Tori E. Pajares – hammondstar.com

Cyclists from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida came out Saturday to ride in the Hammond Kiwanis Club’s 23rd annual Tour de’ Tangipahoa.

As the club’s largest fundraising event, this year had a turnout of 450 participants between both ride times. Beginning at 7:30 a.m., the first ride consisted of a 60-mile radius. The 30-mile ride began at 9 a.m. Both rides began and ended at the University Center.

Reprinted from an article appearing on asianetindia.com

Pickles have always been a part and parcel of our lives. The simultaneous amalgamation of sweet, spice and sour flavours on one’s palate is every Indian foodie’s delight. Pickles are made with oil, salt and sugar content along with other hot spices.Adding one or two dollops of pickle to every meal should do to add taste to your dish. On the other hand, it is important for the elderly to skip consuming pickle twice in the day as it contain acids which might not be healthy.Here are some health benefits of pickles.

Health benefits of pickles are:

1.Good During Pregnancy: Almost every pregnant woman craves for spicy food and one of them being pickles. Mango and lemon are two types of aachar which prevents morning sickness.

2.Aids In Weight Loss: Pickles aid in rapid weight loss since they contain few calories. Due to the presence of spice it also helps to break fats easily.

3.Rich In Antioxidants: Pickles are rich in antioxidants which protect the body against free radicals. It is important to add this spice to your meal.

4.Good For Diabetics Too: According to few sources, pickles in small measure is good for diabetics. Once in a week it is safe to enjoy this humble treat, not otherwise. FYI: Only opt for amla pickles.

5.Nutritional Value Is High: No heat is involved in the production of traditionally fermented pickles which is why it helps to preserve the nutrients in the vegetables thereby being a health benefit.

6.Rich In Vitamin K: Pickles are also high in vitamin K. This vitamin is good in clotting of blood especially after an injury. This is one of the best health benefits of aachar.

7.Boosts One’s Metabolism: The vinegar used for curing aachar can increase the body’s metabolism. So, if your metabolism is low add pickles to your diet.

8.High In Fibre: The fruit and vegetables which is added to achar are also good sources of dietary fibre as well as vitamins A and C. This is another health benefit of aachar.

9.Improve Digestion: Amla pickle improves digestion, so it is safe and best to add this pickle to your meal if you suffer from digestion problems.

10.Protects Thy Liver: One of the health benefits of amla or gooseberry pickle is it heals and protects the liver due to it hepatoprotective properties.

11.Reduces Ulcers: Regular consumption of amla or Indian gooseberry pickles also help in reducing ulcers. Benefit from this healthy treat.

12.People who to avoid pickles: Old people who are suffering from stroke, heart diseases and hypertension should avoid pickles as the salt in the chutney will increase the medical issue.

These are the health benefits of pickles.

By Vishnu Makhijani – daijiworld.com
New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): It can’t get more micro than this: an 18-episode TV show on Indian pickles that celebrity chef Kunal Kapur is hosting as he says making preserves “is the epitome of culinary strength”.

“Making a pickle is the epitome of culinary strength; it is an art that is combined with a high level of science of preserving food,” Kapur, whose “Pickle Nation” show went on air Friday evening, told IANS in an e-mail interview.

“It is said that pickles were first made in India. It was here in India that, for the first time, the art form of cooking was taken to a higher level science, which is preservation. This preservation of art is to most of us just an accompaniment, whereas seldom do we realise how it is the reason for our existence and a living proof of the genius that exists in our country,” Kapur said, explaining the rationale behind the show, which will air at 8.30 pm on Friday-Saturday on Living Foods channel, the successor to Zee Khana Khazana.

The show took him to 11 cities of India, including Ahmedabad, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Panaji, Pondicherry, Shillong, Udaipur and Varanasi to unravel an interesting pickle tale of each region.

“There are ingredients and techniques that keep you intrigued and surprised. Not just each region but each community has some unique pickles and their own unique reasons and stories behind how and why they prepare them.

“As I have discovered, pickles are an integral part of how people define their food culture, and each region is intensely passionate about their pickles,” Kapur said.

For instance, with the Parsis in Ahmedabad, it is mandatory to make lagan nu achar and give it to the elders and relatives in the family before they formalise the marriage of a couple, said Kapur, who has been a judge on the Master Chef India show and has authored a book titled “A Chef In Every Kitchen”.

“In another fascinating instance, the Karbi tribe in Meghalaya has evolved a special dance that enacts the recipe of the Bamboo pickle. The ancestors knew that if the bamboo was not pickled in the right season then it might lead to hunger in the winters, and so the recipe for this crucial pickle was made into a dance form and till date the couples enact this dance to reveal the recipe,” said Kapur, who has also been seen on popular cooking show “My Yellow Table” on NDTV Good Times, with whom he is in talks for season II.

