Product Review: Bove's of Vermont Vodka and All Natural Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauces: True Authentically Naturally Made Pasta Sauces

(Originally published at Yahoo.voices formerly Associated Content~2/19/2009)

ABSTRACT: I've had the delight in being introduced to two of the all natural pasta sauces made by the Bove's of Vermont company.

CONTENT: About a month ago, my friend Amy from upstate New York came to visit me, and she wasn't exactly empty handed. She came loaded down with all kinds of goodies that come from the store she works at, the kind of store that sells many specialty food items that are natural and organic. Among the home-styled jams, jellies, pastas, maple syrup, organic rice, you name it, she also gave me two jars of the Bove's of Vermont Natural PastaSauces. One was the All Natural Roasted Garlic Sauce while the other was the All Natural Vodka Sauce.

Now I tend to be skeptical when food items say "all natural" since while yes, they may contain "natural" ingredients, some of those so-called natural ingredients may not be in reality the healthiest for you. For instance, many food products will contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, and many commercially processed pasta sauces do indeed include this. For my mind this added ingredient should be avoided at all cost due to the many health risks involved, from possibly increasing diabetes, raising cholesterol levels, to the formation of kidney stones. Thankfully, the Bove's of Vermont line of pasta sources do not contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, in fact, they don't contain any added type of sugars in any form at all, so are safe for those who may have blood sugar problems, whether high or low. Also, none of the Bove's Pasta Sauces contain any preservatives and are Gluten Free which is also an added benefit who may be allergic to any wheat product.

First let me describe the taste of these two sauces. In a word, fantastic, like none I've ever tasted before. I have to admit, often when I use any kind of pasta sauce for a special meal, I'll add a little red or white wine to it, to give it that extra pizzaz to it, yet never thought of adding something like Vodka as I'm not a fan of strong alcoholic drinks.

The ingredient breakdown of the Bove's of Vermont All Natural Vodka Pasta Sauce is as follows: Tomato puree, diced tomatoes, ultra pasteurized heavy cream, vodka, water, olive oil, fresh onions, fresh hand-peeled garlic, Pecorino Romano cheese made from sheep's milk (rennet, enzymes, salt, aged 6 mos.), salt, spices. While I did mention that there is no added sugars to the Bove's of Vermont Pasta Sauce, there is however, 4 grams of sugar listed on the label per 1/2 cup serving, but this is not added sugar but the natural sugar from the tomatoes themselves. For those of you sodium conscious and are on reduced sodium diets, there's 390 grams of sodium and is 100 calories per serving. Besides never having tasted a pasta sauce with vodka in it, neither have I tasted a pasta sauce with cream in it, save for that of Alfredo Sauce kind, and I think it's the addition of the heavy cream to this sauce that makes it truly unique. When I was able to find the specifics of this sauce on their website Bove's of Vermont and it's description of this particular sauce, I discovered that it was considered a "Outstanding New Best Seller" and that it most certainly is. I was able to make a delicious chicken parmesan dinner and it truly turned an ordinary spaghetti and meatball dinner into something really special.

The other sauce my friend had given me was the All Natural Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce and the ingredient breakdown from the label is as follows: Tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, water, olive oil, fresh onions, fresh hand-peeled garlic, salt, spices. This sauce has 2 grams of sugar and 270 grams of sodium and is only 80 calories for a 1/2 cup serving, is also Gluten free and contains no preservatives. I happen to love the taste of garlic and add it to just about everything I cook not only for the taste but due to the many health benefits of garlic. This sauce is not for the faint of heart...it is pungent and rich with a robust garlic taste, but also fantastic to use for any meal calling for pasta sauce.

Now the difference is clear when one compares the ingredients of a commercially well known brand of pasta sauce, that being Prego, which I happen to have the "Flavored with Meat" type. Their ingredients are as follows: Tomato puree (Water, Tomato Paste) Diced Tomatoes in Tomato Juice, Beef, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Corn and/or Cottonseed and/orCanola), Salt, Spices (Basil, Oregano, Spice) Onion Powder, Dehydrated Garlic, Citric Acid, Dehydrated Parsley, And Flavoring. The amount of sugar listed for a 1/2 cup serving of this sauce is 10 grams and sodium is 580 grams. As you can see there is quite a greater difference in both sugar and sodium levels for this sauce as opposed to the two Bove's of Vermont ones I've mentioned here.

