#food starch manufacturer

[bluecraftagro-blogs]

The Versatility of Food-Grade Starch: A Key Ingredient from Bluecraft Agro

Food-grade starch plays an essential role in the food industry, contributing to the quality and functionality of many products we consume daily. As a leading food starch manufacturer, Bluecraft Agro is dedicated to providing premium-quality starches to meet the diverse demands of food producers. In this blog, we explore the various uses, benefits, and applications of food-grade starch, highlighting Bluecraft Agro's expertise as a trusted food grade starch supplier.

The Importance of Starch in the Food Industry

Starch, a natural carbohydrate found in plants like maize, wheat, and rice, is a vital ingredient in processed food products. It serves multiple roles, such as thickening, stabilizing, and enhancing texture. Food-grade starch is specifically derived from plants without any chemical modifications, making it ideal for applications where natural, minimally processed ingredients are preferred.

Bluecraft Agro, as a prominent food starch manufacturers in India, specializes in the production of starches from maize, rice, potato, and tapioca. These high-quality starches are key components in a wide range of food products, supporting food manufacturers in delivering top-tier products to consumers.

Applications of Food-Grade Starch

The versatility of food-grade starch makes it an essential ingredient across many food categories. Below are some key applications:

Texturizing in Baked Goods Starch is crucial in baking, as it contributes to the structure, moisture retention, and texture of products like bread, cakes, and pastries. It helps create the perfect crumb and mouthfeel.

Stabilizing Dairy and Sauces In dairy products such as yogurts and cheeses, starch serves as a stabilizer, preventing separation and ensuring a smooth, consistent texture. It is also widely used in sauces and dressings to improve their stability.

Fat Replacement Modified starches can replicate the creamy mouthfeel of fats, making them an excellent alternative in low-fat and reduced-calorie foods. This application is highly beneficial in dairy, baked goods, and salad dressings.

Freeze-Thaw Stability Starch enhances freeze-thaw stability in frozen products, preventing water separation (syneresis) when they are thawed. This property is particularly important in frozen desserts and ready-to-eat meals.

Gelatinization and Retrogradation Upon heating in water, starch undergoes gelatinization, where it absorbs water and thickens. Once cooled, it retrogrades, forming a gel, which is a crucial process in sauces, puddings, and other similar products.

Key Benefits of Using Food-Grade Starch

Cost-Effectiveness Starch is a cost-efficient ingredient that improves the texture, stability, and overall quality of food products without substantially increasing production costs.

Unmatched Versatility With a wide array of native and modified starches available, food manufacturers can find solutions tailored to their specific needs, whether in baking, dairy processing, or meat products.

Nutritional Advantages Starch, particularly resistant starch, can enhance the nutritional value of food, lowering the glycemic index and promoting better digestive health.

Viscosity and Shear Stability Starch plays a significant role in controlling the viscosity of various food products. Modified starches are specifically designed to maintain their properties under high-shear processing conditions, such as in industrial mixers.

Film-Forming Abilities Starches have the ability to form protective films, which are valuable in coatings for snacks and confectionery products, as well as for edible packaging applications.

Bluecraft Agro: Leading the Way in Food-Grade Starch Manufacturing

As a premier food grade starch supplier, Bluecraft Agro is known for its advanced production facilities and unwavering commitment to quality. By utilizing state-of-the-art technology, the company ensures its starches meet international standards, offering consistency and reliability in every batch.

Bluecraft Agro’s diverse product portfolio includes native and modified starches that enhance the quality, texture, and functionality of foods across various segments. Whether improving the texture of baked goods, stabilizing dairy products, or contributing to the nutritional profile of foods, Bluecraft Agro is at the forefront of innovation in starch production.

Conclusion

Food-grade starch is an indispensable ingredient that offers cost-effectiveness, versatility, and a range of functional benefits. As a leading food starch manufacturer, Bluecraft Agro is committed to producing high-quality starches and starch derivatives for the food and beverage industry. With cutting-edge facilities, innovative practices, and a focus on sustainability, Bluecraft Agro not only meets the current demands of the industry but also drives its future.

Whether you’re looking to improve the texture of baked goods, ensure freeze-thaw stability in frozen products, or develop healthier, low-fat alternatives, Bluecraft Agro’s starches are integral to creating the foods we enjoy every day.

[digitalpunitvithlani]

The Importance of Maize Starch in the Food Industry

Introduction

Maize starch is a vital ingredient in the food industry, playing a key role in many food products due to its various properties. Its ability to thicken, stabilise, and provide texture makes it an essential component in both everyday and specialty foods. This blog explores its uses, benefits, and importance in food processing.

What is maize starch used for?

Maize starch is used in various applications, including as a thickening agent in sauces, soups, and gravies and as a stabilizer in dairy products like yogurt and dressings. Its neutral taste and ability to blend smoothly into mixtures make it a staple ingredient in food processing.

Is Starch Good or Bad?

Starch, including maize starch, is often debated regarding health. While it's a source of carbohydrates that provides energy, it should be consumed in moderation, like any nutrient. In food processing, maize starch offers benefits, such as providing the necessary texture and structure to foods without adding unhealthy fats or sugars.

Composition and Properties of Maize Starch

Maize starch is composed primarily of carbohydrates in the form of amylose and amylopectin. These two components give maize starch its unique thickening and binding properties. Its ability to absorb water and form a gel makes it highly useful in many food products, allowing it to enhance texture, consistency, and stability.

Role of Maize Starch in Food Processing

In food processing, maize starch serves as a thickening agent in products like soups, sauces, and gravies. It ensures a smooth consistency and prevents ingredients from separating. Additionally, as a stabilizer, it helps maintain the structure of products like dairy items, sauces, and salad dressings, preventing them from breaking down over time.

Maize Starch as a Texturizer

Maize starch is also crucial in contributing to the texture and mouthfeel of various foods. For example, it is used in gluten-free and specialty diets to replace the texture lost when gluten is removed. Its ability to add volume and structure without altering taste makes it an essential ingredient for creating satisfying gluten-free products.

Nutritional Aspects of Maize Starch

Maize starch is a source of calories, providing energy to the body. It is a carbohydrate, which is necessary for daily functioning, especially in physically demanding activities. While it lacks significant vitamins and minerals, some processed maize starch products may contain dietary fiber, offering benefits such as improved digestion and supporting gut health.

Maize Starch in Food Preservation

Maize starch also plays an important role in food preservation by extending the shelf life of products. Its moisture-retaining properties help prevent foods from drying out, while its ability to stabilize emulsions helps to prevent spoilage. This makes it a valuable ingredient for manufacturers looking to keep products fresh longer.

Economic Impact of Maize Starch in the Food Industry

Maize starch is a cost-effective ingredient compared to other types of starch, such as potato or wheat starch. Its affordability makes it a preferred choice in large-scale food production. By keeping production costs down, maize starch helps to keep food prices competitive while maintaining high quality.

Innovations and Trends in Maize Starch Usage

The demand for maize starch continues to evolve, with emerging applications in food technology, such as in the production of plant-based foods and clean-label products. Ongoing research is aimed at improving the properties of maize starch, including enhancing its stability under extreme processing conditions and developing new functional uses.

Who is the manufacturer of maize starch in India?

Gujarat Ambuja Exports Limited (GAEL), established in 1991, is a manufacturer of maize starch in India. GAEL offers high-quality maize starch and corn derivatives to industries around the world. With a focus on quality and innovation, GAEL plays a significant role in the agro-processing industry and is trusted by manufacturers globally.

Why Choose Gujarat Ambuja Exports Limited for Maize Starch?

GAEL's commitment to quality, combined with advanced manufacturing processes and a deep understanding of the food industry, makes it the best choice for maize starch. With a long-standing reputation for delivering reliable and high-quality products, GAEL is a preferred partner for food manufacturers seeking top-tier starch products.

Conclusion

Maize starch is essential in the food industry for its thickening, stabilizing, and texturising properties. Its ability to improve food quality, shelf life, and cost-effectiveness makes it a valuable ingredient. With companies like Gujarat Ambuja Exports Limited leading the way, the future of maize starch looks promising, with innovations enhancing its applications across various industries. 

For inquiries, contact: Phone: +91-79-61556677 Email: info@ambujagroup.com  

[mindblowingscience]

Scientists from NTU Singapore have developed a sustainable and more effective technique for making lactic acid by using discarded jackfruit seeds. Lactic acid plays an indispensable part in the industrial production and preservation of nearly all the food we consume, being used in various stages of the manufacturing of food staples such as bread, yogurt, cheese, kimchi, sauerkraut, and pickles. In 2022, approximately 1.5 million metric tons of lactic acid were manufactured worldwide. Lactic acid is added to dairy products for a tangy taste, controls acidity in jams and canned fruits, and extends the shelf life of packaged meat products. In baking, lactic acid conditions dough for better texture and volume. Additionally, lactic acid helps in emulsification of dressings and sauces and maintains vibrant colors in fruits and vegetables. Developed by Professor William Chen, Director of NTU's Food Science and Technology (FST) program, the method is cheaper and more sustainable than existing industrial methods as it requires fewer chemicals and processes, produces negligible amounts of by-products, and reduces food waste by using unwanted jackfruit seeds. Current industrial methods to produce lactic acid are costly as they typically involve fermenting raw materials such as sugarcane, corn starch and beetroot sugar, which have become more expensive due to the increasing scarcity of farmland, natural disasters, and rising inflation.

