An organic apple orchard. Photo by Patrick Hajzler.
Earth Day celebrates the Earth’s natural environment. Earth Day takes place on April 22nd, but all of April is Earth Month. Think of the small steps you can take to help save the planet. Start with these earth-saving supermarket tips from the Bulk is Green Council.
Buy only the food that you need. There are so many tempting new items and ingredients, and large sizes are more of a bargain. If you’re not going to use something, don’t buy it. It will likely go bad or expire and add to the household waste. Save the landfill.
Bring your own reusable bags and containers to the store. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and some supermarket chains (Albertson’s and Safeway, to name two) give you a nickel for bringing your own bags (and they sell reusable bags). It’s not the nickel savings that’s important, though; it’s the landfill savings. If you’ve forgotten to BYOB, opt for paper, not plastic. If you walk back and forth to the neighborhood store, use a backpack to carry groceries.
Keep a small fold-up shopping bag, the size of a wallet, in your purse or coat pocket. It’s very useful for small purchases—a quart of milk, toothpaste or a few items where the only option is a plastic bag. Chain drugstores seem to offer only plastic.
Reuse plastic containers. Bring them to the bulk foods section or the deli counter. Just remind the counterperson to deduct the weight of your container.
Buy natural and organic foods whenever possible. They’re often not significantly more expensive. Not only are pesticides and synthetic chemicals used in conventional foods bad for you, but they’re also bad for the environment. Tainted runoff from conventional farms washes into rivers and lakes, which contaminates the water supply and threatens wildlife.
Earth Month is all about awareness. We’ve tucked a fold-up shopping bag into our purse, have a Sodastream (a soda and club soda maker to eliminate bottle and can waste – the regular and diet flavors are outstanding), and are planning to make more changes, one week at a time.
If you enjoy soup as comfort food, here’s a lovely and easy seasonal recipe, made with an abundance of spring herbs. The base is familiar—potatoes, onions and broth—but the quantity of fresh herbs makes it a completely different experience.
The British chef provides both gram and ounce equivalents. Note that the products called double cream and single cream in the U.K. refer to heavy cream and half-and-half, respectively, in the U.S. We recommend using the half-and-half.
What other foods get lost in translation? See our “translation chart” of U.S. and U.K. food terms.
Check out the history of soup and the different types of soup (with beautiful photos). Not only did soup have to wait for fire to be harnessed; it also had to wait for a leakproof, fireproof vessel to be cooked in!
Find our favorite soups and soup recipes in our Gourmet Soups section.
You can get clean brownie edges like this. Photo courtesy Incredibly Edible Cookie Co.
How can you get a perfect edge on your brownies—a crisp edge with no crumbs?
Here’s the secret from Lauren Braun Costello, author of The Competent Cook, which is packed with information and tips:
Freeze the brownies for an hour before cutting!
Here’s the technique:
Before baking, line the brownie pan with aluminum foil that hangs two inches over two of the sides.
After the baked brownies have cooled completely, lift them out of the pan with the two foil handles. Place the brownies in the freezer for an hour.
Remove the brownies, peel away the foil and slice the brownies on a cutting board using a sharp chef’s knife. (Second tip: Keep your knives sharp!) Voilà.
On the other hand, if everybody in your home fights over the crusty pieces, here’s a special brownie pan that creates crusty edges for everyone!
Find our favorite brownies and brownie recipes in our Gourmet Brownies Section.
There’s truth in the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” You can boost your immunity with apples—including apple products such as 100% apple juice, cider and apple sauce.
According to the U.S. Apple Association, recent research suggests that apples might be the key to achieving a stronger immune system and better gut health (the reason many people consume foods enhanced with probiotic bacteria).
A study published in Denmark’s January 2010 issue of BMC Microbiology found that long-term consumption of apples may promote growth of these “friendly bacteria” in your stomach, potentially leading to a stronger immune system.
Apple-balsamic salmon. Get the recipe. Photo courtesy USApple.org.
The findings point to the benefits of apple pectin—a type of dietary fiber found in apples—working in tandem with the abundance of antioxidants in apples.
So, work an apple a day into your diet and see if it makes you feel better. A one-cup portion of fresh apple is 65 calories, with 3g dietary fiber, 13g sugars and 10% daily value of Vitamin C.
APPLE TRIVIA
Apples are grown in every state in the continental United States. Top-producing states include Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia.
An estimated 7,500 U.S. apple growers manage orchards covering 379,000 acres, trailing only oranges and grapes in the amount of U.S. acreage committed to fruit production.
In 2008, the average U.S. consumer ate an estimated 16.4 pounds of fresh-market apples and 33.3 pounds of processed apples, for a total of 49.8 pounds of fresh apples and apple products.
Almost 65% of the 2008 U.S. apple crop was eaten as fresh fruit, while 34.5% was processed into apple products (1% was not marketed). Of the 34.5% that was processed, 15.7% went into juice and cider, 12.2% was canned, 2.1% was dried, 2.1% was frozen and 1.1% was sold as fresh slices. Other uses include the making of baby food, apple butter or jelly and apple cider vinegar.
