Alcohol and Tannins: Activity For All
You know what alcohol is. We use it throughout our daily lives as a disinfectant, an ingredient in food, as a mild drug for relaxtion, and even for coolants. Mankind's history with alcohol goes back far into distant prehistoric times. The oldest known recipe for food, for example, is a recipe for making beer, which is used as both a food and a beverage.
Tannins may sound familiar to you but most people may not be able to explain what they are. We find tannins inside plants, especially young plants. From tannins we derive tannic acid, which is used to treat dried skins to make leather. Yes, the ancient art of tanning, from which we make leather, is the source of the name for the plant parts we call "tannins".
Up until a few years ago people were very skeptical about the nutritional value of tannins because they have some unusual properties. It is believed that plants use tannins as a defense mechanism to make themselves less tasty and nutritious before they are ripe. This way their fruits have a better chance of reaching maturity and participating in the reproduction cycle.
But tannins also have anti-microbial properties and we have learned that they can fight off bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeasts. Recent scientific research now questions whether the association of consumption of tannins with some forms of cancer was a mistake. Now scientists are suggesting that maybe it was something else in our food that was really connected to cancer because people consume a lot of tea, a tannin-rich food, without incurring a risk of cancer.
This article from the Linus Pauling institute summarizes some of the potential medical benefits that tannins found in tea may provide. It is no mistake that doctors are beginning to look into the benefits of foods that have been enjoyed for thousands of years. We need to understand how these ancient foods may help or hurt us, even though we now look for much more esoteric compounds, too.
On the other hand, alcohol has long enjoyed a good reputation with the medical community because past studies have found associations between light and moderate consumption of alcohol with increased lifespan and/or decreased illness. But this research is being questioned as more data is collected from past and new studies. But there can be no question about the non-nutritional benefits of alcohol, which is used to sterilize skin before medical punctures are made for drawing blood.
Alcohol is also a much-favored ingredient in many recipes, and chefs the world over reassure people that "it cooks out of the food" so that one cannot become inebriated by eating food drenched in alcohol. The truth of these claims is difficult to verify but few if any DUI/DWI incidents have ever been pinned on the consumption of alcohol-brazed foods.
Fruity alcohols are favored by afficianados and foodies alike, and the Internet is filled with recipes for making wines and fruity alcoholic drinks like this recipe for Pitanga-flavored Vodka. Also known as the Surinam Cherry, the Pitanga is a tart fruit from South America that is easily grown in tropical environments around the world. Pitanga is rated as having a high antioxident (and tannin) content, so combining this fruit with alcohol may enhance whatever natural health benefits light-to-moderate consumption of alcohol may engender.