Author: Ahmed Ogundimu

Ahmed is a Food Scientist/Technologist first of all. A Web Developer, Seasoned Blogger, Astute Marketer, Food Enthusiast and Manchester United Lover. I read anything and everything available so I know so many useful and useless things.

Food & Body

What Are The Foods That Trigger Pimples & Acne?

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 2 June, 2015
4 Comments on What Are The Foods That Trigger Pimples & Acne?

A lot of people battle with pimples and acne during and shortly after puberty while some others experience it throughout the teenage years. Throughout these periods of my life, I did not have pimples and acne anywhere on my face and body. I always pride myself on that because my face was always clear and clean. I thought this would continue like that forever but I was wrong – I would later have my own fair share of pimples later on.

What Are Pimples And Acne? Any Differences?

One of our readers sent a message to ask if the food they eat could cause acne or pimples and we will try to address that. Many people don’t even know the differences between pimples and acne. Someone even told me that pimples show on black peoples’ skin while acne only comes out on white peoples’ skin. I will try as much as possible not to dwell too much on these because the purpose of this post is how some foods lead to the onset of acne and pimples on our skin. Yes, food can trigger pimples.

Acne is the inflammation of the skin in which the secreted sebum gets collected in the pores of the skin and remains there. This causes the skin to swell up in the form of a breakout. Acne will most likely have a white head (not in every case) and is painful to touch. If it is a pimple, it would normally not be painful unless it is too severe.

So, What Are Those Foods That Can Set Off Pimples?

To continue with my story, I started seeing pimples and acne on my skin in my early twenties and it lasted into mid-twenties. It was a nightmare because when they finally go, they turn into
black scars (not just spots). I started to think of the possible causes and one day I thought of my diet – could it be my eating habit?

What I have always read about foods as they affect your skin was that they do not cause pimples and acne. Something just told me to do a little more digging and I found out that several other pieces of research were already published telling us that there could be a relationship between diet and acne.

The truth of the matter, however, is that there has not been a definite link between any food (dairy especially) and acne, but there are several theories about it.

In an article written for a medical journal in 2008, F. William Danby, MD, a skin expert who promotes the possible dairy-acne connection, explained how the two may be related. Milk contains components related to the hormone testosterone that may stimulate oil glands in the skin, setting the stage for acne.

So, could we say Milk can cause acne? Some would say yes and some would say no, but I have read reports of people who saw all their pimples and acne disappear after stopping the consumption of Milk. The same happened to me too.

Some researchers have suggested that an imbalance in the level of insulin in the body may play a role in the onset of acne. They explain that some foods make your blood sugar quickly soar. This triggers your body to make a burst of the hormone insulin to help your cells absorb the sugar.

ADVICE: What I would advise is to monitor your own skin and diet and note what foods you are eating when the acne breakouts start coming out. This is because these foods (Milk, Chocolate, Cheese, etc.), that people are implicating in the development of acne have health benefits. When you monitor yourself and you notice that milk causes acne for you, you can try to cut down on it and see if you still have acne.

I would not ask you to stop consuming milk. Never! Milk is highly nutritious – containing several vitamins and minerals that are useful for the body. I would not be pointing fingers to any food. What you should do is to observe and adjust.

ALSO SEE: Differences Between Skimmed Milk and Full Cream Milk

Tags Acne, Chocolate, Milk, Pimples

Food Safety

How To Make Zobo Drink Yourself At Home

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 29 May, 2015
6 Comments on How To Make Zobo Drink Yourself At Home

Yesterday, I shared information on how to make Kunun drink, today it is the turn of Zobo. Zobo drink or Zoborodo is a Nigerian beverage made from dried calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa (from Roselle plant flowers). It is usually served chilled in places where they are consumed in Nigeria. Many people drink zobo only for its refreshing taste but do not know that it has some health benefits too.

Health Benefits of Zobo Drink

Not long ago, we talked about the need to remove toxic products from our body and made mention of foods that help detoxify the body. Zobo drink has been established to be a rich source of nutrients that activate detoxification. For example, it helps resolve metabolic syndrome in that it promotes the excretion of uric acid from the body. This is only of its benefits and I may consider writing its full health benefits as another post later but before then, let’s talk about how to make this drink.

Ingredients for Making Zobo Drink

People like their Zobo different ways, therefore, the ingredients might be slightly different from one processor to another. The differences in ingredients have effects on taste and flavour of the end product. However, there are still some ingredients you must use, irrespective of the flavour that you want in your Zobo drink.

These ingredients include;

2 cups of dry Zobo leaves
1 big piece of ginger
Potable water

Other Zobo ingredients – depending on the flavour you want

Zobo juice or extract as it is has a kind of sour taste, and that is why we add sugar to it t have a sweet taste. People these days tend to avoid sugars because they are watching their weight or wary of diabetes. If you do not want sugar, you can add sweeteners such as Nutri-C or foster Clark’s pineapple flavour.

It is important to know that if you use the foster Clark’s pineapple flavour, you should not use sugar again. I know of people that don’t like using artificial sweeteners and ingredients in their entirety. If you fall into this category, you can use very ripe Pineapple – it will only add more to the cost of production of the Zobo. If you are not selling it, why not use that?

Some people also add garlic. I don’t really like the taste and smell, so sometimes, I leave it out of my own Zobo. If you decide to use it to make your Zobo drink, add 1 glove of garlic to the ingredients listed above.

