FitSugar

Got Seasonal Allergies? Eat the Local Honey

FitSugar — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:15:00 -0700

Honey is all the buzz. Not only does it taste like summer, but it has some amazing qualities that help your body.

It's antimicrobial because of its high sugar content, so it's great for treating cuts and burns to prevent scarring. You can keep a jar in your medicine cabinet for years - it's slightly acidic, so it never goes bad.

I've also heard that honey can be used to treat seasonal allergy symptoms. In order to understand why, you need to know how honey is made.

Honey bees (the female worker bees) travel from flower to flower, drinking nectar, and storing it in sacs in their little bee bodies. Then they buzz back to their hive and use their "honey stomachs" to regurgitate and ingest the nectar a number of times until it is partially digested. They then store the nectar in the honeycombs, fanning it with their wings to evaporate the water, and turning it into the thick sweet honey we know and love.

The reason it may help with seasonal allergies, is because honey contains a bit of pollen from the plants. So if you eat the sweet treat that is made by bees in your area, the honey will often act as an immune booster, reducing your allergy symptoms to the local flowering plants. It's a good idea to take 2-3 spoonfuls each day for several months prior to pollen season.

Fit's Tips: Eating local honey works for some people, and may not for others. It's a folk remedy, with no scientific research to back it up, but if you suffer from seasonal allergies, it's worth a try. If it doesn't help with your sniffles and sneezing, well at least you're getting vitamins B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and minerals like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Honey also contains antioxidants and vitamin C. All that and it tastes good too!

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Eating Local Honey Could Help Seasonal Allergies

FitSugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Honey is all the buzz. Not only does it taste like Summer, but it has some amazing qualities that help your body. It's antimicrobial because of its high sugar content, so it's great for treating cuts and burns to prevent scarring. You can keep a jar in your medicine cabinet for years - it's slightly acidic, so it never goes bad.

I've also heard that honey can be used to treat seasonal allergy symptoms. In order to understand why, you need to know a bit about how honey is made.

Honey bees (the female worker bees) travel from flower to flower, drinking nectar, and storing it in sacs in their little bee bodies. Then they buzz back to their hive and use their "honey stomachs" to regurgitate and ingest (I know it sounds a little gross, but cool somehow) the nectar a number of times until it's partially digested. They then store the nectar in the honeycombs, fanning it with their wings to evaporate the water, turning it into the thick sweet honey we know and love.

So what does honey have to do with your allergies? To find out read more.

The reason honey may help with seasonal allergies is because honey contains a bit of pollen from plants. So if you eat the sweet treat that is made by bees in the area where you live, the honey will often act as an immune booster, reducing your allergy symptoms to local flowering plants. It's a good idea to take two to three spoonfuls each day for several months prior to pollen season.

Fit's Tip: Eating local honey works for some people, but may not for others. It's a folk remedy with no scientific research to back it up, but it's worth a try if you suffer from seasonal allergies. If it doesn't help with your sniffles and sneezing, well at least you're getting vitamins B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and minerals like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Honey also contains antioxidants and vitamin C. All that and it tastes good, too!

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Healthy Honey

FitSugar — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:30:00 -0800

What's the buzz? Honey has so many wonderful characteristics besides its natural sweet flavor - they don't call it the "ancient healer" for nothing.

Besides being great at soothing a sore throat, check this out, Honey....

it could be helpful in treating your allergies.
it's antimicrobial because of its high sugar content, so it's great for treating cuts and burns to prevent scarring.
it contains vitamins B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid.
it also has minerals like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
it contains natural antioxidants such as vitamin C.
There are over 300 different varieties of Honey, ranging in color and flavor, depending on what plants the bees gather nectar from.
Honey never goes bad, because it's slightly acidic, bacteria won't grow in it.

Fit's Tip: Using Honey in your baked goods will keep them moist for a longer period of time.

Love Shack: Unusual Valentine's Day Presents From Flora Grubb

CasaSugar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:00:40 -0800

Local San Francisco gardening powerhouse Flora Grubb, whose San Francisco garden shop is chock-full of amazing plant installations, has some really fun, unusual offerings for Valentine's Day presents in her web shop.

