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Prosciutto

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Prosciutto

Only prosecute someone who gives you nasty prosciutto.

  • Prosciutto is a ham that has gone through a dry-curing process, and it is commonly sliced in very thin pieces and generally not cooked before eating.
  • The term ‘prosciutto’ is derived from the Latin words ‘pro’ meaning ‘before’ and ‘exsuctus’ meaning ‘dried up’ or ‘without juice’, which comes from the word ‘exsugere’ meaning ‘to suck out moisture’.
  • Traditionally prosciutto is made of the hind leg or the thigh of pigs or wild boar, although this style of meat can be produced from other animals.
  • The process of making prosciutto generally involves pressing, salting and cleansing the raw meat from blood and other impurities for approximately two months, and then the meat goes through a drying and curing process that typically takes between 12 and 24 months.
  • Prosciutto is popularly eaten with melon, figs and other fruit; bread or bread sticks; wrapped around vegetables like asparagus; or as an addition to other dishes including pasta and pizza.

Prosciutto, Ham, meat, Food, Red, Strips, Green, Platter, Ten Random Facts, Trivia, Rolled

  • Prosciutto is historically an Italian product, and it has been produced in Italy’s city of Parma, from as early as 100 BC.
  • ‘Proscuitto crudo’ is the name for the raw version of the meat, and while the ham is commonly eaten uncooked, if added to other dishes it should only be cooked for short periods of time at low heat, to avoid destroying the flavour and texture.
  • Prosciutto is generally a combination of colours that may include white, pink, peach, orange and red in colour.
  • The sodium content of prosciutto is very high, while the meat is also high in fat and a good source of protein.
  • Sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate are occasionally used in the making of prosciutto, which often enhances the pink and red colours of the ham, however the use of these chemicals is not common in traditionally cured hams, and are absent from those that are produced in protected areas of origin in Italy.
Bibliography:
Ipatenco S, Is Prosciutto Healthy?, 2015, LiveStrong.com, http://www.livestrong.com/article/374315-is-prosciutto-healthy/
Prosciutto, 2015, Life In Italy, http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/prosciutto.asp
Prosciutto, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosciutto

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Reindeer

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Reindeer

Reindeer are the animal star of Christmas, despite its depictions being a misnomer.

  • Reindeer are a type of deer native to the northern mountainous, arctic and forest habitats of North America, Russia, and Europe, and the animals are also known as ‘caribous’, mainly in North America, although this term may be used only for wild herds in those areas.
  • The scientific name of a reindeer is Rangifer tarandus, and it is from the family Cervidae, the family of deer.
  • The antlers found on reindeer that shed every November in males and May in females are quite noteworthy, reaching lengths of up to 130 centimetres (51 inches) in males and 51 centimetres (20 inches) in females.
  • Reindeer are ruminants and have a diet that consists primarily of mosses and lichen, but also leaves, fungi and grasses, and they have an average lifespan of 12 to 18 years.
  • The length of a reindeer generally ranges between 1.6 to 2.1 metres (5.3 to 6.9 feet) and the mammal usually weighs between 60 to 240 kilograms (132 to 529 pounds) and up to as much as 320 kilograms (705 pounds).
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Reindeer
Image courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey/Flickr
  • Reindeer have two layers of fur coloured brown, tan, white or grey depending on the subspecies; an inner layer that is quite woolly and thick, and an outer layer, which is quite long and hairy, although these hair fibres are hollow, enabling them to swim more easily in water.
  • Depending on the subspecies, some reindeer travel more than any other land animal in the world, moving up to 5000 kilometres (3100 miles) each year for the purpose of migration, while they have a speed that can reach 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour).
  • Predators often have difficulty catching reindeer due to their high speeds, dangerous antlers and tendency to live in large herds, although despite this, bears, wolves and humans still prey on the deer.
  • During warmer months, the hooves of reindeer are generally spongy to assist with walking across marshes, although in winter they become hard, to assist walking across formed ice.
  • Despite some subspecies of reindeer being scarce, the mammal is a popularly hunted for its prized antlers and meat, while some are domesticated and kept in herds.
Bibliography:
Reindeer, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/reindeer/
Reindeer, 2015, San Diego Zoo, http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/reindeer
Reindeer, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer

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Table Mountain

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Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a masterpiece of the giants.