How to Prepare The Zobo Drink

Buy clean calyx of Zobo Hibiscus and wash with water – you may want to ask for “zobo leaf” in the market rather than hibiscus calyx. Even if they appear clean, you still should was with water because they are usually displayed in the market in containers with no lid, so you can expect to have dust particles on the surfaces. It may appear you have washed all the colour off but it has a lot more in store. So, don’t worry.

If you are using Pineapple, peel and slice it. Peel and slice the ginger (and garlic if you are using it) too into small pieces. Clean them with some water.
Put all the Zobo calyx you want to use and the sliced Pineapple into a clean pot and pour water into the pot until it covers them all.
Boil for 5 minutes and add your ginger, and garlic if you are using it.
Add more water to the pot and leave all the ingredients to boil for 30 minutes.

After this period, you can now remove heat and allow the pot and its content to cool. When cool, wring out the juice from the pineapples and Zobo leaves, leaving only the Zobo juice in the pot. Sieve this juice, first through a sieve to remove the large particles and then through a fine mesh or Muslin cloth to remove this finer particles.

You can now refrigerate your zobo drink and serve when chilled. Some people add lemon and some other stuffs as additional flavour and I will find time to share information on this in the future. Enjoy your zobo drink.

Tags Zobo Drink

Food Processing

How To Cook Beans So You Don’t Fart After Eating

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 29 May, 2015
26 Comments on How To Cook Beans So You Don’t Fart After Eating

Let me first of all make something clear before I start discussing about the topic of this post. We all call the common bean (Vigna unguiculata) that we eat beans, beans – but beans is a is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) which are used for human or animal food. The common one that we eat is called Cowpea. It has a number of common name such as crowder pea, blackeyed pea, southern pea.

Beans generally are rich in protein, while many of them are high in fiber and antioxidants. Beans are good for reduction of our waistline as well aid in disease prevention. Despite all these benefits, which many people are aware of, a lot people want to stay clear of Cowpea because they start farting or passing out gases after eating it. This does not have to be so because there are ways that you can cook your beans, such that you won’t have to be clearing the room hours after.

COMING SOON: Many Benefits of Beans That Make Them Superfoods

Before I talk about the methods that you can use to cook beans to prevent farting after, let me explain in clear and concise terms what causes this flatulence. Beans contain a class of carbohydrates called Oligosaccharides (e.g. raffinose and stachyose), some of which cannot be processed by our digestive system.

When we eat beans and they get to our intestine, the Oligosaccharides remain there as we do not have the enzymes or any other thing whatsoever to digest the. After the Oligosaccharides pass into our large intestine, the bacteria present there start to break them down. During the process, the bacteria release several different types of gases, mainly hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. About 33% of these bacteria also end up producing methane and this is the one that smells.

Click below to pages 2 and 3 below to see the tips for cooking beans so that you don’t pass gas after eating…

Tags Beans, Cowpea

General

6 Unusual Things Eaten By Nigerians As Food

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 28 May, 2015
26 Comments on 6 Unusual Things Eaten By Nigerians As Food

I know I am going to receive some bashing for this but I still want to write about this. I have seen people eat a lot of things in Nigeria, things that I sometimes cannot even touch with my hand. This is especially true when it comes to meat; Nigerians that eat them would tell you “meat na meat” (meat is meat irrespective of the source). People eat pigeon all over the world and I can’t even imagine eating birds like that. I’m not saying it’s bad but I just can’t eat it.

Unusual Things Eaten By Nigerians as Food

I thought long about these things that we eat in this part of the world but may be strange to people from other parts of the world – unless those in the farm settlements over there. Finally, I came up with this simple list of some foods that I think are really unconventional as foods but when I talked to some people, I deduced that unusual might end up being a matter of where you have lived and what you have been exposed to in life.

1. Snakes

Even the sight of these crawling creatures can make me come out of my skin. I simply don’t like seeing them and this makes me wonder why someone would eat snakes. Often when I see people go through a lot of trouble to kill a snake (mostly venomous), it just get me thinking – “what if they get bitten by this snake?”, “how big is even this snake?”. The stress is not just worth it.

Food & Body

6 Common Foods That Will Surely Make You Fat

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 27 May, 2015
3 Comments on 6 Common Foods That Will Surely Make You Fat

I don’t even know why I am writing this post. Honestly! What I can tell you is that I received two requests from two different readers of this blog. One wants to know the foods that we eat everyday that can make one gain weight or fat so that she can avoid them. Ironically, the other person wants to know how she can get fat. Isn’t that funny? In this world where many girls just want to do what they see celebrities do on TV, why would anyone want to get fat? Girls just want to get slim.

I discussed this with a girl that explained to me that “not every girl wants to get thin”. She told me some girls just want to have the body of the Kim Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, Amber Roses, Sofia Vergaras of this world – not fat and not too thin. Then I reasoned with her and though of writing this article for the two people.

Here are Some Everyday Foods That Make Us Fat

Common could be a relative word here but I can tell you that most of the foods mentioned here are those that I see often. I also asked questions from few people and many of them considered many of these foods to be common. Here they are;

See them from page 1 to the last page… you will be surprised…

Knowledgebase

The Brands of Yoghurt You Must Stop Buying

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 27 May, 2015
2 Comments on The Brands of Yoghurt You Must Stop Buying

Many of us drink yoghurt and enjoy drinking it. Yoghurt is good for the body and if you recall, I mentioned it as part of foods that give you a fresh and younger-looking skin. Yoghurt is made from milk and it could be a very good source of calcium and proteins which we all need for our bones and body tissues. Some of them are even used as probiotics these days and consuming them only does one thing to the body – a world of good.

