November 23, 2015 – NATIONAL CASHEW DAY – NATIONAL ESPRESSO DAY – NATIONAL EAT A CRANBERRY DAY

                                     NATIONAL CASHEW DAY

A popular snacking and party nut is celebrated each year on November 23 on National Cashew Day.

The cashew nut is a seed that is harvested from the cashew tree. Northeastern Brazil was the original native home to the cashew tree however, it is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew apples and nuts.
With leaves that are spirally arranged and leathery textured, the cashew tree is large and evergreen.  It can grow as tall as 32 feet high having a short and often irregularly shaped trunk.  The flowers are small, starting out pale green in color then turning reddish with each one having five slender, acute petals.

The largest cashew tree in the world covers about 81,000 sq. ft. and is located in
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

• The cashew tree has a fruit called the “cashew apple”.  It’s fragile skin makes it unsuitable for transport.
• A fruit drink is made from the cashew apple in Latin America
• The Cashew is a less frequent allergen than other nuts or peanuts.
• Although native to northeast Brazil, the Portuguese took the cashew plant to Goa, India, between 1560 and 1565.  From Goa, it spread throughout Southeast Asia and eventually Africa.
• The shell of the cashew nut is toxic. This is why cashews aren’t sold in the shell.
• Speaking of the ‘shell’, the Cashew is not a true nut.  They do not develop a hard wall around the seed like a hazelnut or walnut does.  Cashews instead have a lining around the seed that is filled with a caustic fluid.
• Cashews are a good source of antioxidants.
• Cashews are a source of dietary trace minerals: copper, manganese, magnesium and phosphorous.
• Cashew oil is a dark yellow oil for cooking or salad dressing pressed from cashew nuts.
• Many parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes.

OBSERVE
Enjoy a handful or two of delicious cashews and use #NationalCashewDay to post on social media.
HISTORY 
Within our research, we were unable to find the creator and origin of National Cashew Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
 

National Espresso Day – November 23

NATIONAL ESPRESSO DAY

National Espresso Day is observed annually on November 23.
Espresso (/ɛˈsprɛsoʊ/; Italian pronunciation: [eˈsprɛsso]) is coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods, has a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and has crema on top (a foam with a creamy consistency). As a result of the pressurized brewing process, the flavors and chemicals in a typical cup of espresso are very concentrated. Espresso is the base for other drinks, such as a caffè latte, cappuccino, caffè macchiato, cafe mocha, or caffè Americano. Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most coffee beverages, but because the usual serving size is much smaller, the total caffeine content is less. Although the actual caffeine content of any coffee drink varies by size, bean origin, roast method and other factors, the caffeine content of “typical” servings of espresso vs. drip brew are 53 mg  vs. 95 to 200 mg.
OBSERVE
Enjoy a cup of espresso and use #NationalEspressoDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
The word espresso in Italian means ‘quick in time’. Before the advent of the espresso machine, espresso was simply a coffee expressly made for the person ordering it and made with recently roasted beans which were freshly ground before brewing and freshly brewed before serving. In the late 1800s, this was common practice in cafés and restaurants.
Today, the freshness of the process is maintained, but we have come to know espresso as a highly concentrated brew served in smaller quantities or used as a base for other, delicious coffee creations. This modern view of espresso is due to the advent of the espresso machine. In 1901, the first successful espresso machine was invented by Italian inventor Luigi Bezzera. The newer technologies produced a smaller, more concentrated cup more quickly than more traditional coffee brewing methods.
Our research didn’t not identify the creator of National Espresso Day.
Description provided by Wikipedia.  For more information on espresso, go tohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso

National Eat a Cranberry Day – November 23
Image Credit: http://www.sheknows.com

NATIONAL EAT A CRANBERRY DAY

National Eat a Cranberry Day is celebrated each year on November 23.

Found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs, or trailing vines, that grow up to 7 ft. long and 8 in. high.  Their stems are slender and wiry, and they have small evergreen leaves.

The cranberry flowers are dark pink with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward.  The fruit of the cranberry plant is a berry that is larger than the leaves and is initially white but when ripe, turns a deep red.

CRANBERRIES:

• Have an acidic taste that can overwhelm their sweetness.
• Are a major commercial crop in certain American states;  Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. 
  
• Wisconsin is the leading producer of cranberries, with over half of U.S. production.
• Are mostly processed into products such as juice, sauce, jam or sweetened dried cranberries.
• Cranberry sauce is considered an indispensable part of a traditional American Thanksgiving meal.
• Raw cranberries have been marketed as a “superfruit” due to their nutrient content and antioxidant qualities.
• There are three to four species of cranberry, classified in two sections.
• White cranberry juice is made from regular cranberries that have been harvested after the fruits are mature, but before they have attained their characteristic dark red color.
• Cranberry wine is made in some of the cranberry-growing regions of the United States.
• Laboratory studies indicate that extracts containing cranberry may have anti-aging effects.

The word cranberry comes from “craneberry”;  first named by the early European settlers in America who felt the expanding flower, stem, calyx and petals resembled the neck, head and bill of a crane. 

OBSERVE

Enjoy some cranberries and use #EatACranberryDay to post on social media