Monthly Archives: June 2011

Easy-peasy chocolate puddings

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SARAH MCINERNEY

Nigella Lawson

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Quick pasta and bean soup

When it’s cold outside and you’ve got a hankering for something sweet, it’s hard to go past a chocolate pudding.

And you can’t get much simpler than the self-saucing variety.

High on the comfort factor and heavy on the chocolate, recipes range from the ultra-quick mid-week version to the rich and decadent indulgence-in-a-ramekin you might find on a restaurant dessert menu.

In the world of puddings it may not be the best looker but what it lacks in appearance it more than makes up for in taste. It also has ease and speed on its side, as well as a touch of magic.

Sprinkle brown sugar and cocoa powder over the top of the batter, pour over boiling water and pop it in the oven. A short time later and a transformation has taken place. The toppings have combined to form a thick sauce, sinking to the bottom, and the pudding itself has emerged through the top. I like mine with cream but ice cream and custard also have their merits.

Unlike their cousins, the soft-centred molten/lava cakes, cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate flavour the pudding, along with a touch of vanilla extract.  Some recipes also include a shot of coffee.
Given the pudding can be tweaked through ingredients or cooking method to suit different occasions and situations, I have road tested a selection below. 

In a bizarre coincidence, I did the bulk of my cooking for this blog on national chocolate pudding day (June 26), an event the interweb informs me is celebrated every year in the US, at least by food bloggers.  Although I suspect this ‘celebration’ is more in honour of the chocolate custard dessert popular in the US than the hearty cake-variety we enjoy here.

Quick and easy

There’s something very appealing about a recipe which promises to deliver a dessert in 18 minutes and requires no mixing bowl and therefore less washing up.

The UK edition of Delicious magazine features a microwave self-saucing chocolate pudding that’s very easy to make and not bad to eat. It took me 23 minutes all up – 10 to make the batter, eight minutes to cook and five minutes to rest, making it a good option for a busy week night. The cake itself was a bit dry but scoop out some more sauce and smother it in ice cream and problem solved. Would I serve it at a dinner party? No. But if I was hankering for a pudding and was pressed for time, I might give it a whirl.

Rich indulgence

Bill Granger’s chocolate self-saucing pudding recipe adds eggs and double the amount of cocoa powder so I know it’s going to be rich and decadent. It’s one of those recipes where you’d be happy just to eat a giant bowl of the cake batter. This is helped by the fact that I upgraded to the fancy Valrhona cocoa powder.  It’s so delicious I actually contemplate pouring the mixture into a parfait dish and serving it as a ‘mousse’, but restrain myself.

Cracked and knobbly in appearance, it’s not a very elegant dish. But boy is it delicious. It has a lovely crusty top too.  

With dinner party desserts in mind, I also made Nigella Lawson’s molten chocolate baby cakes. These work on the theory that you cook them just enough to ensure the outside is solid and cake-like, while leaving the centre in a liquid state.  I felt a bit like a MasterChef contestant staring down Gary, George and Matt as my lunch guests broke into them. Sadly, the centre didn’t come oozing out, but it was still soft and squishy (I had popped them back in the oven for an extra two minutes). These were pretty as a picture, and impressed my lunch guests – not just because they were delicious but because of the drama of cutting into the middle.  Some fruit and cream on the side is essential to cut through the sweetness – it was sugar headaches all round as we tucked in.

Neither Plain Eater nor I could finish either of these desserts, although in a dinner party situation where the red wine is flowing, it’s often possible to take on previously unimaginable feats of consumption! However, making them both in smaller ramekins would probably be advisable.

Coffee kick

Both Stephanie Alexander and Margaret Fulton use coffee in their recipes. Alexander adds a shot of espresso to the sauce and Fulton some instant coffee to the pudding batter. Just one mouthful of these puddings and you understand why. They contain half the cocoa powder of Granger’s recipe, so are less chocolatey, but the coffee compensates for this by adding another layer of flavour.

The first cut into Alexander’s releases a beautiful aroma of espresso, the flavour of which is quite subtle. In Fulton’s the coffee flavour is barely noticeable. Another big difference in these puddings is the texture. Alexander’s uses baking powder and flour and Fulton’s self-raising flour. The former has a crusty top (as did Granger’s) and the latter is smoother. Both are the most eatable of all the puddings I’ve tried, but that’s not to detract from Granger and Lawson’s options, which were an immensely enjoyable indulgence, even if I couldn’t finish them.

