Category Archives: grocery

Gluten-free — Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

by Shirley Linadditives, gluten free, grains, grocery, ingredients, labeling, Uncategorized

Will eating a gluten free diet make you healthier? Not necessarily. While eating gluten free is necessary for those suffering from celiac disease, for the majority of people who don’t suffer from gluten intolerance it’s not necessary to go out of your way to avoid it. However doing a gluten elimination diet can help to determine if gluten sensitivity is an issue for you.

For the 1% of Americans who do suffer from celiac disease, it is critical to remove gluten from the diet completely. Otherwise it can cause damage to their small intestines as it is an autoimmune disease. A larger, growing percentage of the population are experiencing non-celiac gluten sensitivity. While they don't have damage to their small intestines, they can experience some symptoms similar to those with celiac disease. These symptoms may include brain fog, bloating, fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, and more, all of which can be helped by removing gluten from the diet. Unfortunately however, a gluten free diet may be harmful to your health if you’re not careful as many gluten free items lack vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Not only that, but they often contain processed and or refined additives that can cause digestive upset.

According to a Consumers Report 2014 survey, approximately 25% of people questioned believed that gluten free foods have MORE vitamins and minerals than other foods. Many people simply think that eating gluten free is healthier. Because gluten free foods are usually highly processed, have less nutrition, and still contain unhealthy ingredients such as artificial colors , artificial flavors, additives, and preservatives, that may not be the case.

HIGHLY PROCESSED

Gluten is found in many whole grain products made from wheat, barley, rye, and spelt. These grains are commonly found in many foods that we eat. The gluten free alternatives for breads, pastas, cereals, pastries, and other processed foods are often made from highly processed alternatives such as starches, or flours from non-glutenous grains. They also usually contain fillers, extra fat, sugar, and/or sodium to replace the taste or texture of gluten. Whole grain products naturally contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber, highly processed food products however, do not have the same beneficial levels of these nutrients. If you’re trying to reduce the amount of gluten in your diet, aim for real, whole foods that are naturally gluten free such as quinoa, brown rice, lean meats, fruits, and vegetables.

LESS NUTRITION

Gluten free baked goods typically use flour replacements that provide less nutrition than whole grain flours. These replacements are usually low in nutrients and high in carbohydrates. Tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato starch are three ingredients commonly used to replace wheat (or other glutenous grain) flour(s) in gluten free food items.

Tapioca starch – often used as a thickener, however it contains no nutritional benefits and is over 88% carbohydrates by weight.
Cornstarch – very low in dietary fiber and contains negligible amounts of vitamins and minerals. An added challenge with cornstarch is that the corn may be genetically modified which present additional health challenges.
Potato starch – frequently used as a thickener, contains little nutritional value while having a very high starch content. Another issue with potato starch is that potatoes are increasingly being genetically modified. Currently there are five different varieties that have been modified.

DIGESTIVE UPSET

Gluten is a very important part of many food products, especially for bread. Gluten is like a “glue” that helps food products stick together so they aren’t crumbly and fall apart. The gluten in grains such as wheat allows it to rise and have a fluffy consistency rather than being dense and flat. In order to compensate for the lack of “glue” in gluten-free products manufacturers use gums to give the dough a sticky consistency. The most commonly used gums are xanthan gum (used as a thickener, emulsifier, and food stabilizer), guar gum (a thickening, stabilizing, suspending, and binding agent), and locust bean gum (used for thickening and gelling). While these gums are generally safe for consumption, because they are mostly indigestible fiber they often cause side effects such as intestinal gas and bloating. Some of these additive gums, such as xanthan gum, can be sourced from corn or soy (two highly GMO crops) which would be another reason to avoid them.

LESS VITAMINS MORE SUGAR

Just because something is gluten free doesn’t mean it is a healthy choice, low in calories, or low in carbohydrates. Actually many processed gluten free foods are less healthy in that they have more calories and sugar than regular foods. Many gluten replacement foods are actually not only low in nutrients, they’re very high in carbohydrates. Because these carbohydrates are highly processed they are foods that can have a significant impact on blood sugar levels. This is a significant difference from gluten-free whole grain products such as quinoa or amaranth which, because they are whole grains, do not have the same effect on blood sugars.

