March 26, 2015 – NATIONAL NOUGAT DAY – NATIONAL SPINACH DAY

                                           NATIONAL NOUGAT DAY    

National Nougat Day is celebrated each year on March 26th.  This food holiday is in celebration of a soft and chewy or sometimes hard and crunchy candy.
” Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectionaries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites, and sometimes candied fruit.”  It is used in a variety of candy bars and chocolates.”   (Wikipedia)
There are three basics kinds of nougats:
1.     White nougat – made with beaten egg whites and honey.
2.     Brown nougat – made without egg whites and has a firmer, often crunchy texture.
3.     Viennese or German nougat – chocolate and nut praline
In the United States, the “nougat” used as an ingredient in many modern candy bars is different from the traditional recipes.  Now it is made of a mixture of sucrose and corn syrup aerated with a whipping agent such as egg white or hydrolyzed soy protein or gelatin.  It is the preferred and often used ingredient of large candy companies because it is inexpensive to make and used as a filler.
Varieties of nougat are found in:
3 Musketeers, Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, Zero, Salted Nut Rolls, Reese’s Fast Break, Reese’s Whipps, Baby Ruth, and others.
Enjoy some nougats on National Nougat Day!
NATIONAL NOUGAT DAY HISTORY

Our research was unable to find the creator or the origin of National Nougat Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.

National Spinach Day – March 26

NATIONAL SPINACH DAY    

National Spinach Day is observed annually on March 26th.  Not only are there so many delicious ways that you can enjoy spinach, it is also extremely good for you!
An annual plant,  spinach is native to central and southwestern Asia. Thought to have originated in ancient Persia, Arab traders carried spinach into India, and then it was introduced into ancient China where it was known as “Persian vegetable   The earliest available record of the spinach plant was recorded in Chinese, saying that the spinach plant was introduced into China via Nepal.
In 1533, Queen Catherine de Medici of France, liked spinach so much that she insisted it be served at every meal.  To this day, dishes made with spinach are known as “Florentine”, reflecting Catherine’s birth in Florence.

• Spinach is:

* Eaten raw or cooked and is available  fresh, frozen or canned.
*  One of the best sources of iron.
*  A great source of calcium, folic acid, fiber, protein, calcium and vitamins A, C and K.
*  Is loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants.
*  Believed to help improve cardiovascular and gastrointestinal health.
Types of spinach:
Savoy:  dark green color with curly leaves; usually sold in fresh bunches.
Flat or Smooth Leaf:  broad smooth leaves;  mostly grown for canned and frozen spinach as well as soups, baby food and processed foods.
Semi-savoy:  a hybrid variety with crinkly leaves:  is sold fresh and processed.

• Following China, The United States is the worlds second largest producer of spinach.
• California, Arizona and New Jersey are the top spinach producing states in the United States.

You might want to have a fresh spinach salad or a spinach pizza or maybe a warm delicious spinach dip.  If one of those is not your choice maybe it would be a dish of creamed spinach or spinach lasagna.
There are many ways to add spinach to your daily diet and partake in it’s health benefits.
Have a wonderful National Spinach Day.