Refrigerator Jam

enjoy my little herbivores!

Hidden Aminal Ingredients

Check out this link for hidden animal ingredients in your food

http://www.cyberparent.com/nutrition/hiddenanimalsfoodproducts.htm

The Truth About Red Dye

Anytime you see an ingredients list that includes carmine, cochineal extract or natural red 4, you can be sure that there's a little powdered bug therein.

The idea that any business would try to feed insects to a largely bug-averse populace may seem remarkable, but consider the alternatives: if it doesn't come from a bug, it may come from something worse.

Cochineal extract is extracted from the cochineal, specifically the female, a species of insect that belongs to the order entomologists refer to as the "true bugs." (Don't trust any account that calls this bug a beetle — it's not).

When Europeans descended on South America in the 1500s, they discovered that the Aztecs were producing vibrant, cochineal-dyed fabrics that retained their color for an incredibly long time. Soon, dried cochineal became a major trade good.

Today, cochineals are harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands on plantations of prickly pear cacti, the bugs' preferred host. There, the insects are sun-dried, crushed, and dunked in an acidic alcohol solution to produce carminic acid, the pigment that eventually becomes carmine or cochineal extract, depending on processing. About 70,000 insects are needed to produce a pound of dye.

Until 2009, cochineal was one of many dyes that fell under the umbrella term "natural color" on ingredients lists. But because cochineal provokes severe allergic reactions in some people, the Food and Drug Administration requires carmine and cochineal extract to be explicitly identified in ingredients lists.

Aside from its role as an allergen, cochineal has no known health risks, although those who keep kosher or choose not to eat animal products will want to keep their distance. In addition to food, cochineal is used as a dye in cosmetics products, including lipstick, and at least one person has reported a severe allergic reaction to a cochineal dye used in a pill coating.

Cochineal may be made from bugs, but other synthetic red dyes such as Red No. 2 and Red No. 40, which carry far greater health risks, are derived from either coal or petroleum byproducts. Click here for a list of products to avoid that use Red No. 40.
 
Courtesy of livescience

Vegetables

Have you ever purchased bundles of ingredients at the farmers’ market only to arrive home and wonder what on earth to do with your bag of fiddlehead ferns, zucchini flowers, bamboo shoots, or cactus pads? Treat yourself to an in-depth education with Vegetables, acclaimed author and teacher James Peterson’s comprehensive guide to identifying, selecting, and preparing ninety-five vegetables—from amaranth to zucchini—along with information on dozens of additional varieties and cultivars.

Peterson’s classical French training and decades of teaching experience inform his impeccable presentation of every vegetable preparation technique and cooking method. You’ll begin by stemming, seeding, peeling, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing, crushing, and pureeing, then explore less familiar but no-less-useful skills such as turning turnips, charring chile peppers, and Frenching French green beans. Once the prepping is complete, Peterson explains the intricacies of the many methods for cooking each vegetable, from the most straightforward boiling, braising, steaming, and stir-frying techniques, to the more elaborate and flavor intense grilling, glazing, roasting, sautéing, and deep-frying. The text is further enhanced with handsome full-color photography and useful extras, like time-saving workarounds, tips on seasonal purchasing, storage recommendations, and suggestions for kitchen tools you’ll really use.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Freshly picked strawberries and rhubarb cooked to sweet perfection and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups chopped strawberries
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch



Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.Mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in a bowl; press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Top with strawberries and rhubarb.
3.Stir water, white sugar, and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Bring to simmer, constantly whisking, until mixture bubbles and thickens; pour over fruit layer.
4.Bake in the preheated oven until bubbling, about 1 hour.

Note: The original recipe did not call for cinnamon but I added it and I liked the results :)

enjoy my little herbivores.

My Forecast... Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I wanted to start things off again with a trailer to the sequel to my favourite movie! I am just so excited that I had to share it with the world.

 

Coming to theatres September 27. The wait is on!