To have a balanced diet or metabolism one must eat some Fruits. I have yet to meet someone who disliked all Fruits. May be if shuch a person did exist, that precise individual is now extinct. For the precise reason that Fruits do provide a wide range of Vitamins, Nutriants and Minerals to our bodies to function properly.

One example are Citrus Fruits packed full of Vitamin C, like the Orange.

Oranges are so useful to give us a boost of Vitamin C. This probably why having a good glass of Orange Juice in the morning with one's Breakfast is almost an institution. 

There is also the good old expression that 'An Apple a day keeps the Doctor at bay'. The reason is because Fruits are good for you. Also Doctors in general recommand that we do have a healthy diet by eating the colour of the Rainbow. It is easily done with Fruits.

There are multiple Fruits out there for us to follow that advice fairly easily.

Let us start with Indigo or Purple: The Plum.

The Plum is deliciously sweet and juicy. Tucking into one is refreshing to say the least. I had the chance in one of the properties I lived in, to have a garden with a bountiful Plum tree which was a joy to watch Season by Season. I was making lots of Jams and Chutneys with the Plums. This method of preserving Fruits makes them last for an entire cold Season. It is handy but also comforting to have a nice Home Made Jam. When I left for my House I live in now, the fate of that tree was unfortunate because the Landlord although he did buy the house with that tree in the garden decided to cut it down to concrete the entire Garden over. To be honest with you what happened in that London Garden was a crying shame. The man had Crocus, Daffodils, Lily of the Valley, Raspberry, Strawberries and the Plum tree. I told him that it was a huge mistake what he wanted to do and he replied that the tree staid that long alive because I was making Jams with the Plums which his Mother did enjoy. But with me outside of that property, and as he was not inclined to do Jam for his Mother, the tree had to go and the garden to be a concrete patio all the way through for his Wife and his Mother to not pester him to mown the grass... Sometimes it is just a go figure out the sensitivity of one's logistic. 

 I still do make my Plum and Cinnamon Jam at the end of every Summer.

Now we arrive at Blue: Blueberries. Of course I do like my Blueberries for I grow three varieties in my Garden. This was my Logistic to enjoy them by planting the cultivars Duke, Elliot and Bluecrop. I had all the flowers, year upon year, saw the Fruits growing year upon year, did let them to ripen on the bush year upon year and on the very day I knew they were ripe and ready to be collected I was always piped to the line by my Blackbird. He scooped it all at dawn so at ten in the morning I didn't even stand a chance to have my harvest of 'Bluebs'. Like me the bird was waiting patiently in his tree for the right/ripe moment, like me he knew the When.

My Black Bird, I love hearing his early morning Sing Song. As we feed the Birds and as we know he likes Blueberries, he does get a special treatment when it is not the Blueberry Season, we are getting him his own little punnet of them with our shopping every week.

So although I do grow my Blueberries I give them to the Birds to enjoy and buy my own when needed. With Blueberries my temptaption is always to make my Home Made Blueberry Muffins. But the same is usually happening here, I get piped to the line by my Man, I am lucky if I get one or two Muffins from a batch I made.

However one has to forgive her Man, when he was worried all night because of a Seizure I had the evening before my 45th Birthday. I spent the night in hospital. He brought me back home from hospital  around three-ish in the afternoon of my Birthday and I barely took my coat off when he came to my desk and presented to me my Birthday Cake: A Blueberry Muffin. He knew he couldn't cook but he also knew I couldn't eat lots that day, and he was desperately waiting for the call that I could go home again. He got the Blueberry Muffin on the way to get me. It was so tender and bespoke as a gesture that it brought tears to my eyes. 

So I made it back home for my Birthday to that sweet welcome. It is nice and comforting to know when someone knows you by heart. I must say that when I realised that my batches of Blueberry Muffins were always gone very fast, I decided to make Cake instead with Blueberries, less easily portable but still enjoyable for all...

  Blueberry and Pear Upside Down Cake. A tea time treat usually very demanded in this House. One which I have time to enjoy as well as the others.

We will conclude here that as much as Blue is one of my favorite Colours so is the Blueberry one of my favourite Fruits. 

