Italian cuisine as a national cuisine known today has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Its roots can be traced back to the 4th century BC. The cuisine changed significantly with discovery of the New World which helped shape much of what is known as Italian cuisine today with the introduction of items such as potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper and maize, which are all central parts of the cuisine but were not introduced in scale until the 18th century. Olive oil is a key ingredient in Italian cuisine, as are olives.
Ingredients and dishes vary by region. There are many significant regional dishes that have become both national and regional. Many dishes that were once regional, however, have proliferated in different variations across the country in the present day. Cheese and wine are also a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles both regionally and nationally with their many variations and Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) (regulated appellation) laws. Coffee, and more specifically espresso, has become highly important to the cultural cuisine of Italy.
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Mediterranean cuisine is the food of the areas around the Mediterranean Sea.
The idea of the "standard Mediterranean diet" is a modern construction of food writers and publicists in Western Europe and North America earnestly preaching what is now thought to be a healthy diet to their audiences by invoking a stereotype of the healthy other on the shores of the Mediterranean. Their colleagues in Mediterranean countries are only too willing to perpetuate this myth. The fact of the matter is that the Mediterranean contains varied cultures.
Around 1975, under the impulse of one of those new nutritional directives by which good cooking is too often influenced, the Americans discovered the so-called Mediterranean diet. The name even pleased Italian government officials, who made one modification: changing from diet—a word which has always seemed punitive and therefore unpleasant—to Mediterranean cuisine.
Given the geography, these nation-states have influenced each other over time and the cooking evolved into sharing common principles. Mediterranean cuisine is characterized by its flexibility, its range of ingredients and its many regional variations. The terrain has tended to favour the raising of goats and sheep.
Fish dishes are also common, although today much of the fish is imported since the fisheries of the Mediterranean Sea are weak. Seafood is still prominent in many of the standard recipes.
Olive oil, produced from the olive trees prominent throughout Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain and other Mediterranean nations, adds to the distinctive taste of the food.
It is believed that ingredients in this kind of cooking, especially olive oil, are a major contributor to the longevity of the Mediterranean people.
Barbecue or grilled meats, pita bread, hummus, and falafel are very popular forms of the eastern type of the cuisine.
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Olive leaf is the leaf of the olive tree (Olea europaea). While olive oil is well known for its flavor and health benefits, the leaf has been used medicinally in various times and places. Natural olive leaf and olive leaf extracts (OLE), are now marketed as anti-aging, immunostimulators, and even antibiotics without any proof of efficacy.
History Olive leaf extract is derived from the leaves of the olive tree. Recorded use of olive leaf's medicinal use spans back for thousands of years: it was used by ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean cultures to treat a variety of health conditions. Olive leaf is the first botanical cited in the Bible (Ezekiel 47:12) as a natural healer: "The fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."
Active compounds The primary medicinal constituents contained in unprocessed olive leaf is believed to be the antioxidant oleuropein and Hydroxytyrosol, as well as several flavonoids including Oleocanthal. Both Mission and Manzanillo olive trees are most commonly cited for medical use, as other varieties of olive tree are better suited for olives and olive oil production.
Nutritional and medicinal uses Olive leaf and extracts are utilized in the complementary and alternative medicine community for its ability to act as a natural pathogens killer by inhibiting the replication process of many pathogens. More specifically, it disables infections long enough for the immune system to eliminate them and prevent pathogens from spreading.
Olive leaf is commonly used to fight colds and flu, yeast infections, and viral infections such as the hard-to-treat Epstein-Barr disease, shingles and herpes. Olive leaf is also good for the heart. Olive leaf has shown to reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDL), or bad cholesterol. Researchers have found that olive leaf lowers blood pressure and increase blood flow by relaxing the arteries.
Olive leaf harbors antioxidant properties that help protect the body from the continuous onslaught of free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances that, when oxidized, can cause cellular damage if left unchecked. Some recent research on the olive leaf has shown it’s antioxidants to be effective in treating some tumors and cancers such as liver and breast cancer but the research on this is preliminary.
Olive leaf can be taken in powder, liquid extract or capsule form.
Soaps and cosmetics Olive leaf extracts are combined with olive oil in soaps and skin creams for topical use.
Olive leaf tea To prepare olive leaf tea, a large teaspoon (approx. 10g) dried olive leaf is placed in a tea ball or herb sack and dropped into two quarts boiling water. The heat is immediately reduced to a medium simmer and the tea let brewed in a covered pot for three to ten minutes with occasional stirring. Tea should be a medium amber color.
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How to Make an Italian Panzanella Salad : How to Add Olive Oil to Italian Panzanella
The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional model originally inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of some of the countries of the Mediterranean Basin. The most commonly-understood version of the Mediterranean diet was presented by Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University's School of Public Health in the mid-1990s. Based on "food patterns typical of Crete, much of the rest of Greece, and southern Italy in the early 1960s," this diet, in addition to "regular physical activity" (e.g. farm labor), emphasizes "abundant plant foods, fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert, olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), and fish and poultry consumed in low to moderate amounts, zero to four eggs consumed weekly, red meat consumed in low amounts, and wine consumed in low to moderate amounts". Total fat in this diet is "< 25% to > 35%" of calories, with saturated fat at 8% or less of calories.[3] The diet is often cited as beneficial for being low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat and dietary fiber.