Another very good thing about yoghurt is that, even though it is being made from milk, people that are lactose intolerant can take it and still derive all the important nutrients of milk from it. When yoghurt is being made, the lactose in the milk gets converted to lactic acid — making it safe for lactose intolerant people to consume. You can count on me to write about the full health benefits and nutritional facts of yoghurt.

Why should you stop buying some Yoghurt brands?

First of all, I am wrong to be calling them Yoghurt because many of them are not even what they say they are. To build a good premise for my argument, let me give you the definition and properties of yoghurt.

What is Yoghurt?

It is a custard-like food with a bit sour flavor, prepared from milk curdled by bacteria, especially Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, and often sweetened or flavoured.

Many yoghurt brands that you would see in many developing countries including Nigeria make products that are called yoghurt, but not yoghurt in the real sense. This could be dangerous for someone that was given medical advise to consume yoghurt as part of his diet. Of course, he thinks he buys and drinks yoghurt but what he has been buying is something else. Our regulatory bodies should do more to ensure that our companies make labels that are correct, accurate and not misleading.

Many of these companies make their yoghurt the same way, but what is different is what they do to it after production.

What Defines A Good Yoghurt?

A good yoghurt should contain the live, active bacteria that was used to ferment the yoghurt after production. These beneficial active cultures promote a healthy intestinal environment. This is the reason any good yoghurt manufacture would write on their label that you keep the Yoghurt refrigerated to slow down or halt the activities of the microorganisms. If you do not do this, the microorganisms continue to ferment the Yoghurt outside the refrigerator and in no time, it spoils.

This is how yoghurt should be but what you often see here is “yoghurt” packed in bundles and left on the shelf at different stores. Some even pack them in stacks under the sun and leave them there until whenever they decide to refrigerate them. Of course, they are not going to get spoilt because the manufacturers have killed the microorganisms after production.

What Brands of Yoghurt Should You Stop Buying/Drinking?

I am not going to be mentioning brand names here but will only be telling you what to look out for on different brands of Yoghurt to decide whether to buy it or not.

Since the microorganisms have been killed, there is no bacteria to make it spoil at normal room temperature, therefore they can be stored anyhow. If you see any yoghurt that is not in the refrigerator, DO NOT BUY THEM — they are not yoghurt. However, if you just want to take something that tastes like yoghurt but do not have all the health benefits, go ahead and buy.

Check the labels of the yoghurt, if it does not contain a warning that you should keep refrigerated, you may want to avoid it. Some may include a statement like “best served chilled” but it is not the same as a statement telling you that your product remains in good state only if you refrigerate it.

Check the expiry date: when you see yoghurt with 6-month expiry date stored in the normal room temperature, don’t buy it. A real yoghurt can only stay for about 2-3 months if it is frozen and many manufacturers would not even want to honestly advise you to freeze yoghurt. It has effects on the texture and ultimately, the mouth-feel of the product. I’ll advise that you only refrigerate yoghurt if you want to enjoy it. It would only be able to stay for about 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Finally, a one litre bottle of real yoghurt would normally be more expensive than one that has had its beneficial organisms killed.

COMING SOON: The Quick Way To Make Your Own Yoghurt At Home

Tags Yoghurt

Food Recipes

Simple Way To Make Nigerian Kunun Zaki At Home

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 27 May, 2015
9 Comments on Simple Way To Make Nigerian Kunun Zaki At Home

Kunun is a traditional beverage drink produced from cereal grains such as Sorghum, Millet and Corn.Some people even use rice to make Kunun but I believe it does not make any sense if what you intend to do is sell. How would you make profit out of that? Rice is not cheap in this part of the world. Kunun is mostly consumed in the northern part of Nigeria where these cereals are majorly cultivated.

As I write this article, I can remember how we used to keep some money in our secondary school days to buy cold Kunun zaki after school hours and drink with straw as we walk home. I still love it till today but I was always scared of buying it because I was not sure of the production hygiene. Now, I make it easily whenever I need it. I store in the refrigerator for days too.

Actually, there are different types of Kunun that exists; they are four (4) in number;

Kunun Tsamiya
Kunun Zaki
Kunun Gyada
Kunun Kanwa

About Kunun zaki and How To Make It

The most common one that we see around and buy is the Kunun zaki, I can confirm that to us. I am still trying to investigate the difference between these “Kununs” and feed you back once I get something meaningful. My guess is that they are names after the type of cereal being used. Kunun zaki is a non-alcoholic drink. It is served as a refreshing drink in homes and some social gatherings.

