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Calulu (Dried Fish and Okra Stew)

Introduction to Calulu Stew

Calulu is a popular traditional dish in Angola that has gained popularity across the African continent. It is a stew made with dried fish and okra, and it is usually served with rice or funge. The dish has a rich and unique flavour that comes from its combination of ingredients. Calulu is a well-loved dish in Angola, where it is often served during special occasions such as weddings or festivals.

Ingredients, Preparation and Cooking of Calulu Stew

The ingredients for Calulu stew are easily accessible and affordable. They include dried fish, okra, onions, tomatoes, garlic, palm oil, salt, and water. To make Calulu, start by soaking the dried fish in water until it becomes soft. Then, wash the okra and slice it into pieces. Next, chop the onions and tomatoes, and crush the garlic. Heat some palm oil in a pot, and fry the onions and garlic until they become translucent. Add the tomatoes and fry for a few minutes before adding the dried fish and okra. Pour in some water, add some salt to taste, and let the stew simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with rice or funge.

Nutritional Benefits and Serving Suggestions of Calulu Stew

Calulu is a nutritious dish that is rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals. Dried fish is a good source of protein, which is essential for building and repairing muscles, while okra is rich in vitamins A and C, which help to boost the immune system. The dish is also low in fat and calories, making it a great option for those watching their weight.

Calulu is typically served with rice or funge, but it can also be eaten with bread or boiled potatoes. It is a filling and satisfying dish that can be enjoyed as a main course or as a side dish. The stew can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for later consumption. Overall, Calulu is a delicious and nutritious dish that is easy to prepare and perfect for any occasion.

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Food

Raisins, Sultanas, Currants: This is How Dried Grapes Differ

Raisins, sultanas or currants? Dried grapes hide behind the terms. Here you can find out what connects the designations and where the differences lie.

Raisins and sultanas are from the same grape variety – differences in drying

Sultanas and raisins have one important thing in common: both are made from the Sultana grape, so they’re the same grape. The difference between the designations is due to the different drying methods.

Raisins are dried in the sun for about five to seven days. This is how they get their typical dark color.
Sultanas owe their uniqueness and their light color to an important drying step: if the grapes are first dipped, they lose the wax layer on the outer skin. This makes the fruit permeable to water, so the drying time is only three to five days.
Currants are also dried grapes and therefore a type of raisin. However, they are obtained from the Greek grape variety Korinthiaki. They are also characterized by their dark color and are usually smaller than sultanas.

Treatment with sulfur makes fruit keep longer

To make the fruit last longer, raisins and sultanas are treated with sulfur dioxide during production. This is at the expense of various vitamins: explains that this primarily destroys vitamin B1 and folic acid.

The chemical treatment of the fruit can also have health consequences for humans, such as headaches or stomach problems. In this case, it is therefore advisable to use higher-quality or organic products, because sulfurization is not used here. Incidentally, currants are always treated without sulfur dioxide.

Conclusion: The varieties of raisins and sultanas differ in the drying process, but come from the same grape variety. Currants come from the Korinthiaki grape variety, but are also dried grapes. In order to make the fruits last longer, they are often sulphurized, which is why organic goods should be used.

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Lifestyle

Drying Flowers and Pressing Dried Flowers

Simply dry flowers and press dried flowers. Whether drying flowers in a book, with hairspray, or in the oven. Press flowers for children or dry flowers yourself. Dried flowers as a decoration or a dried bouquet. Make it yourself cheaply instead of having to order dried flowers online.

It’s a pity when beautiful flowers quickly wither. To make flowers last longer, flowers can be dried and then pressed. Because pressed blossoms or dried flowers can be used as decoration in the picture frame. Or give away a bouquet of dried flowers. It’s more fun to get creative. And even children can press flowers and have fun making crafts with dried flowers.

Which flowers dry best?

