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Sweet Pumpkin — No Sugar Added

Post author By Guest Post
Post date August 21, 2007

A Japanese researcher has developed a wild pumpkin variant that is as sweet as pineapple. Tomoaki Oyamada, from Iwate prefectural government’s environmental and health research center, has named his creation “Nanbu-Ichiro” after “Nanbu,” the former name of Iwate Prefecture, and “Ichiro,” the given name of Ichiro Yokota, a former high school headmaster.

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun, the new variety contains three times as much sugar density as the more widely consumed varieties and can be eaten raw or made into juice without adding sugar.

Some students at the Morioka Agricultural High School, where Oyamada taught until March, assisted with the project. “Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to see this pumpkin become a specialty of Iwate Prefecture,” a third-year student said.

All Things Pumpkin

Pumpkin an Aphrodesiac?

Post author By Guest Post
Post date August 14, 2007

Alan Hirsch , the neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, noticed that people who lost their sense of smell also had a diminished sexual appetite, so he tested men and women to see what scents might increase blood flow to the genitals.

Although men responded sexually to all of the aromas, the greatest response came from a blend of pumpkin pie and lavender, which increased blood flow to the penis 40% of the time. The scent of pumpkin pie with doughnuts increased blood flow 20%.

All Things Pumpkin

Amazing Nutritional Value of Pumpkins

Post author By Guest Post
Post date August 7, 2007

I found this interesting little story in an Iranian TV website, titled “Pumpkin, kadu-Halwaayi in Farsi and Urdu, botanically a fruit, is usually orange in color and is rich of vitamin A, B, C, G and minerals.”

According to the story, pumpkin juice can help with “sunstroke, heat-stroke, acidity and liver troubles.” Also, when applied to the eyes, it can help with cataracts. But my favorite part was when it said that pumpkins were “very good in case of impotency and sterility.”

All Things Pumpkin

Reward Offered for Pumpkin Pinchers

Post author By Guest Post
Post date August 6, 2007

Pumpkin Truck According to WSIL Channel 3, an ABC affiliate out of Illinois, someone pinched more than 100 pumpkins sometime Aug. 2. White County Authorities are seeking these pumpkin pilferers and there is a reward for information leading to the arrest of the squash shoplifters. The pumpkins were in the back of a truck belonging to a farm near Norris City.

But these looters are more than just pumpkin poachers. They’re vandals, as well. For they drove around White and Hamilton Counties throwing the gorgeous orange gourds at mailboxes. Several people reported damage.

Recipes

Video Recipe: Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin and Whipped Feta

Post author By Guest Post
Post date July 31, 2007

Check out this video from RealMeals.TV

link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271575303/bctid647738222

Sounds yummy.

Recipes

Recipe Sites: Good Resources for Recipes

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date July 24, 2007

Need a recipe quickly? Don’t have time to turn page after page of all those beautiful cookbooks you’ve collected? Then recipe sites are your friend. Recipe sites are great for two reasons:

They help you find that specific recipe you’re looking for more quickly than thumbing through your cookbooks.
They are great resources for researching the development of your own recipes.

Below you’ll find links to recipe sites I’ve found useful.

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[three_fourth_last] www.taste.com.au

I’ve found a lot of delicious pumpkin recipes on this website from Down Under. The site is nicely designed with clean graphics, professional photography, and bright colors. In addition to recipes, it has news, health information, how-to instructions, and more. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] allrecipes.com
I’m not a fan of the user interface of this site, but they do have a lot of recipes and I’ve used them quite often when research recipes. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] foodnetwork.com/recipes
If you like what the Food Network has to offer, then you’ll love their recipe site. This is another great resource for recipe research. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] epicurious.com
If you’re looking for fancier recipes, Epicurious has your back. They are relatively easy to navagate and provide a wealth of recipes that you’d be proud to serve company. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] bettycrocker.com
Sometimes you don’t want to make something from scratch. Betty Crocker provides recipes that include Betty Crock products. They are usually simple and easy to make, as well. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] food.com
This site has a lot of advertising, but it also has a lot of recipes, as well as round-up recipe posts that can be fun to peruse. [/three_fourth_last]

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[three_fourth_last] eatingwell.com
This recipe site is dedicated to healthy recipes that taste great. I often look here when I want to see how to create a recipe that is a healthy alternative to a traditional recipe. [/three_fourth_last]

There are plenty more recipe sites to be found, but these are my go-to resources. I hope you find them useful, as well.

And, of course, you can always peruse my growing database of recipes!

Food Fiction & Essays

Remembrances of Roscos

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date July 18, 2007

C. Bluesman via PhotoXpress.com

Abuela was the consummate cook, the perfect grandmother from a Norman Rockwell painting. My early holiday memories are filled with the smells and tastes that came from her kitchen. Pumpkin pies, homemade pizza, enchiladas and a score of Christmas cookies. I especially remember the delicate, flaky donut-shaped roscos — cookies made chiefly from three ingredients: white wine, melted butter and flour. A teaspoon of anise seeds cooked in the melting butter and then discarded, as well as a final dusting of cinnamon sugar after the cookies baked, were the only other flavorings.

One year, I ate so many, sneaking out of my bed at night to grab just a few more, that I earned the nickname “bottomless stomach.” I remember countless nights sitting at her kitchen table sharing holiday thoughts, a cup of tea with sugar and real cream and a couple of roscos before bed. Each flaky morsel, dunked into the tea and quickly removed, melted in my mouth like snowflakes in a California valley.

Today, whenever I take out the cookie sheets or baking pans and create my own warm smells of home, I can’t help but feel like I’m channeling Abuela’s spirit.

NOTE: This short essay was first published in the October 2004 edition of The Nature of Writing News, an online newsletter.

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