Have you guys ever drank Orange Julius before? When I was young, I used to drink Orange Julius right in front of the Capitol Cinema. Their store is usually stacked full of fake oranges and the original Orange Julius drink is oh so wonderful. Basically it is a mix of orange juice, milk and some vanilla blended together to become some sort of smoothie. It is just heaven if drank on a hot afternoon. And what they have is the perfect mix. Orange juice is kind of sour, you will need to add sugar to counter the excessive tartness but then it becomes just a bit sickly sweet. So what better way to counter the sweetness than to add some milk? This way, you get a very creamy mix of orange and milk that makes the smoothie taste like heaven. That got me thinking, I do like milk and fruit juice is kind of healthy. So why not create a Orange Julius clone of mine.? And me being a lazy bum, it has to be simple enough for me to do it often. Yes, you know me, I am very lazy.
Well, my recipe is pretty simple. Requires nothing but orange juice and full cream milk. You don’t need to blend them or add ice cubes like the original recipe. All you need is 2 parts of orange juice and 1 part of milk. Put them in a cover-able container and shake the hell out of it. What you get is a semi-creamy Orange Julius clone. Yes, it is not prefect, but it is easy to do. And inexpensive as well. Milk and orange juice don’t cost a lot in Singapore. However, you will need to make sure that they are cold when you serve them. It does really make a difference. The full cream milk is important as well. If you use them low fat milk, you won’t get the creamy texture that makes the drink enjoyable. Fattening? Not really. Unless you are planning to drink like 10 cups per day. And please, full cream milk is healthy, if drank in moderation.
Anyway, I find the taste delightful. I don’t really like those store bought orange juice. This is a good way to add more fruit juice into my diet. And for those who don’t like drinking milk, this actually can help you overcome the “weird” taste of milk. Even my mother says it is quite nice. Old folks don’t like milk. At the very least, now she is drinking some dairy which is good for her bones.
No sure what this is? Well, me neither. I only recently found out that there are like tons and tons of different types of tea. There are even teas that don’t come from the Camellia sinensis plant! We have green tea, black tea, oolong tea and white tea. These are all from the Camellia sinensis plant. There are also “red” tea or rooibos tea from the South Africa and the Honeybush tea also from South Africa. In addition, we still have herbal teas which are usually made from flowers, fruits or herbs. There are even infusion teas which are a mix of different types of tea, herbs, flowers and so on. They even have those infusion which includes rice! I mean, it is just amazing to realize the variety and depth of the tea culture. And yes, I am sure that you guys should know by now that I am a big tea fan.
I have been drinking tea regularly for the past year or so. In the beginning, I started with just plain old Lipton tea, which I believe is Black tea. Then I started with the milder green tea and occasionally I go for white teas. And oh, yes I do quite often take rooibos tea as well. In my opinion, they all taste pretty decent to me. I especially like the Rooibos tea. It has this complex flavour which the other teas I often consume cannot match.
Anyway, my friend purchase this blooming tea for me during his trip to China. It is some sort of a mix of flowers and green tea. When the tea is soaked in warm water, it will “bloom” so to speak, creating a beautiful display of green teal leaves with flowers in the middle. Well, yes, it is all about aesthetics here but you got to be impressed with the results. Of course, you will have to have a glass pot for showing off the little piece of art. Surprisingly, the price of tea in China is not really cheap. Or perhaps it is because my friend went to those tourist areas and he was “carrot-chopped”?
This is the box the tea came in. Fashion. Art Tea. Whatever.
Something. My mandarin sucks. Time for me to go back to school.
Here we have the individually wrapped tea “balls“, which is a good thing. One thing I often worry about tea is the cleanliness and the hygiene. Although during the brewing process, hot water is added but is that enough to kill of any bacteria or germs? Not too sure but at least I haven’t fallen ill from taking tea recently.
So what you do is to put this mushroom like tea thingy into a pot of hot water and in no time, it will develop into a piece of art.
There, this is what it should become. Not bad right?
Mix of flowers and green tea leaves. Actually if you think about it, quite impressive.
