Food Gift Hamper

Health care professionals tell us the importance of eating 5 portions of fruit and veg

per day, here is your chance to make a great start by giving the gift basket. A rustic basket packed with delicious seasonal fruit which is not only good for the heart and body but also for the soul, when you see the look of joy on your loved ones face. The fruit basket is a truly unusual and healthy gift and one that is sure to please those who are conscious about their health.

The importance of the 5 rations of fruit and vegetable to the day:

We have heard much speak on the 5 rations of fresh fruit and vegetable to the day. In Spain campaigns forthe awareness have become of the importance of such ingestions. But, why it is important to consume these 5 rations per day? With these 5 rations we assured the contribution of vitamins and minerals that the organism needs throughout the day, besides obtaining to a hydric contribution importance, since the fruit is water in 75-90%. Without forgetting the antioxidant contribution, fiber and the absence of cholesterol. This helps us to prevent cardiovascular diseases, digestive upheavals, some types of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, besides helping us in the fight against the overweight and the obesity, since the caloric contribution is under (less than 70 Kcal percent grams of food) and increases the sensation of satiety. To contribute these 5 rations is easy if one sets out it, for example: a natural juice in the morning, a piece of fruit to noon, to accompany with salad the food, a milkshake of fruit in the tea and vegetable trimming in dinner.

The brief history of stilton cheese Contrary to popular belief, Stilton cheese has never been made in the town of Stilton. Stilton is a town just outside of the city of London and was primarily used as a staging post for travellers; it was one of the owners of a hostel in a nearby town which first introduced a soft creamy blue veined cheese which then went on to take the name of the nearby town of Stilton. The entrepreneur had bought the cheese from a farmer’s wife in a nearby town of Melton Mowbray and this is where Stilton originated. Interesting facts on figures about Stilton: • There are only 7 dairies throughout the word that are licensed to produce Stilton cheese. • Stilton cheese can only be produced in three counties; these are Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Because the name “Stilton” is protected by law. • In order to make a 17lb Stilton cheese it takes a whopping 136 pints of fresh milk. • Over a one-year period there are over 1 million Stilton cheeses made. • 10% of all Stilton cheese made is exported to over 40 countries throughout the world. • Before leaving the dairy all cheese with the Stilton brand name receives a grade to ensure only the highest quality cheeses leave. •White Stilton is also a protected name cheese and is made in a similar way to its blue cousin – except that no mould spores are added and the cheese would be sold at about 4 weeks of age. It is a crumbly, creamy, open textures cheese and is now extensively used as a base for blending with apricot, ginger and citrus or vine fruits to create unique dessert cheeses. To be called Stilton, each cheese must: • Be made only in the three counties from local milk which is pasteurized before use • Be made only in a traditional cylindrical shape • Be allowed to form its own crust or coat • Be un-pressed • Have delicate blue veins radiating from the centre

The Benefits of a chocolate hamper

… Perhaps sometimes we have heard that the serotonin, well-known like hormone of humor, is a neurotransmitter equipped with great influence on the nervous system. Some people also will know that the serotonin is synthesized from a called amino acid triptófano… And that the chocolate consumption favors its production in the brain. This `mechanism’ it explains that the food is known the chocolate like `happiness’… But what is clear it is that it is not necessary that tells this history us to enjoy a pleasure that is explained by itself… Be that as it may, it is not of more knowledge than the serotonin allows that an individual benefit of sensations of tranquility and happiness; as well as that the chocolate ingestion urges this hormone to synthesize itself with happy end… The chocolate, like so many other discoveries of which they do not leave nobody indifferent one, has been object of false myths and beliefs from the most remote times. To it have been attributed as much diseases as miraculous remedies, and besides surrounding it by numerous (and exaggerated) sexual connotations, so soon they have accused to him to produce acne like providing beauty… Nowadays, the scientific and medical community praises itself/pours off to exculpate to the chocolate (at least, to its moderate consumption) like triggering factor of headaches, allergy, acne, decay or obesity. Yes `is clear responsibility’ of the cacao at the time of generating a series of physiological reactions that can derive in certain anxiety by their consumption, although the experts maintain that yearning with addiction does not have to be compared. It is a food, therefore, able to wake up passions while the benefits of the chocolate amply are recognized. Among others substances, are rich in natural magnesium, teobromina (stimulating a natural one) and antioxidants. Do you know that…? The first the European in proving the chocolate was, surely, Hernán Cortes, received that it in a gold glass of the hand of Moctezuma, king of the Aztecs. The word chocolate probably is derived from “xocatl”, that means bitter water in the language of the Aztecs.

It was Christopher Columbus who got a taste for a chocolate drink in Nicaragua and was so impressed he took some beans back with him and gave them to the king of Spain. It was a closely guarded secret until 1519 when a conqueror was given a taste of the drink and realised this was something that should be shared. He promptly turned some beans over to Spanish monks who began perfecting the technique of roasting and grinding and it was these monks who first began introducing sugar, which they found improved the taste drastically. Not surprisingly, the mix became a huge hit and this was Europe’s first introduction to the world of chocolate, as we know it today. While chocolate was first introduced to the Spanish court after the voyage of Columbus to the new world, it was some time before chocolate became known throughout Europe. By the early 1600’s, trade routes between Europe and the new world were well enough established that shipping large quantities of cocoa beans to Europe became feasable. In 1606, an italian explorer named Carletti introduced cocoa to Italy, still in the liquid form containing hot peppers and spices. From there, the drink quickly spread to the aristocratic societies of Germany and Austria. Chocolate, in any form, was still to much of an expensive South American luxury to be consumed by the working class. Around this time, chocolate was introduced to southern France by spanish clergy. It did not find its way directly to the commoners, however, instead being confined to the monastaries for some time. Chocolate was introduced to the french court no later than 1660, with the marriage of Maria Theresa of Spain to Louis XIV. Maria took with her a maid specifically to make chocolate for her. The spread of chocolate from the french court to the rest of french high society took no more than a few years. By 1687 there were at least three chocolate makers in Paris, selling their hand-made wares in their own shops, and by 1692 french wine merchants were complaining that chocolate (along with tea and coffee) was cutting into their business. In England, the first evidence of chocolate’s presence comes from a printed advertisement in 1657, announcing that chocolate could be had at Bishopsgate in London. Chocolate seems to have spread quickly through England. Just five years later in 1662, the king’s doctor Henry Stubbe wrote a book praising the beneficial qualities of chocolate, called The Indian Nectar. Stubbe writes in the book that chocolate had spread as far as Turkey and Persia (modern day Iran).