"finland" news and stories

This one falls into the category of food news that leaves me sort of flummoxed. I always heard that peeing on the lawn was a sure way to kill your ground cover, but researchers in Finland have discovered that you can substitute human urine for conventional forms of fertilizer to good effect. The cabbages that they grew that were fertilized with the urine seem to have produced higher yields than the ones fertilized by the mass market fertilizer.

Some of you may be asking yourselves, "who cares if they're bigger, how do they taste?" The article states that "the crop's taste was at least as acceptable as that of the greens fertilized conventionally." The phrase "at least as acceptable" leaves me a little wary but I'd be up for trying one if it happened to come my way.

Will this news make anyone change the way they fertilize their gardens next summer? Anyone up for a little science experiment?

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A few months ago, I posted about the debate that several vodka producing countries are having over what should and shouldn't be called vodka. An article in today's New York Times picks up the story. Basically, certain countries, including Finland, Sweden and Poland, contend that for something to be called vodka, it must be distilled from either potatoes or certain grains, not from things like grapes or maple syrup. These countries are seeking labeling restrictions for these "non-traditional" vodkas. BBC News reported that such restrictions could affect up to two thirds of all the vodka currently produced in non-Baltic EU countries. The NYT article also points out that vodka's history and original ingredients are up for debate, citing possible Russian, Polish, Italian and Arabian origins that may have included plums, apples or grapes.

Much like the recent battle over what can and can't be called feta cheese, several European countries are trying to restrict what can be called vodka. Finland, Poland and Sweden feel that only spirits distilled from certain grains and potatoes have the right to be called vodka, the Associated Press reported. The countries are opposed to products like Cîroc, distilled from grapes, being called vodka because they fear it will dilute the definition of their traditional versions. Others say it's simply a marketing tactic, designed to limit the number of new entrants into the vodka market.

[Via Fark]

Just when you thought that they had lowered the fat and calories (and taste) in just about every product there is, increasing "good" fats and vitamins in an effort to give even the worst foods some nutritional benefit, along comes a product that surprises you. A new study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a simple addition of Stanol, a substance known to lower cholesterol, to cheese gave the cheese a cholesterol-lowering effect.

At first glance, it may seem like a rather obvious conclusion because stanol is in other supplements and drugs, where it has been successfully shown to lowerer LDL cholesterol levels. It has never before been combined with a food product and its success when combined with cheese means that the risks associated with eating high-cholesterol foods could be mitigated simply by fortifying them.

More studies are needed, but it looks like we could be seeing a new wave of cholesterol-lowering foods in the future.

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