My memories of fruit cocktail mostly consist of eating the stuff from the cans of Del Monte or Libby's (when it says "Libby's Libby's Libby's on the Label Label Label"), and I haven't had it in years. Is it any better? I mean, it was OK, but the syrup was too sweet and thick for me. I like fruit bowls with just big chunks of fresh fruit, though the idea of a retro-ish fruit salad with Cool Whip on top sounds rather inviting.
Today is National Fruit Cocktail Day. Here's a recipe for Fruit Cocktail from Garden Guides that is heavy on apples and cinnamon. RecipeZaar has a Fresh Fruit Cocktail recipe (cooking involved). Here's another recipe from RecipeZaar, for Fruit Cocktail Cake.
The saying is that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but it never specified which kind. According to research from Chang Y. Lee of Cornell University, apples, as well as bananas and oranges, might keep brain doctors away. Antioxidant compounds found in those fruits seem to prevent neurotoxicity in cells. In other words, eating apples, bananas and oranges "may be beneficial to improve effects in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's."
We're not quite sure what the big deal here is with California. Florida already has oranges, so why wouldn't they want to keep California oranges out of the state? We're sure there are plenty of people on the western half of the country who can eat all those oranges.
Our new sister site, Green Daily, has a post up today that I thought might appeal to you Slashfoodies out there in readerland. They have discovered an article on Gomestic about 10 ways to use an orange peel. Back when I was in high school, I had a friend who would carefully save the peel of her orange, and after she had finished the fruit would return to the peel and meticulously scrap out all the white pith and eat it. Someone had once told her that it had lots of Vitamin C and being the health-conscious person that she was took the advice to heart.
I'm not necessarily recommending that you consume your pith (anyone know whether my friend was correct or not?) but some of these other orange peel tips are quite helpful. My favorites are the recommendations to use peels as a safe home fragrance (boil them in little water with a cinnamon stick or two), to use a bit to keep your brown sugar soft (I always have problems with hardened sugar) and put them in with oil to create infusions.
Every single month of the year has a "National _______ Month" designation. Heck, I think every day has celebrates something. June has a few celebrations, and National Fruit and Vegetable Month is one of them.
Of course, you should eat a lot of fruit and vegetables all year round, but if one month can get you going, then it's a good thing. June is usually the month when I start to eat more salads and apples and oranges anyway, as I'm sure it is with a lot of people, so it's good timing.
Here's more info and tips about the month, along with links to other sites about healthy eating. And if you insist on eating a whole pizza tonight, at least put some mushrooms and onions on it.
A few years ago, we finished dinner in a restaurant in San Francisco and began looking over the dessert menu. I remember seeing the word "soup" on there and thought it was either a mistake, or someone was making fun of us. Soup for dessert? (Really, this was about 12 years ago.)
However, "soup" for dessert is a fabulous thing, particularly in the warmer seasons when you want something chilled, or refreshing after a heavy meal. Chez Pim made Loy Gaew , a common way of serving fresh fruit in Thailand. "Loy gaew" literally means floating crystals, which refers to the crushed ice floating in clear syrup. Pim provides the recipe for this gorgeous one made of fresh lychee and oranges floating in a ginger syrup. It sounds delicious, and looks gorgeous.
Chocolate and orange is a combination that you either love or hate. For some, the slight acidity of the citrus works really well with chocolate, both milk and dark, while others find the tastes to be dissonant. Fanny, from Food Beam, was a member of the latter camp until she decided to try making Bill Granger's Chocolate and Mandarin Cake. The cake is a nearly flourless chocolate cake, made rich with ground almonds and a bit of mandarin orange zest. There isn't enough zest to make the orange flavor overwhelming, although the bright flavor does come through the deeply flavored cake and is helped along by serving the cake with slices of mandarin. The only thing that Fanny doesn't share is what motivated her to go against her usual inclinations and try the recipe in the first place. Whatever her reason, it seems like it was a success.
Better stock up on your OJ. Or maybe you wanna get your vitamin C from a different source.
The Florida citrus industry is facing a possible shortage. Though two different analyst groups came up with different estimates for citrus output this year, both numbers are far below the average production of 220 million boxes.
The problem? Well, where do we begin? As if humans simply taking over acreage for development wasn't enough, devastating droughts, horrible hurricanes, and a whole menage a trois of diease has damaged citrus trees. However, the true effect is difficult to predict. According to the article in the New York Times, "Until hurricane season ends Nov. 30 and the potential for a winter freeze passes next spring, the best prediction anyone can offer of how many oranges Florida will produce this season is an educated guess."
