Nutrition and Nutrients Archives

Turkey Red Lettuce Wraps with Sweet Potatoes and Cranberries

November 18, 2014

These lettuce wraps make a quick and easy seasonal dinner. They are filled with my favorite fall ingredients and served in beautiful red leaf lettuce that is full of nutrients. This post was sponsored by Coastline Family Farms.

Don’t mind my deer-in-the-headlights look. That is just my reaction to how quickly the end of October and most of November have flown by. I’ve been finding myself staring blankly from time to time trying to get my brain to catch up to the date.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s been a reason for it – events. Lots of awesome, new experiences, meet new people, have fun while learning, eating and drinking, events.

Salmon and Spinach Cakes with Fried Eggs Recipe

August 12, 2014

Protein for breakfast.

Of all the improvements we’ve made to our eating habits over the past year or so, this has been the best one by far.

I wasn’t a complete stranger to a high protein morning meal. I’d have eggs on occasion, or a shake with nut meal, but it wasn’t until we started focusing on eating a lot of protein first thing that I realized how much I relied on carbohydrates for breakfast.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I still work in yogurt with fruit and oatmeal, especially when we are training for a race, but these carb focused breakfasts seemed to be making me crave something sweet every morning.

Once we made the switch, things changed pretty drastically.

Gluten Free Baked Shrimp Etouffée Recipe

June 14, 2013

I laughed out loud.

I’m not talking about chuckling or giggling here. I’m talking about a huge, hearty laugh. Again, and again, and again.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a book make me laugh like Gluten Is My Bitch, Rants, Recipes and Ridiculousness for the Gluten-Free by April Peveteaux. At first it might seem odd to laugh at such a serious health condition, but laughter is medicine and humor is healing.

Now I should explain that I don’t have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, nor do I opt out of eating gluten for personal reasons. I have had my fair share of stomach issues in the past, but mine were corrected by cutting out all artificial sweeteners and fat replacers. In an indirect way, I can relate.

Keeping up on the various ways of eating and nutritional issues is also part of the deal after you spend your college years studying nutrition. The science, the mechanisms, the nutrients – as much as I love food and eating from a creative standpoint my left brain would never be satisfied without the scientific side.

This book has it all, and a little something extra.

When reading about conditions like celiac disease, what you don’t often get is the personal side. A side explaining what it is really like to be forced to change your diet. To eliminate things you love, not because you want to lose weight or reduce risk of disease, but because if you don’t, you will be in serious discomfort. It’s not a choice. There is no option.

I wouldn’t have thought there was a way to make such a serious issue so completely hilarious, but April figured it out. Along the way there are tips for eating out, feeding kids with gluten intolerances, traveling and substitutes for your old favorite foods.

Along with all this laughter and helpful information, there are also lots of recipes, bringing us to reason I wanted to review the book here. Cocktails, cakes, cookies, pasta dishes and meaty main courses like Fried Chicken and Waffles and Italian Meat Loaf.

I knew that the timing of this post would likely align with prepping for my first marathon (it’s Sunday!), so I wanted to make something filling. Something with plenty of (gluten-free) carbs. I also wanted it to be something I hadn’t tried before.

Enter, the Baked Shrimp Etouffée.

This hit the spot. For a gluten free version, April’s recipe calls for millet flour and gluten-free bread crumbs. The flavors are delicious and I love that this baked version is a one pot meal.

Whether you have a gluten intolerance, want to learn more about it, want some great recipes, or simply want to laugh out loud, add this book to your summer reading list.

Baked Shrimp Etouffée

Cajun food makes an impression. Or maybe that’s all the booze you ingested with your boudin. Which is why I still remember an etouffée that had a little extra somethin’-somethin’ from my very first trip to New Orleans, which was ages ago.

After experimenting, I do believe the crust atop this shrimp etouffée is spot on with the roux, and the stew, and now a little cheesy crunch. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes
Makes: 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
¼ cup millet flour
2 cups chicken stock
½ teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon oregano
1½ pounds shrimp, shelled and deveined
5 cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons gluten-free bread crumbs
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
Parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a cast-iron skillet over medium heat, heat the butter and oil. Add the garlic, pepper, onion, and celery, and cook until soft.

