Fibre February

Fibre February is a time following the excesses of the festive season to encourage people to increase their fibre intake and to eat more sensibly during the first quarter. Many delicious foods are high in fibre and high in G.I. (glycaemic index). We have several fibre-rich recipes below to help you fall nicely into Fibre February, some ingredients may surprise you as to how high in fibre they are, so let’s start with my favourite fruit, the pear.

Whilst I find a pear to be juicy, tasty and nutritious, it is also one of the best fruit sources of fibre with a fabulous fibre content of 5.5g in a medium-sized pear.  You can really enjoy this Ginger & Pear Ring either hot with custard or cold with ice cream and keep your fibre intake up.

Then we have apples, which are relatively high with 4.4 g in a medium-sized apple.  I find this to be a suitable fibre provider as the skin of the apple is used in these clever looking Cinnamon Apple Cupcakes, created with our Madeira cake mix, apples, apple pie filling and a little cinammon you could also add crystalised ginger or pineapple pieces to the mix for a special twist.

With a higher fibre count than I thought are raspberries!  Highly flavoured and loaded with vitamin C they offer 6.5g per 100g.  It makes one of my favourite desserts very desirable indeed – I love this Raspberry Chocolate Crumble recipe calling for 350g of fresh raspberries with a crumble topping of 100g of oats.  Made with our Chocolate Fudge mix, this is a delightful recipe that I have used many times over the years.

Bananas have a fibre content of 3.1 grams in a medium-sized banana – this recipe here calls for 2 ripe bananas & has walnuts and delicious dates also combined in this beautiful Banana, Date & Walnut cake recipe.  A great cake for on the go.

Beetroot has around 2.8g per 100 grams.  I expected it to be higher due to its fibrous flavour and texture.  It is not amongst the most popular of vegetables but one way of really enjoying it is in these Cherry Chocolate Beetroot Cakes – again made with our Chocolate Fudge mix.

A generous handful of blackberries contains about 8g, twice the amount of fibre found in two Shredded Wheat, counting towards the recommended 25g of fibre recommended per day.  The best excuse to enjoy our Apple & Blackberry Kuchen here, made with our Ciabatta bread mix.

Kidney Beans are a great fibre provider offering 6.4g of fibre per 100 grams.  They absorb flavours fantastically and one of my favourite uses is in this Mexican Chilli Beef Bites recipe created with our Premium White bread mix.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised with the fibre properties of Popcorn with 14.5g per 100 grammes! If you really wish to increase your fibre intake, popcorn is one of the best snacks to enjoy. Air-popped popcorn is very high in fiber, calorie for calorie. However, if you add a lot of fat, then the fiber-calorie ratio will significantly reduce.  These popcorn topped cupcakes were made with our Toffee cake mix.

Still on the fibre footpath here for #FibreFebruary and it’s Almonds that seem to be high in many nutrients. They also have a fabulous fibre content of 12.5g per 100g and couple this with a serving cup of dried apricots at 3.3g’s and you are onto a winner with this recipe idea for our Almond & Apricot Ring.

Deb the Bread