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Angola

Cazumbu (Leafy Greens and Beans Stew)

Introduction: What is Cazumbu Stew?

Cazumbu is a traditional Angolan dish that features a combination of leafy greens and beans stewed together in a flavorful broth. The dish is particularly popular in the northern region of Angola, where it is often served with maize porridge or rice. Cazumbu is a hearty and nourishing dish that is enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds in Angola and beyond.

Ingredients and Preparation of Cazumbu Stew

The basic ingredients for Cazumbu stew include collard greens or kale, black-eyed peas or kidney beans, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and chili peppers. The vegetables and beans are typically chopped and sautéed in oil until they are tender and fragrant, then stewed in a broth made from water or vegetable stock, along with seasonings such as bay leaves, paprika, and salt. Some variations of Cazumbu may also include meat, such as beef or goat, or dried fish.

To prepare Cazumbu, start by washing and chopping the vegetables and soaking the beans overnight if you are using dried beans. In a large pot or Dutch oven, sauté the onions, garlic, and chili peppers in oil until fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they start to break down. Next, add the chopped greens and beans and pour in enough water or vegetable stock to cover the vegetables. Add the bay leaves, paprika, and salt, and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the stew simmer for at least an hour or until the beans are soft and the greens are tender.

Nutritional Benefits and Culinary Significance of Cazumbu Stew

Cazumbu is not only a delicious and comforting dish, but it also packs a nutritional punch. The combination of leafy greens and beans provides a good source of protein, fiber, iron, and vitamins A and C. The dish is also low in fat and calories, making it a healthy choice for those watching their weight or looking to improve their overall health. Additionally, Cazumbu has cultural significance as a beloved traditional dish that has been passed down through generations in Angola and beyond. Eating Cazumbu can be a way to connect with the culture and history of the region, as well as to enjoy a tasty and nourishing meal.

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Zambia

How are local vegetables and greens incorporated into Zambian dishes?

Introduction to Zambian Cuisine

Zambia is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, and its cuisine is a reflection of the country’s diverse cultures and natural resources. Zambian cuisine is primarily based on staple foods such as maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, and beans. The cuisine also incorporates meat, fish, and vegetables, making it a balanced and nutritious diet.

The Significance of Vegetables and Greens

Vegetables and greens are an essential part of Zambian cuisine. They provide essential nutrients, vitamins, fiber, and minerals needed for a healthy diet. They are also a significant source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. Vegetables and greens are grown all over Zambia, making them readily available and affordable for all.

Traditional Zambian Vegetarian Dishes

Zambian cuisine has several vegetarian dishes that have been passed down through generations. Some of the popular vegetarian dishes include Nshima and beans, which is a staple meal made of ground maize and boiled beans. It is usually served with a side of vegetables or greens. Other traditional dishes include Chikanda, a delicacy made of ground peanuts and wild tubers, and Munkoyo, a fermented drink made from the root of the Munkoyo tree.

Popular Local Vegetables and Greens

Zambia has several local vegetables and greens that are incorporated into traditional dishes. Some of the popular ones include Kalembula, also known as pumpkin leaves, which are cooked into a stew with groundnuts and served with Nshima. The leaves of the sweet potato plant, locally known as Chikanda, are also used to make Chikanda. Other popular vegetables and greens include Okra, Chibwabwa, and Cowpea leaves, which are used to make stews and soups.

Cooking Techniques and Recipes

The most common cooking technique used in Zambian cuisine is boiling, especially for vegetables and greens. Vegetables and greens are usually boiled in water with some salt and onions until they are tender. They are then served with Nshima, a staple meal made of maize meal cooked in boiling water until it forms a thick porridge-like consistency. Several recipes incorporate local vegetables and greens, such as the Kalembula stew and Chikanda.

