This is the home of Dandelion Chocolate, a small-batch chocolate maker founded in 2010 by two former tech entrepreneurs. The tools and flavors have changed, but the work of roasting and grinding fermented cacao beans and mixing them with a few simple ingredients to create a divine food, is a practice that goes back to early Mesoamerican civilizations.
Roasting and griding fermented cacao beans and mixing them with simple ingredients is a practice that goes back to early Mesoamerican Civilizations. The Olmecs of southern Mexico were probably the first to ferment, roast, and grind cacao beans for drinks and gruels, as early as 1500 B.C. There is no written history for the Olmecs, but pots and vessels uncovered from this ancient civilization show traces of the cacao chemical theobromine.
In their raw state, plucked from tangy-sweet, gummy white flesh lining a large pod shaped like a Nerf football, cacao seeds are bitter and unrecognizable as chocolate to a modern American palate. How would you think to take the seed, harvest it, dry it, let it ferment, and roast it? It’s not something you would normally think to do. Perhaps, one theory holds, someone was eating the fruit and spitting seeds into the fire, and the rich smell of them roasting inspired the thought that “maybe there’s something more we could do with this.”
The naturally bitter flavor of cacao came through at full strength in early Maya recipes. This was before they had really good roasting techniques, before they had conching, which is a step that mellows out the flavors, before they started looking at genetics, “Rarely did they add any sweetener — once in a while honey, but mainly to try to ferment it,” says anthropologist Joel Palka, of the University of Illinois at Chicago. A variety of herbs were on hand, however, for seasoning cacao-based food and drink. “There were literally dozens of things that would be used to flavor it,” says Lavis, ranging from chili and vanilla to magnolia.
In traditional preparation methods, which are still used by some small-scale producers, farmers take seeds out of the pods, ferment them in a leaf-covered pile. In more modern methods, the seeds are fermented in raised wooden boxes that enable aeration, drainage, and more consistent results. While some pour dried beans into a modified coffee roaster carefully calibrated for each type of bean, traditional cacao roasters would have simply placed beans on a fire. They'll get almost burnt.
Cacao figured into pre-modern Maya society as a sacred food, sign of prestige, social centerpiece, and cultural touchstone. “You would have to get together to prepare the chocolate,” Palka said. “It's the whole social process.” Around Chiapas, Mexico, Palka co-directs an archaeological project focused on Maya culture on the frontier of the Spanish empire. To this day, he encounters people in the area who grow chocolate as a family tradition and cultural practice. “Like coffee in the Arab world, or beer in northern and Eastern Europe, it's not only something that's good, but part of their identity,” he says.
Cacao drinks in Mesoamerica became associated with high status and special occasions, Palka said, like a fine French wine or a craft beer today. Special occasions might include initiation rites for young men or celebrations marking the end of the Maya calendar year.
After the Olmecs, the Maya of Guatemala, Yucatan, and the surrounding region incorporated cacao seed into religious life. Paintings recovered from the time show cacao in mythological scenes and even court proceedings. In the early 12th century, chocolate was used to seal the marriage of the Mixtec ruler 8 Deer at Monte Albán, a sacred site in the Valley of Oaxaca. “It’s one of the few food crops that was used as a dowry or part of [wedding] ceremonies,” Lavis said. Early records of Maya marriages in Guatemala, he added, indicate that in some places, “a woman would have to make the cacao and prove that she could make it with the proper froth.”
“When they had to communicate with their gods related to nature, rain, and the fertility of the earth, I'm sure they were pulling [cacao] out and drinking,” Palka said. Many vessels uncovered in the ruins of Maya buildings and burial sites have cacao residues in them, Palka said. “A lot of cacao pots were buried with people,” he said, but it is unclear whether people were simply buried with their dishes, or if these pots were involved in funeral ceremonies.
Around Chiapas, Palka said, residents prepared chocolate drinks as offerings for gods related to nature as recently as 1980. “It was something that people enjoyed,” he said, “and so they knew their gods enjoyed it, too.”