As an example, a Consumer Reports comparison of a regular blueberry muffin with a gluten free blueberry muffin found that the gluten free muffin contained 30 more calories and 7 more grams of sugar.

Regular muffin: 340 calories, 17 g fat, 24 g sugar
GF muffin: 370 calories, 13 g fat, 31 g sugar

Whole grains are a good source of many nutrients especially the B vitamins, iron, and fiber. It’s important to understand that even gluten free grains when consumed in their whole grain form provide a high level of nutrients. It is the processing that damages, or reduces, the micronutrient levels while increasing carbohydrates. Gluten-free grains include: quinoa, teff, amaranth, rice, corn, millet, buckwheat, and oats.

Check out this slideshow of popular gluten-free food products

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ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS

Just because a food item is gluten free doesn’t mean that it is free from artificial colors, artificial ingredients, or preservatives. If you’re trying to eat gluten free, make sure you read the label. Rather than relying on gluten-free versions of cakes, cookies, crackers, cereals, and other starchy crutch foods, it is best to find whole foods that are naturally gluten free. Whole foods which aren’t processed are more likely be free from artificial additives. It's important to remember that gluten-free isn’t the magic pill to a clean and healthy diet. Choosing vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits, fish, and lean meats will provide the healthiest options.

Are Natural Flavors Really “natural”?

by Tenaya Craigadditives, grocery, ingredients, Uncategorized

If asked about the connotation of the word “natural,” descriptors like “healthy,” “fresh,” “made without chemicals” or “made in nature” come to mind. According to the Environmental Working Group, “natural flavor” is the fourth most common ingredient listed for processed food, but do we really know what this term means?

Here’s a short video that effectively uses humor to illustrate what “natural” really means.

Natural Flavors Defined

The truth is that “natural flavors” are defined so broadly that they can encompass a vast number of substances that we wouldn’t consider natural. As defined by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Code of Federal Regulations, “natural flavor” or “natural flavoring” means [quote]the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.[/quote]

What does this mean? “Natural flavors” listed on a nutrition label does not refer to any one specific kind of additive but includes any chemical or combination of flavorings derived from any of the above “edible” sources as long as they aren’t synthetically formulated. Lisa Lefferts with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says that:

A flavor ingredient can consist of some combination of about 2,300 different substances.

Would you believe that food manufacturers can add beaver anal gland secretions to your food and call it “natural flavors”? These secretions, known as castoreum but rarely labeled as such on packaging, are often added to ice cream and utilized for “natural” vanilla and raspberry flavoring.

If that isn’t disturbing enough, natural flavors can also include GMO ingredients, mold, fungus, bug shells, pig stomach lining and animal bones. It is daunting to think that vegans trying to avoid animal products could be inadvertently eating some of these items labeled as “natural flavoring.” In addition, wine and beer are often clarified with isinglass, which is prepared from the bladder of a sturgeon, or gelatin derived from the skin and connective tissue of pigs and cows. And you won’t find isinglass on the label of your favorite beer since no law requires it.

Russel Blaylock, M.D., author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, has written that even the controversial additive monosodium glutamate (MSG) falls under the “natural flavors” umbrella and can be added to processed foods with no mention of it on the label. MSG is the sodium salt of glutamate, described as a normal neurotransmitter in the brain by its defenders. However, when introduced to the body in high concentrations, it causes neurons to fire abnormally, literally exciting our cells to death. Food manufacturers add this cheap, concentrated form of salt to our food in order to excite our taste buds. It can make us crave sugar, and it interferes with satiety hormones like leptin.

Many popular processed foods list “natural flavors” among their ingredients as we can see in this slideshow.

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Food manufacturers use this “natural” designation loosely to deceive consumers into believing questionable ingredients are healthy, fresh and wholesome.

“Natural flavor” is an important additive to watch out for and a good reminder to be vigilant when reading food labels in order to be fully educated about what we are consuming.

