Celebratory Sweet on Shrove Tuesday

semlor.eu

God morgon!

Hur mår du ?

In English it's translated as :

Good morning!

How are you ?

Hello, fellas! It's been about 5 months I haven't posted something new.

Now, in this special occasion, I want to share you something sweet from one of countries in Europe, which is Sweden. Currently, and for the next 5 months, I will reside in Sweden for certain excuses. Moreover, it's February, which a month left before Lent for Christians or those who are celebrating it. Nope, no offense, this post isn't for only Christians, but whoever you are may pay an attention, please!

Long long ago, Christian Swede had a special tradition before Lent, which was started from Ash Wednesday. During Lent, Christians usually would do fasting, of which they had finite meal. So, before stepping on Ash Wednesday, they would conduct a feast on Tuesday, which they called it as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday (In Swedish : Fettisdag). What they had on Shrove Tuesday was everything sweets. The most traditional one was called Hetvägg. Hetvägg was a bun soaked in hot milk, and was the first Semla. What is Semla ?

As you can see from the pictures above, those are Semla.

Semla is a bun, filled with almond paste and whipped cream and flavoured with cardamom.

This was created first because Swede started to get bored just to eat Hetvägg. So, they added almond paste and whipped cream, as well as flavour the buns up with cardamom.

Swede ate these Semla in order to satisfy their palates with all sweets before starting to fast. And yes, as I tried this for the first time in Sweden, it tasted so sweet, mild, fluffy, and the cardamom fragrance was inviting.

As time goes by,

Semla is no longer a sweet for only in Lent. We can enjoy Semla even everyday in Sweden. Several food stalls and stores sell Semla almost everyday. But still, the tradition of having Semla before and during Lent is still rooted strongly.

Photo : Joel Wåreus

Recently, there's a new style for Semla.

Semla isn't only a bun with sweet fillings. Bakeries start making a new creation for Semla, which is a Wrapped Semla. Nothing's different, the dough is just rolled flat, put some paste and whipped cream in the middle, and roll the dough as it's wrapped the fillings. Furthermore, some bakeries change the dough with pastry, so this kind of Semla has crunch outside but soft and sweet inside.

Okay fellas,

That's all I want to share for today!

Have a nice day, see you later!

Hej då, ses senare!

Reference : Sweden.se

The Beauty Sweetener

www.treatlyme.net

Good evening, folks!

It's been a couple of months I didn't greet you with my foods

My excuses are I was doing my community service during 2 months starting from June and conducting a food exhibition "Foodcraft 2017" with my friends. Later, I'll tell you about Foodcraft.

Now, I'm back with tons of information of food to share.

As you can read from the title above, today's discussion is about sweetener. We know than many people like consuming sweet foods, such as candy, fruits, sweet beverages, and many more. Yet, they themselves are afraid of suffering obesity or diabetes. Those two may even cause people to suffer more illnesses.

In 2008, The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had stated a new non-calorie sweetener as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). Also in 2011, The EU gave an approval to use this non-calorie sweetener in foods and beverages. This non-calorie sweetener is called steviol glycosides, one of components extracted from Stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana), which you can see the picture above.

Stevia plant is originally from South America, exactly from Paraguay. Ancient people of Paraguay got used to add Stevia leaves into their bitter beverages. Basically, people has already known that Stevia can be used as sweetener. The sweet components of Stevia plant are steviol glycosides, steviol, steviosides, and rebaudioside (A, B, C, D). The sweetness level of Stevia can reach to300 times than sucrose.

During our body metabolism, Rebaudioside A will be degraded by colon microbes into Stevioside and Steviol. Stevioside is further converted to glucose, yet the glucose will directly be consumed by colon microbes and there will not be absorbed in blood. As for the Steviol, it's the last metabolized product of Rebaudioside which is absorbed and glucuronidated. The glucuronide bond is then filtered in kidneys into urine.

Furthermore, Stevia plant is safe for kids, adolescents, nursing mother, diabetic and obesity people. We know that kids are fragile to any excess consumption of certain nutrition, like carbohydrates. Excess consumption of carbohydrate may lead kids to early diabetes, or a hyperactive behavior (too much energy intake). But, using Stevia as sweetener won't cause both of those because its non-calorie effect. It's also similar for nursing mother, in which too much intake of carbohydrates may be harmful for the infants. As for obesity people, Stevia plant can replace the role of sucrose as regular sweetener, of which Stevia offer lower calorie than sucrose. Last but not least, Stevia plant is very good for diabetic people. it's because steviol glycosides enhance the secretion of insulin and steviosides enhance the utilization of secreted insulin. As the result, more glucose can be converted to glycogen. 

