Sides

Food Facts – Green Beans

January 19, 2014

-Green beans are picked before the seeds are mature and the shell becomes hard and brittle. You’re essentially eating pre-mature seeds and its pod when you consume a “ripe” green bean.

-Green beans taste best when they are thinner than a pencil because they have the least amount of water retention and are the most concentrated in sugar at that stage.

-Green, navy, kidney, and black beans are called “common beans”.-

-Green, navy, kidney, and black beans all originated in Peru.

Drinks

Chai Tea

January 18, 2014

Traditionally the base tea is usually a strong black tea such as Assam, so that the spices and sweeteners do not overpower it. Usually, a specific type of Assam is used called “mamri”.  Mamri tea is tea that has been cured in a special way that creates granules as opposed to “leaf” tea. It is inexpensive and the tea most often used in India. However, a wide variety of teas are used to make chai. I recommend using a black tea that suits your palette, but just know that most chai tea recipes typically use a strong variant of tea.