Juicing Power

For many months I have been DREAMING OF JUICING CELERY. (Weird, I know). But last week I finally got a juicer! Oh wow it was so worth it! I got the Breville BJE200XL juicer from Amazon and so far it has been performing wonderfully. Plus, clean up is not hard at all!

WHY JUICE?

• Juices from raw vegetables is great, because when vegetables are cooked, some of the nutrients are lost, and some of the proteins become denatured, making them undigestable! (Meyerowitz, 14)
• Fresh juices are predigested, in that they are more easily digested, because they lack the fiber. This gives your body easier access to nutrients, improves your body's assimilation of nutrients, and conserves your body's energy, giving you more energy, and increasing your ability to fight disease! (Meyerowitz, 14-15)
• Fruits and vegetables have numerous phytochemicals, which help prevent against disease!
• The complex vitamins and minerals that are in plants cannot be replicated or reproduced with nutrition supplements (Meyerowitz, 16). Juices come from whole foods, while nutritional supplements are anything but!
• Juicing can concentrate pounds of produce and their nutrients in just a few glasses!
• In one study, scientistists analyzed the antiviral activity of fresh apple juice to apple cider, apple wine, and apple juice from concentrate. The most antiviral activity was seen in the fresh apple juice. Why? Because pasteurization in commercial juices destroys protective enzymes, and thus, decreases antiviral activity (Murray, 9). So drink some fresh, raw, unpasteurized juice!
• If you have digestive problems, juicing could be your answer!
• Juicing has helped some people with weight loss.

BUT- What about the lack of fiber?! The big juicing controversy.

• Fiber is indigestible. It is actually the juice that provides nourishment. (Murray, 8)
• Juicing is not meant to replace eating. Eating has its own role, and so does juicing. (And I'm sure that supplementation has its own role, too).
• Plus, you can still use the pulp (which has lots of fiber) that is left behind! Use some leftover carrot pulp to make carrot cake, replace a little bit of the flour in your recipe with leftover pulp, or use the pulp in some baked goods or dehydrated breads! (If none of these options appeal to you and if you're up for it, the pulp would also make some great compost!)
• If you are looking for some fiber, beans pack a punch! (Sorry, this is a somewhat unrelated side note!) :)

My first concoction:











Salad in a glass! I actually used a third of the ginger that's in the picture, and the drink was a little strong on the kale. But it was still delicious and nutritious, and you can see a bit of orange foam on the top of the drink from the carrots!

Some good things about:

• Kale- rich in calcium, chlorophyll, vitamins: C, E, B6, K, & folic acid, high in minerals: iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, and zinc; possesses cancer protective compounds, oxygenates the blood, improves red blood cell counts, the list goes on! (Meyerowitz 337-338)
• Carrots- great source of beta-carotenes (pre-vitamin A), contains B-vitamins & coenzyme Q10, good for dry skin problems, protects the respiratory system...(Meyerowitz, 313-314). They are also super sweet and great for juicing!
• Celery- used as a diuretic and laxative, helps to break up gallstones and heal wounds, rich in potassium, one of the best sources of coumarins, which help to inhibit various forms of cancer (Meyerowitz, 315-316)
• Ginger- stimulates digestion, releavies abdominal bloating, vomiting, and diarrhea, has anti-inflammatory properties, supports a healthy cardiovascular system, etc. (Meyerowitz 327-328)

I am going to be consuming so many vegetables with my lovely juicer! Juicing is DELICIOUS, it's EASY, and it makes it easy to consume LOTS OF VEGGIES! What more could you want? (You can juice fruit, too!)

Sources:

1. Meyerowitz, Steve. Power Juices Super Drinks. New York, NY: Keningston Publishing Corp., 2000.
2. Murray, Michael T. The Complete Book of Juicing. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1992.

The Art of Making Masala Chai - Part II

OK, so here I will try to explain the factors that will affect the boiling time and the ingredients that you put into your masala chai!

Apparently, the spices typically used to prepare masala chai are pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and ginger (1).

Partly why I didn't include any measurements is because I never use any, and I do everything according to taste. Two things to remember: there is no standard recipe for chai (everyone's recipe is unique). Additionally, any recipe you read is the author's best approximations. So when you prepare a recipe, you may have to add little more of this, and a little less of that. People also have different preferences, so don't be afraid to adjust recipes to your liking!

In any case, here are my tips/advice on making masala chai:

MILK TYPE:

• Nut/seed milks- it's possible, delicious, and healthy!
  *I don't drink cow's milk that often. I usually use soy milk, and it turns out very well!
  *I made masala chai for Slow Food BU's potluck last week (which unfortunately was cancelled due to the weather), and actually made the chai out of unsweetened almond milk because a friend was allergic to soy. I was really happy with the result- I put the spices in with approximately the same ratios that I do for soy milk, and the almond milk masala chai came out great!
  *Note- I tried making masala chai out of homemade sesame seed milk once, and it did not come out very well. When heated, the milk separated and was somewhat grainy. I do not know if this doesn't happen to the seed milks that are sold in stores, because they are typically homogenized/pasteurized.


• *If you decide to make masala chai out of regular cow's milk (the traditional way!), the ratio of spices you put in will differ (different spices dilute out at different rates, and the rates will also vary according to the type of milk, because each milk has a different chemistry). You will also need to boil for a longer time and put in more spices, because the flavor of cow's milk is stronger than that of nut/seed milks.
  *It takes me quite awhile to get my chai made out of cow's milk to taste right. I'm so used to making masala chai out of soy milk, that making it out of cow's milk is a whole new game!

