The Truth about Low Cholesterol Diets – Deborah Land

a. Myths about Cholesterol – the Good and Bad Sides 

Most people view cholesterol as a bad thing, but the truth is there are actually two types of it. There is good cholesterol (HDL) and there is bad cholesterol (LDL). You’ll know you have too much LDL if you end up with plaques in your arteries. This results in a blood flow block in your arteries as the opening gets smaller. Your high blood cholesterol is not the result of taking in dietary cholesterol. The presence of saturated fat and Tran’s fat is the reason for the high cholesterol. Exercising often and taking in fibrous and unsaturated foods will keep your cholesterol down.

b)    The Meaning of Numbers in Cholesterol 

Adults should see to it that they have their cholesterol checked every 5 years. Four results are given to you, which will show the levels for your LDL cholesterol, Triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. Should you find your cholesterol levels over or even under the normal range, you need to diet and exercise as a result.

c. Heart Protection and Vitamin E 

Vegetable oils, nuts and leafy vegetables are good sources of Vitamin E. Vitamin E is not proven to stop you from getting a stroke, but it can lessen your heart disease risk level.

d. Five Fabulous Foods to Decrease Cholesterol Levels 

1. Oat Bran and Oatmeal –  these have soluble fiber which can lower your LDL cholesterol levels.

2. Fish – it has a lot of omega 3 fatty acids, which are very good in decreasing LDL.

3. Nuts – nuts contain fiber and healthy fats that can bring down your LDL cholesterol level.

4. Plant Sterols – these work to lessen LDL by ten to fifteen percent and you can find this is orange juice, salad dressing, margarine and cookies.

5. Soy – this common meat replacement has the ability to lessen LDL levels by 3 %.

e. Plant Sterols and Benefits to Health 

Granola bars, Benecol Spread, fat free milk and VitaTops Muffin tops are great food sources that also have great amount of plant sterols in them. If you want to assist your heart, you can do so by eating foods rich in plant sterols and staying away from saturated fat-rich foods. It can’t, however, cancel out a diet loaded with saturated fats. To keep your cholesterol in check mad make sure it stays down, you must exercise often and eat healthy.

 About the Author – Deborah Land writes for www.cholesterolloweringdiets.net , her personal hobby blog focused on tips to eat healthy to prevent high cholesterol.
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summerfields foods

In our post on making quince paste, we mentioned we came across a recipe for doing the same thing with sweet potato. Dulce de Batata as it is also known. It sounded quite an interesting idea.

Dulce de batata is a traditional dessert from Argentina, Paraquay and Uruguay. You can even get it in a can!

Last night we decided to give it a go. We had one red kumara in the pantry so ours wasn’t going to be the beautiful golden colour but it was a yummy taste we were after. We started with this recipe  but there seems be a bunch of steps missing, so this is what we did.

We peeled the kumara and chopped it into bits. We put it in a covered pot on the stove with lemon juice and a little water to steam cook it, adding more water if it it started to stick. Meanwhile we made the sugar syrup.

The recipe suggested to add a quarter of the weight of the sweet potato in sugar. Our one kumara weighed 160 grams so we took 50 grams of sugar and mixed it with 100ml of water and a good dash of vanilla extract. We were making corn chowder for dinner at the same time so with the kumara and the chowder going on the stove, we decided to do the sugar syrup in the microwave. We did for thirty second blasts, stirring it each time until the sugar had all melted.

Once the kumara was soft we added the sugar syrup and blitzed it smooth with the stick blender. It was still on the heat and we kept stirring it until it was quite thick. This did not take a long at all. We then stirred in about half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon We tipped it into a shallow dish and let it set while we enjoyed the chowder and home made bread.

We served up the dulce de batata for pudding, serving it with some natural sweetened yoghurt. It was really nice. The texture is a cross between quince paste and well mashed potato. It was deliciously sweet and we would definitely make it again.

It is supposed to go well with cheese and chocolate, so methinks some more experimenting to come!

www.summerfieldsfoods.co.nz

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Summerfields.

There is very little confusion about standard cumin – cumin is cumin. Black cumin is much more complicated.

Standard cumin is the dried fruits of the plant  cuminum cyminum. It is used in many cuisines. We use it a lot when cooking Mexican dishes and Middle Eastern dishes.

Black cumin is used to describe a variety of different spices. So far this is what we have found out.

One of the spices known as black cumin is nigella. Nigella seeds come from the plant  Nigella sativa. Nigella seeds have a variety of names (other than black cumin) such as black onion seeds and kolonji. It is also said calling nigella, black cumin, is incorrect. It seems bit unfair to say this, surely if some people call them black cumin then they are also known as black cumin seeds. Nigella seeds flavour has sometimes been likened to cumin so maybe this is why they have been given the name, black cumin. We think nigella has a much sharper flavour than standard cumin.

