Tag: Italian

A Look At Ice Wine

Although there are several types of wine that you buy, one of the most unheard of is ice wine. Ice wine is a very rare form of wine, a wine that is produced under certain types of weather conditions. Ice wine is mainly produced in the Pacific Northwest region, where the weather conditions are right for the wine.

As ironic as it is, ice wine is produced in very small quantities. With the wine requiring only the fines of quality and a lack of availability, the product is extremely rare indeed. Truth be told, there are only a lucky few who are actually able to purchase the wine. Ice wine, due to the scarce amount, can be extremely expensive and out of the price range for a majority of us.

Much like the beauty of owning a diamond, ice wine is something that many of us hope and dream to experience at some point in our lives. Although the materials are rare, the weather conditions are even more crucial to producing this wine. Once the right weather conditions arrive, the wine maker prepares to produce this extremely rare and priceless wine.

The basic requirements needed to produce ice wine are fully ripened grapes and a temperature of around 5 degrees C. The temperature needs to stay that way for several days, so that the wine maker can complete the process of making the wine. Grapes that are frozen during these extremely cold temperatures are hand plucked at night by the wine maker and his assistants.

To produce a bottle of ice wine, full vine grapes may be required. Once the grapes have been collected, they are gently pressed, in order to collect the running juice only. The temperature creates the frozen water crystals, which are fermented along with sugars and the particles that are found in the free running juices. Through this process, the wonderful and rare ice wine is created.

If you have been looking to try ice wine, finding it may be very difficult. As you probably already know, most alcohol and wine stores dont sell this rare wine. Finding it online is very hard to do as well, unless you catch it at the right time. Even then, if you are able to find it, it can easily cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single bottle.

The best way to experience ice wine is to find the right wine maker in the Pacific Northwest region. Even though bottles go extremely fast once they have been made, you may be able to catch a wine maker with some on hand. Be prepared to spend a hefty amount though. Although it can cost a lot and be extremely hard to find – the taste of ice wine makes it well worth the effort.

Coffee Makers in the Workplace

Many people have a coffee maker at work. This is a great idea because it lets employees and managers alike have something in common and lets everyone have a short break from work while they refresh their coffee mugs. Coffee makers are used in office buildings, manufacturing plants, and almost every type of business there is from fast food to convenience stores. The office coffee maker is a place everyone can go and chit chat for a few minutes similar to a water cooler.

The usual office coffee maker is of the automatic drip variety and makes about 12 cups at a time. The funny thing is, 12 cups from a coffee maker means about 5 ounces per cup. Nobody drinks that little so you might as well assume one pot will serve 6 people. For a busy workplace you may need a larger coffee maker to accommodate everyone and might even decide to use a coffee vending machine. If this is owned and operated by the company, they may lower the prices so they don’t make much profit. This will be made up with employee morale and productivity so it evens out.

Many people feel better and more alert after drinking coffee so naturally, a coffee maker in the workplace helps everyone. The caffeine in coffee is a stimulant and should help them feel that way. If your employee is alert, there is less chance of incomplete work and injuries as they should be paying more attention to the job at hand.

The type of coffee maker for the workplace will need to be discussed among all the coffee drinkers and if a fancy one is needed, everyone should help pay for it. A normal coffee maker costs between 10 to 40 dollars but fancy ones can be 60-90 dollars depending on the features. These higher priced coffee makers usually come with a foamer, grinder, or some other special feature that would cause the price to be so high. You may want to just get two cheaper ones as there is always someone who wants decaffeinated coffee and doesn’t like to mix the two types of coffee in one pot.

If you work in a large manufacturing plant or industrial building, chances are you will have to walk a long way to get a cup of coffee. Many of these workplaces use strategically placed break rooms that will have an assortment of vending machines. One of those may be a coffee vending machine or there might be a coffee maker on the counter for employees in your area to use. Make sure you have someone clean it before you clock out or management may take it away. I have seen this happen before.

With espresso and cappuccino becoming very popular, you might have one of these machines in your workplace. They cater to certain people usually but many come with a normal coffee pot on one side. This can help balance out two distinct tastes and make more employees happy.

How To Make Candied Fruit For Cake Decorating

I remember my mother making fruit cake, she would use candied cherries that she would buy them in little air tight containers. They came in two colors, red and green, but they did not have the best taste. The candied fruit available now is much more beautiful and tastier than it was then. Trust me it isn’t just for fruitcakes anymore.

Making your own candied fruit to use as a garnish for dishes, in cookies, as a snack, and in cake decorating. Making candied fruit is a simple process. You infuse fruits and citrus peelings in a sugar syrup. You can candy orange wedges, orange peel, lemon peel, grapefruit peel, pineapple and fresh cherries. You can also candy fruits, such as carrots for carrot cake decorating.

You will need two sauce pans, one for making the syrup, and another to blanch the fruit. This is a recipe for Candied orange peel.

Simple Syrup

This syrup is used for making candied fruits, adding flavor to cold drinks, and adding moisture to sponge cake. There are different strengths of simple syrup for different uses. Thin simple syrup, made with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, is used to brush on cake layers, mostly sponge cake, to provide extra moisture and sweetness. Medium simple syrup is made with equal parts of sugar and water. This is excellent for adding sweetness to mixed drinks, coffee, iced tea and to candy fruit. A syrup made of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water is used as a base for sorbet, and making rock candy.

