It comes from Sebastian Beckwith, owner of In Pursuit Of Tea in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City. Just as water imparts flavor nuances to everything—from pizza crusts and bagels to Scotch—it makes a difference when brewing a cup of tea.

“Recently I’ve been experimenting with water for brewing my tea,” writes Sebastian. “It’s fascinating how different the same tea can taste when brewed with different waters. Each water draws distinct characteristics out of the leaves, and one type of water is not necessarily better than another.

For instance, many people warn against using distilled water, believing that the lack of minerals results in a flatter taste. I find, though, that some teas shine when prepared with it.

For today’s tip, I chose three types of water: a reverse-osmosis filtered water that we use here in the shop; a soft, slightly acidic spring water; and a distilled water. We tasted them with a sencha (green) tea and an oolong tea, using the same parameters for each water.”

Sencha Water Test

Here are our choices for a creaky cocktail party menu:

Bloody Cocktails

 
Pick Your Favorite “Spirit” Cocktails

 
What To Serve With The Cocktails

 
More Halloween recipes will be arriving later this week.

For Ambiance: Halloween CDs

Tomatoes are genetically altered to improve
flavor and shelf life. Photo courtesy
WholeSoyCo.com.

GMOs, genetically modified organisms, are plant and animal organisms that have been created through gene-splicing, a biotechnology technique also known as genetic engineering (GE).

This relatively new science allows DNA from one species to be injected into another species in a laboratory, creating combinations of plant or animal DNA that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods (fish genes have been spliced into tomatoes, for example). Successful experiments have been introduced commercially.

Why do companies create GMOs?

To create foods that better meet production goals. The goals can be anything from tomatoes that are resistant to rot to lambs that can grow larger and produce bigger lamb chops (more examples here).

While not all varieties of any particular type of food are genetically engineered, here are the foods to question:

Top 10 Genetically Engineered Food Crops
1. Corn
2. Soy
3. Potato
4. Tomato
5. Canola
6. Cottonseed Oil
7. Papaya
8. Radicchio
9. Summer Squash
10. Salmon

See why these crops have been genetically engineered, and how likely you are to run across them. Note: while natural foods may label themselves “Non GMO,” there is no requirement for a genetically engineered food to label itself as such.

Needless to say, many in the consumer and industrial communities are against genetic engineering.

What’s The Issue?

According to Discovery News, “For years, opponents have argued that genetically engineered plants wreak havoc with human health and nature, and accuse plant biotech companies, such as Monsanto, of putting profits before people. On the other hand, agricultural biotech proponents argue that engineered crops enable farmers to grow [more food] at a time of global food shortages, insidious pests, weeds and extreme weather.”

It’s a complicated issue. While the FDA believes that GMOs are safe and allows them in America, some 30 other countries, including Australia, Japan and the entire European Union, restrict or outright ban the production of GMOs—because they are not considered to be proven safe.

The FDA approved commercial production of GMOs based on studies conducted by the very companies that created them and profit from their sale. Many health-conscious shoppers find the lack of rigorous, independent, scientific examination on the impact of consuming GMO-based foods to be cause for concern.

It will require many decades of eating engineered food before we know if GMOs cause problems in humans. While we at THE NIBBLE are unqualified to have an opinion on their safety, we do have an opinion on lobbyists and the power they exert over our elected and appointed officials to gain approval and pass legislation on behalf of their employers.

So the next time you’re making a purchase decision, consider the package that says “non-GMO.”

How Can You Avoid GMO Food?

An organization called True Food Now offers a free mobile app for iPhone and Android. It is a guide to common genetically engineered ingredients, brands to look for (and look out for) and common sense tips.

For more information about GMOs, visit The Non GMO Project.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Some food and drink companies are doing their part to generate research dollars for the cure, making a contribution from sales of special editions of their products.

The packaging—or sometimes the food itself, like the chocolates in the photo—bears the the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s pink ribbon.

For treats or gifts, consider these for-the-cure products from some of our favorite producers:

 
When the cause is this important, all of the above qualify as guilt-free eating.
  

The soups look just as good in person as they do on TV, and live up to the advertising claims that they’re chock full of fresh-tasting ingredients.

Indeed, the large chunks of mushrooms and zucchini we bit into tasted just-cooked and were full of flavor. All frozen foods included in the soups are flash-frozen to “maintain peak freshness.” As Bertolli has proved, when the ingredients going into the flash freezer taste great, they taste just as good when cooked.

Cooking is simple: Add the contents of the bag into a cup of boiling water and simmer. Five minutes later, you’ve got a pot of hearty soup.

We recently went to a tasting of the new line of soups, introduced by one of our favorite Top Chef contestants, Fabio Viviani. Having added professional spokesperson to his résumé, Fabio said that he’s now on the road 300 days a year.

Yet despite the unenviable travel schedule, Fabio was as energetic and charming as he was on Top Chef (or even more so, since he wasn’t battling other cheftestants and facing panels of judges).

Here’s the soup menu (garnish with fresh herbs and/or a spoonful of grated Parmesan cheese):

 
We happily consumed them all. The two we’ll buy again are the velvety Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken and the hearty Tuscan-Style Beef & Vegetables.

Why not the chicken soups? We make a large pot of chicken soup every other Sunday and prefer our own. But those who buy chicken noodle soup now have a more sophisticated option.

Three points about the soups: