email this pageRosé for breakfast? Oh, go ahead—but only if it’s pure Zinfandel grape juice, not fermented wine. First Blush is a new product that uses the juice from Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot and Zinfandel grapes to create juices that are perfect chilled and combined with sparkling water, as a cocktail mixer or all on their own. And along with being preservative-free, they have no sugar added and are loaded with heart-healthy and anti-aging polyphenols and flavonoids. Available for about $4 at Whole Foods Markets.
Party Food
Are you looking for some recipes to carry you through Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and beyond? American Profile, the sister magazine to Relish, has just published Hometown Recipes for the Holidays. It includes more than 250 fully tested recipes submitted by American Profile readers who also share their special holiday memories and the stories behind the recipes. 302 pages, 45 color photographs, fully indexed. Order the book for $18.95 from americanprofile.com/store
If You Love Molasses . . .
. . . and maple syrup, give sorghum a try. It’s super high in antioxidants and minerals and has a great caramel taste. A staple in the South, sorghum syrup is produced predominantly in Kentucky and Tennessee where it’s often referred to as “sorghum molasses,” or just “molasses.” It was an important sweetener during wartime when sugar was rationed. When sugar made a comeback with lower production costs, sorghum syrup production waned, though it never went away. Sorghum syrup has a nutritional advantage over sugar in that it’s remarkably high in antioxidants. Like sugar cane, stalks of the sorghum cane plant are crushed to extract clear juices. Impurities are removed and the liquid is simmered and reduced to a viscous amber syrup, which is similar to molasses but milder in flavor. Unlike molasses, sorghum syrup is not a by-product, as sugar crystals are not extracted from its juices. When substituting sorghum for a cup of sugar, use 11⁄3 cups sorghum and decrease the liquids by 1⁄3 cup. —Cheryl Forberg
Bring Back the Bundt
Oh, the ’60’s—no e-mail, I-phones or counting fat grams—just Bundt cakes, now immortalized in the delightful book Bundt Cake Bliss: Delicious Desserts from Midwest Kitchens (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007) by Susanna Short. The book contains more than 75 recipes for classic Bundt cakes such as Tunnel of Fudge (left), Pineapple Upside-Down Cake that springs from a cake mix and more elaborate confections including one made with wild rice topped with a maple glaze. How did it all begin? In 1950 H. David Dalquist, founder of the Nordic Ware Company, created a tubular cast-iron pan, similar to the pan used to bake a popular German coffeecake called the bundkuchen. He named the pan “Bundt,” after the bundkuchen, which translates as a “cake for a gathering of people,” adding a “t” to the German word bund (or “confederation”). For more classic Bundt cake recipes, go to relishmag.com/bundt
Super-Charged Cherries
We love dried cherries tossed in salads, as a snack, or in our clever chili on page 20. But there are more reasons to eat them other than for the taste:
- A new study from the University of Michigan suggests cherries may help reduce many of the risk factors associated with heart disease and metabolic syndrome, specifically by reducing cholesterol, insulin and blood sugar levels, and raising antioxidant levels in the blood.
- Decades of folklore about the effectiveness of tart cherries in relieving arthritis pain are now backed by science. New research shows that tart cherries contain concentrations of anthocyanins 1 and 2, antioxidants that have a similar pain-blocking mechanism to pain medications. (Source: Cherry Marketing Institute)
Road Food
If your New Year’s resolution is to lose a few pounds, you’ll want to tuck the book Dining Lean (Nutrifit Publishing, 2007) into your purse or briefcase. It’s written by Dr. Joanne Lichten (aka Dr. Jo), a registered dietitian and health guru. In addition to providing a wealth of basic nutrition information (no plant foods ever contain cholesterol), it offers the nutrition stats on restaurants from Chili’s to Arby’s to Olive Garden. As most of us are on the run 24/7, this “manual on how to eat healthy when you’re not at home” will prove indispensable. Go to Dr.Jo.com for more information or to order the book.
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