Coffee: A Historic Beverage, And A Great Holiday GiftWritten by Irene D. Hope
Ah, coffee... a fantastic dark beverage that wakes us up in morning. For some of us, it keeps us up during day, or for late night study sessions. We drink it out of habit, we drink it from addiction, we drink it for flavor; whatever reason, it is surely a popular beverage. So where did this famed drink come from?Coffee, for Americans, is three hundred years old. In East it was widespread at every level of society, since earlier era. The most notable dates point to around 800b.c. However, Homer, and according to Arabian tales speak of a mysterious bitter black beverage with powers of stimulation that could have been this drink. About year 1000, coffee was being used for medicinal purposes. In 1400 a Yemeni goat herder observed his flock eating reddish berries, then becoming excited and restless. After relating his observations to a monk, they boiled berries and made a beverage that could disperse sleep and weariness. No matter how it actually was created, fact remains that coffee plant started in Africa, in an Ethiopian region known as Kaffa. From there it spread to Egypt, Yemen, and Arabia, where it became a part of daily life. In late 1500s coffee was a commodity, being sold in Europe. However, due to an increasing demand for new beverage, and high taxes on shipping, there was experimentation with growing crops in various other countries. Much later, around 1727 coffee growing started in Northern Brazil. By 20th century, various forms of coffee were developed for public.
| | Make Your Own Herb And Spice MixesWritten by Lucinda Jenkins
I love inventing new herb and spice combination to increase flavor of our meals. Variety is spice of life and with all 1,000's of herbs and spices our palates should never be bored!There is such good health and cost benefit by making your own mixes. You won't have unnecasary salt added to your mixes and you will save money too! Once you get a whiff or your own herb mixes you'll never go back to those little tins on grocery store shelf. Herbed Rice Mix 1 lb long grain rice 1/3 cup dried minced onion 1/3 cup dried parsley flakes 1 tablespoon dried chives 1 tablespoon dried tarragon 1 tablespoon of ground celery seed 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoons pepper Mix ingredients together and store in canning jars Add a raffia bow and instruction card and you now have a gift! Put 1 1/3 cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil, add 1/2 cup of rice mix and simmer for 20 minutes , fluff with a fork you can also add a dried chili pepper to mix if you like some heat!
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