Tag: Fruits And Vegetables

Easy And Refreshing Fruit Salad Recipes

Fruit salad is probably one of the easiest and tastiest things in the world to make. Any seven-year old can whip up their salad in no time at all. In fact, for a real bonding time with your kids, you can involve them in the kitchen and have fun whipping up this fabulous desert.

This is particularly popular during the summer when fresh fruits abound, however, summer or winter, it doesn’t really matter as fruits grow all year round. There’s really nothing to putting together fruit salad rcipes. The secret is really just in picking out the best fruits. Below are fantastic fruit salad recipes you can do in your very own kitchen:

FRUIT SALAD WITH CITRUS-CILANTRO DRESSING

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained (or better yet, 2 1/2 to 3 cups fresh pineapple chunks)
3 grapefruits, peeled and sectioned
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 mango pitted, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup lime juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons honey

1.Combine pineapple, grapefruit, strawberries and mango in a large serving bowl; set aside.

2.In a small saucepan, combine orange juice, lime juice and cilantro. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and discard cilantro. Stir in honey. Pour over fruit mixture and toss until evenly coated.

FLUFFY PISTACHIO FRUIT SALAD

1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, not drained
1 (4-serving size) package instant pistachio pudding mix
1 (12-ounce) container non dairy whipped topping, thawed
2 large bananas, sliced
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 (17-ounce) can fruit cocktail, drained
1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

Pour instant pudding mix into a large mixing bowl. Add pineapple, and mix well. Mix in nondairy whipped topping. Stir in bananas, marshmallows, fruit cocktail, and mandarin oranges.

Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Stevia and Honey – Safe and Sorry

Society today has slowly seen the negative side of sugar. This is why most people would prefer to avoid eating sweet foods, which is quite next to impossible. People love sugar and will probably give up all the other stuff in life before giving up on it.

To answer this need, companies have come up with several alternatives to sugar that are much lower in caloric and carbohydrate content. Unfortunately, because it is not as natural as the ordinary table sugar, people feel that too much consumption of these sugar substitutes can be harmful to the body. They are afraid that just as it took forever for them to discover the problems that sugar can cause, it will also take forever before they will find out just how harmful the sugar substitutes are to the body.

One substitute though that is still considered safe is the honey, which directly comes from honeybees. Because honey is a combination of different kinds of sugars such as fructose, which can be seen in fruits, maltose, glucose, and sucrose, honey is more balanced and has a better effect on the body. It is better absorbed by the body and presents lesser load for the pancreas, which filters the sugar and activates the insulin system.

One disadvantage though that honey provides is the fact that it is very vulnerable to industrial chemicals being a very natural product. Genetically-modified pollen can cause pests like the Varroa mite. This in turn will increase the possibility of the use of some chemical pesticides that may affect the honey that it being produced. Another potential problem is the use of antibiotics that may be potentially harmful to people when ingested indirectly through the honey. In addition to this, honey although quite a healthy alternative for people with normal conditions, cannot be used by diabetics.

Another potential sugar savior is stevia, which is a South American herb that has been used in Japan for centuries. Records also show that native Americans also use this herb in their food. It has a low caloric content and provides great therapy for thrush, which is exacerbated by the consumption of too much sugar. In fact, stevia is believed to be capable of stabilizing the sugar level of diabetics.

However, despite its glowing reviews and resume, stevia has failed to gain an approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration when the agency rejected the call for the herb to have a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status.

Faking Away Sweets in Sugar

When one speaks of sugar, first thing in mind is the advantage of having a sweet taste of food. It is difficult to find someone who does not like a taste of it, one time or another in a person’s life. It maybe, he refuses intake of it at present for health reasons but in the past he admits, had the joy of eating many kinds of sweet foods.

Children like candies because it is associated with something tasty-sweet. In the earlier days of our grandparents, when people know nothing about calories and disadvantages of some excessive food intakes the elderly finds joy in the thought of having chocolate for breakfast because of the pleasant sweet taste associated when the native chocolate is sweetened with plenty of sugar as a beverage.

Low calorie sweeteners became a household word recently, for reasons that today’s generation is more aware of cases of diabetes and obesity associated with eating excessive sweets. Uncontrolled intake of carbohydrates, which has plenty of starch and sugar, is not advised to people who suffer diabetes, or those prone to obesity.

Researches in the earlier 21st century have proven that low calorie sweeteners had been introduced in the market to substitute the use of actual sugar. Actually some chemical contents are substituted, reduced, or refined to certain degree as to fake the sweet taste in natural sugar. It becomes in a way synthetic, but beneficial to the general health of the public. The faking of the sweet taste reduced the calories present in the actual glucose sugar. It is not surprising that consumers products displayed in the markets today include grocery items on low calorie sweeteners.

