Sweeteners

Sweeteners 101

Main topics of this virtual lecture

• Natural Sweeteners

Where does sugar come from?
Sugar we know has 2 main sources, sugarbeets and sugarcane. The most remarkable thing is, countries that produce mostly cane sugar are located in the southern hemisphere. The same is happening for the northern hemisphere where countries overall produce beet sugar. At the equator both cane and beet are used to make sugar.

We have natural sweeteners

• Sugars
  
  Glucose is produced by photosynthesis of plants. A chemical where sunlight and CO2 and Water is transformed in glucose and O2. This si the reason we humans can breathe. We know several sugars like sucrose, maltose, lactose and more. Sugars are formed in a ring structure. When we have 2 rings we call it disaccharide. A single ring is called a monosaccharide. If
  there are more than 2 rings we call it polysaccharide.
  The sugar we know as table sugar sucrose and it is a disaccharide. This can be manufactured in a different form, brown sugar, white and powdered sugar, So however it is a different kind of sugar it is still sucrose.
• Syrups
  
  Syrups are a viscous liquid that has a high concentration of sugars. The most well known are honey and maple syrup. The viscosity is high because of the multiple OH bonds sugars can make in water. HFGS is often used to sweeten different products. Because fructose is the sweetest sugar known. Fructose is 1.7 times sweeter than glucose. Even wors is that fructose gets immediately dissolved in your blood system.
• Sugar alcohols
  Sugar alcohos are mostly used in bubble or in in gum. The difference is, these sweeteners ares sightly less sweet their normal sugar counterparts. Sugar alcohols, do have a OH group in there structure. These polyiols have some caricaristics.

1. Low digestibility
2. Low caloric value
3. Relative less sweet
4. No browning reaction
5. No glucose increase in our blood
6. Sugar free gum, mostly contains Xyotol

In the next lecture discuss a popular unnatural sweetener called Stevia, a sweetener 250 times sweeter than Glucose. I will the discuss the plusses and minusses of adding stevia in different products. Is it really healtier or is it not. We will learn in the next lecture. 

Three delicious ways to prepare carb free chicken breast

The purpose of these recipes /ideas is to spice up a staple of the keto diet, and an alround very tasty piece of meat: the chicken breast. It is low in fat, so also very fit for people who try to keep their calories low but who are not in a ketosis diet. I also want to show how many posibilities there are with one simple piece of meat. 

1. Chicken breaded with crushed bacon

Breadings are out of the picture when you follow a carb free diet. Because every once in a while something bread-like is nice to eat, you can use breading made of crushed bacon as a delicious alternative. You can find crispy bacon at most supermarkets, they are usually sold in plastic bags and they look a bit like potato crisps. They are also dry like potato crisps, this is very convenient because you can just crush them with a fork to make the breading. If you have a kitchen blender, that’s even more convenient. Season the crushed bacon with some pepper (and salt if you’d like even more). You can also use other seasonings you like of course. Then beat an egg and slather the chicken breast in it. After the chicken breast is nice and moist, cover both sides layer of crushed bacon. When you cook it, make sure to briefly fry both sides on high heat, so the bacon sticks nicely to the chicken. Then just cook it on lower heat until the chicken is done. The cooking time depends of course on how big the chicken breast is. If you like, you can also stir fry some veggies with it, personally I like onions (not too  much because onions have some carbs) and zucchini. Add them a few minutes before the chicken is ready. Serve it with a nice and fresh salad of tomatoes, lettuce, mozzarella and nuts.

2. Chicken in Parmesan

If you feel Italian and want to give your chicken something extra, you can easily do this by covering your chicken breast in a small layer of Parmesan cheese. It’s basically the same process as with the bacon breading: one plate with beaten egg, one plate with Parmesan cheese and one plate for your ‘breaded’ chicken. Don’t forget to put some pepper in the cheese breading. Or other seasonings if you like. The frying is a bit different though. This is because cheese melts if the temperature is not high enough.   So make sure the oil is quite hot and fry both sides shortly. Then just cook it until it’s done. You can turn the chicken breast like two times, but don’t touch it too much. That will just make the cheese crust fall off and get loose. You can serve it with a fresh salad, like with the chicken in crushed bacon: it’s always nice to have something fresh with something that’s very hearty and full of taste.

