Mad honey: why it is so called, what is dangerous and why it is collected in Turkey and Nepal

Article Content: Why honey is called mad honey

Mad honey (English "mad honey") is so called for its unpredictable effects on the human and animal body.

Xenophontus, an ancient Greek writer, historian and military leader in his 4th century BC work "Anabasis" wrote in his work. "Anabasis" wrote about a strange disease that seized his army after consuming local honey in Eastern Turkey. And A. Wallace Hayes' Principles and Methods of Toxicology claims that King Mithridates used honey as a poison when Pompey's army attacked the Heptacometes in Asia Minor in 69 B.C. Roman soldiers became delirious and nauseous after being tricked into eating poisonous honey, after which Mithridates' army attacked.

Pliny the Elder in his Natural History wrote: "...In the same part of Pontus, there is another kind of honey, which, because of the madness it produces, has received the name of 'mænomenon'. This malignant action is usually attributed to the rhododendron flowers, which ab…

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What is pemmican, how it was prepared by North American Indians and how to make it at home

Table of Contents: What is pemmican and when did it come into existence

The name "pemmican" comes from the Cree Indian word ᐱᒦᐦᑳᓐ (pimîhkân), where ᐱᒥ (pimî) means "fat". Pemmican is made from dried meat, fat and dried berries or berry juice. It keeps for a very long time, is lightweight and has a high energy value (up to 700 kcal per 100 g), which has made it an ideal food for camping and traveling. Pemmican can be eaten raw or added to other dishes, as is still done in some Amerindian communities today.

Some archaeological evidence suggests that as early as 2800 B.C., people were hunting bison that roamed the Great Plains of North America and mixing their meat, fat and marrow into high-energy, long-lasting cutlets. But the first written description of pemmican is considered to be Francisco Vazquez de Coronado's 1541 records of the Querecho and Tejas tribes, who sun-dried and ground bison meat and then made a stew of it with bison fat. The first written use of the w…

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What corned beef is, how to cook it yourself and why it needs nitrite salt – explains a professional butcher

What we will tell you about in the article: What is corned beef, when and why people began to salt meat

Corned beef is usually called salted beef. Establishing exactly when people started salting meat is problematic. In his book On Food and Cooking, American food researcher Harold McGee notes that early methods of preserving meat were practiced by humans as early as four thousand years ago, and salting was one of them, along with drying and smoking.

Although the practice of corned beef has existed around the world for centuries, commercial production of corned beef began in the British Isles during the British Agricultural Revolution. Corned beef from cows raised in Ireland was widely used in the British Empire from the 17th century onwards. This was facilitated by the abundance of cattle raised on local green pastures, as well as the extremely low import tax on quality salt that came from Portugal and Spain.

Although corned beef was not often eaten in Ireland…

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Chicken salt: what it is, how to prepare it and whether it contains chicken

Article Content: History of chicken salt

This flavorful condiment, rich in umami flavor, is widely known in Australia and the United States. Its history dates back to the 1970s. Peter Brickworth, the owner of a diner in South Australia decided to somehow diversify the taste of chicken dishes and came up with a spicy seasoning. Peter Brinkworth's original chicken salt recipe included garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, paprika, chicken broth, monosodium glutamate and some curry powder. The seasoning soon became a major hit at the store and later spread throughout Australia.

Now chicken salt in its homeland is considered indispensable in the preparation of French fries, sold everywhere and gradually conquering the U.S. market.

How chicken salt is produced

The Australian restaurant Dudley's in New York makes its own salt from fresh chicken. The fat is extracted from the chicken skin, stewed in a small amount of chicken broth for an hour and left to dry in …

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What is vaca vieja style and why eat the meat of old cows – tells the butcher

What is vaca vieja

"Vaca vieja" is a Spanish expression that translates to "old cow". In the context of gastronomy, "vaca vieja" refers to the meat of aged animals, of dairy or beef breeds and of a wide variety of fattening types, which are slaughtered over four years of age. The meat of such animals is characterized by its rich color and flavor, yellowish tint of fat, good marbling and quality of fat, because the animal accumulates it throughout its life. Nothing similar to the intensive fattening of beef steers in the last months of their life.

There is a more euphonious name for this style - Happy Retired Cow. This is the name given to mature animals by Victor Churchill, an Australian butcher and owner of one of the most beautiful butcher shops in the world.

