Bakery Chocolate

Though the history of bakery chocolate and cocoa spans the globe, the tale of the brownie is purely American. The exact origins of this favorite baked treat aren't known, but most indicators agree that the brownie originated in New England. Everyone has a different story about the exact incident that created the brownie. Nearly all point to a kitchen mishap that revealed a product soon to become a staple of American desserts. One popular tale tells of a housewife in the early 20th century who simply forgot to add baking powder to her cake mix. Naturally, the cake did not rise and result was the brownie.

Bakery chocolate and cocoa comes in two main forms, though each of these encompasses a wide range of decadent flavoring products. Dutch-process cocoa is a cocoa powder that has been treated to neutralize the acidity of the product. This cocoa has a milder flavor and a distinctly reddish hue. Unsweetened cocoa is darker and has a touch of the distinct bitterness found in dark chocolate products. This type of baking cocoa is best for rich brownies and cookies. You can use the two interchangeably when needed as long as you add baking powder when using unsweetened instead of Dutch-process cocoa, and omit the baking powder with the opposite substitution.

The China Study

If you have not read The China Study yet, you should. It is the most comprehensive study ever done on nutrition, diet and how it relates to cancer. A biochemist from Yale got a 30 year grant to study these things and his conclusions are that we consume way too much protein, animal foods and dairy in the Western world than our bodies were designed to. A diet of fruits and vegetables is all your body really needs and your odds of getting cancer are virtually none when you eat a plant based diet. Heart disease and many other conditions become non-existent as well by feeding your body properly. Your body is strong and resilient to disease if you keep your body fed correctly. You want your body fluids to be in a slightly alkaline state where cancer can not live or thrive. So restaurants should definitely add more fruits and vegetables to their menus and less animal based foods.

Cake Circles

Bakery cake circles also help your customer to serve the cake easily. When you provide a cake pad underneath your cakes, you're giving the customer the ability to pick up and move the finished product from the box to a cake stand or beautiful serving platter with no risk to the cake. This is why it's so important to select sturdy, high-quality cake pads. If you use a flimsy product beneath a large cake, the pad will bend and the cake will fall apart. This experience is sure to lose you customers. Though the cake may taste the same, this business is all about presentation.

A selection of bakery cake circles is important for more than just delivery. These should be placed beneath each and every cake so you can safely move your products around the bakery. The cakes on display in the window need to be on cake pads as much as those going home. A well-stocked bakery will have a wide selection of cake pads on hand. Remember that the pad should be the same size and shape as the cake. Customers should see as little of the cake circle as possible. This accessory provides hidden support that's always used but rarely seen in a truly professional bakery

Ladles For Soup

Any restaurant kitchen or cafeteria uses ladles on a daily basis when cooking and serving liquid foods. Ladles are not only convenient for scooping stuff out of a pot or pan, but can be used to give exact portions in any cafeteria setting. Portion control is important for restaurants to control their costs. Portion control with a ladle is also important to get the right tastes when mixing foods. Our commercial ladles will last a lifetime in your kitchen.

Beat the Winter Time Blues With Hot Chocolate

People can get depressed and sluggish in the winter time by being inside the house more than the summer time. If you live in a state that has a winter, then make sure to stock up on a lot of hot chocolate. Not only does hot cocoa warm your body but it gives you energy as well. Chocolate is a stimulant and it has a lot of antioxidants to help protect your cells against cancer. You may also want to add a little peppermint schnapps or other liquor to your drink to spice it up a bit. I few marshmallows on top never hurt anybody either. Candy Cane Cocoa looks like a wonderful variation for your family or resort.

Pickles and Relish for Burgers and Hot Dogs

Dill pickles and crinkle cut pickles go great on hamburgers and as sides at any restaurant or concession stand. Bay Valley is one of the original pioneers of pickles and the odds are you have eaten their pickles at some point in your life while eating out. They also make great tasting relish for hot dogs at the ballgame or for lunch in your restaurant. Americans are not getting enough greens in their diets and are lacking in vitamins and minerals. Pickles are a great way to introduce something healthy into stuff not so healthy.

