Posts filed under ‘Food and Drink’
Why is Coffee Called Java?
I love coffee.
I started drinking it in college, like most people, for the caffeine boost. Over time, I got really attached to the flavor. I went through a coffee obsession phase, trying coffee from different parts of the world with different tastes and different roasting techniques.
I’m not a coffee connoisseur, but there really are coffee connoisseurs out there. Premium coffee retailers and distributors have tasting rooms where they constantly inspect and taste coffee.
They sip it, swirl it around in their mouth and then spit it out. It must meet their strict approval to make it to the stores. If you think I’m exaggerating, click here to get a taste on the Starbucks blog. They even talk about coffee that is aged 3 to 5 years before being roasted.
Aging coffee probably reminds you of something else, wine. It turns out the coffee industry is a lot like the wine industry. Experts taste coffee the way connoisseurs taste and rate wine. They also share a similar vocabulary for describing flavor notes, hints of: caramel, chocolate, nuts…etc. Wine is classified by it’s region and grape (species). Coffee is also classified by region and species.
Historians believe that coffee plants were first cultivated in Ethiopia, around the year 850. In the next 50 years, coffee seeds were taken to the Arab world. The Arabians saw a future in coffee trade and guarded the seeds closely, but a few seeds were smuggled to the Dutch. Early in the 17th century, seeds made their way to Indonesia, being planted in Sumatra, Bali and the island of Java.
Java is one of the earliest coffee plantations and still an exporter of coffee today. Calling coffee, “java” is similar to referring to wine by it’s region, such as “I’ll have a glass of Champagne.”
On a related note, check out another coffee related secret: How to Properly Pour a Cup of Coffee.
Written By: Chad Upton
BrokenSecrets.com [Available on Kindle]
Sources: Coffee, Java Coffee, Indonesian Coffee, Coffee Bean, Champagne
The Sugar in Most Foods is Not Natural Sugar
Real sugar, from cane or beets, is expensive to import. That’s why countries without real sugar, make it from other stuff.
The United States, Canada and the UK consume a lot of sugar and don’t have enough real sugar to meet their needs. A complicated series of transformations involving enzymes and fungi can process corn into a sugar substitute called high fructose corn syrup (known as “glucose/fructose” in Canada and “glucose fructose syrup” in the UK).
It is almost exactly like real sugar. Almost.
The safety of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a hot debate in health circles. Food manufacturers say that it is almost exactly like real sugar and there is no proof that it is any worse for you than real sugar. Other experts point to a key difference between natural sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup. It’s very technical, but I’ll try to simplify it.
Sucrose and HFCS are both made up of glucose and fructose, which is why the food manufacturers say they’re almost the same. The key difference is that sucrose contains a bond between glucose and fructose, while HFCS does not. Because of this bond, your body must break it down before it can be utilized. In high fructose corn syrup, there is no bond — allowing it to be utilized more easily.
When you have more energy than you can burn, it gets stored as fat. A high absorption of sugar can also lead to insulin resistance and then diabetes.
Pay attention to the type of sugar in your food, it’s important. You might be surprised by how many things contain high fructose corn syrup. Some examples include: yogurt, breakfast cereals, granola bars, crackers and of course things like soda/pop and cookies. But, for all of these products, there are brands with natural sugar. Even manufacturers are starting to pay attention, Pepsi is currently offering Pepsi and Mountain “Throwback.” They’re just like their normal drinks, but made with real sugar — a throwback to the good ol’ days.
Remember that if you’re not in the USA, high fructose corn syrup is called glucose/fructose or glucose-fructose syrup.
Broken Secrets
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Sources: WP HFCS, WP Insulin, Princeton University
Photo: *MarS (cc)
Use Hot Water To Make Crystal Clear Ice Cubes
Ice made from cold water looks cloudy because air that is trapped in the water become suspended in the ice. If you boil water before pouring it in the ice cube trays, you release most or all of the air that would otherwise be trapped in the water — making the ice cubes crystal clear.
Crystal clear ice cubes look great when used with designer ice cube trays. For any holiday or event, designer ice cubes are a cool thing to entertain guests and spark conversation.
Ikea has a few designer ice cube trays that you can pickup or Amazon has hundreds available for delivery, including: Christmas Trees and Snowmen, Penguins, Ice Invaders, Peace Signs, Hearts, Homer Simpson, Stewie (Family Guy), Stars, Skull and Crossbones, Butterflies, Dinosaurs …etc. They even have molds to make Shot Glasses and Stir Sticks out of ice.
Another secret: the ice cube trays can also be used as Jello molds!
Remember, you’ll have to boil water to make it hot because you can’t use hot water from the tap – explained here.
BrokenSecrets.com
Sources: Illinois Dept Physics
You Shouldn’t Drink Hot Water From Your Tap
Household tap water is usually heated in a hot water tank or by an inline water heater. Water tanks particularly, collect sediments overtime and are breeding grounds for bacteria. You might be thinking that bacteria cannot survive in hot water, but you need water above 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill most bacteria. That’s why your meat thermometer recommends you cook chicken until that internal temperature is reached.
Hot water also dissolves contaminants such as lead that may be found in the solder of your hot water pipe. Newer copper tubing and fittings or PEX (plastic) pipes would be safer in this respect.
