April 2013

What's New This Month...

Melons! 

Melons and apples

These summer fruits come in a variety of shapes and colors, but I love the early crop that grows in the Sinaii. It is so sweet that vendors often refer to as 'ananas'-aka pineapple. The fruit are round, small and very fragrant, and when you cut them open,  a beautiful creamy green color appears and the fruit drips with juice.

We peel them, slice them and  dry them to a crisp in our solar tunnel. Their flavor is intensified by the drying process and they are great low calorie snack. A 75g bag sells for LE 20.

Coriander Seeds!

Coriander in bloom

Grown under safe agriculture practices, these seeds are a very important ingredient in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking. I grind them and use them in our all time favorite Egyptian molokheya and in Indian dishes. Whole, I add them to my jar of black olives to add flavor. A 50g bag sells for LE10.




Did You Know That...

Minnie's Dried Fruits & Vegetables attends the NUN Center Farmers' Market on Saturday's from 10-2pm? 

The Bioshop, located at 27 Road 231, Degla, Maadi carries all of Minnie's products?

You can order Malak's Honey directly by clicking Honey ?

We deliver Minnie's Dried Fruits &Vegetables to your home or office

Melons:

• belong to the same family of gourds as cucumbers, pumpkin and squashes
• originated in the Middle East and ancient Egyptians and Romans ate cantaloupes
• are  a good source of potassium and vitamin C
• are fat and cholesterol free; and are relatively low in calories?

link to Minnie's on facebook.

The Slice September 2012

The Slice

September 2012 Issue

September! Summer vacation is winding down and a new school year is about to start. Schools will be opening their doors and parents will begin to prepare lunch boxes.  It is time to stock up on Minnie’s Dried Fruits & Vegetables for the kids’ lunch boxes and your own too!

The Slice will be emailed to you unless you choose to read it on our blog Cut and Dried. We hope you engage and comment by subscribing to Cut and Dried. And we encourage you to try some of our recipes that use Minnie’s Dried Fruits & Vegetables. Give us your feedback on those your try!

What's New This Month...

Dates: September is the month of dates. The weather is still hot, allowing the dates to ripen. The palm trees in Dahshour are beautiful with their heavy bounty of ripening dates that are turning from green to red, or dark brown or golden yellow. And we, at Minnie’s, have begun to pit and dry these luscious dates. They will be available the third week of September.

Fruit Rolls: made from the 100% natural fruit juice of the mangos or the strawberries, with no preservatives or additional coloring. They come in packages of five pieces individually wrapped and are great snacks at school, at work or at home.

Did You Know...

Dates are a great source of fibers, anti-oxidants, and minerals? They are rich in potassium, magnesium, copper and calcium. You can snack on them  whole, or cut them up and add them to your morning cereal, or to your cake batter. They are delicious served with fresh cream too.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

        

Please help us continue to grow. When you get a chance, like Minnie's Dried Fruits and Vegetables on Facebook and go ahead and subscribe to our blog Cut and Dried!

The Slice August 2012 Issue

The Slice

August 2012 Issue

What's New This Month...

Egyptian Pear Rounds: We cut and dry the crunchy (khashaby) pears with no preservatives or color enhancers. These pears are peeled, cored and dried to a chewy state that brings out their delicate flavor. Try them in khoshaf or right out of the bag, they are a great snack.

Egyptian Mango Slices:  Mango season has just begun. The varieties are coming in one after the other, pleasing the palate and the sense of smell. And we too have begun drying them and making mango fruit rollups. Our fruit rollups have no sugar added and no preservatives; they are 100% natural fruit.

Egyptian Raisins: we use the original Egyptian seedless green/golden grapes (banati) to make these raisins. These raisins are a dark amber color and are sweet and chewy and delicious. Eat them with nuts or add them to cereal, oatmeal, rice or moussaka3a, you will just love them.

You may continue to receive The Slice by email or you may choose to read it on our blog Cut and Dried. We hope you engage and comment by subscribing to Cut and Dried. And we encourage you to try some of our recipes that use Minnie’s Dried Fruits & Vegetables. Give us your feedback on those your try!

Please help us continue to grow. When you get a chance, like Minnie's Dried Fruits and Vegetables on Facebook and go ahead and subscribe to our blog Cut and Dried!

The Slice July issue

The Slice

July 2012 Issue

Ramadan is almost here. Kol sana wentum tayebeen! In other words, happy returns of the holy month!

We have been busy during the last few weeks drying some very special fruits for the Ramadan yameesh (dried fruits). Check our list of products for this month and try some of the new items.

