Salt is the most important ingredient in cooking. Without it, most meals would taste bland and unexciting. Salt is a crystalline mineral made of two elements, sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). Sodium and chlorine are absolutely essential for life in animals, including humans. They serve important functions like helping the brain and nerves send electrical impulses. The main difference between the salts is the taste, flavor, color, texture and convenience.
Refined Salt (table salt) is the most common. It is usually highly refined. It is heavily ground and most of the impurities and trace minerals are removed. The problem with heavily ground salt is that it can clump together. For this reason, various substances called anti-caking agents are added so that it flows freely. Food-grade table salt is almost pure sodium chloride, at 97% or higher. Iodine is often added to table salt.
Kosher Salt is used for all cooking. It dissolves fast, and its flavor disperses quickly, so chefs recommend tossing it on everything from pork roast to popcorn. Kosher salt got its name because its craggy crystals make it perfect for curing meat, a step in the koshering process. Cooks prize crystals like these, because their roughness makes it easy to pinch a perfect amount.
Himalayan Pink Salt is harvested in Pakistan. It is mined from the Khewra Salt Mine, the second largest salt mine in the world. Himalayan salt often contains trace amounts of iron oxide (rust), which gives it a pink color. It also contains small amounts of calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium, and slightly lower amounts of sodium than table salt.
Black Salt, also known as Kala Namak, is actually a pinkish-grey color. It is mined in India and has a strong sulphuric smell. It is commonly used to spice food in Southeast Asia and has recently become more popular in the US among vegan chefs who use it for the flavor.
Flaked Sea Salt adds a complex flavor to steamed vegetables or shellfish. This salt adds a hint of briny flavor. It comes from England's Essex coast. Its texture is soft, with sheer, pyramid-like flakes. This is the fastest-dissolving of all of the salt grains.
Celtic Salt is a type of salt that originally became popular in France. It has a greyish color and also comes from and contains a bit of water, which makes it quite moist. Celtic salt contains trace amounts of minerals and is a bit lower in sodium than table salt.
Rock Salt is used for making ice cream and de-icing. Rock salt is paired with ice in old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream makers to regulate the temperature. It is also used to de-ice sidewalks and driveways during the winter. It is not sold for use directly on food. It is usually packaged in an organic, unprocessed form. It has large, chunky, non-uniform crystals. Minerals and other harmless impurities can give it a grayish color.
Crystalline Sea Salt is used for adding a pungent burst of flavor to just-cooked foods. These crystals can complement anything from a fresh salad to a salmon fillet. It comes from coasts from Portugal to Maine, California to the Pacific Rim. It can be either fine or coarse. The size of the irregular crystals affects how fast it dissolves. It varies in color, depending on the minerals it contains. These natural impurities can add subtle briny, sweet, or bitter flavors to the salts.
Fleur de Sel is a special-occasion table salt. It is delicately flavored and adds a perfect hint of saltiness to freshly sliced tomato or melon. It comes from coastal salt ponds in France. Some call it the caviar of sea salt and it is hand harvested. It is crystalline and melts slowly in the mouth.
Pickling Salt is used for brining pickles and sauerkraut. It is also used to brine a turkey, and is more concentrated than kosher salt. Pickling salt may come from the earth or the sea. It is almost one hundred percent sodium chloride and is the purest of salts.
Bottom line, the main purpose for salt is to add flavor, not nutrition.
Jun 19, 2015
Smart Phone Hack
When going out of town, or to a large
mall, finding your car when you come back can be a hassle. Take out
your phone and take a picture of any landmark, especially if the lot
is color coded, or numbered/lettered close to where your car is
parked. Might save a bunch of time wandering around looking for your
car.
Google Ocean View
If you think Google street view is cool,
you will love street view/ocean. I like to use street view to see
what a house, or building, or block looks like, so when I drive
there I know what to look for.
Now we can do the same under the sea. Thinking of going somewhere warm to do some snorkeling? Try ocean view to see what types of fish you might encounter or take a tour of sunken ships. Street view/ocean has wonderful photography and all the features of street view, plus video. Caution, the views can be addicting. LINK
Now we can do the same under the sea. Thinking of going somewhere warm to do some snorkeling? Try ocean view to see what types of fish you might encounter or take a tour of sunken ships. Street view/ocean has wonderful photography and all the features of street view, plus video. Caution, the views can be addicting. LINK
Humans and Wallabies Share DNA
A tammar wallaby is a small- or mid-sized macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos. One of them, Mathilda, became the first kangaroo to have her genetic code mapped.
