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Corn or maize is native to America but is now grown throughout the world. In grain form it is the staple diet for American Indians in Mexico, Peru and Southern North America.



The Maori were given maize by American sailors which they grew and ate both fresh and fermented. The fermented corn was known as kaanga. Its strong smell didn't appeal to Pakeha who ate corn mainly as a grain. Eventually a sweet form was developed, and hence the name sweetcorn, it wasn't until the 1960's that sweetcorn became a really popular fresh vegetable. Several varieties are available including some with white kernels and others with a mix of yellow and white kernels. Varieties differ in sweetness. Recently the supersweet varieties have become popular, with Honey 'n' Pearl being the most widely grown.



Sweetcorn is a very good source of fiber, protein and starch. corn is a great source of vitamin A, fiber, and other nutrients.



Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified,

Sugar cane, is a tropical plant that is a cane. This cane is ready for cutting in 11-18 months. Unfortunately, most of the cutting is still done manually, although some is done mechanically. About half of the loading being mechanised.

After reaching the factory, the cane is chopped with a series of rapidly rotating knives. Iron and iron-alloy particles are removed by an electromagnet. The chopped cane is shredded, crushed and a small amount of water added to faciliitate cane juice separation. Generally, the crushed mixture is slightly acid[pH5.5].



Mixed juice is heated and clarified by the addition of lime and the decantation of impurities. The clarified juice is evaporated and the syrup transferred back and forth depending upon the Brix [pan 1: 16-180 Brix; pan 3: 55-750 Brix; final pan: 900 Brix]. The final syrup mix is centrifuged to extract the sugar crystals and remove molasses and liquid. The brown sugar may be further refined.



Brown sugar or raw sugar is decolorized by passing through carbon filters, recrystallizing in vacuum boiling pans, and removing final liquid by centrigation. It is simply a crystallization process.



From the process, three by-products of sugar cane are formed: molasses, bagasse and filter scums. The latter two by-products are recycled back into the processing plant. The filter scums contain phosphoric acid and are used as fertilizers in the fields. The bagasse is used as fuel to produce steam and electricity.



Turbinado sugar is raw cane sugar. This raw sugar that is refined fromthe initial pressing of sugar cane. The sugar crystals aren't stripped of any color or flavor giving it a natural taste. All natural Sugar In The Raw has no additives.



Source:http://food.oregonstate.edu/sugar/cane.html



Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified,

The magic of oats lies in their high soluble fiber content which means of your body can use it very efficiently and turn it into slow release energy

At the same time you will be taking in the highest amount of protein, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, thiamin, folacin and vitamin E of any other unfortified whole grain, like wheat, barley or rice. Add to all that its ability to lower your cholesterol levels.



Here's the catch: You need to eat a sizable quantity of oats to reap their benefits. You must eat approximately 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal (about 3/4 cup raw) every day to get the amount of soluble fiber necessary to lower your cholesterol.





U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a final ruling on the federal register regarding the use of food labeling health claims based on the association between soluble fiber from whole oats and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. The labeling claim has been approved for food products marketed in the U.S., based on thirty years of scientific evidence that the type of soluble fiber found in whole oat products (b-Glucan soluble fiber) may lower blood cholesterol levels. [The term whole oat products has been defined as oat bran, rolled oats and whole oat flour.]



Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified,

Canola oil [kan-OH-luh] "The market name for rapeseed oil which, as might be assumed from the name, is expressed from rape seeds. For obvious reasons, the name was changed to canola by the Canadian seed-oil industry. Canola is, in fact, Canada's most widely used oil. It's commonly referred to there as lear oil, for "low erucic acid rapeseed" oil. The popularity of canola oil is rising fast in the United States, probably because it's been discovered to be lower in saturated fat (about 6 percent) than any other oil. This compares to the saturated fat content of peanut oil (about 18 percent) and palm oil (at an incredibly high 79 percent). Another canola oil selling point is that it contains more cholesterol-balancing monounsaturated fat than any oil except olive oil. It also has the distinction of containing Omega-3 fatty acids, the wonder polyunsaturated fat reputed to not only lower both cholesterol and triglycerides, but to contribute to brain growth and development as well. The bland-tasting canola oil is suitable both for cooking and for salad dressings." -- from The Food Lover's Companion, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.