Whisk the flour into the onion mixture until well combined. Add ½ cup of the chicken broth and whisk to combine. Gradually add the remaining broth and cook until the mixture has thickened.

Add the salt, pepper, hot sauce, cayenne, paprika, and oregano. Stir, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, add the shrimp and continue cooking for about 4 minutes more, until the shrimp are pink. Do not overcook the shrimp.

Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into a medium bowl. Place the cooked rice in the skillet, and top it with the shrimp mixture.

Sprinkle the gluten-free bread crumbs and Parmesan evenly over the shrimp mixture and place the skillet in the oven. Bake until slightly golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, top with the parsley, and serve.

Cherry Margarita

July 14, 2010

For a person who loves a good cocktail, I tend to do very few posts on the subject. I think perhaps it is time to change that.

I have cherries in mind and I’m not alone. It seems they are all the rage around the food blogging world and for good reason. Although they are popular in other countries, after being in South America I’ve come to strongly identify cherries with the US. Yes, all you lucky people who live in the Michigan and Rainier growing regions of the northwest.

Fortunately cherry trees do grow around Kentucky and Indiana, they are just in limited supply and they tend to be done bearing by early summer. I did pick up a bag from the Farmer’s Market back in May, but now I have to resort to the Bing cherries in the supermarket if I want them. Otherwise, I can go for cherry juice.

A few months ago Cheribundi sent me some samples of tart cherry juice to try. Its arrival motivated me to do some more research about the benefits of tart cherries. My Dad swears by it for reducing inflammation and arthritis. Well, okay, he rarely swears, but you know what I mean.

For tart cherries and health it is all about the anthocyanins, those plant substances that give cherries their deep, dark red color. Tart cherries are linked to a reduction in the inflammation that is related to heart disease and diabetes. These anti-inflammatory properties may also be why many people claim that cherry juice eases their arthritis pain.

For all my runners out there, a study in 2009 found that drinking tart cherry juice resulted in faster recovery after marathon running. (I sent my husband this study back in April during our training and after two days the bottle of cherry juice which I had been rationing in our fridge for about a week was gone.)

Tart cherries are beneficial in just about any form – fresh, dried, juice. Just make sure that the dried variety isn’t loaded with sugar or other sweeteners.

The sweet cherries such as Bings which are so plentiful here right now don’t appear to have as much of the antioxidant anthocyanins. However, they still deserve plenty of attention for their health benefits.

After drinking the first bottle of TruCherry, which was very good by the way, I knew I wanted to create something with the second. No rack of lamb with a cherry reduction here, I was thinking cocktail! I decided to combine fresh lime, fresh Bing cherries, tart cherry juice and tequila.

I rimmed the glass with ground Pink Himalayan sea salt which is a new favorite ingredient of mine. Just go easy because a little goes a long way!

Now, I’m not advocating you drink all your cherry juice as a cocktail, but this was one good margarita!

Cherry Margarita

¼ of a fresh lime
3 Bing cherries, pitted
1 oz tequila
2 to 3 oz tart cherry juice

In a cocktail shaker or glass mull the lime and cherries together, extracting as much juice as possible. Pour in the tequila and cherry juice. Add some ice cubes and shake or stir until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass of your choice. Rim the glass with salt if desired. Makes one drink.

References:

University of Michigan Health System (2008, April 10). Tart Cherries May Reduce Factors Associated With Heart Disease And Diabetes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 14, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2008/04/080407114647.htm
Howatson et al. Influence of tart cherry juice on indices of recovery following marathon running. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 2009

Disclosure: Cheribundi Tart Cherry Juice was sent to me free of charge. I was not under any obligation to write about it and I did not receive any compensation for doing so nor did any factors influence my opinion.