  • Table Mountain is a mountainous landform with a particularly flat top, found near South Africa’s Cape Town.
  • From sea level, Table Mountain is 1084.6 metres (3,558 feet) in height, and at the top it is 3 kilometres (2 miles) across at its widest point.
  • The first record of a person climbing Table Mountain was in 1503, and the climber was António de Saldanha, a navigator from Portugal and modern day Spain.
  • Table Mountain is notably topped with orographic clouds regularly, that create a surreal table cloth like covering over the mountain; a local legend attributes this to a smoking duel between the Devil and a pirate.
  • At least 1500 species of plant populate Table Mountain, most of which are endemic to the area and referred to as ‘fynbos’, or shrubby vegetation, some of which is endangered.
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Table Mountain
Image courtesy of warrenski/Flickr
  • Animals found on Table Mountain include rock hyraxes, snakes, amphibians, mongooses, lizards and porcupines, as well as the mountain’s rare ‘ghost frogs’ that are critically endangered.
  • There are two main ways Table Mountain can be accessed, by hiking and by a cableway; the latter built from 1926 to 1929 after years of ideas and planning.
  • Sandstone makes up most of the rock structure of Table Mountain, and it also features unusual sandstone cave complexes.
  • Table Mountain is very popular among tourists, and as of 2015, at least 24 million people had used the cableway since it was built.
  • Table Mountain was voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2011, and it is part of the Table Mountain National Park.
Bibliography:
Table Mountain, 2014, SA Venues, http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/table-mountain.htm
Table Mountain, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain

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Frisbee

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Frisbee

Frisbees glide quite smoothly through the air. That is, when they’re not being used competitively!

  • A ‘Frisbee’, ‘flying disc’ or ‘disc’,  is an invention shaped like a disc, primarily used to entertain, but it is also used as the main piece of equipment in the ‘ultimate’ disc field sport.
  • Frisbees are thrown by a flick action of the wrist, and are often thrown casually to and from people in a group.
  • The typical diameter of Frisbees or flying discs ranges from 20 to 25 centimetres (8 to 10 inches), however they are available in smaller and larger sizes.
  • The name ‘Frisbee’ is said to have originated from the Frisbie Pie Company’s metal pie tins that were used by university students as flying discs, and it is a trademark name owned by Wham-O, an American toy company, who bought the rights to the invention in 1957.
  • The first Frisbee discs were metal food tin lids and cake pans used by American Walter Frederick Morrison and his would-be wife Lu in the 1930s, which they eventually sold to passers-by for 25 cents, making a 20 cent profit.

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  • Fred Morrison, as he was commonly known, developed his disc idea when he became a pilot during World War II and suffered a period of imprisonment, and he finalised and commercialised his plastic invention in 1948 with Warren Franscioni, and called it a ‘Flyin-Saucer’.
  • The modern Frisbee stems from a redesign made in 1955 by Fred Morrison, which was later improved by Edward Headrick in 1964 to make the disc more accurate and stable when thrown.
  • While Frisbee has been a popular brand of flying disc, Discraft is a major brand of discs in the sporting industry and are commonly used for ultimate games and competition purposes, and as of 2015, the furthest a flying disc has been thrown is 263.2 metres (863.5 feet), by Simon Lizotte of Germany, in 2014.
  • The Frisbee was used in a sporting game in the late 1960s by students of Columbia High School in Maplewood, in the United States, which developed into the sport now known as ‘ultimate’.
  • Frisbees and flying discs are kept airborne by creating lift through the spinning caused by a throw, combined with the shape of the disc.
Bibliography:
Flying Disc, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_disc
Of the Game, 2015, What Is Ultimate, http://www.whatisultimate.com/history/of-the-game/
Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees, 2015, History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/toy-company-wham-o-produces-first-frisbees

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The Game of Life

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The Game of Life

You cannot get such a more realistic game than The Game of Life.