The use of mature animals is a continuation of the natural cycle of agriculture. It has always been so. In Russia, for example, old cows of dairy breeds were and are used to make stews and similar prod…

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Pandan or hala – what kind of fruit is it, where you can try it and what it tastes like

What we will tell you about in the article: What is pandanus and where it grows

Pandanus, hala, screw pine or screw palm is a genus of tree-like plants found mainly in the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere. The largest number of pandanus species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. It grows mainly in coastal areas, often on the fringes of mangroves and beaches.

Species vary in size from small shrubs less than 1 meter tall to medium-sized trees 20 meters tall, with broad crowns and large fruits. Pandanus usually has many thick aerial roots, making it similar to mangrove plants. The leaves are palm-like, up to 2 m long and covered with prickles in some species. Female trees produce large fruits that resemble pineapple, although the plants are not close relatives. Young fruits are green, while ripe fruits can be yellow, orange or red with a green top.

How pandanus is used

A lot is known about the use of pandanus leaves - they are used in the countries of Southe…

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Jerky: what types of meat can be cured and how to make jerky at home – tells the chef-meat man

Table of Contents: What is curing

Curing is a type of cold drying that dehydrates and ferments the product. And, in modern parlance, all you need to cure meat is salt, coolness, and air. The salt preserves the meat from spoiling, and the temperature and air do the rest. This method of preparation allows you to store meat without any special conditions, makes it easy to transport and does not reduce its nutritional properties.

What kind of meat can be cured and how to choose it

You can cure almost any meat: pork, lamb, beef, venison, poultry and other types available in your region. The main thing is to choose quality raw materials from trusted producers and not too fatty, or just cut off the excess fat.

From pork is suitable carbonade, neck, ham. From beef and venison: loin, thin and thick edges stripped of fat and veins, thigh flesh (also stripped). If you are going to cure lamb, it is better to choose the flesh of the ham or ham on the bone, the flesh of t…

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What is cordial, why it is popular with bartenders around the world and how to make it at home

What is cordiale

Cordial is Latin for "cordial." This was the name given to alcoholic tinctures of herbs, roots, spices, etc. in Renaissance Europe; nowadays we would rather call them bitters. These remedies were considered beneficial for health, especially for the heart, and were also used as general tonic and tonic.

The second birth of cordials occurred in the 18thand 19th centuries due to the development of seafaring. English sailors, sick with scurvy, tried to treat themselves in every possible way and began to use cordials as a medicine. Large quantities of citrus fruits were added to the drink, especially lime and bergamot, which became available thanks, again, to seafaring and trade. As we know, sailors always liked to drink, and of course they mixed vitamin drinks with rum. Plus, the alcohol extended the shelf life of cordial. But in the end it affected health, so in the XIX century it was in Great Britain that a non-alcoholic version of cordial was patented…

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What is redstem and what makes this Russian autochthon so good – tells the sommelier

About Russian winemaking

Over the past few years, the perception of winemaking in our country has completely changed. More and more often Russian wine can be found on the shelves of premium wineries and on the wine lists of various restaurants: from the Black Sea coast, where the wine arrives literally from the winery, to the Far East, where the wine reaches under special conditions, including temperature control. More and more regions are happy with news about the first planted vineyards, novice winemakers boast about their first harvest, and someone is already ready to present his first wine to the public.

If you read the news about Russian winemaking, you may inadvertently get the impression that wine has been practiced in our country not so long ago, like in the countries of the New World, where grapevines were first introduced only a couple of centuries ago. Such countries are Argentina, Australia, the USA, Chile, South Africa and others. In Russia, however, the…

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Balut: why eat an egg with an embryo in it

Table of Contents:

What is balut

Balut or balut (Tag. Balut - wrapped) is a popular dish in the Philippines, as well as in Vietnam, Cambodia, other Southeast Asian countries and the southern provinces of China. It is a duck egg in which the fetus with beak, plumage and cartilage has already begun to form. Balut is boiled, steamed or grilled and eaten straight from the shell.

It is believed to have been introduced to the Philippines by the Chinese, according to various sources, between the 16th and 19th centuries, and has since become part of the traditional cuisine. Wherever Filipinos migrated in search of work, a large market for balut emerged.

Nowadays, balut is a popular evening snack. When the sun goes down, vendors roam the neighborhoods or set up stalls right on the sidewalk. Workers and partygoers turn to this protein-rich, cheap snack as their primary fuel for recuperation. Some say it's a good aphrodisiac. Others would rather just not see what…

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