Tag: pleasure

Herbal teas, the pleasure of hot water – Italian Cuisine

To warm up or relax, to purify or detoxify, to fight anxiety or insomnia, to digest better or stimulate a sluggish intestine, but also to lose weight or deflate, strengthen the immune system or fight colds: there are many reasons that push Italians to turn more and more often to herbal teas, whose sales continue to grow year after year.

That infusions of herbs, flowers, plants and roots help you feel better is out of the question, but that they are a universal remedy, with therapeutic properties and without side effects, to be taken without worries is false. Here, then, are the tips to take only the best from herbal teas.

Don't expect miracles

Herbal teas are an excellent solution for maintaining the right degree of hydration in the body, especially in those who do not feel thirsty and struggle to drink regularly. They also allow you to take advantage of the advantages of heat, which is a vasodilator, and to take plant extracts that could have positive effects, but you shouldn't expect them to lose weight, burn fat or have detox powers: these are all properties that scientific research does not has yet ascertained.

Do not overdo it

Good and hot, herbal teas are often a cuddle that we allow ourselves during the day. A good habit, certainly, as long as you don't overdo it. The fact that they are "natural" preparations, ie based on herbs or flowers, does not mean that they cannot have unpleasant effects. Thousands of chemicals of natural origin are taken with a herbal tea, which in any case can have effects on the human body. In addition, there are plants that can be allergenic, and therefore cause unwelcome reactions (for example, in the skin or intestine), or that can interfere with the intake of drugs. In particular moments of life (such as pregnancy) or if you have health problems it is good to consult your doctor before taking herbal teas on a regular and frequent basis. A classic case is that of those with low blood pressure to whom herbal teas (especially draining ones) are not recommended because they promote diuresis and, therefore, further lower the pressure. While those who take statins to lower cholesterol must give up those based on tea, even decaffeinated.

Packaged ones are better

Do-it-yourself can be risky: it is better to rely on herbal teas sold at the supermarket or those prepared by a graduate herbalist or an expert pharmacist. In any case, it is preferable to purchase products packaged in sachets as they carry information on their composition, suggestions for use and the name of the packer, which certifies their origin, on the label. And then on the packages there is the date by which it is preferable to consume them: an important information given that, with the passage of time, herbal teas "age" and gradually lose their properties.

Better the simple ones

It is difficult to resist herbal teas made up of several "ingredients", because they are those with the richest bouquet in taste and aroma. However, in these mixtures the individual components are present in low doses and, therefore, the bioavailability of their active ingredients is lower. So, if you drink the herbal tea just for the pleasure of it, no problem choosing a mix. To reach higher concentrations of the active ingredient, the infusion times can be increased (from 5 to 10 minutes), or two filters can be placed in the same cup, but in this case it is advisable not to exceed two cups a day.

But if you want to get all the benefits of herbal teas, it is better to choose those that do not contain more than five different medicinal plants. The ideal are those based on a single plant: cumin, anise or fennel to digest, lime, mint or lemon balm to relax, dandelion, birch or nettle to purify.

Never boiling water

Hot, yes, but not hot: herbal teas should be drunk this way both to get the best out of their active ingredients and to avoid health risks, as reported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Warm yes, then, but not very hot (never above the temperature of 65 °).

December 2021
Manuela Soressi

November, the pleasure of simplicity: the new Sale & Pepe on newsstands – Italian Cuisine

November, month of mist and soups, chestnuts and polenta, of foliage spectacular and invigorating family lunches. Cooking in November is a special, slow pleasure, far from the fast summer experiments like from the elaborate interpretations of the feasts.

Mountain flavors
Cooking now means tapping into the popular tradition. Starting with that of the farmers of our Alpine valleys. So this month we tell you the story of a culture ancient and survival, which sees cereals, cheeses And vegetables protagonists of hearty and characterful dishes, perfect for the November table: a cheese soup, a plate of rustic gnocchi, a potato cake, an enriched polenta …

White vegetables
With the arrival of the cold the garden is tinged with White; arrive cauliflower, fennel, onions, leeks and all the roots, such as turnips, parsnips and daikon. Lower temperatures and light favor vegetables that grow close to the earth (or even below). Seasonal products are also those that our body needs: the "whites" they have power purifying and anti-inflammatory effect. And here it is simple dishes of intense flavor, such as a roasted cauliflower pan, fennel pie, or ginger root stew. Simple and delicious: seeing is believing.

Sauce and meat, only one cooking
You know the Neapolitan ragù? The meat cooks for a long time in the tomato sauce and makes it super savory. The sauce obtained season the spaghetti, while the meat is served separately as a ghiotto stew. Inspired by this masterpiece of Neapolitan cuisine we can cook the condiment and the second dish in the same saucepan. To optimize efforts and increase the taste.

Local flavors
And then we take you to the Woods for an autumn lunch, a Mantua to taste rich stuffed pastas, sweets and mustards and to discover the city. TO Trani, by Stefano Di Gennaro, the JRE of the month who creates a menu of simple and local products, including the farmer's father's oil. In Appenzeller, to discover a special cheese produced noel small Swiss canton with a mix of herbs with an intense aroma. And, again, in Val di Chiana where the Nobile di Montepulciano wine.