So if nigella is the “incorrect” black cumin what is the correct black cumin?

Another spice known as black cumin is from the plant  Bunium persicum. It is also called kala jeera. It is a thin, crescent shaped spice quite similar looking to cumin. It grows most commonly in Iran and India. This black cumin is quite aromatic when crushed.

But yes there is more.

Another spice called kali jeeri (kalijiri) is also known as black cumin. The names seem so close one could hope that they are the same thing but this spice comes from a different plant Centratherum Anthelminticum, which is a Himalayan herb. It also looks different – like little, brown, isosceles triangles. Many references to this version of black cumin are medicinal or herbal remedies but just when we decided it was not for cooking we came across a reference saying it is used in some Punjabi dishes. This black cumin is really bitter.

Just when you think you have it figured out, kalijiri is Bengali for nigella seeds and Jefferson called nigella the nutmeg plant.

So if you have a recipe that calls for black cumin seeds – what do you use?

In most cases it seems the safest option is to use nigella. If it is a Northern Indian dish go with the kala jeera black cumin and obviously if the recipe gives you more hints as to what the black cumin should taste or look like, go with that.

If someone can clarify black cumin better, we’d definitely like to hear your thoughts.

Cheers

Fiona Summerfield

Summerfields Foods

207 Waimairi Road, Ilam, Christchurch

open 11am-7pm Tues – Sat

[email protected]

ph 03 357 0067

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Janet Chang

It’s definitely getting colder in New Zealand as Winter is not too far away. Colder weather means soups and casseroles which can take a bit more time to make. But as I don’t like to spend hours in the kitchen, I tend to stick to simple pureed vegetable soups in Winter.

This Cauliflower Mushroom Soup with Thyme is essentially a combination of the leftover vegetables that I had in the fridge. You wouldn’t think that cauliflower and mushrooms would go well together, but the soup tastes amazing. The less water you use, the thicker the soup will be. You can also add some sour cream for extra creaminess but I think it tastes fine without it.

Cauliflower Mushroom Soup with Thyme

1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbs butter or ghee
2 cups mushrooms chopped
2 cups cauliflower broken into florets
2.5 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp dried thyme

1. Sautee the onions and garlic with the butter in a stock pot.
2. Add in the mushrooms and cauliflower and continue to stir.
3. Add in the vegetable stock and thyme and bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Once boiling, lower the heat and cook until the vegetables are soft.
5. Puree the mixture in a blender.

Makes 4 Servings.

www.pantrybites.com

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My cousin Rozanne from France, a highly qualified chef, has been staying with us for the past fortnight.  I’ve had a lesson in how to make puff pastry using Lurpak butter and somehow my rolling technique does not meet the master’s critical eye.  We made tart tatin the other night which was utterly delicious … rich, buttery caramelised apple nestled on a thin disc of well cooked puff pastry.  This is a classical French dessert.

TARTE TATIN

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter (Lurpak is best), at room temperature

200g caster sugar

6 – 7 Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples

Butter puff pastry (normally Rozanne makes her own puff pastry at which she considers she is particularly good but for normal people like us, she has conceded that we can use frozen puff pastry from the supermarket –“ it just wont be as good you know”)

Method

Place sliced butter in a 23 – 24cm heavy frypan that can go in the oven.  Turn the element to medium high and once the butter begins to melt, sprinkle over caster sugar.  Meanwhile, peel apples.  Cut apples in half, remove core and cut each half into 3 equal segments.  Place apples cut side down in concentric circles over the melting butter.  Keep the heat medium high to high and watch carefully. 

The butter and the sugar will amalgamate and slowly the sugar will begin to caramelise.  This is a very important step.  The caramel should be a rich deep colour otherwise the tart will be too sweet. 

Reduce the heat to low so the apples can cook in this butter sugar mix.  Do not hesitate to move them around.  The time required to cook the apples depends on whether the apples are new season, in which case they are firmer, or if they have been held in cold storage a couple of months, in which case they tend to be more floury so reduce the cooking time accordingly. 

 Once the apples begin to soften, place a generous round of puff pastry on the top of the apples, nestling the pastry round the edge of the pan. 

Immediately place in a pre-heated oven 180°C and cook approximately 40 minutes until the pastry is completely cooked through and the apples are soft.  You may need to reduce the temperature after about 20 minutes. 

 Once cooked, remove the tart from the oven and let rest about 15 – 30 minutes.  Place a serving platter over the top of the pan and invert the tart onto the platter, making sure all the buttery caramelised juices are contained. 

If necessary, rearrange the apple pieces into some sort of order but I never mind this tart looking slightly out of control. 

Serve with very lightly whipped cream and/or ice-cream and don’t go near the scales for at least 7 days!

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