​​Did you know that when you eat egg on toast you are also eating 175 litres of virtual water?

A normal day breakfast could be egg on toast, and a slice of bread (30g) contains 40 liters of virtual water, and An egg takes 135 litres of virtual water to produce. This calculations are only taking into account the water used to produce the product locally, when the product is imported, the water footprint is added.

You're probably wondering what on earth 'virtual water' is, well continue reading to find out...

The concept of virtual water was first developed as a way of understanding how water scarce countries could provide food, clothing and other water intensive goods to their inhabitants. As food and other products are traded internationally, their water footprint follows them in the form of virtual water. This allows us to link the water footprint of production to the water footprint of consumption, wherever they occur.

Water is life and our planet is 75% covered by it, that’s why we’re called the Blue Planet yet 96.5% of that water is salt water and only 3.4% is freshwater, which out of that 1.7% is frozen in the glaciers and 1.6% is used 70% in agriculture, 20% goes into industry and 10% for domestic use. While developed countries uses around 282 litres of water per person every day, developing countries can use as little as 20 litres in a day.

It is important to highlight the importance of water in the baking industry. Taking the main raw material within the baking industry, Wheat; a worldwide staple food, and it takes on average 1334 m3/ton of virtual (hidden) water to produce it.

Being conscious about water can help us in the future of the baking industry by making sure there is enough of water to grow, harvest, clean and process all the ingredients to manufacture bread, cakes and any other baked goods. 

What are you doing today to save water for the future? What are your thoughts on this, comment below to let me know! 

Thanks for reading,

​Leandra :)  

Macarons, a product created as a simple treat with no filling now evolved into a patisserie delicacy! They're most popular in France and many believe they originated from there but actually they were invented in Italy! Though, the filling of ganache idea came from a chef in France. 

Often people confuse macarons for macaroons but to clear the confusion, macarons are simply made using egg whites, ground almonds and sugar whereas macaroons are a small biscuit containing either coconut or almonds. 

The ongoing trend of replacing a wedding cake with a macaron tower is still popular in today's industry, maybe there's a reason for that...Fun fact: a macaron is approximately 70-100 calories whereas a slice of cake is approximately 260 calories...maybe that's why everyone is loving them?! 

Many people will only share their baked items that look fantastic but these macarons are tough to make! So perhaps it would be good to share any tips for making the perfect macaron and if you have experienced any issues, share with us! We'd love to try help you out. 

I hope you have enjoyed these fun facts, have you made any macarons? 

​Happy Baking!