'Make and Process': MARGARINE/SPREADS VS. BUTTER

2009-11-09T17:20:00.003-05:00

How Margarine and Shortenings are Made: Step 1: Manufacturers start with the cheapest vegetable oils, extracted at high temperatures and pressures from corn, cottonseed, soybeans, safflower seeds and canola.	How Butter is Made: Step 1: Place fresh, cultured or soured cream (and optional salt) in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until butter forms. (about 10 minutes; or you can use a churner like in the olden days)
Step 2: The last fraction of oil is removed with hexane, a carcinogenic solvent.	Step 2: Strain, and transfer butter to a stainless steel or wooden bowl and press out buttermilk with a wooden spoon or paddle, adding to buttermilk already in the container by pouring through a strainer.
Step 3: The oils, already rancid from the extraction process, are steam cleaned. This destroys all the vitamins and antioxidants, but pesticides and solvents remain. Step 4: The oils are mixed with a finely ground nickel catalyst.	Step 3: Wash the butter by adding a little water and pressing some more. Repeat until butter no longer exudes buttermilk. Pat dry with paper towels, and place butter in a crock or container and buttermilk in glass containers, cover and chill well. (Butter may be frozen for long-term storage.)

Step 5: The oils are then put in a reactor where at high temperatures and pressures, they are flooded with hydrogen gas. The molecular structure is rearranged--what goes into the reactor is a liquid oil, what comes out is a smelly, lumpy, grey semi-solid. Step 6: Soap-like emulsifiers are mixed in to remove all the lumps. Step 7: The oil is steam cleaned (again!) to remove the odor of chemicals. Step 8: Synthetic vitamins and artificial flavors are mixed in. Step 9: A natural yellow color is added to margarine--synthetic coloring is not allowed! (THIS IS LAUGHABLE) Step 10: The mixture is packaged in blocks or tubs and promoted to the public as a health food.

Raw Milk Brings Improvements

2009-06-14T19:42:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check this post and the other great blog posts @ REAL FOOD WEDNESDAYS

I have been part of a cow-share since the beginning of May. The pickup is every other Saturday morning between 8:15am and 9:15am. I have to bike 20-25 minutes to a train station, take it 4 stops, and then bike another 10-15min to get to the drop-off. This is basically the very edge of what is considered Toronto East. WOO. Its worth it.

Anyways, I have noticed two things since I've been drinking the milk:

1) I seem to have a more balanced energy. I can literally just have a tall glass (about two cups) of the raw milk, and then go for a long, strenuous bike ride, and I can keep pace. Before, I could not do this, unless I ate a good breakfast of lots of eggs and meat. That seemed to be the only food that could sustain my energy. Perhaps, my body likes fats a lot? I've always been partial to savoury, tangy, etc. All of my favourite foods are full of fat or pure fat, rather than sugary.

2) I have noticed that my gums and teeth do not ache at all what they used to. I think they do the odd time, but so rarely I do not even remember when. I have not brushed my teeth and more or less, in fact, as bad as it is, I think i have been lagging in the brushing department the last few weeks. (I use tooth soap by the way, ITS A BIG DIFFERENCE in appearance and feel of the teeth, than regular old fluoride paste)

I have been wanting to try the raw milk diet for a week, but I the max I can fit in all my baskets would be enough to only last me that week, and then I would be without the milk for another whole week. BOO! The one time I want a car.

If only I could have a few thousand dollars a month from a trust, I'd get a car, and then I would just make foods and eat all day.

The Nourished Canuck

'Make and Process': MARGARINE/SPREADS VS. BUTTER

Raw Milk Brings Improvements