Try rice chips, made of two whole grains: brown rice and corn.

We love them so much, we can’t stop eating them.

There are six flavors, from sweet Baked Cinnamon to Salsa Fresca, Sea Salt, Sweet Chili and Tangy BBQ. While we heartily devoured every flavor, the standout is Parmesan.

Beyond snacking from the bag and dipping, the chips can be served instead of crackers and bread alongside soups and salads. Crumbled, they make “croutons” and crusts.

The chips are gluten-free, vegan and certified kosher.

• Read more in the full review…then get some!
• Find more of our favorite salty snacks in our Gourmet Snacks Section.

Brown rice makes a healthy yet absolutely
delicious chip. Photo by Katharine
Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

One of our favorite whole grain and
multigrain pancake mixes. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

You’ll love them even more if you win this week’s Gourmet Giveaway prize from Allens Hill Farm. It was one of the favorites we tasted of 99 different whole grain and multigrain pancake and waffle mixes (read the entire review).

This week’s winner will receive a pancake and waffle gift box, which includes three delicious pancake mixes, one Belgian waffle mix and apple syrup. The 8 Grain Buttermilk Pancake Mix was among the best whole grain and multigrain pancake mixes we tried. Read more about it. Retail value: Approximately $33.00.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of the first page of our Pancake Glossary and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, October 4th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• For more information about Allens Hill Farm, visit AllensHillFarm.com.

Not everyone knows how to boil water correctly.

Here’s some advice from Chef Louis Eguaras, author of 101 Things I Learned In Culinary School.

1. Choose the right size pot. This means a pot large enough to comfortably hold what you need to cook, with about 1/3 room at the top after the food is covered with water.

2. Fill the pot with water. If the food is to be placed in the pot from the beginning, add the food and cover it with cold water.

Why cold water? Wouldn’t water from the hot water tap help the water boil faster?

Photo by Zsuzsanna Kilian | SXC.

3. Add salt to the water. Adding it at the beginning of the process rather than at the end helps it get absorbed into the food.

4. Place the pot on the stove and cover it with a lid. If you don’t have a lid, use a fry pan, tea kettle or any other heat-proof cover. In a pinch, you can use aluminum foil.

Why do you need a lid? It keeps in the steam generated by the heat and helps the water boil faster. Without a lid, a portion of the water will evaporate. But worse, the water will take four times as long to boil, wasting your time and valuable fuel.

Water boils at 212°F/100°C at sea level. The boiling point drops 1.8°F/1°C for every 1,000-foot increase in altitude. So if you’re cooking at a different altitude—on vacation or visiting relatives, for example—don’t be surprised if the water boils faster or more slowly.

5. Don’t use a burner or flame larger than the pot. This not only wastes energy; if flames escape to a wider circumference on your stovetop, other items can catch fire (including grease spatters).

Now, you can boil water like a professional.

Don’t be fooled by package ingredients. If
it doesn’t say whole wheat or whole grain,
it isn’t. (This sandwich bread is.)

The darker-looking bagel choices included oat bran, oatmeal, pumpernickel and whole wheat. But “dark” doesn’t mean “whole grain.”

Pumpernickel isn’t made from whole-grain flour; oatmeal and whole wheat are. Oat bran, while high in soluble fiber, isn’t considered a whole grain (it has the fiber but not the vitamins and minerals).

Processed white flour is stripped of much of its fiber and nutrients, while whole grain flour contains fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals including B vitamins and trace minerals (iron, zinc, copper and magnesium). A diet rich in whole grains has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some forms of cancer.

Food producers have responded and far beyond sliced bread and bagels, there are whole grain tortillas, pita, pretzels, pasta, pizza crusts and other flour-based foods.

• If it says wheat flour and not “whole wheat flour,” it is not whole grain. “Unbleached” and “enriched,” “cracked wheat” and “100% wheat flour” do not change that fact.
• In fact, the word “enriched” is a dead giveaway for refined flour; after processing, vitamins are added back in to enrich the nutrition-stripped flour.
• “Multigrain” is not whole grain. It just means that it’s a blend of different, processed grains. It may or may not contain some whole grain.
• The same goes with your breakfast cereal. While Total, Product 19, and Special K are seen as healthy choices, only Total is whole grain.

How else can you be sure that it’s whole grain?

• See our list of whole grains.
• Learn more about the benefits of whole grains, how much you need to consume daily and how easy it is to insert them into your eating plan.

For example, basic balsamic vinegar is slightly acidic and best used for salad dressings.

The next grade up is significantly smoother, and should be used for finishing and for marinades.

Trade up one more step and the balsamic has a well rounded, full-bodied flavor, ideal to make warm sauces over meats and fish.

The top grade, made from the the best reserves, should itself be reserved to glorify a simple dessert like fresh fruit and ice cream, or a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Follow the same steps with olive oil: regular for cooking, extra-virgin for dressing salads and garnishing other foods.

Know when to save and when to
splurge. Photo by Andi Pantz | IST.

• Learn more in our Oil & Vinegar Section.