Light option

Weight Watchers has a chocolate self-saucing pudding recipe in one of its cook books (six points for those on the programme). It cuts back on the sugar (swapping caster for brown), rejects butter for canola spread, and uses skim milk. Portion size is smaller too – ¾ cup capacity ramekins.

The quantity is good, but it lacks sweetness and the cake is quite swamped by the sauce. It also has a slightly bitter after taste. This and the microwave version are my least favourite of all the puddings, but both serve a purpose and were perfectly fine to eat with some (low-fat) ice cream.

Road test observations

For a pudding that’s so simple to make there are some big variances in texture and flavour. Here are some of the lessons I learned from trialling the different recipes:

  • For a milder pudding, one you can happily eat without putting yourself in a food coma, look for a recipe that cuts back on the cocoa but adds flavour through coffee.
  • If you like a crusty pudding, consider using plain flour and baking powder rather than self-raising flour. That way you can increase the ratio of raising agent to flour, which seems to impact the texture.
  • If you’re going for rich and decadent, consider reducing the size of the ramekins and don’t skimp on the cream and berries on the side.

– Sydney Morning Herald

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Weekday Vegetarian: Mushroom and Potato Curry Soup

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This Indian soup is simple to make, but if you have to cook the potatoes first, it can take a bit of time. I actually had some mashed potatoes left over from our dinner the night before, so I used them. It resulted in a less textured soup than you would get if you boiled the potatoes and then broke them up, but it was fine. It was worth it to get the hot soup into us sooner. This calls for one tablespoon of cayenne pepper, which would please my heat loving son, but I think is probably more than most people would be comfortable with. If you love hot and spicy food, go ahead, otherwise you might want to cut the amount down a little. I mixed the hot soup into the buttermilk, but it still curdled a little bit, but it didn’t affect the taste.

This recipe is from Vij’s At Home: Relax, Honey by Meeeru Dhalvala and Vikram Vij.

Mushroom and Potato Curry Soup

1 1.2 lbs potatoes, unpeeled
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp finely chopped garlic
3 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp salt
2 1/2 tbs ground coriander
1 tbsp crushed cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
5 cups water
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
6 oz mushrooms, chopped

1. Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil on high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and boil for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are soft but not mushy when pierced with a knife. Drain potatoes and set aside to cool.

2. Once potatoes are cool, use your fingers or a sharp knife to peel off and discard the skins. Roughly mash the potatoes, using your fists or a potato masher. Be sure to leave the potatoes a bit chunky, as you want some texture in the soup.

3. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil on medium high for 45 seconds. Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for 30 seconds. Add garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden. Stir in ginger and saute for 30 seconds, then add salt, coriander, cayenne and turmeric, and saute for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium-high, add the 5 cups of water and stir thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low.

4. Pour buttermilk into a large bowl. To prevent the buttermilk from separating in the soup, use a ladle to spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the hot potato curry into the buttermilk. Whisk the mixture until it is well combined. Carefully spoon all of the buttermilk into the pot of curry. Using the whisk, mix well and, stirring continuously, bring to a boil on low heat. Add mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes, or until slightly wilted.

More Great Seasonal Soup Recipes
Strawberry Soup
Chilled Herb Soup
Chilled Cucumber and Yogurt Soup


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Grades of Fish Oilfish oil | fish oil

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Fish Oil Grades

Fish oil production does not just provide one type of end product. In fact, there are also other grades of fish oil being produced. The three types of fish oil produced today depend on their level of quality.

Cod Liver Oil

Cod liver oil, despite its popularity as a nutritional supplement, is considered as a low quality grade of fish oil. It may only be used in small amounts as an ideal supplement since this form of fish oil may contain certain contaminants. Cod liver oil is also known to contain high levels of vitamin A which can be toxic to humans in large doses.
One teaspoon of cod liver oil contains 500 mg of long chain omega 3 fatty acids. Cod liver oil contains the highest levels of contaminants which may include DDT, PCB’s as well as organic mercury. Taking this type of fish oil may not be safe in large quantities.

