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20 Nov

Endless Uses for the Many Varieties of Mushrooms

Mushrooms: The Fungi That is Loved Around the World

Mushrooms: The King of Fungi

Although most people treat mushrooms as vegetables, they are part of the fungi family, which means they don’t need soil or light to grow. Mushrooms, unlike fruits and vegetables, do not contain chlorophyll and so they do not photosynthesize. Mushrooms are just one of the many species of fungi that exist; however, because there are so many different species, they have been given their own kingdom: the Kingdom of Fungi.

The History of Mushrooms

Although undocumented, there is a good chance that mushrooms have been eaten for as long as there are people inhabiting the Earth. Before mushrooms were cultivated, they grew wild, and our ancestors ate mushrooms that they found in fields and forests. Historians have seen wild mushrooms on the menus of the Romans, Aztecs, and Egyptians, who considered mushrooms to be the “food of the Gods.”

The shift from edible wild mushrooms to cultivated mushrooms began in the middle of the seventeenth century, when a French melon grower accidentally poured water, used to wash wild mushrooms, over some melons discarded in a field. He soon noticed that many mushrooms sprouted in the spot, launching the era of cultivated mushrooms. The mushroom was named the “champignon de Paris,” which has since become the most common and versatile mushroom in the world.

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18 Nov

Discover the Health Values and Uses of Dates

Dates: Healthful and Sweet Fruit

Dates: Sweet and Luscious Fruit

Dates – the dried yet succulent morsels of amber-brown deliciousness that, at the same time, are healthy and satisfy our craving for sweetness – are the fruit of a tree known as the date palm. Dates are among the oldest cultivated fruits in the world, first thriving in the Middle East and now grown all over the globe. There are over 2,000 varieties of dates, but the medjool date is the most common type of dates grown in the United States.

Dates: Background

The name “date” is derived from the Greek word daktylos, which means finger, probably because dates are more or less shaped like the fingers of the hand. In the Middle East and Northern Africa, dates have been grown for thousands of years as a profitable agricultural product. (The date palm is the national symbol of both Israel and Saudi Arabia.) Date palms are found in abundance in the desert (one of the few crops that grow in such arid, hot, and challenging conditions) and many parts of the Middle East would be uninhabitable were it not for this type of tree.

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23 Oct

Learn All About Kombucha and Its Amazing Health Benefits

Kombucha is Set to Become the Hottest Drink Trend

Kombucha

If 2017 was the year of fermented foods, 2018 is turning out to be the year of kombucha. While fermented foods, such as kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut, tempeh and kefir, are considered gut-friendly and healthful, kombucha can be viewed as the ultimate fermented drink. Read on to discover everything you always wanted to know about kombucha – even if you never heard of it before.

Kom What?

Kombucha is an ancient fermented drink, sometimes referred to as mushroom tea. It has a mushroom color, tan and cloudy, with bits of something… well, weird, floating in it. That’s the “scoby,” and if anything will turn you off to kombucha before you even try it, it’s that. Once you get past the unattractive look of the scoby, you’ll find that kombucha is a sweet and tangy drink with a bit of fizz – a drink that is worth your while getting to know.

Kombucha, kimchi, and other fermented foods have long been part of diets in various parts of the world, but only now are they appearing in the West as the food of the hour. Kombucha is tea that has been fermented from 1 to 3 weeks; it consists of black tea and sugar (from various sources, including cane sugar, fruit or honey) and it is considered to be one of the most effective probiotic drinks out there. It contains an army of bacteria and yeast that are responsible for initiating the fermentation process once it is combined with sugar. The word “kombucha” means “kelp tea” in Japanese, though in Japan itself kombucha is a mild tea (rather than a fizzy, fermented beverage.) Some people call kombucha “booch,” and that’s the term that’s been catching on with those in the know.

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29 Aug

Discover the Wondrous Buddha Bowl and Start Getting Healthy

Buddha Bowls: The One-Dish Wholesome Meal

Buddha Bowls

Buddha bowls, sometimes referred to as hippie bowls, are hearty – and heart-friendly – all-in-one dishes made of a variety of greens, raw or roasted vegetables, a serving of protein, and a healthy grain like quinoa or brown rice. They are often topped with crunchy nuts or seeds and layered with some kind of sauce or dressing for added flavor and texture. There is plenty of room for improvisation when it comes to Buddha bowls but the basic formula stays pretty much the same. It’s a meal-in-a bowl dish that is filled with vitamins and nutrients, and it has become one of the biggest trends of the year.

Who Launched the Buddha Bowl?

