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The Pros And Cons of a Coffee Pod Machine

Coffee pad machines are trendy, after all they promise quick coffee enjoyment without much effort. But can you keep up with freshly brewed coffee?

The coffee pad machine – practical or tasteless?

While the good old coffee machine used to be an integral part of every kitchen, another trend is now gaining ground – the coffee pad machine. The small devices not only look modern, they are also easy to use and very popular in small households. The preparation is reminiscent of brewing a tea. Loose, pre-portioned coffee powder lies in individual pads made of filter paper. Thus, one pod corresponds to one cup of coffee. The preparation takes place at the push of a button. Advocates of the coffee pad machine are enthusiastic about the high functionality and easy handling. Critics complain about the taste of the coffee, which should not come close to freshly brewed coffee. But who is right and what are the advantages and disadvantages of such a machine?

A trend with a future? The coffee pad machine

Coffee pad machines have long outstripped the old coffee machines in electronics stores. The devices are now available in a wide variety of designs, colors and shapes. The first machines for the precise portioning of coffee enjoyment came onto the market around 1990. They only became a trend at the beginning of the 21st century. But the trend continues, although there is now a subtle backward movement towards carefully brewed coffee by hand or filter machine.
The advantages of a coffee pad machine are obvious. The preparation takes place within a few seconds, after all, only the required amount of water has to be heated. No special expertise or skill is required. Time-consuming work, such as grinding the coffee beans, is no longer necessary. Thanks to the large number of different varieties, there is something for every taste. All you have to do is insert the respective pad. A filter change or the like is not required. Thanks to its small size, a coffee pad machine is suitable for every household and even in the office, the small machine can easily be accommodated. Cleaning is very easy, many components can even be cleaned in the dishwasher. In addition, thanks to the use of filter paper, there is less waste than with a capsule machine.

Disadvantages of a coffee pad machine

At first glance, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. But a coffee pad machine also has disadvantages. The small machine allows individual coffee enjoyment, but it is not possible to prepare a larger amount of coffee. Here the filter machine is clearly in the lead. In addition, the price per cup of coffee is slightly more expensive than freshly brewed coffee. An individual setting, such as changing the degree of strength, is not planned either. For a milder coffee, the coffee drink must be temporarily diluted with water. A fully automatic coffee machine from Kaffee Partner has clear advantages here, because many parameters can be conveniently set via the control panel.
The main criticism of many coffee experts, however, is the taste. Due to the pre-portioned pads with ground coffee powder, little can be said about the quality of the coffee beans. In addition, the powder used is not freshly ground, but rather older. In contrast, fully automatic coffee machines grind the coffee beans fresh. No wonder that particularly aromatic coffee drinks are produced here. It is worth trying different pads, because there are big differences in quality. The following measures help to achieve the best taste from a coffee pad machine:
Moisten the pad beforehand to release roasted aromas
Use quality coffees
Warm up cups beforehand
Store pads airtight and use up quickly

Who is the coffee pad machine suitable for?

The coffee pad machine fits into our everyday life, in which everything has to work faster and more easily. Hardly anyone takes the time to grind the coffee beans themselves, for example. This makes the small machine perfect for households where small amounts of coffee are occasionally consumed. Families, flat-sharing communities or people who like to invite people over for a coffee quickly reach their limits with such a machine. Here, a fully automatic coffee machine, such as that offered by Kaffee Partner, should be purchased. In the end, taste also decides which coffee machine best suits your own requirements. Try out different variants, you will definitely find your favorite coffee quickly.

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Food

Soup Diet: All the Pros and Cons

With a soup diet you can eat healthily and sustainably and relieve your digestive system. However, in the form of a crash diet, it can also be problematic. Here you can find out more about the advantages and disadvantages.

Many magazines and journals praise a soup diet primarily as a weight loss diet. So you should “spoon yourself slim” when you have “sinned” again. However, such an attitude can quickly lead to us starving for days and working exclusively towards an ideal weight. Whether the diet is healthy and sustainable often plays a subordinate role.

This not only promotes a nutrient deficiency and promotes the yo-yo effect after the diet, but possibly also a negative self-image. Therefore, focus more on eating healthily as part of the soup diet and doing something good for your body. If you want to lose weight, you should continue to take care of your mental health and avoid constant hunger pangs.

