Something I wonder about......
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Something I wonder about......
| Thu, 06-10-2004 - 2:44pm |
Wine adds so much flavor in cooking, and of course flavor can help a dieter eat smaller quantities (big on flavor, smaller servings satisfy). When you cook with wine etc, the alcohol burns off (of course) but do you still need to count the calories of the quantity put in? What happens to the calories when you cook with wine?
Kinja

No...
It's in the big picture. Your attitude, your general healthy choices. 10 calories in wine isn't going to make it or break it for anyone.
Hippolytes
This may answer the question. I asked Lynn on the healthy eating expert board (top of this page has the link) and she answered. Check the first section, and let me know if this helps. She said the amt of calories is dependent on the amt of alcohol left, but what about the grape juice? I dunno. Brat gave a link about cooking with alcohol, but I haven't gone there yet.
hippolytes
hippolytes
I confess, I'm a little perplexed by that one too. I read that Lynn said it depended on how much alcohol was cooked off, but then she forgot to give the link (Bratfille gave one, but whether it's what Lynn was talking about is anybody's guess). I should think, at least the calories in the grape juice (not to mention, the natural sugars) would still be there in condensed form if you cooked down the wine. And so, as was it hipolytes who said, if you started with one cup of wine and cooked it down to 2T then you'd have the calories in the entire cup (less any alcohol) left in just that itsy bitsy 2T. I know that some wineries start with their own grapes, and some (sometimes the same wineries but for other wines produced there) just start with commercial grapejuice.....something I learned from winery tours once-upon-a-time.....and it does seem ONLY logical that calories in the juice wouldn't go anywhere, but just be condensed down. Maybe I'll follow up on hipolytes with another question to lynn (maybe just post this) and ask her to explain. I like cooking with wine, but haven't in a while. And I actually enjoy making sauces with balsamic, which I know has no calories but bunches of flavor. Have you ever cooked down balsamic and served the syrup with strawberries, or a little good cheese? Either way, heavenly!!
Forte
I don't think it was a big deal for hipolytes or kinja, but it surely is a very good question.....and interesting, especially for those of us who love to cook and learn new things. Do you enjoy cooking? You take care, and have a lovely afternoon.
forte
Nothing should cook off except the water and the alcohol. There are 150 calories in an ounce of pure alcohol, so if you know the calories in your wine and the percentage of alcohol along with the amount originally used, you should be able to calculate how many calories are left assuming all of the alcohol burns off. Alcohol evaporates at a pretty low temperature, so unless it's added at the very end of cooking it's probably safe to assume that it has burned off. If you want to be conservative you can always "charge yourself" for 20% of the alcohol calories or something like that.
Erin
Mom
I think I found some answers.....
http://www.dietitian.com/alcohol.html
furry
Hope that helps!