The consensus among Buddha bowl aficionados is that their first mention was in the cookbook, Meatless, a collection of vegetarian recipes published in 2013 by Martha Stewart. In the book, Buddha bowls are described as “plant-based bowls of glory” (and the bowls are still sometimes referred to as glory bowls). As the editor of Meatless says, “With whole grains, plant proteins, and vegetables, this is the ideal vegan one-bowl dish.” In other words, the original Buddha bowl was vegan but the book goes on to explain that the recipe is “… more of a general formula than a hard-and-fast recipe, since you can swap out different ingredients for variety and make use of whatever you have on hand.”

Why Are They Called Buddha Bowls?

The book doesn’t go so far as to label these grain-and-veggie dishes Buddha bowls, so the Epicurious website asked Dan Zigmond and Tara Cottrell, the authors of Buddha’s Diet: The Ancient Art of Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind, to explain the origin of the name. “Food for Buddha was very low-key,” said Cottrell. Or, as she explained, Buddha didn’t want food to “take over our whole life.” In addition, Buddha did eat from a bowl, which may have led to today’s use of the term. “Buddha woke up before dawn every morning and carried his bowl through the roads or paths wherever he was staying. Local people would place food in the bowl as a donation, and at the end he would eat whatever he had been given.” That, apparently, was the very first (and most authentic) Buddha Bowl: “A big bowl of whatever food the villagers had available and could afford to share.”

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15 Aug

Enjoy Nutrient-Packed Avocados in Many Shapes and Forms

Avocados: Versatile and Healthful Superfood

All About Avocados

Let’s clear something up right away – contrary to popular belief, the avocado is a fruit. The green color of avocados, and their lack of sweetness, can trick you into thinking they’re vegetables; however, not only is an avocado a fruit, it’s a berry. Call it what you may, however, avocados are incredibly healthy and wonderfully versatile and, if you’re unfamiliar with this amazing fruit, it’s time to be introduced.

History of Avocados

Archaeologists have found evidence of wild-avocado consumption in central Mexico going back almost 10,000 years in central Mexico, and it is believed that people began cultivating avocados about 5,000 years ago. Fifteenth-century Spanish navigator Martin Fernandez De Encisco set out on his quest to discover the “New World,” and came upon a fruit in the port town of Yaharo, Mexico, that, he wrote, “looks like an orange but turns yellowish when it is ready to be eaten.” He went on to explain the wonderful flavor of the fruit, which tastes “like butter” and is “so good and pleasing to the palate.” Later, Spanish historian Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo discovered the fruit in the northern part of South America. He identified the avocado tree as a variation of a pear tree in Spain and said that the fruit, “is the color and shape of pears, and the rind somewhat thicker, but softer, and in the center of the fruit is a seed like a peeled chestnut.” He goes on to say that between the peel and the pit “is the part which is eaten, and is a paste very similar to butter and … of good taste.”

Neither Encisco nor Oviedo named the fruit, leaving that to explorer Pedro de Cieza de Leon who referred to it as “aguacate” in his mid-16th century writings and said that the fruit was widely used by the people from the Inca civilization. The Spanish conquistadors eventually brought avocados to Europe and sold them to other countries including England. However, the name avocado appeared for the first time in naturalist Sir Hans Sloane’s catalog of Jamaican plants, which was published in 1696. He described the tree and called it, “the avocado or alligator pear-tree, which grows in gardens and fields throughout Jamaica.”

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1 Aug

Learn About the History and Nutritional Value of Cinnamon

Cinnamon: Loaded with Flavor and Health Benefits

The Wonders of Cinnamon

Cinnamon is an ancient spice that is widely used in modern times due to its amazing flavor. Today, cinnamon is one of the world’s most popular spices, sprinkled on lattes; indispensable at Thanksgiving; and awesome on French toast. Much like salt, cinnamon is an ingredient that, while often taken for granted, adds depth of flavor, inviting warmth, and multi-faceted dimension to our food. Cinnamon has a long history and an abundance of uses. Let’s learn more.

Cinnamon Basics

The website, Cinnamon Vogue, is a one-stop shop for information about the spice. The site explains that the cinnamon tree is a tropical evergreen, the parts of which can be broken down and used for an assortment of purposes. The bark from the tree can be rolled into sticks that can be used in stick form or ground into cinnamon powder – the most widely used form of cinnamon. The leaves of the cinnamon tree can be steamed and distilled into oil, and the bark can be further broken down into chips (to throw into a fireplace, for instance).

All cinnamon trees – and there are a number of species – are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the Lauraceae family, although not all of the species are grown commercially. Cinnamomum verum is sometimes referred to as “true cinnamon” (more on that controversy later), but most internationally produced cinnamon is called “cassia.” The world’s supply of cinnamon is largely provided by Indonesia and China, which together produce about 75% of the global supply of the spice.

