Enrichment for Humans: Lemur Holiday Fruit Cake
Background: We love to celebrate at the DLC! Lemur technicians will usually create a special surprise for the lemurs in their care for a birthday celebration, or sometimes just for fun! Lemurs enjoy a lot of the same things that humans do – fruit, nuts, fruit jams and syrups, nut butters, and sometimes even spices to appeal to that keen sense of smell! We’ve created a special recipe for a holiday fruit cake that is both lemur and human friendly!
Serves: one family of humans, several families of lemurs
Ingredients:
1 cup sultanas
1 cup raisins
¾ cup dried apricots
7 dried figs
½ cup craisins
⅓ cup walnuts
1 cup almonds
juice of one, and the zest from half of a medium sized orange
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
*set aside any whole dried fruits, nuts, and other ingredients to decorate
Directions:
- In a food processor, chop almonds and walnuts
- Add dried fruit and chop
- Add remainder of ingredients (set aside whole fruits to mix in as desired) and blend into dough
- Mix in any whole chunks of fruit, nuts, cherries, or other favorites
- Press mixture into cake pan and decorate!
- When mixture is set, cut and enjoy! (Or eat it with your hands, we won’t judge!)