My personal favorite is this hanging plant display, Little Heart Shaped World ($20). Only four inches square, it's nearly small enough to fit around your neck as an avant-garde pendant! The tiny glass heart is filled with a tillandsia (air plant) and lichens growing on little twigs. The heart is hung on a string and has a small hole to give the plants an occasional mist of water. It comes gift wrapped for your honey and can be ordered in time to get to your neck of the woods by Valentine's Day.

Want to see my other favorite offering from Flora Grubb? Then read more.

I also adore this Tear Vase With Mini Succulent Bouquet ($28). The vase can be ordered in green or clear glass, but each one comes gift wrapped and includes a small bouquet of succulent rosettes - clipped and twined on wire, which creates a months-long-fresh floral bouquet.

If you're a local resident, you can also order any of the beautiful and unexpected cut arrangements and air plants for Valentine's Day pick-up or delivery within San Francisco. Otherwise, check out all of the shippable offerings for Valentine's Day here.

Surprising Welcomes: Exploiting or Embracing?

babysugar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:00:10 -0800

"Honey, I'm hooooome!" Families of soldiers can't wait to hear those three words after their loved one has been off fighting in foreign lands. Though their arrival is usually more than enough, many returning soldiers are choosing to re-enter their old lives by surprising their families at school, sporting events or on their local news. The clip above is of a young girl who is shocked to see her father walk into her classroom. Though many people will choke up while watching it, some claim this type of surprise is exploiting the children and their situation. Others argue it helps to bring understanding and compassion to the armed service lifestyle. Certainly much of the decision should be made on each situation and the children involved as some may react favorably while others may harbor ill feelings about their parent's deployment. What do you think of these home videos - are they exploiting or embracing?

Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali Talk Italian Food

partysugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:44:44 -0700

At the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen over the weekend I was lucky enough to attend a demonstration lead by Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali. The duo are the masterminds behind a popular Los Angeles restaurant, Osteria Mozza. Silverton works most nights at the eatery behind the mozzarella bar. Batali, of course, is busy with lots of projects like a new line of tomato sauce and a pizza oven. When he hit the stage he dipped his hand in a pot of boiling pasta water and used it to slick back his hair! The two cooked, joked, and talked Italian cuisine. To find out what they had to say, read more.

To cook like an Italian, Mario insists on spending quality time shopping. "If you get good ingredients and don't really mess around with them, then you're cooking like an Italian."
When looking for ingredients, both Silverton and Batali seek out harder to find Italian specialty items like straticella (a type of fresh cheese), speck (smoked prosciutto), and guanicale (similar to bacon, but made from pork cheeks). Mario shamelessly pointed out that this kind of charcuterie can be purchased from his father's salumeria.

When making pasta, Batali undercooks it by two minutes. "When the box says it cooks in 10-12 minutes, I take it out after 8 minutes of cooking, then cook it for one more minute in the pan."
Like many Italian chefs, Batali said the "most crucial ingredient when making pasta is the starchy pasta water."
Instead of liquid honey, when she can find it, Silverton likes to use whole edible honey comb on cheese plates.
Let the pan do the work. Place meat and fish in a hot pan and leave it there. Don't mess with it, especially if it's fish.
Try making pesto in a mortar and pestle. Silverton, whose a huge fan of pestos, makes a variety including the classic basil, and other more interesting renditions like celery leaf, tomato, and caper pestos. While the elements may change, she makes pesto by hand in a mortar and pestle instead of a food processor. "The difference between male and female cooking is that men like machines and women like to be hands-on."
In Italy, they cook with everything from the head to the tail and from the leaf to the root, so make the most of your ingredients.
Unlike in French cooking, Italians (and Batali) don't worry about emulsifying sauces. Batali likes it when each bite is different and textured.
Lightly dress salads.
Spend the extra dollar on more expensive pasta. It will affect the overall flavor of the dish and is worth it.

The most important thing that Batali and Silverton stressed was that Italians are regionally focused. Each town has its own specific type of local cuisine. To truly cook like an Italian, look to your hometown for ingredients that are local and special to that region.

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Obamas to Plant White House Garden Today

YumSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:30:53 -0700

Today is the day that Alice Waters and other Slow Food supporters have been waiting for: the Obamas will begin planting a garden on the White House lawn, the first such victory garden to be created since the one Eleanor Roosevelt planted during World War II.