Chicken Shiitake Manicotti in Garlic Cream Sauce

May 17, 2010

When I was younger I used to hunt for morel mushrooms with my older brothers in the woods behind our house. I guess that is when I learned other mushrooms existed besides the white button variety so plentiful in US supermarkets and salads. Other than that, however, my mushroom knowledge was limited.

Fast forward 20 years and I still know very little about mushrooms, but I’m learning. Two things I’ve learned is that they offer multiple health benefits and they are highly respected ingredients in the culinary world with deep, complex flavors.

After reading food blogs and articles about mushrooms I was beginning to think they were another one of those gourmet ingredients most plentiful on the food-rich coasts of the US or abroad. Then I learned of The Hoosier Mushroom Company. Yep, an Indiana company. Not only am I living close to Indiana, but I am originally from there. That’s where we did all that morel hunting as kids.

The Hoosier Mushroom Company is a small, family run operation in Nashville, Indiana that began as a mushroom farm growing six varieties – Oyster, Shiitake, Maitake, Lion’s Mane, Nameko, and Reishi. Despite the fact that morel hunting is a pretty big deal in Indiana, there were very few resources in the state for mushroom hunting. This company has evolved into that much needed resource.

It is now both a retail shop in Brown County, Indiana and an online store. Mycologists on staff are available to help hunters identify mushrooms, and books, hunting and cultivation supplies are all available. The store offers gourmet foods like dried mushrooms and truffle oils, and even mushroom-inspired gifts.

I, of course, was interested in the gourmet food, and the kind owners, Megan and Stephen, sent me two packs of mushrooms to try — Organic Dried Shiitakes and Organic Black Trumpet Mushrooms.

I started with the Shiitakes and researched a bit why I could benefit from these little nutritional powerhouses. First of all, edible mushrooms are considered functional foods which are sometimes given the name nutraceuticals. According to the American Cancer Society animal studies which are now expanding to human studies show that Shiitakes have three main health benefits. They are considered antitumor, cholesterol-lowering and virus-inhibiting.

Shiitakes contain lentinan which is a beta-glucan. Beta-glucans stimulate the immune system and activate the attack of cancer cells. This has been associated with slowing tumor growth. Another component of shiitakes, eritadenine, has been found to lower blood cholesterol levels because it blocks the way cholesterol is absorbed into the blood stream.

The great site, WH Foods, reports that Shiitakes contain antioxidants. These mushrooms have one of the highest concentrations of L-ergothioneine, a powerful antioxidant. The best part? This antioxidant doesn’t appear to be destroyed when the mushrooms are cooked.

All set to get cooking and enjoy these health benefits, I decided to combine the shiitakes with some leftover local, pastured chicken we grilled last week. It resulted in a manicotti filled with delicious mushrooms, tender chicken and creamy ricotta cheese. The sauce is made with sweet roasted garlic. If you want to use less dairy feel free to substitute a stock for the milk in the sauce. I added a lot of black pepper to this dish which ended up giving it a nice, mildly spicy background flavor that goes well with the mushrooms.

You don’t have to slave over the stove long to make this dish. It comes together pretty quickly, but you do need to start a little ahead of time to roast your garlic and reconstitute your mushrooms.

Chicken Shiitake Manicotti in Garlic Cream Sauce

Preparation:
Olive oil
1 head garlic
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
Boiling water

Manicotti:
6 manicotti, cooked to al dente
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
1 large green onion, sliced, greens reserved
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
¼ tsp each salt and black pepper

Sauce:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp white whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
2 tbsp parmesan, grated
¼ tsp each salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice off the top third of your garlic head, place it cut side up on a piece of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in the foil and bake for about 45 minutes or until soft. Set it aside to cool.

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to sit for about 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and reserve the water for stock. Gently dry the mushrooms and then roughly dice. Reserve about a 1/ 4 cup for the sauce.

Heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet and add the onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute then add the mushrooms, chicken and water. Cook for about 5 more minutes until everything is heated through. Stir in the parmesan, ricotta, salt and pepper. Set aside and allow to cool so that you can handle the filling.

