Taking on an entire country in a single post seems foolhardy at best, but here at Slashfood we're all about showcasing lip-smacking deals, and South African wine falls squarely into that category.
I'm not the only one who thinks so: Wine Spectator featured South Africa in its April 30 issue as one of five countries producing delicious wine for the cost-conscious imbiber. Wine Business Monthly published a two-part report on South African wine, whose exports to the U.S. have gone from next to nothing five years ago to a million cases last year.
More South Africa - Wine of the Week after the jump.
Though the words "African food" might conjure spongy, expanding-in-the-tummy Ethiopian bread or the heavy bobotie that resembles a creamier version of moussaka, it's not all like that.
Indeed, gaze upon the malva above: Similar to a milky tres leches cake-- sweet, with a puddle of creme anglaise -- the traditional South African dessert made at Brooklyn, New York's Madiba is every bit as delectable as it looks. It's a fine way to raise a fork to South Africa's Freedom Day -- their 15th anniversary of democratic voting.
Other eateries featuring the country's cuisine include Los Angeles' sporty mini-chain Springbok and Atlanta's sexy-looking 10 Degrees South, where diners indulge in what one reviewer declared "perfectly spiced ostrich." So although that bird -- perfectly-spiced or otherwise -- may not be what you're craving this spring, who could resist a slice of this cake? Not us.
Pinotage is the cilantro of the wine world -- you either love it or hate it, but very few people sit on the fence.
A cross between Cinsault and Pinot Noir, Pinotage was created in 1925 by a Stellenbosch, South Africa university professor. The idea was to reap the best of both grapes and combine the sturdiness of Cinsault in the vineyard with the world-class taste of Pinot Noir in the glass.
Unfortunately, sometimes beautiful parents produce an ugly child, and though Pinotage lovers would disagree, I think this grape falls squarely in the "do not cross" category. Why? Because, more than its good qualities, the wine is known for its burnt-rubber aftertaste.
There are a lot of wine descriptors that critics enthusiastically use to describe a high-quality wine. Cat's piss. Horse leather. Barnyard funk. But burnt rubber? Definitely not on the list.
Won't mid-week lunches pack so much more panache if a star chef like Alice Waters, Grant Achatz, Tom Colicchio or Mario Batali has a hand in 'em? You'll still have to make your own PB&J, but now you can tote it along in celeb-stamped style with a one-of-a-kind lunchbox decorated by your favorite chef.
"The Lunchbox Auction presented by Gourmet which benefits hunger-relief organizations Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund of South Africa, kicks off live on the World Wide Web at www.thelunchboxauction.org on Thursday, December 11th at midnight and continues through Thursday, December 18th at noon. Almost 100 celebrities from film, television, fashion, art, music and the culinary world have united to remind us that food matters and that hunger is an on-going problem.
Each lunchbox reflects the personal style and individual flair of the person designing the box and no two lunchboxes are alike. Collectors will find that each box is signed and numbered, and some will even contain hidden surprises inside. The collectible lunchboxes make a great gift for the holidays!"
I've already been outbid on Grant Achatz's stainless steel and tension wire armature, and Ruth Reichl's epicurean treasure trove, yet still hold out hope for Michel Richard's mustard-gilded, postprandial bonescape. Mostly because I'd have a chance to say "mustard-gilded" all the darned time -- for charity.
Los Angeles gourmet chocolatier Compartes has created the perfect combination of style, charity, and deliciousness.
Chocolates for a Cause (5 piece box for $20, 10 piece box for $30) brings you five explosive chocolate flavors decorated with little colored Africas in a box with a Relief Beads bracelet, all to benefit Darfur.
Funds raised from this collaboration [with RELIEF INTERNATIONAL] go directly to funding the only women's center in Darfur!
The five flavors are made with the finest African ingredients - some of them hard to find, like carmelized plantains and grains of paradise.
One of my favorite stores to wander into when I'm downtown is the Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade Store. The merchandise is always high quality and a remarkably good value despite the fact that the people who craft the items are assured timely and fair payment for their work, plus ongoing contracts to guarantee future income.
Now Fair Trade has come to the wine world with the first nationwide introduction of Fair Trade Certified wine. So what does "Fair Trade" really mean? In the wine world, many family vineyards in developing countries have a tough time meeting market demand for quality grapes AND paying their workers enough, ensuring safe working conditions, and getting a good enough price for the crop to eke out their own living.
Fair Trade Certified means a producer is guaranteed a minimum price for the grapes, their workers earn a living wage, and wine-producing communities receive community development funding. At Stellar Organics Fair Trade Certified vineyard in South Africa, for example, workers have established a commercial community organic vegetable garden with its own educational garden used to train children in organic farming. Income from the garden and vineyard go into a university education fund for children of the workers.
Continue reading "Wine of the Week: Fair Trade wine" after the jump.