Groceries – What Can I Get For A Dollar

by Mirabudget, grocery

As more and more people learn to chose whole foods, real food, to feed their family the market share for processed foods is dropping. Groceries are a necessary part of living, we all need to eat. But there are no guarantees about how well we eat. Given that their mission is not to sell food but to make a profit, many food manufacturers are looking to reverse the decline in profits. Their primary tactic is to go after lower socio-economic consumers. Unfortunately these are the ones who have the tightest budgets for food and who may not stop to consider nutritional value per dollar spent.

The cost of groceries

To tempt consumers to by their highly processed foods producers use the following tactics:

available at lower cost grocery stores
available at discount stores (such as The Dollar Store)
offer multiple purchase coupons
offer smaller packages at what appears to be a low price
offer single serving size options
create discount menu pricing (at fast food locations)

Unfortunately those options not only offer incentive to purchase junky foods, they are also more expensive when you price out the actual cost per weight or volume. Sadly it's a recipe for a health disaster.

Yes, that burger may only be a dollar, same with those fries. But it's nutritionally deficient food which is high in calories, fats, and chemicals. It may fill you up but it won't nourish you. That cereal package may seem like a deal but there's no real nutrition in the package and it often comes with a lot of sugar. Your belly may be full but your body is depleted.

Eating healthy for less

It is possible to eat healthy for less, it simply means making different choices. A recent trip to the grocery store* highlighted a few foods which are healthy and available for $1 or less per serving.

Apples: Nature's perfect 100 calorie snack pack, the average apple contains about 100 calories. They are a good source of fiber, including pectin (a type of fiber that may be good for reducing cholesterol). Apples also provide vitamin C and healthy phytonutrients which can help moderate blood sugar. At $1.15 per pound with three medium apples in a pound it comes to just under three apples for a dollar. This was the price for organic apples which represent the best choice as there are no pesticides on them. Obviously conventional apples are less expensive but come with a chemical coating.

Beans: Lentils, chickpeas, black beans, are all good nutritional choices for fiber, folate, iron, and protein. Their high levels of fiber make them an excellent choice for helping to reduce cholesterol and manage blood sugar. $0.79 per pound for lentils means 12 servings per pound, all for less than a buck.

Broccoli: Contains calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, folate and fiber. Low in calories it's delicious raw, steamed, or stir-fried. One bunch will set you back $0.99 for around three 1⁄2 C. servings.

Collard Greens: This dark, leafy green and others such as kale, spinach, or mustard greens are loaded with vitamin C, carotenoids, and calcium. This week at my grocery store organic collards were $0.99 per bunch with one bunch providing 2-3 servings cooked. It's delicious when cooked with onions and fresh herbs.

Eggs: A great source of protein, lutein, and zeaxanthin (good for eye health) as well as selenium, B2, B5 and B12 eggs are a nutrition powerhouse. They are versatile, easy to prepare and can be served for any meal. At $2.39 per dozen for large, cage free, grain fed eggs that's 5 eggs, and five servings, for $1.00.

Oats (old fashioned rolled): high in fiber and a good source of manganese, selenium, vitamin B1, magnesium; a 1⁄2 C. serving even provides 6 g. of protein, they are also scientifically proven to reduce cholesterol (whole oats are best). $0.15 per ounce means that whole oats come out to 6 1⁄2 ounces for $1.00 or a little over 4 servings. note: for those who need to eat gluten free the cost for oats would be different.

Sweet Potatoes: An excellent source of beta carotene, vitamin C and provide a moderate amount of fiber. A 5” long sweet potato weighs about 4.5 ounces, for $0.89 that's a little more than one serving (3.5 ounces per serving) for less than a buck.

Admittedly it takes a little more effort to eat for less when you include time for shopping and cooking. But if you're willing to focus on health and spend the time, it is possible to get a lot of nutrition for just a dollar.

*These prices reflect a trip to my grocery store in my local area in Texas. Prices may differ depending on location.

Good, Better, Best

by Mirachange, grocery, habits, health, ingredients, nutrients

I recently had the absolute delight of being invited to cook in the fabulous kitchen at Three Goats Farm. Designed and operated by the amazing Primitive Diva, Melissa Humphries, this is a fun place to hang out and you couldn't ask for better company to hang out with.

Getting ready for the launch of Primitive Diva TV, PDTV, she invited me to film an episode while we chatted about the concept of good, better, best, when it comes to food and nourishing your body. I love helping people move up the nutrition ladder so to speak.

