Category: Slow Food and Other Food Topics

Winter Foods

In winter, what does it mean to eat in season? At this the dormant time of year when plants are at rest, consolidating their energy for the expansive growth season ahead, it seems that nature leaves little to sustain us. So it may sound silly to think of eating in season. Yet, deep in winters…

Breakfast

We all know to eat a good breakfast: Breakfast gives a good start to the day and honors the bodys natural bio-rhythms and bio-chemistry (see November and December 2010 newsletters). But, somehow life takes over and breakfast is generally the meal that a busy schedule crowds out. Most people eat lunch because lunch hour is…

Coconut Oil

Coconut Oilthe Most Stable Oil for Cooking and a Aid to Metabolism and Weight Loss Unrefined, extra virgin coconut oil is one of my favorite oil for cooking because, of all generally available oils, it is the most highly saturated. Coconut oil is 90 percent saturated, which means it holds up well to high heat,…

Sprouts for Health

Once any vibrant seeda whole grain, legume, bean, nut, or seedis soaked in enough water for long enough to breakdown its protective phytic acid, germination is started and soon a young plant is born. In its earliest few days, the plant first unfolds as a sprouta tender stem whose job it is to burrow through…

Quality Sea Salts

The more whole foods we buy and prepare ourselves, the more leeway we have to experiment and have fun with artisanal, hand-crafted, mineral-rich salt, both through cooking and at the table. Because prepared foods explain 70%-80% of the salt consumed by Americans, just cooking meals that emphasize potassium-rich whole foods solves much of the problem….

Spring Foods

Foods that attune us to the dry, cold weatherhearty soups and stews; sweet, sticky root vegetables and dried fruits; nuts and seeds; warming/moistening grains (e.g., oats); red meats and roasted marrow bones are warming, sustaining and perfect for winter. But these are also acid-/mucus-forming foods that require a little spring cleaning once winter bids farewell….

Fermenting

Summer Culture and the Summer Kitchen Traditionally at this time of the year, our forebears gladly left behind the warm hearth of the keeping room and moved to the summer kitchen. The summer kitchen was an addition added to the back of the house for hot-weather meal preparation and dining. Facing north,link this segment was…

Phytic Acid

To Defuse or to Use Phytic Acid? What is phytic acid? Most of the phosphorus of plant foods is stored in the outer husk of grains, beans and legumes, nuts, and seeds in the form of phytic acid. Phytic acid protects the life force (the endosperm) of a seed from germinating until it is planted…

Sourdough

For a copy of this text in an easy-to-read pdf, please click Sourdough and Living Local Sourdough in Simple Baking: The Ultimate in Living Local Keeping sourdough starter and experimenting with it in everyday baking is a great way to Live Local. Why? Because a sourdough startera simple mixture of flour and wateris a byproduct…

Sugar and the Holidays

As December approaches, we look forward to family traditions and baking familiar favorites passed down through the generations. As a child, Christmas was the one time each year when my mother pulled out yellowed cards from her recipe box and transformed butter, flour, and sugar into dozens of irresistible treats. Best were snowballs, better known…