Two new studies have shown that mandarin oranges may be good for curing more than just scurvy. One study, which was centered on a town whose residents ate a very high number of mandarins, showed that they had a lower risk of liver disease, hardened arteries and insulin resistance. The second study found that drinking mandarin juice decreased the risk of developing liver cancer in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. Right now, scientists believe that cartenoids, a specific compound from the vitamin A in the oranges, are responsible for both the results.
The scientists who ran the study say that more research is needed, perhaps over as many as five more years, before they will have the kind of data that they need to draw more solid conclusions. As it stands now, however, there are no drawbacks to eating an extra orange or two.
Bioavailability is a term that describes how much of a nutrient within a food can be absorbed by the body and while the specific amounts will vary from person to person, applying some of the concepts of bioavailability to daily diets can help us get the most out of the foods we eat. For example, the vitamin C in orange juice can dramatically increase the amount of iron that can be absorbed by the body from spinach. And, as we have noted before, some of the nutrients in raw vegetables are more easily absorbed with fats.
Does this mean that every time we eat a spinach salad it must be washed down with a glass of orange juice, or doused with a fatty dressing? No, but it does mean that making a few simple changes in diet can help us to make up for any nutritional deficiencies that we may have. A balanced diet doesn't have to be one that is totally functional in every respect (after all, a piece of pie and a scoop of ice cream serves little purpose other than making you feel good), but knowing how to keep your body functioning is never a bad thing.
According to an old episode of M*A*S*H, smell is one of the biggest triggers of memory that we have. And food smells can take us back to special moments in our lives. Of course, sometimes food just "smells good" and we like it, with nothing deeper attached to it. Here are my 8 favorite food smells. What are yours?
1. Chocolate chip cookies: Mmmmmmm...I would assume that this is on almost everyone's list. Unless you don't like chocolate, which means it would be hard for me to talk to you. Also includes other types of chocolate and hot cocoa.
Though Disney is ending their partnership with McDonalds and their toys will not be appearing in kids' meals, their brand will still reach its young, target audience. Disney has signed a deal with the supermarket chain Tesco to have Disney-branded fruit appear in all its stores in the UK and Europe. The goal of the campaign is, of course, marketing, though the companies say that encouraging healthy eating is important to them, too. Right now, Tesco is carrying satsuma oranges with special collectible stickers that feature characters like Winnie the Pooh. Apples and bananas will soon follow.
Disney isn't limiting this promotion to work with the British chain. It has branded baby tomatoes in France and mini bananas in Germany. There are plans to follow suit in the US over the next month or so, as well.
While many will discard the peel when they eat an orange, others will save the zest for later use. There are a few who
will turn it into a work of art. Jeu d'oranges is a site that hosts a monthly
orange peel sculpting contest. The name of the site means Orange Game, or Game of Oranges. To enter your creation, you
must carve it out of one whole piece of peel and photograph it on a black background, without letting it harden and
dry. Every 15 days, the peel with the greatest number of votes will be posted on the homepage. The site is in French,
but you don't need to be fluent to view their amazing orange peel
galleries. Another way to make viewing the site easier is to use Google's translation feature to view
the page.
I love winter in the United States because of the bountiful selection of citrus
available. From blood oranges to honey tangerines to pomelos, it all inspires my cooking during the winter months. Here
in San Francisco we've been experiencing a cold snap for the last week, but today, even though it was chilly, the sun
was shining and the sky was brilliantly blue. It was the perfect day for a sweet/savory, composed, citrus salad.
Stefania's Citrus Salad
Choose heavy fruit to ensure juiciness.
1 ruby
red grapefruit (and or pomelo) 3 navel oranges 1 Meyer lemon 1 lime 1/4 of a red onion, shaved or
very thinly sliced
Peel all of the fruit. Remove the white pith from the outside, then slice (across
the "equator") into 1/4 inch disks. On a platter, layer the oranges and grapefruit slices and then top
with layers of lemon and lime slices. Scatter onions over the top. Spoon dressing over to taste. Adjust salt and
pepper. Garnish with edible flowers (optional). Serve.
For the dressing:
1/2 a large
shallot very finely minced 4-5 drops of honey 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar (I like Vilux brand) 6
tablespoons best quality extra virgin olive oil sea salt and pepper
Tangelo is the name for a hybrid fruit, made from combining a grapefruit with a tangerine. Just
as there are many varieties of tangerines and grapefruits, there are many different varieties of tangelos, all with
slightly different taste profiles. They originated in Southeast Asia as many as 3500 years ago, but are grown widely wherever other citrus
crops are now. The first intentional crosses in
the United States were done in the 19th century. The most distinguishing feature of the tangelo is its
“neck”, a pronounced bump on the top of the fruit. The neck may look slightly unusual, but it is extremely
useful, since tangelos have deep orange, loose fitting peels when ripe and breaking off the neck makes them
exceptionally easy to peel.