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Heat Olive Oil: You Have to Pay Attention to This

Olive oil is a healthy and tasty Mediterranean cooking oil. It just can’t get too hot. Here we tell you what you should pay attention to when heating olive oil.

Heat olive oil: tips for cooking, braising, baking and frying

Whether you want to fry onions until translucent, season a pasta sauce to taste, or brush a pumpkin in the oven with the popular oil in autumn: you can use most olive oils – including good “extra virgin” quality olive oils.

As long as the olive oil is cooking, stewing or baking in the pot with vegetables or other water-containing foods, it hardly gets hotter than 100°C.
You can even fry in olive oil as long as you use a temperature controlled fryer and don’t set it above 180°C.

Be careful when frying: do not let the olive oil get too hot

In fact, there are few situations where olive oil can actually burn and lose both its great taste and health-giving properties. For example, if you want to sear something to create roasted aromas.

The so-called smoke point of olive oil is around 180°C. Beyond this temperature, the oil burns and not only loses its healthy components – dangerous and sometimes carcinogenic by-products such as the toxic acrolein are also produced.

If it must be olive oil, only hot-pressed, refined olive oil would be suitable for searing. This is heat-resistant at temperatures of up to 220°C. During hot pressing, however, a large part of the aroma and the health-promoting properties of the oil are lost.

In summary – what should be considered when heating olive oil?

Here are a few things to keep in mind when heating olive oil:

Combined with vegetables or other water-containing foods, olive oil does not burn.
With a temperature control, you can even use olive oil for frying at a maximum of 180°C.
For temperatures higher than 180°C, you should use hot-pressed olive oil or other cooking oils.
If you want to get the most out of your olive oil, both in terms of taste and health, you can add it at the end of the recipe to refine it. Organically grown olive oils from cooperatives are best for the environment and producers. However, since it is such a coveted raw material, consumers are often misled.

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Cooking Tips

If You Have The Choice, You Are Spoiled For Choice: Which Type of Coffee Should I Choose?

There are almost countless methods and variants of coffee types. If you have to make a decision, it can be very difficult. We have put together the most important ones for you.

What it may be? Coffee types with milk – they are not all the same!

Coffee is coffee, you might think. If you order a latte in a café, for example, you might be served a café au lait in one and a café macchiato in the other, because although both types of coffee are made of coffee and milk, there are still differences – both in terms of taste and what it is preparation is concerned.

Let’s start with the popular and at the same time easy to prepare milk coffee. This type of coffee usually consists of filter coffee with a little milk. There aren’t many more regulations when it comes to milk coffee.

However, it is different with the other types of coffee with milk: French café au lait is also made from filter coffee and hot milk, but you have to be a little more precise here: 50-50 is the mixing ratio and both components should also be filled into the cup at the same time . The Frenchman also has clear ideas when it comes to the cup: Strictly speaking, the café au lait is not drunk from a classic cup, but rather from a drinking bowl.

The ratio of milk to coffee is also precisely defined in the Italian counterpart, the cappuccino: one third espresso diluted with hot water, one third milk and, to top it all off: a topping of milk foam, which should also make up one third.

The latte macchiato consists of these three ingredients. Here, however, great importance is attached to the correct preparation, or to be more precise, the sequence: hot milk, milk froth and finally the espresso – albeit in the undiluted form here – is allowed to flow very carefully into the glass. This brings us to the next point that distinguishes the latte macchiato from the cappuccino: A latte macchiato is served in a tall, usually thin glass with a long-handled spoon.

Filter coffee, mocha, espresso, instant coffee – for those who like it black

Those who prefer not to use milk in their coffee can also choose from a considerable selection of different types of coffee.

Filter coffee is still very popular with us, it has even recently experienced a real comeback.

If it has to be quick, you can also use instant coffee. The fast-dissolving type of coffee, which only requires hot water, is also available as decaffeinated coffee.