Conclusion: The Future of Zambian Cuisine

Zambian cuisine is rich in culture and diversity, and there is a growing trend towards incorporating local vegetables and greens into modern dishes. With the increasing demand for healthy and nutritious foods globally, Zambian cuisine is well-positioned to be a trendsetter in this regard. As more people embrace vegetarianism and veganism, Zambian cuisine is poised to become a top destination for food enthusiasts seeking a unique and wholesome culinary experience.

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Food

Turnip Greens: Origin, Nutrients and Recipes

Turnip sticks or turnip greens are vegetables that very few people know. Here you can find out all about its distribution, nutrients and which recipes it goes with.

Stick Mushrooms: Vegetables with a long tradition

Turmeric has been cultivated for many centuries, especially in the Rhineland and North Rhine-Westphalia. Since the vegetable grows in many areas of Germany, it does not have to be transported far to be sold. This makes turnips particularly sustainable.

Rübstalk is a type of turnip. In the past, these were planted so close together that the beet fruit could no longer develop. The leaves grew bigger and bigger. Today, turnips can grow up to 25 centimeters in size – the beets remain very small and tender.

Buy seasonally: Season has turnips from spring, around mid-April, through summer, late May to early June. There is a second harvest in October. The best place to buy turnips is at weekly markets or from well-stocked greengrocers.

Grow turnips yourself: If you have a garden or a balcony, you can simply grow turnips yourself. The best way to get organic seed is from an organic farmer near you.

It is best to sow the vegetables in early March or early September. Since turnip butter is very frugal, it grows in practically any location in any soil. You should only water it regularly – then you can harvest the healthy vegetables after about five to seven weeks.

These nutrients make turnips so healthy

Turnip sticks are a real nutrient bomb. It can be integrated particularly well into a conscious diet. Per 100 grams turnip greens contain:
30 calories
0.2 grams of fat
3 grams of protein
3 grams of carbohydrates
2.3 grams of dietary fiber
In addition, turnip butter is rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A). According to the BzfE (Federal Center for Nutrition), it also contains significant amounts of folic acid, calcium, iron and the secondary plant active ingredient mustard oil glycoside.

Health-promoting properties are ascribed to all ingredients: Due to the high vitamin C content, turnip butter is said to promote the immune system and the beta-carotene protects the body’s cells by binding free radicals. Calcium strengthens and builds bones and teeth and mustard oil glycoside even has a slight antibacterial effect.

Preparation and recipes for turnip greens

You can prepare turnips raw, boiled or cooked. In principle, you process it just like Swiss chard. Raw turnip butter goes particularly well with salads. To do this, wash the turnip leaves and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then serve them with onions and tomatoes, for example.

You can also use turnips as a side dish with fish and poultry and as a soup vegetable.

Tip: If possible, do not use meat from factory farming, but use organic quality products. The DGE recommends consuming a maximum of 300 to 600 grams of meat per week – this also protects the climate. In Greenpeace’s fish guide, you can find out which types of fish are still ecologically justifiable to buy and which ones you should better keep your hands off.

When you cook turnip greens, you should separate the leaves and stalks first, then wash them well. Put the stalks in boiling water first. They take a little longer to finish cooking. If you want to use the leaves as well, just add them 3-4 minutes before the end of the cooking time, depending on the recipe.

Always use fresh turnips. You shouldn’t keep it in the fridge for more than a day or two. Wrapping the veggies in a damp kitchen towel will keep them fresh a little longer.

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Food

Lamb’s Lettuce: The Greens Are so Healthy

Lamb’s lettuce is healthy and one of the most nutritious types of lettuce. We give you an overview of the nutritional values, vitamins and minerals and also show you the disadvantages of the salad.

Lamb’s lettuce is in season from October to April. So it’s worth buying and processing the healthy lettuce during this period.

When buying lamb’s lettuce, you should look for an organic seal. It guarantees you that the lamb’s lettuce comes from organic farming and is free of chemical pesticides. If you buy the lamb’s lettuce regionally, not only will the local suppliers be happy, you will also be doing something good for the environment and your health. Regional products cause fewer CO2 emissions thanks to shorter transport routes.

