Sweet News

Doctor’s Orders: Daily Dose of Cranberries!
November 3, 2007 – www. rapidcityjournal.com. 

Columnist Halina Hladysz writes that cranberries do much more than make a great side dish for a Thanksgiving turkey. Cranberries are valuable as a natural medicine too!

Cranberries have been around for centuries, maybe longer. In years past American Indians used cranberries as a poultice for treating wounds. (A poultice is a wet, moist, absorbent mass wrapped in cloth and applied to the skin or wounds to either impart medicine, add heat or absorb liquid.) Sailors on the ocean over long periods of time ate cranberries for the vitamins to prevent scurvy and also found them useful in treating blood disorders, upset stomachs, liver problems, etc. 

These days cranberry juice is highly recommended to treat or prevent urinary tract infections by preventing bacteria from attaching to the lining of the bladder. If the bacteria can’t hang around they don’t get to cause any trouble.

Cranberries are also rich in flavonoids which reduce cardiovascular inflammation (heart disease), prevent stomach ulcers and may indirectly reduce the onset of cancer by increasing the body’s flushing mechanism to get rid of unwanted compounds. Also a cranberry extract-based mouthwash reduces oral bacteria and prevents cavities from forming. 

Thanks Halina! That’s good news. Especially since Phenomenal Fudge makes great cranberry walnut fudge. 

Chocoholic Condition - Not Just Mental
October 12, 2007 – www.sciencedaily.com. 

Researchers at Nestle Corporation wondered if there was some factor other than psychological cravings that turned our thoughts and desires to eating chocolate. The study’s research indicated that our desire for chocolate may very well be programmed into our physical make-up.

The study involved 22 men: Eleven men who said they enjoyed chocolate and eleven men who said they could take it or leave it. In this five-day, double-blind study the participants either ate chocolate or a placebo. “Double-blind” means that neither the test subjects nor the researchers were aware of the particulars of the treatment, thereby not affecting the outcome of the research. Tests showed that blood and urine samples of the subjects showed marked differences between the chocolate lovers group and the indifferent group. 

Those who enjoyed chocolate had lower levels of LDL-cholesterol (the kind to avoid) and higher levels of the protein albumin (the kind to keep) than the group that had no chocolate cravings. The intestinal bacterial microbes in both groups were also studied and compared and, lo and behold, they too were different. One group of microbes “could handle”chocolate better than the other. 

The truly astonishing finding was that these metabolic indicators were present whether the subjects ate the chocolate or not. In other words they were pre-disposed, metabolically, to, if not seek chocolate, to at least work with it better. 

So what?

Within five years the researchers said that a test could be available to see how pre-disposed any of us are to consume chocolate and thereby give nutritional eating guidelines specific to the patient. A cynic might take it a step further and suggest that Nestle could then tie that information into a particular marketing campaign to promote their products to a unique set of customers. Hmmmm! 

Women were not part of this study as monthly menstrual cycles cause variations in metabolic testing that can unduly influence outcomes. That was an unfortunate criteria they set as women buy more chocolate than men. 

For further information contact the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Proteome Research. 

Holiday Deadlines - Military Mailing Dates
November 1, 2007 – www.usps.com

The rule of thumb, as it is every year, is to mail often and early. Our guys and gals in uniform always enjoy a package or letter from home, especially during the holidays. It’s a tremendous morale booster for the sender and the receiver. 

The US Postal Service helps in this endeavor by providing a Military Care Kit or “Mili-kit” to make it easier for folks back home to send stuff overseas. Each kit contains boxes, labels and custom forms to streamline your shipping process. All you need to do is to ship it on time. 

Deadlines vary depending upon speed of service paid for and how far away the destination is. Different APO/FPO zip codes have different deadlines but you can’t go wrong with these deadlines: November 13 for Parcel Post; December 4 for both First-Class Letters and Priority Mail; and lastly, December 18 for Express Mail. For exact deadlines go to www.usps.com. 


Dessert Recipe

Hot chocolate just got better with mixes you can concoct at home. Recipes are re-printed from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

PEANUT BUTTER HOT CHOCOLATE MIX
Thanks to "Hot Chocolate" by Fred Thompson
Makes: About 12 servings

1 cup sugar
1 cup natural cocoa powder
1 cup non-fat dry powdered milk
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, powdered milk, peanut butter chips and salt into a large bowl. Pour into a 1-quart airtight container.