Health Food Fish Oil

Better quality grade fish oil is one that is sourced from a particular species of fish such as salmon. Most of these health food grade fish oil are usually available in soft gel capsules because they still carry with them a very poor taste profile. There is also a cholesterol free version of this type of fish oil grade.

This type of health food grade fish oil undergoes a slightly more purification process by means of limited molecular distillation in order to remove some of its cholesterol content in order to label it as cholesterol free. An even purified version of this health food grade version of fish oil is known as fish oil concentrate. This is the type of fish oil consisting of ethyl esters of the fish oil that undergoes fractional cooling. This allows a more purified form of fish oil with lesser amounts of contaminants that cod liver oil.

Generally, this type of fish oil contains a better concentration of omega 3 fatty acids. A single one gram capsule contains about 300 mg of omega 3 fatty acids. One capsule of a thermally fractionated health food grade can contain as much as 500 mg of long chain omega 3 fatty acids.

Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil

Pharmaceutical grade fish oil has been ultra-refined in order to provide the highest quality of fish oil. This grade of fish oil undergoes through certain specialized processes in order to come up with the most refined fish oil. Certain specialized equipment is usually used in order to detect the minutest amount of contaminants in the fish oil. Because it is ultra-refined, it is thousand times purer than the molecular distilled health food grade fish oils.

An ultra-refined pharmaceutical grade fish oil contains more omega 3 fatty acids than the previous two fish oil grades. A one gram of this type of fish oil contains around 600 mg of long chain omega 3 fatty acids. And for being the most refined of the three grades of fish oil, it contains the smallest amount of contaminants.


Food & Cooking – fish oil, with Bill & Sheila

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Eastern Alternative Herbal Medicine for Western Children

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Eastern Alternative Herbal Medicine for Western Children

The pharmacologic industry is one of the most promising and progressing business of the present. An increase in the awareness and focus of research and development on medicine has triggered a big push to drug manufacturing.

With the main driving force of improving the lives and promoting human longevity; researchers, scientists, and businessmen have jumped into the business of creating medications for the sick, as well as for those who want to prevent further illness.

The western civilization brought industrially prepared medicine, and sold at commercial markets while the eastern part of the globe saw the need for intervention of natural means of preparation through alternative herbal medicine.

East Meets West

It may very well be said that Western medicine is technologically advanced and came about with the notion of curing an existing illness. It is on the forefront of stopping and getting rid of a susceptible disease or complications.

As for Eastern medication, it is historically rooted and is based on centuries’ worth of human existence, with the idea of preventing illnesses from happening in the first place. It is in the background of keeping our bodies healthy and sickness free.

As for the fusion of the old and the new, past and present, technology and tradition, and western and eastern ideologies, alternative herbal medicine was produced. Pharmacological firms embraced the idea of herbal and natural medication in line with their own synthetically made variants to provide an option for everyone in need of medicine.

Sensitive and Fragile

Those who are in need of medication take prescribed drugs, some of which are quite harmful to other cells, and organs. The liver is one of the body’s organs hit hard by drug intervention when it synthesizes and tries to bind the specific components to our body’s cells. The more unnaturally existing and synthetic the drug is, the more it is at risk for our body to react against. This is even more risky for fragile bodies such as our kids.

Our kids’ bodies are still growing, their minds and way of thinking still developing. They are also prone to infection and sickness because of their increased activity without much conscious protective measures. Giving them industrially created drugs expose their bodies to harmful chemicals even if these drugs cure them of their sickness.

They too have their own immune system to provide immediate and automatic protection from harmful elements both in and out of their bodies. However, bacteria and other environmental factors overpower them much like with adults. The only difference is that young children are still building up their body’s defences.

Prevention and Herbal Medication

With the application of research and development on naturally occurring plants in our environment, it is now possible to give alternative herbal medicine to our children. Certain drug companies adhere to the idea of natural medication since it is beneficial not only to children, but to anyone in terms of less adverse reaction of the body. This is because the components of alternative herbal medicine are naturally occurring, organic, and supports life processes.

Administering alternative herbal medicine to children does not stress their livers because organic compounds from the plant source can be easily synthesized as compared to synthetic ones. Herbal supplements also are safe to take on a daily basis as prescribed to prevent sickness and illnesses from occurring.