Ripe Blueberries from my Garden.

Then if we follow the colour scheme of a good diet advised by Doctors, we come to Green and then I will say: Pear. Of all the Pears I do like the Conference one the most. When you eat one it feels like your teeth are sinking into sweet soft Butter. Pears are a versatile Fruit as per say. You can eat them just like that, add them in a Fruit Salad, Poach them to a delicious Dessert, add them to a Chutney, make beautiful Cakes with Pears and/ or Juice them up.

 Conference Pears are ideal to cook with. However drizzle them with Lemon Juice for them to not loose their colour as you deal with them. Just a little tip.

From all of those methods above I tend to eat a juicy Pear just like that by preference. The Cake or Tart Tatin with Pears is a close second. Then I do like to finish a Dinner with Guests with a Poached Pear Dessert. It is a very classic one, yet which is decadently Chic however that leaves you with the freedom to interprete it the way you want: which Alcohol to use or Juice, which decoration or Spices to compliment that dessert... Which Texture to add for a bit of a bite. The little Crunch which says this is seriously good. (I am thinking Hazelnuts, Pistachios, chopped Pecan Nuts...)

Poached Pears with Greek Yogurt, Mint and chopped Pistachios.

For Yellow I will go straight to Banana. Soft, and full of Vitamins, I will share a little anecdote with you all. It happened during the time when I can't tell it for myself but it was told to me by my Mother, my Father and one of my Aunties. 

Bananas. 

When I was a year and a half I stopped eating suddenly. The Family Doctor called it a psychological trauma because my brother was born, so the other child aka 'Me' will not feel wanted any longer, hence deprives herself nutrition to allow more nutrition for the new child. Anyhow, for all his anthropological expertise he told my mum to try anything, mashed up into a purée and to see what I could eat and would not eat...

Nothing could be eaten by me but the humble Banana. The Doctor was happy by my choice and ruled that with Bananas if I can only eat that, I will stay alive. There were enough Vitamins in a Banana and all sorts of Nutrients to keep someone fit. It lasted two to three weeks until I returned to eating normally again. My Dad refered it that I was saved by a Banana. Strangely, ever since I am not very fond of Bananas. Let's just say it is not my favourite fruit. However I do cook with them very often.

Banana and Walnut Loaf Cake. I do another version of it with Chocolate, and a little Rum.

Passing to Orange, I will go to one of my favourite Fruits which is Apricots. My Paternal Grand Parents which I didn't see very often because we lived fairly far from them had a Garden. I would say it was a very wild affair with knee high ferns, grass snakes and brambles. But there were about three or four trees there. One was a Walnut tree, the other an Almond one, an Olive tree and last but not least an Apricot tree. I did relish on the Apricots...

Apricots. They do grow more in South of France more than in the North, it has to be said.

With their velvety skin and a sweet firm but tender flesh, I was enamoured by that fruit from the get go. I like them just like that, I could eat an entire punnet on my own very happily. However their season is not very long, unfortunatly. To get my fix of Apricots the best thing to do was to make Jam. I love the traditional Apricot Jam with Almond Kernels within it.

Home Made Apricot Jam with Almonds. This is my special treat. Tip: to have a glistening Glaze upon a Pastry, Cake or Tart,  mix a little Apricot Jam with a drop of Water, and brush it all over the Pastry, Cake or Tart you want to shine in the daylight.

For Red I will go straight to Strawberries. When I go in my Garden and see my first Strawberry flowers I do know that the warm days are on their way, right upon our doorsteps. We do grow a fair few varieties of Strawberries even a very small Wild one which is white called 'Snow White'. To be honest with you all we don't fuss about our Strawberries too much, we just eat them. A bit of Sugar, a bit of Cream and the Strawberry is gone...

Wild Forest Strawberries from the Garden. I can tell you that as soon as we see one it is gone in the gob.

To finish off our Rainbow trip of the seven colours being eaten with just Fruits, some of my favourite Fruits, I will say find your own Palette, be the Artist of your personal Palate.

Snow White Wild Forest Strawberries from the Garden. They do have a talking point appeal when we finish a Dinner upon a Dessert with them.