The Australian researchers were shocked when they compared her code with a human’s. They had expected the comparison to be a mismatch, but it turned out that the genomes of the two species were more than just similar. Apart from a few differences, the genes were identical, and many of them were arranged in the same order. Both species hold large pieces of genetic information about the other.
It made more sense when the researchers also discovered that people and these bouncy marsupials had a common ancestor that lived at least 150 million years ago. Mice separated from humans only 70 million years ago, but scientists feel that kangaroos can provide more answers about human evolution when it comes to why some DNA remained the same for eons while other DNA changed. By comparing different genomes from species, unknown genes can be identified, and Matilda revealed 14 new genes never before seen in kangaroos, which might possibly also be present in humans.
The Australian researchers were shocked when they compared her code with a human’s. They had expected the comparison to be a mismatch, but it turned out that the genomes of the two species were more than just similar. Apart from a few differences, the genes were identical, and many of them were arranged in the same order. Both species hold large pieces of genetic information about the other.
It made more sense when the researchers also discovered that people and these bouncy marsupials had a common ancestor that lived at least 150 million years ago. Mice separated from humans only 70 million years ago, but scientists feel that kangaroos can provide more answers about human evolution when it comes to why some DNA remained the same for eons while other DNA changed. By comparing different genomes from species, unknown genes can be identified, and Matilda revealed 14 new genes never before seen in kangaroos, which might possibly also be present in humans.
How to Move a Mountain
Mother Nature can do in seconds what mankind has never been able to do. Geologists in China announced the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April caused Mount Everest to move three centimeters (1.2 inches) to the southwest.
The world's highest peak had been moving northeast at a pace of four centimeters (1.6 inches) per year during the past decade and China's national surveying administration said the height of the mountain has risen by three centimeters (1.2 inches) from 2005 to 2015.
The April 25th earthquake, which triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, was one of two major quakes that struck Nepal this spring, leaving more than 8,700 people dead.
The world's highest peak had been moving northeast at a pace of four centimeters (1.6 inches) per year during the past decade and China's national surveying administration said the height of the mountain has risen by three centimeters (1.2 inches) from 2005 to 2015.
The April 25th earthquake, which triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, was one of two major quakes that struck Nepal this spring, leaving more than 8,700 people dead.
Bad Fats
Not all trans fats are bad fats. Generally, bad fats are manufactured trans fats. They are also known as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Manufactured trans fat is a heavily processed vegetable oil. All hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are trans fats. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is one of the top ingredients in most packaged foods: cookies, snack chips, pretzels, most peanut butter, and shortening. Many fast food chains fry their foods in partially hydrogenated oils.
Natural trans fats are found in dairy products and certain other foods. They have not shown to be harmful.
Vegetable shortening and most margarines contain trans fats. Trans fats begin as natural, polyunsaturated fats that are then exposed to chemical processes that change the molecular structure by artificially saturating the fat with hydrogen in the manufacturing process. Manufactured trans fats are synthetic saturated fats.
Manufactured trans fat raises LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It raises levels of triglycerides, another form of lipid, which can increase the risk of heart disease.
Commercial baked goods such as crackers, cookies, cakes, and many fried foods like doughnuts and French fries may contain trans fats. Shortening and margarine may also be high in trans fats. In the United States, if a food has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving, the food label can read 0 grams trans fat.
According to the Mayo Clinic, in a healthy diet, 25 to 35 percent of your total daily calories can come from fat, but saturated fat should account for less than 10 percent of your total daily calories.
Monounsaturated fat, found in olive, peanut, and canola oils is a healthier option than saturated fat. Nuts, fish, and other foods containing unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids are also good choices of foods with monounsaturated fats. Consumption of bad trans fats has gone down in recent years and decades.
Natural trans fats are found in dairy products and certain other foods. They have not shown to be harmful.
Vegetable shortening and most margarines contain trans fats. Trans fats begin as natural, polyunsaturated fats that are then exposed to chemical processes that change the molecular structure by artificially saturating the fat with hydrogen in the manufacturing process. Manufactured trans fats are synthetic saturated fats.
Manufactured trans fat raises LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It raises levels of triglycerides, another form of lipid, which can increase the risk of heart disease.
Commercial baked goods such as crackers, cookies, cakes, and many fried foods like doughnuts and French fries may contain trans fats. Shortening and margarine may also be high in trans fats. In the United States, if a food has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving, the food label can read 0 grams trans fat.
According to the Mayo Clinic, in a healthy diet, 25 to 35 percent of your total daily calories can come from fat, but saturated fat should account for less than 10 percent of your total daily calories.
Monounsaturated fat, found in olive, peanut, and canola oils is a healthier option than saturated fat. Nuts, fish, and other foods containing unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids are also good choices of foods with monounsaturated fats. Consumption of bad trans fats has gone down in recent years and decades.