Soup Diet: General Advice

In order to make a soup diet not only healthy and filling, but also ecologically sensible, you can consider the following tips:

Incorporate as many different types of vegetables into your diet as possible. When making your selection, you should base your selection on what is available seasonally. In autumn and winter, for example, pumpkin, potatoes, parsnips, kale and leeks are ideal. In the warm months you can fall back on tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and broccoli. You can find more information about this in our season calendar.
To save time, you can prepare a large amount of soup at once. You can also freeze them in portions and thaw them as needed. Then you will soon always have different types of soup in stock and make sure that your menu is varied enough. Tip: You can freeze your soups plastic-free in a number of ways, for example by freezing them in jars.
If you want to relieve your intestines for some time, you should cook the vegetables sufficiently and puree the soup well.
In order not to lose the joy of eating, you can spice up your soups with spices, herbs, oils and (vegetable) cream. You can also add lentils and beans before pureeing. They ensure a creamy consistency and provide you with vegetable protein.
If you are more hungry, you can also add some cooked rice to the soup.
Do you sometimes feel like something sweet? This is also not a problem with a soup diet. You can make a warm breakfast soup from oatmeal, steamed fruit, plant drink and nut butter.
If you make sure you get enough calories and nutrients, you can follow a soup diet for up to two weeks. After that, you should slowly reintroduce your digestive system to solid food. To relieve your body even more, you can also do without alcohol, nicotine and sweets during the soup fast.

Soup Diet: These are the benefits

Done properly, a soup diet can provide numerous benefits:

So you eat a lot of vegetables (and possibly also cooked fruit) during this time and thus provide yourself with many micronutrients.
If you pay attention to regional foods, this diet is also climate-friendly. After all, you save a lot of CO2 emissions. If you use organic goods, you also avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we often don’t chew long enough, so our intestines have to struggle with larger pieces of food. This can lead to flatulence and a feeling of fullness. With a soup diet, you can give your digestive system a break for a while.
Especially in the cold season you can warm up with the warm soups at every meal.
You may also try lots of new healthy soup recipes. This way you avoid ready meals and can use the cooking time as valuable me-time.
Ideally, you will be motivated to continue eating healthily and sustainably even after the soup diet.

You should pay attention to these disadvantages

Depending on how you design it, a soup diet can also have disadvantages:

If you only make soups from low-calorie vegetables, you will hardly get full. Therefore, make sure to include filling ingredients (such as potatoes, pumpkin, legumes or rice) and also enough fat (e.g. in the form of high-quality vegetable oils or (vegan) cream).
There is a high risk that after a few days on the soup diet you will quickly become bored and feel like eating solid food. You can then either take a short break or make sure to make the soups more interesting in terms of taste.
Maybe you get the impression that you don’t have to drink as much anymore. After all, you only eat liquid food all day long. Nevertheless, you should continue to drink at least one and a half to two liters of liquid per day. It is best to use (still) water or unsweetened tea.
As with many forms of dieting, a decisive disadvantage of a soup diet is that you can no longer easily go out to eat with friends. After all, you want to go through with your soup cure. Therefore, you should not practice this diet for too long. Alternatively, you can treat yourself to an exception or order a soup in the restaurant.

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Food

Eating Raw Asparagus: Pros and Cons

If you want to eat asparagus raw, you should use thin spears. In this article you will find out what else you should pay attention to and the advantages and disadvantages of raw asparagus.

April to June is asparagus time in this country: this is when the healthy vegetables end up on the plates of asparagus lovers, often several times a week. Cooked asparagus is the most popular, but you can also roast or otherwise prepare asparagus.

What many people don’t know: You can also eat asparagus raw. We tell you what is important.