Bill & Sheila’s A-Z of herbs – Herbal Medicine

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Is Fish Oil Harmful

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Is Fish Oil Harmful?

If you ask those fans of mackerel and salmon why they loved those fish so much and what is omega-3, they will probably give you a long lecture on how important or beneficial essential fatty acids are to your health. They will site a number of studies proving the positive effects of fatty acids on our bodies and how these can be used to treat a variety of conditions, ailments or diseases.

Some, and these are the really omega-3 fanatics, can go on and on and on. From the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids to the preparations and cooking of salmon. At the end you find yourself mumbling and probably cursing why you asked in the first place. However, despite the long lecture, you might notice your friend leaving behind an issue that is often disregarded but is equally important with the benefits of fish oils. And that can be addressed by answering the question: is fish oil harmful?

I am all for the various benefits of fish oils. I don’t discount it, I don’t question the studies nor do I criticize the testimonies from long time users. But personally, I don’t believe that fish oils are purely good. We have this saying that too much of anything is bad for you. The same should apply to fish oils. After researching the internet, reading a number of articles, and a couple of cups of coffee, I found out that fish oils do have some side effects, some even quite harmful.

Among the more minor side effects are diarrhoea and that fishy after taste. You will experience these side effects if you too much dosage of fish oils. Commonly doctors would prescribe or recommend a 2 gram intake of fish oil daily at the minimum.

Probably the major risk of overdosing on fish oil is the contamination, more specifically mercury contamination. It is a sad fact, but a lot of the world’s fishing grounds are contaminated or polluted. The fish you eat might have a good stock of omega-3 but you might not know it, the fish might only contain a considerable amount of heavy metal contaminants. When it comes to pill or capsule supplements, the process of creating those fish oil capsules might not be safe. The safest would be through a distillation process.

Another major risk is when combined with other blood thinners. Fish oil acts as a blood thinner or anti-coagulant, which basically helps stop platelets or heavy cells from forming blood clots reducing the risks of having a heart attack. However, if you combine fish oil with other medicines such as aspirins, the result might be very harmful to your body and even fatal. Too much blood thinners can cause you to bleed out. And bleeding does not mean just bleeding out externally, but there are cases where patients actually bled to their brains.

So going back to our question, is fish oil harmful? Well, the above scenario is quite a frightening one but things like that could possibly happen to people who are extremely careless. That is why before you take any supplements, fish oil in this case, you should consult your doctors and make sure you provide them with a complete, honest and proper medical history.


Food & Cooking – fish oil, with Bill & Sheila

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More great recipes from Bennett cookbook

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Living cookbook check out our cookbook software page


More great recipes from Bennett cookbook

We continue to enjoy recipes from the school fundraiser cookbook we recently purchased, “Bennett Middle School Recipes for Success!” ($10, available from the school office or call 410-677-5140 for information). One of the recipes we’ve tried for a special occasion was this Perfect Party Punch, submitted by student Amari Peck. Make sure you have a crowd ready to drink it though, as it makes a big bowl of punch and really won’t keep.

For a special Fourth of July presentation of the punch below, you could forgo the ice cream to keep a deeper red color, top each glass with a swirl of whipped cream and a few blueberries or a blue star-shaped marshmallows. You could also freeze blueberries in ice cubes or an ice ring to float in the punch, and drop the ice cream in scoop by scoop at the last minute to keep the red, white and blue theme.

Perfect Party Punch

One can pineapple juice

One liter 7-Up

One liter Hawaiian Punch

One-half gallon vanilla ice cream

Several pineapple slices

Mix first three ingredients together, add ice cream, add pineapple slices for garnish.

Make something spectacular for the holiday feast table this year with this recipe from allrecipes.com. We’ve made layered gelatin recipes like it before, and they are both spectacular to see and delicious to eat.

Patriotic Gelatin Salad

Two (three-ounce packages) berry blue gelatin

Two (three-ounce packages) strawberry flavored gelatin

Four cups boiling water divided

Two one-half cups cold water, divided

Two envelopes unflavored gelatin

Two cups milk

One cup sugar

Two cups sour cream

Two teaspoons vanilla extract

In four separate bowls, dissolve each package of gelatin in one cup boiling water. Add one-half cup cold water to each and stir. Pour one bowl of blue gelatin into an oiled 10-in. fluted tube pan; chill until almost set, about 30 minutes.

