The Magic of “Puer” Tea – Part 2/3

November 15, 2010

“Puer” tea is mellowed by aging, the period by which it is transported and stored.

The largest, tallest tea trees in the world grow in the mountains of Yunnan. This region also produces black, green, Oolong and other kinds of tea.

The leaves for “Puer” tea are divided into three sizes and the largest contain more of the health benefits attributed to “Puer” tea.

For centuries, the process of making tea from picking, to washing, to boiling, mixing, pressing, clustering, baking, and packing has been improved to enhance the flavor of the tea.


Puer tea is made from the thickest broad leaves.

Dao Linyin, the governor of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous region in China says, “Puer tea contains many vitamins. Very few Puer drinkers get high blood pressure.”

Standards for selecting the thickest broad leaves for “Puer” tea means only about 30% of the tea leaves that are picked pass inspection to be processed into the final product. This selection process is important because the wrong leaves will have a negative impact on the fermentation process.

The fermentation step in the process of producing “Puer” tea takes 110 days.

Continued with The Magic of Puer Tea – Part 3 or return to The Magic of “Puer” Tea – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen.

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Boiled Peanuts

November 15, 2010

The first time I tasted boiled peanuts was in China in 1999. Since I was used to oil-roasted and salted peanuts, it took time for me to acquire a taste for the Chinese way of cooking peanuts.

Although archeologists have dated the oldest known domesticated peanuts to Peru back about 7,000 years, it was Portuguese traders in the 17th century that introduced peanus to China.

Peanuts then became popular there and are featured in many Chinese dishes, often being boiled, which enhances the health benefits of the peanut.

What scientific studies have proven about the boiling process is that peanuts prepared this way are preserved and the presence of phytochemicals are enhanced having the same qualities as antioxidants, which are noted for protecting the body’s cells against heart disease, diabetes and several different forms of cancer.

In fact, a 1990 Harvard study determined that women who ate five ounces of more of nuts per week were only 65 percent as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease as women who avoided eating nuts.

Another study in 2007 at Alabama’s A&M University’s Department of Food and Animal found that the health benefits for boiled peanuts were far healthier than oil-roasted, dry or raw.


Boiled peanuts have higher levels of natural Resveratrol than red grapes

The boiling process of China brings out and enhances the health benefits of the peanut.

In fact, the Chinese eat more boiled peanuts than any country.

However, in the US, the states of Florida, Mississippi, George, Alabama, and North and South Carolina also have a tradition of eating boiled peanuts.

Today, China leads the world in peanut production with about 40% of the crop followed by India, which produces about 19% of the globe’s peanuts. Sources: ehow and tititudorancea

Learn about Food and China’s Eating Culture

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Drought in China

November 3, 2010

China finds itself water challenged in the north and southwest.

Solve Climate News reports that drought had dried up southern China.  Three-hundred-and-ten reservoirs, 580 rivers and 3,600 pools have been baked dry.

Older villagers say reservoirs and irrigation channels are dry for the first time in their lives.

Some blame Global Warming, while environmental activists blame China’s biggest hydro-engineering project, the South-to-North water diversion scheme, which is designed to channel water north to cities such as Beijing and Tianjin.

In fact, that couldn’t be. The South-to-North water diversion will not be completed until 2050 and due to environmental concerns, the western line is still in the planning stages. Only the eastern and central lines are under construction. Source: Water Link International

CNN reports that drought in northern China is threatening crops in at least 12 provinces where more than 3.5 million people and about 2 million livestock live. More than 200 million people live in northern China.

The only region of China that’s getting torrential, record rainfall is southeast China where floods have killed many and displaced thousands. Source Accuweather.com

Much of China’s water originates in Tibet. In southwest China, the Mekong rivers originate on the Tibetan plateau. The Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers comes from the glaciers and melt water of the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

However, Tibet is melting and turning into a desert.

Learn more at Water – Two Countries Tell a Tale

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Fear of Famine

October 31, 2010

One thing China has been proud of is the ability to produce enough food to feed its people.

For millennia, China has managed to avoid widespread famine except during Mao’s Great Leap Forward when millions starved to death due to “bad” political decisions based on ideology instead of reason. After Mao died, Deng Xiaoping would return the country to reason.

To deal with the threat of widespread drought and famine, China’s Emperors started construction of the Grand Canal around 500 BC. 

Other emperors improved methods of agriculture and added to the canal.

Today the fear of famine has returned. Although China currently has more than enough food to feed its growing population, for the first time in history, China has to import some foods from Europe, Africa, Australia, South America and the United States.

In fact, Freakonomics says, “China gave up any pretense of being self-sufficient in soybean production a long time ago and is now the world’s largest soybean importer.”

China is largely sufficient in growing grain, so it is a net exporter of grains. However, it has to import other products like sugar, oil seeds and vegetable oil.

Some high quality convenience food items such as butter and cheese are also imported in small quantities.

In 2008, China Daily (Xinhua) reported that imported foods to China would total 1 trillion yuan or 147 million US dollars in the next five years.

As China’s population continues to grow and food demand outpaces domestic food production, the fear of famine and political blackmail from countries that import food to China will grow.

Since China’s centeral government does not want to depend on other nations, this is a sensitive area.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Brazil’s Growth Depends on China

October 6, 2010

In America, we often hear complaints about the trade deficit between China and the U.S. but seldom China’s trade with the rest of the world.

One example is Brazil.

On the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, which is the commercial heartland of Brazil and home to 17 million, people are in a fever over China–but that fever is not the same as in the U.S.

With limited resources , China has been buying raw materials from all over the globe helping keep raw material prices up.  This has benefited Brazil.

China is the world’s most populous nation but only has 7% of the world’s fresh water, 3% of the globe’s forests and 6% of the land that grows food.

However, Brazil has what China does not have–water, forests and land to grow food on.

Today that has made Brazil the largest national economy in Latin America. In 2009, China moved past the U.S. to become Brazil’s largest trading partner. Source: Telegraph.com.uk

Trade between China and Brazil is not a one-way street. China is also investing in Brazil in areas such as telecommunications, pipelines, shipping, manufacturing, the oil industry, etc.

In fact, a BBC, World Service poll explored people’s opinions in 33 countries and discovered that China had almost twice the positive influence globally that the U.S. has. Source: Global Scan.com

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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