Although replacing sucrose with Stevia plant is a very safe alternative, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of steviol glycosides needs to concern about. The ADI of steviol glycosides for human is 7,9 mg / kg body weight. So, when your body weight is about 50 kg, you may consume steviol glycosides until 395 mg (0,395 g). The amount of steviol glycosides is about 2-10% (+/- 6%) of dry weight leaves. Then, around 6,5 g of Stevia leaves that you can consume daily.

That's all about today's sweetener.

Hope you enjoy it! Thankyou

References :

Gupta, Ena et al. 2013. "Nutritional and Therapeutic Values of Stevia rebaudiana : A Review". Journal of Medicine Plant Research, vol. 7 (46) : 3343 - 3353.

International Food Information Council Foundation. 2012. "Stevia Sweeteners". http://foodinsight.org. Accessed on September, 27th 2017 at 07.00 p.m.

International Stevia Council. ___. "All About Stevia". http://internationalsteviacouncil.org. Accessed on September, 27th 2017 at 07.25 p.m.

The Warmth

masakanharian.com

Hello, good morning all!

Today, I'd like to bring you a glass of traditional beverage.

This beverage is well known because of its fragrance, warmth while sipping, various spices used, and also its benefit.

Yes, today's topic is Wedang Uwuh. Have you ever heard about it? Let me tell you a brief story about Wedang Uwuh. Wedang Uwuh originally comes from Yogyakarta, especially Imogiri. The word "Wedang" means beverage, and "Uwuh" means garbage. WHAT? Do we drink a glass of garbage? Literally, yes. Technically, not! When it comes to garbage, it's not an actual garbage. Garbage here means Wedang Uwuh is made of various dried spices and herbs that are mixed in a glass of hot water, which then it looks like a garbage inside the glass. 

The spices and herbs may have a beneficial health effect for us. That makes this Wedang Uwuh is looked for by many Indonesian people. If you want to try how it tastes, I'm sharing to you the recipe of making Wedang Uwuh.

To make Wedang Uwuh, first you need : 

- Water (700 ml)

- Dried Secang bark (40 g)

- Rock sugar (50 g)

- Ginger (6 cm)

- Dried cinnamon leaves (2 pcs)

- Dried clove leaves (3 pcs)

- Dried nutmeg leaves (3 pcs)

- Cloves (10 pcs)

tokomesin.com

Then, the procedures are :

1. First, roast all gingers and smash them. 

2. Pour the water into a pot, and bring it to simmer.

3. Put all the spices and herbs into simmering water.

4. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

5. Pour Wedang Uwuh into a glass, either first drain it or not.

6. Wedang Uwuh is ready to served, and enjoy while it's warm. 

Isn't that simple to make Wedang Uwuh, right?

Otherwise, if you don't want to go to a market and buy all of the spices and herbs, you can simply buy the packaged one. It's now available a packaged set of spices and herbs to make Wedang Uwuh. You only need to boil some water, then put all the spices and herbs into it. Tadaaa~ Your Wedang Uwuh is now ready!

2.bp.blogspot.com

Wedang Uwuh isn't only a traditional beverage, and people won't eagerly search for it for no reasons. Wedang Uwuh is believed to have a beneficial health effect from the spices and herbs, like I've said. 

Okay, that's all I can share to you today!

Enjoy your Wedang Uwuh!

Have a nice day~

What a Daily Bread

cdn.ourtesco.com

Hello, folks! I'm back

Today I'd like to share to you about Bread.

We know bread as they can easily be found everywhere. Moreover, lots of bakery shops are open world widely. 

Every time we walk through a bakery shop, we may smell something good inside. It's fragrant, mild, appetizing, and inviting to directly see.

Most of bread we already know is made of wheat. Despite, there are bread that's made of rye, maize, sorghum, oat, etc. Yet, wheat becomes the standard of any carbohydrate sources to bread-making flour.

