6 Tips for the Perfect Growler Fill

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Francis Pitt

With the rise of craft beer and with so many types of beer on the market, growlers are increasingly popular. Your growler is the perfect way to share your own homebrew or bring home some of your favorite beer that’s only available on tap. However, nothing is more distressing than a poor growler fill. To get the right growler fill every time, be sure to follow these tips:

Make sure you’re using a lower serving pressure. You don’t want your growler fills to be half foam, but you also don’t want to waste any more than you have to. When doing a growler fill, drop the psi regulator to around four. For more serves, the pressure stands around 12 or so, but four is great for getting your growler fill perfect.

Make sure your growler is chilled. If you let it sit in the freezer for too long, you’ll end up with ice crystals and way too much foam. But you do want your growler to be pleasantly chilled.

Pour out a mug before you do your growler fill. Once you’ve turned the psi down, sending a mug’s worth through will cool the line and get rid of the excess foam. Then your growler fill will be all beer. Bonus: you get to enjoy a mug on the spot.

Use a tube. For best results, don’t just use the tap for your growler fill. Connect some tubing to the tap and put the end at the bottom of your growler as you start filling. Keep an eye on it as you fill so that you can:

Be gentle at the end. As you get to the end of your growler fill, things will start happening quickly and the foam will really get going. That’s the moment you want to turn it off, take off the tube, and fill the growler the rest of the way straight from the tap. Get rid of oxygen and replace it with foam, but don’t overdo things. After all, waste is a sin.

Don’t let your growler fill sit more than a day. With most growlers, your beer will go flat in a day. Nothing is worse than a growler fill that you can’t actually enjoy! And as a bonus tip, get yourself an ice jacket to keep the growler chilled on the way home.

In 2015 America’s craft brewers managed to churn out 24.5 million barrels. There are more breweries in America now than ever before in our history: 4,269 of them. We love our beer, and we need to treat it right. Make sure your growler fill is done correctly and you and your friends can enjoy your favorite microbrew the right way–even if that microbrew is yours!

The Benefits of Peanut Flour and Where to Use It

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Francis Pitt

If you’re like most Americans, you’re eating peanuts and peanut butter regularly. The United States’ peanut farms grow the majority of the world’s peanut crop, and in 2013 exported more than 350,000 tons. BEtween the years 2008 and 2014, American ate around 120 million pounds of peanut butter alone, and 90% of households in the United States do eat it. Peanuts and peanut butter are almost 70% of America’s entire nut consumption every year, and that’s not even including the consumption of chocolate peanut butter snacks! Peanut benefits are fairly well known, but what fewer people know about is peanut flour nutrition and uses.

Peanut Flour Nutrition

Peanut flour is low in fat, naturally gluten-free, and vegan. It is almost half protein, as well, and a highly concentrated source. Peanut flour nutrition doesn’t stop there, though. It is also full of bioactives and nutrients like folate, potassium, zinc, fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, and niacin. Peanut flour nutrition also includes arginine, which has been shown to help improve blood flow by opening blood vessels. This is a great reason for us to grow peanuts and do more peanut harvesting for flour!

Peanut Flour in Baking

Among other peanut benefits, at least in flour form, is its great application to baking and confectionery. It makes an excellent binder for fat, adds a lovely roasted and nutty flavor to dishes, and extends the shelf life of anything it’s in. It brings texture and flavor to sauces and soups, as well.

Peanut Flour Uses

Peanut flour is made by pressing out all the peanut oil. Peanut oil uses are many, but peanut flour is a great way to get the health benefits of peanuts without the fat. It is a popular and useful additive for smoothies. You can also dip apple slices and other moist fruits into it for a coating that adds some textural interest as well as health benefits. Using it in place of white flour lowers the carb load of baked good dramatically while upping the protein by orders of magnitude. In stew, sauce, gravy, and soup it works as a great thickener, as well. If you’ve run out of peanut butter, you can also make more in a pinch by adding a couple teaspoons of oil to a cup of peanut flour. It also makes a great coating for fried foods like fish or chicken.

There are a lot of great uses for peanut flour and peanut flour nutrition makes it well worth looking into. If you’re trying to eat better, lower your carbohydrate intake, or just want something with more texture and interest than plain old white flour, see how peanut flour could transform the way you eat!