In a sauce pan create a roux by melting the butter over medium heat, and then whisk in the flour to form a paste. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk constantly to smooth out any clumps. Return to the heat, still whisking, and allow the sauce to thicken to your desired consistency. It should coat the back of a spoon when it is ready.

Remove the pan from the heat and squeeze in the roasted garlic cloves (careful not to let any of the skins to fall in), parmesan, salt and pepper and whisk until smooth. Stir in the reserved mushrooms.

Spread 2 tbsp of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish. Divide the filling into six equal parts and fill each manicotti shell by hand or with a spoon. Place each shell in the baking dish, and then pour the remaining sauce over the top.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes. Then serve and garnish with the reserved onion greens, or scallions. Serves 2 to 3 people.

**************

Hungry for mushrooms, now? Well you are in luck. The Hoosier Mushroom Company has offered to give away a pack of organic dried Black Trumpet Mushrooms to one of my readers! Entries (via comment) are due by 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, May 23rd. I’ll announce the winner next Monday along with some more information on Black Trumpets and how I used them.

To enter follow the steps below. For each entry to count be sure to leave a separate comment saying you followed, tweeted, etc. You have the opportunity for 4 entries/comments. You will also need a US address to win.

Leave a comment telling me if you’ve used dried mushrooms before and how you would use the Black Trumpets.
Follow me (@lori1329) and The Hoosier Mushroom Company (@hoosiermushroom) on Twitter and tell me you do or did so.
Tweet the giveaway and @ both of us. Tell me you did so in a comment.
Like (become a fan of) The Hoosier Mushroom Company on Facebook and tell me you do or did so in a comment.

Resources for health benefits of Shiitakes:
American Cancer Society: Shiitake Mushroom
WHFoods: Shiitake Mushroom
Chang, R. Functional properties of edible mushrooms. Nutr Rev. 1996 Nov;54(11 Pt 2):S91-3

Disclaimer: I received the mushrooms mentioned in this post free of charge from The Hoosier Mushroom Company. I was not required to review them and received no compensation for doing so.

Health as a By-Product

April 16, 2010

Lately, I find that I am focusing less and less on health. Yet, strangely, I feel healthier than I have in a long time, perhaps healthier than I ever have. Over time we all go through changes in our ways of thinking about food and health, and we are able to look back and see where we were and compare it to where we are now. That’s the place I am at right now. I think I’m experiencing a decent amount of balance.

I used to think a lot about numbers. Calories, grams, micrograms, cups, minutes and hours. I also had big, fancy names on my mind a lot – anthocyanin, flavonoid, erythrocyte, anaerobic, oxidation. I was recently reminded of just how much this was on my mind in the past as I sorted through some old college binders and course notes.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. At one time it motivated me and made me feel knowledgeable. It also enabled me (and still does) to help other people. However, over time it also made me feel like health was a bit of a burden, a little too complex for my current interests.

I don’t think I consciously changed. I think my mind did it out of a necessity; necessity to remain a healthy person, and therefore, began seeking other avenues to maintain and celebrate health.

As a result I think more about being well, contentment, laughter, smiling, energy, enjoying the scenery, accomplishing goals (not associated with numbers), tasting good food, and being energized to wake up each morning and face the day. By doing this I’ve found that health is a by-product, not the main focus.

I eat the foods I eat because they taste good, and I feel better because of them. I run because I want to check out what the basset hound a few streets over is up to and see the cows grazing in the fields. I cook and write because it relieves my stress, I read because it fills me with knowledge.

Because of all this, I believe I am healthy and well.

My focus has changed. I don’t do things necessarily because I deem them healthy, I do them because I enjoy them and I know they are right for me. I feel I’m no longer seeking a means to an end, or a final goal of ultimate health, I’m simply living and enjoying.

I do have to admit that numbers haven’t completely left my life. There is a number on the scale that has my attention and when I sit down to a big salad I may think about the number of cups of veggies I’m eating. I have pace goals associated with my running. When I see a colored vegetable I often think of the nutrient in it and how that influences health. I also do a few things I don’t enjoy from time to time, like eat the broccoli I make for my husband because I know it is good for me.