Ingredients & Material Needed

Grains (millet, sorghum or maize)
Spices (cloves, black pepper, red pepper, ginger)
Sugar (to taste)
Blender or mill
Sieves
Bottles and crown corks

How to prepare it

Take 4 cups of the grain you decide to use for the Kunun and put in a bowl of water (use grains with hulls removed)
Leave the grains inside the water for 12hours and discard the water. Some say they use 24 hours but I prefer this so that the maize does not start to ferment or grow.
Put the grains and all the spices in a blender, blend into a very smooth puree
Sieve the resultant puree and throw away the shaft left. You may add some water to make sieving easier.
You should now leave this smooth puree for some hours to settle. After this, throw away the water over the settled puree or slurry.
Divide the mixture into two parts (Part one should be two thirds of the mixture, and the other part, one third of it).
To the first part, add a small quantity of water, then add boiling water in a ratio of 4 cups of water to 1 part of the slurry. The hot water will make the slurry become a little gelatinized.
Mix the second part with cold water in a ratio of 3 cups of water to 1 part of slurry and add this to the first part above.
You should now mix these two parts together with your sugar (to taste) to get your sweetened Kunun zaki.

Kunun zaki is usually enjoyed cold, therefore, you may want to divide into bottles, cover with crown corks and store inside the refrigerator.

Tags Kunun zaki

Food Processing

3 Tricks That I Use To Cut/Dice Onion Without Crying

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 25 May, 2015
18 Comments on 3 Tricks That I Use To Cut/Dice Onion Without Crying

I like eating onion in foods a lot but I just always had difficulty in enduring those eye stings and keeping the tears from rolling. It’s really really hard. I have know about this delicious and nutritional onionegg recipe for quite a while now but it was always a struggle to cut all the onions needed. This stopped being so when I discovered these three tricks that help me cut and dice onions without tears. I am going to share them with you in this short article.

Suggestions On Cutting Onions Without Crying

I have read a lot of recommendations on various articles on the internet – some were as dumb and whatever you could think to be the dumbest but I did them anyway with no success. I was the one looking for something. I even read articles where several people claimed the recommendations worked for them while some said it worked but only felt slight stings.

At a point, I started feeling different things might work for different people and with different varieties of onion, so I kept reading and experimenting.

Some of the tips I know you must have come across before include “cut the onion while holding your tongue to the roof of your mouth”, “light candles before cutting the onion”, “chew gum while cutting the onion” and many more like that. The second one appears dumb right? I feel so too.

How I Cut Onions Without Crying/Feeling Sting In My Eye

I did not get lucky with any of those recommendations but I kept trying until I stumbled upon these three that I now use till today. You can give them a try too and see if they work for you.

1. Freeze or Refrigerate The Onion

I noticed that whenever I pick onion out of the freezer and cut, I never felt the stinging sensation that happens in the eye and there were no tears. I though this just happened by accident, then I did an experiment on it. I took the same type of onion, put one in the freezer and cut the other immediately.

I cried when I cut the onion like that but when I brought the other one out of the freezer and cut, it was painless and tear-free.

When you want to do this, do not allow the onion to be too frozen to make it hard. This will make it hard to cut and even destroy the tissues.

Another interesting tip on page 3 (click below) …

2. Keeping The Onion In Water

I noticed this one when I used the vegetable grater for a period of time. During this time, I grate pepper, tomatoes and onions to make my rice stew; and to garnish when cooking spinach. When I want to do this, I get a bowl and put all the pepper, tomatoes and onions in the water and put one by one in the vegetable grater. I would take the onion last because I was scared of what would happen to my eye.

The I would notice that nothing happened or I simply just felt little pain in the eye towards the end of grating.

Later, I started putting the onions in the water like 30 minutes before I grate and it has been working for me ever since.

3. I Cut It Under Water

I actually read about this one online and I gave it a trial, it worked. If I don’t really have the 30 minutes luxury to soak the onion in water, I simply adopt this method. What I do is to get a big bowl of water, get my knife and onion, dip both my hand in the bowl full of water and cut the onions therein.

Some have argued that useful components of the onions are leached into the water. I think that there are prices to pay when you do stuffs like this. If you want to get all the nutrients and other components of your onion, then be prepared to cry for it.

Finally, some women have told me that they have noticed that tears do not come out and their eyes don’t burn when they wear contacts and cut onions. I have heard this from more than six women. I have not tried this but I think it is worth giving a shot.

Tips and tricks recommended by FoodsNG readers…

Bethel:

Chewing gum while peeling onions also stop someone from crying

Frances:

First cut out a small onions and put in ur mouth before cutting d rest. Close ur mouth while cutting others. It works like magic

Teresita Cunanan:

Wipe the chopping board with vinegar before you slice the onions

Uby:

Rub salt round the onions and cut it. No drop of tear will come out. It helps

Please, if you have any other trick that you use with success, please let us know by dropping us a line in the comment section. You can also check what others have written there too. Thank you!

ALSO SEE: Onions And 4 Other Foods That Help Reduce Belly Fat

Tags Onions

Knowledgebase

See What Makes Us Cry When Peeling/Cutting Onions

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 25 May, 2015
No Comments on See What Makes Us Cry When Peeling/Cutting Onions

Have you ever wondered why you cry and and feel this stinging sensation when you peel or cut onions? Or you just simply don’t care enough to know? As a student of Food Science and Technology, I did a little digging about it around 2008 and knew the reason why we cry when we peel onions. The chemistry is just very simple and I am going to make this article as short as possible. The stings and pains in the eye are caused by something in the onion but the crying is caused by our brain. You can’t blame the brain, it’s only trying to help reduce the pain.

So, What Causes Your Eyes Release Tears In Onion?

Peeling, cutting, dicing or crushing an onion means you are cutting the tissues. While doing this, several components in various cells mix together to produce the substance that causes the painful stings in the eye. That explains in to the layman.