What to Look for When Choosing an Event Venue

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Francis Pitt

The best event venues combine a number of attractive activities, such as a premier golf course (complete with golf equipment, of course), excellent food, picturesque grounds, and gorgeous spaces for functions both intimate and sprawling. Whether you’re hosting a wedding, a celebration brunch, a work event, or just getting together with friends for a round of golf, most people can agree that location matters. So what should you take into consideration when looking for an event venue? What’s important if you want to get away for a weekend and play some special rounds of golf? What should you be prepared to do if you want to book an event at a special events facility? All these questions and more will be answered below, making your party planning or special outing all the easier to organize.

What Should I Look for In an Event Venue?

Space is usually the most pressing issue. If you are hosting an event where hundreds of guests are expected, you want to make sure there’s adequate seating and room to move about comfortably. You need to know your budget ahead of time and be prepared to book at least four to six months in advance. Parking should be easily accessible from the main location of the event and you should inquire about their food and beverage minimums. If they offer catering, it can take some of the hassle out of organizing your own caterer, and ask if certain complimentary services are included if you spend X amount of money.

An event venue that also provides chairs, tables, linens, audio-visual equipment, and staff to help set up and break down is also usually a godsend if you’re organizing an event, so see if your event venue does so. Seeing if the event venue provides insurance, is accessible to the handicapped, and flexible in terms of date can also be useful.

What Should I Look for in a Golf Course?

Golf courses are renowned for being beautiful spaces, with manicured fairways and greens and picturesque views. Ideally, you have plenty of space (and silence!) so you can concentrate on your best game. Good course design and variety keeps the game challenging and interesting, but ideally shouldn’t make it impossible for a golfer to continue playing. The longer the course, the more room for a varied course, which makes the game engaging.

Plus, the more variety a course has, the more players will be moving around.Given that a 175-pound man can burn almost 475 calories carrying his clubs in just one hour of play, it winds up being great exercise. If the course has nine holes, a player could walk almost 2.5 miles.

Some golf facilities may also provide golf equipment, if you don’t have your own. Generally in terms of golf equipment, you’ll only be allowed a maximum of 14 clubs in your bag during one round and your regulation golf ball should have about 336 dimples total.

What Do I Need to Have on Hand When Booking at a Special Events Facility?

You’ll want to have your numbers crunched already before booking. These numbers include your budget, total number of guests, parking needed, hours that you’ll need the venue, as well as what you would like the venue to provide.

You should be prepared to tell the event staff what type of event you’re hosting and ask about what they can provide on their end, and what you’ll need to bring with you. Ask about insurance policies, as mentioned previously, cancellation policies, extra costs, what gratuity for catering looks like, and what kind of staffing is available (and if they require additional staff for certain events).

And, of course, you should ask to take a tour of the facility before making a final decision, to get a feel for acoustics, ambiance, and decor.

Find the perfect event venue for your special day or night. Whether it’s a round of golf with new golf equipment, your wedding, or a work holiday party, you want to make sure that it’s the best of the best.

How We Keep Our Food Safe

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Francis Pitt

Food safety is a big concern of many people – as it rightfully should be. After all, we want the food we eat to be safe and free from contamination and when we hear about food packaging materials that were tampered with or the spread of food borne illnesses, it can be a frightening and nerve wracking thing. As food is something that we absolutely need to survive, it can be hugely uncomfortable to doubt whether or not the food that we eat is safe. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to ensure the safety of the food that we consume.

First, food packaging materials can help to make sure that food stays safe. Many food packaging materials have tamper evident seals, and can indicate before you even purchase it whether or not the food has been altered in any way. Pre made pouch filling machines can help to eliminate human contamination of packaged food, as the food packaging materials are filled directly with the food, cutting out much of the human contact with it. Vacuum sealed packaging can also help to keep food safe. By vacuum sealing food, we can keep it fresh up to three times as long as we would be able to otherwise. This reduces the risk of food borne illnesses, of which nearly 50 million Americans suffer from in a year, considerably. Vacuum sealing food also reduces the use of some food packaging materials such as plastic. Though plastic waste is still an issue, many food packaging materials companies are doing their best to reduce the amount of plastic that they use. For instance, a typical soft drink bottle has reduced the amount of plastic per bottle by over 30% over the past few decades and over half of the population of the United States has regular access to a plastics recycling center.