However, for those who prefer to celebrate their coffee hour, the classic Turkish mocha is probably the right choice: fine coffee powder is brought to the boil with water in an open pot, the so-called ibrik, briki or cezve. It is important with this type of preparation that the mocha should boil not just once, but twice. Then comes the trick: before you pour the coffee – mind you, along with the powder – into a cup, add some cold water. The reason? The powder should settle more quickly at the bottom of the can.

Another classic coffee variety is Epsresso. It is available in several variants. Contrary to popular belief, however, it is no stronger than conventional filter coffee. However, if you want a caffeine kick, you can use the espresso doppio, because here you have two espressos in one cup. On the other hand, if you prefer the gentle version, the espresso lungo is suitable, because it usually consists of twice as much water as the original.

So now all you have to do is decide…

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Lifestyle

What Does a Good Marriage Have to do With Coffee?

Coffee and a happy marriage should be related? Maybe not directly – but some comparisons and parallels can be seen.

The comparison of coffee, partner and marriage

The author of the guide “The marriage table: 77 thoughts and quotes for life as a couple” says that women want a certain type of man. It is compared to a black, strong and hot coffee. Here one or the other lady should already start to smile and nod in agreement with one or the other attribute. Then, unexpectedly, it is said that we pour milk into our “coffee” until it is no longer so black. Then we sweeten our coffee so that it is no longer so strong. And last but not least, we blow so that we don’t burn ourselves. Then we are surprised to find that what used to be black, strong and hot coffee is now just a beige, sweet and lukewarm specialty.

If we now focus on the actual specialty coffee, that may also be the case for many. She even hit the mark with one or the other. But if we project this coffee onto our partner, the whole thing looks a bit more sobering. In short: We keep changing our great guy, man or woman, until we don’t really like him anymore. Fortunately, this comparison still leaves some room for your own interpretations.

Of course you can leave the church in the village, because fortunately it’s not as dramatic as it sounds. The author Regula Lehmann would like to make it clear that our ideal often deviates from reality. Sure, coffee is great, but everyone drinks it in their own personal way. We shouldn’t form our counterparts according to our ideas, but look for a partner with whom we complement each other wonderfully. This takes away the burden of having to be complete on our own. After all, it is impossible for us to run or even win a marathon with two left shoes. Of course, the principle applies to both men and women.

The comparison of coffee and the partner is certainly extremely amusing at one point or another – but still successful. Without many words you can understand what the author wants to tell you. Surely everyone knows good tips and recipes for a functioning marriage or relationship. Substituting coffee for the holy water at marriage, writing the marriage contract in case of divorce on the label of a wine bottle to make it easier to bear, or putting a pastoral number on speed dial are certainly not all-encompassing solutions. But: When time comes, advice will come. In any case, we are sure that a good cup of coffee can do no harm in a partnership.

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Cooking Tips

Argentinian Coffee Culture: Have a Coffee With the Vice World Champion

Whoever thinks of Argentina, besides Lionel Messi, perhaps has the huge Pampas in mind, which is very intensively cultivated, e.g. B. is used for the world famous cattle breeding. But who thinks about coffee?

Argentina is known for many things. But also for coffee culture?
Argentine coffee culture

It is mainly thanks to the many Italian immigrants that there is a rich coffee culture in Argentina. Due to the geographical and climatic situation, coffee cultivation is only possible to a limited extent in the north of the country. That is why, when it comes to coffee cultivation in Argentina, the focus is very successfully not on sheer volume like in its neighbor Brazil, but on quality.

In most bars, restaurants and cafés in the country you can almost certainly order at least one of these four coffee specialties from the mozo, the waiter:
According to the German understanding, the “Americano” is a normal cup of coffee.
The “Solo” is a strong small coffee that is very similar to espresso.
The “Cortado” is a coffee with a little milk, usually served by the glass.
With the “Lagrima” the ratio of milk and coffee is reversed compared to the “Cortado”, i.e. a lot of hot milk and little coffee.
A piece of chocolate that can be melted in the milk is often served with the coffee and milk specialties.

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Cooking Tips

Peel Jerusalem Artichokes: You Have to Pay Attention to This

In itself, the preparation of the miracle tuber Jerusalem artichoke is not difficult. However, there are a few things you should keep in mind when peeling and cooking.

