Raspberry Curd Parfaits Recipe, Spotlight on Raspberries, The Latest on Coffee and the Benefits of Optimism

This issue of the Newsletter delves into one of my favorite fruits—raspberries! As delicious as they are right off the bush, they also lend themselves to scrumptious recipes. Once you master the technique for making curd in the parfait recipe below, you’ll look for new ways to indulge. Here’s also info on two unique studies offering fresh and fascinating insights into better health and longevity—one on drinking coffee and the other on optimism. I’ll take some of both, please.

Raspberry Curd Parfaits

• Raspberry Curd Parfaits

  Extra virgin olive oil gives the berry curd silky richness, no butter needed. It’s delicious layered with rich Greek yogurt and garnished with whole berries. You can also use it as a filling for a chiffon layer cake, as a breakfast treat layered with cooked and cooled rolled oats, or simply as is, just as you’d enjoy a mousse. 

  Ingredients

  • 1 pint (12 ounces) fresh raspberries, plus more for garnish
  • Juice of 1 small lemon
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch 
  • 4 large eggs, plus 2 yolks
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons mild extra virgin olive oil 
  • 2 cups Greek yogurt

  Directions

  Step 1

  Puree the raspberries with a hand blender and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice and cornstarch until smooth. 

  Step 2

  In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, use a whisk to blend the eggs thoroughly, and then whisk in the sugar, berries, cornstarch-lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. 

  Step 3

  Place the pan over medium heat and continue to whisk the mixture until it reaches a very low boil. Cook for two minutes (this activates the cornstarch), lowering the heat if necessary to prevent a rapid boil. The curd should be thick enough to coat the whisk.

  Step 4

  Off the heat, slowly whisk in the olive oil until it’s completely blended in. Pour the curd into a glass bowl or container and allow it to come to room temperature before covering and placing in the fridge to thicken further, about 4 hours or overnight.

  Step 5

  To assemble the parfaits, alternate layers of curd and yogurt in highball glasses and top with a few berries.

  Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

A Rainbow of Raspberries

July is a great month to visit local farmers’ markets for raspberries. Don’t be surprised if you see them in many colors, each with a slightly different taste. The most common are, of course, red raspberries (Rubus idaeous), sweet, juicy, and plump. Their magenta color turns curd and sauces a pretty pink. 

Black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) have a very deep claret red color and a deeper flavor than red ones to go along with it, so their taste will hold up better in recipes. 

Purple raspberries (Rubus x neglectus) are a hybrid of red and black, and you’re most likely to see them early in summer. 

Golden raspberries (Rubus idaeous), also called yellow raspberries, are very sweet because they have the most natural sugar. Some varieties are tiny while others grow as big as the tip of your thumb.

If you have the chance, try them all!

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Seeding Raspberries

I like to use every part of the raspberry when possible because those tiny seeds have some of the fruit’s healthful fiber. But when you want a silky taste, whether for a puree or to make sorbet, you can use a spatula to press them through a sieve placed over a large bowl to catch the juice. If you’ll be using any liquid in the recipe, de-seeding is easier if you first puree the berries with the liquid in a blender and then run it through the sieve. 

For Your Best Health

The Latest on Coffee

It seems like every week brings new research on the merits (or the drawbacks!) of drinking coffee. A novel study done in the UK called “Association of Sweetened and Unsweetened Coffee Intake With Risk for Death” sheds some light on coffee benefits for those who don’t take it black. As the scientists wrote in a summary of their findings intended for the public, “Coffee is one of the most widely consumed drinks, and previous observational studies suggest an association with lower risk for death…. It is not clear whether adding sugar to coffee reduces some of this potential benefit.”

Who was studied?

Subjects were 171,616 adults from the United Kingdom who participated in the UK Biobank study and who did not have known underlying heart disease or cancer at the start of the study.

How was the study done?

Over the course of a year between 2009 and 2012, the UK Biobank study collected demographic, clinical, and lifestyle data through up to 5 questionnaires about diet and other health behaviors. Authors analyzed these data and classified participants according to their usual coffee-drinking habit. They then examined the relationships between coffee drinking (with and without added sugar or artificial sweeteners) and death from any cause, death from heart disease, and death from cancer. Participants were followed through February 2018 for those recruited from England and Wales and through February 2017 for those from Scotland.