If we want to go a little bit technical, during the growth of onions on the field, it absorbs sulphur from the soil. When we cultivate and peel or cut this onion, it breaks the cells within the onion like I explained above. This action releases certain enzymes in the Onion. The enzymes react with the sulphur, creating amino acid sulphoxides.

When this happens, it creates the highly unstable syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which is a combination of sulphuric acid, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide. Syn-propanethial-S-oxide in its gaseous state is able to diffuse out into and around the room where you are. It then comes in contact with the water in your eye, which triggers a burning/stinging sensation via the ciliary nerve of the eye.

How Our Eyes and Brain Reacts To This

Lachrymal gland, found just above the eyelids is responsible for regulating tears in the the eyes. When the irritation start and you feel the stings in your eye, the brain gets the message and decides to react to help relieve the pain. The brain pushes the lachrymal glands into releasing the tears, trying to flush the irritant out of your eye(s) with the tears. This does not happen in onions that we have cooked because cooking heat already inactivates the enzyme needed to make the troublesome syn-propanethial-S-oxide.

So, now you know what causes the burning sensation in your eye when you peel onion and why you cry shortly afterwards.

COMING TOMORROW: 3 Tricks That I Use To Cut/Dice Onion Without Crying [Works]

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News

Chocolate Royal, Allegedly Using Expired, Dangerous Products Shut

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 25 May, 2015
No Comments on Chocolate Royal, Allegedly Using Expired, Dangerous Products Shut

Chocolate Royale, a company that sells confectioneries and food in Lagos, located at Plot 267A Etim Inyang Crescent on Victoria Island has been shut down by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for allegedly using expired and dangerous products.

NAFDAC also sealed off the residence of the company’s managing director, Lebanese businessman, Amin Moussalli, at 1 Karimu Kotun Street, also on Victoria Island, Lagos. Agents thoroughly searched the MD’s home and carted away frozen products deemed unsafe for consumption.

NAFDAC’s Official Statement on Shutting Down Chocolate Royale

In a statement, NAFDAC’s spokesman, Anslem Okonkwor, said the agency sealed off Chocolate Royale “for various unethical practices and non-adherence to good manufacturing and hygienic practices.”

The agency said it acted on a tip-off that the company was engaged in illegal importation as well as the storage and use of expired ingredients and products to prepare food and confectioneries. According to Mr. Okonkwor, the company was serving unhealthy food “to unsuspecting customers.” He added that Chocolate Royale was operating and maintaining illegal cold-rooms at their MD’s residence “where large quantities of various expired and spoilt food ingredients worth millions Naira were uncovered.”

NAFDAC’s director of Investigation and Enforcement, Kingsley Ejiofor, said the seized products would “be sampled and taken to the laboratory for analysis, where the labels and contents will be properly analyzed. And at the end of the day when the results are out, that will determine the next of action.”

Chocolate Royale is a subsidiary of AIM Group owned by Mr. Moussalli. The Lebanese businessman also owns several broadcast stations including Cool FM, Nigerian Info FM, Wazobia FM, Cool TV, Wee TV and Wazobia TV. (Via: Sahara Reporters)

Food Safety

Why It May Be Best To Only Eat Sour Garri

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 25 May, 2015
1 Comment on Why It May Be Best To Only Eat Sour Garri

Gari is a creamy-white, granular flour with fermented flavour and a slightly sour taste, made from fermented, gelatinized fresh cassava tubers. It is usually eaten with various types of soups like ewedu, efo riro (spinach), Akwa-ibom’s afang soup and many more we cannot begin to mention here. Many people in Nigeria and other West African countries, where garri is very popular soak it in water, add sugar (sometimes with Milk) and eat with roasted groundnut, donkwa, fried or roasted fish, coconut and more.

I have seen jokes talking about how garri was never advertised and continues to best other foods in terms of sales in the market. This is to tell you how much garri is popular in these countries. Someone wrote on his twitter one day – “Garri, saving life since 1800s”. These things are so true about garri.

So, what’s the fuss about Sour Garri?

Do you know what makes garri sour? Well, it is a process called fermentation which takes place during the production of garri and it is usually in two stages. I will try as much as possible not to use too much technical terms but when we have to mention scientific names, there is no way around it.

(i) The first involves a bacterium Corynebacteria manihot attacking the starch in the cassava roots, leading to the production of various organic acids (such as lactic and formic acids) and the lowering of substrate pH.

(ii) In the second stage, the acidic condition stimulates the growth of a mold, Geotrichum candida, which proliferates rapidly, causing further acidification and production of a series of aldehydes and esters that are responsible for the taste and aroma of gari (Odunfa 1985).

Cassava contains the cyanogenic glucosides, linamarin and lotaustralin which are hydrolyzed after peeling, cutting and pulverising the cassava; and end up as hydrogen cyanide [HCN](Conn 1969). The hydrogen cyanide is responsible for chronic toxicity when inadequately processed cassava products are consumed by humans and animals for prolonged periods.

The traditional processing of cassava into lafun, garri and fufu unsure that most of this HCN is removed. Apart from acute toxicity that may result in death, consumption of sub-lethal dose of cyanide from cassava production over a long period of time results in chronic cyanide toxicity. That increases the prevalence of goitre and cretinism in iodine deficient area.