Although it was first publicized in 1945 by the American doctor Ancel Keys stationed in Salerno, Italy, the Mediterranean diet failed to gain widespread recognition until the 1990s. It is based on what from the point of view of mainstream nutrition is considered a paradox: that although the people living in Mediterranean countries tend to consume relatively high amounts of fat, they have far lower rates of cardiovascular disease than in countries like the United States, where similar levels of fat consumption are found. A parallel phenomenon is known as the French Paradox.
One of the main explanations is thought to be the large amount of olive oil used in the Mediterranean diet. Unlike the high amount of animal fats typical to the American diet, olive oil lowers cholesterol levels in the blood. It is also known to lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Research indicates olive oil prevents peptic ulcers and is effective in treatment of peptic ulcer disease, and may be a factor in preventing cancer. In addition, the consumption of red wine is considered a possible factor, as it contains flavonoids with powerful antioxidant properties.
Michael Pollan in his book "In Defense of Food" suggests the explanation is not any particular nutrient, but the combination of nutrients found in unprocessed food.
Dietary factors may be only part of the reason for the health benefits enjoyed by these cultures. Genetics, lifestyle (notably heavy physical labor), and environment may also be involved.
Although green vegetables, a good source of calcium and iron, as well as goat cheese, a good source of calcium, are common in the Mediterranean diet, concerns remain whether the diet provides adequate amounts of all nutrients, particularly calcium and iron.
This diet is not typical of all Mediterranean cuisine. In central Italy, for instance, lard and butter are commonly used in cooking, and olive oil is reserved for dressing salads and cooked vegetables. In North Africa, wine was traditionally not consumed by Muslims. In both North Africa and the Levant, along with olive oil, sheep's tail fat and rendered butter (samna) are traditional staple fats.
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In Jewish observance, olive oil is the only fuel allowed to be used in the seven-branched Menorah (not a candelabrum since the use of candles was not allowed) in the Mishkan service during the Exodus of the tribes of Israel from Egypt, and later in the permanent Temple in Jerusalem. It was obtained by using only the first drop from a squeezed olive and was consecrated for use only in the Temple by the priests, which is where the expression pure olive oil originates, stored in special containers. A copy of the Menorah is now used during the holiday of Hanukkah that celebrates the miracle of the last of such containers being found during the re-dedication of the Temple (163 BC), when its contents lasted for far longer then they were expected to, allowing more time for more oil to be made. Although candles can be used to light the Hanukkiah, oil containers are preferred, to imitate the original Menorah. Another use of oil in Jewish religion is for anointing the kings of the Kingdom of Israel, originating from King David. Tzidkiyahu was the last anointed King of Israel. One unusual use of olive oil in the Talmud is for bad breath, by creating a water-oil-salt mouthwash.
Olive oil also has religious symbolism for healing and strength and to consecration — God's setting a person or place apart for special work. This may be related to its ancient use as a medicinal agent and for cleansing athletes by slathering them in oil then scraping them. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches use olive oil for the Oil of Catechumens (used to bless and strengthen those preparing for Baptism) and Oil of the Sick (used to confer the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick). Olive oil mixed with a perfuming agent like balsam is consecrated by bishops as Sacred Chrism, which is used to confer the sacrament of Confirmation (as a symbol of the strengthening of the Holy Spirit), in the rites of Baptism and the ordination of priests and bishops, in the consecration of altars and churches, and, traditionally, in the anointing of monarchs at their coronation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and a number of other religions use olive oil when they need to consecrate an oil for anointings.
Eastern Orthodox Christians still use oil lamps in their churches and home prayer corners. A vigil lamp consists of a votive glass containing a half-inch of water and filled the rest with olive oil. The glass has a metal holder that hangs from a bracket on the wall or sits on a table. A cork float with lit a wick floats on the oil. To douse the flame, the float is carefully pressed down into the oil.
In Islam, olive oil is mentioned in the Quranic verse: "God is the light of heavens and earth. An example of His light is like a lantern inside which there is a tourch, the tourch is in a glass bulb, the glass bulb is like a bright planet lit by a blessed olive tree, neither Eastern nor Western, its oil almost glows, even without fire touching it, light upon light." The Qur’an also mentions olives as a sacred plant: "By the fig and the olive, and the Mount of Sinai, and this secure city."[2] Olive oil is also reported to have been recommended by the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in the following terms: "Consume olive oil and anoint it upon your bodies since it is of the blessed tree." He also stated that it cures 70 diseases.
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How to Cook BBQ Shrimp : Adding Olive Oil, Lemon, & Beer
50-year family farm. Converted flood irrigation to micro sprinklers. Canopy management reducing tree size for ease of picking. Nutrient management. Tissue analysis and soil analysis. Wildlife habitat.
