Okay, I know that saying mandarins are nature’s Oreos is a big call but bear with me here.
I got really peckish this afternoon and because of Chinese New Year, the house is filled with lots and lots of leftover sweets and rich tasting foods. Having leftovers at the beginning of the new year is actually very auspicious as it symbolises having plenty to spare for the year to come. However, it is not terribly healthy (to be fair, there are also days of abstinence and encouragements to eat plainer foods to counterbalance the indulgences) so it’s no wonder I’ve been feeling tired and sick when I have a constant supply of sugar on tap.
Fortunately, it’s also really lucky to have mandarins around as the word for mandarin has a similar sound to the word for gold. So because I’d finished all my sweets, I thought I’d “settle” for a mandarin.
Wow! It was amazing how energised I felt after having the mandarin. Rather than getting a blood sugar spike and then a quick dip that would only leave me craving more sugar, the mandarin made me feel clean, refreshed and satisfied.
These were my favourite sort of mandarins – that is, the sort where the segments separate really easily. So each mandarin segment was like a piece of candy, only much much healthier.
Later, while I was reading about the ingredients in an Oreo (it was basically described as sugared trans fat), I realised that I wasn’t selling Oreos short to compare them to mandarins – I was selling mandarins short.
If you’re not entirely convinced by my mandarin argument, here’s a compromise… a recipe for home made mandarin five spice cookies: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/baked-good/recipe-fivespice-cookies-with-candied-oranges-138241
And if you really can’t get Oreos out of your mind, at least the butter in this home made version is an improvement on the original: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/2011/01/26/from-the-chronicle-kitchen-flour
photo credit: vijay_chennupati
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