There have different types of “art” for you to choose from. Confusing? In the beginning, it was pretty confusing to me as well. But hey, just choose something you like. If I am not wrong, you can purchase this from eBay and they ship to Singapore.
See, you do need a nice glass pot to have the nice effect. Where to go those cool glass tea pot eh?
Some more examples.
Even more examples.
As you guys can see, I didn’t try it out myself. The main reason is because I do not have a nice glass pot to brew the tea. And I am not really into floral teas myself. Maybe in time, I will learn to appreciate such teas, but currently, I am still enjoying my rooibos and green tea. Ciao, see you guys later.
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Yup, it is about time we review something else other than yogurts and what-not. It is time to review coconut juice! No, I am not talking about the coconut milk which you get from squeezing the coconut meat (the milky white stuff used for making curries) but from the water that is in the coconut. Yes, the clear refreshing liquid! You know, when you break open a coconut, the liquid that flows from itself the coconut itself? I remember when I was much younger, we used to get the coconut fresh from the stall and the lady would break open for us and give us a cup of ice……it was extremely refreshing on a warm afternoon. And even till now, nothing beats the cold cooling coconut juice, right? However, nowadays it is rather difficult to find stalls selling coconut anymore.
Anyway, the next best option is to get canned coconut juice. Yes, they don’t taste like the real thing, but then which canned stuff tastes like the real thing? And you don’t have waste time breaking them open, you just flip the lid and you get something which resembles the real thing. I guess life is all about trade-offs. Anyway, I bought this Wong Coco Young Coconut Juice with Pulp from Sheng Siong. Quite cheap, about 70 cents per can.
Wong Coco Young Coconut Juice With Pulp. It means that they add some bits and pieces of coconut pulp to the drink.
There you have it, a clearer picture.
The ingredients are young Coconut juice, pulp and sugar. I guess the canning process does destroy some of the sweetness and flavour of the coconut juice – they have to add some sugar into the mix. Yes, the actual coconut juice is already quite sweet.
Hmmm….good iron content. Oh, the juice has no cholesterol, no colouring and no preservatives. Too bad for the sugar, but other than that, it should be a better option than those sugary soda drinks which we are so used to. But to tell you the truth, I find the taste of the canned drinks incomparable to the real thing. I think I would rather spend a dollar more to get a young coconut and break it open myself.
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First of all, I did not purchase this. It was given to me by my friend. And from what I know, it costs like 20 dollars per dollar. Yes, definitely beyond my means but my friend thought that I need some cheering up, so he bought this as a present. Well, the first impression I had was that this is some sort of a wine but it isn’t. It is just grape juice. The design of the box is simply beautiful – like most Japanese products. I guess that is why they are so successful in branding their image. Singapore companies should learn a little from this. In a very competitive market, attractive packaging actually does help a lot. Singapore companies seem to be very distant from their customers. Too bad. Anyway, I wonder why it cost so most? It is just grape juice and no matter what kind of grapes you use, it shouldn’t be that expensive right? Well, I have no idea why it is so expensive. I drank the entire bottle and it does taste wonderful, but grape juice is grape juice. How great can it be to cost 20 dollars a bottle. Even buying high grade grapes from the organic store doesn’t cost that much. Yet, the Japanese have managed to make a juice so damn expensive.
Okay, without further ado, I shall begin the little review. And I have absolutely no idea what is the name of this brand of juice. Humourous.
Nice right? The purple letters is to tell you that this is grape juice. It comes with this paper box and is elegantly designed.
100% juice! Hooray, if you are rich. No hooray if you are poor.
Yayayayaya. No idea what they are saying. But I am guessing they are telling you not to purchase their product because it is made from poor quality rotten grapes which have been growth with toxins and artificial fertilizers which can poison you. They are also telling you that in the process of juicing the grapes, the run-down dirty factory which they are based in, have added tons and tons of disgusting stuff into the juice. Drink at your own peril!
Why this Makota-Ya (S) Pte Ltd guys never put any English labeling on the box? I want to complain! Oh, this is a product of Japan. No surprises there.
