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Robin, Steve and Sarah Jackson

Phenomenal Fudge is a home-based business in Shoreham, Vermont making fudge since 1985. We now service both retail and wholesale markets online at www.pfudge.com

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Chocolate Quote of the Day
"I never met a chocolate I didn't like." - Deanna Troi, Star Trek: The Next Generation
 

Short and Sweet Current Events

Sweet News Story #1 of 3
The Health Benefits of Cranberries
Source: www.whfoods.org, www.cranberryinstitute.org, www.webmd.com

What’s so great about cranberries? Just ask any woman prone to having UTI’s (urinary tract infections). Cranberries have PACS (proanthocyanidin) which coat the insides of the urinary tract lining which forms a barrier to UTI causing bacteria. But cranberries may have other benefits too.

Stomach ulcers, also called peptic ulcers, are sores formed on the lining of the stomach or the upper small intestine. Ulcers are caused by bacterial infection or anti-inflammatory drugs which have the side affect of breaking down the protective mucus layer lining these organs. More research is required but preliminary results indicate that the PACS can give a protective coating to these organs too!

While apples and oranges are big and easy to pick from trees cranberries are small and low on the ground in small shrubs. They can be dry harvested using a walk-behind machine that combs the berries off the branches or wet harvested in a cranberry bog. A cranberry bog is simply a field of cranberry bushes grown on a flat plain that can be easily flooded with water.

When the bog is flooded during harvest (mid-September through mid-
November) the berries float up and off the tiny branches and then gathered for processing or bagging. When the cranberries are floating they are increasingly exposed to sunlight which produces a higher amount of anthocyanin in the berry.

Not only does anthocyanin give the berries a bright red color but it also provides anti-oxidant (cancer preventative properties and more) and anti-inflammatory benefits. These benefits, however, are exhibited mostly in the whole berry rather than in a processed form.

Phenomenal Fudge’s cranberry walnut fudge uses whole berries crushed and mixed into vanilla fudge. Now, that’s the kind of medicine that doesn’t need a spoonful of sugar to enjoy!
 

Sweet News Story #2 of 3
Chocolate reduces incidence of stroke
Source: www.ecolechocolat.com

From 1997 to 2009 33,000 Swedish women were tracked for the incidence of stroke and surveyed about how much chocolate they consumed on a weekly basis. On the surface that’s an odd pairing for the statisticians chart but the results were eye-opening.

Of the 33,000 women 4.6% sustained a stroke. Strokes are caused by blocked blood vessels or bleeding from blood vessels in the brain which damages areas nearby. All the researchers were curious to see if there was any correlation between chocolate consumption and the incidence of stroke.

The results: Women who ate 2.3 ounces of chocolate per week (about two candy bars) were 20% less likely to sustain a stroke than those who rarely ate or ate no chocolate.

Dr. Susanna Larsson, associate professor of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the study’s author said “Cocoa contains flavonoids, which have antioxidant properties and can suppress oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol) which can cause cardiovascular disease” including stroke.

Larsson also stated that dark chocolate also helps to reduce blood pressure and lowers insulin resistance which in turns reduces dangerous blood clotting. Also the darker the chocolate the more benefits one can enjoy.

Doctor’s prescription: Eat more dark chocolate but don’t overdue it as chocolate also has sugar, fat and caffeine which are to be ingested in moderation. By the way, our dark chocolate fudge is available plain or with walnuts. That’s our prescription!

Sweet News Story #3 of 3
Maple Syrup Gets Legal Protection
Source: By LISA RATHKE - Associated Press, Oct 30, 2011, www.butternutmountainfarm.com

From time to time maple syrup producing states send out the inspectors to double-check that products containing maple syrup…really do. They might also check advertisements and labels too. And when they don’t meet their states’ standards, that’s fraud and can result in fines and prison time for the perpetrators.

Making maple syrup can be a hobby for some folks who have a few sugar maples in the back yard or woodlot. Tap a few trees, hang a few buckets and after hours of boiling down the sap they have a few gallons of sweet maple syrup. Maple syrup is a natural craft made by boiling down maple tree sap with no additives or preservatives.

The business side of maple syrup can be big business indeed with sugar farms producing many thousands of gallons. Vermont, the largest producer of maple syrup in the USA, produced $30,000,000 worth of maple syrup in 2010.

Since maple syrup production is so vital to the economy of certain states a few law makers in the northeast have put together a legislative bill to protect this agriculture from those who would bend if not break the purity of maple syrup. Their aim is to make it a felony for those convicted of maple syrup fraud to spend up to five years in prison, more than the one year it currently carries.

The Maple Agriculture Protection and Law Enforcement (MAPLE) Act is co-sponsored by Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Those on the wrong side of the law take short cuts, using cane sugar instead of maple sap, adding caramel coloring to simulate the real maple color or an artificial thickener imitating naturally thick maple syrup.

Henry Marckres, a maple specialist with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, makes it his goal to make sure Vermont maple syrup is just that! "It is the face of Vermont and we want to make sure that when consumers buy something that says pure Vermont maple syrup they get a good product that is from Vermont," Marckres said.

Phenomenal Fudge uses real Vermont maple syrup in our maple fudge and proudly offers real Vermont maple syrup in our Phenomenal Foods section.

Phenomenal Recipe: Maple Shortbread Cookies
Find real Vermont Maple Syrup in our Phenomenal Food section here at Pfudge.com. We thank the kind folks at allrecipes.com for this tasty and simple recipe.

Rated:
Submitted By: NSTARK
Photo By: Missy
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 20 Minutes
Servings: 24

"These cookies call only for butter, maple syrup, flour, and salt."

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup maple syrup 2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Beat the butter and maple syrup together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Stir the flour and salt together in a separate bowl; gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just incorporated. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls; flatten gently and arrange onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 11/2/2011

 

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