What did the researchers find?

Compared with non-coffee drinkers, those who drank unsweetened coffee regularly in any amount were 16 percent to 21 percent less likely to die during the average follow-up of 7 years, after other demographic and lifestyle factors were accounted for. 

Adults who drank moderate amounts of coffee sweetened with sugar (1.5 to 3.5 cups per day) were also 29 percent to 31 percent less likely to die; adults who drank sugar-sweetened coffee added only 1 teaspoon of sugar on average. Results were inconclusive for those who added artificial sweeteners to their coffee.

What are the implications of the study?

Moderate consumption of unsweetened or sugar-sweetened coffee was associated with lower risk for death.

What were the limitations of the study?

The study was observational in design and may not have measured or accounted for all important factors. Coffee-drinking patterns, including the amount of added sugar, were from over a decade ago in a country where many drink tea. These patterns may not reflect current drinking patterns or those in other countries.

Fitness Flash

Take the Long View

Want to live longer? Having the right outlook helps! Higher levels of optimism were linked to a longer life span and living beyond age 90 in women across racial and ethnic groups in a study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published online on June 8, 2022, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

“Although optimism itself may be affected by social structural factors, such as race and ethnicity, our research suggests that the benefits of optimism may hold across diverse groups,” says Hayami Koga, a PhD candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School and lead author of the study. “A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death. Our findings suggest that there’s value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy aging across diverse groups.”

For this study, the researchers analyzed data and survey responses from 159,255 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, which included postmenopausal women in the US. They enrolled at ages 50-79 from 1993 to 1998 and were followed for up to 26 years.

Of the participants, the 25 percent who were the most optimistic were likely to have a 5.4 percent longer life span and a 10 percent greater likelihood of living beyond 90 years than the 25 percent who were the least optimistic. Lifestyle factors, such as regular exercise and healthy eating, accounted for less than a quarter of the optimism-life span association, indicating that other factors may be at play.

Koga says that the study’s results could reframe how people view the decisions that affect their health. “We tend to focus on the negative risk factors that affect our health. It is also important to think about the positive resources such as optimism that may be beneficial to our health, especially if we see that these benefits are seen across racial and ethnic groups.”

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Prosciutto Wraps Recipe and How to Evaluate Health-Related Information for Credibility Based on National Institutes of Health’s Criteria

My quest as the Olive Oil Hunter is to bring you the freshest olive oils possible, not only because of their intense and wonderful flavors but also because we know the freshest oils have the most polyphenols, those naturally occurring plant chemicals at the heart of the amazing health benefits of olive oil. How do we know this? We always turn to studies. But not just any studies. We use studies from trusted scientific sources, such as leading researchers at top institutions who do peer-reviewed work with vetted results.

In this issue of The Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter, I want to share some of the criteria from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that we use to evaluate the research on the benefits of olive oil and the other health studies that we share with you every week—you can use the very same criteria to judge any type of health information you read about, whether in print or online, on any topic.

Here’s what the NIH recommends:

“The internet makes finding health information easy and fast. Much of the information on the internet is valuable; however, the internet also allows rapid and widespread distribution of false and misleading information. You should carefully consider the source of information you find on the internet and discuss that information with your healthcare provider…[The following] can help you decide whether the health information you find on the internet or receive by email, text, or social media is likely to be reliable.

“Online resources such as web and social media sites should make it easy for you to learn who is responsible for the site and its information. On the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) website, for example, the ODS is clearly noted on every major page, along with a link to the site’s homepage.

“It costs money to run web and social media sites. The source of a website’s funding should be clearly stated or readily apparent. For example, the US government funds websites with addresses ending in .gov, educational institutes maintain .edu sites, [and] noncommercial organizations’ addresses often use .org. 

“Many health and medical websites post information that the owner has collected from other websites or sources. If the person or organization in charge of the site did not write the material, they should clearly identify the original source. For social media sites, it is also important to consider whether the source of the information is reliable, that is, what is the background and expertise of the person posting the content?

“Websites should identify the medical and scientific evidence that supports the material presented on the site. Medical facts and figures should have references (such as citations of articles published in medical journals). Also, opinions or advice should be clearly set apart from information that is ‘evidence based’ (that is, based on research results). 

