Between 1635 and 1853 Japan experienced a period of isolationism, during which, the consumption of any four legged animal was forbidden. Soon after this period, the Japanese people developed an appetite for their highly marbled Wagyu. In 1864 European cows were introduced to the island to cross-breed with Wagyu and feed the growing demand for beef. Fortunately, some farms chose to maintain pure bread heards of Wagyu.

Breeds of Wagyu include Tajima, Shimane, Kumamoto, Tottori, Hida, and many others. These breeds are usually named after the towns or regions where they have evolved through selective breeding. Pure Bread Wagyu refers to any combination of these original breeds.

Japan has several regional beef brands such as Kobe, Mishima, Matsusaka, Omi, and Sanda which are all registered trademarks.  These brands establish production standards.  Kobe Beef is the most famous brand because the port of Kobe was the first to open in 1869 after isolationism. Therefore, the city of Kobe was the first place foreign travelers tasted Wagyu. Kobe Beef requires that the cow be Tajima breed, born in Hyoho Prefecture, and raised to 30 months. Contrary to popular believe, feeding cows beer or massaging them with sake is not required for Kobe Beef and is very uncommon. Cows destine to be Kobe Beef are fed soybean, corn, barley, wheat bran, and can never be fed grass. Japan does not have enough land to grow feed grains; therefore most of the feed used on Japanese farms is imported from Australia or the United States.

Japan, Australia, and the United States each have their own grading system for beef. In Japan the meat is first categorized into three grades, A,B, and C, based on ratio of meat to the total weight of the carcass. “A” usually means the cow was pure bread Wagyu. “B” is usually a Wagyu crossed with a European cow.  “C” is a European cow such as a Holstein, or Jersey. The meat is then ranked on the BMS marbling standard from 1-12 where a 1 has no marbling and a 12 has extreme marbling.  In Japan beef may be sold with an exact marbling score or grouped.  For example Wagyu labeled A5 has a marbling score of 8-12, A4 is 5-7, A3 is 3-4, and so on.

In the United States the USDA grades include prime, choice, and select.  USDA Prime is what you will find at most high end steak houses and is the equivalent to a Japanese (BMS) marbling score of 4-5. USDA Choice is a BMS 2-4 score and can be found at mid-level steak houses. USDA Select is a 1-2 and is the beef generally found in grocery stores.

Australia’s scale stops at 9 and anything above 9 is called a 9+. Otherwise it is the same as the Japanese scale.

Although the grading scales are based solely on marbling other factors affect the quality of the beef.  It is important to note that fat creates the sensation of juiciness but plays a minor role in beef’s overall flavor.  Flavor is related to nutritional value and is most influenced by feed given to the cows. In Japan they desire mild but very juicy meat. Therefore they feed almost exclusively grain.  In Australia and the United States cows are generally raised on pasture and finished on grain.  At the time of this writing Australia is producing both pure bread Wagyu as well as Wagyu crossed with Angus. In the United States only Wagyu crossed with Angus is being produced, but pure bread Wagyu beef is imported to the U.S.A. from Australia. Beef from both the United States and Australia will generally be described as tasting beefier than Japanese product. There are farms in New Zealand raising on pasture Wagyu crossed with Angus. These cows produce what could be considered the wild or natural flavor of beef.

When ordering Wagyu at a restaurant, ask questions.  If the Wagyu beef was produced domestically, you know that it was crossed with Angus.  A Wagyu cross will never have more than a BMS 8 marbling score and normally will grade in the 4-5 range.  If the restaurant is serving pure bread Wagyu it is likely to have approximately a BMS 7 score. If they are serving something even more high end they may be able to tell you the exact score or use a term such as A5 or 9+.  The best steak houses will keep at least one certificate available showing that their Wagyu is pure bread. The more informed you are, the easier it will be to remember what you like.

In nature sugars are rare and so valuable that humans have developed a unique taste for them. Sweetness, which is one of only five basic tastes, naturally appeals to all people. Only through training can a person learn not to like sweetness. This is because sugars provide a dense source of energy while requiring little energy to digest.

