Tag: Flavors

Delicious Party Favors

Seldom do people realize that food can be a special party favors they can give out during occasions. When talking about “handmade” items, foods are probably among the top choices this is because there is no way to prepare them but to use one’s hands. Come special seasons such as parties, this is the top handmade gift choice to many people since these are potential staple items on the table.

Although it is still months before a party that you are about to prepare, its never too early to think of the food items you can give out as party favors. As early as now, you can look for special sweets, tarts, candies, breads and bottled treasures in specialty stores or you can start learning how to make special homemade cookies that you can give to your spouse, friends, relatives, teachers, clients, associates or officemates when they attend your party.

Possible food ideas or items that you can give out as party favors include boxes of chocolates in various shapes, a selection of fruits, different arrangements of fruit baskets, traditional hampers that contain specialty foods and sweets such as breads and tarts in different shapes and sizes, and bottles of wine like sauvignon blanc dry white wine.

Delectable treats

If you want the party favors that you are about to give, choose more personalized or intimate that you can customize. Variations for food party favors include variations such as Wine and Gourmet food basket that contain gourmet pepper and poppy crackers, pacific smoked salmon with gourmet cheese spread with wine or a Sesame Crackers food gift which include a selection of garlic and cheese mix and chocolate drizzled almond biscotti and dark chocolate mint sticks with gourmet holiday coffee or bottle of chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.

But, among the so-many possible food items ideal as party favors, cookiesin different shapes, flavors, and sizesare always on top of the list. Here are some of the cookie basics you need to know before giving out as a party favor:

– Choose your recipients’ favorite cookies. Knowing your recipients’ favorite cookies will make it easier for you to buy or prepare your party favor. If not, opt for standard cookies favorites such as fresh ginger cookies, fruitcake cookies, holly cookies, and chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies.

– Make the presentation attractive. Be creative in packing your cookies by embossing it with ceramic, metal, or plastic stamps or molds or by adding special add-ons to the finished product such as colored sugar, finely chopped nuts, or colorful sprinkles. Make that you decorate the outside of your cookie container with distinctive labels, unique cards, and colorful stickers or wrapping paper.

– Maximize your effort. In making this handmade items as a party favor, try to give all you’ve got. If you are baking the cookies all by yourself, make sure that you prepare to bake a large selection of cookies by freezing several rounds of this dough in advance to achieve best output and best taste.

Magical Flavor Of Gourmet Coffee Beans

If you drink coffee and have ever stopped to look at the different types of gourmet coffee beans, you might want to actually give some a try next time you’re shopping for coffee. Instead of grabbing that huge tube of ground coffee, the same brand you’ve been purchasing and drinking for years, or instead of grabbing that more expensive, smaller tub of gourmet ground coffee, break out of your coffee rut and give beans a try.

Some people already own a coffee grinder, or remember when their parents used to purchase beans and grind them at home. Some stores still have a grinder right in the coffee aisle. The beans our parents purchased and ground were usually not gourmet coffee beans, it was simply cheaper to buy the beans and grind them yourself. If you don’t have a grinder at home, coffee grinders aren’t expensive. You’ll enjoy the smell of freshly ground coffee beans. While some savor that rich smell when they open a tub or brick or pre-ground coffee, once you’ve inhaled the aroma of freshly ground beans, that tub coffee won’t ever smell quite the same to you.

Some people are who are very choosy when it comes to coffee purchase several different types of beans and combine them in certain combinations to get the coffee taste they want. Most of us probably aren’t going to take the time to do that. We know what we like when we drink coffee, and we know what we don’t like. In that case, gourmet coffee beans can be ideal because they’re already specially chosen and designed to offer up a richer, more complex taste that that bag of coffee beans you can purchase at your local A & P.

You don’t have to purchase the same old beans or ground coffee from your supermarket. You can break out of that habit a little with gourmet coffee beans you can buy online. You’ll find blends of different beans like the almighty Arabica, Jamaican, Columbian and many others, as well as beans that are infused with different flavors. You can find beans that will give your coffee a chocolate flavor, or hint at fruit or vanilla, or almost anything you can imagine.

