LEMON!! LEMON!!!

 LEMONADE

It’s hard to find a better way to cool off on a sticky summer day than with a glass of ice-cold lemonade—and humans have felt that way for centuries. Lemons, which originated in Asia (India, northern Burma and China), had made their way to the Mediterranean coast and Egypt by the 12th century. Although it may have been drunk even earlier, the first written evidence of lemonade consumption comes from the writings of Persian poet Nasir-I-Khusraw. We also know from trade records that bottles of qatarzimat, lemon juice mixed with sugar, were commercially available and did a brisk trade in Cairo markets of the time. Thirteenth-century Arabic books on cooking provide recipes for lemon-syrup drinks, and it is believed even the Mongols enjoyed their lemonade, albeit an alcoholic version. By the mid-1600s, the taste for lemonade had spread to Europe, and street-side limonadiers sold cups of a honey-sweetened version of the drink to passing Parisians. By the 18th century, lemonade had immigrated along with hundreds of thousands of Europeans to America. During the Victorian era, lemonade became a popular alternative to booze among proponents of the alcohol-abstention movement on both sides of the pond.
Although lemonade’s basic ingredients—lemon juice, water and sugar—have remained the same for centuries, there have been some interesting additions to the beverage over the years, including milk and egg white. Using carbonated water in lieu of the flat stuff is one popular adaptation, especially in Europe, though American purists more often refer to this combination as lemon soda. But it’s the lemon flavor itself, it turns out, that’s a big part of what keeps us coming back for lemonade. Research has uncovered a scientific basis for our fondness for sour-tasting drinks, especially in hot weather. Drinks with sour flavors stimulate salivation, helping to alleviate the dry mouth feeling associated with thirst and dehydration. And, even better, the increased saliva production keeps up even after we’ve finished drinking—causing humans to associate these flavors with thirst quenching. Lemon juice, of course, has other health benefits as well: Due to its high levels of vitamin C, it has been used to treat scurvy in sailors for centuries.
We often think of lemonade as a summertime beverage, but lemon trees are actually evergreen, at least in the right climate, and they bloom and produce fruit all year. Although there are some 50 varieties of lemons, most of those consumed in the United States are of the Lisbon, Eureka or Bears varieties, which are so similar in appearance that they are often difficult to tell apart. A typical lemon tree can yield 500 to 600 pounds of lemons per year, and even at 5 to 6 lemons per cup of juice, that’s a whole lot of lemonade.
This summer, it’s easy to treat yourself to a historically accurate glass of lemonade.

Soup & it's history

              

Food historians tell us the history of soup is probably as old as the history of cooking. The act of combining various ingredients in a large pot to create a nutritious, filling, easily digested, simple to make/serve food was inevitable. This made it the perfect choice for both sedentary and travelling cultures, rich and poor, healthy people and invalids. Soup (and stews, pottages, porridges, gruels, etc.) evolved according to local ingredients and tastes. New England chowder, Spanish gazpacho, Russian borscht, Italian minestrone, French onion, Chinese won ton and Campbell’s tomato…are all variations on the same theme.


             
Soups were easily digested and were prescribed for invalids since ancient times. The modern restaurant industry is said to be based on soup. Restoratifs (wheron the word “restaurant” comes) were the first items served in public restaurants in 18th century Paris. Broth [Pot-au-feu], bouillion, and consomme entered here. Classic French cuisine generated many of the soups we know today.
Advancements in science enabled soups to take many forms…portable, canned, dehydrated, microwave-ready. “Pocket soup” was carried by colonial travellers, as it could easily be reconstituted with a little hot water. Canned and dehydrated soups were available in the 19th century. These supplied the military, covered wagon trains, cowboy chuck wagons, and the home pantry. Advances in science also permitted the adjustment of nutrients to fit specific dietary needs (low salt, high fiber, etc.).
“Cereals, roasted to make them digestible and then ground and moistened or diluted with water to make a paste, either thick or thin, did not become gruel or porridge until people had the idea and means of cooking them. They may initially have been cooked by hot stones in receptacles of natural substances, and then in utensils which could go straight over the fire. Soup, in fact, derives from sop or sup, meaning the sliced of bread on which broth was poured. Until bread was invented, the only kind of thick soup was a concoction of grains, or of plants and meat cooked in a pot. Gruel or porridge was thus a basic food, a staple from of nourishment, and long held that place in Western countries, for in practice bread was a luxury eaten only in towns. A thick porridge of some kind is still the staple food of many peoples, and it is not always made of cereals, but may consist of other starch foods: legumes, chestnuts or root vegetables.”
“The etymological idea underlying the word soup is that of soaking. It goes back to an unrecorded post-classical Latin verb suppare soak’, which was borrowed from the same prehistoric German root (sup-) as produced in English sup and supper. From it was derived the noun suppa, which passed into Old French as soupe. This meant both piece of bread soaked in liquid’ and, by extension, broth poured onto bread.’ It was the latter strand of the meaning that entered English in the seventeenth century. Until the arrival of the term soup, such food had been termed broth or pottage. It was customarily served with the meat or vegetable dishes with which it had been made, and (as the dreivation of soup suggest) was poured over sops of bread or toast (the ancestors of modern croutons). But coincident with the introduction of the world soup, it began to be fashionable to serve the liquid broth on its own, and in the early eighteenth century it was assuming its present-day role as a first course.”