Jun 12, 2015
Happy Friday
A smile has a thousand friends, but a frown sleeps alone.
I am never lonesome, especially when I smile on a Happy Friday!
I am never lonesome, especially when I smile on a Happy Friday!
Handshakes and Health
A new study in the British Medical
journal Lancet suggests the strength of a person's hand-grip could
predict the risk of heart attacks and strokes and is a stronger
predictor of death than blood pressure checks. The international
study, involving almost 140,000 adults in 17 countries during four
years found weak grip strength is linked with shorter survival and
a greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke. It also found
that grip strength is a stronger predictor of death than systolic
blood pressure. Grip strength was assessed using a handgrip
dynamometer. Reduced muscular strength, which can be measured by
grip strength, has been consistently linked with early death,
disability, and illness.
Kits and Caboodles
Kit has been in use as far back as the
late 1200s and originally meant a round wooden tub, jug, tankard,
or wooden container. Later it came to mean a knapsack as for a
soldier, which contained all his needed items. Caboodle was first
seen during the mid-1800s and from the earlier word boodle,
meaning a collection of people among other meanings. Together they
roughly mean all the people and all their things, the whole lot.
Kit and caboodle was first seen in print in 1884 in New York’s Syracuse Sunday Standard: “More audiences have been disappointed by him and by the whole kit-and-caboodle of his rivals.”
Kit and caboodle was first seen in print in 1884 in New York’s Syracuse Sunday Standard: “More audiences have been disappointed by him and by the whole kit-and-caboodle of his rivals.”
Cows Face One Direction
Cows always face north or south while
eating. A team of scientists reviewed thousands of Google Earth’s
satellite images of cows and found that cows will stand along the
Earth’s magnetic poles, facing north and south whenever they are
grazing or resting. The pattern remained consistent regardless of
wind or other factors, and nobody is quite sure why. It appears
that it may have a purpose because of the consistency with which
it was observed among cows across six continents.
Veal, Beef and Offal
Veal comes from calves. It can be
produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, but most veal
comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds. Limited numbers of
male dairy calves are needed for breeding and the rest are sold to
the veal industry. Incidentally, rennet (necessary for cheese
making) is extracted from part of the fourth stomach chamber of
harvested young, unweaned calves used for veal production.
Beef comes from older cattle and can be harvested from bulls, cows, heifers or steers. When a cow is slaughtered, its beef is so fresh it is considered 'green'. Green beef is tough, bland, and has no sustained juiciness. Aging causes natural enzymes to break down the muscle fibers, making it more tender. Most aging takes place within one to two weeks. Incidentally, Kobe beef, prized for its intense marbling, refers to beef from the Tajima strain of wagyu cattle, raised in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture according to rules from the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association. There are only about 3,000 head of cattle that may qualify as Kobe. No beef from Japan was allowed to be imported into the US by the USDA, starting during 2009. US 'Kobe-style' beef comes from domestically raised wagyu crossbred with Angus cattle. Black Angus is the most common beef breed (sixty percent and greater than the next seven breeds combined) of cattle in the US and is meat is used by McDonald's and Hardees.
Offal is also called variety meats or organ meats and refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal, such as calves, pigs, sheep, and lambs. It includes most internal organs, but not muscle and bone. Certain offal dishes, including foie gras, pâté, and sweetbread are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine including Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, Southern US chitlins, Mexican menudo as well as many other dishes. Intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.
Beef comes from older cattle and can be harvested from bulls, cows, heifers or steers. When a cow is slaughtered, its beef is so fresh it is considered 'green'. Green beef is tough, bland, and has no sustained juiciness. Aging causes natural enzymes to break down the muscle fibers, making it more tender. Most aging takes place within one to two weeks. Incidentally, Kobe beef, prized for its intense marbling, refers to beef from the Tajima strain of wagyu cattle, raised in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture according to rules from the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association. There are only about 3,000 head of cattle that may qualify as Kobe. No beef from Japan was allowed to be imported into the US by the USDA, starting during 2009. US 'Kobe-style' beef comes from domestically raised wagyu crossbred with Angus cattle. Black Angus is the most common beef breed (sixty percent and greater than the next seven breeds combined) of cattle in the US and is meat is used by McDonald's and Hardees.
Offal is also called variety meats or organ meats and refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal, such as calves, pigs, sheep, and lambs. It includes most internal organs, but not muscle and bone. Certain offal dishes, including foie gras, pâté, and sweetbread are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine including Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, Southern US chitlins, Mexican menudo as well as many other dishes. Intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.
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