Food & Drink News ~ That extra cup of coffee could be good for your health

Two recent studies that have just been published on the consumption of coffee have found that it could be good for your health and even make you live a little longer. According to one study people who drank two to four cups of coffee a day had an 18% lower risk of death compared with people who did not drink coffee.

One of the studies that has recently been  published looked at individuals from 10 European countries
and the other study concentrated on individuals from all ethnic groups. The new studies shows that there is a stronger biological possibility for the relationship between coffee and longevity and found that mortality was conversely related to coffee consumption for a range of diseases including; heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease, and revealed an opposite association between coffee and liver disease, suicide in men, cancer in women, digestive diseases and circulatory diseases.

Those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a lower risk for various causes of death than
people who did not drink coffee. Both studies separated smokers from nonsmokers, since smoking is known to reduce lifespan and is linked to various deceases. However, they found that coffee had opposite effects on mortality for smokers too. The studies showed that smoking doesn't seem to blunt the effects of coffee, ,it didn't matter whether you smoked or not. There was still a potential beneficial affect of coffee on mortality. So the consensus is enough your coffee and keep drinking it as it seems as if it is doing you some good!

Food & Drink News ~ Spanish exports under threat as drought continues to affect it�s wine and olive production

Spain�s agriculture production, particularly it�s grape and olive crops are coming under threat as around half the country is on alert of drought.The Spanish reservoirs are standing  at 56 percent, the lowest since June 1995, and the summer is only just getting started. This April was the hottest this century, and only heavy rainfall in the autumn could help.save the olive crop.

Spain  is the world's leading olive producer and provides 50% of the global supply of olive oil and 35 percent of table olives. Last year�s poor harvest throughout the Mediterranean in general reduced the world production of olive oil by 11%. Producers in the province of Ja�n in Andalucia one of the main areas for Spanish olive crops, are warning that if the shortage of rain continues, it will have serious consequences on the harvest which has suffered already due to a few dry years. As a result, olive oil prices have surged by almost a quarter this year.

The country�s wine producers are also hoping for rain, only a break in the continual dry weather could help a year that has already seen production drop of up to 50% in some regions. It is almost a certainty that the volume produced will be down, but without some cooler weather in August the period when the grapes come to maturity, the overall quality of the wine is also in danger.

Food & Drink ~ The simple guide to ordering wine in Spain

It is simple to order wine in Spain if you know how, below is a quick guide to help you enjoy your wine and order precisely what you want.

Tinto ~ Red Wine
Instead of the standard Rioja, why not try Ribera del Duera wines from central Spain. They are better value and just as good.

Tinto de Verano ~ Red Wine Spritzer
Served across the country, the cold summer drink is one part red wine, one part sparkling soda or water and in some places rum is added.

Crianza ~ An Aged Wine
A red that has been aged a minimum of two years with at least six months in a barrel. (White Crianza wines must be aged for at least one year.)

Rosado ~ Rose
Most Spanish rosados are made from Garnacha grapes or sometimes Tempranillo. Rosados can be quite dark in colour and are usually dry and tangy.

Cava ~ Sparkling Wine
Cava is Spain�s most popular sparkling wine Freixenet and Codorniu are its two main producers.

Blanco ~ White Wine
A good tip when ordering white wine is to order whatever is produced locally.

Rioja ~ Spain�s most famous Wine
This wine region produces medium-bodied reds that feature Tempranillo grapes. There are also Rioja whites, but the region is mostly famous for it�s red wine.

Reserva and Gran Reserva
Reserva red wine has spent a minimum of one year in oak and two years in a bottle,  while Gran Reserva has spent two years in oak and three years in a bottle. Gran Reserva is more expensive as it has been aged for longer.

Food & Drink News ~ Spanish wines were the star at this year�s Vinexpo

The biannual event of Vinexpo was held in the French city of Bordeaux last week, it is one of the world�s leading wine fairs. Over 40 countries attended and this year�s guest nation was Spain. There were around 2,300 producers in attendance, with 100 of them being from Spanish wineries.

The link between wine and gastronomy in Spain is highly important and unbelievably more so than in France. For this reason Spain sent a team of 12 chefs, led by the two top chefs Ferran Adri� and Jos� Andr�s, to prepare dishes to accompany the wine tastings.

Spain, now exports more wine than any other country and has seen an increase of 43% in it�s exports in the last 5 years. Despite this it is only third in terms of earnings, this is due to selling more wine at wholesale. Spain produces some great wines, but it doesn�t produce enough wine that sells at good prices. To improve the country needs to do more to promote the many different types of wines it produces and not just the regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Rioja.

Food & Drink News ~ World Tapas Day 2017

Following on from 2016, when Spain designated the 3rd Thursday in June as World Tapas Day, this years event will take place on Thursday 15th June.

The initiative was born out of the Spanish Tourist Agency to celebrate it�s famous tapas. Tapas is a symbol of Spain and is considered deserving of being the star of its own World Day because it is representative of the country�s cuisine in miniature. The event will include special tours, workshops, and menus designed in collaboration with various chefs, restaurants, and tourism boards around Spain. So be sure to mark Thursday 15th June in your diaries and join in the fun of World Tapas Day, by either visiting your favourite tapas bar or having your own tapas inspired evening.

Food & Drink News ~ Why the Spanish eat so late in the day

There are many reason why you may think the Spanish eat so late, the intense summer heat, the fact that many still take a siesta or that food in Spain is still such a social event. However, as logical as some of these facts are, it is not the real reason. Spain in fact is in the wrong time zone and the reason for this is political. Spain actually sits on the same longitude as the UK, Morocco and Portugal and should fall under GMT. But in 1940 during World War 2, General Franco moved the clocks forward an hour in line with Germany as an act of solidarity and the country has remained on CET until this day. As a result this pushed the eating habits of the Spanish an hour forward.

After nearly 80 years in the wrong time zone, this may be about to change. In 2016, Spain�s Prime Minister Rajoy announced that he wants to make changes to the workday. He intends to scrap the tradition of the siesta to enable the working day to finish earlier and put Spain back on it�s original time zone. If the plans go ahead it will take the Spanish some getting used to, in the summer months the sun doesn�t set until around 10pm and the afternoon siesta in the intense heat of the day will be a thing of the past. The experts maintain that the changes would be an over all benefit to the nation�s health If the time zones changed, the sun would rise one hour earlier making waking up more natural, meal times would be one hour earlier and as a result everyone would get an extra hour�s sleep.