Set other three bowls of gelatin aside at room temperature. Soften unflavored gelatin in remaining cold water; let stand five minutes.

Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat just below boiling. Stir in softened gelatin and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and vanilla until smooth. When blue gelatin in pan in almost set, carefully spoon one-and-one-half cups sour cream mixture over it. Chill until almost set, about 30 minutes.

Carefully spoon one bowl of strawberry gelatin over cream layer. Chill until almost set. Carefully spoon one-and-one-half cups cream mixture over the strawberry layer.

Chill until almost set. Repeat, adding layers of blue gelatin, cream mixture and strawberry gelatin, chilling in between each. Chill several hours or overnight.

MAC Cookbook

Speaking of fundraising cookbooks: MAC Inc., the Area Agency on Aging, is creating a cookbook that will have 300 classic family favorite recipes. Your submissions for the cookbook are welcome. Recipes will be added to the cookbook on a first-come, first-in basis, and will be duplicated at the discretion of the cookbook committee. For information or to receive a recipe form, please contact Hazel Ricker at 410-742-0505, ext. 115, or email [email protected].

National Oyster Cook-Off

Right now is the time to come up with a recipe that could win you $1,300 in this fall’s National Oyster Cook-Off. Original recipes will be accepted until Aug. 31 for the 32nd annual National Oyster Cook-Off to be held Oct. 15 in Leonardtown, Md. To enter, see the contest rules at www.marylandseafood.org or request a hard copy by calling 301-475-4200, ext. 1402.

Cash prizes of $300, $200 and $150 will be awarded to the top three finalists in each of the categories: Hors d’oeuvres, Soups and Stews, and Main Dish. The grand prize winner will be selected from the first place winners of each category and will receive an additional $1,000 and a silver tray. There will also be awards for Best Presentation of dish and People’s Choice. In addition to cash prizes, contestants receive one night of hotel accommodations and an invitation to a welcome reception.

The National Oyster Cook-off is held in conjunction with the St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival and the world-famous National Oyster Shucking Contest. The cook-off is sponsored by Maryland’s Seafood Marketing Program, St. Mary’s County Department of Economic and Community Development and the Rotary Club of St. Mary’s (Lexington Park).


Recipes with Bill & Sheila

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Wine.com Named Best Wine Website

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Wine.com Named Best Wine Website

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 June 2011, 13:08 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Wine.com has been ranked the #1 wine website in the world for the third time in a row by a study announced at VINEXPO, the bi-annual international exhibition attended by more than 48,000 wine and spirits professionals, and conducted by the BEM Bordeaux Management School (www.bem.edu). The third e-Performance Barometer study, released on June 21, is now available at http://www.eperformance-barometer.bem.edu.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110628/SF27378)

3,000 internet users in eight countries (France, Spain, Germany, the UK, Italy, Australia, United States, and China) completed a formal, scientific survey to rank the best retail wine websites worldwide and for the third time in a row, Wine.com maintained its top position. The study analyzed and ranked each site on seven performance criteria: information, product offering, site design, ease of use, security and privacy, interactivity and personalization and reliability. In this 2011 report, UK-based Laithwaites (laithwaiteswine.com) ranked #2 and China-based BoBoQui.com ranked #3.

The survey was carried out by Gregory Bressolles, who noted the impact that social networking and the mobile web have on the rankings. “With annual growth standing at over 30%, the online wine sales market does not appear to have suffered from the economic crisis,” observes the author of the study, Gregory Bressolles, Professor of marketing and Head of the e-Commerce and Retail Chair at BEM. “The e-Performance Barometer study has shown that French online wine websites sites do not invest enough and are not making the most of their Twitter and Facebook accounts, although there are a few exceptions, such as vin-malin.fr and Millesima.com. The American, British, Italian and Australian websites, on the other hand, are particularly active in these virtual networks, and demonstrate a much greater integration of social networking into their corporate strategy. Here once again the honors go to Wine.com with more than 17,000 fans on Facebook and over 7,000 followers on Twitter.”