It's difficult to go from a highly processed food plan to one that truly nourishes your body. I certainly know, from personal experience and from working with clients, that it's a step-by-step process which takes time and effort to achieve. I don't know anyone who has made a huge jump overnight and managed to stick with it. You start where you are, decide what you're going to focus on, and begin to make changes. Just as in the fable of the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady wins the race.

Small measurable changes, mindfully made over time are most often the ones that are sustainable and lead to long-term, healthier change. Extravagant changes and massive numbers of them, all at the same time, are overwhelming.

One way to manage this change is to focus on shifting food, recipes, ingredients up the ladder from good to better to best.

The Concept of Good, Better, Best in Nutrition

Here's an example that we used in the filming. [In case you're interested we made the polenta and Tuscan Stew recipes from The Pantry Principle on pages 124 and 145 respectively] In the example below I'm going to talk about upgrading your polenta.

Good is when you decide to shift from a heavy processed food and/or restaurant/take-away diet to making more foods at home. There is often less chemicals, less sugar, salt, and fat. The serving sizes are more reasonable. In the case of polenta this may mean purchasing a chub of polenta and heating it up at home as part of your recipe.

Better is realizing that corn is one of the most highly genetically modified crops on the face of the planet. You don't want to eat conventional corn anymore because you want to avoid the GMOs and probable heavy pesticide residue. So you choose organic corn. Possibly still in a chub. Or maybe you decide to make it from scratch and you use organic ground cornmeal plus other clean ingredients.

Best means you've decided to really focus on eating well and are buying organically grown, sprouted cornmeal. The sprouting adds extra nutrition, better digestibility, and reduces phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors which can interfere with nutrition.

One step at a time we work our way up the ladder to better digestion, better nourishment, better food sourcing.

We had a great time chatting in the kitchen. As you can see from the picture above the food was so enticing that the aromas got us and we didn't get a picture until after we'd dug in and started devouring it. Mr. Diva came in at the end and polished off a plate of his own. I promise, this recipe is a winner. And so is Three Goats Farm.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about food, nutrition, holistic health, or how to take your recipes from good to better to best, don't forget to take advantage of my 15-minute discovery call for FREE.

You Can’t Sue Me Now

by Mirafood fraud, gmo, grocery

General Mills wants to turn Facebook likes into a legal agreement. The company has created a new privacy policy which basically states that anyone who has received “any” benefit from General Mills gives up their right to sue the company. Even if the product in some way harms them or makes them ill. General Mills has gone so far as to include giving them a “like” on their Facebook page as a benefit to the consumer. The concept of benefits also extends to downloading coupons, signing up for contests, or any other form of interaction. A consumers only recourse if they have an issue with the company will be either a negotiation process with the company or a binding arbitration, with the arbitration team no doubt chosen by General Mills.

Why was this policy enacted? It appears to stem from an incident where two moms sued the company for deceptive marketing over their use of the term “natural” on a product which contained high fructose corn syrup and genetically modified ingredients. Last month it came before a judge who refused to dismiss the case so it will be moving forward.

This is not the first time General Mills has been sued for deceptive practices. In 2012 it was sued for using the word “strawberry” on a fruit roll-up product that contained no strawberries. The case was settled and General Mills agreed to stop using that word on the package.

So why is there a picture of a Larabar at the top of this post? Because guess who owns that brand? In the “Who Owns Your Food” section of The Pantry Principle I share a graphic which highlights just how confusing and overwhelming the web of food has become in this country. While I'm not sure (because I'm not a lawyer) if this position is defensible, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's stupid. If you don't want people to get upset about what you do to your food, don't do that. If you claim ingredients which aren't in there, people have a right to be upset. If you use deceptive marketing you should not be allowed to get away with it simply to make a buck. Why defend your position to do the wrong thing? That makes no sense to me.

And a startling thought that occurs to me, I wonder if they will extend this legal stance to other brands where the consumer may not be aware of ownership. So I'm highlighting the brands that I'm aware of which are owned by General Mills below. Many of them may surprise you.