Nutritional Anthropologists estimate that only 300 years ago the average person consumed four pounds of sugar per year. The average modern American consumes approximately 160 pounds of sugar per year (and this figure is continually rising). Whereas our ancestors’ diets would rarely have seen a piece of fruit or lump of honey, today fruit is seen as a healthy snack and sodas replace water (the average American consumes 1.75 cans of soda per day).

Modern humans are clearly consuming more sugar. For some the sugar calories are in excess of their requirements. These are stored by the body as fat. For others the sugar calories replace less dense (more nutritious) sources of calories and become malnourished. These people are generally plagued by illness.

Many believe that our modern addiction to sugar is a result of economics rather than an irresistible desire for sweetness. For the first time in history the cheapest calories are from sugar. They are cheap because they come from the most abundant agricultural crop on the planet. In the United States we grow 332 million metric tons of Dent Corn (Zea mays indenata ) per year. This variety is sought after for its large endosperm which is made up of starch, oil, and protein. Using enzymes this starch is broken down into High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Though the public perceives HFCS negatively, there is little hard science to say that it is any worse than other forms of sugar. In fact it is about 10% sweeter than table sugar meaning less can be used. The real problem with HFCS is that it’s cheap. As a result food manufacturers have use it in everything. Calories from HFCS make up 12% of the average American diet. There is an overwhelming correlation between the popularity of HFCS and frequency of type two diabetes.

In the fight against diabetes and weight gain many have turned to artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners (A.S.) are often so intensely sweet that they must be diluted with corn starch to make them more palatable. Due to the fact that they can be patented they are also very profitable. A.S. have life cycles similar to pharmaceutical drugs. New A.S. come to dominate the market until evidence of health problems becomes so overwhelming that they are forced to withdraw from the market. Conveniently a new A.S. is always pending approval.

Today the most popular A.S. is called Aspartame. Aspartame is used in everything from diet sodas to toothpaste. Its discovery in 1965 is attributed to James Schlatter who was developing a drug to treat peptic ulcers. Schlatter was handling the drug then licked his finger to help lift a piece of paper, what he tasted was the future of A.S. Though its producer G. D. Searles and Company and the FDA claim it has no side effects, at one point 80% of complaints to the FDA for food additives regarded Aspartame. For over 15 years, study after study linking Aspartame to seizures and brain tumors kept the product off the market. Then, in 1981 Donald Rumsfeld became CEO of G.D. Searles and used his political power to manipulate FDA procedures and ultimately approve Aspartame’s use in foods. Unlike most A.S., Aspartame breaks down in the digestive system. One by product of the digestion of aspartame is methanol (wood alcohol). The Environmental Protection Agency says that more than 7.8 milligrams of methanol consumed per day is poisonous. Yet 16 milligrams of methanol are produced from digesting just one can of diet soda made with Aspartame. Brand names for Aspartame include NutraSweet and Equal.

In 1999 Splenda moved into the A.S. market to capitalize on the negative publicity surrounding Aspartame and saccharin (Sweet’n low). Splenda is the brand name for sucralose (actually this scientific sounding name was made up by the original producer, Tate and Lyle, to sound like a natural sugar). Sucralose is almost 600 times sweeter than table sugar and is therefore diluted with maltodextrine (an anti caking agent) to produce Splenda. Sucralose was discovered by accident in 1975 by a graduate student in London, named Shashikant Phadnis. Phadnis and his professor were developing a new insecticide similar to DDT. Their experiment involved chlorinating sugar, thus the slogan “Made From Sugar, So It Tastes Like Sugar.” On a molecular level sucralose has nothing in common with sugar; it is no more than a coincidence that the production process involves sugar. Phadnis’ professor asked him to “test the powder”, however, he heard “taste the powder.” To his professor’s astonishment Phadnis reported that it tasted sweet. Thousands of claims have been reported to the FDA concerning Splenda. The claims include headaches, skin rashes, joint pain, seizures, heart pain, irritated eyes, lungs and nose, just to name a few.

Though it is best to control ones desire for sweetness, there are safe alternatives. One such sweetener is Stevia. Stevia has been widely used in Japan for 30 years with no negative reports. It accounts for 40% of the sweetener market in Japan and is even used by Coca Cola in Japan for their diet sodas. The herb has been used in tropical regions around the world throughout human history. Yet in 1991 the FDA labeled Stevia as an “unsafe food additive”. The labeling is controversial, because this designation violates the FDA’s own guidelines under which natural substances used prior to 1958, with no reported adverse effects, are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). For now Stevia must be bought as a dietary supplement and added by the user. However, large companies including Coca Cola and Cargill are lobbying to allow Stevia’s use in packaged foods.

