Mouries' Margarine

Photo of margarine on a spoon, where it should stay, courtesy 123rf.com

On this day in 1869 French chemist Hippolyte Mege Mouries (1817-1880) was granted a patent for margarine.  He developed this substitute for butter for a contest sponsored by Napoleon III.  Mouries coined the word margarine from the Greek word marganon, which means pearl, because in his experiments he isolated a substance that looked like pearls.

During the Industrial Revolution people migrated from farms to cities to work, which produced a shortage of butter in France.  So Napolean III sponsored the contest for producing a butter substitute, which Mouries won.

Margarine is vegetable oil or meat fats mixed with milk and salt, and dye to give it the yellow color.  Some people say margarine is better for you than butter.  Some people say butter is better for you than margarine.  I just say, "Please pass the butter."

For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

Lemon-Aide...

Photo of Meyer lemon courtesy 123rf.com

My favorite lemon is the Meyer lemon, almost edible right off the tree, more lemon flavor than pucker.  I was first introduced to the Meyer lemon when I lived in San Jose, California, where more houses have citrus trees in their back yards than don't.  Indeed, I had a Meyer lemon tree in my yard, frozen lemon juice in my freezer, and more lemon pies, cakes, bars, butters, sauces, and lemonade than I and my friends could keep in our iceboxes, so most of those spent a lot of time in our freezers, too.

Very often I enjoy what the French call lemon presse or citron presse (click here for the recipe; I make mine with delicious Kal Pure Stevia Extract, not that bad junk sold in grocery stores).  I drink it especially when I've had a heavy meal or my stomach just isn't feeling quite right.  Being in a small city in East Texas right now, I don't have regular access to Meyer lemons except when I travel, so I often substitute limes in this hot drink.

Some doctors have been touting the health benefits of lemons, and I remember reading somewhere a couple of years ago that some doctor said if everyone drank a lemon presse without the sugar every day we could virtually wipe out inflammation and illness.  Click here for more ideas about the curative powers of lemons.

So, what didn't I know about lemons:  the native home of lemons is unknown, but many suspect that it is India.  By 200 A.D. lemon trees were introduced in Italy, and by 1300 they were cultivated widely throughout the Mediterranean region and Asian countries.  The oldest city in the U.S., St. Augustine, Florida, had lemon trees producing fruit by its founding in 1565.

Click here for more information about lemons.  By the way, click here for the best recipes using Kal Pure Stevia Extract.  What did you learn today?

For a Headache: Treat Your Feet!

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

There are many recommended treatments for headaches, including the use of ginger paste, eucalyptus steam, apples with salt, cinnamon paste, and aloe vera gel.  I'd never heard of hot foot baths for headaches.  It's recommended to soak feet and legs in hot water for 15 minutes before going to bed for two to three weeks for chronic headaches.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

Insalata Caprese's SWISS Origins?

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Insalata Caprese is my favorite salad, and it's so pretty, too.  It's a composed salad like Salade Nicoise, which means it's assembled on a platter, not tossed in a bowl.  Many assume that because of its name the salad originated on the Isle of Capri, but some say it originated in Switzerland!  It was possibly named because a Capri native, who worked as a maitre d' at a hotel in Switzerland, had it so often that hotel patrons asked for the salad that the man from Capri made.

For more information click here and click here.  For the original recipe that also includes suggestions for wine pairings click here.  What did you learn today?

Pumpkin-Shaped Cake!

You can make a cake that looks like a pumpkin by baking two bundt cakes and placing one upside down on a plate, and placing the second one on top with the flat sides together--clever!

For recipe and assembly, click here for the chocolate version pictured below. It is number 4 in the slide show.

For a similar recipe and assembly, click here for a vanilla version with different icing.