So many people seem to avoid Brussels sprouts. We love them and enjoy them year-round, simply steamed and slightly crunchy.

We halve them and steam them lightly in the microwave and enjoy them plain, with a squeeze of lemon or lime, or with a splash of balsamic vinegar. You can toss them in butter or olive oil, salt and pepper; but properly-cooked fresh Brussels sprouts—like all fresh veggies—are delicious in and of themselves.

While many people think they don’t like Brussels sprouts, it may be the preparation rather than the vegetable itself. Overcooked Brussels sprouts are like overcooked fish: unappealing.

The same goes for Brussels sprouts’ cousins in the Cruciferous vegetables group, including broccoli. Chemical components released by overcooking make for an unattractive aroma and flavor.

Try a light touch and let us know how you enjoy them.

Find more of our favorite vegetable recipes in our Vegetables Section.

Did it help the bread stay fresh? Not really, although historically, it did help to keep mice away in homes that had critters (not Nana’s home, of course).

While there are some airtight plastic bread boxes today, the box is still full of air, a staunch enemy of baked goods.

Fresh-baked bread begins to lose moisture in a continuous process known as starch retrogradation, a hardening of the starch molecules as the water that was absorbed during baking begins to dry out. Without preservatives, a loaf of bakery bread will harden to the point of staleness in 24 to 48 hours.

Toasting, microwaving or otherwise reheating bread brings back some moisture—briefly—because the hot bread reabsorbs some moisture.

If you buy branded supermarket breads, they typically contain preservatives that retard starch retrogradation and mold growth for three weeks or more.

For all-natural bakery breads, made without preservatives, we rely on bread storage bags.

 
MORE TIPS FOR KEEPING BREAD FRESH LONGER

Short-Term Solution: Airtight Plastic Bags

If you’ll eat the bread within two or three days, keep it in an airtight plastic bag on the counter. By day three it may need some freshening in the microwave (5-10 seconds), or you can toast it.

 
Breads that are enriched with dairy, eggs or sugar stay fresh longer, as those ingredients both trap moisture and interfere with starch retrogradation.

Longer-Term Solution: Freeze It (In Airtight Plastic Bags)

Freezing prevents the growth of mold and stops starch retrogradation. You can store bread, bagels, baguettes—almost any bread—in the freezer for a couple of months.

While bread will keep frozen longer than that, it’s one of the first foods to pick up unwanted flavors from a less-than-pristine environment.

 
How Many Different Types Of Bread Have You Had?

Check out our photo-filled Bread Glossary.
  

Contemplating how to cook the Easter ham? Consider Alton Brown’s favorite way, with his grandmother’s “secret” ham crust recipe.

The secret is now out of the bag: brown sugar, mustard, bourbon and pulverized ginger snap cookies.

 
Watch Alton do it!

Most items bake evenly in the middle of the oven.

When it’s important to brown the bottom of the food—like a fruit pie where the crust can get soggy—the lower rack is required. It puts the pan or baking sheet closer to the heat source, on the bottom of the oven.

Conversely, if you want more browning on the top—a meringue topping, for example—place the pan on the top rack. The meringue will brown without heating the fruit curd underneath.

If you want to bake two cake pans at once, advises Lauren Chattman, author of The Baking Answer Book, two nine-inch pans can be placed side by side. But for even baking, you’ll need to rotate them after the cakes begin to set.

With cookie sheets, you can place one on the bottom and one on the top, rotating them midway. Advises Lauren, “I recommend this only for items like cookies that require a relatively short baking time. With longer-baking items, the risk of burning is greater and not worth the savings on time.”

These directions don’t apply to convection ovens, which have an even circulation of air that avoids hot spots and cold spots of traditional ovens.

Find our favorite cake and cookie recipes.
  

Biscoff spread sweetens a bagel. Photo
courtesy Lotus Bakeries.

Now, a crunchy version is rolling out across the U.S., at Central Market, Cost Plus World Market, The Fresh Market, Market Basket, Schnucks, Shop Rite, Walmart, Wegmans and Winn-Dixie. We even saw a private label brand at Trader Joe’s, called “Cookie Spread.”

Crunchy Biscoff Spread takes the original creamy caramel spread delight and adds chunks of caramelized Biscoff cookies. The combination of creamy and crunchy is even better than the original. Imagine the possibilities:

 
Biscoff Spread Creamy is available at Central Market, Cost Plus World Market, The Fresh Market, Giant Carlisle, Giant Landover, Hannaford, Kroger, Market Basket, Safeway, Schnucks, Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, Walmart, Wegmans, and Winn-Dixie and others, as well as through Biscoff’s website.

A complete list of retail locations is available at www.biscoff.com.

Or, you can buy it online now.

Find more of our favorite bread spreads: product reviews, recipes and more.

Find it on your grocer’s shelf or online.