For the Organic Fanatic.

Organic. By definition it means: of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides. (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Most of us today want to eat food and drink beverages that are not comprised of noxious chemical elements and that contain pure, fresh ingredients. There are many organic products on the market to choose from and it can be hard as a consumer to determine was is best for themselves and/or their families.

I introduced Maintal products not long ago in a post dedicated to rosehip. Today I am going to introduce you to Maintal Organic Fruit Spread. Not only is this product organic, it’s also vegan and all natural. This blueberry organic fruit spread is made with 40% fruit and is made in Germany. So what’s on the label? What are the ingredients? I’m happy to tell you:

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar*, blueberries*, water, lemon juice concentrate* (acidifier), pectin. *Denotes: Only from controlled organic agriculture.

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That’s a pretty basic and simple list of organic ingredients in this fruit spread. This fruit spread contains pieces of actual fruit, as it should, for being all natural and organic! While some fruit spreads with actual fruit pieces sometimes taste odd or may have a texture issue, there is none of that with this Maintal product! Delicious, fruitful and smooth!

The blueberry organic fruit spread is perfect for breads, cakes, pastries and more. According to Maintal’s website, there are approximately 1 million vegan Germans. The mindset of people consciously increasing the amount of vegan products in their diet has been growing. Those who have included vegan foods in their diet have been found to have noticeable effects on the well-being of people who suffer from allergies, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

Maintal’s production processes and techniques have helped to preserve as many vitamins as possible within the fruit spreads. The combination of organic and vegan benefits nature, as well as, providing a simple taste of organic food for gourmet connoisseurs.

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Side Dish Delish!

Do you find yourself trying to find something to add to your main dish – it doesn’t matter if it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner? Well, today we’ve got just the perfect side dish delish that you need to add with your next meal! Why not try adding Kartoffelland Fried Potatoes with Onion to your next meal? It is SO easy to prepare – just fry them up in a pan and heat them to your desire and BOOM! You’ve got yourself one of the easiest side dishes to go with your main course.

Think about it… you could add this with your morning eggs and toast. A nice different twist to your regular hash browns. Or… maybe you have some left over ham or other meat that you need to cook up and eat – whip these potatoes up with the meat and you’ve got yourself a lunch meal! Let’s not forget about dinner – why not cook up some bratwurst, sauerkraut and Kartoffelland potatoes?! TA DA! Meal is done! So simple and easy to make!

If these fried potatoes are not your thing, what about dumplings? Kartoffelland also has German Potato Dumplings that have easy prep: mix with water, form dumplings and boil! Speaking of these dumplings, I have had these before. They are a great side dish to any meal as well, perhaps our next go ’round with Kartoffelland, we’ll whip up some of the dumplings for us to share and view with you!

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I prepared the Kartoffelland Fried Potatoes with Onion for brunch yesterday. It was such a hectic morning – I was up early to get out and about with errands to run after making sure the oldest got on the bus. By the time I got home from hockey manager duties and dropping off a birthday snack to school, it was time to put some food in the tummy. I still had English muffins and I thought potatoes and eggs sound good, so why not? So I opened up a package of Kartoffelland potatoes and added them to the frying pan! I really didn’t add much more besides a little pad of butter to the frying pan. The potatoes are already in vegetable oil from the packaging, so I just decided a little bit of butter would be sufficient and let them fry up in the pan for about 15-20 minutes over a medium/low heat. After the potatoes were fried up, I had my toaster work on my English muffins and then I got a pan ready to make some scrambled eggs. I will admit, while getting the pan ready for the scrambled eggs, I let my butter get a little too hot as I was putting some of that Maintal Rosehip Fruit Spread on my English muffins. I took a little too long spreading the fruit and probably had a little too much butter in the pan for the eggs. The eggs didn’t look that pretty, so I spared you all from their odd appearance (but they tasted just fine). These potatoes are a great side dish for any meal!

Add a Little Fruit Flavor!

So let’s talk about rosehip. I’ve never had it before, it’s something new to me, and I’m here to tell you it’s a little bundle of mild flavor to spread upon your next slice of toast or English muffin. I was honestly a bit afraid to try it, I’m not a huge fan of super crazy new fruit flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised that rosehip is a pretty mellow fellow. I also want to try this rosehip fruit spread on something like a sugar cookie – like one of those cookies with jam or jelly on them? I bet it would taste delicious!

 

So, what am I talking about here? Well, I cracked open a jar of Maintal Rosehip Fruit Spread. Maintal is a brand from Germany that started its journey in 1886. Maintal is one of the oldest and most traditional preserve companies in Germany that has been managed by the fourth generation since 1999. Maintal produces organic preserves, fine jellies and first class preserves. I’ll be writing about Maintal’s organic line in future posts, so be sure to stay tuned for that! Maintal claims to be “Bavaria’s sweetest side of life” where treats such as “Krapfen” (similar to a doughnut that is filled with preserves), croissants, and other desserts all over Bavaria are “refined with Maintal products”. Maintal has a variety of fruit flavors from apricot, cranberry, strawberry, plum, blueberry, quince, elderberry and much more!

I was browsing Maintal’s website and their recipes, there are several great ideas out there, but some of them seem like they may be time-consuming and/or may need some additional prep work. And there’s the whole conversion of the ingredient lists into amounts that I can appropriately measure! But I’ll keep looking in there to find something we can whip up with their products!

Oh! And what about this rosehip I introduced to you all? Well, I did a little research and this is what I found out:

A rose hip is the fruit of a rose. Also known as rose haw or rose hep. The wild dog rose is the type of rose most often cultivated for their hips. This plant grows up to ten feet tall and bears a white, very fragrant flower. Once the flower has bloomed, and all the petals have fallen off, the hip is picked and used in a variety of preparations.
-Information From Herbwisdom.com

There are many health benefits from rosehip as well. Rosehip can be beneficial to aid the immune system, act as a diuretic and/or laxative, it has antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties and has been known to be helpful with skin ailments. According to Herbwisdom.com, rosehips contain 50% more vitamin C than oranges! No wonder it’s used as an immune booster! I may need to enjoy more rosehip in the form of fruit spread and tea! I never knew this! That’s pretty neat!

 

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So next time you’re at the store and you see Maintal products, look and see if they have rosehip fruit spread! Now that I know some of the potential health benefits of rosehip, I am thinking I may be changing what I put on my toast, bagels or English muffins! As you can see from some of the photos where I hold the fruit spread with the knife, it’s very smooth and luxurious as it leaves the jar. It sounds really weird, I don’t have a better way to describe it, but it spreads so well and the consistency is wonderful. This fruit spread is worthy of Nibble, Nibble!