However, these numbers don’t overpower my lifestyle. They aren’t the driving force anymore and as a result, I have to admit I am a much more relaxed person.

Health shouldn’t stress us out.

Do you focus on health or are you healthy because of your focus?

The What-Works-for-You Attitude

March 25, 2010

Occasionally, I have a topic on my mind to blog about and while I’m waiting for the ideas to build and the words to formulate themselves, I come across a post that says exactly what I was thinking. This happened to me just a few weeks ago.

Developing and practicing my food and health philosophy is constantly evolving task for me. While three years ago I would have described myself as completely lost (even though at time I thought I was healthy), now I consider myself moving in the right direction, but still far from perfection.

That is, if you even believe that perfection exists in these areas. I have to say I’m not sure that it does. Sometimes I think perfection with healthy eating is just an imaginary goal that we strive to achieve without every really getting there. Why? Well, because things are constantly changing and everyone has a different idea of how perfection is defined.

Now to that post I mentioned earlier.

My Google Alerts end up finding me all kinds of interesting things to read when it comes to food, real food and fake food. To Be, or Not to Be: Omnivores, Herbivores, and Deciding What’s Right For You posted at the Health and Happiness Club is an example of this.

Let me correct myself. Not just an example, but one of the best, respectful, well-balanced posts on the subject that I have yet to read. As I read everything word for word, which I should mention doesn’t happen all that often (yes, I’m a scanner), I realized I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was as though the thoughts in my head were right there on the page.

I encourage you to read it, but I will summarize a bit for you here. It is about how different people are meant to have different styles of eating. What works for one person, may not work for another. That means that some people are perfectly happy eating meat, others it doesn’t agree with so well whether due to personal beliefs or in physical digestion. Some can thrive on only vegetables or raw food while it makes others feel as though they are missing something nutritionally.

I happen to fall into the meat-eater category and I’ve especially realized this through my running. Before I started training for this half marathon I probably would have told you that I would have no problem becoming a vegetarian, although I’ve never really desired to proclaim myself as such. We eat a lot of high-protein vegetarian meals and I go many days without any meat. And you know what, personally, now I can tell when I do. I need the nutrients that humanely raised meat gives my body. However, you may be completely different.

My choice is not to push my beliefs on others verbally, but to show them by the way I live and eat. I haven’t always been like this, but there are a couple reasons why I have developed this philosophy.

One, preaching to others will make you a hypocrite. Yep, if you are going to work hard to spread the word about what you believe is right and wrong with how to eat you better not get caught going off the path you have paved for yourself. I’m an advocate of non-processed foods and have eliminated a lot of them from our diet, but I can’t promise you I won’t eat an Oreo at the next family picnic. I’m human, and I do love desserts.

Two, I really do believe that different eating styles work for different bodies. You just have to find what makes you thrive. I feel confident that I’ve found what makes me thrive and perhaps you have to, but we should be open to the fact that we might both be wrong.

Sometimes I think people may feel that this type of attitude means you aren’t standing up for what you believe in. You know, the whole, “if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.” However, for me it is about respect. I respect the meat-eater, the vegetarian, the vegan and the raw foodie to name a few. I may not agree with the associated philosophies for myself, but I respect a person who has the ultimate goal to be healthy. Agreeing is different than respecting, of course. Respect is essential my book, agreeing is optional.

With all that being said, I think there are some things that most of us can agree on. Fast food and processed sugar aren’t going to help us out any. However you might believe the old saying, “everything in moderation” while I happen to believe there are some food-like substances that were never meant to be consumed.

However, I’m not going to preach what not to do. I’m going to do my best to be an example and live what I believe is right path for health while respecting your choices at the same time.

What is your food philosophy? And if you read the post I linked to, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Smoky Sautéed Kale & Mushrooms

February 11, 2010

Before last night, I had never had kale. I know, I know. What kind of person-who-strives-to-eat-healthy am I? No kale?

