The Bewitching Swirls of Non-Dairy Creamers

It’s been a very great day!

 

How ‘bout a cup of your favorite coffee or tea?

What a great way to perk up your morning just by admiring and savoring those creamy and dreamy swirls on your cup?  Swirls that looks like a wonderful work of art inside your cup swaying on top of your favorite morning beverage.  Swirls that can make a smile on your face and spark up an inspiration for you today.

But many coffee and tea lovers cannot drink up without having a swirl or tip in dashes of that white creamery powder on top of their favorite drink.  But many does not really know the mystery behind those bewitching swirls and was more fascinated by the looks and the perky-like taste it brings to its partner beverage making it inseparable and routine to go almost every time you indulge in them.

Why non-dairy?

You probably have lactose intolerance or a practicing Vegan that made you choose a non-dairy creamer to go with your coffee.  Lactose is a type of sugar normally found in milk that the body normally cannot digest easily.  And if you are a Vegan, its basic that non-dairy creamer will not go against your conviction of abhorring products and food ingredients that do not come from an animal killed to extract the food you are about to eat .

Dairy-free you say?

 But do you know those so called ‘non-dairy’ creamer are not really what they seem to be.  The milky and swirly texture effects of most coffee creamers are due to the milkfat or the so called sodium caseinate protein contained in them derived from the mammary glands of milking cows.  Other common flavor additives include corn syrup, vanilla and hazelnut.

What can go bad?

Creamy creamer?  Think again!  Some non-dairy creamers claims a haven of cream comparable to the likeness of real milk in taste and texture once added to your beverage.  But this isn’t always the case.  The truth is dairy milk is the original and non-dairy creamer is just actually an oxymoron to mimic the real and original.  Vegetable oils like palm or coconut oils were improved to mimic the creamy milky look and the somewhat degree of flavors.  But almost everyone can tell the obvious difference no matter what.

Add-ons to mimic the taste and consistency.  Additives like food flavors and food colors go into the commercial products to mimic dairy-like closeness.  And to top it all, even labels got creative dressing to go with the marketing and advertising of the product.  Product labels such as coffee whiteners, coffee enhancer, organic, etc. camouflage the additives description as part of the commercialism campaigns.
      

Calorie count boosters.   If you’re coffee addict and on a diet, drinking black coffee may count as an almost no calorie drink habit but if you put on non-dairy creamer as an add-on, the counter reverts back the fat and calorie reading.  If you’re used calculating your caloric intake, you will surely find out the risk on the serving portions of your regular indulgence by just the mere look on the table of ingredients on the label of the product.  Be careful not to fall on the pit of those calorie booster creamers.

Watch out for bad cholesterol inhibitors.  Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or trans-fatty acids are bad cholesterol from unsaturated fats like the ones coming from industrially produced vegetable fats.  Over the limit consumption can lead to the risk of serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.  Ideally, one should not consume no more than 2 grams in a day.  Again, examining the label of your creamer can greatly help your risk of letting these synthetic additives and harmful inhibitors in your body.

Fireball in your creamer.   Did you know that the popular TV program Mythbusters who once experimented on the Mentos-Diet Coke combination, also did a similar explosive demonstration using powdered non-dairy creamer as an ignition medium?  Watched the video below, as a large packed powdered creamer was put into cannon and created a massive fireball.   Don’t worry though if you are just on the small spoonful habit.

It may be bad news for people who have lactose intolerance to cream their coffee and tea with real dairy milk, but best is not to put those white snow-like powders at all and savor the rich flavor of real coffee or tea.  Equally important is making the habit of reading the label of whatever food products you will eat and keep away from substance and ingredients that could be explosively risky to your health.  Be aware and be healthy safe in your everyday food indulgence for a better wellbeing.

Creamer Cannon

Hydroponics: The Future of Food Sustainability

[image from growgreengarden]

There is an ongoing battle the world now faces - Hunger!

It is a fact that the world is getting more and more less sustainable with food. And food is becoming scarce in a very alarming way. Below are some of the major issues why food is getting scarce.

Extreme global climate change.
Climate change was a major component in growing food produce.  But due to the extreme changing patterns of summer droughts, heat waves, biblical-like flooding as well as extreme winter snaps, global food production was significantly altered and challenged in a very alarming scale.
  