Cold Extraction Methods

Cold Pressed Cold pressing refers to oils obtained through pressing and grinding fruit or seeds with the use of heavy granite millstones or modern stainless steel presses, which are found in large commercial operations. Although pressing and grinding produces heat through friction, the temperature must not rise above 120ºF for any oil to be considered cold pressed. The maximum temperature for cold pressed olive oil is somewhat lower. Olive, sesame, peanut, and sunflower are among the oils obtained from cold pressing. (Highly refined versions of these oils are also produced.) Cold pressed oils retain all of their flavor, aroma, and nutritional value.

Vacuum Extraction Vacuum extraction is another method of cold extraction that produces oils with an expeller process. The process occurs in an atmosphere with no oxygen or light. The temperature during the expeller process may be as low as 70ºF.

Heat Extraction Methods

Expeller Pressed Expeller pressing is like cold pressing except that extreme pressure is added during the pressing. As much pressure as 15 tons per square inch is used to squeeze the oil from the fruit or seeds. The high pressure also produces high heat (as high as 300ºF ) through friction, so the oils produced with the expeller process cannot be considered cold pressed. The oils obtained with this method retain much their flavor, aroma, and nutritional value, but not to the extent of cold pressed oils.

Solvent Extraction Chemical solvents are used to extract oil, which is then boiled to eliminate most of the solvents. Further refining such as bleaching, deodorizing, and heating to high temperatures cleanses the oil, resulting in a product that has very little of the original flavor, aroma, or nutrients contained in the seeds or fruit before processing. Most of the oils produced with this method have a high smoke point and a long shelf life.

Natural sunflower oil is produced from oil type sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is light in taste and appearance and supplies more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil. It is a combination of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats with low saturated fat levels.



The versatility of this healthy oil is recognized by cooks internationally. Sunflower oil is valued for its light taste, frying performance and health benefits.



If an Organic Merchant has an oil which has been extracted by hydraulic press but has been heated prior to pressing, he will refer to it as "pressed", not "cold pressed".



The second method is by expeller, described in "The Low down on Edible Oils" as follows: "This uses a screw or continuous press with a constantly rotating worm shaft. Cooked material goes into one end and is put under continuous pressure until discharged at the other end with oil squeezed out." Temperatures between 200 and 250 degrees are normal. Obviously, this type of extraction does not qualify as "cold pressed" either. Organic Merchants will refer to it as "expeller pressed."



Now with a hydraulicly pressed oil labeled "cold pressed" or "pressed", you can assume you have a crude or unrefined of. But this is not true of "expeller pressed" oil because the common fate of expeller pressed oil is to be refined after extraction. So you need additional information with the words "expeller pressed". Organic Merchants will use either the word "crude" or "unrefined" to identify this additional classification of acceptable oils. So Organic Merchants draws the line of acceptability at this point and, to review, you may expect us to carry only four classifications of oil: (1) virgin (2) cold pressed (3) pressed (4) expeller pressed-crude. And this paper is your tool to remind yourself of what we mean by those words.



The last method is solvent extraction, described in "The Lowdown on Edible Oils" as "definitely dangerous to health." "Oil bearing materials are ground, steam cooked, then mixed with the solvent (of a petroleum base) which dissolves out of the oils, leaving a dry residue. The solvent is separated from the oils. This method is universally used by the big commercial oil processors because it gets more oils out quicker and cheaper. About 98% of the soy oil in the U.S. is solvent extracted.