In addition to its loftier role in ritual and celebration, cacao also served decidedly material functions in some early American civilizations. Cacao beans were used as currency, and the seeds were so valuable that it was evidently worth the trouble to counterfeit them. At multiple archaeological sites in Mexico and Guatemala, Palka said, researchers have come across remarkably well-preserved “cacao beans.” “Then they touch them, and they're clay,” he says. The clay beans may have been passed off as money, Palka says, or substituted for real cacao in rituals. Aztec rulers accepted cacao as tribute payments, and cacao, like valuables including jadeite and cotton mantles, was commonly exchanged in Maya marriage negotiations at the time of European contact. “Sometime in the 1500s, you could buy a turkey for 100 cacao beans,” says Lavis.
Archaeologist Eleanor Harrison-Buck, however, cautions against distilling cacao’s importance to its economic value as “a form of currency that elites could control and administer as a means of consolidating their power.” Rather, she said, the production, acquisition, and circulation of cacao as a resource among the ancient Maya was grounded in social relations.
“I think that chocolate became so important because it's harder to grow,” compared to plants like maize and cactus, which were used to brew early versions of beer and tequila, respectively. “You can't grow cacao in every region in the Americas,” Palka says. “It requires a certain kind of soil, amount of rainfall, and especially shade because the midges and little flies that pollinate the cacao trees have to live in shade.” As a result, cacao requires an area of limited sun and plenty of humidity.
According to archaeologist Harrison-Buck, an official Spanish account from 1618 describes the Belize River town of Lucu, which had “much thick cacao that turns reddish-brown and tastes good by itself.” Vanilla vines and annatto trees growing nearby were used to flavor cacao beverages. And art recovered from the Maya Lowlands shows cacao as a staple in ancient Maya feasts. The fact that cacao “served as a key cultigen and staple in ritual feasts for numerous Mesoamerican cultures for thousands of years,” Harrison-Buck says, “makes it something particularly important to study and understand in this region.”
But the pollen, fossilized plant tissue, and botanical remains of this important crop do not preserve well, she says, in the wet, tropical environments of the Maya Lowlands where cacao was grown and continues to grow today. As a result, archaeologists know more about the early uses of cacao than they do about ancient methods of producing the bean. “There’s a lot we still don’t know and may never know,” Lavis says.
To better understand how ancient civilizations produced cacao, however, Harrison-Buck and soil scientist Serita Frey have been working in Belize to find out whether cacao orchards leave a distinctive biological footprint in soil. Over the past year, the pair have collected soil in areas where cacao is currently grown in eastern Belize, and begun analyzing it in Frey's lab. They've also sampled soil from floodplains adjacent to ancient Maya sites, and from lands that supported cacao in colonial times.
“We know that when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the Maya planted cacao trees right on the riverbanks,” says Harrison-Buck. At these humid, biologically diverse sites littered with fallen leaves, the scientists often hear birdsong in the morning. Troops of howler monkeys swing, cry, and feast in fig trees that grow along the river and provide the shade that cacao trees need to thrive.
According to Harrison-Buck, the team has successfully uncovered evidence of a theobromine signature, but the signature is difficult to consistently isolate from older orchard sites. Eventually, by comparing chemicals in soil from these various sites, they're hoping to map out the molecular signposts that indicate ancient cacao cultivation, and reconstruct where cacao was produced in the Belize Valley in historic or even prehistoric times.
Chocolate is often said to have been seen as an ancient medicine and aphrodisiac. Cortez wrote to King Carlos I of Spain of “xocoatl,” a drink that “builds up resistance and fights fatigue.” And one officer serving Cortez reportedly observed the Aztec ruler Montezuma drinking more than 50 cups per day of a frothy chocolate beverage mixed with water or wine and seasonings including vanilla, pimiento, and chili pepper.
But according to Lavis, some of these tales are likely overstated: “I don’t think any living person could drink 50 cups of cacao.” The Spanish also probably attributed medical benefits to chocolate that the Maya didn’t—instead, cacao was simply part of Mayan life. “I think it was just part of their diet, and they knew it was good for them,” Lavis said.
“When you have something that people drink for ritual, people think it's good for you,” Palka said. “I would categorize it with eating maize: you have to eat it to sustain your body and your self and your soul. Chocolate fits clearly into that.”
