A Great Use For Old Fruit

So, you've got fruit that is way overripe, or maybe you have apple cores or other parts of fruit that you aren't planning on eating....what to do with it?

(Instead of simply throwing it out, give fruit leftovers a second life.  The E.P.A. stated that food scraps made up to 14.1% of municipal solid waste in 2009 1.)

There are a couple of options.

1. Add them to a compost

2. Set them out for animals such as Butterflies!

If you have a butterfly garden, a great addition is to add a rotting fruit tray.  Some butterflies prefer fruit juice to flower nectar.  You can also add a puddling tray, which is made up of water and sand.  Butterflies will use puddling trays to absorb minerals and moisture.  A great example is below from Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, MD.

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2009 Facts and Figures; December 2010

What is an Heirloom Variety?

Maybe you've seen them before, maybe not: purple carrots, yellow tomatoes, black rice, red potatoes.

Heirloom varieties.

What does this mean?

An heirloom plant is one that has been grown for a long time in human history, but is no longer commonly grown in modern large-scale agriculture.

These are not new hybrids.  They have been around for centuries.  Not that hybridization is necessarily bad, but lest you fear that these have ben concocted in a lab and tomatoes are supposed to be red, let me reassure you that tomatoes have been green, yellow, orange and red for a very long time.

www.lexiconofsustainability.com

Modern day agriculture is very focused on uniformity.  As a result, large-scale operations tend to grow only one variety of corn, potato, tomato etc.  While this may be effective at producing french fries that all look the same, we are missing out on a multitude of benefits that various varieties of plants have to offer. Not all potatoes are created equal, for example.  While the common New and Russet potatoes get a bad rap, purple potatoes are loaded with antioxidants.

An article from Rodale with more information: Purple Potatoes: Your New Blood Pressure Medicine

One of the keys to a healthy diet is variety.  We need to consume a variety of foods in order to obtain the vast array of micronutrients that our bodies need.  A great way to do this is to add variety within the foods that you already eat.  Is rice standard in your diet?  Try cooking with different types of rice.  There are dozens of rice varieties, each with their own unique flavor profile that can add to your health and to the deliciousness of your meal.

More information about the greatness of black rice: District Avenue Nutrition: White rice, Brown rice, What’s BLACK rice?

Here's another reason to care:

In general, it is hard to find heirloom varieties at standard grocery stores. More health conscious grocery stores, however, do offer a lot of heirloom options and farmers markets are teeming with them. You see, the reason that there are, or at least were, so many different varieties of each plant species is that plants can adapt to be grown in different regions with different conditions.  Through the generations, farmers keep the seeds that thrive and pass those on to their children.  Thus, local heirloom varieties have been adapted over the years to be successful in your local area.  That means that these plants by nature require less external help to deal with pests and weather because they have evolved to be better suited to the climate.  Unfortunately, due to the monoculture mentality of large-scale agriculture, many heirloom varieties have been lost.  We are losing Agrobiodiversity.

Some numbers from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations:

[Box 5] 100 YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL CHANGE: SOME TRENDS AND FIGURES RELATED TO AGROBIODIVERSITY * Since the 1900s, some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have left their multiple local varieties and landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties. * 30 percent of livestock breeds are at risk of extinction; six breeds are lost each month. * Today, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species. * Of the 4 percent of the 250 000 to 300 000 known edible plant species, only 150 to 200 are used by humans. Only three - rice, maize and wheat - contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. * Animals provide some 30 percent of human requirements for food and agriculture and 12 percent of the world’s population live almost entirely on products from ruminants. Source: FAO. 1999b

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5609e/y5609e02.htm

We have already lost a lot, but we can preserve what we have.  Buy heirloom varieties and support the use of locally cultivated seeds.

Eating heirlooms can be easy substitutions/additions.  Next time you have a veggie tray at an event, try throwing in some purple and white carrots beside the orange ones.  You'll have the most beautiful display and be helping everyone to eat the rainbow!

top photos via housebeautiful.com, heirloomtomatoplants.com, preservinghealth.wordpress.com, wholefoodsonabudget.com

Don't Fear the Bean

Beans are a really interesting topic.  

They hold many different associations for people: non-animal protein and fiber, mexican and southern cuisine, bloating and stomach discomfort....

Which of the the previous categories you most closely fall under probably goes hand in hand with how beans are incorporated in your diet.

Maybe you are a vegetarian or someone who likes to try meatless mondays.  Maybe you have beans with your meat.  Maybe you only eat beans when they are served near a tortilla or corn bread.  Either way, if you have ever experienced the potential negative consequences of bean consumption, you probably limit your intake and thus do not get all of the awesome benefits from eating beans.  

For example:

Bean consumption has been suggested to reduce cholesterol, regulate blood sugar and has been linked to lower rates of certain cancers.  They are rich in B vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants, as well as the classically known protein and fiber. 

A great article about the greatness of beans: Beans: Fabulous Health Benefits, Weight Management and Nutrition at Very Low Cost

So, first of all, how on Earth do we cook beans in a way that won't leave us bloated and cramping?

**The following is for dried beans.  I prefer them to canned for a couple reasons: 1. They are really cheap.  Seriously, anyone who says it's too expensive to eat healthy doesn't buy dried beans.  Even organic dried beans are super affordable. 2. Most cans have a chemical coating on the inside that I would rather not consume.  Not to mention the aluminum from the can and any other additives such as massive amounts of sodium that are common.  Of course, in a pinch, use canned beans. It happens.

This is how I cook beans.  My friends and family constantly tell me how they never have any trouble eating the beans that I cook as opposed to at other places, so I think it's a good process.

1. Presoak:  If you are cooking any beans that are not lentils or split peas they should be presoaked.  Personally I find that the quick soak method is actually far superior to the long "normal" way. The normal way means soaking them over night in cold water. The quick soak method means you put the beans in an appropriately sized pot with an inch or two of water above them (an inch for a 1/2 cup of beans, 2 inches for a cup is a good guideline).  Bring the water to a boil.  Let the beans boil for a couple minutes then turn the heat off. Let the beans sit with the lid on.  

How long to let them sit?  An hour is a good guide.  Longer can be better and I've gotten away with much shorter.  It can depend on the bean.  If the beans have gotten larger and the water has changed color to resemble a bit of the bean color, that's a good sign.  The biggest key I find is the next step.

2. DUMP THE WATER:  You need a strainer or colander that can withstand fairly high heat for this whole process.  Pour the beans into the strainer and dump all of the water.  Rinse the beans and the pot out.  Leave the strainer in the sink.

3.  Cooking:  This is where my method really differs.

Put the beans back in the pot with a bit more water on top than you did in the soaking step.  Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer.  Different beans take different lengths of time to cook. You can look up average cooking times HERE.  (Although, to be honest, the best thing is to test beans as you go because I have found that beans often take less time than they say.  When the beans are soft but not mushy they are done.)

Ok here is the IMPORTANT PART:  Depending on about how long you think the beans are going to take- when they are about 1/3 of the way through DUMP THE WATER AGAIN.  Pour the whole pot of hot water and beans into the strainer (Not too quickly, be careful of splash).  Fill the pot back with fresh water, add the beans back and return to the stove top.  Again, bring to a boil and simmer.   

Do that again when the beans are about 2/3 of the way through.  Essentially, you will be dumping the beans twice and putting completely fresh water in.  I swear that this is the trick!  You can try to skim the scum off the top and other little techniques, but I have found that the way to not have gas-causing beans is to dump the water while cooking.  

When the beans are done, pour them a final time through the strainer and they are ready to be added to your dish in whatever manner you've concocted.  Happy eating!