To serve, scoop 1/3 cup of the mix into a mug and pour 1 cup of water over it. Stir until peanut butter chips have melted and mixture is smooth.


MOCHA COFFEE MIX
Thanks to Allrecipes.com
Makes: 64 

1 1/4 cups instant coffee granules 
7 cups dry milk powder 
5 3/4 cups powdered chocolate drink mix 
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar 
1 3/4 cups powdered non-dairy creamer 

In a large bowl, mix together instant coffee, milk powder, chocolate drink mix, confectioners' sugar and powdered creamer. Store in an air-tight container. 

To serve, place 4 tablespoons of mixture into a coffee mug. Stir in 1 cup boiling water. 

A Short History of Thanksgiving
Sources: history.com, scholastic.com, about.com, pilgrims.net

In the fall of 1620 102 Pilgrims from England embarked on the 180-ton Mayflower sailing ship to bring them to Northern Virginia, now known as New York’s Hudson Valley. But, whoops, due to storms and a navigation mistake they made landfall 65 days later at Cape Cod, Massachusetts instead. 

The town they called their new home, Plymouth, was subsequently founded by the Pilgrims on December 20, 1620. However, that was bad timing. The Pilgrims had arrived in the middle of winter and struggled just to stay alive. Without the help of the local American Indian tribe, the Wampanoag’s, they surely would have. 

The Native Americans taught them how to grow plants and in the space of 10 months the Pilgrims built seven homes, a meetinghouse, and three warehouses to store food. The Wampanoags and the Pilgrims had such a close relationship that a feast was held to celebrate the first harvest and their friendship. 

Pilgrims usually held a religious “Thanksgiving” back in England to celebrate their beliefs. But secular harvest festivals were also common throughout Europe and that was the kind celebrated in Plymouth. 

About 90 Wampanoags, made the two-day walk from their home to Plymouth for the festivities. Their chief was Massasoit, which means Great Sachem or Great Leader. His real name was Ousameguin. The pilgrims were led by Governor William Bradford and Captain Miles Standish. It was a three-day rolling feast featuring duck, deer, corn porridge, corn, cabbage, onions and squash. Sorry, there was no turkey, mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie with whipped cream. There was, however, lots of singing and dancing for everyone, target shooting for the Pilgrim adults and games for all the kids. 

Fun as it was no one remembered to put Thanksgiving on the calendar for the next year. 

The tradition of Thanksgiving was an on-again off-again affair for about 150 years until October 1777 when all 13 colonies celebrated it together. President George Washington made Thanksgiving official setting the date of Thursday, November 26 to be “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer”. But even that tradition faded. 

President Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, finally made Thanksgiving a tradition one couldn’t ignore and issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation that a national holiday of “thanksgiving and praise” be held on the last Thursday in November. No confusion right? I mean, it’s now officially on the calendar. 

Everything was find and dandy until 1939. It so happened that in that year the last Thursday fell on November 30. Retailers complained to President Franklin Roosevelt that that left only 24 shopping days before Christmas. Oh no! Say it ain’t so!

So, FDR issued his own proclamation moving Thanksgiving day up one week to be the third Thursday in November thereby providing another seven shopping days for business to sell gifts. Traditionalists were furious. Retailers were ecstatic. But the date remains and all is forgiven Happy Thanksgiving to all our Phenomenal Fudge family. 

*Phenomenal Person-of-the-Month*

Each month we invite our visitors to submit their essay of the most phenomenal person in their life. The winner is awarded a free pound of fudge, a Phenomenal Fudge T-Shirt and their picture on the web site. Anyone can nominate him or her by emailing us at pfudge2000@yahoo.com . Explain in 200 words or less why your guy or gal is nothing short of phenomenal. Courage, selflessness, loyalty, honesty, persistence, etc. are the traits we’re looking for in this honoree. Please submit only true stories…no fudging allowed. Attachments proving the story’s validity will help but are not necessary. Winners are picked the last day of the month.