Jerusalem Artichoke: Good for digestion and a slim figure

Jerusalem Artichoke is a perennial sunflower with bright yellow flowers. Like the tomato or the potato, the tuber was brought to Europe by French emigrants from North America in the 17th century. Visually, it resembles ginger, but tastes more like parsnip, but with a nuttier taste.

The tuber can be processed in many ways, for example to:

soups
puree
Casserole
potato pancakes
and even raw in a salad.
In addition to its excellent taste, Jerusalem artichoke has other positive properties. The tuber has 30 kilocalories per 100 grams and is high in fiber, which is important for good digestion. This includes, for example, the water-soluble dietary fiber inulin. This makes them particularly interesting for diabetics, as their consumption does not affect the blood sugar level, but has a positive effect on the intestinal flora. It is also rich in potassium and iron.

You have to pay attention to this when cooking and peeling

First, use a good vegetable brush to thoroughly scrub and clean the mostly earthy tubers in cold water.
Remove dark spots with a knife.
You don’t need to peel it as the skin is very thin and can be eaten. If it still bothers you, you can peel Jerusalem artichoke thinly with a paring knife. This is particularly recommended for larger tubers. Alternatively, you can peel the peel after cooking. That’s a little easier.
The Jerusalem artichoke is now ready for further processing: In contrast to potatoes, you can also eat it raw, for example in a salad or on a raw vegetable platter. If you want to prepare the tuber as a Jerusalem artichoke soup, casserole or puree, you should cook it for 15 to 30 minutes.

Undesirable side effects of Jerusalem artichoke

In addition to its many positive properties, Jerusalem artichoke unfortunately also has a few unpleasant side effects. Consuming them can cause severe gas and even diarrhea if you overeat. This is due to the large amount of roughage, which the intestinal flora often has to get used to digesting. It’s best to approach it slowly and start with very small portions. This gives the intestine time to adjust to the new food.

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Cooking Tips

Have a French Breakfast: Sometimes Less is More

Croissant, baguette, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins… Obviously, for the French, breakfast is not just a meal, but a real pleasure that should best take place in a suggestive brasserie in Paris.

You can’t say that the French breakfast is very rich, hence the name “petit déjeuner” (in good German: small break of the fast), but sometimes less is more!

On weekdays, when everything has to be done quickly in the morning, the French usually only eat a croissant with honey and/or jam and drink large cups of café au lait (milk coffee) with it. At the weekend, on the other hand, the small, quick breakfast often turns into a larger brunch, where, in addition to the classic croissant, crepes, madeleines or hearty dishes are also served, such as baguettes with sausage and cheese, stuffed vegetables (petits farcis) or a piece of quiche Lorraine .

It’s not particularly sumptuous, especially compared to a hearty German breakfast, but the morning meal in France is a very tasty and enjoyable ritual that you should ideally take your time with.

The History of the French Croissant

The protagonist of the French breakfast is certainly the croissant: historically, its birth can be dated back to 1683, when the Turks besieged Vienna and dug an underground tunnel at night to enter the imperial city undisturbed. However, they had not counted on the Viennese bakers, who started their work before daybreak, heard the unusual noises of the tunnel builders and immediately alerted the soldiers.

As a thank you for saving the city from the Turks, Austrian bakers were now allowed to bake croissants in the shape of the Turkish crescent, which they called Kipferln. When the Empress Marie Antoniette married from the Viennese court to France in 1770, she introduced the croissant to Paris, where it was immediately called the croissant (translated: “rising moon”). In a short time, the croissant became the national specialty of France and still is today THE ambassador of savoir vivre.

How do you prepare a French breakfast?

Usually just having a croissant for breakfast during the week, French cuisine offers a wide selection of delicious baked goods that are served for a festive brunch at the weekend or on public holidays. So feel free to overdo it with the petit déjeneuer: combine baguettes, brioches and croissants with sweet strawberry or apricot jam and with French sausages and especially cheeses – Roquefort, Brie, Camembert… let your taste roam free!

