For centuries, ghee has been a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient Hindu art of healing and of prolonging life. Now, it’s poised to become an important ingredient to people who will never cook Indian food.
What’s ghee? It’s similar to clarified butter, but the processes and end products differ somewhat. Clarified butter (or drawn butter) is familiar to anyone who has ordered lobster at a restaurant. The clear melted butter has been rendered (melted by simmering) to separate the milk solids from the butterfat and evaporate the water. It’s a more elegant way to serve melted butter, which otherwise looks sudsy. Chefs also use clarified butter to sauté, because with the milk solids gone, ghee has an extremely high smoke point, 485°F (252°C, higher than canola oil—only rice bran oil, safflower oil and avocado oil are higher).
Ghee requires a longer simmering process, which removes all of the water and milk solids. There’s no lactose left in ghee; the lactose intolerant can slather it over everything and enjoy all the buttery goodness they want. (Well, check with your cardiologist on that latter point.)
Ancient Organics ghee is made from the organic butter of Straus Family Creamery. Photo by Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.
Ancient Organics, a company dedicated to the principles of Ayurvedic medicine, makes its ghee from one of the best-known butters in America: the organic-certified butter of the acclaimed Straus Family Creamery. Across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, California, on the shores of beautiful Tomales Bay, happy Straus cows graze on green grass under blue skies. Their milk is churned in small batches in an old-fashioned 1950s-era butter churn. The result is rich, sweet and creamy butter with an 85% butterfat content (the USDA minimum requirement is 80%).
Ancient Organics takes this precious butter and separates it into the golden butterfat known as ghee. Whether or not you want to learn more about the medicinal benefits of ghee (according to Ayurveda), if you sauté, fry or stir-fry, you should get to know ghee.
This cake is an homage to the tee called “We were tomatoes.”
This contest should be called, “So you think you can decorate cakes.” And don’t let the professional-quality entries, like the one in the photo at the left, stop you from having a good time. No matter what your cake decorating skills, you have the unalienable right to enter this contest (as long as you follow the rules), to have a good time doing it, and to invite your friends and family to eat your entry.
Let’s start at the beginning. Threadless.com is an online tee shirt community that sells hip tees designed by community members. Anyone who signs up for the community can submit a design and/or vote on other people’s designs. The most popular designs are turned into the tees that are for sale on the site. “Winners” get cash, a gift certificate and more cash each time their design gets reprinted. Cool.
Just as cool, someone got the idea of letting cake makers in on the fun. This inspired Threadcakes, a contest where members of the [theoretical] “so you think you can bake” community select a tee shirt design of their choice from the Threadless site and interpret it as a cake. Take a look and enter.
If you can’t design cakes, you can have a great time looking at the submissions in the photo gallery. If you want to enter, start baking: The contest closes on August 3rd.
In a cake state of mind? Check out our gorgeous Cake Glossary.
Insert “character cookies” into the tops of cupcakes to create an innovative and memorable dessert, snack or party fare. Animal cookies, people cookies, flowers and fanciful shapes turn cupcakes into edible sculptures that delight children and adults alike. You also can use the cookies on top of cakes or around the sides of a cake to create an entire story.
We’re not saying that Mr. and Mrs. Raisinet take their time, but 80 years after the birth of original chocolate-covered raisins, there’s finally a little sister: new Cranberry Raisinets. The bouncing addition to the family of 100% chocolate-covered whole dried fruits is a superfruit, a natural food source that is highly concentrated with a complex supply of quality nutrients, including antioxidants. Ocean Spray Cranberries, the surrogate mother, is the nation’s number one cranberry supplier. With “½ serving of real fruit in every ¼ cup,” Cranberry Raisinets are available nationwide in a resealable 5.5-ounce bag (MSRP $3.29) and single-serve .81-ounce 100 Calorie Packs (shown in photo—MSRP $0.89 each).
The Pilgrims first encountered cranberries when they settled in what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cranberries have two powerful antioxidants, flavanoids and Vitamin C, which have been shown to help the body fight free radicals. Cranberries have long been used medicinally for prevention and treatment of urinary tract infection, gum disease, stomach ulcers, heart disease and cancer. For health purposes, though, consult with your healthcare practitioner—don’t count on Cranberry Raisinets.
New Cranberry Raisinets in 100 Calorie Packs. Photo by Emily Chang | THE NIBBLE.
The winning latte—and why shouldn’t it
taste good, at 400 calories?
The August 2009 issue of Consumer Reports magazine sent tasters to the front of the coffee wars. Carefully navigating the war zone, they visited four McDonald’s, four Starbucks and four Dunkin’ Donuts stores in New York and New Jersey to compare new espresso-based McCafé hot and iced plain lattes with Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts lattes. They also compared the new Starbucks instant coffee, Via Ready Brew, with Starbucks brewed ground and whole-bean coffees (Colombian medium versions). News from the front:
The Starbucks instant and brewed Columbian coffees are similar in quality; that quality is good, but not great. The brewed coffees have the bitterness and darker roast found in previous tests of Starbucks Colombian. Instant Via has more subdued flavors, is not as bitter, and has a slight cereal taste. Those who love the signature bitterness and darker-roast character of brewed Starbucks might wish to stay with the brewed.
McCafé hot latte has more coffee flavor than the latte competition from Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, and tends to be slightly bitter, though the taste varied from store to store. McDonald’s iced coffee was deemed bitter and sour, with burnt or smoky notes (but it must appeal to someone—they sell it!). The regular hot coffee does not stand out.
Consumer Reports notes: A large hot whole-milk McCafé Mocha topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate has 400 calories and 14 grams of fat—about one-fifth of most people’s suggested daily caloric intake. THE NIBBLE investigated: All three stores offer sugar-free and nonfat options; McDonald’s large Nonfat Latte with Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup has 110 calories. Big difference!
See the full article and other highlights from Consumer Reports August 2009 issue.