Continue Reading.

[hindahoney]

Do you have any specific tips on learning to keep kosher? Advice like what dairy substitutes work best or a reliable place to get recipes would be great. I grew up in a house that mixes dairy and meat for most meals so any help would be greatly appreciated. If you've already answered this, could you give a link to the post? I couldn't find one, but that might be because tumblr's search function doesn't work.

Sure! Here is a post I made about keeping kosher. Substitutes are your best friend. If a recipe calls for butter, using vegetable oil instead could be better if you're eating it with a meat meal. Margarine is also a great substitute when making baked goods. Mixing lemon juice with a nut milk gives you buttermilk.

In brownies, using orange juice instead of milk makes the flavor really pop. I love doing this on shabbat so I can have a dessert after a meat meal. You could also just use any other nut milk, or oat milk (just make sure it has a pareve symbol on it, I've seen some oat milks that are still OU D because it's sometimes manufactured in dairy machines or factories). Pareve chocolate is a miracle to be appreciated. Using egg noodles or zucchini noodles are great when you want to have a meat-based dish, and pareve bread for meat-based sandwiches.

I love using vegan or vegetarian plant-based meats in my dishes.* For example, I use vegan ground beef in my lasagna, so I can still use regular noodles and cheese. Plant-based chicken is also great for skillets or pasta. You could also just use fish instead, as it's considered pareve. I don't like the taste of vegan cheese, so I'd much rather use real cheese and vegan meat, but it's always an option. If you don't have meat but still want a filling meal, using grains such as quinoa, or starches like potatoes, can help with that.

As for finding recipes, there are a few kosher cooking blogs online. To find things I usually just search whatever food I want followed by "kosher" and it's usually there. If I can't find a recipe for it, I use a regular recipe with the above substitutes to make it kosher. Buying kosher cookbooks is also a good idea. I don't recommend just searching for "jewish cookbooks" because sometimes those include non-kosher dishes, so search specifically for kosher cookbooks.

*Some Jews have customs that don't allow them to eat vegan meats due to abiding by the spirit of the law, and the fact that the appearance of eating something not kosher could mislead others. It is best to discuss this with your rabbi if you think this may be an issue.

[mariacallous]

Shirley Temple may have liked animal crackers in her soup, but if she were Jewish, I’d bet shekels to sufganiyot that she would have preferred shkedei marak.

Also calledmandlach or mandlen in Yiddish, shkedei marak (which means ‘soup almonds’ in Hebrew) is the broad term for croutons of diverse forms that are used as an accompaniment or garnish for soups and stews. However, because of their exterior resemblance to nuts, they are affectionately and most popularly known as “soup nuts.” 

Like “grape nuts,” “soup nuts” do not contain legumes. Soup nuts are thought to have originated in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine as a workaround of sorts to enjoy some (unleavened) starch with your soup during Passover. Their savory, crunchy mouthfeel eventually led them to be a staple accoutrement year-round, and prominent Jewish food manufacturers began adding them permanently to their product lines. Although for decades the Osem brand had the corner on the market with regards to mass-produced soup nuts, other companies, such as Vita and Knorr now offer competing varieties. Today, you can even get your soup nuts fix on Amazon, with the added bonus of reading pithy reviews, such as: “kind of like Jewish oyster crackers, but kosher.”

While soup nuts traditionally are formed to look like petite nuts, they have appeared as rings, stars and fish (take that, goy Goldfish!). 

If you love shkedei marak, but don’t favor store-bought versions, DIY soup nuts require minimal culinary prowess. The most basic recipes call for eggs, matzah meal (or wheat flour) and vegetable shortening or oil. Once you have assembled the dough, simply roll it by hand into small balls and bake on a parchment-lined sheet on high heat until the surface of the spheres is a cozy chocolate brown. You can also deep-fry your dough balls to produce a terrific circumferential crisp that stays crunchy even when fully immersed in broth. Season with salt and pepper, though for additional dimensions of botanical flavor, I suggest dried garlic or rosemary. 

Soup nuts are considered a comfort food in the collective Jewish culinary consciousness, and are often nostalgically referenced in popular media. For example, in Jermon Charyn’s crime novel, “Elsinore,” former hitman Sidney Holden bonds with Brian Calendar over his enjoyment of “soup with special little nuts.”

Soup nuts (as the name implies) are intended to be scattered over soup, and due to their versatile pareve status, can be liberally sprinkled over dairy, as well as meat-based broths. Manischewitz, however, encourages its customers to branch out with regards to deploying soup nuts, and sprinkle over salads and even desserts (their packaging includes a recipe for mandlen strawberry trifle). And while soup nuts are ostensibly a side-note to soup, their toothsome flavor and addictive texture has led them to evolve to the status of stand-alone snack. In other words, it is totes kosher to chow down on shkedei marak in and of themselves — no spoon required. 

[thecurioustale]

Puttanesca Alla Fuck You

A puttanesca without anchovies (or some kind of salted fish) is like a ketchup without tomatoes! Sure, you can physically do it, and it may have started out that way historically (I'm not gonna get into that because it's a rabbit hole), but in the Year of Our Unicorn 2024 it's 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

I didn't even know a version without anchovies was a thing. The whole point of the sauce is its saltiness and pungency. Sure, you can do that with just the olives and garlic, but leaving out the salted fish is a real self-inflicted wound. And while puttanesca is not supposed to be, shall we say, a "seafood dish," there should be enough anchovy in there for you to be able to taste (albeit subtly) not just its depth of umami but its actual flavor. I dunno, I guess reasonable people can disagree on that, but if they did then reasonable people would be 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

I first started noticing adulterated puttanesca a few years ago in jarred form: I always look at the labels of new foods before I try them, and I found a jar of puttanesca (which excited me) whose ingredients list contained no fish of any kind (which outraged me). And once I noticed it the first time, I began noticing that, on the rare occasions I would see jarred puttanesca, it often lacked the anchovies. Okay, whatever. Wouldn't be the first time that food companies try to make more profit by doing something stupid with their food products. Welcome to the wonderful world of the Enshittification of Everything—even food! It makes rich people oodles of money even though we all know it's 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

But then I started noticing it in restaurants. Puttanesca is my favorite type of pasta sauce, so if I see it on a menu I am going to check it out. And, to my horror, I began to realize that this wasn't a one-off. I found more restaurants that also don't use anchovies in their puttanesca! To say that I was shocked to my very core would be the understatement of a thousand years, because in my mind, again, a puttanesca is synonymous with and inseparable from the fish that goes into it, like tomato in ketchup. I wracked my brains trying to come up with an explanation. Jarred pasta sauce manufacturers might leave out the most expensive ingredient, but actual restaurants never would. So what was going on? My best conclusion was that it was another one of these dumbass Pacific Northwest "twists" on food customs. We're really notorious out here for taking good food dishes from around the world and then making them "Pacific Northwest," usually by making them "lighter" fare that cuts protein and starch and fat via omitting some combination meat and dairy and egg and potato. Or, occasionally, you'll see a mammalian meat ingredient replaced by a fish one, or by mushrooms. Whatever; it's all 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

The last straw, and my occasion for writing this jeremiad, was seeing puttanesca on the menu of one of the "fancy" Italian restaurants here in town—you know the type: big prices, fancy digs, located on the waterfront, but not necessarily the best food (that's always a hit or miss with these kinds of places)—and they described their puttanesca like this: "tomatoes, basil, capers, calamata olive, chili flake, lemon juice, garlic, tomato sauce." Oh no you don't. OH NO YOU DON'T!!! That is 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

So I finally went and looked it up to see what the hell is going on. And that's when I learned that—just to peek at the rabbit hole briefly—the Neopolitan version of the dish named "puttanesca" doesn't typically use anchovies, even though there are near-identical versions of the dish, not named "puttanesca," that do. But under the name puttanesca, anchovies are more of a Southern Italy / Sicily thing. And clearly that's the influence that is winning out here in the Pacific Northwest and among the Jarred Pasta Sauce Industry. Which I am capitalizing because it's 100% wrong wrong wrong! 😭😭😭

Look...I get it. Recipes have variations. There's no law that says you can't be stark-raving mad about your culinary choices in life. (Actually there are a number of them, not least the prohibition against cannibalism, but for rhetorical purposes we'll say there aren't.) And just because I grew up knowing one and only one version of a dish doesn't mean that that's the only valid version of that dish. It's just that, in this case, the salted fish is central to the premise. That's what sets apart puttanesca from other Italian pasta sauces. Without it, it becomes essentially an olive sauce, as olives are both the next most distinctive ingredient (flavorfully and aromatically) and also the next most important ingredient in the sauce. I dunno; it just seems to me like missing the point. And I realize that maybe if you squint at it right the heart and soul of puttanesca is actually its convenience. Indeed, the etymology of the word (aside from the obvious) may actually refer to the "use whatever you have" nature of the recipe.

But. If it did...

And if that were how we conceived of it...

It would be 100% Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

😭😭😭

[truthdawn]

Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.

Bread may be leavened by naturally occurring microbes (e.g. sourdough), chemicals (e.g. baking soda), industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration, which creates the gas bubbles that fluff up bread. In many countries, commercial bread often contains additives to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, nutrition, and ease of production.

