of fruits is 85 to 95           8. sprinkling produce with           generally applied to leafy
percent while that for most                 sanitised, clean water           vegetables that release water
vegetables varies between 90                during retail marketing of       vapour quickly, thereby
and 98 percent. The optimal                 commodities that benefit          allowing them to be rapidly
RH range for dry onions and                 from misting, such as leafy      cooled. During forced-air
pumpkins is 70 to 75 percent.               vegetables, cool-season          cooling on the other hand,
Some root vegetables, such as               root vegetables, and             refrigerated air is forced
carrot, parsnip, and radish, can            immature fruit vegetables        through produce packed in
best be held at 95 to 100                   (such as snap beans, peas,       boxes or pallet bins. Forced-air
                                                                             cooling is applicable to most
Variable            Cooling Method                                           horticultural perishables.

                    Ice       Hydro      Vacuum       Forced Air   Room      Precise temperature and RH
Cooling times (h)   0.1-0.3   0.1-1.0    0.3-2.0      1.0-10.0     20-100    management are required to
                                                                             provide the optimum
Water contact       yes       yes        no           no           no        environment for fresh fruits
with the product                                                             and vegetables during cooling
                                                                             and storage. f&f
Product moisture    0-0.5     0-0.5      2.0-4.0      0.1-2.0      0.1-2.0
loss (%)

Capital cost        high      low        medium       low          low

Energy efficiency     low       high       high         low          low

                                                   farm&food 26
processing a pig for meat
All you need to know on
butchering your own pig, from
preparing your workstations
through slaughtering, dehairing
and hanging to butchering,
preserving and rendering to
curing, cooking, smoking, air
drying and freezing.

Contents
• Introduction: Picking your pig
  and preparing your
  workstations
• Slaughtering: Humane killing
  methods, blood collecting and
  preservation
• Scraping and hanging:
  Dehairing or skinning,            fat and be less manageable for       system. They should not be
  gambrel hanging                   home slaughter.                      crowded, exposed to high
• Gutting: Preserving edible        Judging livestock is fairly          temperatures or unnecessarily
  parts, removing inedible parts,   complex, can take years to learn     stressed. Just before slaughter,
  cleaning                          to do properly, but here are         they can be hosed clean, or
• Primal separation: Tools for      some of the basics you can start     scrubbed by hand if they will
  separation, disjointing, primal   with. Look for an animal that is     tolerate handling without
  cuts                              broad in the back, more flat and      becoming stressed. It is not only
• Secondary cutting: shoulders,     firm than rounded, as this            cruel to stress animals and to
  hams, pork chops, ribs, neck,     indicates less waste backfat. If     cause them unnecessary pain, it
  bones                             you could balance a tea-tray on      results in a poorer meat
• Preserving and rendering:         the pig's back without it            product.
  Lard, headcheese, sausage,        wobbling, this is a desirable
  bacon, ham                        animal. A good wide stance is        Preparing your workstations:
• Variety Meats: Heart, kidney,     another hint that there is some      You will need (ideally) three
  liver, lungs, tripe, spleen       solid muscle present; a pig that     workstations and a slaughter
• Long term storage: Curing,        stands with its hind legs too        area. You should have all these
  cooking, smoking, air drying      close together is a less desirable   set up before the animal is
  and freezing                      animal.                              hosed clean and transported to
• Recipes: Brine, dry cure,                                              the slaughter area.
  spices, ham, terrines, pate,      The shape of the ham, the curve      An instructional manual that
  blood sausage                     of the buttock and the hind leg,     includes some good visual
                                    is something else to look at         diagrams is a very good idea to
Introduction                        closely. A good, full, round         have available at your first
Picking your pig and preparing      curve means plenty of meat on        butchering. Guides to raising
your workstations                   the animal. A lean, angular,         and harvesting home livestock
For home use purposes, you will     slanted jut to the leg and butt      are available at farm supply
probably want to select a young     means that the ham is less           stores and some large
gilt (female pig) or a castrated    muscular and lower yielding.         bookstores, and if you do your
male that weighs from 82 to 113     Before slaughter, pigs should be     own slaughter, one of these is
kgs. A smaller pig is not as        given free access to water but       essential for the diagrams on
economical, and a much larger       be denied food for at least 12       accurate and human stunning
pig will have a higher              and preferably 24 hours in order     and bleeding.
percentage of body weight in        to help purge the digestive

                                             farm&food 27
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