I have to tell you I am not a big fan of raisins in something. Raisins by themselves, in moderation, are perfectly fine, but I find oatmeal raisin muffins or raisin bran muffins disconcerting. There you are, eating a perfectly reasonable muffin when all of a sudden you hit a pocket of moist, chewy supersweetness. The contrast in textures and flavours in this particular combination disturbs me.
Glossette Raisins are simply gross. Maybe I should call them Grossette Raisins from now on. They are gaggingly oversweet. (Look, Glossette, don’t sue me, all right? The peanut ones are always gone first. I’m only saying what most people think.)
I have never been able to even sample a butter tart because the sight of all those raisins in some kind of sticky, sugary syrup, congealed in a cup of pastry, just makes my salivary glands hide at the back of my throat. I realize that this is not normal. But don’t bug me about it – it just means more butter tarts for you.
There are a few things in which I find raisins acceptable, if not even desirable. Granola, certainly, and oatmeal cookies absolutely. (I think both are chewy enough that there is less contrast between textures.) Raisins in trail mix are pretty good, especially if you have peanuts to balance out the sweetness, but I still feel that raisins are the lowly second cousin of the dried cherry, which delivers some sweetness but with a dose of tartness. Delicious!
But truly, raisins were created for raisin bread. Don’t ask me how raisin bread gets a free ride on the texture contrast rule, it just does. Raisins add just enough sweetness to bread that the whole thing becomes just a bit of a treat. But until recently, I thought raisin bread could only be bad for you, with all that white flour and the thin layer of sticky syrup across the top of the loaf. That is, until I found muesli bread.
Muesli bread, in this instance produced by Stonemill Bread, has organic whole flour, honey, flax seeds, cracked soy, rolled oats, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds – and raisins. The last two nights, after working out at the gym, I have celebrated my healthy lifestyle with a glass of V8 and some muesli bread, toasted and with a thin layer of peanut butter. Oh. My. God. Sooo good. Sex-on-a-plate good. (You may at this point, with a high degree of validity, tell me that I need to date more, but I stand by my statement. Also, I figure if you’ve read this much of a post about raisins, you might not be in such a great position yourself to give such advice. LOL)
So where was I? Oh yes – muesli bread is good, for the body, for your conscience, and for your taste buds. Seriously, folks, if you think you have to give up delicious food in order to be healthy or a vegetarian, think again. Try it out for yourself if you don't believe me. :)
Next post: popcorn!