Minnie’s Dried Fruits & Vegetables was in the news again this month! Cairo Kitchen’s blog interviewed us and published a nice article which you may read at the following link:

 http://blog.cairokitchen.com/minnies-dried-fruits-vegetables/

You can continue to receive The Slice by email or you may choose to read it on our new blog Cut and Dried. We hope you engage and comment by subscribing to Cut and Dried. And we encourage you to try some of our recipes that use Minnie’s Dried Fruits & Vegetables.

What's New This Month...

Egyptian Apricots: We dry these delicious apricots with no preservatives or color enhancers, thus their color is slightly darker, and their taste is still great.

Egyptian Dried Plums:  Also known as prunes. Try them! They are dark and juicy and delicious. We have removed the pits and split them in half for your enjoyment.

Cherries: imported from Lebanon and Syria, pitted, and split in two. We dried them to a chewy state to enhance their flavor.

Khoshaaf Mix: composed of Egyptian apple crescents, apricots, cherries, peaches from Sinaii, prunes, pears and raisins. Soak them in hot water and use for khoshaf (recipe at the end).

Yameesh Mix: very much the same as the Khoshaaf Mix except all the stones and pits have been removed from the apricots, cherries, peaches, and prunes to give you a delicious chewy dried mix for your after iftar snacking enjoyment.

Please help us continue to grow. When you get a chance, like Minnie's Dried Fruits and Vegetables on Facebook and go ahead and subscribe to our blog Cut and Dried!

The Slice June Issue

We celebrated our first year in business at the first Maadi Farmer’s Market on the 18^th of May.  It was wonderful to see all of you there. Thank you to all of you. Here's a picture of our table...That's Minnie with her grandsons who were a big help on that day.

What's New This Month

Egyptian Apples:  They are back in season and are tart and delicious.  We cut them two different ways: in rounds as usual and in wedges- which we call crescents- for a more chewy bite.

Raisins:  Red grapes are coming into season and we dried a few. Try them! They are juicy and delicious.

Solar dried tomatoes:  Egyptian tomatoes that are cut and dried to be used in stews, in tomato sauces, in lasagna or in preparing a moussakaa. Packed in virgin olive oil with garlic and basil, they are an excellent addition to salads, pasta or an a cheese and lettuce sandwich.

Eggplants: They too are back in season and are grown under safe agriculture practices.

Our price list for fruits and vegetables is now combined in one table. You will note that some products are available in both 75g and 150g, some only in 75g or 150g.

June Price List:

Product	75g	150g	500g
Apple Crescents	LE 20	LE 40
Apple Rounds	LE 20	LE 40
Banana Coins	LE 20	LE 40
Kiwi Pieces	LE 25	LE 50
Orange Round	LE 15
Raisins		LE 20
Strawberries	LE 25
Eggplants	LE 10
Onion, slices or shreds	LE 10
Tomato	LE 15
Soup Mix	LE 15
Malak’s Honey: clover or orange blossom			LE 40

How To Order: To place your orders email, Minnie's, sms or call on 011-1104-7555

Pick up or delivery:  You may pick up your order or you may choose to have it delivered to your home or office. For pick-ups, please contact us on the above to set a pick-up time. Otherwise let us know where to deliver. Delivery charges apply depending upon the delivery address. Maadi deliveries are free.

Please help us continue to grow. When you get a chance, like Minnie's Dried Fruits andVegetables on Facebook and go ahead and subscribe to our blog Cut and Dried!

How To Use Dried Fruits & Vegetables

Solar Dried Tomatoes:

Pack a clean glass jar with the dried tomatoes, add a few cloves of garlic, a few leaves of fresh basil. Cover with extra virgin olive oil. Refrigerate for 10 days.

Orange rounds and Arugula salad:

Wash the arugula leaves well. Spin dry. Put in a salad dish and crush a few orange rounds on the leaves.  Add a vinegrette dressing. 



Eggplants:
Try them straight out of the bag with a yogurt and cucumber dip. 
Grate one cucumber and add it to one cup of yogurt. Add salt to taste and a clove of crushed garlic if you like. Dip the eggplant round and savour the flavor.


Or use them in moussakaa:
35g of dried eggplants
25g of dried colored peppers
35g of dried tomatoes
4-5 cloves of garlic, 1 or 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil, salt &pepper to taste
your favorite tomato sauce to which you have added a handful of dried tomatoes and an additional cup and a half of water to restore the moisture in the dried vegetables used 


Fry eggplant very quickly (they brown in a few seconds) in one tablespoon of oil. Lay aside.
Fry dried colored peppers very quickly in the same oil. Lay aside
Brown 4 or 5 cloves of crushed garlic in the oil, remove. 
Layer in a pyrex dish the eggplant, the colored peppers and the dried tomato slices, the garlic. Pour the tomato sauce, add grated cheese (optional).
Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes or until well cooked.