08-04-2008, 03:12 PM
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Lecturer
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Propecia, CA
Posts: 1,852
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Spice Things Up
Quote:
Spice Up Your Life
Tulsa World 08-04-08
Adding different flavors to your palate could give you a longer, healthier life. What you use to season your food could help you live a longer, healthier life.
Certain spices are rich in phytochemicals -- colorful compounds believed to protect the body's cells and decrease inflammation. Adding these spices to flavor your food protects your health and allows you to use less salt when seasoning, an added benefit for those who are watching their sodium intake, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.
The protection provided by each spice is different, so try to incorporate a variety in your diet. Here's a guide to some healthful spices that can add a nutrient kick to your diet.
Cardamom
What it is: Aromatic pods with a warm, spicy-sweet flavor.
Why it's good: Contains limonene, an antioxidant that's believed to slow tumor progression and detoxify cancer promoting agents.
How to use it: Since it's a member of the ginger family, it's great in desserts, baked goods and gingerbread, but also curries and pickled foods.
It's readily available in ground powder form at most grocers, but freshly ground pods have a more potent benefit.
Cayenne pepper
What it is: A hot, pungent powder made from dried cayenne chiles.
Why it's good: Contains high levels of capsaicin, which is used in medical ointments for pain relief, also works as a digestive aid and may have anti-cancer properties, according to some studies.
How to use it: Make anything from gumbo to chocolate dishes hotter and more delicious with just a pinch -- a little goes a long way.
Ginger
What it is: A plant from tropical regions grown for its gnarled and bumpy root, which is used in freshly grated and dried powdered form for its peppery, pungent, slightly sweet flavor.
Why it's good: Rich in antioxidants and often used as a digestive aid, it also contains the antioxidants gingerol and zingerone.
How to use it: An essential ingredient in many world cuisines, use fresh ginger in stirfrys, sauces, dumplings marinades and salad dressings. Dried is great for gingerbread, of course, but it's great for cookies and fruit desserts as well.
Turmeric
What it is: The dried, ground root of a tropical plant related to ginger with a pungent, slightly bitter flavor and intense yelloworange color that gives curry powders and mustards their deep yellow hue.
Why it's good: That intense yellow hue also happens to be a sign of its rich antioxidant properties. Contains inflammation fighting compounds called curcuminoids or curcumin, and studies show it may help prevent cancer.
How to use it: Rice dishes, egg or potato salads, pickles, sauces and salad dressings.
Cumin
What it is: Cumin is the dried fruit of a plant in the parsley family. Its aromatic, nutty-flavored seeds and ground powder form add smoky character to foods without a lot of heat.
Why it's good: A good source of essential nutrients such as iron and manganese, cumin also contains cuminaldehyde, which is thought to have strong anticancer effects.
How to use it: Fajitas and tacos, veggies, sauces, spice rubs and marinades -- cumin is widely used in Mexican and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Garlic
What it is: A member of the lily family (related to leeks, chives, onions and shallots) with a uniquely hot, pungent flavor with subtle hints of sweetness (depending on the variety).
Why it's good: Affectionately called "the stinking rose" in light of its numerous health benefits, it's rich in manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C and selenium. Contains valuable phytochemicals known as allyl sulfides that stimulate the body to produce powerful toxinbusting enzymes. Those allyl sulfides will develop better if you let it rest for about 10 to 15 minutes between chopping and cooking.
How to use it: Sauces, salad dressings, salsas, marinades, pestos, roasted spreads for bread. Pretty much any way you like, except for dessert (though they do make garlic ice cream in Gilroy, Calif., for the annual festival in honor of the stinking rose).
Cinnamon
What it is: Dried bark of a tropical tree, sold as aromatic sticks or ground into powder with a mildly spicy, bittersweet flavor.
Why it's good: It has the health-boosting antioxidant eugenol, which works as an anti-inflammatory agent, and also contains limonene.
How to use it: Desserts, beverages, breads, savory dishes (including meat stews and spice rubs). It's a superstar paired with apples, and can easily be sprinkled on a cup of coffee or bowl of cereal for an antioxidant boost.
Cloves
What it is: The unopened flower buds of the evergreen clove tree, picked when they are pink and dried until they turn brown in color, with a distinctive, intense warm-sweet flavor and aroma.
Why it's good: A powerhouse spice that contains several phytochemicals, including eugenol, and important flavonoids (plant compounds) that also reduce inflammation and decrease clot formation.
How to use it: Cakes, pastries, sauces, marinades, mulled wine and spiced cider. It's the stud of many a Christmas ham.
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https://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews...tion=Nutrition
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09-16-2008, 04:04 PM
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Observer
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 22
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Cayanne pepper in chocolate dishes?! Well I never... 
I do love spicy foods, so I better start using a wider range of spices in my cooking by the looks of things.
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09-17-2008, 11:23 AM
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Standing at the Portal
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: At The Door of Death
Posts: 3,783
My Mood:
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Yes! Hot spiced chocolate is outrageous! and probably should be illegal...
__________________
"The nurse should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of faith, - receptive to Truth and Love" Mary Baker Eddy
Visit www.HealthSalon.org
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09-21-2008, 02:16 PM
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Reader
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: LA
Posts: 153
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Did not know cinnamon contains limonene! I take all of these spices in pill form except for cloves, cumin and cardamon. Although I eat plenty of all of them. They are all antifungal, too.
Never thought about adding cayenne to chocolate. Sounds like something I need to try!
Sally B.
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