3. Chicken in fresh bacon stuffed with brie cheese

This one is a bit harder to prepare than the two others, but still fairly easy.  Firstly, cut the chicken breast open towards the outside, so you can fit some cubes of brie inside. To actually be able to fit a nice amount of brie inside, you want the chicken breast to be as big as possible. Just fit in as much brie as you  can, still being able to cover most of the brie with chicken. It’s entirely fine if a few edges are not covered yet, you will wrap the chicken in bacon anyway. For the bacon, use the round slices or the more expensive straight slices. I prefer the cheaper ones to be honest. Here in the Netherlands the round slices are usually more than twice as cheap as the straight ones. Use like six slices or even more, just until you think the brie won’t drip out during the cooking process. Season it with some pepper and other seasonings if you like. Then shortly fry on the side the brie can melt out, and then fry the other side. After this, cook it with a cover half on the pan, so it will be cooked well before the bacon wrapping turns into charcoal. Turn it every once in a while, so both sides get nicely brown. You can also  scorch the side shortly, so they get a nice colour too. After about twenty minutes it is ready. It’s extra delicious if you serve it with some (wal)nuts and fresh tomatoes and fresh cucumber. 

Food News

Mc Donalds Japan Introduces French With Chocolate

For those, we not know. Mc Donalds japan started in January selling their 'Mc Choco potatoes'. A meal with Plain French covered with white and dark chocolate. Is it savoury is it a dessert I do not even know anymore. Personally, I have never been a Fan of chocolate so this would really ruin my Dish. Actually, I have not been in the Mc Donalds for almost 2 months. So it will not be a big change for me. A lot of Japanese consider the fries covered in a sauce of sugary chocolate a nice balance between sweet and salty. Mc Donalds tries to change their images with their salads and wraps as a healthy replacement. However, those options are filled with calories and salts. These are literally calories bombs. 572 calories for a portion of fries. Almost 25% off all the calories you needed in 1 day.
I do not blame Mc Donalds for launching this dish. It is a nice experiment. Do we in Europe see this invention soon? No clarification is available. We might see burgers covered in chocolate in the near future or chicken nuggets with chocolate sauce. We will see. 

Vacuum Bottles Are Closer Than Ever 

A company named Start-Up develops a bottle a vacuum bottle? Why does this invention excite me? It keeps juices fresh for a longer period. I wasted a lot of Juice in my life as a student. That sucks. I appreciate juice and that is why it feels like a broken heart when it is expired or even fermented. I don't mind a bit of alcohol but I prefer a drink than a semi-fermented apple juice, with pieces of yeast lump in it. This technique is already been used on a bigger scale. It won't take long before the bottle is accessible for consumers. This new item can also be to preserve wine longer and other drinks, maybe milk. Wasting food is a shame.

Mac and Cheese

Have you ever thought yeah I want Noodles, but wait I want mac and cheese instead.Wait, yeah wait for it. This is legen.... wait for it ... yeah ... wait for it dairy. Legendary. This is a nice How I Met Your reference, just saying. Kudos to the one who watched it.  Pot Noodles has launched a mac and cheese flavoured noodles. It is basically a  Mac and cheese with a wet watery texture of noodles. I do not really get, and it must be filled with a lot of artificial tastes and ingredients. But that does not make it less cool. As a student, I eat a lot of noodles because it is cheap. There are many high-quality noodles and that is what I appreciate. However, these types of noodles with weird flavours give a nice cheap replacement. Because my life is only complete when I have eaten pizza flavoured noodles. If you like it or not this is the first step.

The Avocado Kernel

That avocados are super healthy, we all know. In a very short time, the avocado has made a big comeback, thanks to the health-trends. Justly, because avocado has a lot of powerful nutrients that work very beneficial to humans. I must confess that I'm not crazy about the taste... To be honest, I don’t like the taste at all.