“The e-Performance Barometer highlights many of the key differentiators that we set out from day one to accomplish–creating an information-rich platform for wine e-commerce, with a selection of thousands of wines from the world’s finest producers and wine growing regions,” said Michael Osborn, Wine.com Founder and VP Merchandising. “We strive to remove the intimidation from wine buying while educating our customers and making wine buying more convenient than traditional channels. This award further validates that ours is a winning strategy.”

About BEM (Bordeaux Ecole Management)

BEM was founded by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1874, and is one of the oldest “Grandes Ecoles” in France. The school is a member of the “Conference des Grandes Ecoles”. Originally called the Ecole Superior de Commerce, the school is now Bordeaux Ecole de Management and prefers to be called simply BEM. BEM today offers 12 programs awarding diplomas in management to the level of Bachelor, Masters and Specialized Masters.

About Wine.com

Wine.com is the nation’s #1 online wine retailer, according to Internet Retailer magazine’s annual ranking of websites by revenue, offering thousands of wines, wine gifts, gift baskets and monthly wine clubs. Wine.com’s mission is to be the ultimate resource for wine enthusiasts, whether shopping for themselves or sending a gift, by offering a great selection, low prices, convenient delivery and helpful information. Wine.com is the world’s most visited wine website, according to comScore Media Metrix and also runs the wine flash sales site, WineShopper. For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.wine.com, its blog at http://blog.wine.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/winecom and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wine_com. Visit WineShopper at www.facebook.com/wineshopper and http://twitter.com/wine_shopper.

SOURCE Wine.com

Source: PR Newswire

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Buzz wine shop (the first of many?) opens downtown

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Buzz wine shop opens downtown

Buzz3
Buzz wine and beer shop, which opened Monday at 5th and Spring streets downtown, is unlike your typical wine shop. There’s funky music, graffiti art and employees dressed in gray jumpsuits with the word “geek” printed on them. Wine is only “grape juice that is fermented and nothing more,” says owner Scott Kamalski, and there is “no need for stuffiness in a wine shop.” 

When you enter the shop, you’ll immediately see the cold case featuring domestic craft beers and international brands such as Hitachino from Japan and Delirium from Belgium. You will also find Japanese sake and shochu (a beverage made from distilled barley or other raw ingredients). 

The wine is organized by grape type with signs reading “compelling whites,” “other awesome Spanish reds” or “juicy fruits.” Buzz claims to have wine from grapes that most people have never heard of, such as the Spanish Hondarrabi Zuri or the Italian Catarratto. At the back of the shop is a glass case that holds rare and expensive bottles. Most are purchased from sustainable small producers with limited production. 

Kamalski saw a need for a downtown wine and beer shop and was determined to fill it. This store is the first in a larger project to start a Buzz chain, with the next outpost to be in West Los Angeles or Santa Monica. The shop is open seven days a week until 2 a.m., offering delivery to residents in the downtown area. Buzz is planning to offer tastings, boutique liquors and beverages by the glass. For now, bottles can also be purchased online. 

460 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, (213) 622-2222, www.buzzwinebeershop.

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Next Door Lounge in Hollywood

4th of July events

Don’t pity the blueberry fool (recipe) 

– Leah Rodrigues

Twitter.com/LeahRodrigues24

Photo Credit: Betty Hallock/ Los Angeles Times



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Lighter, greener plastic wine bottles gain favour

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Lighter, greener plastic wine bottles gain favour

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Wine producers from New Zealand, the United States and even France are switching from glass to plastic wine bottles, saying they are lighter, good for the environment and not bad for the wine.

The PET, polyethylene terephthalate, bottles are 100 percent recyclable, unbreakable, lighter and smaller to transport than glass and take less energy to create.

“We see (plastic) as a positive step in terms of energy and production,” said Michael Wentworth, of New Zealand’s Yealands Estate. “It’s 89 percent lighter than glass, so you’re reducing your carbon footprint there, as well as anytime you ship it.”

The plastic containers have not changed the taste of the wine Yealands said because its Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, which have both been bottled in plastic, have done well in blind tasting wine competitions.

For Naked Winery in the western U.S. state of Oregon, which has used PET bottles for more than a year, the containers suit its outdoor wine concept.