Why such preference on the synthetic-made sugar, rather than the organic sweet? Table sugar or sucrose is our common table sugar. There are many kinds of sugar in different sweeteners around, both in fruits and manufactured table sugar. Fruit contains fructose sugar, and milk contains lactose. Reducing or transforming natural-sweet-taste sugar to certain low calorie level is that which makes it more healthful.

Today’s market offers various brands in the making of low calorie sweeteners. The FDA of the United States had an extensive evaluation and test for the assurance of safe use for public consumption. Safety measures against complications in the reproduction; genetic effects, risk to cancer, the central nervous system, and body metabolism were strictly
considered.

Kinds of manufactured low calorie sweeteners:
*Sucralose – the only low calorie sweeter that is made from actual sugar, made 600 times sweeter than our table sugar. It’s available in a very wide range of food distribution with a need of sweetener, branded in the name Splenda (granular and packets) in several outlets. *Aspartame a non-calorie sweetener used in beverages, 200 times sweeter than sugar. They’re several others of similar values.

Corn Sweetener for Everyday Consumption

Part of a balanced diet requires some form of sugar that is taken into the body. According to one study, most Americans rely on corn sweeteners to provide the right amount daily.

Last year, corn sweetener captured 56% of the nutritive market. This just proves that this is used on a variety of items that people take for granted. This may be in the form of bread, to a formulated juice drink and also in some of the medicines that the patient is given.

Corn sweeteners are divided into three types. The first is in the form of syrup. This has been used as an ingredient in making food such as ice cream, hotdogs, canned goods and certain vegetables. People on a diet or those who love eating salads can also use this as a condiment for flavoring.

The second type of corn syrup is dextrose. When this word comes to mind, people think this is the one used in the hospital that is inserted into the body. This is true since this chemical is easily absorbed by the body.

In fact, the greatest user of this are the drug companies since this plays a major part in the fermentation process which helps in producing various medicines such as penicillin.

But dextrose also has other uses. This provides a good source of carbohydrates that is mostly found in chewing gum, jams, preserves and icing mixes. There are also a variety of items of pastry products that can be made from using this such as bread, buns and rolls.

Dextrose is used to extend the shelf life of certain products and is also used by beverage companies to make non-alcoholic drinks.

The third type is crystalline fructose. This is formulated as a result of a chemical process and is used on a variety of products such as caned fruits, condiments and other processed foods.

Sodas also contain crystalline fructose as one of its ingredients which provides the drink some artificial flavor that is favorable to the taste buds. Other products that have this are cereals and other instant drinks that are available in the supermarket.

Is consuming anything with corn sweetener safe on a daily basis? The answer is yes because this gives the body energy in order to efficiently. People can drink or eat this and the individual will know how much percentage it has by reading the label located on the side of the product.

Agave Sweeteners- The Organic Way of Sweetening your Food

Agave sweetener is one of the alternative sweetener in the market that is enjoying a large following despite the fact that there are a lot of different kinds of sweeteners available. This is because of its rich taste and versatility in function.

The word agave is actually derived from a Greek word that means noble. Agave sweetener is made from an organic material, the agave syrup that comes from the sap of agave or maguey plants hearts. An agave that is already mature have leaves that can rise to as tall as 5-8 feet and have a diameter of about 7-12 feet. The plant can live for about 8-15 years depending of course with the way it is grown and of course the climate.

In Mexico alone, there are about 136 different kinds of Agave plants. The blue agave or what is known there as the Agave tequilana weber azul, is actually used to produce tequila. This is also used to make agave syrup.

Some agave plants are also used in combination with other species to produce mescal, a form of alcohol that is almost similar to the tequila.Compared to other kinds of agave, the blue agave has a higher fructose content. For this reason and a host of other reasons, it is considered the finest agave in the world.

Being a natural product, agave syrup can be a great and safe sweetener. The sweetener is derived from the carbohydrates present in the agave plant through a process called thermic or heat. This will then create sugar, whose main ingredient is inulin or fructosan, a complex form of carbohydrate.

There are no chemicals involved in this process. The juice of the agave is extracted from the core or heart of the plant. This dark juice contains minerals that has a natural flavor. It smells like vanilla. Solids that are found in the liquid will then be removed through a fine filtration process, thus removing the dark color and producing a consistency that is thinner than honey.

Fructose, one of the main ingredients of agave sweetener, can be found in fruits and vegetables, hence the name. Agave sweetener, however, is much sweeter than sucrose but has the same caloric contest as sucrose or what we call the table sugar.

Today, agave syrup is derived not only from the blue agave but also from other varieties such as the Salmania, the grey agave, the thorny agave, the rainbow agave and the green agave.