Now let’s take a look at the ingredients you need to prepare a traditional French breakfast – in its more sumptuous version.

Ingredients (2 people)

2 croissants
4 madeleines
2 crepes (pancakes)
1 baguette (cut into small pieces)
Strawberry and/or apricot jam
honey
some butter
Sausage and cheese platter (some raw ham, salami, and French cheeses like Camembert, Brie, and Roquefort)
Stuffed vegetables (e.g. eggplant or zucchini)
2 pieces of quiche Lorraine
coffee or Ceylon tea
some milk (for the coffee)
8 oranges (for the juice)

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Food

How Many Calories Does Coffee Have?

Sooner or later, igur-conscious people ask themselves how many calories are in coffee. The good news is that coffee itself has no calories. The bad news: Coffee variations such as cappuccino, latte macchiato and Co. make a big difference. Find out here what the calorie count of coffee is.

Whether for breakfast, in the office or after a delicious meal, coffee is one of the most popular beverages around the world. But do you know how many calories coffee has? This question divides minds: While some claim that the hot drink even helps you lose weight, others say that it can be a real calorie trap. But which of these is true now? The answer: both! But from the beginning…

What are calories anyway?

Calories are known to be those little animals that sew clothes tighter at night. No, seriously – first of all, calories are actually kilocalories, abbreviated to kcal. This is nothing other than the unit that indicates the energy contained in food. The precise definition is:

One kilocalorie of a certain food supplies exactly the energy required to heat up one liter of water by one degree Celsius.

If you want to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than your body actually burns. All those who want to gain weight must consume more calories than they burn. The average calorie requirement per person is around 2000 kcal.

However, factors such as gender, height, weight and level of activity also play a decisive role. For example, a tall, physically active person burns more calories per day than a smaller person who hardly moves.

A lightweight: coffee itself is low in calories

Coffee drinkers who enjoy their drink black can rejoice: there are actually no real coffee calories. However, if you take it very seriously, a normal cup of coffee has just 4 kcal. A regular espresso only has 2 kcal per cup. These are indications that figure-conscious people can certainly neglect in their diet.

On the contrary, black coffee can even be beneficial for burning energy. Because the drink can boost the metabolism in the body and ensure that fat is burned faster. The popular hot drink helps with weight loss. However, this only applies to active people who exercise, and only to black coffee without any additives.

Milk and sugar make coffee a calorie trap

Unfortunately, not all coffee is created equal. What you put in the coffee is also decisive for the calorie count. This means sugar and milk. If you like sweetening your coffee, add 20 kcal per teaspoon of sugar. Milk also contains calories, more or less depending on the fat content. For example, if you add a third of whole milk to your cup of coffee, you will consume 40 calories.

Coffee types such as latte macchiato or cappuccino that contain milk and sugar also have more calories. The more of it is drunk, or the more milk and sugar it contains, the more calories the drink has.

Of course, coffee can also cause weight gain because the body is supplied with energy that first has to be burned off again. This means that what is actually a low-calorie drink can quickly become a calorie trap.

Overview: This is how many calories coffee and individual types of coffee have

Because coffee has many facets, the calorie information varies accordingly. To give you an overview of which varieties contain the most calories, we have sorted the drinks according to their nutritional value:

Pretty figure-friendly: A cup of espresso has just 2 kcal.
The following applies: the purer, the better. Even a cup of black coffee doesn’t matter. She comes to 4 kcal.
A cup of latte that consists of half low-fat milk and half coffee has about 65 kcal.
All cappuccino lovers consume just over 90 kcal with a cup of their beloved pick-me-up. Each teaspoon of sugar adds 20 kcal.
A latte macchiato also has almost 100 kcal due to the milk. With the whole milk variant, it can quickly become 150 kcal. That doesn’t even include the sugar.

Minimize calories in coffee – this is how it works

Anyone who pays attention to their diet and energy intake in order to maintain their weight or even lose pounds should opt for the lower-calorie coffee variants.