"Our modern word “soup” derives from the Old French word sope and soupe. The French word was used in England in the in the form of sop at the end of the Middle Ages and, fortunately, has remained in the English language in its original form and with much its original sense. We say “fortunately” because it is clear that nowadays a “sop” is not a “soup.” The distinction is important. When cooks in the Middle Ages spoke of “soup,” what they and the people for whom they were cooking really understood was a dish comprising primarily a piece of bread or toast soaked in a liquid or over which a liquid had been poured. The bread or toast was an important, even vital, part of this dish. It was a means by which a diner could counsume the liquid efficiently by sopping it up. The bread or toast was, in effect, an alternative to using a spoon…Soups were important in the medieval diet, but the dish that the cook prepared was often a sop that consisted of both nutritious liquid and the means to eat it. The meal at the end of a normal day was always the lighter of the two meals of the day, and the sop appears to have had an important place in it. In fact it was precisely because of the normal inclusion of a sop in this end-of-the-day meal that it became called “souper” or “supper.

SPICES

SPICES

 

A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark,berry,bud or other vegetable substance primarily used for flavoring, coloring or preserving food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are parts of leafy green plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Many spices have antimicrobial properties. This may explain why spices are more commonly used in warmer climates, which have more infectious diseases, and why the use of spices is prominent in meat, which is particularly susceptible to spoiling. Spices are sometimes used in medicine,  religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production, or as a vegetable.

A spice may be available in several forms: fresh, whole dried, or pre-ground dried. Generally, spices are dried. A whole dried spice has the longest shelf life, so it can be purchased and stored in larger amounts, making it cheaper on a per-serving basis. Some spices are not always available either fresh or whole, for example turmeric, and often must be purchased in ground form. Small seeds, such as fennel and mustard seeds, are often used both whole and in powder form.

Because they tend to have strong flavors and are used in small quantities, spices tend to add few calories to food, even though many spices, especially those made from seeds, contain high portions of fat, protein, and carbohydrate by weight. Many spices, however, can contribute significant portions of micro nutrients to the diet. For example, a teaspoon of paprika contains about 1133 IU of vitamin A, which is over 20% of the recommended daily allowance specified by the US FDA. When used in larger quantity, spices can also contribute a substantial amount of minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, and many others, to the diet.

Most herbs and spices have substantial antioxidant activity, owing primarily to phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids, which influence nutrition through many pathways, including affecting the absorption of other nutrients. One study found cumin and fresh ginger to be highest in antioxidant activity. These antioxidants can also act as natural preservatives, preventing or slowing the spoilage of food, leading to a higher nutritional content in stored food.

 

PASSION FRUIT

PASSION FRUIT

 

Passion fruit is a pep o , a type of berry, round to oval, either yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit is both eaten and juiced; passion fruit juice is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma.

 Passion fruit is widely grown in several countries of SOUTH AMERICA ,CENTRAL AMERICA, the CARIBBEAN, AFRICA, SOUTH ASIA, VIETNAM, ISRAEL, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH KOREA, HAWAII  and mainland UNITED STATES in FLORIDA and CALIFORNIA.

Do you know this fruit was not available in India then the government of Andhra pradhesh started growing passion fruit vines in the chintapali(vizag) forests to make fruit available within the region.

 

 

 

Raw passion fruit is 73% water, 22% carbohydrates, 2% protein and 0.7% fat (table). In a 100 gram amount, fresh passion fruit contains 36% of the daily value (DV) of vitamin, 42% dietary fibre, B vitamin riboflavin (11% DV) and niacin (10% DV), 12% iron and 10% phosphorus (right table). No other micronutrients are in significant content.

 

CHOCOLATES

Who discovered the chocolate?

Chocolate invented 3,100 years ago by theAztecs - but they were trying to make beer. Scientists have discovered that chocolate was invented at least 3,100 years ago in Central America and not as the sweet treat people now crave, but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol.

Chocolate comes from cocoa beans, which grew on trees in Central Americaand South America starting probably about 100 million years ago; cocoa trees may have gotten their start on the lower slopes of the Andes Mountains. Cocoa trees can only live in hot, rainy places near the Equator.

Why is it called chocolate?

Because the cocoa mass is usually liquefied before being molded with or without other ingredients, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor also may be processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

DAL BATI

The evolution of Daal Baati

So where did Baati really originate? This little wheat globe made of unsalted wheat, ghee and camel milk was first mentioned during the time of Bappa Rawal – the founder of the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Known as a nomadic warrior tribe before they settled into the tapestry of a kingdom and got Chittor in form of dowry from Maan Mori, Baati was the Guhilot’s official war time meal.
It is said that soldiers would break the dough into chunks and leave it buried under thin layers of sand to bake under the sun. So when they returned, they could find perfectly baked roundels that was dunked into ghee and had; on a good day there would be curd or buttermilk as well. Churma and the Panchmael Dal came as a later addition as civilization set in. And though a few anthropologists believe that at grass root level, baati was still paired with ghee and buttermilk or curd made of camel or goat milk, it was the upper caste who enjoyed the combination of dal and baati. This could have been the result of traders settling in Mewar, or what many believe, the influence of Gupta period cooking style where Panchmael Dal was considered a delicacy and was eventually adopted by a royal chef and it became popular.

TIAO

You tiao

Chinese people are real meat lovers and they will probably never understand the concept of veganism or vegetarianism. However, China is a very diverse country when it comes to food so everyone can find something healthy, spicy, oily or stodgy.  They are deep fried breadsticks of dough usually eaten as a snack or breakfast. They are lightly salted, very soft and extremely delicious, served as an accompaniment for rice congee or soy milk. If you feel like eating something sweet, you can dip you tiao in chocolate sauce or peanut butter – it tastes so good!