Olive Oil - Better than Butter! (Introduce the goodness of olive oil in your daily diet)

Until a few years ago, Indians used Olive Oil either to apply it generously on hair for lustre or  to massage new born babies with it. But today, olive oil has its fair share of consumers and is growing to become an essential ingredient in a variety of recipes. Whether raw or heated, olive oil is one of the healthiest foods that we can consume because it has no cholesterol and thus actively promotes good health. When consumed in moderate quantities along with a healthy lifestyle,  it has shown to lower cholesterol levels.

Olive Oil should be a vital ingredient of every kitchen, but buying olive oil is a  tricky business as there is a huge difference between an inferior product and a good one.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, derived from the first press of olives is an all purpose ingredient that has a greenish tinge. Olive Oil which has an acidity level of less than one percent is classified as extra virgin. Most foods that are consumed uncooked or fresh such as salads can do with a dash of extra virgin olive oil.

Pure Olive Oil - golden in color, is derived from the second pressing and is also of a high quality. It can be used from sautéing meat to marinating it before braising, from brushing roasts or fish before grilling to deep-frying and baking. Sautéing food in olive oil imbues the ingredients with the oil's aroma and flavor.

                                                          

There are variants of Olive Oil that are best suited for different dishes.  Extra virgin Olive Oil is great not only when drizzled over fresh salads or toasted bread, but also when it adds the final touch to already-sauced pastas or creamy soup. Pure Olive Oil goes best in cooking  pasta, rice and roasts.

All Olive Oils are best kept away from heat and light. Once the bottle is opened the oxidization starts and hence Olive oil should be consumed as quickly as possible. To preserve the freshness of your extra virgin olive oil at home, store it in a cool, dark place. Tinted glass and porcelain are the best materials for containers, olive oil should never be stored in plastic or in reactive metals.

Adopt the oil into your diet - gorge generously on the fruit as well - and let the goodness of olives seep in, to give your food a distinct flavor.

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Tofu - A Healthy Ingredient in Your Diet

In an age where healthy cooking is gathering more significance with each passing day, one ingredient that's really standing out due to its high protein and nutritious nature is tofu. For those who are still in the dark about it, its the healthier alternative  to the wholesome  paneer, of course minus all the fat. That's essentially because  tofu, unlike paneer, has no cholesterol content and is dairy-free  since its made out of soya.

Tofu is not just a health food. It is tasty, light and an extremely versatile  ingredient with many health benefits.  Tofu, or bean curd, is made by curdling fresh soya milk, pressing it into a solid block and then cooling it – in much the same way that traditional dairy cheese is made by curdling and solidifying milk. The liquid (whey) is discarded, and the curds are pressed to form a cohesive bond. A staple ingredient in Thai and Chinese cookery, it can be cooked in different ways to change its texture from smooth and soft to crisp and crunchy. Tofu is natural, preservative free and 100 percent vegetarian with a long shelf life.  It is a good source of protein and contains all eight essential amino acids. It is also an excellent source of iron and calcium and the minerals -  manganese, selenium and phosphorous. In addition, tofu is a good source of magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamin B1. Tofu is an excellent food from a nutritional and health perspective. It is thought to provide the same sort of protection against cancer and heart disease as soya beans.

Mori-nu Silken Tofu

Cholesterol  free and low fat, Mori-nu Tofu fits your lifestyle. Choose a variety and use in your favorite recipe. Whether you want eggless salad, non-dairy fruit smoothies and cream pies or traditional stir-fry, Mori-Nu has the perfect tofu. Taste a world beyond stir-fry with Mori-Nu. The tofu is sold in airtight tetrapaks - ensuring that the fresh taste is retained; the product requires no refrigeration till it is opened.

Given its neutral taste and range of consistency, tofu has an amazing ability to work with almost all types of flavors and foods. Extra firm tofu is  best for baking, grilling and stir-fries, while soft tofu is suitable for sauces, desserts, shakes and salad dressings. Of course, it is up to you to experiment! Try slicing, marinating and grilling it or chopping it up into smallish pieces and frying it with garlic until golden

 Visit www.olivetreetrading.com to choose your range of lite firm, firm, nigari organic  and extra firm tofu. Its time to get into the habit of healthy eating.

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Benefits Of Honey

Olea Europaea's Honey

Kendall Powell wrote in the journal Nature that "natural honey kills bacteria three times more effectively  than an artificial honey solution of the same thickness and sugar concentration".

Honey has had a long history in human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and in  flavoring. Flavors of honey vary,  based on the nectar source, and various types and grades of honey are available. Honey contains a treasure chest of hidden health benefits, nutritional and medicinal value for centuries. The sweet golden liquid from the beehive is a popular kitchen staple loaded with antibacterial and antifungal properties. Because of its unique composition and chemical properties, honey is suitable for long-term storage, and is easily assimilated even after long preservation.  