Source:http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1971_November_December/Oil_Story

Can be Apples, Banana, Peaches, Pears, Cherries, And so on it's all good stuff



Extract

The distilled or evaporated oils of foods or plants (such as nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, bark, buds, roots, leaves, meat, poultry, seafood, fish, dairy foods, or eggs) that are dissolved in an alcohol base or allowed to dry to be used as a flavoring. Food extracts as they are often labeled, are used to add a concentrated flavor to many food dishes, especially baked goods and desserts, without adding additional volume. Available in solid (cubes, granules or powdered), liquid or jelled form, extracts may be labeled as pure, natural or artificial. Pure and natural extracts are governed by laws in many countries that require compliance with procedures that take the extract ingredients directly from the named flavor, such as extracting oils directly from the vanilla bean to make pure or natural vanilla extract. Artificial extracts are flavors that do not necessarily use any ingredients directly from a source named for the extract but instead used combinations of ingredients to arrive at a flavor representative of the named food extract, such as artificial lemon extract. Some of the most widely used extracts include vanilla, almond, anise, maple, peppermint, and numerous solid or jelled extracts such as beef and chicken bouillon or meat demi-glaces. As an example of how the pure and natural extract is made, vanilla extract is created by soaking vanilla beans in water and an alcohol-based solution where it ages for several months, during which time the vanilla flavor is extracted from the bean. Anise extract, a sweet licorice tasting flavoring, is produced by dissolving the oil of anise seeds into alcohol.



Grape extract is produced to assist with the wine making process. Compounds from the skin of grapes are extracted and added to the wine in order to impart tannin, color, and body into a wine. The characteristics of the wine can be changed dramatically by the amount of time the wine is in contact with the skins. If the grapes are in contact for too long, the resulting wine may be too potent, or what is sometimes called “over-extracted”.



Juices of fruits and vegetables are often extracted as juice extracts to be used similar to other food extracts, as a flavoring when preparing foods. A common utensil for the purpose of extracting lemon juice is available to assist with home recipes requiring a lemon flavoring.

A derivative of ACHIOTE SEED, commercial annatto paste and powder is used to color butter, margarine, cheese and smoked fish.

Annatto are native to South America, and are currently mostly in use as a flavouring and food colouring in Central and Northern South America. In the Caribbean, the seeds are usually fried in (animal or vegetable) fat; after discarding the seeds, the then golden-yellow fat is used to fry vegetables or meat. By this procedure, a golden yellow to golden brown colour is achieved. Mexican cooks often use a paste (achiote) of annatto seeds with some preservatices (acetic acid) that dissolves completely in hot fat; it is easy to use and can also be added to marinades and sauces to improve the colour. Similar use is found in South America, namely, Perú and Bolivia.

The FDA does not require companies to disclose ingredients of color or flavor additives so long as all the chemicals in them are considered by the agency to be GRAS ("generally recognized as safe") enabling companies to maintain secrecy of formulas. It also hides the fact that flavors often contain more ingredients than the foods to which they give taste.



A typical artificial strawberry flavor contains over 30 chemicals. According to manufacturer safety data sheets those chemicals cause eye irritation, corneal damage, eye burns, skin irritation, severe / permanent damage to digestive tract, gastrointestinal irritation, gastrointestinal tract burns, CNS depression, neurological effects, liver abnormalities, cardiac abnormalities, or other harm.



Natural flavor, according to the FDA, must be derived entirely from natural sources (herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, yeast, bark, roots, etc). Consumers prefer to see natural flavors on a label out of a belief they are more healthful.



Natural flavor is not necessarily more healthful or purer than an artificial flavor. Almond flavor when derived from natural sources may contain traces of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison. When derived by mixing oil of clove & amyl acetate, it does not. Natural flavors and artificial flavors are often manufactured at same chemical plants.



Flavor manufacturing may also involve biotechnology, using enzyme reactions, fermentation, & fungal and tissue cultures. Flavors created by these methods are considered natural flavors by the FDA.



