Are You Crazy About Nuts?

I love eating nuts. I used to eat nuts during reviews when I was in high school and college because I can bring it along with me easily and eat it anytime and anywhere. Nuts is also considered as food for the brain, that’s what I believed.

I have read in Reader’s Digest:

“Nuts is also a health food for the heart. There was a study made in Harvard Medical School showing that men who ate a couple of handfuls of nuts each week have a lower risk of sudden death due to cardiac arrest compared to those who ate less often.”

Do you know why nuts is so healthy for the heart? Because of its high saturated fats, magnesium and vitamin E.

TRIVIA: Munching nuts may also help protect against dementia.

Dementia is a non-specific illness syndrome where higher mental functions are affected. Affected persons may not know what day of the week, month or year, not know where they are or even not know who they are. (Wikipedia)

Scientists even found out that people with a diet rich in foods containing vitamin E has less chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, also a form of dementia.

That what nuts can do!

I still continue eating nuts but the weird thing about me: I don’t eat nuts when mixed in chocolates, ice-creams, even brownies. I don’t buy chocolate bars with nuts. It should be plain chocolate. I don’t buy ice-cream with nuts because I don’t feel like separating the nuts from the ice-cream. I love eating brownies from KFC, the one with chocolate bits and nuts. Since it’s small, I find it tolerable to separate the nuts then eat the brownies afterwards. =)

Crazy about nuts?

EGG PIRACY in CHINA

 

During a recent raid on a wholesale centre in Guangzhou city, the capital of China ‘s Guangdong province, a large quantity of fake eggs was seized.

Their wholesale price is 0.15 yuan (S$0.03) each – half the price of a real egg.

Consumers have a hard time telling a genuine egg from a fake one. This is good news for unscrupulous entrepreneurs, who are even conducting three-day courses in the production of artificial eggs for less than S$150. A reporter with Hong Kong-based Chinese magazine East Week enrolled in one such course.

To create egg white, the instructor – a woman in her 20s – used assorted ingredients such as gelatin, an unknown powder, benzoic acid, coagulating material and even alum, which is normally used for industrial processes.

For egg yolk, some lemon-yellow colouring powder is mixed to a liquid and the concoction stirred. The liquid is then poured into a round-shaped plastic mould and mixed with so-called ‘magic water‘, which contains calcium chloride.

This gives the ‘yolk’ a thin outer membrane, firming it up. The egg is then shaped with a mould. The shell is not forgotten. Paraffin wax and an unidentified white liquid are poured onto the fake egg, which is then left to dry.

The artificial egg can be fried sunny-side up or steamed. Although bubbles appear on the white of the egg, those who have tasted it say the fake stuff tastes very much like the real thing.

But experts warn of the danger of eating fake eggs. Not only do they not contain any nutrients, a Hong Kong Chinese University professor warned that long-term consumption of alum could cause dementia.

To make the egg white, various ingredients, including a powder and alum, are mixed together.

The ‘yolk’ is shaped in the round mould. ‘Magic water’ containing calcium chloride is used.

Hardy shells are formed by pouring paraffin wax and a liquid onto the egg, which are then left to dry.