Etymology

The Old English word for bread was hlaf (hlaifs in Gothic: modern English loaf), which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name.[1] Old High German hleib[2] and modern German Laib derive from this Proto-Germanic word, which was borrowed into some Slavic (Czech: chléb, Polish: bochen chleba, Russian: khleb) and Finnic (Finnish: leipä, Estonian: leib) languages as well. The Middle and Modern English word bread appears in Germanic languages, such as West Frisian: brea, Dutch: brood, German: Brot, Swedish: bröd, and Norwegian and Danish: brød; it may be related to brew or perhaps to break, originally meaning "broken piece", "morsel".[3][better source needed]

History

Main article: History of bread

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. Evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe and Australia revealed starch residue on rocks used for pounding plants.[4][5] It is possible that during this time, starch extract from the roots of plants, such as cattails and ferns, was spread on a flat rock, placed over a fire and cooked into a primitive form of flatbread. The oldest evidence of bread-making has been found in a 14,500-year-old Natufian site in Jordan's northeastern desert.[6][7] Around 10,000 BC, with the dawn of the Neolithic age and the spread of agriculture, grains became the mainstay of making bread. Yeast spores are ubiquitous, including on the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest leavens naturally.[8]Woman baking bread (c. 2200 BC); Louvre

An early leavened bread was baked as early as 6000 BC in southern Mesopotamia, cradle of the Sumerian civilization, who may have passed on the knowledge to the Egyptians around 3000 BC. The Egyptians refined the process and started adding yeast to the flour. The Sumerians were already using ash to supplement the dough as it was baked.[9]

There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread. Airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer, called barm, to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples" such as barm cake. Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. The most common source of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough starter, as Pliny also reported.[10][11]

The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all considered the degree of refinement in the bakery arts as a sign of civilization.[9]

The Chorleywood bread process was developed in 1961; it uses the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period and the time taken to produce a loaf. The process, whose high-energy mixing allows for the use of grain with a lower protein content, is now widely used around the world in large factories. As a result, bread can be produced very quickly and at low costs to the manufacturer and the consumer. However, there has been some criticism of the effect on nutritional value.[12][13][14]

Types

Main article: List of breads

Brown bread (left) and whole grain bread

Dark sprouted bread

Ruisreikäleipä, a flat rye flour loaf with a hole

Bread is the staple food of the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, Europe, and in European-derived cultures such as those in the Americas, Australia, and Southern Africa. This is in contrast to parts of South and East Asia, where rice or noodles are the staple. Bread is usually made from a wheat-flour dough that is cultured with yeast, allowed to rise, and baked in an oven. Carbon dioxide and ethanol vapors produced during yeast fermentation result in bread's air pockets.[15] Owing to its high levels of gluten (which give the dough sponginess and elasticity), common or bread wheat is the most common grain used for the preparation of bread, which makes the largest single contribution to the world's food supply of any food.[16]Sangak, an Iranian flatbreadStrucia — a type of European sweet bread

Bread is also made from the flour of other wheat species (including spelt, emmer, einkorn and kamut).[17] Non-wheat cereals including rye, barley, maize (corn), oats, sorghum, millet and rice have been used to make bread, but, with the exception of rye, usually in combination with wheat flour as they have less gluten.[18]

Gluten-free breads are made using flours from a variety of ingredients such as almonds, rice, sorghum, corn, legumes such as beans, and tubers such as cassava. Since these foods lack gluten, dough made from them may not hold its shape as the loaves rise, and their crumb may be dense with little aeration. Additives such as xanthan gum, guar gum, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), corn starch, or eggs are used to compensate for the lack of gluten.[19][20][21][22]

Properties

Physical-chemical composition

In wheat, phenolic compounds are mainly found in hulls in the form of insoluble bound ferulic acid, where it is relevant to wheat resistance to fungal diseases.[23]

Rye bread contains phenolic acids and ferulic acid dehydrodimers.[24]

Three natural phenolic glucosides, secoisolariciresinol diglucoside, p-coumaric acid glucoside and ferulic acid glucoside, can be found in commercial breads containing flaxseed.[25]Small home made bread with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Glutenin and gliadin are functional proteins found in wheat bread that contribute to the structure of bread. Glutenin forms interconnected gluten networks within bread through interchain disulfide bonds.[26] Gliadin binds weakly to the gluten network established by glutenin via intrachain disulfide bonds.[26] Structurally, bread can be defined as an elastic-plastic foam (same as styrofoam). The glutenin protein contributes to its elastic nature, as it is able to regain its initial shape after deformation. The gliadin protein contributes to its plastic nature, because it demonstrates non-reversible structural change after a certain amount of applied force. Because air pockets within this gluten network result from carbon dioxide production during leavening, bread can be defined as a foam, or a gas-in-solid solution.[27]

Acrylamide, like in other starchy foods that have been heated higher than 120 °C (248 °F), has been found in recent years to occur in bread. Acrylamide is neurotoxic, has adverse effects on male reproduction and developmental toxicity and is carcinogenic. A study has found that more than 99 percent of the acrylamide in bread is found in the crust.[28]

A study by the University of Hohenheim found that industrially produced bread typically has a high proportion of FODMAP carbohydrates due to a short rising time (often only one hour). The high proportion of FODMAP carbohydrates in such bread then causes flatulence. This is particularly problematic in intestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome. While in traditional bread making the dough rises for several hours, industrial breads rise for a much shorter time, usually only one hour. However, a sufficiently long rising time is important to break down the indigestible FODMAP carbohydrates. Some flours (for example, spelt, emmer and einkorn) contain fewer FODMAPs, but the difference between grain types is relatively small (between 1 and 2 percent by weight). Instead, 90% of the FODMAPs that cause discomfort can be broken down during a rising time of 4 hours. In the study, whole-grain yeast doughs were examined after different rising times; the highest level of FODMAPs was present after one hour in each case and decreased thereafter. The study thus shows that it is essentially the baking technique and not the type of grain that determines whether a bread is well tolerated or not. A better tolerance of bread made from original cereals can therefore not be explained by the original cereal itself, but rather by the fact that traditional, artisanal baking techniques are generally used when baking original cereals, which include a long dough process. The study also showed that a long rising time also breaks down undesirable phytates more effectively, flavors develop better, and the finished bread contains more biologically accessible trace elements.[29][30]

Culinary uses

Bread pudding

Bread can be served at many temperatures; once baked, it can subsequently be toasted. It is most commonly eaten with the hands, either by itself or as a carrier for other foods. Bread can be spread with butter, dipped into liquids such as gravy, olive oil, or soup;[31] it can be topped with various sweet and savory spreads, or used to make sandwiches containing meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments.[32]

Bread is used as an ingredient in other culinary preparations, such as the use of breadcrumbs to provide crunchy crusts or thicken sauces; toasted cubes of bread, called croutons, are used as a salad topping; seasoned bread is used as stuffing inside roasted turkey; sweet or savoury bread puddings are made with bread and various liquids; egg and milk-soaked bread is fried as French toast; and bread is used as a binding agent in sausages, meatballs and other ground meat products.[33]

Nutritional significance

Bread is a good source of carbohydrates and micronutrients such as magnesium, iron, selenium, and B vitamins. Whole grain bread is a good source of dietary fiber and all breads are a common source of protein in the diet, though not a rich one.[34][35]

Crust

Crust of a cut bread made of whole-grainrye with crust crack (half right at the top)

Bread crust is formed from surface dough during the cooking process. It is hardened and browned through the Maillard reaction using the sugars and amino acids due to the intense heat at the bread surface. The crust of most breads is harder, and more complexly and intensely flavored, than the rest. Old wives' tales suggest that eating the bread crust makes a person's hair curlier.[36] Additionally, the crust is rumored to be healthier than the remainder of the bread. Some studies have shown that this is true as the crust has more dietary fiber and antioxidants such as pronyl-lysine.[37]

Preparation

Steps in bread making, here for an unleavened Chilean tortilla

Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed (e.g., mantou), fried (e.g., puri), or baked on an unoiled frying pan (e.g., tortillas). It may be leavened or unleavened (e.g. matzo). Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may contain other ingredients, such as milk, egg, sugar, spice, fruit (such as raisins), vegetables (such as onion), nuts (such as walnut) or seeds (such as poppy).[38]

Methods of processing dough into bread include the straight dough process, the sourdough process, the Chorleywood bread process and the sponge and dough process.Baking bread in East Timor

Formulation

Professional bread recipes are stated using the baker's percentage notation. The amount of flour is denoted to be 100%, and the other ingredients are expressed as a percentage of that amount by weight. Measurement by weight is more accurate and consistent than measurement by volume, particularly for dry ingredients. The proportion of water to flour is the most important measurement in a bread recipe, as it affects texture and crumb the most. Hard wheat flours absorb about 62% water, while softer wheat flours absorb about 56%.[39] Common table breads made from these doughs result in a finely textured, light bread. Most artisan bread formulas contain anywhere from 60 to 75% water. In yeast breads, the higher water percentages result in more CO2 bubbles and a coarser bread crumb.

Dough recipes commonly call for 500 grams (about 1.1 pounds) of flour, which yields a single loaf of bread or two baguettes.