SPICES AND TIME

• You can make homemade masala chai in as little as 10-15 minutes. However, to make it this quickly, you will need to add more spices, in a little different ratios than if you slow-cooked it, and you might not be getting the most use out of your spices. See the section "save your spices!" below.


• I enjoy the process of boiling the tea for a long time (at least an hour). It's relaxing and makes me appreciate my chai even more! I also feel that it gives the masala chai more depth and complexity, and I get more use out of the spices this way.


• Save yourself some time and use up your spices- make a big batch of masala chai at once! You can refrigerate your leftovers and warm them up wherever, and whenever you want! (Or better yet, share it! :) )
  


• The newer and higher quality the spices are, the better flavor they will impart and the stronger their flavors will be (they will be more expensive, but will lead to less cooking time). Or if you have older or less quality spices, you will just have to boil longer or use more spices. Some places to buy spices: Whole Foods (check out their bulk section!), the Harvest Co-Op in Cambridge and Jamaica Plain (bulk section!), and Christina's Spice and Specialty Foods in Cambridge (even though it will be more expensive from here).

SAVE YOUR SPICES!

• Buying all of the spices for chai is expensive!!! Save your used spices in a container and put it in the fridge. Then whenever you're ready to make your next batch of chai (hopefully within a week or so- the spices might not last much more than that), you'll be prepared! You may need to add various amounts of different spices when you make your next batch, however.


• When I was at the farm, we actually stuck the whole pot (spices included) in the fridge for the next day (we made it everyday)! We were so addicted. :)


• If you don't have the time or the spices- you can buy chai tea bags or tea mixes in stores. They typically have black tea leaves and some of the common spices added to it. Like any tea, you boil water, add the tea bag, and add milk and sugar as desired, and there you have it! Chai in less than 5 minutes! However, these tea bags or pre-sold mixes will typically be less complex and will not have the same depth and intensity of home-made masala chai!

VARIATION

• Looking for a caffeine-free version? Make masala chai w/o the tea leaves, and you have spiced milk. It's delicious and GREAT before bed!!! MmMmMm...
• Someday I want to try making chai/spiced milk w/ rosehips. That will be fun!
  

Sorry for cheating and not actually giving a real recipe here >.< ...but how to make masala chai is so personal and depends on so many factors and your own opinion! If there is enough demand for it, I may come up with a recipe someday. In the meantime, if you absolutely need a recipe to follow, here are some starting points: Culinary Teas - Masala Chai and chai-tea.org.

Have fun!!! ^.^

The Art of Making Masala Chai - Part I

When I WWOOFed at the farm Artisans de la Terre in Canada over the summer (I had an AMAZING experience by the way. WWOOF is a program in which you volunteer on a farm, in exchange for food and housing), I had the great opportunity of learning how to make masala chai from a fellow worker who had spent a couple of years in India.

Chai is simply the word for tea in used in many cultures (1). However, in the U.S., the term chai generally refers to Indian masala chai, a tea made with a sweetner, milk, and spices (1). There is no one recipe for masala chai. Masala chai in India is like coffee in the U.S., is often sold in the streets or by street vendors known as chai wallahs in India, and Indian families each have their own unique way to prepare it (2).


How I make masala chai:

• I put milk in a pot and add water to the dilution desired.
• I put in the following (from top to down and left to right as seen in the picture): black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, freshly ground nutmeg, star anise, ginger, a little sugar (usually, but not always, sucanut), black tea, green cardmom, and coriander seeds.
• Stir everything together, than cover the pot and bring it to a boil.
• I leave the pot to simmer, usually for at least an hour. (Be careful that it doesn't boil over!)
  -I usually taste the tea every now and then. I sometimes adjust the amount of spices, add a little milk, or add a little water, according to taste. I leave it on the stove until I like the taste.
• Strain the spices out.
• That's it! Enjoy!

Ok, so that is the simplified version...and you may have noticed that I didn't put in any measurements or specific times. Um, and don't expect me to give you those, either. Sorry! Unfortunately, I am leaving it up to you to figure out these specifics (joy!), which will differ depending on how you like your chai. Look for my advice tomorrow- when I will try to explain the different factors that will influence the amount of ingredients that you put in and the time that it takes for you to make masala chai!

High Country Kombucha

Even though I have a whole other blog dedicated to this, I would feel bad not writing a post about the fermented tea kombucha that I brew here! Kombucha is a fermented and fizzy drink, said to have probiotic and detoxifying effects. When I drink it, I always feel great! Although the taste definitely takes some getting used to, once people get into drinking it they are usually hooked.

I walked into the Harvest Co-Op in Cambridge yesterday, and was happy to see that in addition to their usual stock of GT's, Katalyst, and Wonder Drink Kombucha, there was a new brand: High Country! At $3.49 for 16 oz it is quite pricy, but because it was a new brand for me I couldn't resist trying just one.

I ended up buying the Wild Root Kombucha to be adventerous- and it just tastes like root beer! Hight Country also has more traditional flavors like original, ginger, and Goji Berry, if root beer flavored kombucha isn't your thing. If you would like to read more about Kombucha look here.