Americans have expanded their Thanksgiving repertoire in recent years. While many of us have fond childhood memories of the classic Sweet Potato Bake studded with miniature marshmallows, our adult tastes now run more toward organic Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples with Pecan Streusel Topping or Curried Sweet Potato.

In recent years, winter squash has replaced sweet potatoes on many Thanksgiving tables. The two are interchangeable in many recipes (see Candied Butternut Squash and Butternut Squash Soup with Sage), and both veggies contain high levels of cancer-fighting carotenoids.

The beauty of winter squash is its many varieties, flavors and preparations. Registered dietitian Karen Collins, nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research, offers the following tips:

• Acorn squash is small, with a very hard rind. Your best bet is to cut it in half and bake it, without peeling it. Season with pumpkin-pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Butternut squash is sweet and moist, with a slightly nutty flavor. The skin is easy to peel, and you can roast cubes or add chunks to a soup or stew.
• Buttercup squash has a sweet flavor, but it can be dry. Use it in moist dishes to avoid drowning it in butter.
• Large squashes (like Hubbard) are also delicious and will provide lots of leftovers. Use what you need now, and freeze cooked cubes or purée.
• Spaghetti squash is a little lower in calories, fiber, and nutrients like vitamin C and potassium. Its preparation is unique, as strands of cooked squash are pulled from the flesh with a fork. As the name implies, it’s often served like pasta.

Photo:

Virtually every supermarket and natural/organic food store is now offering sweet Thanksgiving deals on holiday sweet potatoes, including organic varieties. 

My shopping trips have revealed mixed results. Some of the sweet potatoes have been blemish-free beauties, while others were moldy mounds. 

When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for firmness, dark coloring and a smooth texture. Head to another market if the selection sports wrinkles, bruises, sprouts or decay. (Even if you cut away the decay, the flavor will be rank.) 

Maintain freshness by storing fresh sweet potatoes in a dry, cool (55°F to 60°F) place, such as a cellar, pantry or garage. Do not store them in the refrigerator; they’ll develop a hard core and unpleasant taste. 

Stored properly, sweet potatoes will keep for roughly 30 days. If you’re going to store them at room temperature, they’ll last about a week. 

Never wash sweet potatoes until you’re about to cook them. Excess moisture promotes spoilage. When you’re ready to cook, wash them thoroughly. Whenever possible, leave the skins on, as they contain most of the vegetable’s nutrients. 

Sweet potatoes with dark-orange flesh are moister, while those with lighter skins and yellow flesh are decidedly less sweet and plump. Yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes also require a longer cook time. Avoid mixing the two varieties when cooking, as you’ll encounter textural differences and uneven doneness.

Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission

For years, pesticides and chemicals have been seen as the guardians against food-borne illness, and food “going bad.”

All this probably goes double for meat products. So how do you protect foods, in this case pork, from spoiling, and making you sick?

Researchers have an idea, using vegetables.

Organic meat cannot contain contaminates. And traditional curing involves nitrates, a chemical preservative, i.e. an organic no-no.

So if chemical preservative aren’t allowed, vegetable-based nitrates from organic plants is being looked at as a solution.

Items being considered are lemon powder and natural vinegar, even lactic acid, the stuff in milk might work.

What’s spurred the desire to better preserve organic meats is people don’t realize organics usually don’t last as long as regular meat.

So they save them longer than they should, and often abuse them the same as traditional products. You can’t leave organic meat out too long.

But people often don’t realize this, meaning they increase contracting some sort of food-borne pathogen.

Via Newswise.

Image credit: The Pug Father

Libby’s canned pumpkin, the brand everyone knows, everyone buys, says all the rain in the Midwest this year has made a mess out of the pumpkin fields.

Fields are too soggy to get harvesting equipment going, so lots of pumpkins are rotting with fungus, and soon to be plowed over.

But it isn’t all bad. Organic pumpkin growers in Oregon are filling in the gap Libby’s can’t supply, and raking in the profit.

Some retailers denied adequate shipments of canned pumpkin phoned up Farmers Markets Foods, a major supplier of organic pumpkin, and begged for product.

A spokesperson for the company says they’re shipping out organic canned pumpkin by the truckload.

You never know, maybe this will help shift consumers perception of organics, and they’ll stick with it after Libby’s re-supplies.

Or just use whole organic pumpkins to make pie. I’m an idiot, and I can’t cook, but even I know. Mash it up, add spices, done.

Via The New York Times.

Image credit: SweetSpot.ca

Steven Trudell, PhD, and Joe Ammirati, PhD, know their ’shrooms.

Authors of the recently released Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Trudell is an affiliate professor of forest resources and lecturer in biology, while Ammirati is a professor of biology who specializes in mycology (the study of mushrooms). Both teach at the University of Washington.

The profs wrote this book because mushroom guides are plentiful, but they could never find one that focused on the Pacific Northwest—an area with diverse and abundant mushrooms. In 352 pages, with more than 460 photos, they cover the geographical area, fungi basics, mushroom collecting, fungus ecology and mushroom poisoning.

Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest makes a great gift for organic mushroom aficionados. It regularly retails for $27.95, but Amazon is currently offering the book for $18.45 (a 34% savings).

So Green & Black’s is a dynamite choice. Here in New Jersey, you can find it in the organic sections of most supermarkets.

Green & Black’s, a British company with markets in Europe, North America, and Australia, is chocolate muddy happiness.

And despite the tough economic times, Green & Black’s continues to grow, and has been sought after by many big corporate suitors.

Green & Black’s buys premium quality cocoa from local Mayan farmers in Belize, and their candy bars are both organic and fair trade, meaning they buy directly from farmers, no middleman, so growers get higher payments.

When the company started, owner Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth Foods, positioned the brand as a luxury, rather than just another organic earthy-crunchy food product. And it was a good idea!

Now, Green & Black’s is a globetrotter, doing business in places like Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, and last year it posted $100 million in sales.

And currently, Cadbury, yes, the makers of those crack-like addictive chocolate eggs, owns a portion of the company, and now Kraft Foods is looking to buy them, both companies have interest in Green & Black’s to bolster their own organic image.

Ha! I’m actually running out right now to snag a Toffee. Rawr!

Via The New York Times.

Image credit: SlashFood.com

The traditional Mediterranean diet demonstrates how natural and organic foods can improve your health. 

Characterized by daily consumption of olive oil, fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains, it discourages consumption of processed foods and meat. 

Much of standard Mediterranean fare contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain, heart, skin and eye health. Olive oil should replace vegetable oil, whenever possible. 

“If you are going to cook with oil, doesn’t it make sense to cook with one that contains more omega-3?” asks Chef Nick Stellino, author of numerous cookbooks, including Dine In! and Nick Stellino’s Mediterranean Flavors. 

The following guide, courtesy of the International Olive Oil Council, shows you how to substitute organic olive oil for butter (and margarine): 

• 1 teaspoon butter = 3/4 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter = 2¼ teaspoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter = 1½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter = 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup butter = 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2/3 cup butter = 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup butter = 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup butter = 3/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cups  butter = 1½ cups olive oil 

Tune in tomorrow for our Mediterranean-inspired recipe for Red Beet and Blood Orange Salad.

Photo courtesy of Pompeian

Rookery Farm Eggs, Humphrey Feeds, and Rhug Estate, along with industry donations, will be pouring money into an organic marketing campaign.

The move is in response to figures by the Organic Trade Board, which monitors the organic industry in the U.K., showing a 13% drop in the organic poultry sector.

Apparently, organic marketing in the U.K. needs an overhaul, people are confused.

So the coalition’s advertising and public relations efforts will focus on clarifying what “organic” really means, and highlighting the benefits of organic food and farming.

They hope to do away with that 13% drop, and grow the organic chicken sector by 15% each year. Now that’ll ruffle some feathers!

Via Farmers Weekly Interactive.

Image credit: eHow.com

It’s easy to cut corners nowadays, even for health conscious or organic and natural food consumers.

So, what will people buy in 2010? As the recession continues to hang over our heads.

Mambo Sprouts Marketing, a natural and organic product marketing firm, asked 1,000 organic shoppers what they plan to buy next year.

Despite the higher cost, 68% of respondents will choose organic fruits and vegetables, with 53% aiming to eat organic foods.

And 59% of people will buy more organics next year, but to make it more affordable, 53% will shop during sales, and 51% plan to use coupons.

Organic purchasing priorities included milk, meat, and poultry with 54%, children’s food with 53%, and cheese and eggs with 50%.

Also, 52% of respondents will turn to farmer’s markets and 43% local food-cops to help save money.

It’s a pretty tedious report, but encouraging to see people who pride themselves on conscientious shopping will stick to their guns.

Via Mambo Sprouts Marketing.

Image credit: mag3737

You’re late for work, skip breakfast and grab something when you arrive at your job.

In 1996, the dictionary listed a new word for this meal: deskfast.

Approximately 20% of us indulge in deskfast, according to registered dietitian Karen Collins, nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research. The trick is to choose whole—not junk—foods.

“A strategy for a high-energy, health-promoting breakfast is to include a good source of protein plus a whole grain and a fruit or vegetable,” Collins says. “For protein, consider dairy or soy versions of skim milk, low-fat yogurt or reduced-fat cheese, an egg, peanut butter, walnuts or almonds. For a less traditional breakfast, grab leftover chicken or chili.

“Juice is one quick way to get vitamins and antioxidants,” she adds, “but if you’re trying to lose weight or have trouble with mid-morning hunger pangs, studies suggest that solid fruit [or vegetables] may keep you satisfied longer and for fewer calories.”

Fresh fruit can pose the greatest deskfast challenge, unless you work close to a store that carries natural and organic foods. Collins urges readers to wash or cut up fruit the night before.

Packing a complete deskfast the night before is the most economical option.

“In 5 to 10 minutes, you can make a peanut butter and fruit sandwich on whole wheat, a container of whole-grain cereal with separate containers of milk and fruit to combine at work, or grab dinner leftovers,” she says.