All About Vinegar The world's oldest cooking ingredient may just be vinegar. According to The Vinegar Institute, vinegar's history can be traced back over 10,000 years. In fact, flavored vinegars have been manufactured and sold for almost 5,000 years. And the wide variety of vinegars available today is nothing new. The Babylonians were making and selling gourmet vinegars flavored with fruit, honey, malt, and more.

Vinegar is the result of a conversion by bacteria of alcoholic solutions in acetic acid. The word is derived from the French vin ("wine") and aigre ("sour"). Of course, vinegar is much more than "wine gone bad." There are three methods of making vinegar: the slow process, the generator process, and the submerged process. Homemade vinegar uses a starter called "mother of vinegar."

Vinegar varieties vary greatly from country to country. These are some of the most popular:

Balsamic vinegar is brown in color with a sweet-sour flavor. It is made from the white Trebbiano grape and aged in barrels of various woods. Some gourmet Balsamic vinegars are over 100 years old.

Cane vinegar is made from fermented sugarcane and has a very mild, rich-sweet flavor. It is most commonly used in Philippine cooking.  read more

Just in time for Easter Holiday...
If you love pickled beets, you'll love pickled eggs. A popular deli item, it's easy to make these at home. They can be refrigerated up to two weeks, if they last that long.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice  read more

Prep Time:30 min
Start to Finish:2 hr 10 min
Makes:12 servings

1 box carrot cake mix (or your favorite) Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box Tray or cardboard, covered with foil 1 container Whipped fluffy white frosting (or your favorite) 1 cup shredded coconut Construction paper Jelly beans or small gumdrops 1 cup shredded coconut Green food color  read more

WATER

#1. 75% of people are chronically dehydrated.

#2. In 37% of people, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger.

#3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

#4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters

#5. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.  read more

Mankind has been using salt for many centuries, in the course of which we've amassed many uses (some speculate thousands) for this amazing substance -- uses that go far beyond mere seasoning. Here are a few of the more practical ones:  read more

PREHEAT OVEN TO 325F, with rack in center of oven. Generously grease a 9-inch (7-cup capacity) loaf pan. Dust with flour; tap pan over sink to discard excess flour. Cut piece of parchment paper or waxed paper to fit bottom of pan. Set aside. FOR CAKE, use mixer to cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating each until fluffy. Add cream cheese.  read more

Golden Winter Soup
Leeks and potatoes provide the base for this hearty vegetable soup, and butternut squash adds a hint of sweetness. Gruy're toasts add a salty note.

Ingredients  read more

The most popular flavor of ice cream is Vanilla

Vanilla comes from the plant vanilla planifolia - a member of the orchid family - grown mainly in Madagascar but also Mexico, parts of South America, Tahiti and islands off E. Africa. The vanilla extract produced from the plant in each of these areas has its own very distinct characteristics.  read more

this can be a really healthy and satisfying dish.

Preparation Time : 20 mins.
Baking Time : 25 mins.
Cooking Time : 40 mins.
Baking Temperature : 200°C (400°F).

Ingredients

1 recipe cooked biryani rice
3 tablespoon chopped coriander
2 tablespoons chopped mint (phudina)
½ teaspoon chopped green chillies
¼ teaspoon saffron (kesar) dissolved in ¼ cup low fat milk  read more

Ingredients:

1 kg rice
3/4 kg jaggery (grated)
2 tb sps of sesame seeds
Oil to fry

Method:

* Pick and wash rice.
* Soak it overnight and remove water completely (spread on a cloth for a few minutes to make sure that the rice is dry).
* Make a fine powder of it in a blender (sieve if necessary) and set aside.
* The flour should be slightly damp.  read more