The Secrets In Your Wine By Bradlley Mckoy

From the biblical times to the present, a glass of wine has been celebrated across cultures to mark happy occasions and love. Wine is the elixir of life and an aphrodisiac. Without wine, poets could not have loosened their minds and tongues to write and deliver moving poetry.

Enjoying Your Bubbly?

Cheers greet the familiar sound of the cork popping out of the champagne bottle. The festive mood gets merrier and the drinking ensues. But do you know that champagne and other bubblies have their whims and caprices? To serve up the best tasting drinks, there are some practices to observe so you can enjoy your wine.

Sparkling wine must be poured properly into tall and thin flutes. Don't pour into the center of the glass because you'll disturb the bubbles. For non-bubbly wines, decant it into the center of the glass. For both wines, don't fill the wine glasses to the brim, but only about a fourth or a third from the top of the glass. White wine like Riesling is served in tulip glasses, while red wine like sherries are served in rounded glasses with large bottoms.

When the drinks are served in their proper glasses, your guests can enjoy the flavors and the aromas of the wines. This enhances their drinking pleasure and yours as well. Don't forget, though, to fill up glasses when everything has gone up a decibel higher - music, laughter and conversation.

Wine Temperature

Older wines taste better when chilled and decanted before serving. Decanting makes sure that cork sediments are not included when you serve a drink. Did you know that cork sediments affect the wine's flavor and aroma? Use cheesecloth when you pour the wine into the decanter just to make sure that no cork sediment is present and do this before the guests arrive.

Not all wines have to be cooled to get the best flavors out. Vintage wines are warmed because the aged flavor comes out best. You can always have a drink from it from one of those liquor flasks. Sparkling wines and roses are best served when cooled to 45 degrees Fahrenheit and sherry at 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cooled wines taste better and smell better, otherwise it would be too unpleasant to drink. Don't worry, though, if you don't have time to chill the wines before the guests arrive. A 10-minute chill in the refrigerator will be good enough.

Secrets From the Vineyard

Red grapes produce the famous Cabernet, Merlot, Sauvignon, and Zinfandel, but they all taste differently, each with their kind of seduction. These grapes were grown in France, Spain, and Argentina. These will, however, have a shared distinction of the fruit.

But how do these red grape wines differ from one another? Cabernet has the flavors of plum, black cherry, and currant and strong tannins. Zinfandel is a stimulating drink spiced with wild berry and pepper, while a Sauvignon Blanc has a bit of herbal kick to it. The Muscat is spicy.

Vintners guard their trade secrets tightly, passing on the secret only to the next generation who will manage the vineries and the business. The hapless Fortunato in Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado was a connoisseur of wine and the Medoc, a French red wine, was his downfall. But for all wine lovers and tired imbibers, wines will always be an elixir and the source of the heart's fountain of youth. So toast to the wines that make the world go round.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=219455&ca=Food

Why Is There Corn Syrup In So Many Foods? By Gery Craig

It's almost impossible anymore to pick up an item in the grocery store and not find some form of corn syrup listed among the ingredients. Corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, glucose syrup, and fructose are all forms of corn syrup or its derivatives. So why is there corn syrup in so many foods? Is it just a sweetener or does it serve other purposes as well?

Certainly, corn syrup does have some application as a sweetener. Corn syrup consists mainly of glucose, but it is only about 75% as sweet as table sugar (sucrose), which is about a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose. Because corn syrup lacks the full sweetness of sugar, it is often paired with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has a fructose-to-glucose ratio that is almost identical to sugar. Often HFCS is used alone as a sugar substitute.

Answers.com describes the many places you will find corn syrup: 'Corn syrup is one of several natural sweeteners derived from corn starch. It is used in a wide variety of food products including cookies, crackers, catsups, cereals, flavored yogurts, ice cream, preserved meats, canned fruits and vegetables, soups, beers, and many others. It is also used to provide an acceptable taste to sealable envelopes, stamps, and aspirins. One derivative of corn syrup is high fructose corn syrup, which is as sweet as sugar and is often used in soft drinks. Corn syrup may be shipped and used as a thick liquid or it may be dried to form a crystalline powder.'

What other roles does corn syrup play besides that of a sweetener? One purpose is as a thickening agent, such as in relishes. Another is as a humectant (moistener), extending the freshness and shelf life of baked goods and other products. Additionally, it does not crystallize as easily as sugar, making it preferable over sugar for frostings and jams. It also helps keep the ice crystals off ice cream and other frozen desserts, makes jam taste fresher, and provides a sweet balance to sour ingredients.

All of these reasons are great for food manufacturers-they are able to manufacture foods that taste fresher, last longer, and are cheaper to make than foods with sugar in them. Why? Because corn is cheaper than sugar in the United States because of government subsidies and tariffs. The U.S. government has placed high tariffs on imported sugar and massively subsidizes the U.S. corn industry.

Many people are quick to blame the current obesity epidemic on the prevalence of corn syrup and HFCS in the American diet. This is in part due to a scientific paper written in 2004 by Barry M. Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and George A. Bray, a professor of medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, which noted a remarkable surge in obesity in Americans that paralleled an increased use of HFCS by food manufacturers. However, in a July 2, 2006 NY Times article entitled 'A Sweetener with a Bad Rap' Popkin was quoted as saying 'It was a theory meant to spur science, but it's quite possible that it may be found out not to be true. …I don't think there should be a perception that high-fructose corn syrup has caused obesity until we know more.'

It is more accurate to say that Americans are consuming much more 'sugar' (including corn syrup and HFCS) than a generation ago. Soft drink consumption alone has increased five-fold since 1980, and it is difficult to find a soft drink in America that is not sweetened with HFCS. Most consumers are likely unaware of how much corn syrup they really consume. As Americans continue to cook less at home and eat more prepared food, they are consuming more foods that even a generation ago did not contain any or at least as much corn syrup and HFCS. A manufacturer may add corn syrup to its product for a reason other than sweetening, but the result is still higher amounts of sugar and calories, and that is what fuels obesity.

For a more thorough discussion of the history and manufacturing of corn syrup, see www.answers.com/topic/corn-syrup. Other websites with more information about corn syrup include www.karosyrup.com/faq.asp and www.ochef.com/362.htm. For more information about tariffs and subsidies see www.answers.com/topic/agricultural-subsidy. To read the NY Times article see www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02syrup.html?ex=1309492800&en=49fdce8d3bd886c5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=121579&ca=Food