If you’ve ever read the manual for your coffee maker, it clearly states that you should make coffee using cold water. This is not because the temperature of the water makes better coffee, it’s because you should only consume tap water from the cold side of the tap.
If you need water that is always hot, there are food grade water heaters that you can use. For example, you may have a water cooler/heater or an installation under your kitchen sink for dispensing water that is always hot. Otherwise, always use cold water and then heat it in a kettle, microwave, pot…etc.
BrokenSecrets.com
Sources: MIT, Everything2.com, CooksRecipes.com
Photo: Malla Mi (Creative Commons)
The Fastest Way to Chill Drinks
Perhaps your guests just arrived and you forgot to put beer in the fridge. Or, maybe you just got a phone call and your hair appointment on Thursday has been canceled Either way, you need cold drinks, stat. This secret will chill your drinks in 5 minutes flat.
- Half fill a container with your drinks.
- Fill the remaining space with ice.
- Add salt and stir for 30 seconds.
- In 4.5 minutes you’ve got cold drinks.
The salt speeds the melting of the ice. The melting ice absorbs heat from the drinks which in turn makes the drinks get colder.
Here’s a little demo from down under with a fancy thermometer:
BrokenSecrets.com
Opening a Bottle of Wine Without a Corkscrew
If you’re a wine drinker, a day will come when you go camping, tailgating or romantic picnicking and forget to bring a corkscrew. Open your wine without any special tools by combining these two tricks:
1. Remove the foil using the slide technique. It briefly appears at the beginning of the following video, although I suggest also watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s video here for a specific demo of this secret.
2. Remove the cork using the ram technique. Watch the video below.
Warning: Be very careful when bashing a glass wine bottle against a tree. As you can see in the video, you don’t have to do it very hard.
BrokenSecrets.com
You Can Request a Mini Fridge in Your Hotel Room
I’m not talking about minibars that are jammed with overpriced, undersized hickory peanuts and watermelon spritzers. I’m talking about an empty mini fridge that you can stack with caffeine boosting morning starters and gut busting dinner leftovers.
It’s fun to go all MacGyver and use the sink as a cooler, but that loses its cool when you want to use the sink as a sink. That’s why hotels keep mini fridges on-hand for special requests. I discovered this little secret last year, and I travel a fair amount for work so I’ve tried it in many hotels since then — it held true for almost every one.
When you book the room, ask for a mini fridge (or add it to the notes if you book online). Chances are good they will have it in the room for you when you arrive. If you get to your room and there is no fridge there, call the front desk and kindly request one. Don’t mention you already asked for one unless they’re all out, then tell them you requested one when you booked the room, you’d like a discount and you’d like the next fridge that becomes available (when someone who has one checks out). With this approach, I’ve never waited more than a day for a fridge ; I’ve never been given the discount either.
Party On.
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: DewKnight (Creative Commons)
Keeping Takeout Food Warm While You Drive Home
As I mentioned here, when you put warm food on a cold surface, it gets cold. If you pickup Chinese, Pizza or your favorite restaurant food then you don’t want it to get cold while you drive home.
Allow me to share a secret: seat heaters are not just for keeping your butt warm, they also make a great warming zone for your takeout.
If your car doesn’t have seat heaters then you have some other options. If it’s hot outside, put the food in your trunk. It’ll stay warmer there than inside your car (where you’re trying to keep cool with the A/C). If it’s cold outside and you’ve got frozen food, you can also put them in the trunk.
If you do takeout a lot, consider buying a cooler/warmer that plugs into your cigarette lighter socket. Some vehicles even have these coolers/warmers built in.
Oh, and don’t be afraid to have some bag fries during the ride.
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo credit: Spitzgogo Chen (Creative Commons)
How to Properly Pour a Cup of Coffee
Coffee shops use this little secret to pour your coffee quickly. If everyone did this, fewer trees would become stir-sticks. Watch the 15 second video for a demo.
For those who can’t watch videos, add your cream and/or sugar first, then add the coffee to mix the contents without a stir-stick.
BrokenSecrets.com
The Roadkill Waiting List
If you’re a serious deer hunter, this may not be a secret to you: in many states, you can have your name added to a roadkill call list. When a deer or moose is struck near you, they’ll call down the list until they find someone available to get it while it’s fresh. Seriously.
I think the idea of roadkill sounds strange to most people, but a recent poll at DeerAndDeerHunting.com
shows that 19 of the 40 participants have eaten roadkill and another 9 wouldn’t hesitate when the buck drops. I’m sure that number would be much lower on any other website, but that’s not the point. I just heard about this last week, and there is a logical reason for this: there may be $500 worth of meat on a dead deer, and that doesn’t change whether you took it down with a Beretta rifle or a Beretta GT.
State laws differ on this issue. For example: in Texas, it is illegal to posses roadkill, but not in many other states. Generally, you need a permit for this and need to follow the procedure for your area. If you’re interested, check with the game warden (or State Police) near you before attempting to take any roadkill and see if they have a list you can be added to. You also want to do some research on this since you may not want to consume this meat in all cases; although, it might still be OK for your dog.
BrokenSecrets.com
Sources: NewEngland.com Officer.com GunBroker.com FreeRepublic.com DeerAndDeerHunting.com Dogster.com
Photo Credit: Jelene (Creative Commons)
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