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Month: April 2021

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Food by Letter Uncategorized

Food by Letter – I is for Ice Cream

Food by Letter - I is for Ice Cream

Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Get the scoop on one of our favorite sweet treats. Ice cream's origins are known to reach back as far as the second century B.C. There’s no definitive answer as to who invented this culinary treasure, but we do know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar (yum!). 

Until the 1800’s, ice cream remained a rare and exotic dessert enjoyed mostly by the elite. Then, voila...insulated ice houses were invented! Soon, producing ice cream became an industry in America, pioneered in 1851 by a Baltimore milk dealer named Jacob Fussell. Like other American industries, ice cream production increased because of technological innovations, including steam power, mechanical refrigeration, the homogenizer, electric power and motors, packing machines, and new freezing processes and equipment. Due to ongoing technological advances, today's total frozen dairy annual production in the United States is more than 1.6 billion gallons!

 

FBL Tips and Tricks

Our top 10 favorite ice cream facts to make your friends and family melt!

  1. It takes 12 pounds of milk to produce just 1 gallon of ice cream.
  2. The average number of licks to finish a scoop of ice cream is 50.
  3. The most popular flavor is vanilla, and then chocolate.
  4. Ice cream cones were invented at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. 
  5. The majority of Americans (around 90%) have ice cream in their freezers.
  6. Ice cream headaches or “brain freeze” is the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain of the loss of heat.
  7. The tallest ice cream cone was over 9 feet tall in Italy.
  8. The average American eats 45.8 pints of ice cream a year.
  9. Chocolate syrup is the most popular ice cream topping.
  10. Chocolate ice cream was invented before vanilla.

FBL Recipes

Looking for a fun way to serve up your favorite ice cream flavors on a hot day? Try this genius recipe for waffle ice cream sandwiches inspired by The Sweet Escape. Waffles are perfect for ice cream sandwiches because they’re so cakey and delicious and all those nooks and crannies are perfect to soak up that delicious ice cream as it starts to melt! Read on for how to make them!

  1. Make your waffles on a waffle iron with your favorite mix or recipe, and then let them cool.
  2. Spread your ice cream flavors inside to create a sandwich.
  3. Pop your sandwiches in the freezer to chill and firm up.
  4. Try dipping your waffle ice cream sandwiches in some melted chocolate, and then rolling in your favourite nutty or sweet garnish. (We love sprinkles, chopped nuts, and mini chocolate chips!)

 

Categories
Food by Letter Uncategorized

Food by Letter – H is for Honey

H is for Honey

H is for Honey

Honey

Mmmmm, honey! That yummy, magical substance only produced by honeybees and enjoyed the world over. The first record of beekeeping (and honey eating) dates back to 2400 B.C., in Cairo. For millennia, people around the world, including the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, and--of course--Bendites, have enjoyed the sweet substance.

Honey is most commonly used as a sweetener. After all, it’s made up of 70% percent sugar...the rest is water, minerals, and protein. What do we love most about honey? Read on for some of our favorite trivia about the nectar of the gods.

To make one pound of honey, the bees in the colony must visit 2 million flowers, fly over 55,000 miles and will be the lifetime work of approximately 768 bees.

Back in the 11th century, Germans held honey as a high-valued commodity. In fact, lords of Germany used to force peasants to make payments to them in honey. A single honeybee will only produce approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

When stored in an airtight container, honey can last indefinitely. The substance is naturally acidic and low in moisture, which means it is an inhospitable environment for bacteria.
Honey has antibacterial properties, so it has been relied on as a health food and topical treatment. Burns, cuts, infections, stomach ailments, and more have been treated with honey (more on that below).

FBL Tips and Tricks

Surprisingly, honey is just as versatile outside of the kitchen as it is inside. Here are some of the top medical uses for honey.

Soothing Burns: Honey has been used as a salve to heal burns and prevent infections for thousands of years, according to the Mayo Clinic. Results also show that honey may reduce burn healing time.

Diabetes: Honey has a lower glycemic index than sugar, which means it won’t spike your blood sugar levels the way sugar will. This makes honey a better option than sugar for diabetics. In one study, researchers found that swapping honey for pure sugar is an effective way to keep blood sugar levels steady.

A sore throat remedy: Suffering from a scratchy, tight sore throat? Next time, trickle a spoonful of honey down your throat for a sweet and soothing feeling that will help you sleep through the night. You can also add honey to a cup of hot tea to do this, too!

Sunburn relief: For burns, mix together 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice and put it on the sunburned area. Leave it on for 10 minutes, then rinse off with water.

Homemade lip balm: Help heal chapped lips by combining honey, beeswax, olive oil, and cocoa butter for a nourishing homemade lip balm.

Fight Insomnia: There’s a specific type of insomnia called “early waking,” which is where you don’t have trouble falling asleep, but you wake up after a few hours and are unable to get back to sleep. A teaspoon of honey with a sprinkling of salt will help reset the stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) that are responsible for keeping you awake.

The moral of this sweet story: pack some of this sticky cure-all in your first-aid kit for your next road trip, hike, or camping adventure, and add a jar to your bathroom beauty stash!