Great Lakes Food Trail Part 2

Pear and Elderberry Pies in Arrowroot Pastry and Chocolate Arrowroot Cake

I first tried two different types of arrowroot from two farmers in Coomba at the launch of TGLFT. I knew True Arrowroot came from the arrowroot vegetable but I had no idea how it was made or what I was going to do with it. We planted both types of arrowroot from Long Table Farm in Coomba in our garden and now have two prolific harvests per year and I am discovering more about using them.

The first recipe I developed was pastry using arrowroot. I boiled, mashed and sieved the arrowroot to use in a gluten free/dairy free pastry. It is extremely challenging to work with but is worth the effort. The pastry works as a pie, tart or quiche base and also makes delicious cracker biscuits to have with dips and cheese.

For the October 2018 Food Trail, I made Lemon Curd Tarts and Quiches with this pastry. During Covid lockdown I developed Pear and Elderberry Pies featuring these ingredients from Grahame’s Farm and Long Table Farm. Sixty individual circles rolled out by hand to create thirty pies for this year’s Food Trail. A labour of love and technique, they were the first item to sell out on the day.

Chocolate Arrowroot Cake is a new addition to my Sneaky Vegetable Cake Range. It is gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free and works as individual cakes, a slice and loaves. So moist and full of flavour, people couldn’t believe it was packed full of arrowroot as a vegetable. Dairy Free Chocolate Glaze or Ganache is the perfect decadent icing.

The beauty of creating an amazing recipe, is that you can then morph it into other flavour combinations. This recipe also works well with Pumpkin, Honey, Ginger and Buddha’s Hand and I look forward to trying other seasonal local produce with it too.