Tag: Black

Black and pink forest cake recipe – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

500 g fresh cream
230 g sugar
200 g pitted and de-stoned cherries in syrup
150 g flour plus a little
150 g raspberries
20 g bitter cocoa
5 pcs eggs
1 pc milk chocolate bar
1 pc orange
pcs vanilla pod
butter
cherry liqueur like kirsch or maraschino

Duration: 4 h 45 min

Level: Middle

Dose: 8 people

For the recipe of the black and pink forest cake, collect in a large bowl 170 g of sugar, the eggs and the grated rind of 1 orange; whip everything, by hand or with electric whisk, for at least ten minutes, until the mixture is clear and thick. Sift the flour and cocoa, then gently incorporate them into the mixture. Grease and flour the inside of a ring (ø 20 cm, h 10 cm), lay it on a plate lined with baking paper and fill it with the mixture.
Bake at 170 ° C for about 35 minutes. Remove the sponge cake and let it cool. Cut the sponge cake into 4 thick 1 cm discs and eliminate any excess. Prepare a syrup with 125 g of water, 60 g of sugar and the vanilla pod, obtaining a wet; let it cool, then add 2 tablespoons of cherry liqueur. Whip the cream. Blend the raspberries, pass them through a sieve and gently add to the whipped cream, obtaining a rosy tint.
Place the ring already used to cook the sponge cake on a plate; place a disc of sponge cake inside, brush with a little 'of wet and spread over a portion of whipped cream and 15-20 cherries. Continue with another disc of sponge cake, brush with the cream, spread a little 'cream, another 20 cherries and continue in the same way until the end of the ingredients, ending with a layer of cream; level it well. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Scrape the chocolate bar by pressing with a round pastry cutter, or with a curl, in order to obtain curls. Turn out the cake and decorate it with the chocolate and flower curls to taste.

A recent study foresees the end of the black truffle market – Italian Cuisine

A recently published study foresees the end of the European black truffle industry by 2071. Cause? Climate change

In the last year, fans of black truffle they will certainly have enjoyed theexceptional decline in prices registered in Italy of this fine ingredient. An analysis of Coldiretti has indeed highlighted that in 2018, due to bad weather, the harvest was exceptionally abundant, giving consumers a consequent drop in costs with relative travel to purchases. For truffle lovers, therefore, the results of a research carried out by the Scottish University of Stirling arrive as a bolt from the blue. the production of black truffles in Europe is about to disappear completely by 2100 due to climate change.

Last decades of production of the black truffle

This report, entitled A risk assessment of the European black truffle sector under predicted climate changes, published at the end of 2018 in the journal "Science of the Total Environment", is the result of a study conducted by a team of researchers, based on the observation of 36 years of production of the black truffle in Italy, Spain and France. The team then compared the data collected with those concerning the weather conditions of this period, and with those planned for the next years. What emerged is that climate change in progress, the gradual increase in temperatures and the dry climate will be a significant obstacle to black truffles, causing decrease between 78 and 100% of European truffle production between 2071 and 2100. This process could even be accelerated by any other factors that may arise, such as droughts, heat waves, forest fires, parasites.
In short, really dramatic forecasts that will lead to a price increase of the black truffle; the value of the world market, which is currently hundreds of millions of euros, could in fact grow to 5 billion euros over the next two decades.

Goodbye to the delicious and precious black truffle

This underground fungus, which needs specific climatic factors, a favorable moist soil and that is cultivated mostly in nature, will become an increasingly rare and precious good, until the inevitable disappearance. Beyond thesocio-economic impact of the expected decline, it is also the world of catering to make the expenses. This delicious ingredient is in fact loved by chefs all over the world and rooted in the history and culinary traditions of different countries. In Italy, if we talk about black truffles, we can not help but think of some traditional recipes Which tagliolini with black truffles, risotto with truffles or fried eggs with truffles.

In short, as the chief researcher Paul Thomas and his team explained, if we want to save this ingredient from our tables, all we have to do is to safeguard the environment, while it is up to the experts to proceed with the necessary conservation and protection initiatives of this species, considering, for example, the expansion of truffle plantations in new territories with a more favorable future climate.

Photo: Tuber_macrosporum_Tartufo nero_Wikipedia_Nicolò Oppicelli.jpg

Pepe is bad or good? All properties of black pepper – Italian Cuisine

Known and appreciated since the time of the ancient Greeks, black pepper helps digestion and stimulates appetite

It favors the digestion and adds a great pinch of flavor to any dish, enough to be the most common spice in virtually all of Europe. We are talking about the black pepper, probably the king of spices, appreciated since the days of ancient Egypt, to the point of finding traces even in the tombs of some pharaohs.

Useful not only for digestion

Black pepper, known in Greece as early as the 4th century BC C. and recommended by Hippocrates combined with vinegar and honey against menstrual cramps, is a very useful product in the kitchen with many beneficial properties. It represents the result of a particular processing of the fruits (blanched and left to dry in the sun for at least ten days) of Piper nigrum, plant from which white and green pepper are also obtained, and since the times of the Roman Empire has lived long periods of primary importance as a commodity of exchange. Its most known useful property to the human organism, as already mentioned, is linked to digestion. Thanks to its content of piperine, a molecule that also owes the spicy taste of this spice, the body is favored in digesting proteins and all those foods that cause diarrhea, indigestion, constipation and acidity.

All properties of black pepper

Moreover, black pepper also favors the correct assimilation of food, with its outer layer rich in phyto-nutrients that stimulate the breakdown of fat cells, which have the task of synthesizing, accumulating and yielding lipids. Considering then that it helps through sweating which aids to release toxins from the body, black pepper is a good ally for those who want lose weight, which should not however exaggerate with this spice. Flatulence and colic instead, they have in the black pepper an enemy able to alleviate these discomforts, an ingredient with antibacterial properties that make it an effective natural remedy to treat colds and coughs. With its warmth and strong flavor, black pepper also helps dissolve the phlegm and give relief in case of closed nose, promoting proper breathing.

Antidepressive pepper

In addition to improving digestion, black pepper stimulates the taste buds, so as to consider it a useful remedy to help you have problems with your appetite. Not only that: according to recent studies black pepper would help against depression, increasing, thanks to piperine, the cognitive function of the brain able to work on mental well-being. A rule not to be forgotten, however, exists and is to not get too caught up with this spice. Naturally.

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