Wheat quality is then determined by its milling process. We may find two kinds of bread in a store, such as ordinary bread and wholegrain bread. Ordinary bread means that the grain, which is wheat, is milled before it's used to make bread. While wholegrain bread means that the grain isn't milled or only milled partly. This milling process eliminates the germ and husk of the grain that contain high proteins, vitamins, and minerals. As the result, ordinary bread has lower level of proteins, vitamins, and minerals than wholegrain bread.

Next, what does happen during the bread-making process ?

Commonly, we know that to make bread, there are several processes to go through that are mixing, fermenting, molding, and baking. During the mixing, all of the ingredients are put together to be mixed. As we know, wheat flour contains gluten-forming proteins, which are glutenin and gliadin. Glutenin and gliadin will form gluten if there's enough water and mechanical energy during mixing process. This gluten will help to rise and define the bread's structure. Besides that, mixing will help to gather the bubbles inside dough from environmental air. This bubbles will then be trapped by viscoelastic gluten. The ingredients have to be mixed at proper time, if it's undermixing some of ingredients won't mix thoroughly, and it's overmixing the dough will fall down because of the broken structure of gluten inside.

After mixing, the dough need to be fermented. Fermentation process isn't only about the work of yeast in transferring glucose into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Fermentation is also about resting the dough in order to build its structure. During fermentation, the yeast will consume the glucose and excrete carbon dioxide and alcohol. This process is helped by the enzymes from the wheat itself that degrade starch into sugar. As the carbon dioxide is largely produced by yeasts, the air bubbles is getting bigger.  Furthermore, during fermentation, the disulfide bonds are oxidize to sulfhidril bonds which are tighter.

Last but not least,

After fermentation process, the dough is punched to release some of gases inside. However, the gases that remain inside is spread over the dough equally. Next, the dough is put into a tray to get ready to be baked. 

During baking, the heal will rise the temperature up and make the air bubbles bigger and bigger, also evaporate the alcohol. The heat constructs the outside crust of the bread and gives it brown color. The gluten will keep the air bubbles in shape. So, if you cut through the center of bread, you'll see porous structure inside. 

That's all I can share to you today.

I hope you enjoy it, and may be fruitful to you.

Thank you.

Reference:

Rosell, Christina M. 2011. "The Science of Doughs and Bread Quality". Flour and Breads and Their Fortification in Health and Disease Prevention, pp. 3 - 14.  

Say, Cheese !

trestelle.ca

Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you again,

Sorry for this so-long-not-posting time, peace!

Today, I bring you something delicate to discuss. Yeah, you may have known by seeing the picture above. It's time for cheesy Cheese!

What do you know about cheese?

Back to milleniums before, approximately 8000-3000 BC cheese was accidentally made. Accidentally? Yes, it was when eastern people stored milk in a dried animal's organs. Somehow, the milk curdled after being stored for certain time. Then, they tried to preserved the curdled milk by salting and pressing. That's how cheese was made for the first time.

Nowadays, cheese processing is widely spread around the world. Moreover, there are many kinds of cheese according to the processes done. I'm sharing you the basic way to make cheese, please take a note! hahaha

CHEESE PRODUCTION

1. Curdling : Fresh milk (goat, sheep, cow) is curdled by addition of lactic acid bacteria and rennet enzyme. As the milk become more acidic, the casein (milk's protein) starts curdling and separating from the fat.

2. Processing : The curd then is processed by several treatments depending on what kind of cheese wanted to make. a) Cooking the cheese to about 35-55 centigrade of temperature let it become harder. b) Salting the cheese helps to remove more whey from the curd. Salt gives more flavor and firm consistency of the curd, as well. c) Cheddaring the curd is done by stacking and pressing the curd to make hard cheese. d) Stretching the curd by stirring and kneading the curd in hot water may form a stretchy texture, like in mozarella and provolone cheese. e) Washing the cheese may produce a mild-flavored cheese because water reduces its acidity level.

3. Ripening : The processed curd the stored into an undercontrolled room (temperature, humidity, bacteria population). The lactic acid bacteria start to be active again during ripening. The yield of cheese depends on what species of lactic acid bacteria added to the curd. Some make the outside crust, some bring flavor out, and others may produce carbon dioxide so that the cheese has holes inside.

Last, but not least, let me share to you several kinds of cheese :

a. Feta Cheese (fresh cheese)

b. Edam Cheese (semi-soft ripened cheese)

c. Camembert Cheese (soft ripened cheese)

d. Parmigiano Cheese (hard cheese)

e. Blue cheese (veined cheese)

Thank you for reading my article,

Please be waiting for the next articles ahead. See you!

