Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Organic Kaffir Limes – WOW, These are Amazing!

A while ago I did a story on gold nugget mandarins and when I saw this unknown fruit above, I couldn’t help but think of them because of the similarity of the rind.

And just as I had never seen gold nugget mandarins before, the same was true with these organic kaffir limes.

When I started asking the woman at my local organic market about kaffir limes, she quickly asked “Do you want to try one?”

With a bit of reluctance, I said “Ok, I guess.” After all, eating limes isn’t something that I normally do.

Yet when I bit into it, I was pleasantly surprised.

The kaffir lime didn’t have the sourness or bitterness that most limes do. It was more mild, more refreshing. In fact, after a few small bites, I found myself unable to stop eating it.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t control myself. The woman who cut it open for me jumped at the chance to do it because she knew that she was getting the other half, which was devoured in a split-second and with great enthusiasm.

Apparently, kaffir limes are a staple in Thai cooking. While I never eat this type of food anymore, my senses did recall the taste of kaffir limes in the Thai food that I had consumed in the past since the peel is an important part of many Thai curries.

Based on what I have read about kaffir limes:

– They are commonly used in household cleaners.

– The scent is supposed to improve one’s mood (I believe this – the smell is intoxicating).

– Supposed to promote gum health and are recommended for use in brushing teeth.

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Many people who eat a lot of Thai food or have traveled extensively in Asia may already be familiar with kaffir limes but very rarely do they appear in organic markets in the Northeast.

While I always get very excited when I discover a fantastic new organic product (maybe that’s why I love going to Expo West and Expo East so much), my level of excitement goes to a whole new dimension whenever I come across a new organic fruit.

When you spend the majority of your life in Boston, New York City and Providence (not exactly tropical locations), you’re just not exposed to that many varieties of fruit.

So, discovering amazing organic fruit, such as kaffir limes, is just one of those awesome moments.

What can I say? Organic food is my passion.

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Organic Wine — Does it Contain Sulfites?

In wine, there are naturally occurring sulfites and added sulfites. The naturally occurring sulfites are a by-product of the fermentation process and it is nearly impossible to have a sulfite-free wine.

Winemakers have been working with sulfite agents, added sulfites, for hundreds of years. They were originally introduced in Europe as a preservative and are used to prevent spoiling.

It is possible, however, to have a wine that is free of added sulfates and that is organic wine. The four main attributes of USDA certified organic wine are:

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What is Cold-Brew Coffee and Why You Should Know About it

Despite the fact that it has become a burgeoning trend in the beverage world, cold-brew coffee is still a relatively unknown quantity to the average person on the street.

In a very unscientific poll that I conducted, the majority of people that I talked to had heard of cold-brew coffee but couldn’t give me a good answer as to what it is and why people should be drinking it. And to be perfectly honest, I was pretty in the dark about cold-brew as well.

While I know that choosing organic coffee is a must, because coffee is one of the most chemically-treated crops in the world, I, too, had many questions about this increasingly popular drink.

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Have We Been Misled? 5 Organic Foods That Should Make You Think Twice

I spend an inordinate amount of time learning about the healthiest and newest organic food products available. Through my research at the various trade shows — most notably, Natural Products Expo East and Natural Products Expo West — talking to industry contacts, roaming supermarket aisles, speaking with as many well-informed food people as I can and reading books, I have come to the following conclusion:

You can take almost any food in the world and some health expert will have something good to say about it while a different health expert will have something bad to say about it.

So, what I do is educate myself as much as I can and then make my own decision about whether I should be eating it or not.

The following five organic foods seem to be the most controversial. While books could be written on all of the foods below and by no means am I covering all of the pros/cons of each, I will try to highlight the most salient points.

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