Ahhh….the bottle of juice. Sorry, I shake the bottle a little when I was carry it upsides so you get a little bubbles. But isn’t the colour of the juice amazing? Deep dark purple. It shows you that this juice have been cold pressed and is unfiltered. You won’t get this kind of juice in our local supermarkets. They have all been heat treated or at the very least filtered to make it more accept to the consumer. But for me, this kind of juice is the best. (Not really, the best is always fresh grape juice).
A closeup of the juice. How do you like it?
More Japanese words. No idea what they meant. But as you can see, the labeling on the bottle isn’t as nice as the box. Lol, we have just been tricked! Hahahahah!
600ml only? And so expensive? This is one juice for the really rich in Singapore. Sad, it does taste pretty nice and rich though. You would have expect the juice to be either too sweet or too sour and watery like all unsweetened fresh juices, but not this. I am guessing they use a blend of different grapes and the skins to achieve that. And since certain seasons will produce different sweetness, it is hard to get a consistent taste without blends. That is my guess anyway.
They use one of those bottle caps. Hmmm…..not as high class as they seem. But it will do. They also have a screw cap in case you cannot finish (or cannot bear to finish) the bottle of juice.
Although most of us have just only heard of white tea, it has been around for centuries. If I read correctly, white tea is probably what those ancient Chinese drank before they discovered the art of fermentation in order to get those green and black tea. And of course, white tea is made from the buds and fresh leaves and unlike regular green and black teas, the white tea leaves are pluck on certain short seasons. For me, I don’t really care that much. Just as long as the tea taste great and gives me better health benefits, I don’t care when or how they are plucked. And yes, research have shown that white tea has the highest antioxidant levels in all the teas since it is the least processed. That is good. We all know that free radicals in our bodies are harmful and antioxidants helps our body fight off these free radicals. Free radicals are formed in our normal daily functions, so regular consumption of antioxidants is important to maintaining optimal health. Since tea is easy to make (just add hot water) and can be inexpensive, I would highly recommend everyone to regularly consume tea.
However, if you are like me and don’t appreciate black tea, we can always opt for white tea. Why? Because white tea has the least flavour as well as the least bitter. It does not have the grassy aftertaste of green tea. Of course, there are still some of the tea “aromatics” in white tea, but nothing too overwhelming. Easy to drink. And there is definitely no need to add any sweetener to the drink. I normally drink a few cups every morning. Refreshing! Anyway, I am here to introduce to you another white tea. But this one is slightly different. This “new technique” white tea uses the same buds and leaves as before, but this time, it is withered a little longer than regular white tea. So you do get more of a flavour, but still retains most of the characteristics of white tea. The resulting brew looks kind of yellowish.
Here we have a can of the “New Technique Fujian White Tea“. Look at the leaves, they look brownish. Even more so that green teas. Those regular white teas actually look very pleasing. If once you brew the tea, the leaves will be all neatly on the bottom of the cup and it just looks beautiful. This “New Technique” White Tea actually looks like of disgusting because of the brownish leaves. Lol.
Another photo of the tea leaves.
A few of the tea leaves for your viewing pleasure. Looks like those poor quality loose tea leaves you can buy from Sheng Siong. But surprisingly, these are pretty expensive. The taste is alright, I supposed. I am not some tea expert to really know what difference is there. It does taste okay and yes, a little more flavour. The colour of the tea is light brownish yellow.
In Singapore, I doubt you can find real fresh milk. However, if I am not wrong, there is a company in Singapore which produces their own milk locally. I am not sure whether this is true or not considering that land is very expensive in Singapore and the milk produced in Singapore would be rather expensive. Oh, I am talking about cow juice, not goat juice. The company is Vishnu. And from what I read, these cows are fed grass! It is rather rare to find cows being fed grass these days. Most cows are fed grains and soy, which basically makes them rather unhealthy but increases the protein content of their milk, which is what producers want. So if you are interested in your health, you should serious consider drinking grass fed cow’s milk. If it is true that Vishnu feeds their cows grass, then I am all for supporting Vishnu. You can find their yogurts in most local supermarkets but as for their milk, I have only seen them in NTUC. Too bad. And the price is pretty reasonable as well. Good for you, Vishnu!