Plastic Stemware and Specialty Cups

Don't waste time doing dishes and dealing with breakage when you can have fancy glasses and cups that are plastic instead. Disposable champagne glasses and wine glasses are perfect for restaurant parties, New Years Eve, and other events where people get tipsy. You will no longer have to worry about drunk people breaking glass with Berry Plastics Stemware. Choose from wine glasses, martini glasses, champagne glasses, dessert cups, coffee mugs, and parfait cups. All disposable for ease and convenience. So stock up on these convenient stemware products for your wedding receptions and parties.

Peanuts for Your Bar

Not only are nuts healthy for you, but they are filling as well. Peanuts are one of the most nutritionally dense foods on earth. They make for a great snack to offer at your restaurant bars and cocktail lounges. Patrons like to snack while they drink and mingle, so be sure to provide bowls of peanuts.

Great restaurant chefs in America have created some tasty dishes with peanuts as well, so buy your peanuts in bulk for your entire restaurant.

Winco Kitchen Equipment

When it comes to transporting equipment and food in and out of your kitchen safely and with style, nothing beats the utility carts offered by Winco Industries. There are cart color schemes that can fit into any color scheme and will offer quality and reliable transportation. You can cover your utility carts with decorative cloth to use them in even your most elegant dining areas. When you need carts to make sure that your banquets go smoothly and that your kitchen is operating safely, the Winco line of carts will definitely do the job.

In the banquet and restaurant business, presentation is everything. The Winco line of chafers will help you create an ambiance that will keep your guests coming back. You can choose from a roll-top or separate top model with all of the Winco chafers offering the clean look of stainless steel. The glistening exterior and the quality manufacturing of these presentation pieces will keep your food warm while impressing your guests at the same time. The chafers all come with places for heating elements and have prices that will allow you to get pure elegance without paying more than you would expect.

Winco is also a world leader in stainless steel and aluminum pots and pans for commercial kitchens. You will not find better, long lasting kitchen tools than winco.

Update International Kitchen Supplies

Working in the beverage and foodservice industry can be very tough. It is said that four in five businesses will fail in the first few years they are open. Due to this statistic, not everyone is capable of owning, and being involved with, the beverage and foodservice industry. With the odds so highly stacked against them, people need every advantage they can get for a restaurant. Their equipment needs to last long and be durable. The kitchen supplies should be sturdy and high quality. With the help of Update International and the large inventory of restaurant products and supplies they have available, there is sure to be everything that is needed all in one place and this will save on time and money. There is a lot to do in the foodservice industry and every little bit helps.

Vollrath Restaurant Supplies

When you use quality utensils, you need them to be made from the best possible materials. The majority of the Vollrath Company restaurant product line is made from quality stainless steel which resists rust and gives a glistening look. The mixing bowls, tongs, ladles and slotted spoons are all made from the same high-quality materials. When your guests see that you care enough to invest in quality utensils, then that goes a long way to establishing a positive impression of the rest of your business. Your cooks will also appreciate how easy it is to work with quality, stainless steel utensils and bowls as they prepare the food that will create your company's reputation.

Altoids Breath Mints Give Your Customers Fresh Breath

A good restaurant or catering business sets itself apart from the competition by focusing on the little customer service details. It is the things that a restaurant offers to clients that make a dining experience much better that helps to get repeat customers and new referrals. For example, investing in designer plates as opposed to standard white plates will make a customer feel like the dining experience is special and enhanced. The same can be said for the products and giveaways that you choose for your clients when they pay their restaurant bill. Altoid breath mints are a great treat to hand out with the bill. Sometimes these little details can be the thing that drives more business to your company and helps you stand out from the crowd.

