Cooking With Saffron

Born, raised, 20 Min's South of Boston, MA and now living in Florida the herb and spice
expert and CEO of "Florida Herb House" Stephen Sharp shares his knowledge of Saffron and how to select the best Saffron for your culinary creations.

Foods Bitz: Where does Saffron come from?
Stephen Sharp: Saffron comes from the crocus sativus plant. We purchase all our Saffron for sale at Florida Herb House direct from 3 different countries, Iran, Spain, and Greece. We choose our location depending on who is yielding the highest quality Saffron threads. Iran and Spain produce about 80% of the world's Saffron supply.

Food Bitz: Why is Saffron so expensive?
Stephen Sharp: That is a great question! Saffron requires huge amounts of work to produce. The best Saffron you can buy is the Saffron Threads. Each Saffron flower only has 3 threads or "Stigmas". On the top of each thread or stigma is an anther. The anther is the head of the thread and can weigh more than the thread itself. Often lesser quality Saffron has the anthers mixed in with the threads as they add weight. It takes over 13,000 individual threads to make just an ounce of Saffron so you can see why it is so expensive. Anywhere from 400,000 stigmas or upwards of 85,000 flowers are required to yield a pound of saffron! Also the intense labor involved in the picking and processing plays a large part in the high costs. We pride ourselves at Florida Herb House by offering the finest Saffron threads without the "Anthers".

Food Bitz: What are the Saffron stamens?
Stephen Sharp: Another great question! The male part of the flower is the stamen. Stamens are half the size of the stigmas. When dried the stamens are yellowish in color. Their appearance in the spice is a giveaway that the saffron being purchased is not top grade and has added dead weight. The lighter the color, the more stamens there are. True saffron powder has a rich vermilion color. The highest quality Saffron should not have any stamens mixed in with the threads as the yellow stamens offer little if any culinary value.

Foods Bitz: What are the Saffron stigmas?
Stephen Sharp: In a good crop, each plant typically produces several flowers. The stigma or female part of the flower is the actual source of saffron. The stigmas are painstakingly picked by hand. Then they are dried or cured and transformed into pure saffron.

Foods Bitz: What about fake and imitation Saffron?
Stephen Sharp: Yes some companies sell another flower called Safflower or "American Saffron". They advertise this as "Saffron" to unsuspecting customers. The color of your Saffron is the first clue to its quality. The general rule of thumb is high quality Saffron should be a uniform red color and the threads should be brittle. It should have a distinct aroma also not a musty smell. Florida Herb House sells both Safflower and Saffron and advertise our Safflower as "Safflower" so not to confuse any novice spice buyers. We also sell both the mixed Saffron (Saffron Threads Mixed With The Stamens) and also the pure Saffron threads (Saffron Threads With No Stamens Or Anthers) for a great variety of choices for all types of chefs and cuisines. Every ounce of our Saffron ranks highest on the color and aroma scale!

Foods Bitz: What does Saffron taste like?
Stephen Sharp: Saffron has a very light natural favor. Its earthy aroma when used properly helps many chefs look good or even great in many cases. It does take some practice to learn how much Saffron to use in a particular recipe. The flavor from Saffron can not be boiled away which makes it an easy addition to any recipe calling for it.

Foods Bitz: How do you cook with Saffron?
Stephen Sharp: If you use too much Saffron in a recipe, your food will result with a medicine like taste. Use just the right amount and saffron will add a unique pleasant and lightly spicy flavor to a dish. Most recipes will call for a good pinch of the threads. Just a quarter teaspoon will season rice for four or six people. Cookbook authors often recommend soaking the threads in water or milk before adding to a recipe. This also encourages that gorgeous yellow color to shine through.


Foods Bitz: What foods is Saffron used with the most?
Stephen Sharp: Saffron is commonly used in many Asian dishes as well as various fish and rice recipes. It is the backbone to a French Bouillabaisse. Chefs consider it a must for paella, as well as for arr oz con pol lo, chicken with rice. Risotto Milanese is the Italian offering for saffron rice. It also can be used in tomato, potato, and soup recipes.

Special thanks to Florida Herb House and Stephen Sharp for his time and expertise on this woderful spice. Try some Saffron in your next culinary creation and watch all you friends and family guests Ohhhhhh!! and Ahhhhhh!! you when you mention that one word....SAFFRON!!

Food Bitz - Lee S.
www.SharpWebLabs.com

www.FloridaHerbHouse.com

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The Simple Meal Planning Tips for Your Family

Do you struggle with what to make for dinner for your family? Do you find yourself, rushing around at 5 o'clock trying to guess out what you will prepare most nights? Dinner need not be a frantic chore. Here is help and easy meal planning tips for your family.

The trick to making dinner preparation easier is planning. Most people don't think of dinner until late in the day-the same day of the meal. If you want meal making to be easy-- start planning.
Sunday can be a great day to plan for your dinners. You can lead a little time and plan out the whole week's meals in advance and be prepared.

Why is Sunday such a great day for meal planning? Because, that is when the coupons come in the Sunday newspaper. Go through the newsprint and cut out all the coupons that are for stuff you commonly buy.