“I like to backpack and I like to take wine backpacking and this is perfect,” said David Barringer, 52, a winemaker at Naked.

Both wineries use a 750 ml sized bottle, which Wentworth said looks smaller next to regular size bottles.

“The consumer may think that they’re not getting the same amount of wine, so we clearly label ours 750 ml,” he said.

Despite the convenience of plastic bottles, the containers have faced an image problem with some consumers still preferring their wine in a glass bottle.

While Boisset Family Estates sells its California Fog Mountain Merlot and its Yellow Jersey wine in plastic bottles in North America, it had less luck with Beaujolais Nouveau.

When Boisset bottled its 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau in plastic bottles consumers, who like to bring a bottle of the young wine to their annual Thanksgiving Day dinners, complained.

“Thanksgiving is a very traditional holiday … so consumers wanted a more traditional package. They wanted glass,” said Patrick Egan of Boisset.

As a result Boisset switched to a lighter glass, which weighs less than traditional bottles, for its Beaujolais Nouveau.

The Bordeaux-based Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences also raised concerns about quality after a preliminary report it released last year suggested white wine in plastic bottles stayed fresh for six months.

Marc Kaufman of EnVino, the maker of PET bottles for Boisset and Naked Winery, rejected the study’s findings, saying plastic bottles are not meant for expensive wines that need to be laid down for years before being drunk.

“Those wines make up less than three percent of the market. We’re aiming for the other 97 percent,” he said.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney)


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Alternative Herbal Medicine For A Healthier You

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Alternative Herbal Medicine For A Healthier You

Alternative herbal medicine offers a healthy solution for a total body makeover. You don’t have to dish out thousands of dollars a month just to keep your body in top shape. It’s true that there are plenty of high-end medical equipment and synthetic drugs made by pharmaceutical companies to help you fight health-related problems, but the cost of the treatment and side-effects might prove to be a hindrance to you rather than a benefit.

Healthy Facts About Herbal Medicine

As the name suggest, herbal medicine is made from plants. There are certain plants that contain chemicals and extracts that is highly beneficial to the human body. Herbal products sold in health and fitness shops today uses only 100% natural ingredients to fight certain health conditions. The aim of this natural healing method is to boost the body’s immune system to fight off ailments naturally, rather than subject your body to synthetic chemicals that might prove harmful to your health.

Herbal Medicine And Weight Loss

One of the most common uses of herbal medicine is for weight loss. There are certain plants that are used as dietary supplements to reduce your waistline without having to drink fat-burning pills using synthetic compounds. Weight loss herbal products contain certain ingredients to help you get rid of unwanted fat. you can go for hunger suppressant if you are prone to excessive eating or look for ingredients that will help your body burn more cholesterol or fat easily.

Also, weight loss herbal products are partnered with physical exercise for better results. You can take them along with your daily meals and wait for the effects to appear on your body. If you want a speedy weight loss then you might want to undergo a physical weight loss program so you can help your body get rid of fats and calories faster.

Herbal Medicine To Promote Proper Health

Our body needs a specific amount of nutrients for it to function normally. Vitamins you can buy in the local pharmacy can provide you with enough energy to help you last for a day, but it can only do so much if your body itself is deteriorating rapidly.

Herbal medicine is formulated to address all the body’s basic functions. Instead of just providing you with the vitamins and nutrients you need to keep it functioning, these natural products were designed to enhance each and every area of your body for it to perform better — and taking vitamins on top of your herbal supplement will only boost the effects.

Safety Precautions In Using Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine is not without its danger when used. The problem is not with the ingredients that the product is made of, but in the actual use of the product the certain medical conditions may arise.

One of the common problems attributed to the use of alternative herbal medicine is self-medication. There might be certain instances wherein the proper dosage indicated on the label is not the prescribed measurement for our use. It is essential that you consult an expert first so that they can determine the exact content of the herbal product and come up with a safe way to use it to avoid complications.

Also, consumers are urged to avoid taking in more of the product to avoid having problems with it. Many would think that alternative herbal medicine are safe to use and drinking more of it in one sitting would hasten the process — this is wrong. Instead of being beneficial to the body, over-dosage would only result to more health concern cropping up in your system.

Bill & Sheila’s A-Z of herbs – Herbal Medicine

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