Tag: Water

The importance of water in nutrition: a precious resource – Italian Cuisine

L’waterfall it is an essential resource for life, not only for our bodies, but also for the entire planet. The complex relationship between water and food reveals how this fundamental element directly influences our health, agriculture, the environment and the economy.

Water as an essential component of our body and the planet

L’Water makes up over 50% of our body, playing a crucial role in all biological processes. Not only our organism, but also the entire Earth is influenced by water, which covers most of its surface. This vital element is omnipresent, but not infinite. Its responsible management is essential to ensure the well-being of present and future generations.

Water in agriculture: a precious and often wasted resource

Agriculture is the sector that absorbs the majority of freshwater resources, constituting 70% of overall consumption. However, this usage is often inefficient. Sprinkler irrigation, widely used in large agricultural areas, requires large quantities of water, with a significant portion evaporating before reaching the soil. Furthermore, water collection and reuse are not common practices, while the use of pesticides, fertilizers and antibiotics in agriculture can cause pollution and contamination of water resources.

Food waste and its impact on water

In addition to the inefficiency in water management in agriculturefood is often wasted. Every year, 30% of the food produced is thrown away, wasting water equivalent to the water needs of New York City for the next twenty years. This double waste, of food and water, is unsustainable and requires greater awareness.

Drought, floods and the climate crisis: additional challenges

There climate crisis further complicates the relationship between water and nutrition. The drought is considered a kind of imminent pandemic, with 1.5 billion people already under water stress, a figure set to rise to 47% by 2030. Furthermore, phenomena such as worsening droughts in Italy and rising sea levels in the Pacific Islands affect food production, threatening food security.

Economic and political aspects

Water is also the subject of economic and political dynamics. Large corporations, the mining industry and international trade often undermine sustainable water management for the benefit of private interests and profit. In many cases, local communities, often poor and poorly educated, suffer the consequences of these dynamics.

L’Water is a fundamental resource for human life, agriculture, the environment and the economy. Its responsible management is essential to ensure the survival of present and future generations. World Food Day on 16 October, dedicated to water, invited us to reflect on how we can preserve this precious resource and guarantee a sustainable future for all. Awareness of water-related challenges and the adoption of virtuous policies and behaviors are imperative to address these complex challenges.

Pistachio dacquoise with lychee Bavarian and rose water – Italian Cuisine

Bound

Ingredients for 9 people

1) Prepare the dacquoise. Chop finely pistachios with rice flour and 70 g of fine sugar. Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk, incorporating the remaining sugar, a little at a time, until you get a firm and shiny meringue.

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2) Mix the mixture of flour and pistachios to the mixture.

3) Coated 2 large rectangular trays with 2 sheets of baking paper on each of which you will have drawn the shape of a disc of 18 cm in diameter. With a pastry bag distributed spiral the meringue mixture into two discs and bake them in the oven at 170 ° for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool

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4) Shelled the lychees and remove the stone. Put soak the gelatin

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5) Blend them and pass them through a colander. Reheat the juice obtained and add the squeezed gelatine.

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6) You do the Bavarian. Work the egg yolks with the sugar until a frothy mixture is obtained; pour in the hot milk and cook on a very low flame, stirring, until the cream veils the spoon. Cool the saucepan by immersing it in cold water. Perfumed the cream with the rose water, then add the lychee juice.

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7) Mounted the cream and mix it with the egg and milk mixture.

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8) Place around a disc of dacquoise an 18 cm steel ring covered with a strip of acetate making it adhere well; paid inside the cream and cover with the second disc of dacquoise. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hours. Beat lightly the egg white and dirty the rose petals. Sprinkle them with sugar and let them dry. Enlarge the ring, gently peel off the acetate strip and decorate with the frosted petals.

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Posted on 14/01/2022

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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