One other safe zero calorie sweetener is Erythritol which is naturally found in fruits and many other foods. Erythritol is produced by first fermenting a sugar solution with yeast. After fermentation the alcohol is filtered and evaporated to form crystals similar in size and shape to table sugar. Many advocates prefer Erythritol to Stevia because of the minimal processing required. The flavor is similar to table sugar except has a slight cooling effect on the tongue and is only 70% as sweet. Erythritol is considered GRAS by the FDA and can therefore be used in packaged foods. With a more memorable name and some marketing Erythritol should become wide spread in the years to come.

In this post I am sharing my notes on raw, whole, natural milk from grass fed cows. This is very different from the pasteurized, homogenized milk drawn from grain fed cows.

It is believed that milk has been part of the human diet since the domestication of animals around 9000 – 8000 B.C.E. Milk was first utilized in the Middle-East where the warm climate made meat storage difficult. A dairy cow could nourish its owner with a convenient ration of milk each day which was more valuable than a lump sum of meat.

Milk has four basic parts, water, fat, protein, and sugar. In raw milk the fat globules average about 4 micrometers in diameter. The fat portion of raw milk contains vitamins A, D, E, and K.

The primary proteins found in milk are casein which are bonded together by calcium-phosphate to make “micelles.” These micelles have a negative charge which allows them to repel one another and remain in suspension.

Lactose which is comprised of glucose and galactose is the sugar which gives milk its sweet taste. This sugar accounts for about 40% of the total calories in milk. Lactose is a rare sugar in nature and difficult for adult humans to digest.

A modern fully cooked diet deprives our digestive system of beneficial bacteria and enzymes which would normally assist in digesting complex carbohydrates (like lactose). Such beneficial bacteria and enzymes are naturally present in raw milk but are destroyed during pasteurization. In raw milk, the enzyme lactase breaks the sugar lactose into glucose and galactose. Then the beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus digests the simple sugars glucose and galactose and produces lactic-acid. Lactic-acid kills most harmful pathogens. If pasteurized milk is left without refrigeration it will putrefy and become undrinkable. For the reasons mentioned, raw milk will become pleasantly sour (like yogurt) and actually make more vitamins and minerals accessible to your body (as with Kefir).

Milk’s color can reveal its nutrition. The yellow color of healthy natural milk comes from the fat portion which contains carotene. Breeds such as Jersey or Guernsey produce milk with an especially high fat content and yellow color. The carotene comes from a diet rich in fresh grass. The blue color of processed skim milk comes from the casein micelles (protein).

During peak milk production milk solids are removed from fresh milk and dehydrated into a powder. This powder is then mixed with water to create skim, 1%, and 2% milk. The solids are also used to make ice-cream, imitation butter, and many other processed foods.

One gram of milk contains approximately 3mg. of cholesterol. When you hear that cholesterol is bad for your health, what is truly meant is that oxidized cholesterol is bad for your health. Otherwise cholesterol is essential to your bodily functions and is even produced by your body in quantities much greater than you could ever eat. (see post on fats).

Homogenization breaks apart fat molecules under high pressure so that they remain suspended evenly throughout the emulsion (milk). Normally the large fat globules would be lighter than the water portion of the milk and therefore would rise to the top. We call this cream.  In raw milk a quick shake evenly redistributes the cream back into the milk. However, cream is far more valuable than milk and most is removed from industrial milk to be sold to the processed food or cheese industries. After homogenization the globules are small enough that they attach to the heavier casein micelles and stay in suspension. Studies conducted in the 1960′s – 1980′s by Dr. Kurt A. Oster made some disturbing conclusions about the effect of homogenized fat on plasmalogen. Plasmalogen makes up a significant portion of arterial walls and about 50% of heart tissue. Dr. Oster found that the small fat particles produced by homogenization would encapsulate themselves along with an enzyme in milk called xanthine oxidase (XO). These supper small fat particle (called liposomes) can pass through the intestinal walls without being digested. The liposomes then enter the blood stream where the XO begins to attack the plasmalogen in cell tissues. The cholesterol which is so often blamed for heart disease is actually sent by the human body to repair this damaged. Therefore, the cholesterol often found in autopsies of people who die from Atherosclerosis (heart disease), is actually a natural bandage, not the cause of the disease.