Food can also be checked for contaminants through the use of an x-ray machine. Though it may seem unusual, x-ray inspection for food is actually a great way of making sure that packaged food does not contain any foreign objects. A metal detector or an x-ray machine can detect three different types of metals within foods: ferrous, non ferrous, as well as stainless steel. This can help to remove contaminated food items before they ever reach the general public, ensuring that the food on grocery store shelves is safe both for purchase as well as consumption.

Worrying about the state of your food can certainly be a nerve wracking thing. After all, we need food to survive and without safe food we would not be able to. Doubting whether or not our food is safe for consumption is certainly frightening, but we are fortunate in that there are a number of steps that we can take in order to ensure overall food safety. First of all, we can change the way that we package food as well as the food packaging materials that we use. Vacuum sealing our food keeps the food that we eat fresher for longer, therefore reducing the risk of food borne illnesses. We can also use x-ray machines as well as metal detectors to check our food for any foreign contaminants. While it always good to be aware of the food that we put into our bodies, there is no reason to fear the food that we purchase and eat.

6 Tips to Help You Hire the Right Caterer for Your Event

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Francis Pitt

No matter what kind of party or event you are planning, the food that you serve can have a big impact on how successful it is. If you talk to the best event planners, they will tell you that finding the right companies for your events and catering can make a big difference in what people who attend say about it after it is over. Here are some tips to getting the right professional catering services company for your event.

Make sure they have experience catering the kind of event you are throwing. Anyone with any experience dealing with events and catering services companies will tell you that the food catering menus for weddings are very different than those for Sweet 16 parties, corporate events, or retirement parties. You need to find a caterer who has experience dealing with the kind of event you are throwing. As you are talking to caterers, you should make it a point to talk to at least three companies and make sure they are able to do the kind of event you want to throw.
Know what you want. It is hard for a catering company to give you what you want is if you are not sure what exactly you do want from them. Spend some time thinking about your event, what kinds of catering are best for that kind of event, and what you are going to want to serve. When you talk to events and catering companies, knowing what you want is the first step you need to take to get what you want.
Make sure the caterer you choose is willing to answer your questions. When it comes to hiring a caterer for a big event. You will have a lot of questions. If a company is not willing to take the time to answer all of them before you hire them, you can be pretty sure they are not going to take the time to do so afterward. You should look for a company that is responsive to your needs and available to answer your questions when you have them.
Make sure you can get the cuisine you want. Some caterers make really great food but can be very rigid when it comes to the event menus. This is your event so you should have the final say in what kinds of dishes that are served. You may have people who will attend who have religious preferences when it comes to what they eat and also may have dietary restrictions due to food allergies. Your goal with your catering is to have food that will be enjoyed by the people attending your event. If the events and catering company will not work with you on the menu, you should keep looking.
Make sure you can taste before you buy. There are a lot of caterers who will provide you with tastings of the foods they offer. This is a great way to see what you think of the food the company can make. There are some companies who will not do this and there are some people who are scared to ask. Some party planners think that they will be considered to be a “difficult” consumer. This is not true and is a normal way catering companies do business. Doing the tastings can be one of the more enjoyable parts of planning a large event.
Make sure they have experience working with the venue you have selected. Some venues require people use the caterer they have on site, so you should ask this before you start talking to outside catering companies. If you can bring in your own food, make sure the caterer has some experience working with the venue. If it is a new place, they may not but may still have a good idea of how to get the job done. The last thing you need is to find out on the day of your event that the caterer cannot work with the venue.

When you are planning any kind of event, picking the right caterer is just one of many details you have to worry about. These tips should help.

The Basics Of Beekeeping What Goes Into The Creation Of A Single Grocery Store Honey Bear

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Francis Pitt

Honey is delicious. It goes great with so many recipes and works as a great alternative to sugar. It isn’t, however, easy to make.

Both bees and beekeeper have to put in a lot of effort just to create one of the iconic honey bears in the average grocery store. The art of maintaining beehives is an old practice that has benefited greatly from modern technology, but that doesn’t mean classic techniques have no place in today’s beehive. In fact, it’s the blending of the old and new that often delivers the best results. Beekeeping for beginners is more than possible with a little research. Let’s take a look at what goes into creating edible honey, as well as some of the lesser-known uses for honey in day-to-day life.