Anyway, I am here to review yet another milk. This time it is the Magnolia Fresh Milk, which by the way is one of the most expensive milk on our shelves. Not too sure why their prices are so high but it is surprisingly higher than Pura’s! Well, let’s hope that it is because their cows are fed healthy grass and this means better quality of milk. But I doubt so. It is very difficult to find grass fed cow’s milk anymore. Since nowadays, emphasis is making profits via volume, it is more affordable to feed their cows grain and soy so that the cows can produce more milk faster.
Here we have the Magnolia Fresh Milk. Pretty common in Singapore’s supermarkets.
Ahhh……pure natural trusted! As most milk in Singapore, it is pasteurised and homogenised. Okay lah, at least it is not ultra-pasteurised. We know that a good amount of nutrients and vitamins are destroyed during the pasteurisation process, just imagine how much is destroyed if the milk is subjected to intense temperature and pressure in ultra-pasteurised milk! Bad. Definitely no something which is healthy for you or for your kids.
Wow, source of protein, trans-fat free and contains calcium! The ingredients are 100& fresh milk! Wooohooo!
Hmmm….milk is the very first food we consume. It is nature’s way of providing nutrients for our body. From the mother’s milk at birth through to adulthood, milk is a good source of nourishment. F&N Magnolia fresh milk has that delicious, smooth & creamy taste we all love PLUS all the goodness that milk provides. It can be enjoyed chilled or warm, plain or mixed with other foods or beverages such as breakfast cereals, porridge, tea, coffee, chocolate or even blended into a smoothie with your favourite fruit. For me, I merely use them to make my Kefir. Sometimes I would use them to make yogurt. But nowadays it is still mainly Kefir. Remember, Kefir is a probiotic powerhouse! And the good bacteria in kefir produces various amounts of other vitamins and enzymes which makes it even healthier!
Oh, by the way, this is a product of Singapore. Does this mean that the cows are kept in Singapore or does it mean that the milk is transported from somewhere and this is packed in Singapore. Kind of weird especially since even F&N Malaysia imports this milk from Singapore. Won’t it make more business sense to pack the milk in Singapore? And if the milk is from Singapore, how are the cows fed?
Sadly, most people never heard of white tea before. Yes, we know that there are green tea, ooloong tea and black tea available. The most famous is probably black tea, which usually comes in the form of tea bags made by Lipton. Every morning we will see people rushing to work with a cup of pipping hot black tea (with sugar) in their hands. Well, they don’t know what they are missing. First of all, why add sugar to the tea? And why add milk to the tea? It is not that bitter anyway. And the main purpose of drinking tea is because tea taste great and aromatic. You feel very much relaxed after a cup of tea. Adding sugar just makes the tea taste sweet (and leave a sticky feeling in your mouth). And how about green tea? It is reported that green tea has way more health benefits than black tea. The antioxidant level in green tea is extraordinary, yet we don’t see green tea a popular beverage in Singapore. Which is too bad, considering how poor most Singaporeans’ health are.
And white tea? Probably the highest content of antioxidants of all teas. And if you don’t like tea because of the slightly bitter taste, I believe that white tea shouldn’t be a problem. White tea is not bitter at all. In fact, some white tea taste a bit sweet. Of course, you won’t have the complex aromatics of black green and you won’t have the slight grassy feeling of green tea, but what you get is a enjoyable, slightly sweet beverage. I don’t know why they call it white tea though, the resulting beverage looks kind of yellowish to me.
My parents bought this white tea for me. No, they don’t come in tea bags. Loose leaf tea are usually better than those from tea bags. What you get from tea bags are usually tea dust, which in my opinion are of poorer quality. I would highly recommend you to choose tea leaves if possible. And it is not really that difficult to brew tea anyway. Just add some hot water to the tea leaves and leave them for a few minutes. You should have some delicious white tea in a few minutes time. This pack is from Fu Jian Sheng Lian….whatever. They claim that China’s Fujian is the best source of tea.