Is lamb’s lettuce healthy? This is what the nutritional values ​​of the lettuce look like

Lamb’s lettuce is healthy because it is one of the most nutritious types of lettuce. It is also low in fat, sugar and carbohydrates.

This is what the specific nutritional values ​​of 100 grams of lamb’s lettuce look like:

Calorific value: 18 kcal (77kJ)
Protein: 1.8g
Carbohydrates: 0.7g
of which sugar: 0.7 g
Fat: 0.4g
Dietary fiber: 1.8 g

Lamb’s lettuce also contains many healthy vitamins and minerals. These include, among others:

vitamin C
Vitamin A
vitamin E
B group vitamins
magnesium
chloride
sulfur
potassium
calcium
phosphorus

Effect of healthy lamb’s lettuce

The vitamins and minerals it contains make lamb’s lettuce very healthy. The ingredients of lamb’s lettuce have a number of positive health aspects:

Lamb’s lettuce is known for having a particularly high proportion of vitamin C. This strengthens the immune system and is necessary for the development of connective tissue and bones.
Lamb’s lettuce contains vitamin A, which supports both the structure of the skin and visual performance.
Vitamin E is also detectable in lamb’s lettuce. The two essential functions of the vitamin are fat metabolism and the protection of body cells from free radicals.
In addition, the lettuce variety is rich in various vitamin B groups. The highest is the vitamin B6 proportion, which is crucial for various metabolic processes such as protein metabolism and also plays an important role in hormone formation.

Disadvantages of lamb’s lettuce

Although lamb’s lettuce is so healthy, it also has disadvantages: it contains both oxalic acid and nitrate. Both substances can become toxic to the human body.

Nitrate: Nitrate in water and food is initially harmless. However, it becomes critical when the body converts the nitrate to nitrite, for example during digestion. This often leads to a bacterial infection of the digestive tract. This can even be life-threatening for children.
Oxalic Acid: Pure oxalic acid can damage the kidneys. Cooking foods that contain this substance helps. In this way, the oxalic acid content decreases. However, the oxalic acid value in lamb’s lettuce is so low that you can eat it raw. Nevertheless, caution is advised: You should not consume lamb’s lettuce in excessively large quantities. If you suffer from kidney failure, you are on the safe side if you do without lamb’s lettuce.

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Food

Here’s How You Can Use Fennel Greens Instead of Throwing Them Away

Fennel green is healthy and brings a lot of aroma. Instead of throwing it away, you can use it to flavor many dishes. You can find out how to use it and how to make a delicious fennel green pesto here.

Almost all parts of fennel are edible: apart from the hard stalk, you can use everything it has to offer – even the green fennel. It’s too good to end up in the trash. Because fennel green not only tastes very spicy, but is also healthy.

In Germany, the fennel season runs from June to November. Outside this period, the vegetables come from Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Italy.

Fennel green is so healthy

Fennel is considered an extremely healthy vegetable. It contains many minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron, which, among other things, ensure strong nails, healthy hair and strong bones. In addition, it provides vitamins A, C, and B, as well as essential oils.

A study found that there are even more minerals in the green fennel than in the tuber. In addition, fennel green contains omega-3 fatty acids, including α-linolenic acid, which according to the study should have anti-cancer properties.

Various essential oils have also been detected in fennel greens, including anethole, which is considered to be expectorant and slightly antibacterial.

100 grams of fennel green have the following nutritional values:

Energy: 84 kcal
Carbohydrates: 18.44 g
Protein: 1.16g
Fat: 0.6g

Here’s how you can use fennel greens

Especially in summer you can get particularly fresh fennel from the region. Not only the tuber is then suitable for many delicious dishes, you can also process the fennel green. We present you a recipe for fennel green pesto. In addition to the pesto, you can also try the following ideas with fennel greens:

Use it like parsley and season fish and meat dishes with chopped fennel greens. But the spicy aroma also goes well with salads and vegetables such as kohlrabi and cauliflower.
Top various dishes with fennel greens, for example bread topped with cucumber.
Try a classic Italian dish with fennel greens: pasta with fennel.
Tip: Find out the right dosage of fennel herb. The intense taste can quickly ensure that other flavors are masked.