It wasn’t because I’m against eating kale, or greens for that matter. I love spinach and romaine, but in the past darker leafy greens received nothing but a brief glance as I sought out the best looking produce at our market.

In fact, my only experience with greens has been with collard greens, and oddly enough, not even in the somewhat southern US where I’m living. (I say that because many people consider Kentucky the south, but when looking at a map I’ve never really considered Kentucky the true south of the US. I’ll save that for another post.)

Anyway, I actually had my first collards in Brazil, couve. They were finely sliced fresh and put into salads, eaten with the plentiful amounts of red meat so common there. When I was in the north of Brazil I had them prepared in a way similar to how they are eaten in the southern US.

My thoughts? Collards are okay. A little bitter for my taste whether fresh or cooked.

A couple weeks ago Michelle at Find Your Balance challenged her readers to try a new green. I didn’t meet the one week deadline, but I’ve had discovering new greens on my mind ever since. At the supermarket last week, it was settled, I had to give kale a try.

In just a cup of kale you’ll get a major dose of vitamins K, A and C. Not to mention the fact that you simply feel healthy eating it. Not scientific of course, but it’s like those vitamins go straight to blood perking you up a bit. You are what you eat, as it goes.

And you know what? Greens are pretty darn inexpensive especially when compared to other produce out and about this time of year. I have since learned that the season for kale is, well, right now – the middle of winter.

You’ll be hard pressed to find something easier to cook as well. I got a batch of great tasting kale finished in the amount of time it would take to go through a drive through. That includes cooking the salmon and quinoa I served it with.

I found several recipes for kale online. Between the flavors and the cooking methods I pretty much meshed them all together. The two that gave me the most inspiration was this Sautéed Kale and this Sautéed Kale with Smoked Paprika. I threw in a few more spices and veggies and this is what I got.

Smoky Sautéed Kale & Mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil
¼ of a large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Large bunch of kale, about 1 to 1 ½ lbs
½ cup chicken stock
5-6 white mushrooms, sliced
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp crushed red pepper

In a large, deep skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Place the kale in the skillet and use tongs to turn and coat it with the oil. Pour in the chicken stock and place and cover with a lid. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the mushrooms. Continue to cook until the mushrooms shrink and darken and the remaining liquid has evaporated. Stir in the seasonings. Makes 3 to 4 small servings, 2 large.

Thanks to Michelle for the inspiration.

This post is being submitted to Side Dish Showdown at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice.

Seeking Out the Truth About My Sugar

January 19, 2010

Don’t you just hate it when you think you have things all figured out only to learn you were wrong. Much to my disappointment that is how I felt last week. It all started when I came across the wonderfully informative post about types of sugar by Oyster Food and Culture.

When we first moved to Brazil my sugar quest began. I hadn’t really intended to reduce or cut out white and brown processed sugar until I started to learn about the açúcar mascavo (which all online sources tell me is the same as muscovado) available there. Considering this comes from evaporated sugarcane juice my research lead me to assume that it was a better choice than our standard, nutrient stripped white and brown sugars widely used in the US.

When we got back to the US, I was horrified at the price of a tiny little box of it considering what I had paid in Brazil. I then turned to demerara sugar learning that it was a more natural form from evaporated sugarcane juice as well.

Knowing that raw sugar isn’t much better than refined white sugar nutritionally, when I came across that post last week I was a bit shocked to find that both muscovado (mascavo) and demerara were listed under raw sugars.

I’ve conversed a bit with LouAnn (Oyster Food and Culture author) about this and she double checked her sources and let me know that they indicate that those two sugars undergo heating before evaporation which classifies them as refined. I double checked my sources and this is what I’ve come up with.

First, let me address demerara because I’m less clear about how beneficial it may be. So far I haven’t found a detailed nutrient outline, but I now know that this sugar is heated and then evaporated which can classify it as being refined and processed. Read on though, because you may be surprised by what I found out about two other popular so-called unrefined sugars.

Okay, so on to the mascavo sugar.