Yes, those are tea leaves. 150g of tea leaves! Oh, on the right is the camera sling which I forgot to put away when I took the photo. My bad.
I think they are telling us the benefits of white tea. I gave back my mandarin to my teacher years ago. Maybe it is time for me to start relearning the language again? Well, we will see. If you are looking for good sources of tea in Singapore, I would say try China Town. My parents tell me that there are quite a few stores specializing in teas there. I usually get my tea from eBay but sometimes the shipping time is a drag. Anyway, ciao! See you guys next time.
Yes, not everyone’s favourite drink. In fact, I am pretty sure that no one out there enjoys drinking cranberry juice. It is so very sour and if it is from concentrate, there will be this slight bitterness which seems to get worse after a while. I am guessing it is because of the process in which high heat is applied to the cranberry juice to evaporate it and this results in the bitterness. Those that are made from direct juicing would probably not have this bitterness but nevertheless, cranberry juice will always be very tart. Maybe some people like the tartness? Yes, Kefir is tart but Kefir has a different kind of tartness altogether. At least it is creamy. But cranberry juice is just liquid and that makes it kind of difficult to swallow.
Anyway, if you were to visit our local supermarkets, you will be surprised to find that there are a lot of brand carrying cranberry juice. Most of them are from concentrates, which would be cheaper. Of course, the health benefits would be diminished due to the heating process. They usually fortify the juice with vitamins. Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me. What’s the point of drinking fruit juices if you have to fortify them in order for them to provide us with antioxidants? Might as well just take the antioxidants pills directly. Cheaper and more convenient as well.
There, the Langers Cranberry Juice Cocktail.
I like the Langers logo. Looks kind of nice. And yes, 100% of your daily intake of Vitamin C per serving! No, the Vitamin CÂ from the cranberries is destroyed, so they add Vitamin C into the drink. I really doubt that those added Vitamin C are the same as the Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables. This bottle contains slightly less than 1 litre of cranberry juice cocktail. That is a lot of sour juice to finish. I guess with the added sugar, it should not be that bad. Well, seems that a lot of consumers are starting to realize the importance of drinking fruit juices instead of soda drinks which contains just too much artificial flavours, preservatives, sugars and so on, which can be detrimental to our health.
Cool, no HFCS! It should mean High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is probably the worst kind of sugar you can consume. That means, good! We should always avoid HFCS whenever possible.
Ahhh…27% juice only. That is why they call it juice cocktail instead of plain old juice. The ingredients are filtered water, sugar, cranberry juice concentrate, natural flavours, citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Well, as I mentioned, this ascorbic acid is where the vitamin C comes from. Not from the cranberry themselves. Anyway, this is all natural, no high fructose corn syrup, no colours and no preservatives. Furthermore, it has very low sodium content and is gluten free.
Product of the USA. Seems that most of the cranberry products are from the USA. I guess, they are the largest producer of cranberries in the world. Even the dried cranberries which I love so much are mostly from the USA. And probably why cranberry products are rather expensive. Well, what to do?
Langers, it’s in the juice. What is in the juice???
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Well, this began as just Mango & Jackfruit Enzymes Drinks but somehow I didn’t get enough of mango to fill the fermentation jar. The reason? Because I have no idea how to cut the mango into slices and it turned into mushy yellow pulp instead. Although I did managed to cut the second mango into small slices, I only managed to save probably a small portion of the mango. Next time, I will try and figure out how people cut mangoes. It looked simple from a distance but it is kind of tough for me when I actually went and cut it. Nothing beats doing the actual thing eh? Cut the top portion of the mango, then the bottom portion and we are left with the seed and some pulp at the sides. To remove the pulp from the seed, run the knife all the way moving along the seed. That’s it! But not surprisingly, I couldn’t do it. Hey, I am not alone. I know quite a lot of people who can’t handle a knife even if their lives depend on it.
Anyway, I added some extra apples and water apples I had in the fridge into the mix. Managed to get all of them into the fermentation jar. Wasn’t that difficult anyway since there was hardly any mango pieces. So this is Mango, Jackfruit, Apple and Water Apple Enzymes drink. Not too sure how it will turn out but I am guessing the Jackfruit will probably have the strongest flavour.