Cascadian Farms Organic
Food Should Taste Good (chips/snack product)
Larabar
Muir Glen tomato products
Liberte yogurt
Häagen-Dazs
Nature Valley

And if you're interested…the list of mainstream Big G products is HUGE. If you want to see all of them (and there are hundreds) you can look on their website http://www.generalmills.com/Brands

Want to let General Mills know how you feel about this issue? Sign this petition

And then buy a copy of The Pantry Principle: how to read the label and understand what's really in your food.

Update: After a furious backlash from consumers and an overwhelmingly negative media focus General Mills has reversed itself on this decision. Their blog post (entitled “We've listened – and we're changing our legal terms back”) claims that “Those terms – and our intentions – were widely misread.” They also offered an apology.

Whether their lawyers had a specific purpose in mind or if indeed the intent was misunderstood, it is a given that companies are going to spin things their way every change they get. The most important thing to remember, as far as I'm concerned, is that this once again shows the effect a highly motivated and vocal public can have on corporate policy. They won't change and do better unless they believe they have to.

Let's not forget one of my favorite quotes by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

photo: Bradley Stemke

February Is National Canned Food Month

by Miraadditives, grocery, Uncategorizedcanned goods, grocery

Due to the invention of canned foods in the early 1800's our ability to store food for long periods of time has dramatically increased. (I am always amused every time I remember the can opener wasn't invented until approximately 50 years after the invention of the can -- I discovered this while researching my book The Pantry Principle.) And if the ingredients in the can are dry or dehydrated in some way that storage can be as long as 30 years. Quite handy if you're preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse.

There are two major types of canned goods, those you make yourself at home (such as jams, pickles, chutneys, etc), and those you purchase at the grocery store. For the purposes of this post when I talk about canned goods, I'm referring to those that you purchase.

Leaving aside the matter of zombies, it is prudent to have some canned goods on hand either as part of a well-managed pantry, or in case of an emergency. While it's a great thought to prepare all of your food fresh and from scratch, in our over-scheduled American culture this can be a little difficult to achieve on a daily basis. And if the power goes out or there's a storm preventing you from getting out to the store it's helpful to have canned goods on hand.

How much you have on hand is a matter of calculation; determining how many people, how many days/meals you want on hand, and how you plan to rotate things through your storage. That's a little more complicated than can be addressed in a blog post. If you're interested in working with me to figure out your food storage needs email me and we'll schedule a time to talk.

When buying canned goods one of the big issues is what's in that can. I've talked about this before in The Pantry Principle as well as in blog posts like this one about peaches. Unfortunately many canned foods these days come with a raft of chemicals added to them. This is meant to extend the shelf life. However given the fact that there are alternatives I'm not convinced that we need to buy canned food with these health-harming additives in them.

One specific example that I use when demonstrating this to clients on a Grocery Store Tour* is coconut milk. Canned coconut milk is an option that is (a) more portable than the refrigerated cartons, and (b) easier than making your own (recipe below for those who really want to know how).

However many brands of canned coconut milk contain harmful ingredients that you don't want to consume such as sodium metabisulfate, polysorbates, and possibly citric acid which is, contrary to popular belief, not from lemons but often from corn, making it a probable genetically modified ingredient. So an important point when purchasing canned coconut milk, or any canned ingredient, is to look at the ingredients list and avoid ingredients you don't want to eat.

Even more challenging however is the use of BPA in many canned foods. And this includes those canned foods that come in jars because the lids have BPA in the lining. BPA is an obesogen, a hormone disrupting chemical, and something that you want to avoid as much as possible. Sadly it is extremely difficult to avoid it altogether as it also appears in paper products, grocery store receipts, DVDs, reusable cups, and other places. But the more we reduce BPA in our food, I believe the better off we are.

This requires more research, looking for brands which don't have BPA in their can lining. I have compiled a list, based on information from the vendors, that lists BPA free producers. Bear in mind that some of these companies are still in transition. However they are making the effort, and spending the money (BPA free linings are more expensive), to bring you a BPA free lined can:

Amy's
Eden Foods
Muir Glen
Native Forest
Sprout's - I believe they're still working on it
Trader Joe's - in transition
Wild Planet - in transition

On a side note: In the United States 1 in 6 people doesn't have enough to eat. Approximately 14 million of them are children. If you're cleaning out your pantry and shifting to foods which are free of chemicals and BPA you may want to donate them to the Food Pantry. If your budget has a little room to spare consider buying a little extra and donating it. As much as I teach and promote eating as clean as possible, I also believe that eating is better than not eating. It's a good-better-best philosophy. Click here to find a food pantry near you.