After reading that post last week I just wasn’t ready to give up on it so easily. Perhaps it is a fondness of discovering it while living in Brazil and that connection to culture. However I was still determined to confirm it a better choice than refined white and brown sugars, including raw sugars.

So far every website which sells it has stated that it is unrefined, simply evaporated cane juice. Another site which doesn’t have references (grrr!) stated that it is slightly refined.

Still, I remained hopeful in my search when I came across the Diabetes Society of Brazil which states that mascavo does contain the vitamins and minerals associated with sugarcane which is the important part for me.

In the post I mentioned earlier, another sugar that claims to be unrefined is rapadura. What’s interesting is that it is produced in Brazil, but I never came across it in the supermarkets we frequented. However, my husband seems to remember trying it from the local feira and seeing it at roadside stands.

After being thoroughly confused something dawned on me that I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I let slip by. My husband worked closely with the sugarcane industry when we were living there and many of his coworkers were very familiar with the processes. So, I did some asking and this is what I found out.

First of all, both mascavo AND rapadura are heated. They are just heated for differing amount of times. The rapadura is boiled and concentrated into block form. In the words of my Brazilian source it is the most basic/natural type of sugar between the two. The process maintains mineral and a small amount of vitamin content.

Mascavo is taken just past boiling and is transferred to a crystallizer for cooling and evaporation. The good news is while it isn’t as superior nutritionally as rapadura the process does maintain some vitamin and mineral content and it is superior nutritionally to refined white sugar.

My source was kind enough to show me this chart from the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil listing nutrient content of three sugars – white refined, mascavo and rapadura. Don’t be overwhelmed by the Portuguese. Most nutrients are similar in both languages just keep in mind that “a” in Portuguese is “to” in English and a comma is used where we would use a period. For example “1,5 a 7” is “1.5 to 7”.

You can see when you check out the chart that nutrients are most plentiful in rapadura, but that mascavo still has some healthy components left in it versus refined white sugar. What I haven’t confirmed yet is whether or not mascavo is, in fact, muscovado. I think it is, but I can’t confirm because our friend in Brazil had never heard the term muscovado. I’m still pretty certain that it is just a difference in languages though.

So the truth is that if heating is part of the refining process than even rapadura can’t exactly be considered unrefined even though it may be the best choice nutritionally. I also learned that the reason I didn’t see it in Brazil is that it isn’t common for cooking due to it’s block form, although I know a lot of real-food focused food bloggers do use it. Mascavo is more ideal for cooking at least it seems that way in Brazil. Regarding the refining process really the only unrefined form of sugarcane available is the juice like what is being pressed in the photo below, called caldo de cana in Portuguese.

Okay, I’m not sure how much you all have cared about this, but I must admit I feel a lot better. I’ m not sure that I will keep using demerara, but I still plan to check out rapadura and I’m happy with my choice of mascavo when I can get it.

Anyone else find it odd that the less processing the more expensive the sugar? Seems like it should be the other way around to me.

I’ll close by saying that sugar is sugar when it comes to calories and cavities. I just want a product that is less refined with more nutritional value when I do use it. I trust more natural sweeteners such as maple syrup and honey, but I also like to bake and sometimes a sugar product is necessary. That’s really why I felt the need to find out some answers for myself.

References mentioned in this article:
Ministry of Agriculture Brazil – Rapadura
Diabetes Society of Brazil – Mascavo Sugar

This post has been submitted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.

First photo of sugarcane fields in southern Brazil.

Expanding My Tea Knowledge: Pu-erh

January 8, 2010

This time of year I find that in order to stay warm I must always have a steaming mug of something in hand. It feels as though if I’m prevented from sipping a warm drink, I risk freezing up into an ice cube entirely.

You know I’m a huge coffee fan, but that doesn’t mean I’m anti-tea. In fact, I find that I must nip the coffee drinking in the bud by midmorning or I may overdo it on the caffeine. Too much of a good thing and all. So this only means that my tea drinking drastically increases in the winter to fulfill this ever present need to sip a cup o’ warmth.

