Food | Angela Tunner

Food:

How Fresh Herbs Will Change Your Life

Fresh herbs can make all the difference in a dish.There is nothing quite like the the airy light and delectable taste of chopped fresh herbs in or atop a dish. Even frozen pizza takes on a new life with a sprinkling of fresh chopped Italian parsley! They are readily available and are easily grown in pots inside or outside the house. A cooks indispensable culinary friend and a maker of gourmand greatness on the plate.

Fresh herbs have been used for cooking and medicinal purposes for around 500,000 years. When selecting, storing and using fresh herbs here are some good kitchen guidelines to follow. Using lovely herbs, even the basic ones like parsley, thyme, and rosemary add color, taste and visual appeal to a dish. When color counts, dried herbs are a poor substitute for fresh. Dried herbs are best used when the dish is very wet like a sauce and the herbs have time to reconstitute in the liquid. there is one golden rule with fresh herbs. Always add them towards the end of cooking to keep their delicate flavor and color if that is important to the taste the presentation of what you’ve prepared. Popular at markets all over and each style of cooking contains specific has herbs that its their culinary creations are known for. Especially in the spring and summer, herbs can add brightness, life and a palate pleasing effect to your dishes.

So what to do if you have too large a crop or purchased more than you could use and they’ve past their prime? There is a lot that you can do with them! Adding them to vinegars, oils, freezing them, making them into a paste, pesto or preserving them for use later ensures none go to waste. Here are some tips and recipes for you to get the most out of your fresh herbs!

04-2010

	Video: How To Design And Grow A Herb Garden Video
	Book: Mediterranean Herb Cookbook

Historical Chocolates: Debauve & Gallais

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Chocolate Makers to the Kings

We all know the modern brand names of high quality chocolate makers but let’s look at some manufacturers of brands so old they have a historical connection! Let’s visit Debauve & Gallais. On their website it reads: Sulpice Debauve, pharmacist of the King Louis XVI, opened in 1800 with his nephew, Mr. Gallais, a chocolate factory whose quickly rising fame made it the appointed supplier of the Kings Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis-Philippe. Thus, for 200 years, they have been serving great men and famous names from all around the world.

Their boxes are beautiful. The store front is gorgeous and there are some interesting historical figures and stories associated with these chocolates. Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon got their chocolates from this company. They also carry chocolates made with 99% cocoa and French chocolate is the least sweetened chocolate in the world! For you connoisseurs for your next chocolate tasting, peruse these chocolate tasting rules.

The first chocolate they ever produced were the stunning chocolate coins to designed conceal Marie Antoinette’s medication since that was the only way she would take them. No longer filled with medicine as they are no longer chemists, these coin chocolates called ‘Pistole’ are still available. See them up-close and the interior of this historic shop, unchanged since the 1800’s with this video from travelchannel.com!

03-2010

Ode to Chocolate

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History, Cooking it, Eating it!

Oh, in this the month of love, the mind wanders to our love for chocolate. That love splendid, smooth, good-feeling inducer and seductive taste sensation that can be ordinary or luxurious but is always tantalizing. The cocoa tree’s scientific name is theobroma cacao, meaning “fruit of the gods” and fruit of the god’s indeed! Over the centuries, legends have claimed that the consumption of chocolate benefited you with strength, health, faith and passion all attributed to magical properties it was thought to possess. Still, this icon of love endures and is a part of our lives. Cooking with it is a particularly indulgent activity, though important to note melting chocolate must be done carefully. Scorched chocolate will change the taste and texture and it must not come into contact with water. It will seize even with a few droplets and become unworkable! When buying chocolate it is worth restricting yourself to making quality choices. Check the label. Some chocolate is in fact candied and this is not the desired one nor will it produce the euphoric effects of luxurious chocolate.