“Health-related websites should give information about the medical credentials of the people who prepared or reviewed the material on the website. For example, the ODS website contains fact sheets about vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements. These documents undergo extensive scientific review by recognized experts from the academic and research communities.

“Experts should review and update the material on websites on a regular basis. Medical information needs to be current because medical research is constantly coming up with new information about medical conditions and how best to treat or prevent them. Sites should clearly post the most recent update or review date. Even if the information has not changed in a long time, the site owner should indicate that someone has reviewed it recently to ensure that the information is still valid.”

Remember that there are many government agency websites you can go to in order to check on health claims. 

“The Food and Drug Administration (fda.gov) regulates foods, including dietary supplements. The FDA monitors the marketplace for potential illegal products that may be unsafe or make false or misleading claims. FDA publications that can help you evaluate health information include Tips for Dietary Supplement Users and Health Fraud Scams. 

“The Federal Trade Commission [ftc.gov] enforces consumer protection laws, regulates dietary supplement advertising, and investigates complaints about false or misleading health claims posted on the internet. 

“The Office of Dietary Supplements [ods.od.nih.gov] . . . supports research on dietary supplements, distributes the results, and provides educational material on dietary supplements . . . and other reliable health information.”

Adapted from “How to Evaluate Health Information on the Internet: Questions and Answers,” National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, reviewed May 4, 2022. 

Prosciutto Wraps

• Prosciutto Wraps

  As I settle into the dog days of summer, I plan my menus to get the most taste for the least amount of cooking, and these wraps fit that to a T. Thin slices of prosciutto are the perfect alternative to flour-based wraps—more flavorful and practically carb-free. I love the creaminess of the Brie and avocado “stuffing,” but you can roll up goat cheese and figs, cheddar and apple slices, mozzarella and tomatoes, or your own creative combination.

  Ingredients

  • 8 ounces Brie
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 8 very thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto 
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Maldon or another coarse sea salt 
  • Black pepper to taste

  Directions

  Step 1

  Cut the avocados in half and use a spoon to carefully remove each half from its peel; cut the avocado into thin strips.

  Step 2

  Cut the Brie into thin slices. Bundle 2 or 3 pieces each of avocado and Brie at one of the short ends of a prosciutto slice and roll it up. Repeat with the remaining prosciutto.

  Step 3

  Place two wraps on each of four salad plates and drizzle with olive oil and a few drops of the balsamic.

  Step 4

  Top with the salt and a grind of black pepper.

  Yields 4 servings

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The Ultimate 4th of July Potato Salad Recipe, Spotlight on Vinegar and Finishing Salts, Improving Your Time Management and Eating Less May Lead to Longer Life

To me, July 4^th marks the pinnacle of summer, and a great day to get together with family and friends. Taking personal time is important, and something we don’t do enough, as you’ll see in this issue’s “For Your Best Health” report. Couple that with new research on longevity, and it’s also a good moment to think about a priority re-balance: Read on for great ideas to maximize life satisfaction rather than work productivity.

The Ultimate 4th of July Potato Salad

• The Ultimate 4th of July Potato Salad

  Potato salad is the quintessential summer side dish, and I love mine done to the max. This variation includes not only hard-boiled eggs, but also crispy bacon, all dressed in a vinaigrette—so good you’ll want it for your main dish!

  Ingredients

  • 8 eggs
  • 8 ounces bacon
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, more to taste
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, more to taste
  • 4 pounds red new potatoes
  • 6 scallions, rough chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

  Directions

  Step 1

  Hard-boil the eggs, peel them under running water, and then cut into large diced pieces; set aside. Cut the bacon strips into 1″ pieces and sauté in a large skillet until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to paper towels to drain. 

  Step 2

  In a large serving bowl, whisk the vinegar and Dijon together, and then slowly whisk in the olive oil; set aside. 

  Step 3

  Cut the potatoes into large diced pieces and cook in boiling water until easily pierced with the tip of a knife, 7-10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let them cool for only about 5 minutes; then fold them into the dressing (doing this while the potatoes are still warm helps them absorb all the flavors).

  Step 4

  Gently fold in the bacon, eggs, scallions, and herbs. Taste and add salt, pepper, and more Dijon and/or olive oil as desired. Serve at room temperature with a final sprinkle of coarse salt. 

