Archive | 2010 | April | 29

Israeli scientists develop new milk alternative made out of chickpeas

If falafel, which is made out of chickpeas, became Israel‘s national food, perhaps milk made out of chickpeas could be the next big hit. The scientists at Volcani Center, who developed the “himtza drink” are confident that it could be a great replacement for cow’s milk.

The Agriculture Ministry, in a bid to promote Israel’s chickpea growers, understood that there is a limit to how much hummus Israelis could eat. So, they started seeking out additional foods that could be made from the legume.

The world has already grown savvy of the advantages of the chickpea, and have even started making flour from it.

“From this flour, you can make cookies, good bread. It is kosher for Passover and is acceptable for people with celiac,” said Dr. Shmuel Galili, from the Agricultural Research Organization, in an explanation of why his team decided to focus on the chickpea as a source for milk substitutes.

The recipe for making the substitute is as follows: soak chickpeas in water overnight, grind them in a blender with water, cook them, then drain the mixture and you have chickpea milk.

“Chickpeas, unlike other crops like soy beans, are a local Israeli crop, and we want to encourage farmers to increase their yield,” said Dr. Galili. “We are not familiar with such a development anywhere in the world, and hope it will develop into a true substitute to soy milk.

“People who have tasted it said it’s better tasting. Soy milk has its health benefits, but it also contains an excess of plant compounds called phytoestrogens that have a hormonal effect on people, especially pregnant women and small children. Chickpeas have less phytoestrogens,” explained Galili.

High production costs

What is the likelihood that we will see chickpea milk on the supermarket shelves? Dr. Galili recently completed the development of a methodology for producing chickpea milk. Now, his team is in the process of convincing commercial companies to look into making it a marketable product.One of the problems they will have to overcome, besides penetrating the product to the consumer market, is the high production costs of chickpea milk relative to soy milk.

In a taste test performed by Yedioth Ahronoth, the product received quite reasonable scores, ranking 3.5 in taste, 2.5 in texture, and 3 in smell on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Everyone’s Januaries should look like this!

Lab Pixies, which develops apps for personalized internet platforms, sells for around $25 million

Google has made its first Israeli purchase. Lab Pixies, a start-up that develops widgets such as games, translating programs, calculators, and calendars for personalized internet platforms such as iGoogle, the Android smartphone, and the iphone was bought by the internet giant for what many believe to be around $25 million.

Google stated that Lab Pixies sees cloud-based application development as the “beating heart” of its business, which makes it an attractive purchase for the company’s research and development center in Israel.

“Lab Pixies is known for its cloud-based applications, which allow thousands of developers to create applications for users throughout the world, and its purchase will allow us to join forces and continue creating developments for surfers together,” Google Israel stated.

“We believe that the addition of this talented team will allow us to strengthen internet platforms and make them more attractive than ever,” said Prof. Yossi Matias, who heads Google’s research and development center in Tel Aviv.

“Google believes in Israeli renewal and creativity, and we will continue to strive for cooperation with local companies and start-ups in the future.”

Investments in Lab Pixies amount to just $2 million in all since it was established. Those who stand to gain the most from the purchase are the four founders of the company, Ran Ben Yair, Oded Pontash, Udi Graf, and Nir Tzemach.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Interfaith race held Sunday from Church of Nativity to Davidson Center in Jerusalem with objective of promoting peace between people

It may sound like start of joke, but it’s true. Hundreds of Catholics, Jews, and Muslims participated Sunday in a marathon between Bethlehem and Jerusalem that kicked off Pope John Paul II’s sporting events, being held for the seventh year.

For the first time since the second intifada in 2000, the Israeli runners were allowed to enter Bethlehem in order to join the rest of the contestants on their run after special preparations were made by the Civil Administration together with Palestinian officials that were ultimately authorized by the Central Command.

Running for peace. Marathoners in Bethlehem (Courtesy of the Tourism Ministry)

Upon arrival at the Bethlehem crossing, hundreds of participants signed a joint declaration calling upon believes throughout the world to visit the Holy Land and take action promoting peace and co-existence.

The hundreds of pilgrims who recently arrived in Israel will consecrate the new “Jesus Trail” together with Israeli and Palestinian cyclists. The path will stretch from Migdal to Capernaum. At the end of the bike ride, a mass will be held on the Sea of Galilee for the hundreds of Christian pilgrims in Israel for the events.

The sporting events are a joint venture led by the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, the Vatican’s pilgrim office, in conjunction with the Italian National Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Tourism, the Civil Administration, Jerusalem Municipality, Jerusalem Police, the Jewish National Fund, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, among others.

Tourism Ministry Stas Misezhnikov noted, “Unlike political initiatives of a provocative nature like we saw this morning (Sunday) in Silwan, these unique sporting events that were held at the same time in Jerusalem, contribute to co-existence. They are a fascinating meeting between Italian Catholics, Israelis, and Palestinians, that are meant to encourage pilgrimage to the Holy Land, peace, and dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Source: Ynetnews.com

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