When you focus in on the details for your customers, then that will come back to you in repeat business and referrals. The Altoids name is one of the biggest names in the mint industry and it is the right name for you to associate with your business. It will show your clients that you have an eye for detail and good taste in mint vendors.

Restaurant Teapots

The best teapots you can buy for your restaurant or even for your own personal use are certainly those that are made from stainless steel. There are plenty of reasons for this. The most obvious is that they're inexpensive, especially when compared to other option out there. They also look great since they have a sleek, modern look that is as clean as it is contemporary. These teapots resist rust as well, and they are dishwasher safe so that your kitchen staff can clean them with ease.

An overlooked benefit of stainless steel teapots is that they're lightweight. The durability of the steel means that the walls can be thinner, which in turn leads to a much lighter teapot than other options available on the market. Your wait staff will love the light weight. When you're looking for the perfect teapot for your foodservice business, there's no doubt that these are the way to go thanks to the durability, appearance, weight, and low cost. The only real choice you'll have to make is just which one of the many different pots available is the right one for you to buy and add to your kitchen.

Today's stainless steel teapots are available from small ten ounce sizes up to larger forty eight ounce ones. The key is to figure out how you want to use them. Your wait staff can carry the large ones from table to table, but for added flair you can also use the small ten ounce ones and take a pot of tea to each table that wants one, giving them their own personal supply during their dining experience. Self service makes your waiters job easier. In the end, you've got plenty of options to decide from, and it's easy to find one for your style and budget.

Thank You in Other Languages

 

Afrikaans                   Baie Dankie (thanks very much)

Cherokee                   Wado

English                      Thank You

French                       Merci (mehr-see')

German                     Danke schoen (literally: nicely thank you)

Hawaiian                   Mahalo

Hebrew                     Toda (toh-dah')

Indonesian                Terima kasih (teh-ri-mah kah-sih)

Italian                       Grazie

Japanese                   Domo arrigato

Kurdish                    Spas

Mandarin                 Xie_Xie (shieh shieh)

Norwegian              Takk

Pashto                     Manana

Russian                   Spasiba (spah-see'-boh)

Scottish                   Moran Taing (Many Thanks)

Spanish                   Gracias (grah'-syas)

Swahili                   Ahsante Sana (Thank you very much)

Urdu                       Shukria

Liquor Pourers

There a three reasons to use a liquor pourer. One is that it takes the guesswork out of dispensing the right quantity of liquor in your mixed drinks. Most pourers are adjustable to allow you to pour out the desired amount at your bar and then stop. Another reason to use them is that a pourer saves time by not having to carefully pour the correct amount each time. In a busy bar or restaurant, time is money. And finally, pourers help protect the contents of the bottle (a cap can of course perform the same function but who wants to take the time to unscrew and then re-screw caps).

Liquor pourers are available in different materials, colors, and sizes. Some have extra-long necks to reduce product spillage in your foodservice bar. Pourers are made from plastic or stainless steel or a combination of the two. Many permit you to adjust the flow rate. Using different colors help keep which bottle has which content straight.

Commercial Aprons

 Aprons are an excellent way to protect uniforms and clothing, and combined with proper hygiene practices, can help to reduce cross contamination.  Roundeyesupply offers a wide range of aprons from front of the house to the kitchen. You can choose from many different fabrics, such as polyester, vinyl, polyethylene, or cotton/poly blend and from different styles, such as bistro, dishwasher, and industrial, and aprons that come in full and half lengths. 

Our waiter and waitresses aprons are made from a blend fabric and features 3-compartment front pocket as well as two side slits for easy access to pants pockets.  Available in various colors.

For the kitchen, you can select aprons that allow your staff to stay

dry when washing dishes with out full-length clear dish-washing apron. It's made from an institutional grade vinyl for superior protection from splashing water. For added security, this apron features heavy-duty braided ties.