COMING SOON: What To Look Out For When Buying Cooking Salt!

The symptoms of cyanide poisoning from consumption of cassava with high level of cyanogens include vomiting, stomach pains, dizziness, headache, weakness and charkha.

Many local processors of garri want to make as much garri as they can make because of high demands from the market. Instead of expanding production and engage more people and equipment, what many have done is to modify how they process garri. They cut on the period they should subject the cassava to, in order to ferment. They don’t know what they are doing.

As mentioned above, the liberated cyanide (HCN) will dissolve in the water when fermentation is effected by prolonged soaking, and will evaporate when the fermented cassava is dried. This can also be found in several published research works on garri. Prolonged soaking is the key phrase there.

How do you know that the cassava from which your garri was made had gone through this effective long soaking? It would normally be sour. Like I have explained above, fermentation produces low acidic pH which makes your garri sour. This acidity also helps eliminate some microorganisms in your garri making it safe for consumption and last longer on the shelf.

ALSO SEE: How To Make Afang Soup The Akwa Ibom Way (Recipe)

REFERENCES:

Conn, E.E. 1969. Cyanogenic glucosides. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 17(3): 519-526.
Odunfa, S.A. 1985. African fermented foods. Pages 155- 161 in Microbiology of fermented foods: Vol. 2, edited by B.J.B. Wood. Elsevier Applied Science Publisher, Amsterdam.

Tags Cassava, Garri

Food & Body

7 Foods That Help You Get Sharper Brain / Memory

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 22 May, 2015
2 Comments on 7 Foods That Help You Get Sharper Brain / Memory

No matter the class you fall into in any society, there is always the need to improve your brain and memory. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that does not forget things. Yes, many of us have a lot on our cards and we deal with several challenges everyday but with the inclusion of some particular foods in our diet, we might just be able to up our brain capacity and memory. As we age, so does our brain and we tend to forget thing more. Some of these foods help by slowing down the rate at which our brain ages.

I mentioned something related to this in one of my articles that talked about foods that serve as anti-ageing agents for us. They slow down the factors that age our body and keep us younger. It is a good read any day and you can still find the article here.

This article will share with you the foods that can help improve your memory and the food composition that actually does the job. I believe this should help you make decisions to determine if the food is good for you or not. If it is a food you would want to avoid eating, then simply just check the component that does the job and look for other foods that have it in abundance.

Read this article and add these foods to your diet and you may never need to read this type of article again.

7 Foods That Boost Your Memory & Brain Function

Navigate through the pages and explore the list of foods and how they help our memory. Don’t forget to take note of the food composition that does the job.

1. Sardines, Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel and Trout

These are all fishes and I trust everyone reading this knows that. Adding fish to our diet has been found to help in the boosting brainpower. Eating fish may also lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The component of the fish that does this job is what we know as omega-3 fatty acids.

A lot of researches have shown that these omega-3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial for brain health. Fish is a particularly rich source of omega-3 and eating them regularly can help to boost your memory function. However, if you do not eat sea food for some reasons, there are other options you can explore. I will talk about them on another page of this article.

General

5 Websites That Deliver Fresh/Cooked Foods To Your Home/Office

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 21 May, 2015
No Comments on 5 Websites That Deliver Fresh/Cooked Foods To Your Home/Office

In this world where everyone is very busy with work, it’s often very hard to make preparations for food at home. If you are fortunate enough to work in companies where lunch and tea breaks are traditions, you are very lucky. If you live in a place like Lagos where you have to wake up very early, leave for work around 5am and get back home around 10pm or late because of traffic jam, planning for your meals may really be a nightmare. But I am tell you this doesn’t have to be anymore.

In Nigeria today, a lot of startups are springing up to catter for many needs that we have in Nigeria. All we have to is just support them and help them grow in order to be able to take care of more people’s needs. A number of my friedns now have foods delivered to their offices and even homes to take care of their food needs. You don’t have to feed on the street foods and junks on your way to and from work while in traffic.

Websites You Can Order Food From In Nigeria

The rest of this post is going to be talking about online portals that provide the platform for you to find restaurants very close to you, to order foods that you want. You would be amazed that we have more than 5 of them now. When I had this discussion with someone, we actually counted 11.

In no particular order, the following are some of the websites where you can go to make food (and groceries) orders and have them delivered to your doorstep;

1. HelloFood

You can order food from HelloFood in many African countries, including Nigeria. All you need to do is to go online and find restaurants that deliver to your area and order your food. It is that simple. Hellofood is an online ordering marketplace where people can discover, choose and order from the widest gastronomic range available around their neighbourhood – online or from the mobile app.

You can visit their website by clicking on their name (used as title above).

2. Easy Appetite

Easy Appetite is integrated into the operations of all the restaurants who sign up to their service, allowing for a seamless order-to-delivery process. For the Easy Appetite user, it is a breezy Four-step system. You only have to follow those four steps in order to get the food delivered to you;

Go to their website, select your location. This is the location where you want the food delivered to and not where you are ordering from. You should see a list of restaurants now and you can make your choice from there. Order your meal and choose to pay either by card or cash.

The last step is for the food to be delivered to you. Just wait!

3. For Food Only – Online Food Delivery In Nigeria

The name reminds me of what we call someone that liked food too much back then in high school. “For Food Only” is not just an online food (groceries) delivery service in Nigeria. For Food Only offers mouthwatering and farm fresh Nigeria recipes and food of different varieties to customers looking for added benefits besides doorstep shipping facility.