If you don’t want to do without latte macchiato or cappuccino, it’s best to choose low-fat milk. Instead of milk, you can also use milk substitutes such as soy or almond milk. This reduces the number of calories, the coffee gets a pleasant aroma and people with lactose intolerance can also enjoy it without regret.

You should avoid sugar if possible. However, if you really need something sweet in your coffee, you can use sugar substitutes. Try it with sweeteners from the health food store such as agave syrup, maple syrup or stevia. These substitutes contain significantly fewer calories than sugar, but still taste almost as good.

You should also be careful with coffee variations that you get on the go. Here, large mug coffees can contain added syrup and cream and can quickly exceed the 300-calorie mark. Then the drink sometimes turns into a small meal, at least if you go by the calorie count.

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Cooking Tips

Strawberries Go Moldy: Does the Whole Bowl Have to Be Thrown Away?

If there is mold on a strawberry, you don’t have to throw away the whole skin right away. However, you should be careful about what you eat. We explain what you have to pay attention to.

Not all mold is dangerous: precious cultures on cheese, for example, are edible. The situation is different with unwanted mold on foods such as fruit, vegetables and bread: These can sometimes produce mycotocins. These metabolites can damage the liver and kidneys over the long term and even have a carcinogenic effect, as the Apotheken Umschau reports. That’s why you should also be cautious if you notice mold on a strawberry.

Strawberries get moldy: You should pay attention to that

If you’ve bought a bowl of strawberries and spot mold, you should be on the lookout. You should then do the following:

Don’t eat the moldy strawberry! Even if only one spot has visible mold, you should discard the whole strawberry. Because: Especially in water-containing foods such as strawberries, traces of mold can spread invisibly throughout the fruit. Therefore, discard the moldy strawberry.
Also discard the strawberries that are directly adjacent to the moldy strawberry. The mold may have spread (invisibly) to these as well.
Check any other strawberries in the bowl. If you can’t find any signs of mold on these, they are still safe to eat, as SWR reports. However, if several strawberries are moldy in the bowl, it is better to dispose of the whole bowl, as nutritionist Christoph Meinhold advises in the forum of the Federal Center for Nutrition.
Before you eat the remaining strawberries, be sure to wash them thoroughly. You can use clear water or soda water for this. Then you should eat the strawberries as soon as possible.
Tip: You can prevent mold in strawberries by not storing them in their skins, but rather laying them out flat on a plate in the fridge. Nevertheless, you should consume the perishable fruit as soon as possible – preferably on the day of purchase. You can also freeze strawberries.

Strawberries: delicious and healthy – but regional and seasonal, please

Strawberries consist of about 90 percent water and are therefore particularly low in calories – at least without sugar. They are rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium and potassium and also provide more vitamin C than citrus fruits. Around 100 grams of strawberries cover the daily vitamin C requirement. From a health point of view, there is a lot to be said for the popular fruit, which, despite its name, is actually a nut.

Strawberries are only really healthy if they come from organic cultivation. Because conventional strawberries are mostly contaminated with pesticides, as Öko-Test found out in a comprehensive test. We therefore recommend that you only buy strawberries of certified organic quality.

But strawberries can also be problematic from an ecological point of view if they do not come from regional cultivation: imported strawberries often come from Spain or other southern countries. Since a lot of water is used for cultivation (up to 280 liters for 1 kilo!), this is partly to blame for the water shortage in those countries. The long transport route also contributes to the poor ecological balance of imported strawberries. In addition, there are even reports of rapes on Spanish strawberry plantations.

We therefore recommend that you only buy organic strawberries from German outdoor cultivation. The delicious fruits are in season here from May to August. Of course, even better are strawberries you picked yourself from the neighboring strawberry field or you plant strawberries yourself.

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Cooking Tips

Freezing Tomatoes: How It Works and What You Have to Consider

Tomatoes can be frozen, but they lose their flavor in the process. You can read here what you should pay attention to and when it makes sense to freeze tomatoes.