Combine equal parts of sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. You do not need to stir the syrup, but if you do it will do no harm. You can flavor the syrup. Take the syrup off the heat and cool slightly. Stir in 1 or 2 tsp. Of vanilla for a basic vanilla syrup. This syrup can be kept in a lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Remove the bottom and top of an orange. Set the flat end of the orange on a cutting board. With a sharp paring knife, slice the peel off in strips, starting at the top and slicing downward, following the curve as much as possible. Don’t worry about cutting off the white pith of the peel. Although it is usually bitter, blanching it will make it translucent and the syrup will sweeten it.

You can candy the peel as it is, or cut into strips that are 1/4 inch wide, to use in cake decorating and garnishes. You can also dip it in chocolate and use it for a snack. Larger peels, like grapefruit should be cut into strips for even cooking.

Place the peel in a pot of cool water. Bring water to a rolling boil, remove from heat and transfer the peel into a colander to drain. Repeat the process twice more. For grapefruit or a more tart flavored fruit, you will need to blanch them seven or eight times. Cherry and pineapple do not need blanching and can be placed directly into the syrup. Between blanching taste the peel, if it is tender it has been blanched enough. Place the peel into the pot of syrup and bring to a low simmer. Let simmer for 15 to 30 minutes or until the orange rind becomes translucent and the peel tastes sweet and tender

Remove the pot from heat and let it cool. The orange rind can be stored in it’s own syrup for weeks in the refrigerator. You may choose to drain them and roll them in sugar. Sugared rinds tend to dry out quite fast and should be eaten within a couple of days. You can dry the peel and dip it in tempered chocolate to make it last a bit longer.

You can use the orange flavored syrup in other drinks or dishes. Nothing really goes to waste!

Learn to Make Italian Food

Italian food has long been amongst the most popular food in the world. Everyday people all over the world sit down to meals of fresh Italian food that tastes so good it’s hard to imagine making it yourself. However, there are some people who are up to the challenge of learning to make quality Italian food. For some it is not just enough to enjoy Italian food, they need to create Italian food. There are many options today for learning to cook Italian food. Some people live in areas where there are no Italian food cooking classes. Others may feel too self conscious in order to go to an Italian food class. But there is an option for everyone that wants to learn to cook Italian food whether they want to become a world class chef or if they just want to not be intimidated by a pot of boiling water and a handful of spaghetti. The great thing about Italian food is that it has great dishes that are simple to make for the beginner and complex dishes that take world class chefs years to master. There really is something for everyone.

The first option to learn to cook Italian food is cooking classes or cooking school. If you want to become a professional Italian food chef then you will want to attend an accredited cooking school. There are many different culinary institutes in the United States and around the world that can help you specialize in Italian food. Research the different options and decide which will be best for you and will help you meet your goals. Some things to consider are tuition and location. You can attend school abroad or in your local area. If you want to start work right away after graduation at an Italian food restaurant, then see what kind of help the different schools give in job placement after graduation.

Going to school to become a professional Italian food chef is very challenging but in the end it is extremely rewarding to know that you can craft some of the finest Italian food in the world. For those not wanting to necessarily become professionals, you can look into local cooking schools or community centers that offer lessons in cooking Italian food. You can learn to make specific regional Italian food or just take a few classes to teach you how to cook a meal for a special occasion to impress friends or family.

Another great option in today’s world is to learn how to cook Italian food right from home. Today it is possible to take classes in cooking Italian food off of the internet. This is a great option for people who are self conscious or like to take things at their own speed in a comfortable environment. There are both paid and free cooking classes online that can help you with your Italian food skills. Research the different programs available and see what is right for you. Be sure to also check out reviews of online programs and see if previous students feel that they really learned how to cook Italian food from the course.

You can never be too careful online, but once you find a school that you like that has good reviews, don’t hesitate to jump right in. Before long you’ll cooking up fabulous Italian food dishes that previously seemed impossible.

Coffee Makers for Camping

Camping is a great hobby and a fun pastime for many people. It can be very relaxing to get in touch with nature and spend a few days in the desert or woods enjoying nature. You can swim, fish, or just enjoy doing absolutely nothing. Just because you are in the wilderness doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good cup of coffee though. There are many different ways you can brew a cup or a pot of coffee while camping.

There is a large variety of coffee makers that are designed especially for camping. There are small ones that will make just one cup or large ones that will make many cups at once. It all depends on how much you want to pack in with you and how many people are going that will want coffee. The most common coffee makers for camping are of the manual drip variety as all you do is pour boiling water over your coffee while it sits in a filter. The filter sits in a holder and you just set the holder over your cup or mug. Other varieties might need to be set on a portable stove or set on ashes to boil the water. There are even some automatic drip coffee makers that have been designed for the camper who really wants that added convenience. These models are quite large and are not for the camper who is going to hike 10 miles for the perfect spot. They also require a camp stove.

Your best method for making coffee while camping would be a manual drip coffee maker that is specifically designed for camping. These come in a large assortment of shapes and sizes but are made to withstand uneven campfire heat. The best ones are made out of stainless steel or another fire resistant metal and have everything built in. They usually look like one coffee pot set upside down on another. You put your ground coffee in a filter in the middle of the unit and water in the bottom. You set it on the fire until you see steam and then you flip it over and set it somewhere cool. The flipping process lets the water slowly drain through the coffee grounds resulting in freshly brewed coffee for everyone.

The filter holder method works well also. You take a filter holder, put in a filter and add your coffee. Set it over your pot or cup and pour in boiling water. This is a great method if you don’t need to brew a lot of coffee and don’t want to pack around heavy equipment.

If you ask an experienced camper or visit a specialized camping store, you will be able to find out which type of coffee maker might be the best for your next camping trip. There are many to choose from so you can decide on what will be the best for you. Retail stores usually have a camping aisle so you can browse around next time you are doing some shopping there.