Our full-length white apron helps reduce the possibility of cross contamination and the potential for transference of viruses and bacteria by clothing.  It features extra long ties for easy tying and a large neck opening for cooler, more comfortable wearing.  Made of quality, cold-stamped embossed polyethylene that provides functional, economical protection and reliable performance.

For maximum protection, you’ll want your staff to be wearing our thickest vinyl apron (20 mil) which offers protection from fats, chemicals and abrasions.  Comes with extra long ties for comfort and ease of tying.

We also have children’s aprons made from embossed LDPE film.
They feature a front folded crumb pocket to help catch any spills and are available in pack assortments of four pre-printed designs.

Other Uses for Cooking Spray

Cooking Spray Shoveling snow can be a hassle, especially when the snow sticks to the shovel. This is when an old favorite can come to the rescue. If you generously apply cooking spray to both sides of a plastic or metal shovel before you get started, the snow and ice will slide right off instead of building up.

Origin of the Fortune Cookie

The Origin of the Fortune Cookie

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the fortune cookie was not invented in China but instead in the U. S. of A. While it was most likely invented in California, there is more than one account of how this came about.

Possibility #1

A Chinese immigrant, David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918 while living in Los Angeles. He was concerned by the nearby poor people he encountered. He came up with a cookie that contained an inspirational Bible scripture inside (Jung solicited the help of a local Presbyterian minister). He hoped that by passing out these cookies with the notes inside, it would lift the spirits of the less-fortunate around him.

Possibility #2

Makoto Hagiwara, designer of the famous Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, worked as a gardener. Around 1900, a new mayor who didn't like Japanese fired him from his job. While he was later reinstated by another mayor, Hagiwara wanted to show his appreciation to his friends who stood by him during his years of hardship. In 1914, he came up with a cookie that had a simple ‘thank you’ note inside that he passed out to his faithful friends. They became so popular that he was soon serving them on a regular basis at the Japanese Tea Garden.

Possibility #3

It is thought that the Chinese 49'ers who worked on the construction of the railroads to California were inspired by an ancient Chinese legend to invent the cookie. The legend has it that secret notes were hidden in Moon Cakes and handed out to revolutionaries who subsequently overthrew the invading Mongols and formed the Ming Dynasty. From that time forward, the Moon Festival became celebrated on a regular basis with part of that tradition being the passing out of cakes with sayings inside them.

However, during the celebration of the Moon Festival, railway workers in California did not have any traditional moon cakes. So, instead they improvised with a hard biscuit containing their own “secret” notes inside and the fortune cookie was born.

Possibility #4

In the early part of the 20^th century, San Francisco decided to turn Chinatown, which was then a ghetto, into a tourist attraction. As tourism increased, the lack of a suitable dessert became apparent. In the 1930s, the Kay Heong Noodle Factory came up with a plain flat cookie, which while still warm, was folded around a little piece of paper. Each piece of paper had a hand-written tidbit of Chinese wisdom or a prediction, e.g. “you will have a nice trip”.

Fortune cookies continued to be made by hand until 1964. In that year, Edward Louie of San Francisco's Lotus Fortune Cookie Company invented a device to make the cookies.

Soy Milk Benefits

Soy milk contains no lactose

About 75 percent of the world population cannot tolerate lactose with some ethnic groups more affected than others. Only 0.5 percent of children is allergic to soy milk, whereas 2.5 percent has an allergic reaction to cow’s milk.

As an additional benefit, Soy Milk contains prebiotic sugars that boost immunity and help decrease toxins in the body. 

Soy milk contains only vegetables proteins

Vegetable proteins have an advantage in that they reduce the loss of calcium through the kidneys.

Soy milk and other soy foods contain high concentrations of isoflavones. Studies in the last 10 years have shown that isoflavones promote bone health.  It is known that a diet rich in animal protein creates a higher risk for osteoporosis.