Towards the far west, in Jodhpur, the ker sangri ka achar is the legacy of love for nature of the Bishnoi tribe.

“The ker shrub and the sangri tree are the few that grow in this otherwise difficult region. The cattle would eat it and give milk. The roots would hold on to the soil, and at the same time, the tree would give shelter. The fruits of the khejri tree is the sangri and this tree is a very critical tree to the ecology of the place. Many have sacrificed their lives to protect this tree. The ker sangri pickle made from this tree is one of the reasons for the survival of the Bishnoi tribe,” Kapur said.

Another fine example is the Mahali pickle made by the Tamilian Brahmins.

“Mahalo is a root that smells of intense vanilla, bitter almond and cinnamon, and it is pickled in yogurt. It is not short of a miracle that no vinegar or oil is used yet the pickle survives for over two years in curd,” the chef noted.

Then, a Hyderabadi style of mango pickle breaks the long held notion by me that a drop of water can destroy a pickle, as this mango pickle is made in water! “Limestone or chuna is added to preserve the pickle,” said Kapur, who also anchored a travel show titled “Foodie Comes to America” that was telecast on Times Now in the US and is now shooting for its second season in New York.

“The depth of taste and passion along with the personality of the pickle maker is one common thread that I found in my wonderful journeys of discovery,” Kapur said, adding: “It is very easy to buy a pickle off the shelf and settle with it, but it takes a whole lot of love to go out to buy the right ingredient, put in the hard work, take the utmost care and then patiently wait as it pickles.”

“Love, honesty and dedication are what every pickle requires,” Kapur maintained.

Despite this, “we have never really given a pickle Maker his/her due importance. This show explores not just pickles but the unique pickle makers that have relentlessly been at it,” Kapur concluded.

BY

CRISTIANA TERWILLIGER – Munchies.com

There’s at least one food truck on every street corner these days, but driving around with a cart full of edible items is hardly a new concept. Being a food vendor in the Netherlands has been an occupation here since 1850. Roasted chestnuts, fish, and pastries used to be sold on the street. Pickled items such as onions and cucumbers were sold from traditional Amsterdam pickle carts. Jewish vendors from five different families sold the pickled vegetables with their signature sweet-and-sour tastes in their neighborhoods, traveling rain or shine to supply the entire city.

And yet one of those founding families, De Leeuw, is still going strong today.

Things have dramatically changed though since the family began their business, as they swapped hawking their pickles on the street for a storefront in Rivierenbuurt, an Amsterdam neighborhood. “Starting in the 60s, the roads became too busy from there on out. Cars honked behind the carts, so we wanted to find a brick-and-mortar location. The times simply caught up with us,” says Fred de Leeuw, the fourth-generation pickle seller.

Fred tells me that the pickle carts were born out of need in a time of great poverty. To make sure that seasonal produce was available year-round, many types of fruits and vegetables were pickled.

The fruit and vegetables—pearl onions, shallots, and cucumbers, for example–are put on salt until they can’t absorb anymore. At this point, they are considered “afgeflauwd,” the process of getting the right level of saltiness. Then, the “opgiet” follows, the critical moment when wine vinegar and a secret blend of spice are added, which will determine the signature taste. Depending on the size of the fruit or vegetable, this process takes at least six weeks.

According to Fred, the combination of sweet and sour is what makes their product so unique. “The Jewish kitchen leans towards sweetness because of things like the fruit sugars in wine. That is our trademark: a sweet treat with a sour note.”

The cooking process hasn’t changed in 165 years, so much so that everything is sold exactly as it was back in the day when the De Leeuw’s were still operating their carts. “We run the store with old merchants permits which means that we don’t have to weigh anything. We sell everything per scoop or per unit,” Fred explains.

In recent years, the family has added some experimental items to the menu, such as pesto, mustard pickles, pickled grapes, and olives.

In Dutch Jewish homes, at dinnertime, there is always something pickled on the table. “It’s not the main dish, but something to go with the rest of the food,” says Fred. “The sour neutralizes and resets your taste buds in a way,” Monique continues. The onions and pickles that were made during times of famine and food shortages have moved outside of the traditional Yiddish kitchen. At restaurants like Rijks in the famous Rijksmuseum, chef Joris Bijdendijk adds sour notes to some of his dishes, while chef Dennis Kuipers of Vinkeles in the Dylan Hotel likes to cook with pickled grapes.

Is the love for sweet-and-sour foods typically Jewish or really just an Amsterdam thing? “The unique, sweet taste makes it Jewish, but Judaism and Amsterdam go hand in hand,” says Fred, as he proudly looks onto his pickled products.