Here we have the Jackfruit, Mangoes and sugar. You might think that the mango is not yet ripe, but the truth is, it is ripe and super delicious! The flesh is yellow and sweet. I was amazed. Well, at least the Giant advertisement is not lying. So next time, don’t judge a book by its cover.
Jackfruit. I guess this is a bit old. The Jackfruit seems a bit dry and some of the seeds have already sprouted! And it is expensive – S$2.80! But at least the Jackfruit aroma is still quite strong.
The two mangoes. One of which was completely mushed into pulp when I attempted to cut it. Don’t blame me, blame my fear of knives.
Ahhh….the lump sugar. Great Wall Brand. 400g of sucrose (food) for the good bacteria to turn into something great.
Oh, it is made from refined sugar. Well, we are not consuming it directly, so it is quite alright. I know I know, sucrose is bad for your health. But we are fermenting the sugars into some other form and the result is no longer the mineral and nutrient absorbing sweetener but something tart and hopefully probiotic. We all know how important good bacteria is to our bodies, right? Furthermore, during the process, (digestive) enzymes will be created. Anyone knows what are the names of the good bacteria in the Enzymes drinks, please let me know. I would also like to know what does the bacteria convert the sucrose to?
There, as you can see, the bottom layer is the mango and jackfruit pieces. I discovered that there is still a lot of empty space, so I added the apples and the water apples into the jar. A combination of bad planning and poor skill in cutting is to be blamed. Or we can just blame the weather. I left the skin on for both the apples and the water apples. Wonder how will this impact on the fermentation. But I did give them a thorough wash before I cut them.
I will ferment this for 2 weeks and give you guys an update.
Well, it has been 2 weeks and I decided to harvest my Pineapple and Honey Dew Enzymes Drinks. I was kind of surprised to see that there was still some rather active fermentation happening in the fermentation jar. There were a lot of bubbles being produced, so I guess that means that there is still some sugar remaining there. Which is good, since I would not want the Enzymes Drinks to turn out too tart. Most of my family members don’t enjoy consuming stuff which are too tart. Furthermore, if I were to wait till all the sugars have been completely fermented, it would probably take 3 months or so Remember, this is not yeast fermentation (I hope) but bacteria fermentation.
The process to make Enzymes Drinks is pretty easy. You need fruits (cut and preferably peeled), sugar and a fermentation jar. Layer the fruit pieces and sugar till you reach the top of the fermentation jar. Then add a thick layer of sugar and then store the jar in a cool place. Every few days, let the air escape from the jar. Also shake the jar once in a while to mix everything. You will want the sugar liquid to contact the fruit pieces for maximum effectiveness. You should see bubbles forming after a day or so. That means the good bacteria is doing its work, converting the sugar into some other form and producing enzymes along the way. After 2 weeks or so, you can harvest the Enzymes drink by straining the fruit pieces. The resulting liquid is what people call Enzymes Drinks.
I am straining the fruit pieces from Enzymes liquid. Pretty straight forward. You can use a sieve as well. Most kitchens have these.
Some would use a straining bag to squeeze as much liquid as possible from the fruits. For me, I simply straining and discard the fruit pieces. I doubt that there is much liquid left in the fruit pieces anyway. And some would use the remaining fruit pieces as jam or make fruit salads or something. As mentioned, I discard them. If you have a garden, they do make good compost.
600ml of Enzymes Drinks! Cool! And look at the colour! Looks exactly like pineapple juice. This compared to my previous attempts using brown sugar, I guess my colleagues would not be scared of trying the Enzymes Drinks anymore. As for the taste, pretty okay. Maybe a little too sweet (I might have used too much sugar) and there is a very distinct alcohol aroma, which again might not be appealing to those looking for a “health” drink. You do get a pineapple aftertaste though. But as for the Honey Dew flavour, it is non-existent in this drink. Well it is expected, since the Honey Dew I bought is of poor quality.