Reference:

Newendorp, Amanda.___. Cheese Varieties and Their Production. http://msatterw.public.iastate.edu. Accessed on Thursday, March 23rd 2017, 11.00 a.m.

We Eat WHAT !?!?

huffingtonpost.com

Have you ever eaten in Japanese restaurant?

When you come in to Japanese restaurant, you may find some condiments served on table already, such as soy sauce, ginger pickles, and something green. This 'something green' is Wasabi, which is our topic today.

Wasabi has almost smooth texture, spicy and minty flavor, with a bit bitter aftertaste, I think.

Most importantly, do you kinow what is Wasabi?

Wasabi comes from Eutrema wasabi plant. This Eutrema wasabi grows well in a cold place with flowing water. What actually we eat as Wasabi is its roots (you can see it on the picture above). WHAT?!?! ROOTS?!?! Yes, it's similar to other tubers that store itsfood source in their roots. And for the leaves, it can be dried for flavoring or pickled fresh.

If you want to eat with Wasabi, please choose the one which is FRESH!

Choose the wasabi's roots which are fresh, cool, and unwrinkled. 

Otherwise, you can use bottled or canned Wasabi from grocery store. Yet, it's been mixed with other seasoning, such as horseraddish and mustard.

theepicentre.com

To prepare the Wasabi : 

1. Peel the skin off

2. Grate them using the backside of regular grater or certain grater for Wasabi. This special grater for Wasabi looks like a cutting board with rough surface (picture above).

3. Hold the Wasabi root and make a round move above the grater.

4. Grate well until you get a thick green paste out of it.

5. Last but not least, place the Wasabi paste to a small plate and serve it freshly.

You can eat your Wasabi with several ways to choose : 

> Mix the Wasabi paste with japanese soy sauce for a dipping sauce of sushi

> Add directly to noodle soup

> Spread the Wasabi paste on your grilled meat or vegetables

> Or, mix it with salad dressing for salad

Experimentally, Wasabi contains good substance to prevent cancer, which is Isothiocyanates. This isothiocyanates can reduce some excess hormones, so that can lower the risk of hormonal cancer (breast cancer, prostate cancer). Other nutrients contained in Wasabi are pottasium, calcium, and vitamin C. Others say that Wasabi has an antimicrobial substance, so it's suitable served with raw food.

Wow! That's all I can sahre to you today!

Thank you for paying attention, hahaha.

Reference:

Miles, Carol, Tamera Flores, and Gayle Alleman. 1999. "Wasabi : A Fiery Delicacy from Japan Served with Noodles, Sushi, Dips, Meats, and Other Favorite Foods". Food from The Field. USA : King County Agriculture Commision and Washington State University.

Crumbly Green !

californiaavocado.com

Hello, there!

I'm back again.

Today, I'm talking about mexican food, especially mexican condiment.

It looks green, fresh, and crumbly. It tastes sweet, creamy, and a bit tangy.

It's GUACAMOLE, people!

I'm sharing to you how to make Guacamole, which is very easy.

1) Ingredients :

-Avocadoes

-Shallots

-Tomatoes

-Jalapeno pepper

-Lime

-Cilantro

2) Seasoning :

-Garlic

-Salt

-Powdered Cayenne pepper

-Powdered cumin

3) Procedures :

- Spoon the avocado flesh out, chop the shallots roughly, cut the tomatoes into dice, and slice the jalapeno pepper thinly.

- Put the avocadoes in a bowl and mash them up, but not too smooth.

- Add the shallots, tomatoes, and jalapeno pepper. Mix them up.

- Chop the garlics roughly, and add to the mixture.

- Add some salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin powder to the mixture. Don't forget to adjust the flavor.

- Sqeeze the lime juices to the mixture and top the mixture with finely chopped cilantro.

- Guacamole is ready to serve!

Guacamole is a fresh condiment, because we don't need any heat treatment during the making process.

What we need is only mix all the ingredients up.

It's simple, fresh, and healthy.

Guacamole is for :

1. Eat it as a condiment with nachos, or any other chips

2. Use it as spread for breads.

3. Spoon and flat it on burritos or tacos ad their filling.

That's all I can share to you!

I'm looking forward to your very own recipe of Guacamole, and let me know by leaving a comment below.

Hope you enjoy and may you start making it.

Thank you.