Appreciated for its juicy orange flesh, sweet taste and fragrance, the mango is the most widely consumed tropical fruit in the world, after the banana.

Originating in South-East Asia, where it has been cultivated for thousands of years, it is considered by the people of that region as the absolute ‘king of fruits’. It arrived in Europe only during the 17th Century, when the English imported it from India. The Spaniards and Portuguese introduced this fruit in America around the same time. The term mango derives from the Tamil (South Indian) word mānkāy.

This delicious fruit, which is available almost all year round in grocery stores, is one of the best sources of vitamins A and C. It also contains potassium and copper.

Select a ripe mango, one that it is fragrant, with a smooth and unbruised skin, and whose flesh faintly dimples when pressed with a finger. As mangoes spoil easily in the cold, it is better to preserve them at room temperature. However, they can be frozen. All you have to do is to peel them and cut the flesh into slices and pop them into an airtight plastic bag inside the freezer.

Try our recipe for Avocado, Mango and Grilled Chicken Salad

Sugar shack season is almost here. Between the months of March and April, the snow is still on the ground, but it’s warm during the day. It is during this time that maple sap is harvested and concentrated to give us that delicious product called maple syrup. So let’s make the most of spring and go visit our maple groves to stock up on the syrup.

Did you know, that apart from being so mouthwatering, maple syrup is also good for your health? Recent studies have shown that it is an important source of phenol compounds as well as other potentially antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances.

It is a sweetening agent that has fewer calories than honey, sugar and brown sugar, maple syrup also contains many essential minerals such as manganese, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and magnesium.

So, this is my advice to you: don’t just limit yourself to drizzling this syrup over your omelettes, ham and pig’s ears; use it also to season your vinaigrettes, sauces and marinades. In fact, it can even add a slightly sweet touch to certain dishes, like Maple-glazed Chicken and Sweet Potatoes.

International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world. It’s a tradition that represents 100 years of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

It originated in 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, where a million men and women gathered together to demand better working conditions and voting rights for women. Although much progress has taken place since then, March 8 still serves as an important day to celebrate these achievements, and also to remind us that these demands have not been equally fulfilled in all parts of the world.

To celebrate, I propose that our men take care of the housework and cooking this week!

Over the past few years, balsamic vinegar has increased in popularity and can now be found in local supermarkets. But what exactly is it made of?

In reality, the commercial grade vinegar most commonly available at low prices is not genuine balsamic vinegar, but industrial wine vinegar, to which some colouring and artificial aromas are added. Real balsamic vinegar is one of the two following products: aceto balsamico di Modena, that is used as vinegar, or aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena, a condiment that should be used very sparingly - only a few drops at a time.

These two products are made from the must (concentrate) of the Trebbiano grape that is boiled in cauldrons, and then aged in oak barrels. This ageing lasts between 3 months to a few years for the vinegar, and between 12 to 25 years for the condiment, which must be transferred every year into a smaller barrel and in specific climatic conditions (hot during the day, cold during the night).

In the Northern Italian region of Modena, aceto balsamico has been produced since the Middle Ages. In the olden days, it was sought after as much for its medicinal properties as for its culinary worth. It was called balsamico (meaning ‘balsamic’) because it was claimed that it could bring the dead back to life!

The price of this nectar varies according to the age and the quality of production: You may end up paying around $20 for a 250ml bottle of balsamico di Modena (vinegar) and more than $50 for a 100ml bottle of balsamico di Modena tradizionale (condiment).

Try our Balsamic Strawberries

If you live in the Montreal area, tune into CJAD 800. Or listen to this week’s edition

The “tagine” cooking dish, which originated in the Maghreb region, is a hollow, round dish with a cone shaped cover.

The base and the cover are both made of heat resistant heavy clay that is glazed. Food can be cooked to perfection with very little fat, in the heat that circulates between the base and the cone shaped cover. Stews that are prepared in this manner derive their name from the dish itself.

My recipe for this week is all about lamb. In case you don’t have a traditional “tagine” cooking dish, a sturdy casserole with a tight fitting lid will do just as well. If you decide to buy a “tagine” cooking dish, make sure that it is genuinely heat resistant and not just a decorative presentation dish.

Try our recipe for Lamb Tagine with Fennel

March is the official month of nutrition. This campaign has been steadily growing since the early 1980s, and has now become one of Canada’s most successful social marketing campaigns. Events and publicity drives are organized everywhere to highlight the importance of good nutrition for maintaining and improving your health and well-being.

We at SOSCuisine.com try and illustrate that it is possible to strike a daily balance between nutrition, taste and simple cooking. All of our recipes on the web site, we list all of the nutritional information, along with the corresponding details per serving of the food groups listed in Canada’s food guide to healthy eating.

Used for over thousands of years as a food preservative, as a condiment and for its therapeutic properties, vinegar is basically a wine that turns sour on coming into contact with air (the word derives from the French vin-aigre, meaning sour wine). In the olden days, every family that had access to leftover alcohol (wine in most cases), could make its own vinegar at home in a container reserved for this purpose.

It is only in 1864 that Louis Pasteur solved the mystery of vinegar when he discovered that a bacterium carried by dust in the air was responsible for its creation: when alcohol is exposed to oxygen-rich air, it gets transformed or fermented into acid. As the process continues, bacteria develop on the surface to form a thin whitish scum, called “mother of vinegar”, till the entire alcohol is transformed into vinegar.

From a nutritional point of view, vinegar is a good source of antioxidants. Recent studies have shown that consumption of vinegar at mealtimes regulates blood sugar, among other things.

When choosing vinegar, simply let your taste buds guide you, depending on the type of usage you have in mind: Wine vinegars, red or white, natural or flavoured, are ideal for vinaigrettes and sauces. Cider and rice vinegar are sweeter and they go very well with Asian dishes. Pure white vinegar, which is sold by the gallon, is reserved for pickling and… cleaning purposes.

As for balsamic vinegar, I’ll tell you about it next time.

Try our Classic Vinaigrette recipe

Belgian endive is in fact a type of chicory that was created by accident in Belgium in the 19th century, from wild chicory roots, which looked like elongated yellowish edible shoots.

The Flemish call it «witloof» which means «white leaf» and it goes by the name of «chicon» in Walloon. Almost everywhere else, it is known as «Belgian endive». As a matter of fact, each year, Belgians consume on an average of eight and a half kilos per person!

The advantage of producing a fresh vegetable during the winter season was such that endive cultivation spread rapidly to others countries in Europe. Although it was unknown in America for a long time, this vegetable is now cultivated here, especially in Quebec and in Ontario.

Its production cycle is very interesting: The Belgian endive is sowed in the fields at springtime. Its roots are harvested in autumn and the leaves are thrown into the fields. The harvested roots are stored in large tanks at temperatures nearing freezing point, and in a dark shaded area, which will stimulate their metabolism.

Following this, the roots are «forced», which means that they are transplanted into a warm area, away from sunlight, so that the Belgian endives may grow in 3 to 4 weeks. Absence of sunlight will prevent the small tightly wrapped leaves from turning green.

When you buy a Belgian endive, choose a pale one whose leaves are creamy yellow and firmly wrapped. It can be kept in the refrigerator for a week. When you prepare this vegetable, we suggest that you remove the inner part of the stem, which is the most bitter.

The Belgian endive is as delicious and refreshing in a salad as in an accompanying vegetable; it is not expensive and is easily available all year long. And the best part is that since it has very few calories, you can eat as much as you want.

Try our Avocado and Belgian Endive Salad