Did You Know?

Let’s look at some interesting facts concerning bee pollen. Believe it or not, honey is actually an acid, with a pH balance between 3.2 and 4.5 on average. A single pellet of bee pollen contains over two million grains of flower pollen. While honey is a classic American staple, after 2006 came and went the retail price of honey has nearly doubled. This is due to a few different factors, including the labor that goes into creating honey bears as well as the struggling population of honeybees in many parts of the country. A honey bee can fly up to 15 miles per hour and bee populations boast societies nearly as complex as some primate societies.

Beekeeping Basics

What goes into the creation of honey? Let’s break it down from the top. Bees are pollinators and responsible for cross-pollination, which helps as much as 30% of our crops as well as 90% of wild plants thrive. They take pollen from one flower to the next, helping them flourish while bringing ingredients back to the hive to create the honey we know and love. Beekeepers work with hives to encourage them to create hearty amounts of honey while helping them long and healthy lifespans. This includes upkeep, harvesting, cleaning, advertising and production.

Organic Bee Pollen Benefits

There are many wonderful uses found in bee pollen. Look around your average grocery store or drug store and you’ll likely find a few products right off the bat that use bulk honey or pollen in some form. Beeswax is commonly used in skincare products for its soothing results and ability to keep dryness at bay, whether it’s used in chapstick or applied to the hands and feet during the winter season. Honey is sometimes combined with other natural ingredients, such as avocado or cucumber, to create face masks to reduce blemishes, acne and dryness on the face.

Useful Beekeeping Equipment

No beekeeper should be without basic beekeeping equipment. Stings are always a potential factor when interacting with bees and those with allergies need to take extra care to make sure they’re always covered no matter what. The bee hive smoker is a necessary tool to calm bees down without harming them, as the smoke makes them sluggish and far more receptive to having their honey harvested. Other basic equipment also includes standard jackets, gloves and masks so you can move unimpeded throughout your bee colony.

The Future Of American Honey

A single honey bee will produce one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. While that doesn’t seem like very much, this is a great way to appreciate the collective efforts of these little workers that make our world such a wonderful place to live. Back in 2014 there were an estimated two and a half million honeybee colonies in the United States alone, which is nothing to say of the number of colonies managed by human beings in general. With care and awareness we can ensure these famous honey bears will remain forever on our shelves without damage to the environment.

How will you cultivate your very own honey bears?

Peanuts How They Can Improve Your Diet

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Francis Pitt

Do you know all there is about one of your favorite foods – peanuts? If you’re looking for a high protein snack, one of the first things you might reach for is peanut snacks, something that the whole family enjoys. Maybe you want to know more about peanut allergies or how peanuts are affecting many American’s diets on a daily basis. Today we will take a closer look at these nuts and why they are so beloved by many Americans. Some peanut facts will change the way you see your favorite snack.

Here’s some peanut history for you: Peanut butter was first introduced at the World Fair in St. Louis, year 1904. Ever since then, people have been enjoying peanut butter benefits from this great food that we feed our children and ourselves when we’re looking for something easy and delicious on the go. Peanuts and peanut butter are terrific for your health. In fact, peanut calories are quite low and just a 1-ounce serving of peanuts is considered an excellent protein source. In fact, just one little handful can add 7 grams of protein to your diet. Studies were conducted on those who love to enjoy peanuts and found that, in 15,000 people who ate peanut products, there were raised levels of vitamin A, E, folate, magnesium and other beneficial vitamins than those who do not eat these products. In some ways, peanuts are leading to a healthier lifestyle for many.

You can use peanuts in a variety of ways. You can make them in trail mix, use peanut oil for frying, and many other wonderful dishes where they are added as a staple. For those who are not allergic, we can’t get enough of peanuts. That’s another thing we want to look at: the dreaded peanut allergy. Some people are unable to eat peanuts because they are allergic. However, you may be surprised to find that 98% of children and adults in the U.S. can safely enjoy products that contain peanuts. These allergies are not as common as you think. With about 94% of Americans having peanut butter in their pantry, this is good news.

No matter how you use peanuts, from snacks that you love, to homemade peanut butter or peanut oil for frying some of your favorite foods, we recommend adding peanuts to your diet. You will love to reap the many benefits.

Organic Food Benefits

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