Calcium propionate is commonly added by commercial bakeries to retard the growth of molds.[citation needed]

Flour

Main article: Flour

Flour is grain ground into a powder. Flour provides the primary structure, starch and protein to the final baked bread. The protein content of the flour is the best indicator of the quality of the bread dough and the finished bread. While bread can be made from all-purpose wheat flour, a specialty bread flour, containing more protein (12–14%), is recommended for high-quality bread. If one uses a flour with a lower protein content (9–11%) to produce bread, a shorter mixing time is required to develop gluten strength properly. An extended mixing time leads to oxidization of the dough, which gives the finished product a whiter crumb, instead of the cream color preferred by most artisan bakers.[40]

Wheat flour, in addition to its starch, contains three water-soluble protein groups (albumin, globulin, and proteoses) and two water-insoluble protein groups (glutenin and gliadin). When flour is mixed with water, the water-soluble proteins dissolve, leaving the glutenin and gliadin to form the structure of the resulting bread. When relatively dry dough is worked by kneading, or wet dough is allowed to rise for a long time (see no-knead bread), the glutenin forms strands of long, thin, chainlike molecules, while the shorter gliadin forms bridges between the strands of glutenin. The resulting networks of strands produced by these two proteins are known as gluten. Gluten development improves if the dough is allowed to autolyse.[41]

Liquids

Water, or some other liquid, is used to form the flour into a paste or dough. The weight or ratio of liquid required varies between recipes, but a ratio of three parts liquid to five parts flour is common for yeast breads.[42] Recipes that use steam as the primary leavening method may have a liquid content in excess of one part liquid to one part flour. Instead of water, recipes may use liquids such as milk or other dairy products (including buttermilk or yogurt), fruit juice, or eggs. These contribute additional sweeteners, fats, or leavening components, as well as water.[43]

Fats or shortenings

Fats, such as butter, vegetable oils, lard, or that contained in eggs, affect the development of gluten in breads by coating and lubricating the individual strands of protein. They also help to hold the structure together. If too much fat is included in a bread dough, the lubrication effect causes the protein structures to divide. A fat content of approximately 3% by weight is the concentration that produces the greatest leavening action.[44] In addition to their effects on leavening, fats also serve to tenderize breads and preserve freshness.

Bread improvers

Main article: Bread improver

Bread improvers and dough conditioners are often used in producing commercial breads to reduce the time needed for rising and to improve texture and volume and to give antistaling effects. The substances used may be oxidising agents to strengthen the dough or reducing agents to develop gluten and reduce mixing time, emulsifiers to strengthen the dough or to provide other properties such as making slicing easier, or enzymes to increase gas production.[45]

Salt

Salt (sodium chloride) is very often added to enhance flavor and restrict yeast activity. It also affects the crumb and the overall texture by stabilizing and strengthening[46] the gluten. Some artisan bakers forego early addition of salt to the dough, whether wholemeal or refined, and wait until after a 20-minute rest to allow the dough to autolyse.[47]

Mixtures of salts are sometimes employed, such as employing potassium chloride to reduce the sodium level, and monosodium glutamate to give flavor (umami).

Leavening

See also: Unleavened breadA dough trough, located in Aberdour Castle, once used for leavening bread

Leavening is the process of adding gas to a dough before or during baking to produce a lighter, more easily chewed bread. Most bread eaten in the West is leavened.[48]

Chemicals

A simple technique for leavening bread is the use of gas-producing chemicals. There are two common methods. The first is to use baking powder or a self-raising flour that includes baking powder. The second is to include an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk and add baking soda; the reaction of the acid with the soda produces gas.[48] Chemically leavened breads are called quick breads and soda breads. This method is commonly used to make muffins, pancakes, American-style biscuits, and quick breads such as banana bread.

Yeast

Main article: Baker's yeastCompressed fresh yeast

Many breads are leavened by yeast. The yeast most commonly used for leavening bread is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same species used for brewing alcoholic beverages. This yeast ferments some of the sugars producing carbon dioxide. Commercial bakers often leaven their dough with commercially produced baker's yeast. Baker's yeast has the advantage of producing uniform, quick, and reliable results, because it is obtained from a pure culture.[48] Many artisan bakers produce their own yeast with a growth culture. If kept in the right conditions, it provides leavening for many years.[49]

The baker's yeast and sourdough methods follow the same pattern. Water is mixed with flour, salt and the leavening agent. Other additions (spices, herbs, fats, seeds, fruit, etc.) are not needed to bake bread, but are often used. The mixed dough is then allowed to rise one or more times (a longer rising time results in more flavor, so bakers often "punch down" the dough and let it rise again), loaves are formed, and (after an optional final rising time) the bread is baked in an oven.[48]

Many breads are made from a "straight dough", which means that all of the ingredients are combined in one step, and the dough is baked after the rising time;[48] others are made from a "pre-ferment" in which the leavening agent is combined with some of the flour and water a day or so ahead of baking and allowed to ferment overnight. On the day of baking, the rest of the ingredients are added, and the process continues as with straight dough. This produces a more flavorful bread with better texture. Many bakers see the starter method as a compromise between the reliable results of baker's yeast and the flavor and complexity of a longer fermentation. It also allows the baker to use only a minimal amount of baker's yeast, which was scarce and expensive when it first became available. Most yeasted pre-ferments fall into one of three categories: "poolish" or "pouliche", a loose-textured mixture composed of roughly equal amounts of flour and water (by weight); "biga", a stiff mixture with a higher proportion of flour; and "pâte fermentée", which is a portion of dough reserved from a previous batch.[50][51]

Before first rising

After first rising

After proofing, ready to bake

Sourdough

Main article: SourdoughSourdough loaves

Sourdough is a type of bread produced by a long fermentation of dough using naturally occurring yeasts and lactobacilli. It usually has a mildly sour taste because of the lactic acid produced during anaerobic fermentation by the lactobacilli. Longer fermented sourdoughs can also contain acetic acid, the main non-water component of vinegar.[52][53][54]

Sourdough breads are made with a sourdough starter. The starter cultivates yeast and lactobacilli in a mixture of flour and water, making use of the microorganisms already present on flour; it does not need any added yeast. A starter may be maintained indefinitely by regular additions of flour and water. Some bakers have starters many generations old, which are said to have a special taste or texture.[52] At one time, all yeast-leavened breads were sourdoughs. Recently there has been a revival of sourdough bread in artisan bakeries.[55]

Traditionally, peasant families throughout Europe baked on a fixed schedule, perhaps once a week. The starter was saved from the previous week's dough. The starter was mixed with the new ingredients, the dough was left to rise, and then a piece of it was saved to be the starter for next week's bread.[48]

Steam

The rapid expansion of steam produced during baking leavens the bread, which is as simple as it is unpredictable. Steam-leavening is unpredictable since the steam is not produced until the bread is baked. Steam leavening happens regardless of the raising agents (baking soda, yeast, baking powder, sour dough, beaten egg white) included in the mix. The leavening agent either contains air bubbles or generates carbon dioxide. The heat vaporises the water from the inner surface of the bubbles within the dough. The steam expands and makes the bread rise. This is the main factor in the rising of bread once it has been put in the oven.[56] CO2 generation, on its own, is too small to account for the rise. Heat kills bacteria or yeast at an early stage, so the CO2 generation is stopped.

Bacteria

Salt-rising bread does not use yeast. Instead, it is leavened by Clostridium perfringens, one of the most common sources of food-borne illness.[57][58]

Aeration

Aerated bread is leavened by carbon dioxide being forced into dough under pressure. From the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, bread made this way was somewhat popular in the United Kingdom, made by the Aerated Bread Company and sold in its high-street tearooms. The company was founded in 1862, and ceased independent operations in 1955.[59]

The Pressure-Vacuum mixer was later developed by the Flour Milling and Baking Research Association for the Chorleywood bread process. It manipulates the gas bubble size and optionally the composition of gases in the dough via the gas applied to the headspace.[60]

Cultural Significance

A Ukrainian woman in national dress welcoming with bread and salt

Main article: Bread in culture

Bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition in many cultures because of its history and contemporary importance. Bread is also significant in Christianity as one of the elements (alongside wine) of the Eucharist,[61] and in other religions including Paganism.[62]

In many cultures, bread is a metaphor for basic necessities and living conditions in general. For example, a "bread-winner" is a household's main economic contributor and has little to do with actual bread-provision. This is also seen in the phrase "putting bread on the table". The Roman poet Juvenal satirized superficial politicians and the public as caring only for "panem et circenses" (bread and circuses).[63] In Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks promised "peace, land, and bread."[64][65] The term "breadbasket" denotes an agriculturally productive region. In parts of Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe bread and salt is offered as a welcome to guests.[66] In India, life's basic necessities are often referred to as "roti, kapra aur makan" (bread, cloth, and house).[67]

Words for bread, including "dough" and "bread" itself, are used in English-speaking countries as synonyms for money.[1] A remarkable or revolutionary innovation may be called the best thing since "sliced bread".[68] The expression "to break bread with someone" means "to share a meal with someone".[69] The English word "lord" comes from the Anglo-Saxon hlāfweard, meaning "bread keeper."[70]

Bread is sometimes referred to as "the staff of life", although this term can refer to other staple foods in different cultures: the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "bread (or similar staple food)".[71][72] This is sometimes thought to be a biblical reference, but the nearest wording is in Leviticus 26 "when I have broken the staff of your bread".[73] The term has been adopted in the names of bakery firms.[74]

See also

Food portal

Bark bread – Scandinavian bread used as famine food

Bread bowl – Round loaf of bread which has had a large portion of the middle cut out to create an edible bowl

Bread clip – Closure device for plastic bags

Bread dildo – Dildo prepared using bread, allegedly made in the Greco-Roman era around 2,000 years ago

Breading – Residue of dried bread

Bread machine – Type of home appliance for baking bread

Bread pan – Kitchen utensil

Crouton – Rebaked breads

List of breads

List of bread dishes – Dishes using bread as a main ingredient, listed by category

List of toast dishes

Quick bread – Bread leavened with agents other than yeast

Sliced bread – Loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine

Slow Bread – Type of bread made using very little yeast

Sop – Piece of bread or toast that is drenched in liquid and then eaten.

