But some fish come with unhealthy baggage: high levels of mercury. Highly toxic to the human neurological system, mercury is released into the environment from power plants, factories using chlorine, mining and rock formations. The metal ends up in oceans and lakes, where long-lived fish consume it.

Fetuses and children are particularly vulnerable to mercury. But physicians report memory loss, headaches, abdominal pain, behavioral problems, fatigue, hair loss and arteriosclerosis among adults.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has three recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, which enable us to receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish while reducing exposure to the harmful effects of mercury.

The recommendation is targeted to women of childbearing age and young children. Older women and tween-to-adult men are not included in the advisory—yet. At least one study has shown that eating fish high in mercury puts middle-aged men at a greater risk for coronary heart disease and may offset the protective effects of omega-3 fatty acids.

 
Fish with medium levels of mercury include bass, carp, Alaskan cod, croaker, Atlantic and Pacific halibut†, lobster, mahi mahi, monkfish†, freshwater perch, sablefish, skate†, snapper†, canned tuna (chunk light and skipjack)† and sea trout.

†These species are overfished; mercury issues aside, they should be avoided on the ground of sustainability. Mercury data from Natural Resources Defense Council.

*More notes from the EPA: albacore (“white”) tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. It recommends no more than 6 ounces of albacore tuna per week, whether canned or fresh.

 
Enjoy fish, but enjoy it as an informed consumer. Learn more at the EPA website.

One of several gift packages of Gary West’s fine jerky. Photo courtesy Gary West.

This premium jerky is so tender, it belongs in a specialized class we’ll call “The Best Gourmet Jerky.” We’ve even tossed it with pasta!

Memorable Gary West jerky gifts can be had from $19.99 to $79.99.

The yummy beef jerky is available in Traditional and three flavors: Cajun, Cracked Black Pepper and Teriyaki.

Hubby may especially enjoy the Beef Jerky Bouquet: one dozen “long stemmed” jerky strips, packaged like long-stemmed roses.

Take a look at these tasty options:

 
Read our review of Gary West Jerky.

Find more special Father’s Day gift ideas at The Nibble Gourmet Market.

Often, the food holidays are established in months that make little sense—National Plum Pudding Day in February, when plum pudding is a Christmas tradition.

Another example is National Gingerbread Day—which is today, June 5th. Why isn’t it in the fall, a more popular time for spice cookies; or in December, the month for making gingerbread men?

Truth be told, a spice cookie can be just as tasty with a cold drink on a blazing summer day. So our tip of the day is: Don’t constrain yourself—enjoy your favorites year-round.

Beyond gingerbread cookies, you can celebrate with gingerbread cupcakes, iced gingerbread bars, a bundt cake or a chocolate gingerbread cake.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES
Gingerbread cookies are traditionally made in shapes—flowers, hearts, trees and so forth. They can vary by size and can be iced and decorated. The medieval German Lebkuchen Guild made gingerbread into an highly-decorated art, crafting fancy shapes, decorated with sugar and gold. The tale of Hansel and Gretel, published in 1812, vastly increased the popularity of gingerbread cookies and other gingerbread treats, such as gingerbread Christmas cards (but not gingerbread men—see Food Trivia, below). How about making gingerbread beach balls and other summer designs?
 
GINGER COOKIES
Ginger cookies are soft, molasses-type cookies that are flavored with ginger and other spices. They are larger than, and otherwise differ from, gingersnaps.

GINGERSNAPS
Unlike the fancier gingerbread, a gingersnap is a small, thin, plain round cookie; but it retains the hard, smooth texture of a gingerbread cookie. Like a gingerbread cookie, it breaks with a “snap.” Gingersnaps contain a larger amount of ginger, and thus are spicier than the chewier ginger cookies.

FOOD TRIVIA
Credit for the invention of gingerbread men is given to Queen Elizabeth I—because we don’t know the name of the palace baker who came up with the idea during her reign (1558 to 1603). Her Majesty bestowed “portrait” gingerbread cookies upon important court visitors, decorated in their likenesses. Gingerbread men and animals became popular Christmas tree ornaments.

RECIPES
Make gingerbread cookies, cakes, cupcakes and bars year-round:

Use your favorite tea bags to brew
iced tea. It’s easy! Photo by Katharine
Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Brew your own iced tea.

It’s easy to buy bottles of ready-brewed tea, but why pay dollars when you can enjoy it for pennies—and be kind to the environment at the same time?

We picked up two boxes of flavored tea bags from Salada: Pomegranate Berry and Tropical Mango. First we enjoyed them hot.

Then, as the weather quantum-leaped into summer, we enjoyed them iced, brewing the tea in our favorite Breville Tea Maker (you can easily boil water in a tea kettle and brew the tea in a large mixing bowl).

The fruit gives a natural sweetness to the tea, so no extra sweetener was necessary.

We love the flavor of these fruity iced teas, and we also love the math:

*We used two tea bags to brew tea that filled 3.5 16-ounce bottles, or 35 bottles worth from one box of 20 tea bags. At $1.59/bottle for ready-made tea, our $3.00 box of tea made $55.65 worth of $1.59 bottles.

Brew your favorite tea flavors—we also brew jasmine, lemongrass, plain black and green teas, among others.

Here are step-by-step instructions for how to brew iced tea.

The original food pyramid, launched by the USDA in 1992, included the four food groups stacked in the shape of a pyramid with the number of recommended servings a person should eat from each group in a day. The widest part of the pyramid depicted the foods that should make up most of the diet (cereals and grains). The top of the pyramid, indicating the group that should be eaten in small amounts, was fats.

In 2005, the USDA revised the pyramid, expanding the number of food groups to six and adding a person walking up steps on the side of the pyramid to emphasize the need for exercise.

But it wasn’t popular with some nutritionists; and it for sure had no visible impact on the increase of child (and adult) obesity rates.

The new guideline, MyPlate, is a dramatic departure: a simple visual so that people can eat healthy at every meal. The visual has four colored sections representing fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins. Next to the plate is a smaller circle representing dairy products.

Now, instead a huge plate of pasta with a small salad or a large piece of meat and potatoes with a few broccoli florets, one can look at the plate and see that at least half of it should be grains and vegetables. (Pasta is a grain—but that grain shouldn’t occupy 100% of the plate.)

On ChooseMyPlate.com, the USDA emphasizes several important nutrition messages: eat smaller portions, make at least half the plate fruits and vegetables and avoid sugary drinks.

Here’s the advice from the USDA (none of it is news):

Balance Your Calories

 
Eat More Healthy Foods

 
Foods to Reduce