Reposted from Smithsonian Magazine, written by: Josie Garthwaite
]]>The Carolina Reaper pepper was bred in Rock Hill, South Carolina by “Smokin” Ed Currie who is the proprietor of PuckerButt Pepper Company. The pepper ranges in size from 1 to 2 inches wide (2.5 – 5 cm) and 2 to 3 inches (5 – 7.6cm) long. They mature to a vibrant red color. The skin has a bumpy texture. It’s name “Reaper” comes from the shape of its tail as it resembles the scythe famously carried by the Grim Reaper.
It was certified as the world’s hottest chili pepper by Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017 with a Scoville Heat Units (SHU) of 1,641,183. This was an average of the tested batch with the hottest individual pepper measuring at 2.2 million SHU. Now that’s HOT!
How does this compare to other hot peppers? Take your average jalapeno pepper. It comes in at 5,000 on the Scoville scale. While the Ghost Pepper’s heat rage is between 855,000-1,041,427.
It was crossbred between a La Soufriere pepper from the island of Saint Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan. Upon first bite, the taste is described as having a fruity taste, which quickly descends into a mouth of horrors described as “molten lava”.
This is exactly why we have included the Carolina Reaper pepper in our Hot-Winged Reaper and our Black Widow’s Bite flavors. The sweet flavor and intense heat this pepper provides is other worldly. So, let’s kick up those endorphins and bite into a Carolina Reaper pepper for a journey you won’t soon forget.
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Add 1/2 cup of each into a bowl & mix.
Add 1/2 cup of each into a bowl & mix.
Add 1/2 cup of each into a bowl & mix.
Add 1/2 cup of each into a bowl & mix.
Add 1/2 cup of each into a bowl & mix.
Optional: Instead of Hot-Winged Reaper, try this with 3-Alarm Garlic Parm, Nacho Momma’s Nuts, or Fromage a Trois. Also, add Chex Mix™ or Cheez-Its®
]]>So, now that you’ve either bitten into a hot pepper, poured a bit too much of that “death sauce” on your tongue, or ate too many Nuclear wings where you have to sign a waiver, you might be thinking to yourself, “How can I stop this burn in my mouth as quick as possible?” Why are you going to do that now? You’ve just spent some money on some quality pain and you want to put out the fire? I just don’t get it.
Just kidding. My 44 year-old tongue can’t handle it anymore either. My claim to fame once was being able to chug a bottle of Tabasco straight. Might not seem too incredibly adventurous, but hey, I wasn’t out there trying to burn a hole my stomach. I just wanted to feel the burn, enjoy the taste, and maybe, if I was lucky enough, enjoy an endorphin high.
Ok. So, you’ve decided to call it quits. Throw in the towel. Admit defeat. What do you do? Do you pull a rookie mistake and just grab water? While it might provide seconds of relief, you won’t find any long-lasting burn-quenching benefits. And why is that? In a previous post, I noted that hot peppers contain capsicum, an alkaline and oil-based molecule. It triggers the temperature-sensitive pain receptors to feel a burning sensation even though there is nothing burning.
What are some go-to fire putter-outers?
Most milk-based products contain a protein called casein, which helps break down the capsaicin molecule. It acts by attracting, surrounding and washing away capsaicin molecule that are currently building a stronghold in your mouth. Types of milk products include cow’s milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, or sour cream. The main idea is that it needs to contain casein if it’s going to have any benefit.
Remember that capsaicin is an alkaline molecule. So, why not do some yin-yang and drink something acidic. By drinking something acidic, you end up neutralizing the molecule’s activity. Such drinks could include lemonade, limeade, orange juice, or a tomato-based food or drink. Soda is acidic, but the carbonated bubbles can accentuate the burn and negate the effects of the acidic pH of soda- so steer clear if you want to lessen the pain.
Carbs are good for many reasons. One of them is that they are a voluminous food. It can act as a physical barrier between capsaicin and the insides of your mouth. To accomplish this, try eating a piece of bread, rice, cracker, or tortilla. You are looking for a food product rich in starch.
Now that we’ve armed you with the best methods available to take down anything spicy, we hope you won’t back down on the next challenge that awaits you.