In principle, almost all types are suitable. The helichrysum is the most popular flower for drying. Marigolds, daisies, daisies, poppies, lavender, violets, and pansies are also suitable. Knapweed, hydrangea, heather, tickseed, larkspur, whorl-leaved, and dead-nettle are also often dried. Roses and gypsophila are particularly popular as gifts in picture frames. But many herbs are also suitable. Here you will find instructions and tips for drying herbs. Consequently, we show you different ways to dry your flowers and preserve their color.

1) Drying the flowers with hairspray

After picking, you should first let the flowers dry. Especially when the flowers are still damp from rain or dew. You can simply let the wet flowers dry on absorbent kitchen paper or blotting paper or dab them off. Only when the flowers are no longer damp can you dry your flowers. Check the flowers for insects, unsightly or wilted spots, and remove them. You should only use blossomed, beautiful, good-quality flowers for drying. Then tie them together with a wide ribbon or raffia to form a bouquet.

Now hang your bouquet in a well-ventilated, dark place. The attic or basement is best suited for this. It is important that the air circulates well so that the flowers can dry and that the room is dark so that they do not fade. Then you spray your bouquet with hairspray and make sure that the ribbon does not cut into the stem for the next 2-4 weeks. The flowers are ready when they are dry and crackle. If you want to dry flowers for eating or decorating cakes, see Edible Flowers and Dried Edible Flowers.

2) Preserved the color of the flowers

In order to preserve the color of your flowers, you should not expose them to direct sunlight. In order to be able to dry your flowers, you should only use dark places such as basements, attics, or pantries. Even if your flowers have already dried, you should not put dried flowers in direct sunlight. Light fades the color of the flowers. Incidentally, the same can also apply to dark laundry. You can find out how to avoid laundry fading under 6 common laundry mistakes.

3) press flowers in the book

For pressing in the book you need heavy books, if necessary heavy objects to weigh them down, tweezers and kitchen paper or blotting paper. Then you put a kitchen paper or a piece of blotting paper on both the book page and the flower. Next, carefully close the book. You should also weigh downlight books with objects. When a day has passed, you change your damp kitchen towel. After 3-4 days you change again. In about a week your flowers will be pressed.

When you move your flower, you’d better use tweezers so you don’t break them. If you want to dry delicate flowers, there is a risk that the petals will become brittle when pressed. You can easily prevent this by taking a small brush and dabbing it in a little cooking oil. You then carefully brush the delicate, small flowers with it. Then place baking paper in front of and behind the blossom to avoid oiling the pages of the book or the objects.

4) Press flowers with the iron

Flowers can be pressed particularly quickly with an iron. To do this, place the flowers between two pieces of paper or newspaper on an ironing board. Then you put a heavy book over it and press it flat for a moment to be able to iron it better. Check that the iron has no more water because it must not get wet when you press them. Set the iron to the lowest level and press directly on the flowers for 10-15 seconds. Then, after waiting for the paper to cool down, run the iron directly over the flowers a second time.

5) Salt and silica gel for drying

The color of the flowers can be preserved particularly well with dry salt or silica gel. Getting dried flowers with dry salt is very easy: you need sealable containers that you fill with some salt. Then you put the flowers in the container with the petals down and cover them with the drying salt. After about a week the flowers have dried. Silica gel or silica gel can also be used instead of dry salt. Silica gel achieves good results even within 3 days and can be reused.

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Food

Dried Apricots: Nutrients, Benefits and How to Best Taste Them

Dried apricots are rich in important nutrients and are real all-rounders. Here you can find out why dried fruit is so healthy and what you should look out for when buying it.

Dried apricots as a source of nutrients

Apricots are healthy fruits anyway. However, after they have been dried, the nutrient content is up to five times higher. Because when the water is removed, the mineral concentration in the fruit also increases.