Another benefit of soy milk is that it does not contain a protein called casein, which is found in cow’s milk. It is not uncommon for people to develop an allergic reaction to casein.  This is particularly significant for parents of autistic children.  It is widely thought that this protein can contribute to gastrointestinal disorders.

Soy milk reduces cholesterol

Saturated fats in cow’s milk are unhealthy and increase cholesterol. The FDA confirms that soy protein, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by reducing cholesterol levels in the body.  The FDA recommends consuming 25 grams of soy protein as part of your daily food intake.

A recent study conducted at the National Institute of Health & Nutrition in Japan also concluded that soy protein is effective at lowering cholesterol levels.

Soy milk is rich in isoflavones

Isoflavones have many health benefits including reducing cholesterol, prevention of osteoporosis, easing of menopausal symptoms, and reducing the risk for certain cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer.  Isoflavones are also antioxidants which protect cells and DNA against oxidation.  Each cup of soy milk contains about 20 mg of isoflavones.  Cow’s milk does not contain isoflavones.

Soy milk contains no hormones

Cow’s milk contains natural hormones (from the cow) but also synthetic hormones, which can have a negative impact on our bodies.   Cows are often given artificial hormones to boost milk production.

Soy can help with the symptoms of menopause

The hormonal changes associated with menopause can cause uncomfortable symptoms and increase the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. During menopause, women often experience symptoms including hot flashes, headaches, night sweats, and insomnia.  Hormone replacement therapy has been used widely used to mitigate the effects of menopause.  However, recent studies have demonstrated a potential link between this  replacement therapy and breast cancer.  It is thought soy may provide some of the same  menopausal relief but without the risks of hormone replacement therapy.

Soy milk does not cause insulin dependent diabetes

Some studies have suggested an association between drinking cow's milk in early life and the eventual development of insulin-dependent diabetes.  This association has not been shown with soy milk.

Soy can promote eye health

New research conducting using lab rats shows that the isoflavone genistein protects against the x-ray induced formation of cataracts.  Soy is particularly high in genistein.  Other recent research indicates that soy may also act as a radioprotectant, which is administered prior to exposure to ionizing radiation to mitigate radiation damage.

Risks

 

Just like many other things in life, there are benefits and risks. Some research has shown that soy and soy extracts may cause some thyroid problems.  A small percentage of people may be allergic to soy proteins.

People need to be aware that while soy has many great attributes, consuming too much soy can be hazardous to their health.  But, if you adopt the attitude “everything in moderation”, it seems there is not likely any concerns for healthy individuals.

Chopsticks

Chopsticks are a pair short, tapered sticks of equal length.  They were the traditional eating utensils of China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Korea.  Chopsticks  were invented several thousand years ago in China.  Interestingly, the fork was invented (also in China) and was in use long before chopsticks.  

Chopsticks are made of different materials and have different designs based on the country they are used in.

Types of material used for chopsticks

The least expensive and most widely available material is wood or bamboo.  Chopsticks made from this material provide a good grip for holding food and have a low conduction of heat.  They also possess an inherent anti-bacterial property.  With repeated use, non-lacquered sticks can warp or deteriorate.  Disposable wood chopsticks are used in restaurants and in food preparation. 

Metal (the most common being stainless steel) chopsticks, while long-lasting and easy to clean, can be slippery, making it more difficult to pick up and hold food.  Metal sticks should not be used in cooking as they are a good conductor of heat.

Plastic chopsticks hold up well, are inexpensive to make, and are a poor conductor of heat.  Because plastic, like metal, tends to be slippery, it is not as easy to pick up and hold food as it is with wooden chopsticks.  Plastic sticks cannot be used during the preparation of food.

Chopsticks can also be made from other materials, such as gold, bronze, ivory, coral, jade, and silver.  Silver has been the choice of wealthy families for centuries, as it was believed that silver would turn black when it came in contact with poison.  It is now known that silver has no reaction to arsenic or cyanide but does react in the presence of sulfur.