Stuffing – Edible mixture filling a food's cavity

White bread – Type of bread made from white wheat flour

oh fuck yes bread

[greentekkid-blog]

5 Myths About Bioplastic Utensils Debunked

In the quest for more sustainable living, bioplastic utensils have emerged as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional plastic cutlery. However, like many innovative solutions, bioplastic utensils are surrounded by a range of myths and misconceptions. In this blog, we’ll debunk five common myths about bioplastic utensils and provide the facts you need to make informed choices. Contact us for more information or shop all of our products.

Myth 1: Bioplastic Utensils Are Just as Harmful as Regular Plastic

Debunked: One of the most pervasive myths is that bioplastic utensils are no better for the environment than conventional plastic. While it’s true that not all bioplastics are created equal, many bioplastic utensils are made from renewable resources like cornstarch, sugarcane, or potato starch. These materials have a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to petroleum-based plastics. Moreover, many bioplastics are designed to be compostable, meaning they can break down into natural elements without leaving harmful residues, unlike traditional plastics which can persist in the environment for hundreds of years.

Myth 2: Bioplastic Utensils Don’t Compost Properly

Debunked: Another misconception is that bioplastic utensils do not compost effectively and end up in landfills, just like regular plastic. The truth is, bioplastics require specific conditions to break down, such as industrial composting facilities where temperatures and humidity are controlled. While it’s true that these utensils won’t decompose as quickly in a backyard compost, in the right conditions, they can turn into compost within a few months, contributing to soil health rather than pollution.

Myth 3: Bioplastic Utensils Are Not Durable

Debunked: There’s a common belief that bioplastic utensils are flimsy and less durable than their traditional plastic counterparts. However, advancements in bioplastic technology have led to the production of utensils that are not only strong and sturdy but also heat-resistant and capable of handling various types of food. Many users find that high-quality bioplastic utensils can perform just as well as, if not better than, conventional plastic ones.

Myth 4: Bioplastic Utensils Are Too Expensive

Debunked: While it’s true that bioplastics were once more expensive due to limited production and higher material costs, the increasing demand for sustainable products has led to greater production efficiency and a reduction in costs. Today, the price difference between bioplastic and traditional plastic utensils is narrowing, making them a more accessible option for consumers and businesses alike. Additionally, the environmental benefits of choosing bioplastics can outweigh the slight cost difference, especially when considering the long-term impact on the planet.

Myth 5: Bioplastic Utensils Contribute to Deforestation

Debunked: Some critics argue that the production of bioplastics leads to deforestation, as large areas of land are used to grow the crops needed for bioplastic production. However, the reality is more nuanced. Many bioplastic manufacturers source their raw materials from sustainably managed farms that use crop rotation and other environmentally friendly practices. Additionally, research is ongoing to develop bioplastics from non-food sources, such as agricultural waste, which would further reduce the environmental impact.

Conclusion

Bioplastic utensils represent a promising step towards reducing our reliance on traditional plastics. By debunking these myths, we hope to provide clarity and encourage more people to consider bioplastics as a viable, sustainable option. At GreenTek Planet, we’re committed to offering eco-friendly products that help protect our environment. Choose bioplastics with confidence, knowing that you’re making a positive impact on our planet.

[wolfliving]

Ex-Designer Project Bar in Barcelona

via e-flux

Martí Guixé’s Ex-Designer Project Bar, an exceptional project that turns a digitally designed interior, produced entirely using full-size 3D printing techniques into a standalone object, will be on display at the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) from May 23 to August 25. 

The project was born in November 2015, when Martí Guixé, one of Barcelona’s most internationally influential 21st century designers, set out to design and 3D-print, independently and without help, all the components of a bar on Barcelona’s C/ Entença in collaboration with architect Pau Badia. The bar, an empty commercial unit with minimal structure, was gradually redesigned and built over a period of almost five years, using three on-site printers while still in operation. Thus, all the bar’s components were gradually printed: everything from the tiles on the walls and the furniture down to the smallest utensils, such as glasses of different types, plates and cutlery. 

According to Martí Guixé, the process itself is what matters, so the project became something performative, incorporating coincidence in a natural way.

The use of the establishment as a bar—where concerts, presentations, talks and other events were also held—was just as important as its role as a laboratory for experimenting on the possibilities of additive printing, and the utopia of digital autonomy. The project explores the true potential of digital fabrication technologies to achieve the dream of self-sufficiency for local production, without having to rely on large global manufacturing systems. 

Just as the bar was finished, with the grand opening scheduled for February 2020, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown forced it to close. It then underwent a process of “deconstruction”, which was carried out behind closed doors and in an orderly manner, like a work of archaeology, in order to preserve it in full. The Ex-Designer Project Bar thus ceased to be a bar or a work of interior design to become a standalone “object” adapted for other possible uses.

Martí Guixé’s Ex-Designer Bar is a reflection on the potential for democratising industrial production and the industrial process: “The use of 3D technology makes artisans redundant and unifies materials. The world is made up of ideas, not of people’s energy”. He also said that “bringing the Ex-Designer Bar to a museum turns it into an object, a ruin and an archaeological site of the future”.

The first full-size reconstruction of the bar With Ex-Designer Project Bar, the DHub is exhibiting this monumental object in its original format, after assembling the walls and other various components: A total of 30 wooden panels measuring 122 cm x 150 cm, plus over six thousand 14 cm x 14 cm tiles. The result is an installation that measures 8.75 x 3.56 m and is 5.02 m high, whose component parts have been 3D-printed in full size using polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable polymer made from 100% renewable resources, such as corn or plant starch. 

The interior walls include the front of the bar, which features figurative motifs from other projects by Martí Guixé, the side bars with experiments with bas-reliefs and pseudo-geometric figures in various sizes and thicknesses, and unsuccessful attempts to create a series of bag and coat hooks. There is also a notice board with backlit tiles for posting information about events and food and drink prices, as well as a front panel in which the main figure represents Artificial Intelligence, a representation of all the 3D printers used, including the one for printing food. 

[artemisarticles]

Getting Started

Clear the decks. Take everything out of your pantry, give it a hard look and decide what you can get rid of. Be ruthless. If you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it.

Keep what looks and smells good. “Expiration,” ���sell by,” and “best by” dates are not good guidelines. Some are determined by regulators, others by manufacturers, and almost all are arbitrary. Properly stored, some (unopened) ingredients, like canned fish, can last for years; others, like dried herbs, start declining in quality the moment they are sealed in a container.

Assess what remains. Then organize it according to the logic that makes sense to you: There’s no single best system. Your nut butters might be with the condiments, or the breakfast items, or the baking supplies.

Fill in the blanks with food that will make you a better cook. Each of the pantry lists below is a proposal, not a prescription. There’s no reason to stock black beans if you only like red. There’s no need to have everything here available at all times. You’ll know your pantry is well stocked for your purposes when most of the time, you need only add one or two fresh ingredients to cook one of our recipes from scratch. Or even better, none.

The Essential Pantry

The foundation layer for all three pantries, this is where everyone should start. There’s so much to be done with these basics. The rule here is stock your pantry mostly with what you’re confident using, and what you love to eat. You’ll turn to it again and again.

Oils and vinegars: Extra-virgin olive oil, neutral cooking oil (such as canola or grapeseed), red-wine vinegar, white vinegar or white-wine vinegar.

Cans and jars: Tuna in olive oil, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken stock or vegetable stock (box-packed tastes better than canned). A good-tasting, simple tomato sauce can become a soup or a stew, or make a quick dinner with pasta or polenta.

Spices and dried herbs: Kosher salt, red-pepper flakes, ground cayenne, curry powder, bay leaves, black peppercorns, sweet paprika, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, garlic powder or granulated garlic, dried thyme and dried oregano. This selection will take you through everything from a basic beef stew to Saturday morning pancakes to Thanksgiving dinner.

Grains and starches: Long-grain white rice, one or two other grains (such as quinoa or farro), dry pasta (one long, one short and chunky), plain bread crumbs, crackers, canned beans (white beans, black beans and-or chickpeas), dry lentils.

Nuts and nut butters: Walnuts, almonds, roasted peanuts, peanut butter (smooth and crunchy).

Sweeteners: Honey, maple syrup, granulated sugar.

Preserves and pickles: Fruit jams and preserves, anchovies.

Condiments and sauces: Basic vinaigrette, mustard (yellow or Dijon), mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce, salsa, soy sauce.

Produce: Garlic, onions, all-purpose potatoes (such as Yukon Gold), lemons, shelf-stable tofu (Essential for vegetarians, Expanded for others).

Dairy: Eggs, unsalted butter, cheeses (Cheddar, Jack or Colby, Parmesan), milk or cream for cooking (not skim).

Freezer: Chicken parts, sausages, thick fish fillets, shrimp, thick-sliced bread (for toast), spinach (and other vegetables such as corn and peas), berries (and other fruit such as peaches and mango). Some fruits and vegetables take particularly well to freezing — and in most growing seasons, the quality is better than fresh. Frozen fruit is useful for baking and smoothies.