Dried apricots contain large amounts of important vitamins and minerals:
Vitamin A (retinol) is good for your bones, eyes, skin and mucous membranes. The dried fruits contain so much of it that just three pieces of them can cover a large part of your daily requirement. They also contain a lot of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A (hence also called provitamin A). It is not only responsible for the bright orange color of apricots, but is also converted into vitamin A in the body.
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) promotes concentration and the body’s own oxygen supply. It stimulates the metabolism and thus ensures that you feel fit. Dried apricots also contain many other B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6).
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is of great importance for our immune system. It also strengthens the connective tissue and ensures that iron is better absorbed in the intestine.
Potassium regulates blood pressure and cell growth. It also promotes muscle growth, which is why the mineral is very important for athletes. Hardly any food contains as much potassium as dried apricots.
Iron is important for the immune system, energy metabolism and oxygen transport. Women in particular often suffer from iron deficiency.

Where do the dried fruits come from?

The fruits probably originally come from Armenia, which is also indicated by the Latin name Prunus armeniaca. The apricots we eat are mainly grown in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Iran and Italy. Depending on the region, they are in season between May and September. The dried apricots are sold all year round and over 90% of them come from the Malatya region of Turkey. There the apricots are harvested, pitted and dried under the sun.

When buying, you should make sure that your apricots are organic. Then they were not sulphurized. You can tell by the color, because unsulphured apricots are brownish and no longer bright orange. Although the addition of sulfur preserves the beautiful color of the fruit, it destroys vitamins and can be harmful to health. The addition of sulfur is particularly dangerous for asthmatics, as it can trigger asthma attacks.

Enjoy dried apricots in many ways

The dried fruits can refine many dishes. For example, you can mix them in your muesli or use them in muesli bars. But they also taste good in a colorful salad with fresh vegetables and nuts.

In oriental cuisine, dried apricots are used not only for sweet but also for savory dishes, such as in a delicious couscous salad. Of course, the dried fruits are also suitable as a snack between meals and are therefore an alternative to unhealthy sweets. The snack is often popular with athletes in particular because it provides energy and fills you up. Like other dried fruits, dried apricots are also considered a suitable food during a detox regimen.

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Food

Are Raisins Healthy? Ingredients of The Dried Grapes

Raisins are ubiquitous in muesli and trail mix – but are they healthy?

Raisins are nothing more than dried grapes: the grapes are harvested when ripe and hung up to dry until they hardly contain any water. There are different varieties, from the light sultanas to the small, dark currants.

Rock fruits like raisins are often recommended as healthy snack alternatives to sweets. In the following sections you will learn whether raisins are really healthy.

Are Raisins Healthy? These are their ingredients

Like all dried fruits, raisins mainly contain: Sugar – a full 60 percent. Therefore, it is already clear that raisins are only healthy as long as you eat them in moderation. The advantage over other sweets, however, is that the sugar from raisins does not get into your blood as quickly because raisins contain a lot of fiber (four to five percent). That means: raisins fill you up longer than other sweet snacks and make you less prone to cravings.

Above all, raisins are healthy because they contain valuable minerals and vitamins. The proportion of these nutrients is particularly high:
B vitamins: The B vitamins from B1 to B12 are irreplaceable in our body, especially for the numerous metabolic processes. Raisins contain several B vitamins, specifically B1, B3, B5, and B6.
Potassium: This mineral is especially important for muscles. Raisins contain 780 milligrams of potassium per 100 grams, which is about 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance.
Iron: Iron fulfills important tasks in the body, in particular it ensures that the cells are sufficiently supplied with oxygen. We need to consume around ten to 15 milligrams of iron every day – 100 grams of raisins already contain around 20 percent of this. Important: Your body can only absorb this large amount of iron together with vitamin C. Since raisins contain very little vitamin C, you should eat them with something containing vitamin C. How about a delicious couscous salad with peppers, raisins and a lemon dressing, for example?
By the way: Unlike fresh grapes or wine, raisins contain hardly any of the notorious secondary plant substance resveratrol, which is found in grapes and is said to have a cell-protecting effect in our body, among other things.

Are Raisins Healthy? Quality matters

Raisins have a long shelf life thanks to their sugar content – but sultanas in particular are often sulphurised. The sulphurisation should make them even more durable and ensure that the raisins do not discolour.