In addition to flavor chemicals also think about genetic engineering of food, DNA or gene alteration, and medicines and hormones given to cows, cattle, hogs, and chickens. What affect does it have upon us? Some are suspected causes of cancer or other problems.



When a natural flavor or artificial flavor is added to a food or drink the resultant processed food is no longer natural & is potentially harmful.



Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20030608101921/www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-bckg.html

Flavor(s) Natural

Under the Code of Federal Regulation, natural flavor is defined as “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating, enzymolysis (biochemical decomposition of a substance), which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs , dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.” Natural flavoring substances are obtained from plant or animal raw materials, containing no other artificial or added ingredients. Spices approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) such as black pepper and basil do not have to be listed under its specific name. Additives can also be listed under natural flavoring because they might meet FDA definition standards, the extraction process consider flavorings man-made. In addition, spice extracts, essential oils, oleoresins, onion powder/juice, and garlic powder/juice are allowed to be labeled under “flavor” or “natural flavor.”

"Common Food Safety Questions from FSIS - Natural Flavorings on Meat & Poultry Labels." USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Home. Web. 16 May 2011. .

A type of salt extracted from seawater through the use of a vacuum evaporation process. Sea salt has small amounts of various minerals contained within the salt that are naturally in the waters from which the salt was derived. Thus, the taste of the sea salt will vary depending on the area water producing the salt. As an example, minerals such as red clay provide a pink tint to sea salts from Hawaii.

Sea salts are available as a fine-grained crystal, as a larger, coarse crystal, or as a flakes of salt. The size and thickness of the crystal will affect how quickly it dissolves when added to foods, with the sea salt flakes dissolving very quickly and the larger coarse crystals requiring a longer amount of time. Typically, sea salts are used to enhance the flavors of foods after they have been cooked or prepared.

(Reprint:

http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/glossary.asp?id=34338&catitemid=)

A colorless, crystalline organic compound belonging to the family of carboxylic acids, present in practically all plants and in many animal tissues and fluids. It is one of a series of compounds involved in the physiological oxidation of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and water.



First isolated from lemon juice by a Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in 1784, citric acid is manufactured by fermentation of cane sugar or molasses in the presence of a fungus, Aspergillus niger. It is used in confections and soft drinks (as a flavoring agent), in metal-cleaning compositions, and in improving the stability of foods and other organic substances (by suppressing the deleterious action of dissolved metal salts)."



Citrus fruits are notable for their fragrance, and most are juice-laden. They contain a high proportion of citric acid giving them their characteristic astringent odour and flavour. They are also good sources of vitamin C. In botanical terms, "The fruit of all Citrus trees, in which the true fruit is the peel, [is] made up of an outer layer, brightly colored and rich in glands, a spongey whitish mesocarp, and a membraneous endocarp surrounding the segments. The succulent parts we eat is only a secondary tissue developed as a filler"



List of citrus fruits:

Amanatsu

Bergamot orange

Bitter orange (Seville Orange)

Calamondin (Calamansi)

Citron

Clementine

Golden Lime - hybrid between the genus Citrus and the genus Fortunella

Daidai

Dancy

Grapefruit

Ichang Lemon

Iyokan

Kaffir lime

Key lime

Kumquat - in the related genus Fortunella, not Citrus; forms hybrids with Citrus

Lemon

Lime

Limequat

Mandarin Lime

Mandarin Orange

Meyer Lemon

Mikan

Minneola

Natsumikan

Orange

Orangelo (Chironja)

Orangequat

Persian lime (Tahiti lime)

Pomelo (Pummelo, Shaddock)

Ponkan

Rangpur (Lemanderin)

Rough Lemon

Satsuma

Shekwasha (Taiwan Tangerine)

Sudachi

Sweetie

Tachibana Orange

Tangelo

Tangerine

Tangor

Ugli

Yuzu



Some brands of Citric Acid may be made from wheat, however this is very rare.