Monday Mix

UPDATE: So I finally figured out what was wrong with the mixed tape and I think I fixed it. So if you tried to listen and it didn't work, try again and now it should be fun, instead of mildly annoying and not worth the trouble.

Spicy!

Well, its November. It's cold and rainy and we elected Barack Obama to be our president (way to go us)! How could things be better? In the spirit of November-- which we will associate with Thanksgiving dinners, turkeys, sweet potato's and apples (trust me, we will)-- obviously its also time for mulling spices! I am a bit addicted to apple cider I have to admit. I blame this on the fact that good apple cider is only available this time of year (not all the time) and that I live in "the apple state" so I get the really good stuff. My favorite way to enjoy it is hot(!) with spices. I heat the cider in a pan on the stovetop, and usually confine the spices in a tea-ball while the brew steeps. You can also add mulling spices to wine, but I find it a little to harsh for my tastes. Maybe I just don't think wine should be hot.

There are many recipes for mulling spices, I admit I have never actually looked up a recipe simply looked in a can of spices I got from a store and made my own. But I also have a few ideas on how to mix things up a bit.

Traditional mulling spices:
1 oz Cinnamon sticks, Cinnamomum spp.
1 oz Clove, Syzygium aromaticum
1 oz Allspice berries, Pimenta dioica
1 oz Orange peel, Citrus sinensis
I also add 3 drops of sweet orange essential oil which I find gives it a nice punch. But this recipe works just fine without.

Pretty much, you just need to pour all these ingredients into a bowl, with the exception of the cinnamon which needs to be broken from sticks into smaller chunks first. Add about 1 tablespoon per four cups of cider, if you want the spices to last longer you can use less and let it boil longer. Also you can crack open the allspice berries before you boil them to release more essential oils, but do this right before you boil it. If you crack them open and them let them sit in the tin all winter they will lose flavor.

You can vary this recipe in a few ways.
Add Cayenne powder, Capsicum anuum (a little goes a LONG way so be cautious, I would only add about a 1/8 teaspoon to a 4oz batch)
Nutmeg, ground, Myristca spp. (same rule applies--nutmeg is always a low dose spice it can be harmful above a teaspoon serving, so keep it to a 1/8 teaspoon per 4oz batch)
Substitute or add lemon peel
Add small chunks of ginger root, Zingiber officinale

Feel free to experiment however you like but keep in mind the kinds of plants I am using here! You are going to boil this in a pan with apple cider so leafy herbs are not what we are looking for. Most leafy herbs are slightly bitter, but these spices are chock full of essential oils and resins which is what gives them such a potent bundle of flavor. Cinnamon is a bark, allspice is a dried berry, clove is a dried flower bud, cayenne is a dried pepper, ginger is a root, nutmeg is a nutshell, etc.

Mulling spices aren't merely for the sake of flavor. No, no! These spices can aid you in other ways. That cup of mulled cider or wine after dinner is actually helping you keep warm and digest that fatty dinner you just ate. That warm fuzzy feeling you get when drinking mulled cider or wine isn't just because it tastes good.

Cinnamon increases circulation, aides in digestion and helps your body assimilate sugars. It is currently being studied for use with diabetics and having positive results. A teaspoon of cinnamon a day for diabetics has been shown to be beneficial.
Orange peel, allspice, nutmeg and cloves are all very good digestives. They are also all aromatic and stimulating.
Ginger is a circulatory stimulant and powerful anti emetic (keeps you from throwing up). It is warming and spicy and specific to the throat, add this to your mulling spices when you have a sore throat.
Cayenne is a powerful circulation stimulant and is very warming. Like I said before, a little goes a long way.

I think you see the theme by now. This drink is for increasing circulation and digestion. Perfect for winter and after eating fat rich meals. So go get out some spices and whip up a batch. I just know you wont regret it.

Vote!

Food Matters

Thank you to Jonah Lehrer for bringing this article to my attention.

Micheal Pollan:

This, in brief, is the bad news: the food and agriculture policies you’ve inherited — designed to maximize production at all costs and relying on cheap energy to do so — are in shambles, and the need to address the problems they have caused is acute. The good news is that the twinned crises in food and energy are creating a political environment in which real reform of the food system may actually be possible for the first time in a generation. The American people are paying more attention to food today than they have in decades, worrying not only about its price but about its safety, its provenance and its healthfulness. There is a gathering sense among the public that the industrial-food system is broken. Markets for alternative kinds of food — organic, local, pasture-based, humane — are thriving as never before. All this suggests that a political constituency for change is building and not only on the left: lately, conservative voices have also been raised in support of reform. Writing of the movement back to local food economies, traditional foods (and family meals) and more sustainable farming, The American Conservative magazine editorialized last summer that “this is a conservative cause if ever there was one.”

Read the whole article!

Immune fortifications

Well its that time of year again, the time to get sick. Everyone I know has been sick lately (even me!) and while I was puttering around the kitchen trying desperately to force myself to drink even MORE fluids I invented a yummy immune fortifying drink. (Ok maybe invent is a stretch since I saw the juice at work first, but I decided to make it myself instead of relying on a commercial brand that was mostly grape juice*.)

So take two tea bags of echinacea (if you have the root its probably about 8 tsp. ) 2 tsp chopped fresh ginger. Pour 4 cups hot just boiling water over echinacea and ginger and let steep for 2 hours in a closed container (or at least something you can place a plate over to keep the heat in). Pour tea into a container ( I used an old glass juice jar, but a pitcher will work fine) with room and add 1/4 cup lime juice and 3 cups lemonade, or to taste (I use Simply brand lemonade even though its not organic because they use sugar not high fructose corn syrup like other brands). Pour over ice and enjoy!

Now of course the dose of echinacea in this drink is still fairly low. You could up the dose** of echinacea in the tea portion, or just drink this in between cups of hot echinacea tea (of which you should have about 4-5 cups daily).


*My drink doesn't even HAVE any grape juice in it!

** the recipe I have here is exactly what I made so I know it tastes good, I haven't checked on a mega dose yet mostly because I am still drinking the original juice I made.