Eating raw asparagus: edible and healthy

Yes, you can also eat asparagus raw. The raw vegetable is neither poisonous nor indigestible. Raw asparagus is said to be particularly healthy:

100g of raw asparagus contains 2.2g of protein, 2g of fiber and virtually no fat. With a water content of 93 percent, asparagus in its raw form can help hydrate the body.
In addition, asparagus provides important minerals: 100 g of raw asparagus contain 24 mg of calcium, 14 mg of magnesium and 202 mg of potassium.
Of particular interest: raw asparagus is also rich in folate (52 µg per 100g), vitamin K (41.6 µg per 100g) and vitamin C (5.6 mg per 100g). In addition, asparagus provides vitamin E (1.13 mg per 100g) and vitamins B1 and B2. Many vitamins are heat-sensitive and would be largely lost during cooking.
A 2011 study confirms this. The scientists found that the longer asparagus is heated, the more nutrients are lost. The vegetables were even blanched – a preparation method that is considered gentle.
Asparagus has been shown to have a diuretic effect. This effect is said to be stronger with raw asparagus than in its cooked form – but we could not find any scientific evidence for this.
Note: It is of course not the case that cooked asparagus no longer contains any beneficial nutrients, as not all nutrients are heat-sensitive. Especially when it comes to vitamin C, vitamin B1 and vitamin B9, asparagus performs better in its raw form.

On the other hand, asparagus also contains ferulic acid, which according to the BBC, our body can only access well after heating. Ferulic acid has an antioxidant effect and can thus protect against oxidative stress. From a health point of view, it is therefore worth not always eating asparagus raw and instead varying the preparation methods.

Raw asparagus: taste and purchase recommendation

Raw asparagus does not differ from the cooked variant in terms of nutrients, but also in terms of taste: The typical asparagus aroma, which lovers appreciate so much, only develops under the influence of heat and is therefore missing in the raw preparation. Fresh asparagus is particularly juicy when raw and, in addition to the slightly nutty aroma, is also reminiscent of pea pods. Raw asparagus also tastes slightly sweet, which makes it particularly appetizing.

If you want to eat asparagus raw, you should prefer thin spears. The thicker the asparagus, the tart and bitter it tastes. In addition, asparagus tastes better the fresher it is. This is why regional asparagus is always ahead of imported goods.

You can eat both green and white asparagus raw. From an ecological point of view, however, green asparagus is more advisable, since white asparagus must be protected from the sunlight with plastic films when growing.

In general, we therefore recommend that you buy green asparagus regionally and seasonally. Organic quality is also important, as conventional asparagus is often contaminated with pesticides.

Prepare asparagus raw – it’s that easy

You always have to peel white asparagus. But don’t just throw away the peel: you can use it to prepare a delicious asparagus peel soup. If, on the other hand, you decide to use green asparagus, you should definitely leave the peel on. Most of the vitamins are just under the skin.

You can easily prepare raw asparagus:

Wash the asparagus.
If the lower end is purple-whitish and hard, you should definitely peel this part and cut off the mostly dried end.
If the asparagus is green all the way through, you only need to cut off the lower end a finger’s width. Alternatively, you can also break the asparagus – it usually breaks directly above the end that is too tight.
If the asparagus spears are very thick and the skin feels hard, peel only the bottom third of the asparagus.
You can then use the asparagus in any recipe.

You can eat the asparagus prepared in this way raw, for example, as follows:

Marinated asparagus: Cut the raw asparagus into fine strips and leave them in a marinade for about 20 minutes. In a separate article, we present five recipes for delicious marinades. You can serve the asparagus marinated in this way with fresh lettuce and, if necessary, some cheese.
Asparagus sticks with dip: You can use whole or halved asparagus stalks for dipping. This goes well with homemade hummus or pesto, for example. Also, try our vegan dips.
Mushroom and asparagus salad: cut into fine strips, you can use raw asparagus with fried mushrooms, tomatoes, and a delicious dressing made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, salt and pepper to create a delicious salad. You can find the whole recipe in our How to Prepare Green Asparagus article – just skip the step of frying the asparagus.
Tomato and asparagus salad with mozzarella: A raw vegetable salad made from asparagus, cherry tomatoes, spring onions and mozzarella cheese is also delicious. Serve with vinaigrette dressing.
Asparagus and strawberry salad: In this country, asparagus and strawberries are in season at the same time. That’s why you can use these two ingredients to prepare a delicious, special kind of salad. Just follow our asparagus recipe and skip the step of frying the asparagus.
Smoothie with asparagus: Those who like to experiment with asparagus can also prepare a smoothie with asparagus. However, you should start slowly at first, as the asparagus taste can quickly become too intense if the quantities are too large.
Tip: Try eating raw ginger – it is particularly rich in vitamins and nutrients. The same applies to many other foods: You can also eat zucchini raw, for example.