Baking: All-purpose flour, cornmeal, rolled oats, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, pure vanilla extract, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, confectioners’ sugar, bittersweet baking chocolate, semisweet chocolate chips, raisins or another dried fruit, cocoa powder. With these ingredients on hand, thousands of cookies, brownies, cakes, muffins, quick breads and other sweets can be produced without a trip to the store.

The Expanded Pantry

For the cook who has a grasp of the basics, but wants to be able to stretch toward new options and flavors. Here, long-lasting, punchy ingredients like tahini, hoisin sauce, coconut milk, sherry vinegar and capers are stocked alongside classics: limes with lemons, jasmine rice as well as long-grain, almond butter in addition to peanut butter.

Oils and vinegars: Peanut oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, sherry or balsamic vinegar, apple-cider vinegar.

Cans and jars: Sardines, unsweetened coconut milk, whole Italian plum tomatoes, beef stock (box-packed tastes better than canned). Whole plum tomatoes are rarely called for in recipes, but they tend to be the ripest and best-quality fruit. They can be diced or crushed to use in a recipe — or drained and slow-roasted for an intense topping on omelets, salads, grain bowls or pizza.

Spices: Flaky salt, single-chile powders (such as ancho and pasilla), ground coriander, turmeric, smoked paprika, cardamom, za’atar, allspice, fennel seeds, dry mustard, garam masala (a basic Indian mix of warm spices), five-spice powder (a basic Chinese mix of spices), whole nutmegs.

Grains and starches: Rice noodles, basmati or jasmine rice, brown rice, panko bread crumbs, dry beans.

Nuts and nut butters: Almond butter, tahini, pecans.

Preserves and pickles: Olives (oil-cured and-or in brine), capers in brine. These ingredients, served with good bread and butter, make an elegant appetizer with wine, or everyday snack.

Condiments and sauces: Worcestershire sauce, hoisin, Thai red curry paste, fish sauce, anchovy paste, harissa.

Produce: Russet potatoes, carrots, celery, limes, ginger, avocados, parsley, cilantro, scallions, jalapeños. Keeping chiles, aromatics and herbs on hand gives you instant access to intensely fresh flavors, even for — maybe especially for — the simplest dishes you cook.

Dairy: Plain full-fat yogurt, more intense cheeses (pecorino, feta), salted butter.

Freezer: Pancetta, artichoke hearts, homemade stock, homemade bread crumbs, fresh pasta, vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, cut and peeled winter squash, chopped onions), cooked grains. Prepared ingredients like chopped onions and cooked grains speed your route to dinner.

Baking: Cake flour, whole-wheat flour, dark baking chocolate, vanilla beans, almond extract, powdered gelatin, molasses, light corn syrup, buttermilk powder, active dry yeast.

The Expert Pantry

For the cook who likes taking global flavors, new methods and viral recipes for a spin. Here, the chiles get hotter, the chocolates darker and the cheeses funkier. These ingredients are just a fraction of what’s out there, but by stocking them, you will be able to cook almost any recipe you come across and experiment with creating your own.

Spices: Hot smoked paprika (pimentón), sumac, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, flaky dried chiles (such as Aleppo, Urfa or Maras), dried whole chiles (like ancho and arból), marjoram, dukkah, baharat, shichimi. Whether you stock spice mixes like baharat (a mix of warm spices used in the Middle East) or shichimi (a Japanese blend of ground chiles and sesame seeds) will depend on the global flavors that most appeal to you.

Grains and starches: Short-grain rice, dried pastas (bucatini, mezzi rigatoni or farfalle), spelt, pearl barley.

Nuts and nut butters: Pine nuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), pistachios. Toasted nuts like these (not as everyday as almond and peanuts) are good in salads and granola, on roasted fish, or just with olives for a classic pre-dinner snack.

Preserves and pickles: Pickled hot peppers, cornichons, kimchi, preserved lemons, roasted chiles, horseradish, caperberries, dried sausages such as saucisson sec and chorizo. The intense flavors of pickled and salted ingredients can be a great pick-me-up for mild dishes. In cooking, you can often substitute a bit of preserved lemon for regular lemon, or use the brine from cornichons as part of the liquid in a recipe.

Condiments and sauces: Gochujang, mango chutney, miso, wasabi, dark soy sauce, Chinese oyster sauce, Asian chili bean pastes.

Produce: Shallots, fresh mint, fresh rosemary, lemongrass, fresh Serrano and Thai bird chiles, fresh bay leaves.

Dairy: Ghee, crème fraîche, aged cheeses (Gruyère, blue cheese). Ghee (Indian-style clarified butter) and crème fraîche can reach much higher temperatures than butter, yogurt and sour cream without burning or breaking, so they are useful in cooking.

Freezer: Edamame, curry leaves, makrut lime leaves, merguez (spicy lamb sausages from North Africa). Fragrant leaves like makrut lime and curry (not the spice mix, but an Indian tree with scented leaves) are much more powerful in frozen form than dried.

Baking: Bread flour, pectin, almond flour, tapioca pearls, rose and orange flower waters, gelatin sheets, black cocoa, currants, fresh yeast, sparkling sugar, pearl sugar, candied citrus rinds

Best Practices

Once you have your ingredients, remember that cooking will always create change and disorder. Cans of tomatoes may never match, spices may never live in matching containers, and your hot sauce collection may always try to take over the condiment shelf. But here are a few final thoughts on how to keep your pantry well stocked and well organized enough to be truly useful.

ORGANIZING TIPS

Cooks with different styles need different systems. Some people store the jam with the dried fruits and maple syrup; others associate it with peanut butter, mustard and mayonnaise. The best logic is your own, and it may take some time to figure that out.

If you can’t see it, you’re probably not going to use it. A storage space with more shelving is the most efficient configuration for ingredients. Drawers or slide-out shelves also help tremendously with visibility.

Store everything you can in clear containers. Airtight plastic ones are best, and available in many shapes, sizes, and systems. Rectangular shapes make the best use of space.

Keep a roll of painter’s tape and some permanent markers in a kitchen drawer. It’ll help you make quick labels.

MAXIMIZING INGREDIENTS

Be realistic about your habits. It’s great to clean and trim a week’s worth of vegetables at once — but if you’re not going to do that, buy smaller quantities.

Buy ground spices in the smallest quantities you can find (except for spices you use regularly). Specialty companies will ship as little as an ounce, about 3 tablespoons. You’ll save space and produce better, brighter flavors in your food.

Buy fresh herbs. Dried herbs used to be a pantry essential, but most start out with very little flavor and lose it quickly in storage. (A couple of exceptions are dried oregano and dried thyme.) Pick up fresh herbs when you need them for a particular recipe; it’s a better investment of money and storage space.

Buy heavy, shelf-stable ingredients like boxed broth and canned tomatoes in bulk; better yet, order them online to save time and irritation. Almost any delivery service or website will offer a better price on these items than a brick-and-mortar store.

Cooked ingredients are much easier to use up than raw ones. Whether you steam, boil, pan-fry or roast, cook anything in your refrigerator that looks tired. You can always use it in a salad, a grain bowl or a pasta.

[kingdrawcse]

Zero-Calorie Sweetener Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Attack?

Erythritol is manufactured using enzymatic hydrolysis of the starch from corn to generate glucose. Erythritol is 60–70% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar) but it is almost completely noncaloric and does not affect blood sugar or cause tooth decay. Therefore, it has been considered a zero-calorie sweetener and safe sugar for a long time. However, recently, researchers from Cleveland Clinic have examined the link between erythritol consumption and cardiovascular risk. They found that erythritol consumption increases cardiovascular risk, including the risk of a heart attack or stroke, thrombosis (blood clotting), and death related to a cardiovascular event.

Erythritol is a chemical compound, sugar alcohol, used as a food additive and sugar substitute. It is naturally occurring and is made from corn using enzymes and fermentation. Erythritol is 60–70% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar), yet it is almost noncaloric and does not affect blood sugar or cause tooth decay.

[bluecraftagro-blogs]

Bluecraft Agro: Leading Food Starch Manufacturers in India

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[erithacusrou]

Whew... I was incredibly groggy when I wrote this but I promised myself I would jot down some goals for the new year. I honestly didn’t prepare much for the end of the year, and I’m making this list last minute without any forethought or planning, so I’m not really cutting anything cold turkey or “starting fresh,” but more trying to build into healthy habits as the year goes on. I tried to list concrete goals too so I have something tangible to aim for, but I know I won’t be hitting those right off the bat.

• For starters, I want to eat better. Start out by limiting sweets to once a day because I have a terrible addiction to them, and add in more whole fruits and vegetables and varied starches. Less fast food especially. I enjoy healthy foods, I just have a problem about forgetting about them and letting them go bad... Or going for the easy/quick food option instead of opting for the physical act of making something.

• Leading in from the last one, I need to start cooking. I don’t particularly enjoy it because, like the dishes, it involves standing over the counters in the kitchen, which is painful if done for more than a few minutes unless I’m binding and wearing shoes (which I have obstinate objections to doing in my own home even if it eases my pain). But I haven’t cooked anything in over a year and I’m feelin’ kind of guilty and useless about it. Maybe I’ll start out doing it infrequently and ease into it with box meals like hamburger helper, and maybe by the end of the year I’ll be cooking weekly meals with everyone else? Doing basic meal prep instead of buying freezer meals? My cooking skills are currently limited to following instructions on Kraft mac and cheese boxes so we’ll see how this one turns out. I’m anxious to learn how to cook. Not that I don’t have good teachers and the internet to help me, I just know I’m gonna forget something on the burner or forget to add something or otherwise be hindered by my impaired memory, and the fear of failure is strong.

