New York Mom Blog
I have been reviewing products from Tropical Traditions for a few years now, and this Soft White Winter Wheat is one of my favorites! I recently got a grain mill from NutriMill as part of the Grain Mill Wagon Challenge, so the timing for receiving this wheat was perfect. I wasn’t sure I would like grinding my own flour, but now I am convinced it is the best way to go. The flour is so fresh it makes a huge difference in how the food tastes.
I am excited to be able to offer my readers a chance to win a one gallon bucket of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions.
Coconut oil is high in lauric acid, an essential fatty acid that many people believe enhances the immune system. I like to cook with coconut oil because it is excellent for cooking at high temperatures, and is resistant to creating toxic trans-fatty acid chains, unlike most vegetable oils. I usually use coconut oil in cooking, but here are many other uses, including using it to make fudge, mayonnaise or adding it to smoothies. You can check out Tropical Traditions How To Use Coconut Oil webpage for more ideas.
Tropical Traditions sells wholesome, healthy, real, organic foods that everyone can use in their cooking. I always enjoy reviewing their products because I know I can count on them to provide me with quality food. This month I am reviewing their Coconut Flour. This flour is made from the coconut meat after the oil has been extracted. It is organic, unsweetened and gluten free. It is also high in both dietary fiber and protein. It seems like more and more people are trying to eat gluten free, and this flour is excellent for that. You can use it to make quick breads or muffins in place of wheat flour, and you can even use it as a thickener for sauces.
My family loves honey. We use it all the time on cereal or oatmeal, and in baking. It has a very different taste than sugar, and we much prefer it. So I was glad to try out the Canadian Organic Raw Honey from Tropical Traditions. This is different from the amber colored liquid you find in stores. It comes from the frontier areas of Canada, and is only harvested during a 6-week period in the summer. In order for honey to be certified organic the beehives must be placed in isolated areas miles from the population and industry. So organic honey is actually hard to find, since most areas are not suitable for harvesting it.
I love receiving new products from Tropical Traditions. I have tried out many of their different organic products over the past year. When it was time to pick a product to review this month I knew I wanted to try their Organic Shredded Coconut for holiday baking projects. Tropical Traditions coconut is made from organic dried coconuts that are grown in the Philippine without using pesticides. The coconut contains no additives or preservatives and best of all it is not sweetened or treated with sulfites to maintain the color. So what you get is just pure, delicious coconut.
I have reviewed many organic food products from Tropical Traditions over the past year, but this time I decided I’d try something different. I selected their Powdered Laundry Detergent to review this month. I hate running laundry, it is definitely my least favorite household chore. Unfortunately we generate a lot of it. We have been to the beach a few times lately, so there has been no shortage of sandy, dirty items needing to be washed.
I don’t usually use powdered laundry detergent, and I’m not even sure why. Years ago I had issues with detergent not dissolving completely in our hard water, but that wasn’t an issue with this product. Everything I washed in it has come out clean and fresh, which no residue on the clothes, even when I used cold water. I like the fact the detergent doesn’t have any dyes, perfumes, fillers or phosphates, so it is safe for my septic system and the environment. [Read more...]
The latest product I received from Tropical Traditions to review and giveaway is Omega 3 Greens. This is a drink powder full of antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids, both of which are important for good health. I had been looking at this for a while on their website and thinking that it sounded great, but then when it came in the mail I was reluctant to actually try it. Something about a green drink just didn’t appeal to me, so I kept putting it off. However I finally overcame my irrational fear of green liquids and gave it a try.
It comes as a powder, and you mix it with 8 oz of water to make a drink.
I got the the Berry flavor without Licorice, and it tasted fine. It wasn’t a milk shake or anything, but it had a mild berry flavor and no aftertaste. I had it with just water, and next time I think I will use some yogurt and make it into a smoothie, to make it creamier. The drink is all natural, contains organic flax and is rich in ALA Omega 3. It provides dark green plants, herbs, spices, natural food concentrates, and nutritious fruits and vegetables to help meet your daily requirements. Of course it is better to eat whole foods, but I know my diet isn’t perfect, and a drink like this can help make up for any deficiencies.
As always with products from Tropical Traditions it has high quality, organic ingredients. Besides the Flax Seed it also includes Spirulina, Chlorella, Apple Fiber Pectin, and an enzyme blend. It is a great way to add a healthy boost to your diet. The greens drink comes in either Mint or Berry flavor, and also comes either with or without licorice.