Something else to keep a lookout for which may be coming soon to a canned product near you is SLIPS. This stand for Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surface. It's a product which has been invented to get the container absolutely squeaky clean. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to be made from chemicals and infused into a teflon substrate which will then be used to coat or line the inside of your jars and bottles. I'm waiting and watching. If you find a ketchup container (or any other jar) that comes absolutely clean with no sticky bits and no scraping be sure to let me know.

Want to know what's really in your food? In addition to reading this blog you truly must have good resources at hand. One is to buy yourself a copy of The Pantry Principle, the other is to sign up for my newsletter. New subscribers also get a great free e-book, Eating Out Eating Healthy. It's all about learning how to eat well to be well.

And now here's that recipe I promised you.

Homemade Coconut Milk

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups hot water
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Instructions

Blend together (I use my Vitamix) until it's creamy looking, 1-2 minutes
Strain into a fine mesh strainer (I have one I use for rinsing quinoa)
Press to get all of the liquid out
Store in the fridge, use within 2-3 days
Optional - 1-2 drops of vanilla added to this is fabulous when pouring into a cup of Teeccino

*Want your own personalized Grocery Store Tour? Contact Mira

Grape Jelly

by Miraadditives, grocery, ingredients, jelly/jam, preservinggrape jelly, grapes, recipe

Warning: rant ahead!

I'm so aggravated I cannot even tell you. This morning I went to the grocery store for a few items. One of them was grape jelly, requested by my daughter. It's her favorite flavor. Since we've moved away from Connecticut we no longer have the same access to wild grapes so I'm no longer making grape jelly.

The grapes that I've managed to find here in Texas have, for the last two years, been very thick-skinned and dry due to the lack of rain so no grapes there either. I did plant grapes in my garden but they're table grapes not jelly grapes so I'm not sure they'd work well.

My frustration? NOT ONE SINGLE jar of grape jelly at the grocery store came without HFCS. Several even had HFCS as the number one ingredient. Seriously? That number one ingredient means that the majority of the jelly isn't even grapes, it's HFCS. That is insane.

First of all grape jelly is incredibly easy to make. Grapes are very high in pectin. Throw them together with a little water, the right amount of sugar, heat to the correct temperature, and voila! Grape jelly!

Even more upsetting to me is the fact that many of the grape jellies at the grocery store come with artificial flavorings. I'm not exactly sure why as to my mind grapes have a pretty distinctive taste all their own.

Needless to say, I did not buy any grape jelly (luckily she also likes orange marmalade so that's what she got) and I'm going to have to work a little harder to find a good source of either muscadines or concord grapes to start making my own jelly again.

For those who have access to good grapes for jelly making here's a great recipe from the book Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother's Kitchen. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll tell you that this book was written by my mom. I'm not recommending it because she wrote it (honestly). It really is one of my favorite canning/preserving books and my first go-to when I'm looking to make something.

To get all of the great commentary, hints, and tips you'll have to get the book, but here's the recipe:

Grape Jelly

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Ingredients

10 C. or more Concord grapes (approximately 8 lbs.)
1 apple (optional)
2 C. water
Sugar

Instructions

Wash the Concord grapes.
Cut the apple into quarters -- peel, core, and all -- then chop coarsely. Set aside.
Put a couple of cups of grapes int a large stainless-steel pot, then crush them with a potato masher of the bottom of a clean glass jar. this provides a small amount of juice and prevents scorching.
Add the water.
Add the cut-up apple.
Heat the fruit mixture slowly to the boiling point, reduce the heat, and simmer until the seeds come free from the pulp.
Line a large colander with several layers of damp cotton cheesecloth. Set the colander over a large pot or bowl and carefully pour the grapes and liquid into it. Allow the free-run juice to drip through the cheesecloth. You may also use a chinois or jelly bag. Do not press down on the fruit.
Measure the free-run juice. Process into jelly 4 cups of juice at a time - a smaller batch means the jell point is reached more quickly, resulting in better flavor.
Taste a little bit of the juice. For every 1 cup of reasonably sweet grape juice, measure out 2/3 cup of sugar. If you used a greater percentage of under-ripe grapes and the juice is on the tart side, you can use 3 or 3 1/2 cups of sugar to 4 cups of juice.
Bring juice to a boil then add the sugar. Boil to the jell point.
Fill and process prepared jars.