Save the fennel greens

Like any herb, you should also use fennel greens as soon as possible, because it tastes the most intense fresh. If the herb looks limp and wilted, it is no longer fresh. However, if you have more fennel greens than you can use right away, you can store them for a few days. This is the best way to do it:

Pluck the fennel greens from the stalks.
Fill an oblong container with cold water and place the fennel greens in it.
Seal the container and put it in the fridge – but not in the back where it’s coldest. There it can get too cold for the fennel greens.
Alternatively, you can freeze fennel greens:

Pick off the green fennel, chop it finely and fill it into ice cube trays.
Fill them up with oil and freeze them.
You can thaw the ice cubes for salad dressings, for example.

Recipe for fennel green pesto

Ingredients:

150 g green fennel
3 EL pine nuts, toasted
20 g Pecorino (optional yeast flakes as a vegan alternative)
100 mlorganic olive oil
salt to taste

Directions:

Wash the fennel greens and dry them well with a clean kitchen towel. Pick the fennel greens from the stalks and chop them finely.
Finely chop the pine nuts and grate the pecorino cheese. You can also use yeast flakes as a vegan alternative to pecorino.
Mix together the fennel greens, cheese or nutritional yeast, pine nuts, and oil. Season the pesto with salt.
Pour the pesto into a sealable jar and keep it in the fridge. Tip: If the aniseed flavor of the fennel herb in the pesto is too intense for you, you can replace half with parsley or carrot greens.

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Food

12 Amazing Facts About Greens

Think beta-carotene is only found in red vegetables and fruits? Dill and onions contain no less vitamin A than carrots! In addition, by sprinkling greens on the meat, you enrich the dish with vitamin C, which is not so much in green vegetables as in sea buckthorn or black currant, but still a lot. Other benefits of greens include a high content of potassium, magnesium, manganese, and vitamin K, which is responsible for the absorption of calcium. What do you know about Greens?

  1. Greens are the only type of food that contains absolutely all the nutrients a person needs.
  2. To obtain these nutrients, it is necessary to break the strong cell walls of the greens (by thoroughly chewing into porridge or at least grinding in a blender).
  3. Separate food. Greens are a category of food separate from vegetables, and the only one that can be combined with any food (without violating the principles of “separate nutrition”).
  4. Protein source. Greens are very high in protein – for example, one pound (454 g) of green leafy vegetables contains more protein than the US recommended for daily consumption.
  5. Essential amino acids. All green plants are composed of 9 main (irreplaceable) amino acids.
  6. Green plants contain protein in the form of individual amino acids, and it is easier for our body to use such amino acids than complex animal proteins (created by the animal body, from the same greenery, and for our own needs, not for ours).
  7. Unlike animal proteins, green proteins do not lead to cancer.
  8. Cellulose. Greens are rich in insoluble fiber, which absorbs toxins from the large intestine like a sponge. Without it, a complete bowel cleansing is almost impossible, if not impossible.
  9. As a result, inadequate fiber intake is one of the main causes of premature aging in humans.
  10. Homeostasis. Being a source of all the nutrients that a person needs, greens are the best possible source of nutrition for the endocrine system and thus contribute to the regulation of homeostasis.
  11. Hypoacidness. The low acidity of gastric juice interferes with the absorption of nutrients necessary for health, which leads to disease. Regular consumption of green cocktails has a tangible healing effect, normalizing the concentration of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice.
  12. Chlorophyll – cancer prevention and treatment. More than 75 years ago, Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize for his discovery that cancer is caused by impaired cellular respiration when cells lack oxygen. Greens are rich in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is rich in oxygen. Numerous scientific studies show that there are hardly any diseases in which the condition could not be improved with the help of chlorophyll.
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Estonia

Can you explain the tradition of “köögirohi,” the use of fresh herbs and greens in Estonian cooking?