Now start to plan meals your family enjoys. Decide on a dinner meal for each night of the week. Next, put together a grocery list of all the items you do not have and will need just for those meals.

If possible visit the store and purchase all the items you need just for that week. Be careful over purchasing fruit and vegetables that could go bad. That asparagus that looked so good you had to buy it, even though it cost a little too much, will become very expensive if it goes bad before you use it.

If you are really ambitions you can make up a dinner or two ahead of time when you get home. Why not get a jump on things so you are ahead of the game? You can make up healthy casseroles and freeze them for use later in the week. Have your family all pitch in and make the items.
Now this is only half the fight. Let's get back to planning. It is not enough to just plan out the whole week in advance, it takes execution as well.

Every day, fresh in the day, actually the morning is best, start thinking what needs to be done for dinner. Don't succumb to the excuse "I can't think about dinner-I haven't even had breakfast yet." Or better yet, "I can't think about dinner I'm not even hungry yet."

Get thinking about dinner in the morning. Think about what you want for the meal and what you will need to do. Is it in the freezer and needs to be thawed out? Will it require special preparation that you will need to have time for? Is there something at the grocery store you will need to buy, that may have been over looked?

Be stretchy is the final bit of tips. Things happen and plans don't always turn out. You may get invited over to friends for dinner. You may decide to eat out at a restaurant. There may be unexpected leftovers that can make up a whole meal you don't want to waste.

Any number of things can and do happen that will change what you have planned. Expect this and be flexible. That is one valuable cause you do not want to buy any more perishable foods than your family can eat in a week.

So there is the advice:
• plan meals a week in progress
• start your day thinking about what you need to do for dinner that night
• and... . be flexible.

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Hot Dog Roller Grill

Hot Dog Roller Grill
Why do hot dogs that are grilled taste way better than those dogs that are boiled? That's easy-it is the method of cooking them.

When it comes to cooking outside, the hot dog roller is one sweet invention. This device is what makes the hot dog taste so wonderful.

Okay, so what is a hot dog roller? The easy response is this. This accessory consists of a stainless steel enclosure with a heat insulated grip and a series of rollers. The rollers are the secret sauce.

The basic concept of the hot dog roller is in it's title. First, the unit goes on the grill to be warmed up.After this, you simply lay the hot dogs on the rollers.

The way that the hot dog roller grill works is by pushing or pulling the frame of the utensil. This will allow all of the hot dogs to be turned at once resulting in evenly cooked sides on each hot dog.

When done cooking, the dogs come out tasting great because of the rotation and even cooking throughout.

Keeping these devices clean is fairly easy. On some brands, the rollers will come out individually, while other brands are one piece construction.



Though it is called a hot dog roller grill, there are other items that can be used with this machine such as sausage.This is one must have accessory for family cook outs and parties. The device will save a ton of time in food prep .

The hot dog roller grill is also a great way to start a vendor business.

Everyone loves the taste of a great hot dog, whether it is with the family or out on the town site seeing or even taking a stroll to work.

In the larger cities, you can find vendors on almost every corner selling this tasty quick snack.

The chances of being profitable with a hot dog vendor business are increased because of lower expenses.Owning a restaurant, would increase your overhead a 100 fold.Here, all you have is a cart and food cost. of course you will want to figure in your own labor costs as well.You don't want to work for nothing.

Becoming a hot dog vendor not only makes you money, but also provides the public with a welcome service.


All segments of our population love and enjoy the taste of a well grilled hot dog.With the use of a hot dog cooker grill
you are creating the best tasting hot dogs on the planet.

This is one product that you have to have if you love that great flavor of a well cooked grilled hot dog.

You are going to love the pricing on these handy dandy units as they are not expensive. See the info below.

Check all the facts, pricing and reviews for your own hot dog roller grill.

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How to Make a Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake

Here is the cheesecake recipe for chocolate lovers and cappuccino addicts. This cheesecake is not hard to make but is impressive. The chocolate cookie crust filled with cream cheese, chocolate, espresso, cinnamon, etc. is then topped with an espresso cream. This cake is perfect for entertaining guests, especially your friends who are cappuccino aficionados.


CAPPUCCINO CHEESECAKE

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/4 cups mini milk chocolate chips, divided
4 pkgs (8-oz each) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cookie crumbs and butter. Press the mixture into bottom and 1-inch up the side of a 9-inch spring form pan; set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt one cup of the mini chips over low heat, stirring constantly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until well blended using medium speed of an electric mixer. Add eggs, milk, espresso powder, and cinnamon; beat on low speed until well blended. Add melted chips; beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Spoon into the crust. Bake 55 minutes. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool. Cool for 15 minutes then using a knife, loosen cake from the sides of the pan. Cool completely then remove the side of the pan. Cover cake and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Before serving, garnish with the Espresso Cream, recipe follows, and the remaining mini chips.

Espresso Cream: Beat 1/2 cup cold whipping cream, 2 tbsp powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder until stiff.

Enjoy!

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