  Serves 8

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Vinegar Delights 

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar—it’s a match made in heaven. When whisked together for a vinaigrette, the acid is the perfect complement for the richness of the oil. But that’s just the beginning. The two combine beautifully for marinating meat before grilling, for creating a sauce enhanced with herbs, for turning steamed green beans or other vegetables into a flavorful side dish, and for just drizzling over foods, from cheeses to berries. Members of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club know I’m such a fan of vinegar that I started creating curated selections from around the world last year (the next collection is coming soon!). 

Here are more ways vinegar can boost the flavor of dishes:

• Add a tablespoon to a stir-fry in the final minute of cooking.
• Whisk a teaspoon into hearty soups and stews before serving.
• Add a tablespoon to your favorite homemade gravy recipe for added zest.
• Boil down a cup of balsamic or fruited vinegar by 50 percent to make a reduction to spoon over grilled meat.

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Finishing Salts

These coarse-grained sea salts are great for adding taste and texture to finished dishes. While Maldon salt with its pyramid-shaped crystals is my go-to, I also love two French favorites, sel gris (coarse grey sea salt) when I want more of a mineral taste and the very strong yet more artisanal fleur de sel, which is exceptional with caramels and chocolate desserts. Wonderful finishing salts are even being made in the USA. Portland, Oregon–based Ben Jacobsen makes a flake finishing salt from the waters off the Oregon coast. Having a collection allows you to experiment, and since you use only a few grains at a time, it’s a worthy investment.

For Your Best Health

Stop and smell the roses

That expression originated in the 1960s but is even more true today as we spend more and more hours working and even playing without taking time to appreciate our surroundings. We’re more concerned about time management than about time for ourselves, so I really appreciate the work done by Oliver Burkeman, author of “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” named after the average person’s lifespan. 

A self-proclaimed recovering productivity geek, he explains how trying to maximize every minute leads not to better work productivity but to more stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed. His suggestion is to embrace the fact that we have a finite amount of time on this earth and to accept that we won’t accomplish everything we set out to do—this can actually free you up to focus on what really matters to you. Here are practical ideas from his book that can help:

Forget multitasking—it’s a misnomer anyway. Focus on one task at a time and do it well. You’ll do it faster, too. 

Pick something to fail at. Cross something off your to-do list and don’t look back. For example, get rid of those years-old supplies for a craft you never got to learn, and be free of the stress and guilt of not having mastered it. This frees you emotionally for things that have true meaning for you. 

Keep a “done” list to counter all the to-dos. There’s immense satisfaction in reviewing what you’ve accomplished. 

Spend 5 minutes a day doing nothing. It’s harder than it sounds! Set a timer and let go of everything—don’t even focus on deep breathing. This acts as a calming reset.

Fitness Flash

Eat Less, Live Longer

Many studies have found that one lifestyle change can increase longevity: eating fewer calories. Now, according to a new report from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute published in May 2022 in the journal Science, eating only during the hours when you’re most active can help maximize the effect. 

Investigator Joseph Takahashi, PhD, a molecular biologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and colleagues were able to extend the lifespan of mice on a reduced-calorie diet by 35 percent by feeding them only at nighttime, when mice are most active. This is substantially greater than the 10 percent extended lifespan resulting from a reduced-calorie diet alone. Since humans are active by day, a comparable plan would be to restrict eating to daytime hours, such as 7 am to 7 pm.

The research helps disentangle the controversy around diet plans that emphasize eating only at certain times of day, says Dr. Takahashi. Such plans may not speed weight loss in humans, as some studies have shown, but they could promote health benefits that add up to a longer lifespan.

Scientists are just beginning to understand how calorie restriction slows aging at the cellular and genetic level. As an animal ages, genes linked to inflammation tend to become more active, while genes that help regulate metabolism become less active. Dr. Takahashi’s work showed that calorie restriction, especially when calorie intake was timed to the mice’s active period at night, helped offset these genetic changes as mice aged.

Dr. Takahashi hopes that learning how calorie restriction affects the body’s internal clocks as we age will help scientists find new ways to extend the healthy lifespan of humans. That could come through calorie-restricted diets or through drugs that mimic those diets’ effects. In the meantime, he is taking a lesson from his mice: He restricts his own eating to a 12-hour period. 

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