So what is Brandy

One of the most most popular after dinner drinks around the world is Brandy and is consumed by thousands of people without knowing what they are drinking and probably do not care.

They could not also tell you why different brandies have different flavors and ages or even how they are made.

It will come as a surprise to a lot of people to learn that the drink they are having at the end of the meal could quite possibly have been made from the same product as they had with the meal - wine. Many a Chateau in France has turned an inferior year's wine into a more profitable brandy.

The first brandies are believed to have been made in the 12th century although they really became popular in the 14th century as it became a popular way of preserving things and because of the reduced volumes cheaper for the merchants to transport. The original idea was to add the water that had been lost during the distillation process but it was soon discovered that the brandy improved considerably in terms of taste after it had been stored in wooden barrels, even for a short time. What really changed the concept of brandy was when it was discovered that this process continued indefinitely as long as the brandy stayed in the barrels.

It then came down to simple economics - how long could a vineyard or brandy maker afford to keep the brandy for increased profits whilst balancing this against cash flow.

Most brandies are made by distillation of wine that is between 8% and 12% and acidic (hence the use of cheap wine in the past) with the first distillate being 30% of alcohol by volume and sometimes known as "low wine". The process is repeated until there is an average of 70% of volume when it is put into wooden barrels and allowed to mature. Cheap brandies add caramel at this point to give an impression of greater age bit can easily be spotted by experienced brandy drinkers.

You can tell the age of a brandy as there is a recognized terminology used around the world to describe it:

A.C. has been aged in wood for 2 years
V.S. (Very Special or 3 star) has been aged in wood for 3 years
V.S.O.P. (Very Superior Old Pale of 5 star) has been aged in wood for 3 years
X.O. Extra Old or Napoleon aged  for at least 6 years
Vintage - aged in barrels to the date or number of years on the bottle

What is known by very few is that many good brandies are a blend of years with the age of the youngest brandy being the age shown on the bottle. It is quite common for good brandies to have 20, 30 or even 50 year old brandy within the blend although obviously at very small quantities.

Once you get to taste brandies that are older than 20 years of age you will appreciate the massive difference that being kept in barrels for extended time makes

Some confusion arises when it comes to Cognac and Armagnac who some believe are a superior type of brandy but are in fact just regional variants with Cognac coming from the Cognac region of France and Armagnac from Gascony

Another brandy that is well known is Calvados which is brandy made from apples, cider to exact, and is one of a number of fruit brandies that are very popular

Well known in Europe and liked by Gastronaughts around the world is Grappa which is distilled from the skins and left overs from the grapes after they have been pressed.

Insect Delights

Take a walk down any Asian street and you will find stalls offering a range of foodstuffs that you do not recognize and on closer viewing possibly do not want to as these are all insects of various shapes and sizes. Looks like you are in a minimized African safari.

For westerners the prospect of eating insects is so far from their psyche that it just does not even compute for 99% of the population. Only those that have been on exotic holidays to Asia or have participated in one of the current raft of reality TV programs would consider doing so but are the rest missing out on something.

Insects are horrible dirty things that crawl on the floor or fly through the air making a nuisance and from an early age we are told they must be ignored but our basic instinct as a young child of 3 or 4 is to eat them.

From a rational view point they are a combination of proteins and sugars along with carbohydrates the same as many of the other food stuffs that we consume, and frequently are "healthier" for us.

Personally I think it has a lot to do with the modern day view to eating - meat comes on tray from the supermarket or mall and not from animals. Because insects are generally small - I would not want to meet a cockroach or grasshopper the size of a cow, they are served intact and it is this aspect of "food" that really puts people off.

Asians have long had a more practical aspect to their food and eat parts of animals that westerners find disgusting but are for many a delicacy so their acceptance of insects as a nutritional part of their diet should not be that surprising.

Deep fried grasshoppers are a particular delicacy and to be frank are a little nutty in flavor and quite nice if served with the spicy pepper or oil that is often sprayed on. The real trick is to pull off the legs and wings and then snap off the head before popping it in to your mouth. it is really embarrassing to pop the whole thing in to your mouth to discover one of the legs is sticking out of your mouth on one side.

Smaller grasshoppers and bugs can be scooped up in the fingers and eaten like you would eat rice with your fingers, a little dry at times and really surprisingly different insects have different flavors.

Numerous studies have shown that the nutritional value of insects, especially in terms of protein is very high and many of them are very low in fats and carbohydrates making them an ideal food source if you are looking for a low carb diet - I just do not understand why this has not taken off in California...

As the world becomes more populated and foodstuffs become scarcer it is almost inevitable that insects are going to have to take a bigger place in our food chain. Did you know that 100 kilos of feed produces 10 kilos of beef but if that same feed was fed to grasshoppers or similar it would produce 40 kilos of food, 4 times the quantity.

So what I suggest is that the next time someone offers you an insect to try don't dismiss them out of hand, give it a go and you might be pleasantly surprised. Just watch out for those annoying wings.....