Seasonal Eating For Best Health

by Mirafruit, grocery, locavore, seasons, vegetables

I regularly teach a class on seasonal eating. What the benefits are and why we should look to consume more seasonal (and local) produce. Obviously part of the benefit is that seasonal foods are picked when they are fully ripe, especially if they are local, rather than being picked under-ripe and either stored or transported before being force ripened. This means that the nutritive value of the food is fully developed as well as it's flavor. Anyone who has ever eaten a truly fresh tomato knows what I am talking about.

Benefits of seasonal eating

Better for the environment: Eating seasonal, locally produced fruits and vegetables also helps to reduce the environmental impact of your food. If you think about it, why eat tomatoes from 2,000 miles away when you can get better tasting ones closer to home without burning massive amounts of fossil fuels?
More flavor: as mentioned above, food that is picked when it is ripe, rather than when it is convenient to harvest, is going to taste better. The texture (which contributes to the taste and the enjoyment) is also better because the produce is not artificially chilled and then force ripened, all of which changes the produce.
Support your local farmer: most often when you're buying local, in-season produce you're buying it direct from the grower. This helps to cut out the middle man. Farmer's markets and CSA's are a great way to meet those who are actually growing your food and to be able to talk with them about how they are growing your food.
Less pesticides and toxins: most local, small farmers don't use massive amounts of pesticides, insecticides, and other chemicals. This is where getting to know your local farmer is a big benefit. They'll tell you what they're not doing and explain why. Most often it's because they're growing your food in a way that nourishes the soil and that is more beneficial for the plants. Sure it may not look as consistent or "pretty" as what you see at the grocery store but it smells and tastes far better and has more nutrients.

Defining the seasons

At my last class I got a question that I've gotten a couple of times before and I wanted to address it because I think it's an issue that tends to get a little confusing for folks sometimes. It's about the seasonality of food. I live in Texas. We have a very different growing season here compared to most of the rest of the country. We essentially have the equivalent of two spring-like seasons, one very hot season sandwiched in between them, followed by a cold, often rainy season. Learning to grow food here has proven to be a bit of a challenge. It's nowhere near as easy or intuitive as what I'm used to having grown up in the Northeast. Luckily I have several local CSAs and Farmer's Markets that help supplement our supply of seasonal foods with their expert skills.

One question that comes up a lot is about what constitutes a season. The answer? Well, it depends on where you are living. I think the first, most important place to start is to understand the concept of seasonal eating and decide if this is something that you want to follow. We try to do so in our house for most things because we then get the ripest, best tasting produce by waiting for the season. It also means that we more fully appreciate our food by having to wait for it. I'm going to be honest and put in a disclaimer here to say that there are certain foods that we do not eat seasonally because we use them too much (such as onions, garlic, carrots, and celery) but in general we eat berries in the spring and summer, squashes in the winter and so on.

Resources

In addition to learning to appreciate the seasonality of your food, you need to learn what exactly your seasons are. If you're not sure of what's really in season in your area here are some websites that can help:

If you're looking to find a farmer's market and get fresh, seasonal, local product a great resource for the United States is Local Harvest.

Of course, once you've gotten all this fabulous seasonal produce you'll need to know what to do with it. Here are a few cookbooks to help with that.