If you are very busy and have no time to prepare food, they offer ready-made recipe with ingredients and products that you can cook in just a few minutes.

4. The Kitchen

The kitchen is an online food store that is dedicated to bringing awesome, delicious and well prepared meals on the go tailored to suit every individuals need. You can order various foods such as peppersoups, salads, sauces, soups, smoothies, etc. That is to tell you that you can get even the not-so-common foods there.

You can go to their website and see what they have got there.

5. CityChops.com

CityChops.com is a free online food ordering service that allows customers to choose from a variety of restaurants in Lagos and order meals for pick up or delivery. With times changing and the need for quick and simple solutions for the average Nigerian, CityChops.com allows you to order food from wherever you are.

From the comfort of your home, office or back seat of your car, 1) select a restaurant, 2) choose your meal, 3) decide whether you want it to be delivered or picked up and let CityChops do the rest! Users can search by location, cuisine, restaurant name or food item and they will filter your options for you. They allow you the flexibility to pay online or when your food arrives.

Food Safety Knowledgebase

Do Eggs Need To Be Refrigerated Or Just Stored At Room Temperature?

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 20 May, 2015
2 Comments on Do Eggs Need To Be Refrigerated Or Just Stored At Room Temperature?

This is one question that was posed by someone to her friend while trying to buy egg in a mall last weekend. I passed by slowly and listened to their conversation. She wanted to buy two crates of eggs and keep it but her friends opined that some would definitely get spoilt before she is able to consume them. The woman then asked her friend, “what if I keep it inside refrigerator?” Then they both looked at each other with the face that says, “that should work just fine”.

For real, let’s ask ourselves these questions. Do we need to store eggs in the refrigerator or room temperature? How does refrigeration help the eggs we keep in there? Is it just a waste of time and space in the refrigerator? Let’s do the fact-finding job together.

What refrigeration does to eggs stored in it

Dr. Rosamund Baird and Dr. Janet Corry, two experts at Bristol University’s School of Veterinary Science say that storing a contaminated egg at room temperature will only allow the bacteria to multiply. So, storing the eggs in a refrigerator will slow down the multiplication of bacteria. But how do we know if egg is contaminated?

Most of the times, consumers like us cannot tell until we fall ill from consuming the eggs or the bacteria have caused deterioration to the point of spoilage. In countries like the Britain for example, there are laws that require that all egg hens be vaccinated for Salmonella. The Salmonella National Control Programme (NCP) prevents egg operators and producers from marketing eggs infected with the bacteria or that have an “unknown health status”.

This is not so in countries like the United States and many developing nations where immunization of hens against Salmonella is voluntary. No law requires that farmers should do it but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends storing eggs in the refrigerator.

According to the American Egg Board, to minimize the risk of contamination and to extend shelf life, eggs should be stored in the case or carton in a refrigerator. If done so, they should last up to four to five weeks without a significant loss of quality

Since refrigerators keep our eggs from contamination, slows down the multiplication of bacteria in already contaminated eggs and prevent illness, why don’t we just keep them in the refrigerator if we have the means. Did I mention that it extends the shell-life of eggs? Yes, it does and that saves you money.

So to answer the major question posed above, it is safer to store our eggs in the refrigerator than the shelf.

General

If You Have Ever Eaten Any Of These Foods, You Are Old!

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 20 May, 2015
66 Comments on If You Have Ever Eaten Any Of These Foods, You Are Old!

Here is a compilation of some foods. If you have eaten or seen any of the foods live before, you are probably around 28 years of age and that means you are already getting old. You don’t believe me? Try applying for the Nigerian Navy Direct Short Service Commission Course (DSSC).

1. Planta Margarine:

Just like many Nigerians would call every toothpaste Close-Up and every noodles Indomie, I still know of an elderly person that calls every margarine Planta. It’s really very funny how brands come and go into extinction when you consider the fact they dominated the market so much in their time. Now we have Blue Ban by Unilever dominating the market.

Other brands of margarines you can find in the Nigerian market are include Costa margarine, Moore margarine, Star margarine, and Topper margarine.

If you have ever seen this Planta margarine in real life or you have even tasted it before, you should consider leaving your father’s house. You are NO LONGER A KID.

2. Oxford Cabin Family Biscuit

Biscuit has never been something I would consider eating even when I am hungry but I know I have seen this pack before. This box usually contains 100 pcs of biscuit or thereabout. In primary school, it was what my classmates would bring to class with some drinks that you would seen on the next pages of this article. They wrap them in twos or more in paper and share in the class.

I never took one to school, not because I did not like biscuit but because my birthday always fell on a public holiday. It may continue to be a public holiday anyway.

It’s not just you – if you have you have eaten this before (just like me), you are already old. I hate to admit it too.

3. Krest Bitter Lemon – a soft drink

Krest bitter lemon is or was a carbonated soft drink flavoured with quinine and lemon. What did it taste like? Have you ever tasted Schweppes? If yes, then you know what Krest Bitter Lemon tasted like. I was even confusing it with the tonic water while putting this article together. What I am however sure of is that the signature bitter taste is produced by a combination of the quinine and the lemon pith used in manufacturing the drink.

The main difference between tonic water and bitter lemon is the addition of lemon juice and rind. If I got the comparison between the Krest bitter lemon and Schweppes wrong, then maybe I am not very old then.