Worker bees gone into hiding.  
Bees has been the plants  greatest ally in terms of multiplying its specie. But over a few decades ago, bee colonies collapsed at a very alarming population on several parts of the world. 90% of the world's commercial produce greatly rely on natural open pollination carried out by honey bees to bear flowers and fruits.

More mouths to feed, less food to eat.
More people less food to eat. World demography reveals that there are currently around 7.4 billion living human beings that needs to eat and sustain life on Earth. This was just the total number of living humans, one of Earth's inhabitants. Other beings that Mother Nature sustains with food from its bounty were the animals, domesticated and not as well as other living creatures in land, air and water.  

The diminishing greener pastures.
Another aspect that contributed to the threat of food scarcity on Earth was the now diminishing arable space to grow plants that provide food for sustenance for all living creatures. In the past 4 decades, experts have scientifically calculated that the arable land and spaces that used to grow crops and produce as food  have significantly diminished by 33% or a third of the world's land area used in growing plants for food.

A new kind of farming.
The era of industrialization and commercialism have initiated a new kind of farming other than plant production for sustenance for the living. Instead of plants, people are building structures and edifices to house their offices, industrial, manufacturing and commercial plants. And with the sudden influx of people in the cities and places where these structures are located, mass housing and urbanization structures added up to make way for this new kind of farming called urbanization. And soon enough, the rapid urbanization have claimed an immense portion of the arable land that was converted to answer for the rapid growth that changed much of the Earth's habitation, living condition, culture and lifestyle. According to forecasts made by some UN experts, by the year 2030 almost 5 billion people will live in these urban areas. That's a whopping more than half of the current world population!

We're not even in the 21st century yet hunger and food shortage was being felt by people in every nation and corner of the world. The need for ways on how to complement food production to feed the human mouth was highly being developed. One competent way to answer for food production particularly for the urban sector was the introduction of a plant growing system called Hydroponics.

Why hydroponics?
Hydroponics pertains to a system of growing plants and produce using nutrient-treated water as medium to grow plants instead of land or soil. And since the system thrive on water in a portable reservoir such as the likes of aquariums and other water laden vessels. Compared to the traditional way of growing plants on gardens and land plots, hydroponics require only vessels or containers that are kept damp and wet to sustain the plant in a temperature controlled environment such as housing units in a building or small spaces or corners within the house, building or spaces where water can be easily accessible to aid the plants to grow and yield. It's like having your own garden of food sustaining plants right in the comfort of your house or room.

Soil vs water Grown Plants: What's the Catch?
Whenever we think of a garden, we normally picture in our minds about plants growing on plots, pots and patches of soil. But many are gaining confidence in growing plants using  water as a growing medium mainly due to numerous benefits. So, what's the catch having this aquatic garden instead of soil-based growing gardens?

Space saver. Hydroponic gardens uses very minimal space compared to conventional soil gardens. This garden system was very ideal for homes and places with limited grounds and soil to plant with. Ideally fit urban and city dwellers living on condo or studio-type units as well as little corners or spaces.

Unlimited crop season. Crop limitation is never a thing since soil is not a medium , you therefore need not assess which type of soil, to be considered a and can be well managed without never thinking which type, condition or  of soil
Less messy.  Since the medium to grow the plant is not dirt based, growing and weaning the plants will not be that messy and dirty. 
More economical. Water system grown plants uses less water since only proportional parts of water will be used. And since water can be recycled over and over again as growing medium, the system was very advantageous and ideal especially to drought stricken places as well as growing gardens on deserts and arid places.
No weeding needed. Goodbye to those eyesore weeds growing and stealing nutrients from your plants. You need not anymore kneel and crawl through each shrubs and plots and get yourself dirty all over. 
Less pesky pests and insects. Ground soil was home and haven to most annoying pests and insects that hazards the growth of the plants. With water to grow the plants, pests and insects were soignificantly reduced.
   
The balance of life.
Plants, humans and other animal species creates the balance of life here on Earth. We hold the key to the yin and yang of nature. Each creature represents a symbiotic relationship that provide balance to the ecological system of our only known home - the Earth. Mother Nature nurture us all with nourishing plants from its bounty. It is up to us all to balance and stop the abuse before plants run out and food is gone for good. Hydroponics can be that great system to sustain our food now, tomorrow and the future. Let us not waste this technological opportunity and feed the hungry before food gets scarce and left us all hungry!