And to conclude
Cold season … warm desserts: grapes, apples, pears fill soft and crunchy doughs to be enjoyed as desserts and special snacks. And some curiosities: the history of the corkscrew, which dates back to the eighteenth century and that of stuffed lettuces, a refined dish, made invigorating from an excellent broth. And the sauces Middle Eastern, spicy and sweet and sour, ideal with beef, lamb and chicken.

November 2021

Breakfast, a pleasure that is good for you – Italian Cuisine

My mother has always maintained that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When we all lived together, I made fun of her conviction as I helped her set the table from the night before, so that the awakening of our family was welcomed by the comfortable warmth of the kitchen. We took time to talk, drinking coffee, milk, you, eating bread butter and jam. Even today, when I think about the days that start well, I see a cup of steaming tea accompanied by a slice of apple and raisin cake or a bowl of milk and crunchy cereals with honey, hazelnuts and chocolate. A slow breakfast, on a well-laid table, perhaps accompanied by reading.

The time dedicated to family breakfast is increasing because it is increasingly considered a fundamental moment for the family sociability and for the balance of body and mind, also thanks to the wide variety of foods that can be put on the table: from biscuits to croissants, from smoothies to croissants. But there are also those who love this daily ritual at the bar, where the offer is increasingly wide and of quality.

A millennial habit
Breakfast is the result of a wisdom that comes from afar. The bread dipped in wine before starting the day accompanied the awakening of the Mediterranean populations for millennia. In Latin collatio-onis means "to put together" and from the 4th century onwards, with the spread of monasticism, the late Latin term collationem indicates the conversation that took place in the monasteries late at night and, by extension, the food that was consumed during this common moment. Only from the sixth century, with the Benedictine reform, this moment was moved after the morning laudi and designated the first meal of the day.

After the economic boom
For centuries, breakfast in Western Europe was the first meal, but in the middle of the morning, after many hours of work: it was made up of leftovers in the evening previous (stale bread, polenta, soup). Only during the First World War was the use of milk, coffee, chocolate and biscuits, which until the 1960s were not, however, a constant presence on the tables of the Italians. Cookies and i bakery products packaged make their appearance already in the 50s, but cakes and jams continue to be prepared at home and only after the economic boom does breakfast take a turn that makes it look like the current one: not only does coffee become the drink for excellence, accompanied by milk enriched with soluble products such as barley and cocoa, for ever more sweet awakenings. Perhaps even too sweet since i have appeared on the tables since the 1970s light products, with less sugar, rusks and yogurt; the latter millennial protagonist of food from the Balkans to India, arrives in Italy thanks to Anglo-Saxon customs.

Who starts well …
The curiosity about breakfasts that are not ours pervades all the eighties: the return from study holidays in the British archipelago always coincided with tragic stories of eggs, bacon and bacon and soaking beans in an unidentified sauce. From the 90s onwards health, genuineness and the short chain become the themes par excellence of our diet: the flours are less and less refined and with more fibers. They decrease sugars and fats. Today breakfast is confirmed as a good growing habit among Italians, who mostly prepare it and eat it at home. Starting the day with milk and dairy products, cereals and fruit improves cardio-metabolic parameters and cognitive performance. And then assuming an adequate supply of energy in the morning makes it possible to arrive at lunchtime without having swallowed anything to appease hunger. I mean, I have to recognize that my mother was right.

Petunia Ollister
Publish #bookbreakfast on Instagram. Thus was born the volume Author's breakfasts, published by Slow Food Editore. He deals with publishing and writes for the newspaper La Stampa

from Sale & Pepe Magazine April 2020

OUR BREAKFAST IN NUMBERS: WHAT ITALIANS EAT
BREAKFAST HAS BECOME A HABIT FOR 86% OF ITALIANS, WHO DEDICATE YOU AT LEAST 10 MINUTES IN THE MORNING. AMONG THESE, 85% CONSUME THE FIRST MEAL OF THE DAY AT HOME AND 40% DO IT WITH CALM, ALSO USING 30 MINUTES. THE FOODS THAT GO FOR THE MAJOR ARE THE COOKIES, PREFERRED BY 58% OF THE ITALIAN. THOSE WHO DO BREAKFAST AT HOME, ALSO LOVE BREAD AND COOKED SLICES (19%), WHICH CONSUMES OFTEN WITH JAM, HONEY OR SPREADABLE CREAMS. MILK ALWAYS PREVIOUS AMONG DRINKS (35%) AND COFFEE (33%) AND COFFEE (30%) FOLLOW; TEA IS CONSTANTLY GROWING, WHICH HAS ARRIVED AT 14%. ABOUT NON BREAKFAST SUPPORTS ABOVE ALL TO HAVE THE STOMACH CLOSED (50%) OR NOT TO HAVE TIME (37%).