The garden, which will be overseen by Sam Kass, the Obamas' former private chef from Chicago, will provide food for the first family's meals and formal dinners. White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford will write menus based on what's available in the garden.According to First Lady Michelle Obama, the biggest reason for growing a garden is to educate children about the benefits of growing fresh produce locally. She said:

There’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.

The first lady, who will dig up soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot of land with fifth graders from a local elementary school, has stressed the significance of healthful eating ever since entering the White House. Last month, she opened up the White House kitchen for a press tour, and recently spoke about the importance of fresh, local eating.

Advocates of farm-to-table eating have been campaigning for a White House edible garden for months now, and there is little doubt that many eat-local proponents consider this to be a huge step in the right direction. To see what fruits and vegetables will be in the White House garden, read more.

Arugula
Spinach
Chard
Black kale
Red romaine
Green oak leaf
Butterhead lettuce
Red leaf lettuce
Spinach
Cilantro
Tomatillos
Hot peppers
Berries
Thai basil
Bees, for honey

What do you think of the project? What would you plant if you were Michelle Obama?

Make It a Summer Date: Batting Cages

FitSugar — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Cycling and hiking are awesome Summer activities to do with your honey, but they're not the only ones. Do something different on your next fitness date and pay a visit to your local batting cages. Even if you were the kid picking grass in right field during middle school during baseball games, I promise you'll have a blast when you're swinging bats in the sunshine.

You don't need to bring your own equipment to the cages; just wear comfortable clothes and sneakers and bring a little cash to pay for your time. Most places have a selection of cages with multiple options - soft-pitch softball or baseball, medium- or fast-pitch baseball, etc.

Expect to be a little sore after hitting a bunch of balls. Your upper body will get a great strengthening workout, particularly your back, shoulders, forearms, and core. My obliques were still noticeably sore a few days after my most recent trip to the batting cages!

Fit Tip: You may consider taking along a pair of batting gloves if you plan on swinging at 20 or more pitches. Your hands can easily tear after so much use, and you don't want a little injury to cut your afternoon short.

Say Cheese! Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon

partysugar — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:15:35 -0700

The other day I decided to treat myself to my favorite table cheese, grana padano. This Italian cheese is similar to Parmesan reggiano and is excellent eaten right out of your hands. However, my local grocery store was all out. As I stood staring aimlessly at the cheese selection, wondering what could replace my beloved padano, the cheesemonger saved me. "Have you tried Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon?" he asked. While I've had my fair share of artisanal cheesemaker's Cypress Grove's most famous cheese, Humboldt Fog, I've never tasted the Midnight Moon. An aged goat's milk cheese, Midnight Moon is perfect for any cheese plate. To find out why this is my new favorite and check out my suggestions for serving, read more.

Creamy and complex, midnight moon has similar characteristics to Parmesan. It's nutty and sharp with tiny melt-in-your-mouth crystals. The long and strong finish is caramely with a slight browned-butter flavor. It's salty, but not overly so and subtly rich. The aroma is mild. The aging process - Midnight Moon is aged for six months or more - provides a nice graininess. Pale ivory in color and smooth in texture, the wheels are finished in a black wax that easily peels off.

Here's how I plan on enjoying this delightful cheese:

Alone as a snack, or on a cheese board with charcuterie, fruit, and nuts.
With crackers, drizzled with honey or preserves.
Shaved onto a bitter green salad.
Melted in a grilled cheese sandwich or macaroni and cheese.
Grated on a crisp pizza crust.

Have you tried Midnight Moon or any of Cypress Grove's cheeses? What did you think?

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What's Cooking at Slashfood

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:50:51 -0700

We love Slashfood so much that every Thursday we round up their most delicious stories. Here are this week's finds:

When is it appropriate to eat the rind on cheese?
Five bargain wines that you shouldn't pass up.
Enhance the flavor of in-season wild ramps in a primavera pasta.
Make your own krupnikas, an Eastern European liqueur, with local honey.
Is planning your menu ahead really all that important?
Next time you shop for groceries, go Greek with these high-impact ingredients.

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