Thursday 4 February 2010

Super Foodology!!..... wait... is that even a word?

The word “Superfood” seems to be bounced around fairly often nowadays in the media. I find it slightly worrying that there is no actual scientific definition of this popular term… Nethertheless, it is a useful term for describing ingredients that have a particularly high level of good nutritional traits in them. Proteins, Pectin, Anti oxidants etc… Amongst these billions of ingredients that are now making their way out of the woodwork of awesome foods there are some particularly interesting ones, which I have found to not only be particularly good for you, but also have tastes, which will truly liven up any meal or beverage you guys decide to make!

To kick it off we have Matcha!



This is one of the oldest forms of instant tea that the world has ever known. The leaves that make up this tea are though to of originally been cultivated in china and then slowly made their way across to Japan where the tea leaves were eventually refined and crushed into a powder like form which all you needed to do was add hot water too.

Tea itself has long been known for its high concentration of anti-oxidants, cancer-fighting nutrients. However, of all of the teas Matcha is by far the most potent when it comes to health. This is due to the tea being powdered and not just brewed. You ingest all of the leaves nutrients when you drink it and therefore get all of the nutrients.



To put the benefits of this “super food” into perspective for you, one cup of matcha contains 70 times the antioxidants of a cup of orange juice and nine times the beta carotene of a serving of spinach.

It has a slightly bitter but fragrant taste and is very versatile. You can find it flavouring Lattes, Ice creams, savoury dishes and in some cases, I have seen it accompanied with truffles in order to obtain a fragrant but earth taste atop sweet dishes.



I am addicted to Matcha lattes personally… They are awesome, and if you ever get the chance then you should definitely make your own.

Matcha Latte:

3 Level tablespoons of Matcha Powder

350ml of semi skimmed milk (I wouldn’t suggest full fat milk, if you’re trying to be healthy with matcha, you do not need to ruin it lol)

25ml of vanilla syrup (this is just my personal addition, i've got an incurable sweet tooth)




Enjoy!

2 comments:

Bugaboo said...

I've never even heard of this stuff; might have to try to find here in the US. Thanks for the helpful info --- I agree about the whole term "superfood" and how there really is no set definition. Hmmmm, where to go to find this stuff......?

Walnuts and Honey said...

In England there is a "healthy" food cafe called EAT and they do matcha lattes. im sure that if you go to any tea shop they should have it. I ordered mine online a while back, just because i needed to try it for myself and experiment lol.. also i couldnt resist the marketting of the antioxident content haha.

suprisingly though it is really good. deffinatly a flavour you will soon get accustommed to.

Maybe try starbucks? in japan they do matcha lattes in thier starbucks, so maybe the same in america!

Thanks for reading :D

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