Freezing tomatoes: Only good quality, please

Tomatoes are wonderfully aromatic and a real treat in summer. If you have too many tomatoes, you can freeze them so they don’t break. Here, however, it is important that the tomatoes are not soft and have no rotten spots or bruises. You should also remove the green stalk.

Of course, it only makes sense to freeze tomatoes if you really can’t process them fresh. Because when they freeze, they lose their aroma – after defrosting, you can no longer eat them raw, for example in a salad, but should cook them. It is ideal if you process them into a tomato sauce, for example.

Three ways to freeze tomatoes

You now have several options for freezing tomatoes:

fresh and freeze whole
Freeze cut into small pieces
pureed (and seasoned) and freeze as a sauce
tomatoes in one piece

If you freeze the tomatoes whole, you should remove the skin first. During the freezing process, the water in the fruit expands and the tomato can burst. You can easily remove the skin by blanching the tomatoes briefly and then carefully peeling off the skin. (More info: Peeling and skinning tomatoes: easily with a simple trick)
Place the round tomatoes, which are still whole, on a small baking sheet or similar surface (e.g. cutting board) and place in the freezer.
As soon as they are frozen, take out the pads and put the tomatoes in a cotton bag, for example, and put them back in the freezer.
Sliced ​​Tomatoes

For the diced version, you don’t need to skin the tomatoes because slicing them gives them room to expand.
Dice the tomatoes, remove the core and place in a mason jar.
After the small pieces of tomato have thawed, they are particularly good for pizza toppings or sauces that you don’t want to have a completely smooth puree.
Pureed tomatoes

The easiest way to freeze tomatoes is to freeze them already pureed and ideally seasoned.
For example, you can use the plastic-free method with ice cube trays.
In addition, if it has to be quick, you have a ready-made tomato sauce immediately.
So prepare the tomatoes according to your favorite recipe, let them cool and then freeze them. Alternatively, you can cook them without spices and freeze them.

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Food

Grocery Check: Is It Still Possible or Does It Have To Go?

My yogurt is not old!

It happened to me again recently. A yogurt from almost prehistoric times was hidden in the back of the refrigerator. Since it still looked normal from the outside, I was brave and opened it. Lo and behold: everything is perfect, put it in the breakfast muesli!

But not everyone is that brave. Around 206,000 tonnes of food ends up in the garbage in Austrian households every year, even though it is still edible. Most are thrown away unchecked, simply because they’ve passed their sell-by date.

Greenpeace food check

In a long-term test that began in January 2017, the environmental protection organization Greenpeace, on behalf of the ORF’s “Mother Earth” campaign, found that food has a much longer shelf life than the best-before date (MHD) would have us believe.

Eight foods were examined, including eggs, yogurt, cake, salami, and soy yogurt, which were 14 days past the specified best-before date. The tested yogurt in particular achieved an amazing result: even 26 weeks after the best-before date, it was still perfect and edible! Soy yogurt, smoked tofu, eggs, salami, cake, and cheese also held up surprisingly well. A vegetarian sesame dip was the earliest to give up, but this was still ok two weeks after the best-before date.

Best before date (MHD) is not the same as to use by date

By the way: The MHD is not the expiry date! Only a few perishable foods have a real expiry date (use-by date), e.g. B. Fresh meat and minced meat. The pack then says “Use by…”. In addition, the MHD is given far too short by many manufacturers in order to avoid liability issues.

Determine the shelf life of food

So we rely on common sense and our five senses. An exceeded best-before date is by no means a reason to throw away food. If you smell it, pay attention to the consistency and taste a little of it, it is usually easy to determine whether it is still edible.

Foodless is more

In order not to waste food in general, Greenpeace recommends not to go shopping when hungry, not buying excess food, and, above all, avoiding perishable multipack offers.

Here you will find the best recipes with yogurt (also with expired ones!). If your expired yogurt is still good, why not try this quick yogurt poppy seed cupcake or these fabulous savory pickled yogurt balls.

By the way: Leftovers from cooking also have a right to further use and don’t have to go into the bin uneaten 😉 Even when cooking with leftovers, you can still prepare wonderful meals!

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