The giveaway has ended, but if you didn’t win you can still get some Omega 3 Greens from Tropical Traditions for yourself.
Disclosure: I received a product to review, all opinions are my own. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.
I love reviewing products from Tropical Traditions, because it gives me a chance to try products I am unfamiliar with. Every time I finish a review they send me an email with a list of products I can pick from for the next review, and this time I picked the Organic Virgin Red Palm oil. I really didn’t know much about it, I just figured I could use more oil for cooking.
When it showed up the first thing I noticed is that it is really red. Not just a little red, but a bright orangey red. It turns out that Palm Oil contains the natural nutrients of carotenes (precursors to Vitamin A) and the antioxidant tocotrienols (Vitamin E). Most refined palm oil has these nutrients stripped out, which results in a clear oil, but Tropical Traditions sells their oil in its natural, red state.
Some of the advantages of palm oil is that it is highly stable, and it is solid at room temperature. It does not require hydrogenation, and it contains no trans fatty acids. Now nutritionists argue about many things, but I think they all agree that trans fatty acids are bad for you and should be avoided. The fact that it is high in Vitamin E and other nutrients is an extra bonus. It also has a high smoke point of 425 degrees, which makes it ideal for frying.
Now I never do deep fat frying at home, but I do pan fry and sauté things in oil all the time. I have been using this in my dishes and it works great. I have not noticed any different taste from the oil. It does smell a little different than olive oil or coconut oil when you heat it, but by the time I’m done cooking the meal tastes the same to me. Tropical Traditions has a number of bread and cookie recipes on their website for the oil, and I’m curious to see how it works in baking and am going to try it this week.
This giveaway has ended, but if you didn’t win you can still visit Tropical Traditions website to get a jar of Organic Virgin Red Palm Oil.
Disclosure: I received a product to review, all opinions are my own. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.
If you are like most people you don’t even know what Atchara is. I had never heard of it until a few weeks ago, but it is a yummy traditional Philippine fermented dish made with unripe raw green papaya, fresh raw ginger root, and other raw ingredients in a vinegar base. Many cultures have a raw fermented vegetable dish – in Germany it is sauerkraut, in Korea it is Kimchi and in the Philippines it is Atchara.
Many people believe fermented vegetables are healthy, because they contain bacteria which are helpful and aid in digestion. The Atchara from Tropical Traditions is a true raw and “live” food that has NOT been pasteurized. Green papaya is high in anti-oxidants and papain (a plant-based digestive enzyme) so it is a very nutritious food. Of course since it comes from Tropical Traditions the Atchara is made from organic ingredients and is USDA Certified Organic.
But how does it taste? It has a very unique taste, which is hard to describe. It is sour like pickles, but sweet at the same time. It is meant to be used as a condiment along with a meal, and eaten a little at a time. I served it as a side dish with the Indian curry recipe I posted earlier today, and I thought it made an excellent accompaniment for that. I think it would go especially well with spicy foods, since it provides a nice sweet contrasting flavor.
The giveaway is over, and if you didn’t win you can buy some Atchara from Tropical Traditions and try it for yourself.
Disclosure: I was sent a product to review. All opinions are my own. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.
I love reviewing products from Tropical Traditions because I love coconut. And their coconut is organic and contains no additives or preservatives, and is not sweetened. It is very hard to find flaked coconut in the grocery store that isn’t sweetened. I received a one gallon re-sealable pail of Organic Coconut Flakes from Tropical Traditions to try out. Now coconut is very useful for holiday baking, and if it had come a little earlier I probably would have made coconut macaroons. But at this point we have had so many cookies and sweets I wanted to make something healthier. So I checked out the huge collection of recipes at the Tropical Traditions website and decided to make Easy Energy Bars. These are an excellent homemade energy bar, full of healthy ingredients like oatmeal, dried fruit and bananas. I used almonds and dried cherries in the bars, and I added some drizzled chocolate to the top to make them more appealing to the kids.
They are very tasty, but aren’t overly sweet, even with the chocolate on top. They are also nice and chewy, which is how I prefer energy bars. A gallon of coconut flakes is a lot of of coconut, so I’ll be able to make a bunch more recipes. I’m looking forward to making coconut shrimp next week.
The giveaway has ended, but you can still visit Tropical Traditions and get some Coconut Flakes for your baking.
Disclosure: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose; nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. All opinion are my own. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.