Honey is considered as a most digestible carbohydrate compound and its health benefits go beyond its great taste. But what makes honey so popular? Most probably it is because of the ease with which it is consumed – whether it is direct consumption or mixing honey with bread or adding it to lukewarm water, it is deliciously savored. Honey is  used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. It has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, often enhancing its use as a natural antiseptic in traditional medicines.  Benefits of honey include its usage since a long time in the  treatment of  various ailments including gastric disturbances, ulcers, skin wounds, and skin burns and is considered as an instant source of energy especially in kids. Daily consumption of one spoon of pure honey in lukewarm water will help you reap its benefits better.Phenolic content correlates with the color of honey, where dark colored honey has greater antioxidant capacities. Polyphenols in honey fight oxidative stress and counter memory deficits, which helps in boosting memory. Honey is also considered a rich source of vitamins and minerals; depending upon the kind of flower it is extracted from. It  contains calcium, iron and vitamin C. Honey can be the all-natural cure when it comes to pesky colds. A persistent cough that won’t go away can easily be remedied with two teaspoons of honey. Despite tasting sweet, honey is NOT the same as white sugar. Its exact combination of glucose and fructose helps the body in regulating the blood sugar level to a great extent. Honey is also applied directly to the skin for the glowing effect. It is also considered as  a natural remedy to obesity by lowering cholesterol levels in the body.Reap the benefits of honey with a medley of Olea Europaea`s range of pure, raw, natural, unpasteurised Chestnut, Acacia Eucalyptus, Orange and Wildflower honey, all produced in Italy. Their delectable, authentic fragrances are reassurance that good health comes with great flavor too.Chestnut honey - It  has fantastic restoring, tonic and antiseptic properties.

Acacia honey - Known to revive appetite and have a detoxifying and calming effect.

Eucalyptus honey - It is enriched with antiseptic, anticatarrhal and expectorant properties. It alleviates and soothes pain in joints and muscles. Orange honey - It is a rich source of trace minerals and works as an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory, sedative and calming effects.

Wildflower honey -  It can be useful to relieve seasonal allergies and helps build up immune system

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Fruit Jams - Making Body Healthier !

Ellyn Satter, author of Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family, says that responsibility lies with parents to supply the what, when and where of eating, while children are responsible for how much they eat.

How can JAM make my body healthier? Isn't it loaded with sugar and HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)?

Well, all jams are not created the same, not all have the same amount of sugar, nor do they all have HFCS. One doesn't realize that there a lot of positive, body friendly, nutritional health benefits to eating those delicious, spreadable edible fruits.

Olea Europaea jam is not made from HFCS. It is gluten free loaded with fiber and has less sugar than conventional jams, jellies and preserves.

OLEA EUROPAEA Jams contains a very high percentage of  naturally ripened  fruit  and is  shipped directly from Italy.

Knowing that choosing the right fruit jam as a main staple in your life, and indulging in a health conscious lifestyle will not only give you great peace of mind, but also a healthy happy future to embrace.

WHY CHOOSE FROM THE  OLEA EUROPAEA GOURMET RANGE OF ORANGE MARMALADE, FIG, BLUEBERRY, STRAWBERRY, PEACH JAM... :

Unlike butter and, cheese, jams do not contribute to cholesterol and fat content of your body.  Due to our high proportion of real fruit, the pectin present in fruits help reduce chances of cancer, stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases.  Our jams are also a high source of fiber.  It is also a concentrated source of nutrition when made with fully ripened fruits like ours.

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Importance Of A Healthy And Nutritious Breakfast

"Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dine like a Pauper" - Its a well known phrase least followed though! During a busy morning, it's easy to let breakfast fall low in your list of priorities, but taking just a few minutes to have something to eat can really make a difference to your day. Healthy breakfast provides the body and brain with fuel after an overnight fast - that's where its name originates, breaking the fast!  Without breakfast you are effectively running on empty. Nutritionists advise that breakfast should be eaten within two hours of waking and a healthy breakfast should provide calories in the range of 20-35% of your guideline daily allowance (GDA). -

Nutrition comes with a share of beauty benefits - younger skin, healthier body, less stressed mind. It can even add a new zest to your life and give your metabolic rate a high! What counts most is establishing a good ratio of nutrients, choosing good quality foods and being aware of special individual requirements. Even the most traditional recipe can be modified to make it more nutritious, by lowering the fat content or substituting some ingredients with others that are more acceptable.

Apart from providing us with energy, breakfast foods are good sources of important nutrients such as calcium, iron and B vitamins as well as protein and fibre. The body needs these essential nutrients and  if these are missed at breakfast, they are less likely to be compensated for later in the day.  Fruit and vegetables are good sources of vitamins and minerals so try to include a portion of your daily five at breakfast, whether that be a banana or glass of fruit juice.

A healthy breakfast can be good for waistline too, for  those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight and more likely to be within their ideal weight range compared with breakfast skippers.  If you skip breakfast, you're more likely to reach for high sugar and fatty snacks mid-morning.

Some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose weight, but that's not a good idea. It can backfire.
Skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal, or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger. While adults need to eat breakfast each day to perform their best, kids need it even more. Their growing bodies and developing brains need regular refuelling from food. When kids skip breakfast, they don't get what they need to,  to be at their best.