I’m not a tea expert by any means, but I have had the opportunity to try several varieties. A few years ago my when my husband went to Beijing for work, he brought back flower tea and green tea which resulted in my first Chinese tea experience. While visiting Hong Kong in October we drank Jasmine tea with every meal and brought some back with us to enjoy as well.

My most interesting tea experience, however, came about last September, just before we left Brazil. The last few months of my time there I had the opportunity to meet and hang out with a fellow expat. Miranda is from London and married a Brazilian (Paulo) who happens to be from the same area we were living. They had settled there for a year or two while deciding their future plans.

Last summer, instead of a big wedding they set out on a round-the- world trip, and one of their stops was China and a tea tasting house. When we were able to meet after their trip Miranda presented me with this.

A pretty canister of Pu-erh tea. At that point I had never heard of it or seen it before. She let me know about its growing popularity and my excitement about having the opportunity to try it began to grow.

Pu-erh tea (also spelled as puerh, puer, pu-er and pu’er,) comes from the Yunnan Province of China from a town of the same name. It has over 1700 years of history and I’ve learned that it is quite the prized possession especially if it has been aged well which in some cases can be up to 65 years!

It comes in two varieties, sheng which is green and known as raw and shu which is black or sometimes referred to as cooked. Both start out the same way as maocha and then are preserved/processed differently.

For sheng, the maocha is lightly steamed and pressed into tea cakes. The microbes that remain in the tea result in the product undergoing a natural fermentation process as it is aged. Often left to age for at least 8 to 10 years the pu-erh turns from raw to cooked during this time. It is known for becoming smoother and less bitter as it ages.

For shu, the maocha is put into piles, spread out and wetted. Then it is covered to create something similar to a compost pile. From what I’ve read the technique for making the tea in this way is very detail oriented. It must be turned at the appropriate time and frequency to achieve the correct flavor and fragrance. Once the tea is ready, it is lightly steeped and pressed into cakes like the sheng. This method was developed to speed up the process of making pu-erh tea, but the sources I found didn’t indicate just how much more quickly the final product results.

I think it is well established that tea in almost any form is good for us. Well, okay, perhaps not the sugar-laden sweet tea (pronounced swate-teh) that we have in the south. But you know what I mean – oolong, green, black, jasmine, chai – they all have their individual health benefits to offer. Pu-erh is no exception.

Of course, as we often do with most ancient products consumed by other cultures, pu-erh tea has become a bit of a fad weight loss aid. I’m not commenting on that simply because I get tired of how my society must grasp perfectly good, real foods and turn them into money-hungry weight loss campaigns.

I did learn, however, that pu-erh tea has been found to be successful at lowering LDL cholesterol while raising HDL cholesterol (1). In addition, one study found that the tea has antioxidant and lipid-lowering effects and could potentially be used to reduce cardiovascular disorders (2).

However, do keep in mind the studies were done with rats consuming the leaves and extracts of the tea. I always pay attention to this because in grad school I did a research review of green tea. Of course there are health benefits, but most studies used extracts that would be equivalent to drinking 10 to 12 cups a day! Kudos to all the researchers out there who strive to evaluate foods as we would actually consume them.

The good part though is that drinking teas can be good for you overall. That is why I’m such an advocate for eating real, natural food and not worrying about the specific amounts, percentages and benefits. Healthy foods are going to work together to make you healthy overall. It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

So what type of pu-erh tea did I get?

I actually don’t know. Perhaps there is a way to tell by the label, but not speaking any form of Chinese, I’m clueless. Although I would suspect it is shu, as I’m sure the varieties aged the traditional way are likely untouchable regarding price.

I can tell you about the flavor though. The tea has a very rich, dark flavor, almost woodsy and the dark leaf that results as it steeps remind me of coffee grains. The overall flavor is incredibly complex as the production of the tea would indicate.

So if you come across real pu-erh tea, do try it. Not only does it warm me up, but it is very different from any tea variety I’ve experienced before.