Earlier I read that avocado seeds are also pretty eatable, and they can be processed in many smoothies.

Well, throwing away the kernel isn’t allowed from now on ;)

But how do you crack them? And how can you use them? First, you clean the seeds and make them dry, preferably with a paper towel. Then you crack them into at least 2 peaces, now you can remove the small “skin” of the seed.

Avocado smoothie with banana and orange (2persons)

You’ll need:

·         1 Avocado

·         1 Banana

·         2 Oranges or 200 ml Orange Juice

·         150 ml Yoghurt

Process:

1.      Cut the avocado, whip out the kernel and scoop out the pulp 

2.      Peel the oranges and the banana

3.      Crush the kernel and take 50%

4.      Throw everything (+ the yoghurt) in a blender and blend everything smooth

5.      Spread it all over two drinking glasses

More info about eating the Avocado Kernel? I took a closer look at the kernel and it's nutritional value and benefits at LasFood  (also in English)

Appreciate your nutrients 1

Folate/Folic Acid/Vitamin B9

In February, we will talk about a hero called Folic Acid also known as Vitamin B9. This Femme Fatale has a crucial role to keep this world spinning. Without Folate, the economy would be not as stable as now a day. In this blog post, we will appreciate the beauty of Folic Acid. A woman with real superpowers. What could this earth do without C19H19N7O6?  Take a minute to appreciate this gorgeous lady.

But what did miss Folate to change history? She starts many years from now, even before the moment when you were born. She aids in the production of DNA and RNA, the body's genetic and especially important when cells and tissues are growing rapidly such as infancy, puberty and pregnancy. Also is miss Folate one of the B-complex vitamins required in order to produce red blood cells. Vitamin B9 works with vitamins B6 and B12 and other nutrients to control blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine. High levels of homocysteine are associated with heart disease. However, researchers are not sure whether homocysteine is a cause of heart disease or just a marker that indicates someone may have heart disease. Folic acid also works closely with vitamin B12 to help make red blood cells and help iron work properly in the body.

There are many healthy foods that are very high in folate. Some are listed below:

Egg yolks

Sunflower seeds

Liver and Kidney Products

Leafy vegetables such as turnip greens, lettuce, spinach

Legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils

Grain Products such pasta, cereal, bread

Food that contains few amount in folate:

Fruits such as banana, raspberry, strawberry

Juice such as orange or pineapple juice

A lot of grains and cereals are also fortified with Folate

Folate acid DeficiencyIt is fairly common to have low levels of folic acid. Alcoholism, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and celiac disease can cause folic acid deficiency. Also, certain medications may lower levels of folic acid in the body. Folic acid deficiency can cause Poor growth, Tongue inflammation, Gingivitis, Loss of appetite, Shortness of breath, Diarrhea, irritability, Forgetfulness, Mental sluggishness.The most deficiencies are related to impaired cell division and protein synthesis.

Folate by birth
If a Female is pregnant there amount of 600 mcg Folate acid recommended and if you want to get pregnant 400 mcg. Because Folate is needed to produce DNA and RNA. Also, some scientist do suggest by their research that a low level of folate levels during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of emotional problems in the offspring.There are even studies that there is a connection between the amount of folate and autism. Folate fluences the fertility of both man and women, so a folate deficiency can also decrease of sperm. 

This was a small introduction to all different kinds of nutrients, like other vitamins and lipids, minerals and others nutrients. Hopefully, it wasn't as boring as I thought. These posts are less interesting as the recipes for some people. However, I hope it makes citizens of the aware of the importance of a healthy Diet. 

Lecture 2 : Meat 101

Last lecture we have introduced with a nice fact, why chicken meat is white and beef is red. But what is meat. Do you want to know more about meat? In this lecture, we will get Meat 101. Let's talk about our favorite veggie, meat.

What is meat?

• Generally refers to the skeletal muscle from the carcasses of animals
• 60-70% water
• 10-20% protein (Combination of amino acids) 
• 3-22% fat
• 1% ash (mineral)

How do we define quality meat?