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26 Jul

An Amuse-Bouche is a Tasty Way to Welcome Guests to Your Home or Restaurant

Amuse-Bouche: Entertain Guests with a Bite-Sized Surprise

Amuse-Bouche: Current Culinary Phenomenon

In upscale restaurants around the world – and, nowadays, at home-cooked dinner parties – the amuse-bouche is having a moment. Once the mainstay of French chefs alone, these bite-size hors d’oeuvres aren’t just reserved for fancy restaurants anymore. These tiny bites served just before a meal are a clever way for chefs and amateur cooks alike to show off their skills, welcome their guests, and give a small peek into what is about to come.

Not Just for the French

Amuse-bouche (pronounced amuse boosh), means “to amuse the mouth” in French, and that is exactly what restaurant chefs and home cooks who serve these little bundles of culinary joy are setting out to do. The goal is to entertain guests with a beautiful, bite-size surprise that delights almost all the senses. Amuse-bouches are not to be confused with palate cleansers (also known as intermezzo) as these are served between courses, while amuse-bouches are classically offered before the meal begins to prepare guests for what comes next and to tantalize and stimulate the taste buds.

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18 Jul

Discover the Health Values and History of Chocolate

Fill Your Senses with Fabulous Chocolate

Wonderful, Delicious, Healthy Chocolate

Chocolate is the ultimate comfort food: we reach for it in times of stress, it improves our mood when the going gets rough, and it is downright delicious under any circumstances. Amazingly, after years of getting a bad rap, as unhealthy and high in sugar, chocolate is experiencing a renaissance of sorts and research now shows that high-quality chocolate, in moderation, is actually good for us. That’s a win-win situation for the chocoholics among us – which is pretty much everyone, right?

The History of Chocolate

In “A Brief History of Chocolate,” the Smithsonian Institute Magazine interviews Alexander Leaf, who runs Chocolate Tours of New York. As Leaf says, chocolate is “the best-known food that nobody knows anything about.” Etymologists trace the origin of the word “chocolate” to the Aztec word “xocoatl,” which was a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. Today, the term “cacao” is usually used to refer to the plant or its beans before processing, while the term “chocolate” refers to anything that is made from the beans.

Chocolate has been around for about 2,000 years, though some experts claim that it may be even older. Recently, anthropologists discovered cacao residue on pottery excavated in Honduras that could date back as far as 1400 B.C.! In pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered so valuable that they were used as currency. And the ancient Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical properties, using it in many rituals related to birth, marriage and death.

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12 Jul

Pulled Beef: A Slow-Cooked and Delicious Dinner Option

Pulled Beef Makes Any Meal a Party

Pulled Beef is the Current “Thing”

In restaurants and barbecue joints everywhere, pulled beef is having its moment. Also known as shredded beef, pulled beef is essentially slow-cooked meat, prepared over time in a mouth-watering sauce, which is then shredded into stringy deliciousness. Having pulled beef on hand means never having to wonder about tonight’s menu or how to feed a hungry crowd.

About Pulled Beef

Commonly referred to as shredded beef or pulled beef, this method of preparation involves slow and lengthy cooking of beef cuts to create individual strands of tender meat for various food dishes. A traditional way to prepare shredded beef is to cook the chuck or brisket cut of beef for a long period of time in a slow cooker or an oven in order to tenderize the meat and allow it to fall apart into narrow pieces of meat. After being cooked, the meat is then often mixed with seasoned sauces to be served on sandwich buns, in tacos or in burritos, over hummus, on a slider, or alone, as a main dish of tenderized beef.

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4 Jul

The Revival of the Nutrition-Packed Root Vegetable

Root Vegetables are Making a Comeback

The Root Vegetable Revival

Several factors are taking root vegetables out of the culinary (and metaphorical) cellar and onto plates everywhere. The trend among restaurants and caterers to use locally grown ingredients has spread to the home cook, as well, and many people are shopping in farmers’ markets for the freshest produce possible. And, as people make the shift from a supermarket state of mind to a local-market mentality, the root vegetable is making a comeback.

Nutritious, Delicious Root Vegetables

Root vegetables, particularly potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes, have long been considered staples, albeit neither glamorous nor exciting. Now, however, retro is in and the lowly root vegetable has gone from staid and boring to hip and trendy. Root vegetables are literally the roots of a plant. Some root vegetables — carrots, radishes, beets and sweet potatoes — are familiar to just about everyone, while others, such as parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, kohlrabi, celery root, Jerusalem artichokes, and ginger, are a bit more esoteric.

Strictly speaking, a root vegetable is the underground, edible portion of a plant. Botanists make distinctions between “true roots” and “tuberous roots” and other non-roots that grow below ground such as “tubers” and “rhizomes” and “bulbs.” The root is one of six parts of a plant: the root, the stem, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits and the seeds. Plants anchor themselves into the ground with their roots, drawing moisture and nutrients through the roots into the above-ground stems and leaves. Many of these roots are inedible; however, root vegetables are the roots of certain plants that swell up to form an edible root.

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