]]>Hot Monkey Nuts are not just great snacks that can be taken everywhere you go; they can also be used as an ingredient when preparing your own home cooked meals. Here are some devilishly tasty meals we think you’ll enjoy.
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15 min
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20 min
Peanut drop is a delicious sweet Jamaican snack. It is made with peanuts and turbinado sugar. These drops resemble peanut brittle a lot and are delicious and chewy. You can call peanut drops a distinct cousin of coconut drops. The procedure is almost similar.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Jamaican
Difficulty: Easy
12
5 minutes
Cooking time
30 minutes
Calories
350 kcal
Directions:
Beef Suya is a Nigerian street food presented at it’s best: Skewers of spiced, nutty, smoky, charred beef, served with raw onions, cilantro, lettuce, and freshly squeezed lime juice.
Directions
This pie is the perfect mix of sweet and salty. With a cookie-like peanut butter crust, gooey peanut butter filling, and salty cocktail peanuts, this pie is a Georgian's dream. It's even topped with Brown Sugar-Bourbon Whipped Cream. This peanut pie will impress even the most stubborn relatives you entertain this holiday season.
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Cinnamonkey Spice flavored peanuts
• 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon cold shortening, cubed
• 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water
Peanut Butter Filling
• 1 1/4 cups packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half
• 1/3 cup sorghum syrup, pure cane syrup, or dark corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups cocktail peanuts or dry-roasted salted peanuts
Brown Sugar-Bourbon Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold whipping cream or heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon (1⁄2 oz.) bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
• Step 1
Prepare the Peanut Butter Crust: Combine flour, peanuts, brown sugar, and salt in bowl of a food processor; process until peanuts are ground and mixture is combined. Add butter, peanut butter, and shortening, and pulse until mixture resembles small peas, 10 to 12 times. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons ice water over top of mixture. Pulse 4 times. Add up to 2 more tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition until dough just begins to clump together. Remove dough from processor; shape and flatten into a disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap, and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
• Step 2
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place chilled dough disk on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle dough with flour. Top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll dough into a 13-inch circle. Remove and discard top sheet of parchment. Starting at 1 edge of dough, wrap dough around rolling pin, separating dough from bottom sheet of parchment as you roll. Discard bottom sheet of parchment. Place rolling pin wrapped with dough over a 9-inch (1 1/2-inch-deep) glass pie plate. Unroll dough, and gently press it into pie plate. Trim dough, leaving 1/2-inch overhang; fold edges under, and crimp.
• Step 3
Prepare Peanut Butter Filling: Stir together brown sugar, flour, and kosher salt in a large bowl. Stir in melted butter. Whisk eggs well in a medium bowl; whisk in milk, sorghum, and vanilla. Add peanut butter, whisk until blended. Add peanut butter mixture to brown sugar mixture and stir until combined. Spoon filling into prepared piecrust. Sprinkle peanuts over top, and place pie on a rimmed baking sheet.
• Step 4
Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake until puffed and golden brown and until center is set, 45 to 55 minutes, shielding edges with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning, if necessary. Transfer pie to a wire rack, and cool completely, about 2 hours.
• Step 5
Prepare the Brown Sugar-Bourbon Whipped Cream: Using chilled beaters and a large, chilled bowl, beat whipping cream with an electric mixer on high speed until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Add bourbon and vanilla and beat until well combined. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
Original Recipe can be found on Southernliving.com
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No doubt, there are thousands of spicy peppers across the planet. New peppers are created or discovered every year. At Hot Monkey Nuts, we use some of the World’s Spiciest Peppers. You can find the hottest chili peppers in our 3 hottest flavors: Curry Up! I’m on Fire has the Ghost Pepper, the Hot-Winged Reaper has Carolina Reaper pepper, and the Black Widow’s Bite has 8 peppers, including the Ghost pepper, Carolina Reaper pepper, and the Trinidad Scorpion pepper. The INSANE heat level of our Black Widow’s Bite comes from using the world’s hottest peppers.
If you are new to the chili universe, then this article will introduce you to the 4 hottest peppers on the planet. First, let’s discuss how the spiciness of peppers is measured using the Scoville scale.