The marbling of the meat defines the quality. Marbling refers to the fat patterns in the meat. The basic rule is the more marbling the better the quality.



How does the heme group effects the colour of the meat?
The amount of myoglobin effects the colour of the meat. But we already know that. But what happens to the myoglobin if you add a chemical component. On this images, you see the effects of different chemicals.

1. When H2O is bonded to the iron and the meat will get blue/purple.
2. Oxygen makes the meat red.
3. If the meat is cooked or not fresh differents reaction will start like the Maillard reaction. Next lecture will be completely about all brownings reactions.
4. Curing Meat
   When nitrate or nitrite is added, the meat will be good for a longer period. Secondly, the meat will stay pink. For instance, salami, ham. Even when meat will get smoked the principle is the same as curing them. However cured meat is not completely healthy there been several studies that it could cause cancer. But is not completely proven.

Meat as a Food Source

• Complete protein source
• Excellent source of iron
• Fat makes the product juicy, tender, and adds flavor
• Fat also reduces formulation costs
• Essential amino acids, zinc, B12, selenium, phosphorus, niacin, B6, choline, riboflavin, iron and more.

Thank you for reading this. This was a small lecture about meat. Mainly, inspired by a lecture of one of my teachers, miss Sterian. I hope you learned something about meat. The next lecture will be about meat. I am not sure what will follow. If you want to know more about a food oriented something. Always asks. I can do stuff, about Vitamins, Minerals, Acids, Basis, viscosity. That's actually a nice subject, viscosity. Everything is possible. Maybe a blog about Food Quality or redox reactions.

Random meat facts

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)  is essential to the growth and repair of nerve and muscle tissues, and it also helps maintain appetite. One of the best sources of Vitamin B1 is pork. Pork also rivals milk as one of the best sources of riboflavin, which keeps your skin and eyes healthy.

Animal meats, like beef, contain high-quality complete protein, which means they supply all the amino acids your body needs to build the protein it uses for essential body functions such as growth and development.

Smoothies & Juices 2

Hi guys!

You can probably tell I'm obsessed with smoothies.

Yep. Today I have 3 awesome smoothies to share with you! No idea what to name these ones though haha.

1. Orange smoothie

I really like this one. And it doesn't require a lot of Ingredients.

What I used:

-2 small bananas

-1 long carrot, peeled

-150 ml soy milk

-3 oranges (juice squeezed out)

-1 tsp honey

I consider this as a 'light' smoothie, because there's no yoghurt in here which makes it thick. So the structure is in between a milkshake and a smoothie. I decorated it with some orange pulp and shredded coconut, and shared with my friend. 

1. Purple smoothie

I decided to experiment with some different kinds of ingredients and it turned out pretty good!

What I used:

-125 grams pomegranate(frozen)

-125 grams mixed blueberries and raspberries (frozen)

-1 banana

-1 supersmall avocado (It's 3/4 size of half an avocado)

-0,5 tsp of spirulina powder

-1 tsp honey

-100 ml Coconut water

Of course I had to take a picture of all the stuff in the beaker, hehe. I thought it was going to get a nasty brown color but I was wrong. I decorated it with some raspberries and again the shredded coconut. I don't know why but I think the coconut makes every drink or dish look fancy. This was a huge smoothie, so you can share this with two. I think I had almost 1 liter of smoothie with this. It doesn't show in the picture but yes, this glass is 1 liters big. And also it was very refreshing because of the frozen fruit.

3. Your classic green smoothie

Whenever I make a green smoothie I feel so healthy. Last week I made this one and I walked into my lecture class and yep, people will be like: That looks healthy, what's in it? And I had to put it in my fancy mason jar as well haha. I was almost late for my lecture so I had to blend this really fast. I didn't measure because of that and I feel like I finished this so fast because as you can see, the jar is not filled completely.
My suggestion is too add some ice cubes, so it will be cold too.

What I used:
-Spinach (A lot, I think I used 100 grams)
-1,5 tsp spirulina powder
-100 ml Coconut water
-1 small banana
-2 oranges (juice squeezed out)

That's all for today! :)
-Naomi