  • The Game of Life is a board game that somewhat replicates the average life of a person, from college through to retirement, by advancing along spaces on the board.
  • ‘The Game of Life’ is also known as ‘LIFE’, and it generally uses cars as game pieces, with small pink or blue pegs to represent people.
  • The Game of Life is based on the original and highly successful version of the game called ‘The Checkered Game of Life’, which was designed by Milton Bradley, an American lithographer, in 1860, after his print run of presidential candidate portraits of Abraham Lincoln failed to sell, due to Lincoln growing a beard after they had been printed.
  • Milton Bradley’s 1860 version of The Game of Life involved the player advancing across a checkered board to gain points, and it was designed with his own morals in mind, which resulted in negative consequences for spaces depicting suicide, gambling, jail, ruin, poverty and the like.
  • The Checkered Game of Life was overhauled and revamped on its 100th anniversary in 1960, and resulted in the modern style version, The Game of Life, designed by Americans Bill Markham and Reuben Klamer for the Milton Bradley Company.

Game of Life, Game, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Board Game, Spinner, Old, 3D

  • The three-dimensional modern style game board of The Game of Life, first produced in the 1960s, was the first of its kind, and it featured moulded plastic buildings, mountains and bridges.
  • The aim of The Game of Life is to collect the most money by the end of ‘life’, which is generally collected by luckily landing on specific spaces and/or by various choices made throughout the game.
  • The numbered spinner famous in The Game of Life has its origins in the numbered spinning top or teetotum, used to move across the game board in the 1860s version, as dice were considered inappropriate by Milton Bradley, due to their association with gambling, which went against his morals.
  • There have been various updates on The Game of Life over the years, and numerous versions of the game, and while each have their differences, life events that are, or have been depicted in The Game of Life, including marriage, college, having children, suing, insurance and the like.
  • As of 2010, more than 50 million copies of The Game of Life had been sold since 1960, and it had been created in at least 20 different languages.
Bibliography:
Edwards P, Why the Game of Life used to have poverty, suicide, and ruin, 2015, Vox, http://www.vox.com/2015/1/28/7924487/game-of-life-history
The Game of Life, 2015, The Strong, http://www.toyhalloffame.org/toys/game-life
The Game of Life, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life

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Persimmon

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Persimmon

Persimmons are a sugar sweet fruit.

  • Persimmons are a fruit native to China and they are popularly eaten in other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan, where they have been grown for hundreds of years.
  • The trees persimmons are grown on are from the Diospyros genus from the family Ebenaceae, a family of flowering trees and shrubs including ebony used in the wood trade.
  • While there are a number of different species of the fruit tree, the most commonly grown is Diospyros kaki, or ‘Japanese’, ‘Asian’, or ‘kaki’ persimmon, as it is commonly known.
  • Persimmons generally grow to be 1.5 to 10 centimetres (0.6 to 4 inches) in diameter, depending on the species or variety, while they are most commonly between 6 and 8.5 centimetres (2.4 to 3.3 inches) wide and can be shaped like acorns, hearts, spheres, apples and pumpkins.
  • Sometimes persimmons need to be peeled before eating, though they can be eaten raw, dried, or cooked, and they are often used in variety of desserts and baked goods.

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  • The word ‘persimmon’ comes from the native eastern United States language named Powhatan, from the term ‘pasimenan‘, meaning ‘dry or dried fruit’.
  • The colour of persimmons ranges between different shades of red, yellow, and orange, and less commonly – purple, brown and black.
  • Persimmons have a sweet flavour and are either ‘astringent’ and only edible when fully ripe and soft with a somewhat jelly-like flesh, or ‘non-astringent’ and able to be eaten when crisp and firm, as well as soft.
  • The tannin chemical in unripe persimmons causes the astringent fruit to taste bitter, and it can react with weak acids in the human stomach to create hard phytobezoar compounds that are potentially dangerous.
  • Persimmons are very high in vitamin A, manganese, fibre and vitamin C, and they have been used for medicinal purposes to treat a variety of ailments.
Bibliography:
Diospyros kaki – Thumb., 2012, Plants For A Future, http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Diospyros+kaki
Morton J, Japanese Persimmon, 1987, Purdue Agriculture, https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/japanese_persimmon.html
Persimmon, 1996, California Rare Fruit Growers, http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html
Persimmon, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

 

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