Wondering what’s the most important distinction between peppers besides flavor? Of course, that’s none other than heat. When you eat spicy peppers, you’re likely to experience that sensation of heat, that excruciating burn that makes you question why you bit into that pepper in the first place. Is that Nirvana just beyond the horizon? That burning sensation in your mouth is due to the chemical capsaicin – the more capsaicin, the spicier or hotter the pepper.
We use the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) to gauge or measure how hot a chili pepper is. It measures the concentration of capsaicinoids, of which, capsaicin is the predominant component. An American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville introduced this method back in 1912. An exact weight of dried pepper gets dissolved in alcohol to extract the heat components (capsaicinoids), then it is diluted in a sugar water solution. Decreasing concentrations are given to a panel of trained testers until a majority (at least 3) can no longer detect the heat in the dilution. The heat level is based on this dilution, rated in multiples of 100 SHU. For example, Sweet Peppers rate a 0 SHU, while Carolina Reaper can rate up to 2,200,000 SHU.
The Carolina Reaper, without any doubt, is on top of the list. The Carolina Reaper ranges from 1,400,000 to a staggering 2,200,000 SHU on the scale. It has been the hottest pepper in the world since it was officially certified by the Guinness Book of World Records on August 11, 2017 with an SHU of 1,641,183. This was an average of the tested batch with the hottest individual pepper measuring at 2.2 million SHU. Now that’s HOT!
The Carolina Reaper was crossbred between a La Soufriere pepper from the island of Saint Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan in Rock Hill, South Carolina by “Smokin” Ed Currie. The pepper ranges in size from 1 to 2 inches wide (2.5 – 5 cm) and 2 to 3 inches (5 – 7.6cm) long. They mature to a vibrant red color and the skin has a bumpy texture.
Upon first bite, the taste is described as having a fruity taste, which quickly descends into a mouth of horrors described as “molten lava”. It’s name “Reaper” comes from the shape of its tail as it resembles the scythe famously carried by the Grim Reaper. This is exactly why we have included the Carolina Reaper pepper in our Hot-Winged Reaper and our Black Widow’s Bite flavors. The sweet flavor and intense heat this pepper provides is otherworldly. So, let’s kick up those endorphins and bite into a Carolina Reaper pepper for a journey you won’t soon forget.
Second on the spiciest pepper’s list is the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. It was cultivated by Wahid Ogeer of Trinidad and was named after the central south coast village of Moruga. In 2012, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute identified the Trinidad Moruga scorpion as the hottest chili at that time, with heat of 1.2 million Scoville heat units but as we know was overtaken by the Carolina Reaper. Besides the heat, the Trinidad Scorpion has a tender fruit-like flavor, which makes it a sweet and hot combination. The Scorpion pepper is in our Black Widow’s Bite flavored Hot Monkey Nuts.
The 7 Pot Douglah is also known as Chocolate 7 Pot due to the chocolate color of its skin. Its name comes from the Trinidad word douglah which means a person of mixed race, from both African and Indian descent. Its one of the rarest and hottest of the 7 pod strains. Its currently the third hottest pepper in the world behind The Carolina Reaper and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion with an SHU between 923,889 – 1,853,986. It matures to a chocolatey brown hue instead of the typical shock red, with a flavor that’s not only fruity sweet, but also a bit nutty. It’s appearance is habanero-like, approximately two inches long, wrinkled, and pocked.
The Ghost pepper, also known as bhut jolokia is a hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast India. It’s a hybrid of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens. It measures 1,041,427 SHU on the SHU scale. It was at the top of the list back in 2007 as declared by the Guinness Book of World Records. However, it was surpassed by the Carolina Reaper. As intense heat can sneak up on you, this is where the Ghost pepper gets its name. The Ghost pepper comes in a wide array of colors, such as orange, chocolate, red, and yellow. Ripe peppers measure 60 to 85 mm (2.4 to 3.3 in) in length and 25 to 30 mm (1.0 to 1.2 in). Ghost pepper pods are unique among peppers because of their characteristic shape and very thin skin. However, the red fruit variety has two different types: the rough, dented fruit and the smooth fruit. Ghost peppers are used as a food and a spice. It is used in both fresh and dried forms to "heat up" curries, pickles and chutneys. It is popularly used in combination with pork or dried or fermented fish. In northeastern India, the peppers are smeared on fences or incorporated in smoke bombs as a safety precaution to keep wild elephants at a distance. The pepper's intense heat makes it a fixture in competitive chili-pepper eating. Unlike most peppers, ghost peppers produce capsaicin in vesicles found in both the placenta around the seeds and throughout the fruit, rather than just in the placenta.
