IN SEASON: Fresh Morel Mushrooms

Exotic, delicious wild morels are a fleeting springtreat. Photo by Yin Yang | IST.   While dried morel mushrooms are available year round—and are a treasured ingredient in soups, stews and sauces—this is fresh morel season. These incredibly flavorful gifts of nature, with their earthy and woodsy aroma and flavor, have a distinctive look: a…
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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Lightlife

A couple of months ago, we received an invitation to two industry events on the same evening. One was for the Lightlife brand of vegan “meat” products. The other was to the opening of celebrity chef Todd English’s new restaurant. We made plans to stop by and taste Lightlife, a product line we’d never tried,…
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TRENDS: Eat Hemp & Support Hemp Farming

The second Annual Hemp History Week ended yesterday. The national grassroots education campaign aims to renew support for hemp farming in the U.S. Although illegal today, hemp was traditionally grown in the U.S. by many farmers—including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper! In addition to edible hemp…
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PRODUCT: Quinoa & Whole Grain Brown Rice

Absolutely delish: a mix of quinoa and brownrice, deftly seasoned. Photo courtesy SeedsOf Change.   The Uyuni Salt Flats of southeast Bolivia, high in the Andes Mountains, are best known for salt production. But quinoa has been cultivated there by the Incas for some 5,000 years. Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wa or KEE-noo-ah, is an exceptionally nutritious…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Cheese Grits

First made by Native Americans, grits are an ubiquitous menu item in the American South. The area from Virginia to Texas is even called the “Grits Belt,” where grits are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and that sounds great to us!). Grits are the hard part of the corn kernel (the endosperm), cut into…
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