The downside however, is that none of the Bove's of Vermont Pasta Sauces are available in the usual chain store supermarkets, but more aptly to be found in specialty gourmet type stores like the one my friend works in, so in other words hard to find. One can see if this sauce is available in one's area by trying out the store locator feature, unfortunately when I tried to find a store in my area that sells these sauces it came up blank. The good news is however, that one can order directly from the Bove's of Vermont website itself, where one can not only order these two pasta sauces I've mentioned, but all their other pasta sauces, and their homemade meatballs. Besides the All Natural Roasted Garlic and Vodka sauces, one can also order their Marinara, Basil, Sweet Red Pepper, Mushroom and Wine sauces at $4.99 each. There is even a gift package one can order for $34.95 and has one of each of the Marinara, Vodka, Roasted Garlic and Basil. Since I loved the taste of the two sauces my friend gave me so much, you better believe I'm going to order more from their website. I highly recommend going to the Bove's of Vermont website where you can not only order the Pasta Sauces and Homemade Meatballs, but get the full story and history of the Bove Family, their restaurant, several of their recipes for their restaurant are featured as well, and one can even watch a video as their famous Lasagna is prepared which is their top selling item at their restaurant.

ARTICLE: The Wonderful Health Benefits of Garlic

(Originally published at Yahoo.voices formerly Associated Content~6/6/2008)

ABSTRACT: Garlic has been used for at least 6,000 years and has so many wonderful health benefits, particularly for lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure to cardiovascular health

CONTENT: When I decided to write this article I had known about some of the wonderful benefits of garlic for years but not all. For instance, long time ago, I remember hearing that garlic was a natural antibiotic and in many ways was even better than Vitamin-C in helping in not only preventing, but shortening the length of time of the common cold.

I was also curious however, as to the history of this most used herb and how far back the use of garlic went. I was surprised to learn that garlic, which is known in the Latin as Allium sativum and part of the onion family, had been cultivated and used as far back as 6,000 years ago, and was first grown in the Central Asia area. In fact, most of our garlic that we buy in stores even today, is still predominantly grown and comes from the Asian countries. During the early millenniums of civilization, and as trade became more and more popular between other regions of the world, it was quickly adapted and used in Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean areas. In many cases, garlic was so highly prized and considered so valuable that it was even used as currency.

The most amazing fact I learned was that while garlic had been used for thousands and thousands of years in these regions of the world, it didn't become popular or used much in America, except of course by immigrants who came from Europe or Asia countries until the earlier part of the twentieth century. (1) This fact is something that I think would surprise most of us today. I had just naturally assumed that garlic had always been used here in America. I mean can you imagine not having that wonderful garlicky taste on one's pizza, pasta meals, or in soups, to only mention a few foods that we add garlic to? And how about that delicious mouth-watering taste of buttery garlic bread itself? Since I love the taste of garlic in food, I practically add a bit of garlic in all my meals, I even sprinkle a bit of garlic powder on my hamburgers to enhance the burger's flavor.

Over the past few years, more and more benefits are showing up on how healthy garlic is for you. As a result of this, a really large industry has been created in garlic pill supplements, such as Garlique, Kwai and Kyolic, just to name a few. Naturally, fresh garlic is great to use, however, garlic pills have an obvious advantage, in that one can take stronger doses than the equivalent of fresh garlic. I for instance take Nature's Bounty 1,000 mg. To eat the equivalent of 1,000 mg of fresh garlic I would have to eat an awful lot of fresh garlic bulbs and I sincerely doubt if I would have many friends, since lets face it, garlic is rather pungent.

The list of benefits garlic has is quite staggering. I've already mentioned that garlic is a known natural antibiotic and can help prevent or shorten not only the duration of colds, but the flu as well. One of the major reasons for the ever-growing popularity of garlic pills and garlic in general, however, is that it is known to help promote cardiovascular health, lower cholesterol and also lower blood pressure levels. Garlic is also known for it's anticancer properties and can prevent certain types of cancers, from esophageal, stomach, colon and even breast and skin cancers.(2)

With everything however, there are some precautions when using garlic. First of all, one has to remember that garlic is also a natural blood thinner, thus the reason for its benefits for the lowering of cholesterol levels, blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Therefore, high doses of garlic especially as in pill form, should be used with caution when taking any anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, naproxen or even common aspirin. It also goes without saying that garlic can interact with any blood thinner medication such as heparin, or enoxaparin or any anticoagulant medication that reduces the blood from clotting, such as warfarin. One even has to use caution in taking too much garlic with other natural herbal supplements such as ginko biloba, ginger, and even willow bark, which by the way, is the natural form of aspirin itself. For a full listing of what medications may interact with garlic, you may refer to this website Garlic Interactions

As with anything when taking any supplement or medication, do talk with your physician about the safety factors involved, especially if you do take any of the prescribed medications that I've listed. All in all, however, I think the overall benefits of garlic far outweigh the risks and moderation is the key.

History of Garlic

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/garlichistory.htm (1)

More References to Garlic

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/g/garlic06.html

http://www.emaxhealth.com/19/1024.html(2)

http://www.garlic-central.com/garlic-health.html

http://www.naturalhealthremedies.org/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-garlic/

Possible Side Effects or Drug interactions

http://gsm.about.com/compact/showtext.asp?cpnum=2221&monotype=full&match=M&gname=Garlic,*Allium*sativum&r=6078