When you’re looking at gourmet coffee beans, you literally hundreds of choices, and that choice can seem almost overwhelming. Most places that offer this many choices have information about different types of coffee beans, roasting times, flavors and hints of flavor and general coffee information to help you choose which type of coffee beans to purchase.

And don’t forget the people you buy for. Coffee lovers can truly appreciate a thoughtful gift of gourmet coffee beans. If you’re unsure whether they grind their own beans, you can purchase the beans whole and grind them just before gift-giving. While gourmet pre-ground coffee can also be a thoughtful gift, whole beans will give the person on your gift lift the freshest coffee experience possible, and put you at the top of their list.

Coffee Lovers Dream Discover Costa Rica Coffee

If it’s been a while since you tried Costa Rica coffee, you may want to try it again. Changes in coffee production and an attempt to keep up with the growing market for coffee and gourmet coffee has caused some changes in the coffee coming out of this region. The growing trend of small coffee mills also gives coffees from this region an even larger variety of flavors and qualities, so it might be time to revisit this coffee.

If you already love Costa Rica coffee, no doubt it’s for the extremely mild, some say perfect, coffee flavor. Very mild with no bitterness, a very balanced flavor that’s worst criticism has always been its steadiness. Some have long considered coffee from this region to be fairly bland or boring. And some of the huge coffee-producing farms and mills did make an effort to produce a coffee that would please almost every coffee drinker.

These coffees were typically made from your average Arabica beans and produced on a mass scale. Today, smaller mills are becoming more and more popular in the region. The Costa Rica coffee produced on these smaller farms are carefully controlled by the mill owner and blended to produce a distinct flavor to set it apart from the other coffee in the area. Even on a small farm, different lots of coffee depending on soil drainage, elevation and other factors are found to have subtle taste differences. Combine that with different roasting temperatures and times, and the range of flavors can be huge.

How the coffee is processed has much to do with the quality and flavor, and each mill uses its own signature process or a combination to create different micro-brands of Costa Rica coffee. The region has been producing coffee since the late 18th century, with the first type of coffee grown there having come from Saudi ArabiaArabica coffee. It wasn’t long before coffee became Costa Rica’s largest exported crop, outselling even tobacco, sugar and cacao.

The Costa Rica coffee designed to remain in the country rather than be exported is tinted to distinguish it, and falls under government price regulations so that it’s much cheaper than the coffee that’s exported to the rest of the world. Workers are typically immigrants from nearby countries like Nicaragua, and the best workers still only make between $12 and $18 per day, depending on how many baskets they pick. Given the other wages in the area and that the wages are governmentally set, in Costa Rica, a seasonal worker actually makes a decent living, comparable to other agricultural workers in the area.

Costa Rica coffee is still a valuable export crop the world over, especially now that the production has become refined and the variety of different types and flavors of coffee coming from the region is so vast. If you’re a big fan of Arabica and Arabica blends, you might find that your new favorite type of mild and well-balanced coffee is indeed Costa Rica coffee.

Unbelievable Shock Awesome Flavor Espresso Coffee Bean

The only difference between the espresso coffee bean and the coffee bean is the process by which the bean is processed before it is converted into a coffee drink. The espresso coffee bean was originally developed in Milan in Italy during the early 20th century, and up until the mid 1940s, espresso could only be produced through steam pressure. The espresso coffee bean has defining characteristics which set it apart from other coffee beans, including a thicker consistency than standard drip coffee, a higher amount of dissolved solids per relative volume, and a serving size that is usually measured in 1 fluid ounce shots.

Espresso is a volatile and chemically complex by nature, and many of its chemical components degrade quickly because of a loss of temperature and due to oxidation. The most distinguishing feature that sets espresso apart from drip coffee and the traditional coffee bean is “crema”, which is a reddish brown foam that is composed of vegetable oils, sugars and proteins that floats on the surface of the espresso shot.