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Hazelnut Milk: Recipe, Pros and Cons of Milk Substitutes

Hazelnut milk is now a popular plant-based milk alternative. Here you can find out more about their nutritional values, their sustainability and the most famous brands. We also show you how to make your own hazelnut milk at home.

Hazelnut milk: calories and nutritional values

Hazelnuts are healthy – so hazelnut milk also has many important ingredients. We give you an overview of the essential nutritional values.

Like all types of nuts, hazelnuts provide you with plenty of essential fatty acids.
In addition, they contain vitamin E and B vitamins.
The body also absorbs various minerals from hazelnuts. This includes:
calcium
magnesium
iron
zinc
phosphorus
Depending on the brand and preparation, 100 milliliters of hazelnut milk contain between 30 and 50 kilocalories. For comparison: 100 milliliters of cow’s milk with 1.5 percent fat content also provide around 50 kilocalories.
The fat content of hazelnut milk is two to three grams. Hazelnut milk provides you with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Cow’s milk, on the other hand, contains mostly saturated fat.
As far as protein content is concerned, cow’s milk is clearly ahead: it has about three to four grams per 100 milliliters, while hazelnut milk only has 0.5 to one gram.
As a rule, cow’s milk also contains a little more carbohydrates: there are four to five grams per 100 milliliters. Hazelnut milk usually contains around three grams.
The plant-based alternative scores highly when it comes to dietary fiber: While cow’s milk does not contain any dietary fiber, hazelnut milk provides you with 0.5 to one gram per 100 milliliters.

Hazelnut milk: recipe

If you want to enjoy your hazelnut milk as sustainably as possible, it is best to make it yourself. So you can be sure which ingredients it contains. You also save on transport routes and packaging waste.

For one liter of hazelnut milk you need:
80g hazelnuts
1l water
a pinch of salt
a sweetener of your choice (dates, honey, syrup, sugar, etc.)
That’s how it’s done:
Pour the water over the hazelnuts and let the mixture steep for at least two hours or overnight.
Then add them to a high-powered blender along with all the other ingredients and blend well for a few minutes.
It is best to pour the liquid through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth and catch the nut milk in a tall container. Squeeze out the leftover nuts that are now in the cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can alternatively use a sieve that is as fine-meshed as possible.
Pour the finished hazelnut milk into a sealable container. Store in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days.
Tip: You should never throw away the remaining “nut pomace”. For example, you can use it to bake biscuits, cakes or bread, or add it to your muesli or yoghurt.

How sustainable is hazelnut milk?

More and more people are starting to replace cow’s milk with plant-based alternatives. As a rule, they give two main reasons for this from an ecological and ethnic point of view: On the one hand, they want to set an example against factory farming by not using conventional cow’s milk.

Dairy cows in so-called “intensive animal husbandry” lack space, fresh air, sun and exercise. Since such an attitude neglects the basic needs of the animals, it often leads to behavioral disorders, injuries and illnesses.

However, factory farming is not only harmful to the animals themselves, but also to the environment, especially the climate: According to the Albert Schweizer Foundation, the production of one liter of milk releases around 2.4 kilograms of CO2, which roughly corresponds to the combustion of one liter of petrol. Plant-based alternatives, on the other hand, cause significantly fewer greenhouse gases. In addition, their production sometimes uses significantly less energy and space.

Hazelnuts: Social and ecological problems

Even if the nuts for hazelnut milk can grow in Germany without any problems, most of them are still grown in Turkey. In order to be able to cover the strong demand for the popular nuts, so-called monocultures developed there. Since monocultures are very susceptible to disturbance, it is necessary to fertilize the trees frequently. Pollutants are also used to control pests.

Another problem is the working conditions of the harvest workers. The harvesting of the nuts is still largely done by hand. According to a ZEIT article from 2014, it is not uncommon for children over the age of ten to work under inhumane conditions.

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