Gothic Food Trends: Pune’s Ga Ga On Activated Charcoal Now

 

While the world goes crazy over Candy floss smoothies and Rainbow cake with sparkles; Pune eateries embrace foods a shade darker.

Activated charcoal is today a growing trend globally, and it is no surprise that this ingredient has been welcomed heartily by Pune’s gourmet audience.

The most intriguing fact remains that Activated charcoal has no distinct taste. Hence its use in a variety of foods about town has baffled foodies.

We decided to check with City foodies and bloggers on their experiences with this whacky ingredient..

 

Activated Charcoal Hummus

If you thought you’d heard the last of activated charcoal with your toothpaste, then think again. Charcoal hummus is a popular culinary delight about town.

“I was invited to a food tasting at Sante Spa Cuisine recently and the first appetizer we savoured was Activated Charcoal Hummus. What intrigued me was the absence of pita bread. We were presented with multi-grain khakra to dunk into the queer looking dark hummus. It tasted different, but delightful!” beams Manasi Asrani who admits to replicating the dish at home as a Halloween party treat.

Black Ice Cream

A couple of city eateries offer Activated Charcoal ice-cream that looks stunning in black but fails to impress these foodies-

“If you’re looking for a gothic, dark and antiquated look, then by all means order it. But it fails to back up its striking look with a great flavour,” says Meher Jhangiani who tried the Activated Charcoal ice-cream at Sante Spa Cuisine. “It has a high salinity, quite akin to a palate cleaner served between courses. Hence you shouldn’t order it expecting a sinful dessert.

Shubham Goyal opines, “At Ice Craft, you can’t really taste the activated charcoal at all as it is lightly imbibed into chocolate ice cream. The rolls are served in a cup and generously drizzled with chocolate sauce and choco-chips, which further diminishes all traces of charcoal. So personally I believe it’s purely for your viewing pleasure.”

 

Activated Charcoal Bakes

“I’ve actually tried activated charcoal macarons in Nice that failed to impress. So I decided to try the flavour a different way with bread,” quips Ayushi Ghosh.

“The charred coconut husk does bring out an innately salty flavour, so I decided to bake with it and skip the salt.

Burger buns were what I tried for the first time and they were a huge hit at Sunday brunch. My husband and son especially loved the dark buns as a great contrast to the meaty patty with the yellow oozing cheesy goodness.

 

Activated Charcoal Lemonade

Bashir Wadhwani has sampled Activated Charcoal Lemonade at a local watering hole.

“Pitched to us as a health drink, we managed to gulp it down, but it isn’t something we’d order right off the bat,” he discloses. “However, if you’re looking to cut sugar from your diet you can opt for this as a mocktail alternative,” he clarifies.

 

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#All views expressed in this column are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.