• I need to drink more water, and less...everything else. I’m constantly drinking something but it’s never water. I think it’s my need for a constant steady stream of stimulation, and sweet flavored drinks satiate that need, but I really do need more water. Less soda and more tea at least (dear god we have so much tea in this house). Current goal is to manage chugging water at least once daily, and keep my water bottle on me when I’m at my desk so I can sip on it as a stim.

• I want to keep up with my daily routine and healthy habits better. Taking my medicine, brushing my teeth, skincare, etc. I’ve got an app that I’ve been using to help me, but as someone with literally no willpower and an inability to manufacture my own motivation for things that are not novel or don’t have a deadline rapidly approaching, I’m going to have trouble with this one.

• Exercising... I want to get started here but there’s just so much information out there on this subject. I think I want to do cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises. I live in an apartment complex with a Planet Fitness on the first floor, but my budget’s kinda tight, and I don’t really feel safe or confident walking city streets since people drive stupid around here and I don’t trust them. But coming up with varied exercise routines so I don’t stagnate and remembering names (and proper form) of different exercises will be my downfall. I don’t really have goals other than “be healthier than I currently am,” but losing fat and gaining muscle would be great. I hope I can figure out working out 3x weekly by the end of the year because I dunno how much cardio/lifting/stretching I need to do and in what amounts or on which days yet.

• Journaling. I’ve been doing it consistently since mid-December, writing down how I’m feeling and what I’m doing throughout the day, what I’ve eaten and who I’m with. My goal is to continue doing this. I’ve felt very compelled to write entries since I started, and the app I use has a tagging system to keep things organized. It’s becoming more natural to open my journal app when I’m idly thinking to myself and write it down, and I feel like having my thoughts to look back on will help with my memory maybe?

• In that vein, I want to plan better. I want to chart out periods of time to work on art and chores, setting achievable goals for me to complete daily/weekly/monthly. This requires me getting better at estimating how long it will take to do tasks, and improving my focus and willpower to get them done with minimal breaks and distractions (I may not see a lot of improvement in this area because of my brain funk, but I do want to try).

• I also want to share more of myself and not be such a recluse. Right now, I have personal accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. I’m not an exceptionally talkative person, and I’m working on posting to those sites as a way to open up to others. I’m also hoping to make more of an effort this year to talk to people personally, like and comment on their work or photos or statuses, just socialize in general. I used to be much better about commenting and striking up conversation, but as my art kinda fell to the wayside because of my brain, so did my social life. Sometimes talking for me is like pulling teeth, and sometimes it’s enjoyable for me. Depends on the day really. But I’m trying to reach out and do more “unnecessary” things that I haven’t been doing because my brain holed itself up into only thinking about survival.

Art goals!

• This is the year I work through my owed art. I’m almost done with the project that has taken the longest.. Not that it’s given me problems per se, I just psyched myself out of working on it before I even started and developed a social media addiction fueled by my neurodivergency and just proceeded to do nothing of relevance for a few years because of it... I am recovering! I am working on it! Im hoping to finish the current project this month, and then finish my other two projects before summer starts. For 2014 me, this wouldn’t even be an ambitious goal, but 2022 me really struggled... it’s a soft deadline that I’m hoping will instill some urgency in me since I can’t find urgency in anything else.

• I’m also hoping to jump into giving Rou a real reference this year. I don’t expect to “finish” it because I’m a terrible monster and his ref is going to be several different parts (markings, hair, outfits, accessories, everyday items, palettes, etc), but I want to at least get a simple and complex markings reference down at least.

• I’m going to start making and sharing bad art. My instinct when I have a bad sketch is to erase it and draw a better one in its place. I want to work on sketching more, and keeping the sketches I don’t like instead of erasing and drawing over them. I’m going to work on allowing myself to create imperfect art, art that doesn’t have to be finished. Art that isn’t created for the end goal of a finished piece of work, but for the purpose of creation itself.

• Another goal is to learn more. Do more studies, watch more videos, learn how to use the tools at my disposal more efficiently. I don’t know how much new information I’ll retain, due to my aforementioned impaired memory, but art-related new information imprints on my brain more easily than most other new material so I’m going to be working on it this year. I’d like to work up to a small photo or reference study most days, but a more realistic goal looks closer to 2 days a week.

• For general art goals, I’m looking to start drawing once a week (since I’ve currently been managing like...once a month), with the goal of at least 3 days a week, working upward to 5 days a week when I’m feeling really ambitious. Nothing necessarily major, just at least a little warmup even if I’m not feeling up to intense work, to keep my mind active and flexible. This is going to be a lot easier now that I’ve got an iPad, but I’d like to to plenty of doodles and style experiments in my sketchbooks as well.

• I’m also going to work on looking at my own art in a different light. Right now, I feel like all my art is cringy and embarrassing, like people see it and they think I’m pretentious because I hold myself a certain way and my art doesn’t measure up. Or I feel like my art is just awkward-looking, like the poses are not quite natural, the variations in line thickness are not in aesthetically pleasing places, like I don’t use negative space and proportion well... I want to find a new perspective and try to see my art the way others see it, so I can gain awareness of the way I present myself as well.

2022 wasn’t really an awful year, looking back. I was the most financially stable I’ve ever been, and I felt like I didn’t have to panic about money for the first time in a while (I’ve got new car payments in 2023 so money will be a little tighter now...). Covid was the source of a lot of stress for me personally, but that wasn’t new of course; it just got worse because people stopped masking and started pretending the pandemic was over. And even though we lost our car, we were in good fortune enough to get another one in quick order (I’m very thankful for that). It could have been a lot worse. My family is all safe and doing well, I wake up under the same roof with some of the most important people in my life, my pets are all happy and healthy, and I have space to create and enjoy the things that make me happy. I hope the new year delivers the same to everyone else.

[dietdrclinic]

Gluten-free food options

Ever wondered if that ice-cold Coco-Cola you were eying up is gluten-free? Ever wanted to know if pizza and pasta are gluten-free? How about your favorite cheeseburger and fries? How about the Vodka and Beer? Whatever it is that you are looking for, we got you covered in this list of gluten-free foods. A gluten-free foods list can be a valuable resource. You have been spending hours and hours navigating stores and restaurants to find gluten-free food options and it may be really challenging at times. Therefore on hand, the gluten-free foods list below might help you know what to look for (and what to look out for) when choosing grains and other foods that may contain gluten. Below are a few things to look out for when you're buying gluten-free foods. 1. Gluten-Free Whole Grains: Oats, Cereals, Bread, and More…

Grains (including bread, pasta, rice, and crackers), specifically whole grains, are an important part of a healthy diet. Whole grains are a good source of healthy carbohydrates, providing energy to get you through the day. Most whole grains are high in fiber, which keeps you full and helps with digestion. Though many grains have gluten, a wide variety is naturally gluten-free.

Naturally Gluten-Free Grains & Starches: Rice Quinoa Millet Oats (use oats labeled "gluten-free," as oats are often cross-contaminated with wheat and barley.) Cassava/Yuca Sorghum Teff Corn Buckwheat Amaranth Potatoes and potato flour

2. Gluten-Free Vegetables & Fruits All fresh, whole vegetables and fruits are naturally gluten-free and important to include in a gluten-free diet. Organic local produce mostly delivers a variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. However, you need to look out for sneaky gluten once you move out of the produce aisle. Plain fresh and frozen (without sauce) vegetables are all gluten-free, but make sure to double-check ingredient lists on packages to be sure. When buying canned veggies, buy those packed with water or natural juices (typically the healthier option anyway). Here's what to look out for when selecting gluten-free fruit and vegetables.

What to Avoid When Shopping for Fruits and Vegetables: Hydrolyzed wheat protein Modified food starch: Check the label if it does not specify what type of starch is used, and check with the manufacturer, as it may be wheat. Malt: Including malt syrup, malt vinegar, malt extract, malt flavoring Gluten stabilizer Maltodextrin: This is OK when made from corn, potato, or rice starch. If it is made from wheat, it will be labeled: you may have a reaction, though many claim the gluten is destroyed in processing.

Safe Ingredients: Corn-starch Potato starch/potato starch flour Distilled vinegar Mono- and diglycerides Oat gum Citric acid, lactic acid, and malic acid

3. Gluten-Free Proteins Most protein sources-both animal and vegetable proteins-are naturally gluten-free. You may use the below list to help you decide which proteins can fit into a gluten-free diet. Naturally Gluten-Free Proteins: Red meat: Fresh beef, pork, lamb, goat, bison, duck, etc. (Avoid marinades as if gluten is added it might sneak into your meat) Poultry: Fresh chicken and turkey (Check if any marination is added) Seafood: Fresh fish, scallops, lobster, clams and more are all naturally gluten-free. (Check if any marination is added) Tofu: It's made from soy, which is gluten-free, but check for any additional ingredients with gluten. Beans Nuts and seeds

Proteins That Need a Second Look: Processed meats: Including hot dogs, pepperoni, sausage, etc. These may have gluten added, so be sure to check the ingredient list and avoid those with wheat gluten, wheat starch, or wheat dextrin. Cold cuts: Cross-contamination can also happen at the deli on the meat slicer. Cold cuts may have gluten-containing ingredients added Ground meat: Ground beef or ground turkey can have gluten added in as filler. Be sure to check the ingredients carefully. Veggie burgers and other meat substitutes: Some flavors and brands are made with ingredients that contain gluten-check the labels.