Pasteurization removes nearly all of the health benefits of milk and creates new hazards. In 1895 pasteurization was adopted to prevent the spread of tuberculous through milk. It was unsanitary dairies that allowed the disease to spread, not raw milk. In 1985 unsanitary conditions allowed salmonella to contaminate milk in Illinois. The pasteurization didn’t kill all of the salmonella and 14,000 people became ill (one died). This shows that pasteurization only reduces the risk of illnesses caused by pathogens while ensuring a weakened immune system, allergies, osteoporosis, and the build up of arterial plaque. Pasteurize milk is heated to 161 degrees for 15-20 seconds, or 280 degrees for a fraction of a second to produce a shelf stable product. Raw Milk contains vitamins A, D, E, K, B, Bw, B1, B2,B3, B6, B12, and C. After pasteurization all of these are destroyed except 30% of A,D,E, and 50% of vitamin C. Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium. Therefore the dairy industry adds synthetic D2. Natural vitamin D or D3 is present in raw milk and otherwise produced by skin when exposed to sunlight.  D3 makes us feel happy and assists with calcium absorption. However, synthetic vitamin D or D2 is mostly unrecognized by the body and is actually toxic to the liver.

If you are a resident of Nevada please sign our petition below to show your support for the legalization of Raw Milk.  Your support will help demonstrate the public demand for this basic food.  With sufficient public demand we will be able to establish a Raw Milk Commission to provide, testing, inspections, and knowledge on proper milk production. Raw Milk is legal in 28 States. Nevadans should have the same right to choose their food.

Thank you for your help,

Brett

Jamon Iberico Recebo are very similar to Bellota, however they have been raised in plush pens and fed a diet of acorns and grains rather than roaming free in the Dehesa. These hams are usually about half the price of the Bellota and a great value.

In 2006 after nearly a decade and millions of dollars, Fermin became the first Spanish Iberico and Serrano ham producer certified by the USDA to export their hams to the United State.

In nutritious when we speak about fats we mean triglycerides. A triglyceride is a glycerol molecule (COOH) bonded to three fatty-acids. There are three types of triglycerides, Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated.

Fatty-acids are chains of Carbon atoms, each is bonded to Hydrogen atoms. They are usually 4 to 28 carbon atoms in length. Shorter fatty-acids (less than 8 carbon atoms) are more miscible in water than longer chains (more than 16 carbon atoms). For this reason short chain fatty-acids can raise the acidity of liquids during digestion. It is best to maintain a PH neutral diet.

In a Saturated fat all of the carbon atoms which making up the fatty-acids are bonded (saturated) with hydrogen. These are very stable (meaning they will not oxidize or become rancid) healthy fats. Because the fatty acids are straight they can pack very closely together and therefore are solid at room temperature. Some examples include animal fats, and tropical nut oils such as coconut. One interesting note is that tropical plants must make saturated fats in order to stay rigid in their warm environment. If they didn’t, their leaves would appear wilted. Colder climate plants produce progressively less saturated fats. Saturated fats are great for high temperature cooking because they will not oxidize easily. For better flavor and health try deep frying in lard or duck fat. Once cooled the fat can be strained and used over and over again.

Monounsaturated fats are missing hydrogen atoms from two consecutive carbon atoms. Therefore the two carbon atoms bond together creating a kink. Because of this kink the molecules cannot pack together closely and stay liquid at room temperature. Although they will solidify in the refrigerator. These fats do not go rancid easily and can healthily be used in low temperature cooking. Some examples include Olive oil, Avocado oil, and most nut oils.

Polyunsaturated fats have two or more double bonded carbon atoms and lack four or more hydrogen atoms. These fats cannot pack together closely and therefore are liquid even in the refrigerator. Example are flax-seed oil, most seed oils, soybean oil, omega-6, and omega-3. The omega number corresponds to the position of the first double bond. So, an omega-3 has a double bond at the third position in a fatty-acid chain. These oils go rancid very easily should be refrigerated and never used for hot applications. Unfortunately because these oils are cheap they are the most common for frying.