We’ve included the Ghost pepper in our Curry Up! I’m on Fire flavor. With Garam Masala, Buttermilk, Tomatoes, and Ghost pepper, you’ll find yourself transported to a spice-filled adventure.
So now you know about the 4 spiciest peppers, go grab an ULTIMATE NUT SACK of Hot Monkey Nuts and see if you can challenge yourself- trying our 9 flavors in order from our Mild flavor to our INSANE level! It takes guts, but we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy our nuts!
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Creating a logo is one of the most excruciating and time-consuming parts of starting a new business. Getting it right or wrong can make or break a company. It must be clear, unique, memorable, meaningful, and also match the tone of the company. We went through several iterations of a monkey character before we found THE ONE.
Our first logo was a clip art we got off the internet back in 2005 and we used photoshop to make a “fancy” label. Looking at it now, it was a grainy mess. We tried a mascot-type logo, but the monkey was a little creepy. I even tried to make a monkey myself with my beginner photoshop skills…and it looked like a radioactive sign, I’m not kidding. That was the basis for a graphic designer to take over and give us the logo we have today. He has a mouth making a O shape to mimic breathing in really hard to try and lessen mouth-burn, he has a peanut nose, and he has fiery hair with 6 flames to represent our family members, and we call him George Douglas Monkey.
You might ask, why is his name George Douglas? Well, the first time our company was written in the local newspaper, they called me Doug instead of Greg. They even asked my wife to confirm our names- and I saw her reply- she didn’t call me Doug. This was very upsetting for me, but extremely funny to the rest of my family. They remembered my many work-related stories about the people at an Indian branch office and how they thought my name was George. They called me George so often, I just started answering to George on the phone and signing the ends of my emails as George to those people to keep up my rouse. I was even asked if I was Indian- thinking my last name was an Americanized version of Mukherjee. This was so frequent that when I went out to dinner with my family, they called for “George- party of 6” and I actually stood up and started walking to the hostess, but the real George got there before me and saved me the embarrassment. The funniest part was that my family didn’t follow me, and they got in a good laugh when I turned around and walked back to them.
I’ve been called many names besides my own- like Geoff and Darius. OK, Darius IS my middle name, but when getting through security at an airport last year, the security guard returned everyone else’s IDs stating their first names, but not for me- he called me Darius! This, again, caused the entire family to burst out into giggles as we took off our shoes and unloaded our pockets to get through the metal detector. Having other people call me Doug and George really stuck a nerve with my kids and they constantly remind me and sometimes call me George or Doug just for fun.
So, this is how our monkey logo/mascot got his name. The running family joke is that Daddy never gets called his real name. My initials are GDM, so we thought it fitting for the mascot to have the same initials. So, George Douglas Monkey it is.
Greg, George or whatever you want to call me!
]]>As you can see, the peanut provides a wide variety of beneficial attributes that are hard to compare to other protein sources. Just adding a little bit of spice into your diet also provides a boost to your metabolism. When these forces are combined, they help provide a wholesome way to pack in your protein for the day, along with enjoying some tongue tingling burn along with way.
]]>I got some free habanero powder on one of my hot sauce orders and decided to mix it into some cocktail peanuts along with some parmesan cheese. The concoction turned out pretty good for what it was, but I knew the flavor could be improved. Even though I’m a pepper-head, I hold flavor as a necessity above all else. It’s easy to make something spicy, but to make it taste good, now that requires talent.
This is where my culinary chops came in handy. I have an uncanny ability to know when a dish is missing an ingredient or just needs that something extra to make it pop. When a recipe calls for garlic-I add twice as much garlic!