Bee - Coconut Oil: Natures Perfect Ingredient

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Sarah Lavelle COMMISSIONING EDITOR Lisa Pendreigh COPY EDITOR Sally Somers CREATIVE DIRECTOR Helen Lewis ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN Katherine Keeble ASSISTANT DESIGNER Emily Lapworth PHOTOGRAPHER Ria Osborne FOOD STYLIST Emily Jonzen PROPS STYLIST Holly Bruce PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Vincent Smith PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Emily Noto First published in 2015 by Quadrille Publishing Limited Text 2015 Lucy Bee Ltd Photography 2015 Ria Osborne Design and layout 2015 Quadrille Publishing Ltd Quadrille is an imprint of Hardie Grant www.hardiegrant.com.au Quadrille Publishing Ltd Pentagon House 5254 Southwark Street London SE1 1UN www.quadrille.co.uk The rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. eISBN: 978 1 84949 767 1 COCONUT OIL:
NATURES PERFECT INGREDIENT Thank you for picking up my first ever cookbook. I hope that as you flick through and read this book, youll feel inspired by my selection of favourite family recipes and go-to healthy foods, all chosen to get everyones mouths watering.

When I first sat down to write this book, I spent hours trawling through my recipes so that I could bring you a collection of the most delicious yet healthy foods imaginable. Ive included extra preparation or cooking tips wherever I can, with key allergy advice for each recipe. On you will find an outline of the nutritional and health benefits of the ingredients I use most often. I hope that, with this book as a guide and a jar of coconut oil to hand, youll be able to transform your eating regime. However busy your week gets, with these recipes youll always be able to find enough time to eat healthily. One of the questions I am always being asked is how Lucy Bee coconut oil came to be.

Well, the story behind us is quite simple, really our approach is all about eating unprocessed, fresh, organic foods, where possible. This means our food is as close to nature as we can make it. Ive spent my life having to scan labels and check ingredients. I was diagnosed as coeliac when I was just 18 months old, and back then there were hardly any pre-prepared gluten-free foods on the shelves. Right from my diagnosis, my parents decided that as a family we should all eat the same food, which meant most of our food was cooked from scratch. Years later, we see this as a blessing in disguise because it means weve always eaten healthy, nutritious meals.

Throughout our healthy journey, our vegetable patch has proven to be invaluable, and were fortunate enough to have a seemingly endless supply of free-range organic eggs from our six chickens. Along the way, my parents also taught me how to become a master at adapting recipes. I learned how to make pretty much anything gluten-free, while keeping it tasty, nutritious and appealing to the eye. The kitchen is the heart of our home, and I love nothing more than getting together with friends or family to share stories of our week over a delicious meal. I hope that this book will encourage you to do the same after all, food is there to be enjoyed. THE KITCHEN IS THE HEART OF OUR HOME.

FOOD IS THERE TO BE ENJOYED. SO, HOW DID WE DISCOVER THE WONDER THAT IS LUCY BEE COCONUT OIL? Well, believe it or not, it all began with a humble egg An old family friend, Indra, sent some coconut oil and the book The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife to us, all the way from Hong Kong. Indra had been raving about this incredible oil and, after reading Bruces book, we soon realised that it was the missing piece in our jigsaw finally, wed found a healthy oil for cooking. But how does the egg fit in, I hear you ask? Well, the first thing my mum ever cooked with our new jar of coconut oil was a fried egg. As she dished us up her little experiment, she waited for one of the family to complain about how our eggs tasted. However, I didnt even notice, and nor did my dad, sister and brother.

And so began our family journey of cooking with coconut oil. This was back in 2007 when unrefined coconut oil was almost unheard of and even more difficult and expensive to buy than it is now. Undeterred, we were passionate about sharing our newfound wonder cooking product with the world, so my dad set about finding ways of importing quality coconut oil at an affordable price. Eventually, Lucy Bee Ltd was founded and we began our quest to source the very best extra virgin, organic, raw coconut oil on the planet. Coconut oils taste different depending on the raw materials and extraction methods used, as well as the country that the coconut trees are grown in a bit like wines, really. We not only wanted our coconut oil be the best for quality, taste and price, but it also had to be a Fair Trade certified product, too.

After all, we thought it was only right that the lives of the farmers and workers who produce our oil should be improved, as generally coconuts are grown in underprivileged areas. Our choice of oil also had to be as natural as possible to maintain maximum nutritional benefits. So it was (and remains to this day) a very conscious decision that Lucy Bee coconut oil should be Fair Trade, extra virgin, raw and organic. WHY ARE THE FATS IN COCONUT OIL GOOD FOR US? For this part, I need to put on my science hat, so try not to switch off! As a nation, were starting to realise more and more that sugars are our enemy in the obesity crisis, not fats. We need fats for fuel and they are crucial for our health, although its important that we eat the right kinds to really maximise the efficiency of our body. Coconut oil is a saturated fat, made up of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs).

All fats are made up of chains, and the length of the chain just determines how the body breaks it down and uses it. The body deals with medium-chain saturated fats incredibly efficiently, and theres a wealth of research to show just how easily MCFAs are digested, metabolised and converted to ketones. Coconut oil also happens to be rich in lauric acid (in fact, its around 48% lauric acid), also found in breast milk and full of health-boosting qualities. It gets turned into monolaurin, which is both antiviral and antibacterial. Finally, as a stable fat, coconut oil doesnt change its properties when heated, which makes it perfect for frying or roasting foods. AS A STABLE FAT, COCONUT OIL DOESNT CHANGE ITS PROPERTIES WHEN HEATED.

So, now youve heard all the good stuff, where do you start? And how much coconut oil should you be eating? Well, there isnt a set amount that you should eat each day, although I would say to aim for between 1 and 3 tablespoons used to replace existing processed oils as with everything in life, balance is the key. WHAT EXACTLY IS COCONUT OIL? It may seem obvious, but coconut oil is extracted from coconut flesh, which is known as the coconut kernel. However, there are different types of coconut oil refined and unrefined and its worth knowing the difference if, like me, you prefer to eat natural foods. Refined coconut oil will be heavily processed, although it makes up about 90% of the coconut oil on the world market. Unrefined oils, like our Lucy Bee, are natural, unprocessed and extracted from a more expensive raw material. The processed version has to be heavily refined to make it fit for human consumption.