Caramel & Cream Parfaits Recipe, Spotlight on Pedro Ximénez Reserve Sherry Vinegar and Confectioners' sugar, "Good" vs. "Bad" Caffeine, and The Benefits of Sprinting
You might be surprised that vinegar can be a secret ingredient in a sweet recipe. But that’s exactly the case with Pedro Ximénez Reserve Sherry Vinegar, the third vinegar in my new 2027 T. J. Robinson Curated Culinary Selections. With all the notes of a fine sherry, it makes not only delectable vinaigrettes but also a rich caramel sauce, as you'll see from the following recipe. I'm also sharing two important studies. One is on caffeine, which can have some health benefits, but this depends on the source—highly caffeinated energy drinks, for instance, can be harmful. Scroll further and you'll also read about the advantages of sprint workouts compared to longer exercise sessions and how they may help people reach their fitness goals in less time.
Caramel & Cream Parfaits
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Pedro Ximénez Reserve Sherry Vinegar
To craft sherry vinegar, only certain grapes can be used, such as palomino, the most common variety, and the sweeter muscatel, but ours is a special reserva (meaning it’s been aged for a minimum of two years) of Pedro Ximénez or “PX” grapes. PX grapes are left in the sun longer than usual to concentrate its sugars and give the taste and deep color of raisins.
My collection’s Pedro Ximénez Reserve Sherry Vinegar is a customized blend of PX vinegar batches from the smallest size of barrels for a sweeter rather than drier flavor. A very slow fermentation combined with barrel-aging and a carefully controlled temperature in the vinegar room together encourage the transfer between the wood cells and the vinegar to create its exceptional taste.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
Confectioners' Sugar
Granulated sugar is the go-to for many desserts, but there are a few recipes that demand the silky smoothness of confectioners' sugar. At the top of the list is whipped cream. Confectioners' sugar adds sweetness without any of the grittiness of undissolved granulated sugar. Also, it's made with a small amount of cornstarch, which helps whipped cream retain its billowy shape. Start with 2 or 3 tablespoons per cup of cream, depending on your preferred level of sweetness.
For Your Best Health
"Good" vs. "Bad" Caffeine
For many adults, a daily caffeine habit may be safer for the heart than many people assume. A new review by an American Heart Association (AHA) writing group found that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, roughly three to five 8-ounce cups of regular black coffee, is generally safe and may even be linked to lower risks of heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and type 2 diabetes. But the same isn't true for highly concentrated caffeine-based energy drinks and shots, which can sharply raise blood pressure and trigger irregular heart rhythms, according to findings published in the AHA's flagship peer-reviewed journal Circulation in the scientific statement "Caffeine and Cardiovascular Disease."
Energy drink shots may contain 40 to 69 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce, many more times the caffeine found in regular caffeinated coffee. Also, energy drinks, bars, gels, and caffeine-based supplements may contain additional ingredients that cause the body absorb caffeine more rapidly. These additives may speed up caffeine's effects, increase blood pressure, and raise the risk of cardiovascular harm.
The researchers emphasized that more studies are needed to compare different kinds of caffeinated coffee with tea, soda, energy drinks, energy shots, and foods. Tea has received less research attention than coffee. Even so, tea consumption has been associated with reduced risks of atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and stroke, similar to caffeinated coffee.
"Although research suggests that caffeine consumption may be associated with certain cardiovascular benefits for some people, it's important to remember that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' strategy for safe caffeine consumption," said Gregory M. Marcus, MD, chair of the scientific statement volunteer writing group, professor of medicine, and associate chief of cardiology for research at the UCSF Health. "People can respond very differently to caffeine based on various factors, such as age, medications, underlying health conditions, genetics, and how quickly their bodies metabolize it. What may be a reasonable amount for one person could cause unwanted effects, such as heart palpitations, anxiety, or sleep disruption, in another. That's why it's important to pay attention to how your body responds to caffeine and talk with your healthcare team about what is right for you."
Fitness Flash
The Benefits of Sprinting
Just three minutes of sprinting may produce a molecular response that looks very different from what happens after 90 minutes of moderate exercise, according to researchers at Rockefeller University. They compared how the body responds to exercise performed at different intensities and found that six 30-second, all-out sprints changed nearly one-quarter of the proteins measured in the blood immediately after exercise. By comparison, 90 minutes of continuous moderate cycling altered less than one-quarter of one percent. Moderate treadmill running affected more proteins than cycling, but still far fewer than the brief sprint session.
"What's exciting here is that just a few minutes of intense exercise can trigger a significant molecular response," said researcher Paul Cohen, MD, PhD, associate professor at Rockefeller. "And we still see it after eight weeks of training, which tells us this response isn't simply a product of the body struggling to keep up with unfamiliar stress. It may be that the responses we observed are intrinsic to intense exercise."
The findings suggest that exercise intensity may strongly influence the proteins and metabolites released into the bloodstream and, in turn, the way tissues throughout the body respond. "It's well appreciated that different intensities of exercise stimulate distinct body-wide adaptations," noted Luke Olsen, PhD, the postdoctoral fellow who conducted the studies. "However, the molecular mechanisms linking these intensity-dependent adaptations have remained largely elusive. Our work suggests that exerkines—proteins and metabolites released into the bloodstream following exercise—are highly sensitive to exercise intensity and may be the key mediators of the health-promoting effects of short bursts of vigorous exercise."
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