4. Gluten-Free Sauces, Spices, and Condiments In many common condiments, gluten-containing ingredients can be used as thickeners, stabilizers, or flavor enhancers. Wheat flour is a common thickener in many sauces and marinades, which means they contain gluten. Look out for cross-contamination once these items are in your home. For example, a knife that spreads mustard on wheat bread shouldn't be dipped back into the mustard jar if you want it to stay gluten-free.

Sauces, Spices, and Condiments That Are Usually Safe: Mustard: Some specialty or flavored mustards may contain gluten so always check the ingredients. Mayonnaise: Check the ingredients to be sure though typically not made with gluten. Dry spices: Single-ingredient herbs and spices (think dried basil, garlic powder, chili powder) do not contain gluten, though because of cross-contamination concerns it's best to look for specifically labeled gluten-free spices or check with the manufacturer.

Sauces, Spices, and Condiments That Need a Second Look: Ketchup and Worcestershire sauce: Both condiments can be made using malt vinegar, which is not gluten-free. Double-check the ingredients. Barbecue sauce: Avoid BBQ sauces made with barley-based beer, soy sauce, malt vinegar, and barley malt flour as these typically contain gluten. Soy sauce: Soy sauce is traditionally made with wheat, so it usually is not gluten-free unless otherwise marked. Malt vinegar: Malt vinegar is mostly found in some salad dressings and sauces and it's not gluten-free. However, white vinegar, distilled vinegar, and apple cider vinegar are all gluten-free.

5. Gluten-Free Desserts & Sweets Many sweets and desserts are made with wheat flour or other ingredients with gluten. Be mindful that gluten-free sweets are not necessarily healthier for you than regular treats but they might prevent a bad reaction if you are sensitive to gluten.

Sweets That Are Usually Safe: Chocolate: Chocolate does not naturally contain gluten. There is also a risk of cross-contamination, so it's best to check the label on the chocolate. Hard candy and gummies: Candies don’t usually contain gluten; avoid those listing "wheat flour" as an ingredient. Ice cream, sherbet, gelato, frozen yogurt: These treats are generally gluten-free, but steer clear of those with pretzels, cookie dough, graham crackers, brownie bites, and other gluten-containing add-ins. Sweets to Avoid: Grain-based desserts: Cookies, cakes, brownies, pies, doughnuts, pastries, cheesecake, etc. are almost always made with gluten unless marked "gluten-free." Licorice: Sweet candy may be made with wheat flour and therefore is not gluten-free unless otherwise noted on the packaging. Barley malt: Avoid sweets made with this ingredient, which is used to sweeten some candies and chocolates.

6. Gluten-Free Drinks and Beverages Water, of course, is naturally gluten-free and is your best healthy way to stay hydrated. For all prepared beverages, be sure to check the ingredients, as variations and blends may contain gluten.

Drinks and Beverages That Are Usually Safe: • Coffee and tea: These beverages are both naturally gluten-free, but if you're sensitive to gluten it's best to check and make sure there was no cross-contamination with your coffee beans or tea leaves or added ingredients in blended beverages. • Juices, sodas, and sports drinks: Check the label to be safe, but these generally won't have added gluten-containing ingredients

[vigilantdesert]

[from all about culture: food, clothing? which is. SO much, feel free to only do the ones that inspire, but—i'm curious! 👀]

All About Culture - Always Accepting

food

how spicy is the food, generally?

Most Gerudo food is still fairly spicy, but it's cooled off since the days of their foremothers. Though most food is still flavored heavily with saffina, international trade has incorporated many more spices than have been available to the tribe. Cosmopolitan food tends to take more advantage of this than nomadic tribes do, as they are less likely to spare product when they could be selling it instead. Some popular spices that have been incorporated into everyday cooking are blue fenugreek, a spice harvested from high mountains in Zora's domain which tastes slightly sour and adds umami, and Khmeli, a spice blend that the Rito are famous for which is largely used in vegetarian dishes. Traditional Gerudo dishes are still fairly warm for most people's tastes, like Zatarr pheasant, saffina rice, and scorched bread, which is a leavened loaf of bread that has been rolled in electric and warm saffina before baking. It's an acquired taste that many use to fend off tourists when they've overstayed their welcome.

what foods from my muse’s culture do they eat most?

Urbosa eats widely, but her favorite meals are actually traditionally nomadic. She has fond memories of the heads of nomadic tribes stopping near town to trade for necessities or for the heads of their clans to discuss politics with her mother. Sometimes these nomads sold food, though more often she was invited in on grounds of being part of the noble family. Her favorite dish to request when she's come home from a few weeks of diplomacy is a spicy goat curry made with saffina, goat cream, and either flatbed or rice depending on what they had to hand.

which foods do they eat the least? which do they dislike?

Palm leaves are technically edible if stewed for long enough, but they taste distinctly of wet grass and usually go stringy by the time they're rendered nutritious. Romah, Urbosa's mother, loved them, but Urbosa never gained the palette for them. They were banished from the palace kitchens the second Urbosa was able to make the order.

is there an ingredient traditionally used for multiple dishes?

Saffina is used in everything from beverages to vegetable dishes to meat stews, but the most common traditional protein is goat. Many nomadic clans still rely on them for milk as well as meat, so cream curries are fairly common. As for starch, there's actually no dominant crop since nothing can be crown natively in the desert. There are some winter wheat crops that grow consistently in the highlands, and a few clans have made a habit to overwinter in the cliffs to profit off wheat sales through the rest of the year, but most cosmopolitan Gerudo rely on Hylian and Zorian rice crops for their quick carbohydrates.

are there any dishes from my muse’s culture they know how to make?

Urbosa can make a few dishes on her own, though she mostly learned how when she was trying to hide from her duties as a child. She never had reason to be taught how to cook beyond survival, so she mostly knows the basics - at what temperature meat becomes safe, how to dry freshly butchered flesh, how to safely store foods on the road and so on. The only thing she can make with any desirability is Chitan, a rice dish made with saffina, pheasant or chicken, and bone stock. It's fairly simple, but it can also be made on the road so it quickly became one of her favorites on her atur.

clothing

what color dyes are most commonly used?

Overall, probably blue and green. Red is reserved for special occasions and black is the traditional color of Urbosa's familial line, so it's been reserved for the chieftain. Yellow dyes are mostly used for detail-work, since they often lay the background to be painted over later with gold leaf, and purple is as difficult to manufacture for Gerudo tradeswomen as it is for the rest of the world, so it's prohibitively expensive for most commonfolk. There are some craftswomen who will dye a fabric any color, given the ingredients, but within the capitol walls this is considered something of a tourist trap, since these colors aren't usually light-fast and fade with repeated wear and wash.

what type of fabric is most commonly used?

Linen is most common for every-day clothing, but most outerwear is made of wool. Wool stands up to sandstorms remarkably well, keeps the wearer warm at night, and wicks away sweat instead of allowing it to soak through one's garment. It's seldom worn in cities, but most nomads wear shawls at all times. Most Gerudo also wear armor when outside the home, but it's seldom actual armor that one would use during battle. A warrior's armor is, predictably, heavy, hot, and chaffs even with protective undergarments. However, it is traditionally and religiously mandated that a grown, able Gerudo woman be able to fight at all time, so most wear "bluffs" when they're inside the walls. These are either leather garments embellished with jewels as traditional armor is, or a much lighter metal coat than real armor that's been fashioned to mimic the real thing. It wouldn't stand up in battle, but it does provide enough time in a protected space to go home or to the armory to change into armor that would actually withstand a blow, as well as fulfill an irritating, archaic tradition.

does my muse enjoy wearing their traditional outfits?

She grew into it well enough. Urbosa was actually something of a pacifist when she was younger, due in no small part to her relying on her family's power over lightning to get out of combat drills. As such, she resented the need for armor and outright refused her mother's traditional garments, which were a stone's throw away from the same the head of the guard wore. The outfit Urbosa wears was actually considered archaic when she took the throne, last in fashion five hundred years ago during the last renaissance. She did find a way to make it work, though, and now appreciates the way she can connect to her people, even hundreds of miles away.

do the traditional garments tend to be heavier or lighter?

Because so many of them are woolen or armor, they tend to be heavier in weight, even if they're made to allow for air flow. Living in a desert is a constant fight against both extremes, since they're largely unprotected from the sun during the day, but there's no soil or plantlife to hold the warmth from the day to protect them at night.

how many layers does a traditional outfit generally have?

The current mode of Gerudo fashion requires an underlayer to protect vital areas, then an optional breast binding (this is optional, but because traditional gear requires some form of breast plate, most do for comfort), an upper layer of linen, usually pants and an undershirt, then armor or bluffs (this always consists of a breast plate, usually pauldrons, sometimes bracers, and seldom leg-braces), then jewelry, and optionally an outerlayer which consists of a mix of a woolen shawl, a hood which covers most of the face, and a straight skirt that's tied at the hip with a knot. A few Gerudo, chiefly Urbosa, swap the pants for a skirt, in which case they usually wear a pair of shorts in addition to the under layer, as well as a thigh-wrap with pockets.

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