There are a lot of ways that tea blenders use rooibos (sometimes called "red tea") these days, whether it's in a straight herbal tea (tisane) or blended with real teas to add flavor to the blend. A quick glance at Wikipedia shows that one common way to describe its flavor is "sweet (without sugar added) and slightly nutty" and I find this to be true. Sometimes I find myself mistaking a rooibos flavor for adding vanilla in a blend, only slightest earthier.
What is rooibos? When I started STeaP with my co-host Joe, I asked the same question of Joe and was told that it's a tree bark, but have since learned that rooibos is a bush-like plant that belongs to the legume family. It's native to South Africa, specifically the Western Cape region. Rooibos is completely caffeine-free, so it's a healthy alternative for those who avoid caffeine.
Preparation of a straight rooibos is the same as that of a black tea (boiling water temperature, additives such as milk and sugar can add to the experience), and processing of the rooibos plant is also similar, involving oxidation (which is often inaccurately referred to by the tea world as "fermentation"). There is an unoxidized form of rooibos (commonly called "green rooibos" as opposed to red), but it's less commonly used and more expensive than the typical "red tea." When preparing a tea with rooibos, remember to keep in mind that rooibos is very, very fine and dust can often slip through tea balls and other infusers. Use a very fine mesh infuser to make your rooibos, such as the Finum brewing basket.
Rooibos is used by almost every tea company I frequent, many creating blends that focus on the rooibos as a primary component, while some add rooibos more as an added flavor to a traditional tea. I've seen very creative uses, such as rooibos chai, rooibos earl grey, and in South Africa, there is a company that has patented a red espresso. I personally recommend Adagio's Foxtrot tea (it's actually a tisane), which is my favorite way to enjoy rooibos. What's your favorite way to enjoy rooibos?
If it walks like espresso and talks like espresso...
Okay, fine: if it's not made from coffee beans, it's not technically espresso. But it's still a fun alternative for the tea drinkers amongst us: Cape Town, South Africa's Red Espresso is rooibos tea (a sweet red) ground especially for use in an espresso machine.
The resulting shot is a gorgeous deep red tea with a deep yellow crema on top, and the taste is a strong, nutty flavor - all of the presentation, just without the caffeinated edge.
The idea seems to take away from one of the points of drinking espresso as opposed to a cup of coffee, and that's the jolt of caffeine that accompanies the drink. In that sense, a single shot of the rooibos seems like more of a novelty than anything else.
However, the site suggests using the product to make things like lattes and cappuccinos, which sound more intriguing. Plus, as long as you don't add too much sugar, you're getting great health benefits: rooibos contains five times the antioxidants in green tea. And in that sense, at least, tea definitely trumps coffee.
We've been seeing a lot of stories lately about art made from recycled packaging. We've also seen a few posts about food art and a lot about tea. In this yesterday's New York Times, I found an article to tie them all together.
Oh how I love my tea, but this group of artists in Capetown, South Africa would rather have the tea bags, thank you. The group, called Original T-bag Designs, collects used tea bags, which turn dry and brown. The artists can then paint them and turn them into any number of things from coasters and magnets to original artwork.
The artists group does well enough selling the magnets and such. Their real hope, though, is to put together a traveling show of artwork similar to the traveling quilts from Gees Bend, Alabama. I wish them the best of luck. And if you want to donate tea bags, you can go to the website for contact information.
The idea of worms is not something I'd normally want to bring up on a food blog, but in the case of mega-ginormous food conglomerate Kraft, worms are driving the development of a new food line.
Wait...what?!?!
Yes, worms, but don't worry about finding the creepy crawly things in your next blue box of macaroni and cheese. Kraft is developing a new food that is supposed to taste good, and also kill intestinal worms, which is a major problem in in rural Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The food is still in the early stages of development, so there's no word on what the food will be, but one of the ingredients in it will be a de-worming pesticide. It sounds horrible to put something called a "pesticide" in food, but let's just think of it as a chemical that will help millions of children get rid of those nasty intestinal worms.
I've never given much thought as to whether South Africans celebrate Thanksgiving. However, when I read that a team of bakers created what they're calling the the world's largest pumpkin pie last weekend, I'm beginning to think folks in Pretoria might just have their own version Thanksgiving. The 1.15 ton treat took two days to make and bake and measured some 3 feet deep. It's worth noting that the pie's other dimensions were 28 feet long and 7 feet wide. While I'm all for the South Africans trying to break a record set by a group of U.S. farmers two years ago (pictured), someone needs to tell the South Africans that pies are round. If the dimensions I read are not a typo, the mammoth pumpkin pastry qualifies as a loaf with a crust, but not a pie. A ton of the orange gourd was used to make the "pie." As of press time, there's been no reports of how many pounds of Cool Whip were used to top the purported pie.
Dessert wines are fascinating to me, not only for their scrumptious sweet tastes, but also for the many complicated and unusual ways in which they are made. Most, but not all dessert wines tend to be higher in alcohol than regular wines. This is due to the large amount of sugars in the fresh juice, the more sugar, the greater the final alcohol levels produced during fermentation.