Short on time? Eating a wholesome, nutritious morning meal will probably save you time in the long run. By recharging the brain and body, you'll be more efficient in just about everything you do. A wholesome meal would include cereals, muesli which are a natural blend of whole grains, fruits and nuts. Muesli is a less sugar, low calories, high fiber whole grain which is considered as a quick and healthy meal to begin your day.

 Eating breakfast indeed has long term health benefits.  It can reduce obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Establishing good breakfast habits in childhood and maintaining them throughout adolescence may be an important factor in reducing the prevalence of breakfast skipping and developing good eating habits that last a lifetime.

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Olive Oil - Identifying Real Olive Oil

Olive oil is a supremely healthy food. It is great for cooking, but the high price of real oil means there are usually a lot of cheaper options on the shelf. It turns out, those options are not all equal, but one can tell the difference. It seems that much of the extra virgin olive oil exported from Italy has been cut with cheap vegetable oil and then colored to look like the real stuff. This excellent all-purpose oil has  high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, it's stable at high temperatures, and it tastes great. Olive oil that's been diluted with soybean oil, on the other hand, is none of those things...and a waste of money besides.

Olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil, is a seasoning of traditional Italian and Mediterranean cuisine which is present every day on the tables of several countries. But do we really know how to choose a quality olive oil? Beware of non-transparent labels, which are written in small characters, and which are not clear about the origin of products. Labels must show the production process, the place of production and product characteristics. Food labels must meet three basic characteristics: they must be clear, legible and indelible. As for the extra virgin olive oil, for example, it must include the name of the product, the nominal volume and the expiry date for consumption. Authentic extra-virgin olive oil,  takes a lot of time, expense, and labor to make. On the flip side, it’s quick, cheap, and easy to doctor it. The most common form of adulteration comes from mixing extra virgin olive oil with cheaper, lower-grade oils. 

Unfortunately you cant simply go by taste alone. So if you can’t go by taste alone, how can you tell?

First, extra-virgin olive oil ought to comprise of mostly monounsaturated fat that grows more solid when cold. If you put a real extra-virgin olive oil in the refrigerator, it ought to become thick and cloudy as it cools completely (some oils made from high-wax olive varieties will even solidify). It should be noted, however, that this is not a fail-proof test. That’s because adulterated oils may also become thick and cloudy in the refrigerator. After all, some adulterated extra-virgin olive oils are cut with low-grade, refined olive oil. Those would still clump up. Other adulterated extra-virgin olive oils are cut with just enough of the cheaper oils that they’ll still be mostly olive oil, so they’ll have some clumping, too. If, however, the oil you put in the fridge fails to thicken at all (still appearing as clear and runny as it did at room temperature), then you know something certain: that it’s fake!

Second, extra-virgin olive oil ought to be flammable enough to keep an oil lamp burning. Again, this isn’t a fail-proof test, and for the same reasons. But, it is certain that if your so-called “extra virgin olive oil” doesn’t keep a wick burning, it isn’t extra-virgin at all, but instead contains refined oils.

About the taste? Prepare yourself. Real olive oil – will be powerful and peppery and it will catch in your throat. You may cough, your eyes may water. But these are in fact good indications that what you’re tasting – finally! – is authentic. It is also full of the reasons, especially flavor and health, that we were drawn to olive oil in the first place.

No completely fail proof test exist. Then where to find real Olive Oil?

Visit our gourmet online store which guarantees quality and standards for its  product.

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Why should we eat more of Artichokes !!

Artichokes are one of the most fascinating and delicious vegetables across the globe..The sheer volume of nutrients and minerals found in this extraordinary vegetable make them a wholesome snack. Sliced artichokes in Olive Oil, Artichokes hearts, Roman style artichokes, canned artichokes  can be served with herbs & spices as appetizers, as a stand-alone snack, or by adding them to a antipasti platter.

Artichokes are low on calories and fat. The dietary fiber helps control constipation conditions and decreases bad cholesterol level by binding to it in the intestines and also helps cut down colon cancer risks by preventing toxic compounds in the food from absorption. A diet rich in flavanoids which are also present in artichokes reduces the risk of breast cancer.

There are many ways to reap the amazing health benefits of artichokes. While many people's favorite part is the heart, it is the leaves that contain many of the artichoke's powerful health benefits.

Artichokes help the digestive system. They  aid digestion, improve gallbladder function and are very beneficial to the liver. The pulp of artichoke increases the bile flow. Researchers believe that asparagus, garlic and artichokes could help fight obesity and diabetes.

Though Artichokes have been around for a long time, their importance and benefits has off late made them mark their presence in every part of the world.

Small artichokes are good for appetizers, and larger ones can be used for stuffing with a variety of fillings and served as an entree.

Artichokes are still gaining its importance and presence in India. However, one can buy artichokes  online through different websites and gourmet online store which offer the finest gourmet food direct for the producers.

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