Lola at the Coffee House

@vonny,

I use Turbinado (raw) sugar. It's not made in a lab... and It is regarded many as a healthier alternative to more processed brown sugar. I like it because it tastes just fine in coffee.

0 Replies

Sugar in any form is just wrong for some of us.

0 Replies

@farmerman,

Quote:

WHO KNOWS?

Yes, who does? I, like osso gave up added sugar years ago. I did it because I wanted to maintain my weight. Ever vain, that's me. But I find that I don't want my coffee, tea or other deserts to be so sweet anymore. The same with fat. And as fm says, who in the world knows what effects are associated with what.

0 Replies

@edgarblythe,

Quote:

On a side note, milk producers are trying to obtain permission to put aspartame in milk to make the public addicted as a means to boost sagging sales.

They can do whatever they want to milk. I don't drink it anymore. I started drinking Almond Milk a few months ago and I prefer it. When I went for my regular medical check up, my blood work showed that I had a very agreeable level of calcium. And I don't take Calcium. So I'm pleased all around.

2 Replies

@Lola,

Dairy milk also contains casomorphin (an opiate), adding the aspartame goes above and beyond toward encourage drinking.
That's like adding NutraSweet® to heroine. Laughing

Or maybe more like adding lidocaine to smack, making it feel better going in.

0 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter wrote:

Well, it's more natural than "artificial sweeteners" since it's steviol glycoside, made from plants. (Ever seen how sugar is made from the sugar beets??? Brown sugar is E 150, btw)

(The "E-classification" has only little to do with chemistry but is just a list of codes for food additives.)

I still have some reservations about steviol glycoside, marketed as Stevia® here in the States.
Glycosides are also produced "naturally" by many plants as a poison.
Digitalis is a fine example of that.

1 Reply

@MattDavis,

What brand is that digitalis sold under, and is it better than sugar?

Actually, I don't sweeten coffee or ice tea, and so rarely take hot tea that I don't believe it makes a bit of difference what I put in it, except that sugar is cheaper.

1 Reply

@spendius,

The finicky fancy food fanatic's folderol, the gourmets and the culinary aesthetes are lined up by Miss Austen with Mr Hurst in Chap 8.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

Quote:

I started using less sugar twenty some years ago. It coincided with my first trip to Italy - their cookies et all are markedly less sweet, or sweet tasting, than ours in the U.S.

the Germans do this too, what a shock that was the first time I took a mouthful.

How are the pastries in this establishment?....if you tell me that they are not ruined with too much sugar I might have one.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

This isn't advice, but what happened with me naturally - I started using less sugar twenty some years ago. It coincided with my first trip to Italy - their cookies et all are markedly less sweet, or sweet tasting, than ours in the U.S., or were last time I was there. But I think that's fanciful, I was probably getting tired of the "too sweet" stuff even before that and hadn't really noticed it. When I got back to Los Angeles, bakery stuff and packaged cookies all seemed gaaah sweet to me.

Everything is sweeter in America, even Kellogg's cornflakes taste different. I've got a few American cookbooks I picked up in Texas, and I always use a quarter of the sugar. Jaime Oliver mentioned it when he was doing a show over there, generally the American tooth is considerably sweeter.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

Quote:

generally the American tooth is considerably sweeter.

and our frames are carrying more weight.

Coincidence?

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

The pastries are great here, hawkeye.

Here's my favorite, as mentioned some time earlier, causing a mild ruckus -

Those are sfogliatelle, made with layers of thin dough coned around a filling like flavored ricotta.

http://www.napolidavivere.it/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/sfogliatella-napoletana.jpg

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

A quarter of the sugar - I haven't gone that far yet, but have been fine the times I tried half the amount. Next I'll try a third. I've opined somewhere on a2k before that many candies here cover the use of poor chocolate with bathloads of sugar.

I do like sweets with nuts in them, and the nuts usually have their own almost sweet (and nutty) taste and I think I taste that more when there isn't a cloud of sugar occluding other flavor.

0 Replies

@roger,

Roger wrote:

What brand is that digitalis sold under, and is it better than sugar?

Digitalis is a plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis
It produces some toxins (which are in the form of glycosides). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digoxin_toxicity
Digoxin derived from digitalis has a long history of use as a cardiovascular agent. It is still often used in treatment of CHF congestive heart failure and/or treatment of atrial fibrillation/flutter. One of the trade names is Lanoxin.
I am not sure how much info you want regarding the physiological effects of digoxin (they are many and easily dangerous).
My overarching point was that "natural" does not imply "safe".
A lesson many herbalists should take to heart (pun intended).

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Speaking of ricotta...I just made a batch of manicotti for the very first time. They are in the oven baking...need another 7 or 8 minutes. The sauce is bubbling...and the mozzarella cheese on top has melted.

I am starving for them.

Watching the golf match which has just been called because of a large storm passing through the Orlando area. Tiger is leading by 3 at the break.

Oh...let the time pass quickly. I want my pasta.

3 Replies

@hawkeye10,

I've remarked before how when we landed at LAX after a month in Italy, the large room of people seemed incredibly - ahhh - fat. I'm sure there are many hefty italians to be found, but my impression in the cities was of people doing much better, weight wise.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

A. I need that recipe, Frank. I only made manicotti once, geez, 1971. (I like I can talk to you like that, you're even older than moi) If not the recipe, where you got it.

B. It's time I tuned back in to the golf tournaments, thanks for the reminder.

1 Reply

Digitalis purpurea -

2 Replies

@ossobuco,

Beautiful and deadly Very Happy

Like many a dame Wink

0 Replies

@MattDavis,

here is also a line from Julia Child that "We should not be afraid of our foods"

GLYCOSIDES come in about 15 different structures and biogenesis. We would have to avoid stuff like Cherries, peaches, plums, serviceberries, mustard (processed and leaf vegetable ) sorghum and even rhubarb if we were afraid of the word glycoside.
It does sound scary but so does cyanogen or polysaccharide, or sulfane. I could read you the organic chemical list of whats in an orange and Im sure some people would be scared shitless.

I grow stevia PLANTS and at the end of the season, we extract the oxygen bonded glycoside fro the glucose/fructose and use it for a sweetener boost for some unsugared jellies because it doesnt ferment at room temp and theres a special flavor imparted that isnt just sweet..

2 Replies

Lola at the Coffee House

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know