Consume fewer pesticides: download the
pocket guide or app. Image courtesy
FoodNews.org.

We’ve previously written about the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean 15,” terms that refer to how much residual pesticide is left on produce, even after you wash and/or peel it.

With tempting seasonal produce entering the market, it’s time to revisit when it pays to buy organic produce.

Research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the “Clean 15”—the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables—ingest fewer than two pesticides daily.

The Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides, from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is a key resource for consumers aiming to eat healthier. It helps us make informed choices in order to lower our dietary pesticide load.

Download the guide or app.

The guide was developed based on data from nearly 89,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce examined between 2000 and 2008, collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You can find a detailed description of the criteria EWG used to develop these rankings and the complete list of tested fruits and vegetables at Foodnews.org.

In order of the amount of pesticide residue:

 
You’ve been eating pesticides all your life. Why should you care about them now?
The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

What about washing and peeling the produce?
The data used by researchers is based on produce tested as it is typically eaten: washed, rinsed or peeled, depending on the type of produce. Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. Peeling helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin. The best approach: eat a varied diet, rinse all produce and buy organic when possible.

If you’re like us, you order soft shell crabs every time you see them on a menu.

On weekends, we buy them, dredge them in cornmeal and sauté them, impressing family with our culinary skills (there’s nothing easier than sautéing—just don’t tell them).

If you’re a professional chef, you make something memorable for your customers. Here’s a creation from The Redeye Grill (photo), located in New York City across the street from Carnegie Hall.

The Redeye’s Maryland Soft Shell Crab Sandwich is a cornmeal-dusted Maryland jumbo soft shell crab on a freshly baked bun. The “red eyes” are dried cranberries.

The soft shell crab sandwich is served with aïoli tartar, lettuce and tomatoes and crispy French fries. It’s sure to become a favorite way of enjoying soft shell crabs.

Soft shell crabs are in season in the Northern Hemisphere from April to mid-September, with a peak in June and July. In the U.S., these are typically blue crabs that have shed their hard shells.

Soft shell crabs are not specific to any one species. They are a stage in a crab’s growth: just after molting, before the new shell has had time to harden. Its hard shell prevents a crab from growing; the only way it can grow larger is to throw off its old shell and grow a new one. The crab grows rapidly within a few days of casting off its shell, then the new shell grows over the larger body. Ideally, crabs must be eaten within four days of molting to enjoy the soft shell.

RECIPE: SOFT SHELL CRAB SANDWICH

Ingredients Per Serving

A bison burger stuffed with gorgonzola
cheese and sundried tomatoes. Photo
courtesy WMMB.

Yet despite the low fat level, the taste is sumptuous. We’ve grown to prefer bison to beef.

Because bison has so little fat, it can’t be cooked to medium or well done. But lovers of medium rare will delight in the flavor.

For our Top Pick Of The Week, we tried bison burgers from Allen Brothers and High Plains Bison, two purveyors of premium meat. Don’t look for bargain-basement bison meat. As with beef, you get what you pay for.

Much as we enjoy olives, we’d never thought of adding them to oil and vinegar to create a rich dressing.

If you’re firing up the grill for Memorial Day, try this recipe:

Ingredients

Preparation
1. Prepare a grill for medium-high heat cooking.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine olives, vinegar, pepper, water, 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Blend until smooth and set aside.
3. Place zucchini in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice, garlic, remaining 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Grill until well marked and tender, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
4. Layer zucchini on a platter, drizzling each layer with some vinaigrette and sprinkling with some tomato. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.

To use the olive vinaigrette as a salad dressing, dilute it with more oil and vinegar, to taste.

Find more of our favorite vegetable recipes.
  

Brothers BBQ sauces: layers of flavor.
Photo by Sue Ding | THE NIBBLE.

Among all the products people send “over the transom” for us to try, the largest category by far is barbecue sauce.

We often say that, if aliens invaded THE NIBBLE offices, they’d think that earthlings lived on barbecue sauce.

Much of what we’re sent is very simple and sweet: ketchup or tomato paste with added sugar, brown sugar, and/or high fructose corn syrup, plus onion powder, Worcestershire and/or hot sauce. The number one ingredient on the label is often one of the sweeteners listed above, if that gives you an idea of the taste.

We call these products “meat sugar.” While we like tomato-based sauces, we really don’t like sugar sauce on our meat.

Only one barbecue sauce has ever been memorable enough to make Top Pick Of The Week, and we happen to sell it in The Nibble Gourmet Market: Grandville’s BBQ Jam (it’s as thick as jam). Treat yourself to a bottle or two—it’s a great Father’s Day gift.

Every so often, a product comes along and stands out from the rest. In the past, we’ve written them up as a group:

 
You may have noticed that we didn’t do a “Best” review in 2009. What happened? Not enough contenders for an article.

But we do have a nominee for 2011: King Brothers.

In 1986, the King Brothers—George, Barry and Darryl—plus Daddy King had a friendly family barbecue cook-off. The winner continued to make his sauce for his family and friends.

The fan base grew, and wanted more barbecue sauce than King could supply. Friends said that they would gladly buy it. One sauce-addicted friend referred to the sauce as “The GOLD,” which became the name of the first sauce produced under the label Brothers Sauces.

“The GOLD” was followed by “The HEAT,” a wing sauce, and Spicy Brown Mustard “GOLD.” Whether on beef, chicken, pork or seafood (some people use it as salad dressing, too), the multi-layered tastes shine through. Sweet and tangy flavors join the rich tomato base to create a noteworthy suite of sauces.

You can purchase Brothers Sauces from the company website.

The brothers also make Granny Georgia’s Brown Suga Dessert Sauce. It’s a bit sweet for us, but our neighbor, to whom we gave the jar, was thrilled.