In taste these wines have a bold array of flavors like honey, apricot, peach, tropical fruit, caramel, dates, raisins, citrus, berries, floral notes, and much more. In body they progress from thin, light and barely sweet; to syrupy thick, sugar bombs. In color they run the spectrum from pale white to deep gold and light rose to orange and deep red. In style they can be still wines, slightly fizzy, or super bubbly tongue tinglers.
I use the term dessert wine to describe all wines that are mid to high quality, sweet wines that tend to be drunk after dinner or with dessert, or more appropriately as dessert, since many sweet wines actually don't go well when paired with sweet foods. Sweet and dessert wines have been around since the early days of the Roman Empire, some say even longer. They may have been the first wines that traveled outside the region in which they were made. This is because many of them have higher alcohol levels, as well as the large amounts of sugars; both of which when combined help to make wines age and travel well.
Peppadews, those tasty little sweet hot peppers from South Africa are grown and made by a socially responsible company, one who cares for their fellow country folk. Peppadew International, whose head office is located in Johannesburg, is committed to the uplifting of the communities in which it is located and a quarter of its contracted farmers come from previously disadvantaged communities. The company is dedicated to training and development of its employees to uplift and empower them so they can better support themselves and their families.
Peppadew Internationals main factory and farming operations are located in the northeast part of South Africa where it borders with Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Mozambique. They have 7-8 processing buildings in the town of Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province near Kruger National Park. This area of South Africa is very impoverished, with a unemployment rate of at least 46%, but Peppadew is creating social opportunities for thousands of people. They employ 3,000 South Africans full time and another 5,000 are hired as indirect, seasonal staff working on the farms, growing and harvesting the peppers. Peppadew peppers are very labor intensive and require around 11 workers per hectare to produce them.
When I was a kid I was told to eat my vegetables so I'd grow up to be nice and strong. Apparently feeding vegetables to veggies makes them, too, quite robust. Or so a South African chap found when he used organic fertilizer that he makes from vegetable peelings to help grow a ginormous onion.
At just under 3 pounds the onion weighs 10 times more than the, er, garden variety. Henry Carr of Port Elizabeth has been growing vegetables for almost 40 years. When asked what he planned to do with his humongous onion, Carr said he'll soon be making some of his city's largest onion rings. Perhaps he'll want to don a pair of onion goggles when he prepares his oversized bar snack.
A few years ago I was in South Africa and stopped by the local Woolworths. Woolworths in South Africa is not the same as the US stores. It is a high end department store affiliated to Marks and Spencer in the United Kingdom, with an amazing food store inside. One of the first things I saw were these tiny little pineapples the size of large baseballs. I bought a dozen since they were both inexpensive by local rates, and with the incredible exchange rate of dollars for rand they cost me pennies. They were the most amazing pineapples I ever tasted. Sweet, but even more so, full of intense pineapple flavor. I tried to ration them out when I got back onto my ship but when I offered tastes to a few of my friends the matter was settled. They were gone within hours of leaving port. They were so good I dreamed about them off and on for weeks. When I eventually got back home to the US a few months later I did some research and found out they were the Queen Victoria breed and that until recently they couldn't be found outside South Africa, basically because they went bad so fast. Further reading told me that a few years ago they started shipping them to Europe upon occasion but they were very rare.
We've been seeing a lot of stories lately about art made from recycled packaging. We've also seen a few posts about food art and a lot about tea.
The idea of worms is not something I'd normally want to bring up on a food blog, but in the case of mega-ginormous food conglomerate Kraft, worms are driving the development of a new food line.
I've never given much thought as to whether 
Dessert wines are fascinating to me, not only for their scrumptious sweet tastes, but also for the many complicated and unusual ways in which they are made. Most, but not all dessert wines tend to be higher in alcohol than regular wines. This is due to the large amount of sugars in the fresh juice, the more sugar, the greater the final alcohol levels produced during fermentation. 
Peppadews
When I was a kid I was told to eat my vegetables so I'd grow up to be nice and strong. Apparently feeding vegetables to veggies makes them, too, quite robust. Or so a South African chap found when he used organic fertilizer that he makes from vegetable peelings to help grow a ginormous onion.
A few years ago I was in South Africa and stopped by the local Woolworths. Woolworths in South Africa is not the same as the US stores. It is a high end department store affiliated to Marks and Spencer in the United Kingdom, with an amazing food store inside. One of the first things I saw were these tiny little pineapples the size of large baseballs. I bought a dozen since they were both inexpensive by local rates, and with the incredible exchange rate of dollars for rand they cost me pennies. They were the most amazing pineapples I ever tasted. Sweet, but even more so, full of intense pineapple flavor. I tried to ration them out when I got back onto my ship but when I offered tastes to a few of my friends the matter was settled. They were gone within hours of leaving port. They were so good I dreamed about them off and on for weeks. When I eventually got back home to the US a few months later I did some research and found out they were the 
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