Attention: A sulphurization must only be declared on the packaging as soon as ten milligrams of sulphites or more are used for one kilo of raisins. You can only completely avoid sulphites if you explicitly buy unsulphured fruit. But what is the problem with sulfites? On the one hand some people do not tolerate them well, on the other hand they reduce the vitamin B1 content of the raisins.

With organic raisins, you have the best chance that they are unsulphured. By choosing to use raisins made from organically grown grapes, you also avoid using pesticides. Since grapes are susceptible to many germs and fungi, they are often heavily treated with pesticides in conventional cultivation.

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health

Edible Flowers and Dried Edible Flowers

Edible flowers and edible flowers and dried edible flowers. Simply plant edible flowers in the garden or window box or buy real edible flowers. Dried edible flowers for refining salads or as a decoration for cakes.

Use of edible flowers

Edible blossoms and flowers as well as dried edible blossoms are not only delicious but also a visual eye-catcher and also healthy. You can easily plant edible flowers, whether in the garden or in the window box. All flowers have special effects on health. Some are well-known medicinal plants that have been used for medicinal purposes since time immemorial. The flowers can be enjoyed pure or in salads or used to refine drinks and desserts. Edible flowers are a healthy addition to the menu, adding color and flavor to any dish.

Plant edible flowers in the garden

Many of the flowers found in the garden, such as the magnolia, tulip, and fuchsia, are also edible. If you don’t have a garden, you can buy the dried flowers commercially. Here you will find our tips on ordering and sending flowers online. However, flowers from the flower trade are usually not suitable for consumption. Some supermarkets or health food stores can sometimes find pre-packaged salads with edible flowers. However, these are not always fresh and are worth checking out.

Dried flowers can be found in many health food stores with spices or tea. You don’t necessarily need a garden to enjoy the edible flowers, as they also thrive in a box on the balcony or windowsill. Also, note our tips and tricks for watering flowers. It is important that the flowers are not sprayed with pesticides and have not been treated with artificial fertilizers. We have 16 home remedies for this as plant fertilizer and flower fertilizer.

Prepare the edible flowers

In preparation, examine the edible flowers for insects and remove them. Then the flowers are washed. However, they taste better if they are not soaked. The flowers should be harvested in the bud and preferably early in the morning when the aroma and the active ingredient content are most intense. You can only eat the flowers if you are sure which plant it is and know it is not poisonous. It’s best to learn which flowers are edible and which are poisonous. Genetically modified flower varieties are also discouraged.

Craft Dried Edible Flowers

In order to be able to produce dried edible flowers, you need a dark and well-ventilated place, such as an attic. It is important that the air circulates well so that the buds can dry. You will also need a tray or grid and clean kitchen towels. It is best to pre-dry the buds first. To do this, lay out your tray or grid with kitchen towels and place the buds on them at enough distance. Then you put the sheet in a dark, well-ventilated place. After about 3 days, the flowers will have dried a little.

You can now carefully separate the individual petals from the buds and distribute them on the tray lined with towels. You can also leave small buds where it would be too cumbersome to separate the tiny petals, such as daisies. Then you put the sheet back in the place to dry. After another week or so, most of the buds will have dried. It is best to test whether the flowers are crackling. When they are dry and crackling, you can put them in dark mason jars and put them in a dark place to store them. You can now use them for tea or to decorate cakes. Here you will find instructions and tips for drying herbs.

Tasty edible flowers

You can grow the nasturtium on the balcony. The orange to yellow flowers is very decorative in salads. The round, green leaves are also edible. The taste is slightly spicy and reminiscent of pepper. That’s why it goes well with all spicy dishes. The petals of the rose are edible and taste mild and sweet. They go well with all desserts and are decorative on cakes. Small rosebuds go well with the tea. You can easily make jam from rose petals, juice, and jelly.

In the Orient, rose oil and roses are very often used in the kitchen. In addition, violet blossoms have a very strong aroma. They taste just like they smell. Its sweetish aroma is suitable as an addition to all sweet dishes and cakes. The violet blossoms are also known as candied violets. The flowers are briefly boiled in a sugar solution and then dried. You might also be interested in our Valentine’s Day tips with the best recipes.

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