All of the flavors and chemicals in a typical cup of drip coffee are concentrated as a result of the high pressure brewing process. For this reason, espresso is especially useful when serving as the coffee base for other specialty coffee drinks like mochas, macchiato drinks, cappuccinos and lattes. On a per volume basis, the espresso shot that results from brewing the espresso coffee bean contains approximately three times as much caffeine as regular brewed coffee. When compared on the basis of a standard serving size, a single fluid ounce shot of espresso has half of the caffeine content of a standard six fluid ounce cup of American-style drip coffee.

Preparation of espresso from the espresso coffee bean form requires the use of a special espresso machine. Producing a single shot of espresso is called “pulling a shot”, which is derived from the old style lever espresso machines that involved pulling down on a handle that was attached to a spring loaded piston which forced hot water through the coffee at the right level of pressure. Pulling a shot of espresso involves a metal filter basket with 7 to 10 or 12 to 18 grams of ground espresso coffee beans depending on whether you are looking to produce a single shot or a double shot of espresso.

The ground espresso coffee bean are tamped down using 30 to 40 pounds of force into a firm puck of coffee. Pressurized water is then applied at between 185 and 203 degrees Fahrenheit. Water cooler than this ideal zone would cause sourness in the shot, and water hotter than this ideal zone would cause bitterness.

The higher quality espresso machines control the temperature of the brew water to keep it within a few degrees of the ideal zone. To produce the ideal shot of espresso, a demitasse or shot glass is pre heated, and the espresso shot is pulled directly into the shot glass so that its crema can be maintained and its ideal temperature preserved.

You can believe you are in for an unbelievable flavor and caffeine shock from the espresso coffee bean with your first shot of espresso coffee beans.

What Are Tortillas

Tortillas got its name from the Spaniards. The word “tortilla” comes from the Spanish word “torta” with the meaning being round cake. Tortillas are eaten everyday not just in Mexico but also in America. Americans put just about anything in the tortilla. Ever try peanut butter and jelly in a tortilla? Many eat it that way; also the tortillas are used with hot dogs, casseroles, and sandwiches.
Tortillas have been enjoyed for many centuries, but not with all the fillings that are used these days.

Aztecs made tortillas more than 10,000 years before Christ. Aztecs ate a lot of corn, some right from the cob, and others they would save and use later. They would ground it into corn meal and later make into masa, which is corn dough. The masa is added with water. If the water is not the right temperature, the consistency will not be enough to make the tortilla. Once the masa is ready, it is placed in a ball size in the maker’s hands. It takes awhile to go through the process of making the masa flat. It is patted into what looks like a think pancake. Once it is the right size, it is placed on a hot griddle. It does not take long to cook.

Today the tortilla is still made with the same ingredients. Majority of them are made in factories with machines because they are in high demand. They come in many flavors. Anyone can still make them from scratch if they prefer. You can find tortillas in a variety of Mexican foods. Tacos use them as the shell. Enchiladas consist of the tortilla being filled and then rolled, afterwards being cooked. Quesadillas use tortillas as turnovers which are filled and then fried.

If you think that tortillas are just for eating, think again. There is a type of art that is called “tortilla art”. It is fine art that uses tortillas as the canvas. First the tortillas are baked and then acrylic. After that they are painted. Tortilla art is made to represent the culture of Latino artists.

Tortillas are also what are used to make the tortilla chips. The tortilla is cut into wedges and fried. Corn tortillas are made from corn, vegetable oil, salt and water. The chips first became popular in the 1940s in Los Angeles, California where the chips were mass-produced, but it is still considered a Mexican food.

Americans use tortillas for a lot of their foods. It is most common found in burritos, which started long ago in northern Mexico. Tortillas are a traditional food of many people from northern states of Mexico and also Native tribes that are found in the Southwestern United States. Just about any restaurant will carry tortillas. You can try many different foods that include them. They are easy to find in the grocery store. You can use your taste buds and imagination to make your own foods which include the tortillas.

There are many different recipes available to search, so join in on a tasty convenient food that many Americans have already discovered.