Introduction: The Importance of Fresh Herbs and Greens in Estonian Cuisine

Estonian cuisine is famous for its use of fresh herbs and greens, known as “köögirohi” in Estonian. These aromatic plants add a unique flavor and color to Estonian dishes, making them not only delicious but also visually appealing. Fresh herbs and greens are abundant in Estonian summers, and people take advantage of this by incorporating them into their meals. Their use is not limited to fine dining; they are present in everyday dishes, making Estonian cuisine healthy, flavorful, and distinctive.

Origins: A Brief History of “Köögirohi”

The use of fresh herbs and greens in Estonian cuisine dates back to the ancient times when Estonians relied on wild plants for their medicinal and culinary purposes. Later, during the medieval period, Estonians began introducing new plant species brought by monks, traders, and nobility from other parts of Europe and Asia. This exchange of plants enriched Estonian cuisine, adding new flavors and aroma to traditional dishes. Nowadays, fresh herbs and greens are widely used in Estonian cooking, reflecting the country’s culinary heritage and its openness to new influences.

Types of Herbs and Greens Used in Estonian Cooking

Estonian cuisine is rich in the use of fresh herbs and greens, with some of the most commonly used being dill, parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary, sage, and mint. These plants are used both fresh and dried, depending on the dish. Dill, for example, is a staple herb in Estonian cuisine, used in soups, stews, and salads. Parsley is another popular herb with a fresh, vibrant taste, used in potato salads and meat dishes. Chives are often used to garnish dishes, adding a mild onion flavor. Estonians also use wild plants such as nettle, sorrel, and woodruff, which have a unique taste and are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Preparation: How to Incorporate Fresh Herbs and Greens into Estonian Dishes

Estonians incorporate fresh herbs and greens into their dishes in various ways. Some dishes, such as the traditional potato salad, rely heavily on fresh herbs, while others use herbs as a garnish. Estonians often add herbs to soups and stews, giving them a fresh and aromatic taste. Fresh herbs and greens are also used in marinades, sauces, and dressings, adding depth and complexity to the flavors. When cooking with fresh herbs and greens, it is essential to add them at the right time to preserve their flavor and aroma.

Health Benefits of “Köögirohi”

Fresh herbs and greens are not only delicious but also highly nutritious. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and their consumption has been linked to numerous health benefits, including better digestion, improved immunity, and decreased inflammation. Estonians have long recognized the health benefits of fresh herbs and greens, incorporating them into their daily meals to promote good health and wellbeing.

Regional Variations: Differences in the Use of Fresh Herbs and Greens Across Estonia

Like any cuisine, Estonian cooking exhibits regional variations in the use of fresh herbs and greens. In coastal regions, such as the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, Estonians use sea buckthorn and other coastal plants in their dishes. In the forested areas of southern Estonia, they use wild berries and mushrooms, along with locally grown herbs such as thyme and rosemary. These regional variations reflect the diversity of Estonian cuisine and the country’s unique geography.

Sustainability: The Environmental Impact of “Köögirohi”

The use of fresh herbs and greens in Estonian cooking is not only beneficial to health, but it also has a positive environmental impact. Fresh herbs and greens are grown locally, reducing the carbon footprint associated with long-distance transportation. They are also grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals, making them a sustainable and eco-friendly food choice.

Conclusion: Why Fresh Herbs and Greens are Essential to Estonian Cooking

Fresh herbs and greens are an essential part of Estonian cuisine, adding a unique flavor and aroma to traditional dishes. From the ancient times when wild plants were foraged for their medicinal and culinary purposes, to the present-day use of locally grown herbs and greens, Estonians have recognized the importance of fresh, healthy, and sustainable food. Incorporating fresh herbs and greens into our diets can not only make our meals more delicious but also promote good health and protect the environment.

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