4 links tagged “food”

Washing fruits and vegetables does reduce the risk of food poisoning. However, washing alone may not be enough.Studies show that some disease-causing microbes can evade even chemical sanitizers. These bacteria can make their way inside the leaves of lettuce, spinach and other vegetables and fruit, where surface treatments cannot reach them. Microbes can also organize themselves into tightly knit packs called biofilms to protect themselves from harm.Biofilms can harbor multiple versions of infectious, disease-causing bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli.Researchers suggested that irradiation, a food treatment that exposes food to a source of electron beams, could effectively kill internalized pathogens that are beyond the reach of conventional chemical sanitizers.Irradiation disrupts the genetic material of living cellhttp://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/05/06/top-10-crimes-against-your-body.aspxs, inactivating parasites and destroying pathogens and insects in food.

Did you know that many, if not most, blenders can be used with a standard mason jar, or wide-mouthed mason jar? This is a trick my mother taught me. Apparently 40 years ago or so, about the time this blender pictured was bought, manufacturers used to include a mason jar in the box with the blender. Mom recalls even a booklet that listed the many things one could make with the mason jar blender, including ground spices, whipped cream, and peanut butter. We use this trick most often to make whipped cream. The blender whips it right in the jar, so if we have extra, it's already in a jar for storage. And it is easier when it comes to making small quantities.

World cancer experts have finally declared what NewsTarget readers learned nearly four years ago: That processed meats cause cancer, and anyone seeking to avoid cancer should avoid eating all processed meats for life.

Today is National Hunger Awareness Day and so I thought I'd tell you about this great book called Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio. It's a fascinating coffee table book with portraits of families, surrounded by the food they eat during the course of a week. It's amazingly thought-provoking (compare the Californian family to say, the family in Bhutan or Chad) and wonderfully interesting. There are 30 families in 24 countries, and each of them are profiled with a small story, a full shopping list (with prices) and a family recipe. If you get a chance, I highly recommend that you spend some time with it. It's available for $40, but you can probably find it at your local library. I've included some of the photos in the book, click on each one for more information (including location and money spent on food per week).