Fats are good for us. Most vitamins, especially A, D, E, K are fat soluble meaning that without fat they will not be absorptive by the body. We especially want to eat Saturated fats. Saturated fats such as lard, or coconut oil are very hard to oxidize (make rancid) because they are stable. Every Carbon atom is happily balanced with a hydrogen atom.

Studies have shown that 4% of your daily calories should come from Polyunsaturated fats.  (4% X 2000calories = 80 calories) try to make 1.5% from omega-3 or 30cal. and 2.5% or 50cal. from omega-6. Flax-seed oil is promoted because it has an unusually high ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 and can therefore restore a proper ration to our bodies. Our diets tend to have far more omega-6 than omega-3. Flax-seed oil contains about 57% omega-3 and 16% omega-6. (Interestingly Flax-seed oil is the same as linseed oil used on furniture, but don’t eat the stuff for furniture it’s oxidized.)  These fats are called “essential fatty-acids” because our bodies need them but cannot make them.  An egg that feeds on grass and insects will have nearly a perfect equal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6.  However, supermarket eggs from hens which feed on grain can have 19 times as much omega-6 as 3.  Saturated fats make up approximately 50% of our cell membranes keeping them rigid in our bodies 98 degree climate, just like the tropical plants mentioned earlier.  To effectively utilize calcium in our bones 50% of our dietary fats should be saturated.   Saturated fats also have antimicrobial properties protecting us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive track.

Cholesterol is a big subject so please ask if you would like me to elaborate.  But here are a couple of interesting facts.  First your body makes 2000 mg of it per day.  Second, study after study has shown that eating cholesterol does not mean that the amount of cholesterol in your blood will rise. It most cases it has no effect.  Lastly, the average person eats 100mgs of cholesterol a day, therefore even removing it from your diet entirely would only result in a 5% decrease of cholesterol levels.  Cholesterol is vital to the brain, organ, and the creation of most hormones. Low cholesterol can decrease the brains production of Serotonin and lead to depression.  This is why statins (cholesterol lower drugs) can cause depression.   Organ meats, raw mollusks and crustaceans are all excellent sources of cholesterol.  Mothers milk is naturally very high in cholesterol and helps brain development in babies. Oxidized cholesterol is perhaps America worst enemy. This is what forms the plaque build up in arteries.  It is formed when fats are exposed to high temperatures.  Some examples are powdered eggs, powdered milk, polyunsaturated fry oils.  Unfortunately powdered milk and eggs are used in processed foods including supermarket milk and ice cream among others.

Margarine and Cis vs. Trans Fat
Margarine is primarily made from corn, cotton seed, or soy bean oil depending which is cheaper at the time. 4.5 bushels of corn are needed to make one gallon of corn oil. That means corn is only about 2.4% oil. Without government subsidy corn oil would not be viable. The oil is extracted from these sources using solvents, usually hexane. To remove the hexane the oil must be boiled causing the oil to oxidize. Then nickel rust is added to the oil to act as a catalyst where hydrogen can bond. Under high pressure and temperature hydrogen gas is bubble through the oil until it becomes saturated or solid. Emulsifiers and corn starch are added for a smooth constancy.  At this point the product smell unpleasant so it must be deodorized with steam. However, because of the added nickel the margarine is an unappealing gray color. Therefore it must be bleached till white.  Lastly, coloring and synthetic butter flavor is added.  Cis fats can be thought of as common natural fats.  Margarine is a trans fat, so called because the position of a carbon atom has been transfered to straighten out the fatty acid.  Now straitened out the molecules can pack closely together and resemble a solid saturated fat (like butter). This is a problem because your body can’t see the difference between a natural saturated fat and a man made one. Your body then uses this trans fat to build cell walls.  Cell walls are very important because they control the flow of chemicals in and out of the cell.  With a defective cell wall made of trans fats there is no proper regulation.

In this blog, my aim is to demystify one ingredient or subject at a time. In a few paragraphs I will try to distill all of my notes built up from years of research. In some cases we will learn together. Please feel welcome to suggest topics or provide feedback using the contact us link.

Thank you,

Brett Ottolenghi