Pineapple Tree tomato Milkshake with Date Syrup

One of the most infuriating things about Nairobi is how much traffic we have to endure day after day. It is either there is not traffic or you are stuck in a hell hole of none moving vehicles. But one person’s nightmare is another persons dream!!! While we hate the snarl up, most hawkers make the best of the situation, woo potential customers and try to sell as much of their merchendize as they can. And when luck is on your side, you too can be able to make some pretty dope purchases; which for me, I always gravitate towards fresh produce. After brunch with my friends this past Saturday and being stuck in traffic for about 45 min, the only nice thing I can say about that situation is that I managed to get some really fresh maize, the sweetest sweet bananas, new sunglasses and a great portion of tree tomatoes. I got some for my mum as well since she loves them and majority of the ones I got for myself went into the milkshake I am sharing with you today!

Peep the video here:

PREP TIME:  2 HRS   MAKE TIME:         SERVES: 2

Ingredients

1 cup of pineapples

1 cup of tree tomato

2 scoops of vanilla icecream

1/2 a teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary

1/2 a cup of dates

1/2 a cup of water

Method

In a small bowl, add the dated and soak them in some water until just covered for about two hours or overnight.

Once the dates have softened, let them simmer for about 15 minutes together with the rosemary. This allows the flavor of the rosemary to  seep into the sweet dates and properly infuse and add a dimension of complexity. You can use literally any herb, I just had rosemary at hand. Sieve this and return the resultant liquid into the sufuria and simmer on low heat until thickened. Set aside.

Make sure you watch the video as well incase something may not be clear.

Not only is this perfect for  my milkshake, date syrup can be the perfect substitute for those artificially sweetened pancake syrups. Dates are inherently sweet and since you are making yours at home, you know exactly what is going in it. Next, let’s go into our milkshake.

I have since gotten a soft spot for tree tomatoes. Remember, tree tomatoes are not regular tomatoes. They are completely different in shape, taste and appearance.

In your blender, add the ice-cream, the pineapple and tree tomato and blend until completely combined. I was totally mesmerized by the berry color the milkshake burst into once the blender got going as this video shows!!! So beautiful!

Because the tree tomatoes are not particularly sweet, like mangoes are for example, they made the perfect fruit to pair together with the date syrup. You can use any fruit combination you love. Just make sure you hit balance as per your preferences. I also did not add any sugar since the icecream introduced sweetness that I felt was suffifcient for me.

Laddle this into your glass. Once half way, add the date syrup, I added mine at the top only this time round. Fill to the top, add some fresh fruit , finely chopped and drizzle more date syrup on top.

Serve. Totally out of the box in the typical Kaluhi way!!! Fruity, yet not too offensively sweet, and perfect treat to keep you company now that Nairobi is warm. If you love tree tomato juice, you will love this milkshake. Be sure to also check out this lime tree tomato sauce I made for these pancakes, and also this amazingly rich tree tomato jam. 

I will definitely be making this date syrup in larger batches and reserving some to accompany my pancakes and crepes!

Once you are done trying this, give my salted caramel banana milkshake a go!

xx

Get your downloadable recipe here :))

All content and images are copyright protected by

Do not copy in part or whole without giving due credit.