Cooking in Season: 100 Recipes for Eating Fresh

GATHER: 100 Seasonal Recipes that Bring People Together

Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables

Dishing Up the Dirt: Simple Recipes for Cooking Through the Seasons (Farm-to-Table Cookbooks

Food And Money

by Mirabudget, garden, grocery, pantry, preserving, produce, shopping guides, USDA

The USDA is predicting an increase in all foods for 2011; depending on the item it is expected to range from 2% for things like sugars and cereals to as high as 5.5% for dairy products. If you are interested you can see the chart here. Part of the increase is due to the higher costs for corn and soybeans. Remember, it's a cycle, what we eat needs to eat. I actually anticipate that the costs for meat will be much higher than currently predicted due to more people deciding to purchase meat and dairy that is organic to avoid the GMO contamination of corn and soy. These are two of the most heavily GMO crops but our government doesn't identify that so the only way to avoid it is to purchase organic.

There are a number of ways that you can save money on your food bill in the upcoming year:

Plant a vegetable garden. Using your space for edible gardening can be attractive and save you food dollar costs. During both World Wars Victory Gardens were planted in every yard and public park all across the United States. It's a concept that I think many people are rediscovering.

Even if you buy a tomato plant at the garden center and plant it in a pot you will still get far more produce than if you purchase your tomatoes at the grocery store. And believe me, they'll taste better. We've just re-arranged our side yard and brought in a load of organic dirt, working on creating a better vegetable garden. We've also put in herbs and a few fruits in the yard.

Here are a couple of books that I think are great for backyard vegetable gardening

Mel Bartholomew is the authority on getting the most out of the smallest space. If you have any gardening space available, even just one square foot, you'd be amazed at what you can grow.

Rosalind Creasy shows you how to incorporate beauty and function in your garden by making your landscape edible.

If you live in an apartment or don't have access to a plot of ground you can consider container gardening. Even one reasonable size container can grow a lot of tomatoes and basil or peas and mint or…read the book.

And there seems to be an increase in folks growing food on rooftops and terraces.

If you shop at warehouse stores frequently the prices are good but the quantities are huge. Don't buy more than you need, after all 50 pounds of potatoes is a lot, especially in a family like ours with just three people in the house. Just because the price per pound is low, if you wind up throwing out rotten potatoes (or anything else) you've just lost money. If you really want the item consider saving money by asking family, friends and/or neighbors if they want to share these items with you. This way you'll both save money and there will be less waste.

And speaking of waste…

According to Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland, Americans, on average, throw away half of their food. Half! That's a mind-boggling concept. Knowing, really knowing exactly what is in your pantry is a great start, learning how to be mindful of it is the next step. Jonathan has a lot of great information on his blog to help you avoid food waste. Don't want to read the book (although I highly recommend it)? There's an app for that — yup, a company called UniByte has created an app to help you better manage your food purchases so you will waste less.

If you do wind up with food waste, and some of it is inevitable such as potato peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, and the like, consider composting. This is also environmentally friendly in that the food scraps become usable dirt instead of going to the landfill where they cannot be used to grow more food.

A little off the beaten path but for those who have access, inclination, and a sharp eye there is always the idea of foraging. According to my friend Merriweather it is important to remember a couple of key points:

1. Know what you are foraging. Many edibles have an inedible counterpart that looks almost the same. He points out that these inedibles wind up in either the “kill your kid dead” or “keep you on the toilet sick” category so it's important to be very sure of your identifications.

2. Forage responsibly using appropriate tools to cut and dig rather than ripping and shredding. This allows the plants to continue to grow and is the best way to forage.

3. Make sure you have permission. Here in Texas, and probably elsewhere, plant rustling is against the law. Getting a huge fine for public trespassing or theft is not going to help your grocery bill any.

While Merriweather sadly does not yet have a published book there are some great foraging books out there:

And last, but certainly not least, another way to save money at the grocery store is to learn to make your own. One of my favorites is making my own granola which definitely saves money over the store-bought versions. You can make your own pudding, soups, muffins, snacks, spice mixes, beverages, pickles, jams and much much more. Currently I am fermenting kimchi on my kitchen counter, starting another batch of kefir and have just finished making another batch of bean sprouts. These require very little hands on time and save quite a few dollars while providing healthful foods for my family. Making your own has a number of benefits:

1. It will save you money

2. You will avoid extra packaging and commercial waste

3. You will avoid additives, preservatives and chemicals (which you don't need in your diet anyway)

4. Often when you make your own you make smaller batches so you are less likely to waste it

So here's to a new year, a new grocery budget, and new possibilities for your health.