You are very sure of what each tasted like? How is your last born doing?

4. Bongo Tea

I can’t remember if Bongo was a Cocoa beverage or Tea but I can remember it as a cocoa drink. Please correct me if I am wrong our older folks.

[Update] Orugert from the comment section said; Bongo is definitely not a chocolate beverage it’s a form of tea without the teabag, I think it’s more of tea leaves, you cut the satchet [sic], pour into a teapot and boil, and when pouring the tea you have to be careful so as not to pour it with dregs.

To tell you how long this product had gone into extinction, I could not find a picture for it. It was the best in its days with a very pleasant aroma and superb taste. This tea was popular in Nigeria and even beyond the shores of the country. It just did not stand the test of time and competition.

If I had a wish now, it would be that a pack of Bongo appears on my table for me to take the picture. That would be like stumbling upon an antique. It’s gonna be really expensive at the auction because I would make a big picture of it into a frame. Why am I writing all these? I hope it’s not old age.

Older folks who knew what was actually happening the said that importation of Bongo was halted due to what the importers called excessive import duties by the Nigerian government.

5. Robot and Bubble Chewing Gum

I ate a lot of chewing growing up. It’s probably one the reasons I have very bad teeth. Robot chewing gum and one called “Sprint” or “Spirit” were my favourites back then. I knew footballers chew gum when they played so I started chewing gum whenever I played football too.

There is this one that always came with questions inside the wrap of the gum. They were very interesting because they came with answers too. Funny how I knew this many chewing gums from back in the days but don’t know a single one in the market today. If you ate any of these back then, you are probably dyeing your hair to black now. Just kidding.

By the way, if any one still sees these chewing gums (Robot, Sprint or Spirit, Jenka and Bubble) in the market, please let me know.

6. Okin Biscuit (Coaster and Shortcake)

There are so many biscuits that have gone into extinction really. I can name a hundred of them that were so popular then but are not around any more. Okay, that was an “over exaggeration” but I can name 10 for you if you ask me. There was this Fishly, Alata, Malt n Milk, Okin Coaster, Shortcake, Paco biscuit, Glucose, and so on.

Kids of these days don’t even take biscuits to school any more. There are so many replacements. Many even just take money to school and buy whatever they want.

There are still so many foods that I can remember but don’t want to add because I don’t have pictures for them. There was pronto, Dr. Pepper, Tandi, Gold spot, Treebor, etc.

Whenever I stumble upon any of the relics, I promise to add them to this list and maybe one day, this would become a gigantic list of antiques.

Food & Body Food & Nutrition

Skimmed vs Full Cream Milk: Which Is Good For Your Health?

Post author By Ahmed Ogundimu
Post date 18 May, 2015
1 Comment on Skimmed vs Full Cream Milk: Which Is Good For Your Health?

Some days back, I wrote an article explaining the differences between skimmed milk and full cream milk or what some prefer to call whole milk. The major difference between them, I said, is the amount of fat that is present in them – skim or skimmed milk has had all or most of its fat removed while whole milk has all the fat that should be present in milk. This is where I am going to start the discussion for today.

Which is better: Skimmed Milk or Whole Milk?

I have read publications in which some experts proposed that people who are looking to shed weight should stay away from full cream milk. They said the fat that is present in the milk will only contribute to addition of more calories to the body and since skimmed milk contain almost the same amount of nutrients other than the fat that has been removed, they should go for that. This may only be true in an absolute sense.

First of all, I would like to say that there are Vitamins that are present in the fat that was removed. These vitamins – A, D, E and K, are called the fat-soluble vitamins. They are so called because they are dissolved in the fat and they are only present when the fat is present. So, this could count as a thumb down for skimmed milk.

Secondly, reduced-fat milk and other drinks may not be as filling as those containing fat, so consumers may end up compensating for the lack of calories and eating or drinking more. Often, they tend to compensate with carbs that add more calories than the full cream milk would have added.

Dr. David Ludwig, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital said to Time’s Healthland, “We are not arguing milk should be abandoned. For kids who are consuming diets that are high in calories and low in nutrients, milk can provide lots of needed nutrients — like calcium. Somehow this low-fat milk has become so entrenched in the nutritional psyche, it persists despite the absence of evidence. To the contrary, the evidence that now exists suggests an adverse effect of reduced-fat milk.”

While you have also been probably always been informed to drink reduced-fat milk because of the calories, evidence from the majority of recent scientific studies show that drinking whole milk actually improves cholesterol levels, just not as much as drinking skim does.

Let me also give this to the men reading this post; women can also tell their boyfriends or husbands about this. If you like to build your muscle, whole milk may be your best choice: Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis—an indicator of muscle growth—2.8 times more than drinking skim did.

I believe those that are looking to reduce their weight may take skimmed milk, only if they can resist the temptations that come after as discussed above. Since it doesn’t give the filling effect that whole milk gives, you may be tempted to eat foods that will eventually add more calories to your body. Also, the fat-soluble vitamins may never be available to you if you keep avoiding fat. You get them in fatty foods, so why not take the ones in milk fat that has been shown to be more beneficial to the body? Some of these issues were addressed in one of our articles that talked about why no fat, no fruits, one meal a day diet is not appropriate for weight loss.

You know what my own recommendation is? Take whole milk.

Tags Milk