BostonZest

Ginger as Medicine

On Wednesday we wrote about how we are all using more ginger than in times past and how we love our gingery Asian Chicken broth. While most of our broth is used in cooking, we also use it as medicine.

Ginger as Medicine

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center maintains a directory of herbs and botanicals with information about their uses. Their report on ginger points out that, “Ginger root contains compounds that may help relieve or prevent nausea and vomiting. These substances can increase the flow of saliva and digestive juices and may also help calm the stomach and intestine.”

Liquid Ginger!

We sip a cup of warm homemade, ginger-scented chicken stock rather than ginger ale for an upset tummy. We share filtered-until-it-is-clear supplies of it with friends who are preparing for a colonoscopy, and we’ve supplied friends with colds, flu, and chemotherapy patients with sips of what one friend called, “your magic elixir.”

Penny loves ginger tea. She often makes her own with ginger from our supply, but you can buy some excellent organic ginger tea.

Some folks swear by ginger mints, ginger gum, or organic candied ginger to combat motion sickness.

In “Ginger Root In Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine,” author Eyton Shalom writes, “There are no panaceas in medicine, but if there were going to be one, it would have to be the humble ginger root.”

Please Read this Important Part!

Even with all these positive recommendations, increasing ginger consumption may not be for everyone. In addition to following the scientific research on each substance, Sloan Kettering also puts side effects and warnings even on everyday items like ginger. If you are planning on adding a lot of any ingredient or a supplement containing that ingredient to your diet, you would be wise to check for interactions with medications and medical conditions.

You should also let your personal physician know if you are using something like ginger as medicine.

Related Post: Ginger Goes Mainstream

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Ginger Goes Mainstream

In an interview with NPR, food writer Nigella Lawson said, "I think ginger has a heat, a warmth that is often not fully understood because I think people use a small amount. And if you use quite a lot, you really see that it’s like reaching for another form of pepper.

As more of us acclimatize our palates and enjoy foods with stronger flavors and heat, ginger is showing up in unexpected and delightful places. One of Ed’s favorite ginger discoveries is spicy ginger limeade. 

It's always part of our order from Bon Me, and we make it at home with local ginger or ginger syrup from Old Friends Farm.

Each season we buy a supply of local ginger and the ginger syrup made from it at the Atlas Farm stand at the Copley Farmers Market. They bring it to Boston for their neighbor Old Friends Farm. We use some fresh, clean and freeze some, and even make our own pickled ginger!

Using More Ginger

These days we buy ginger in larger quantities. In dishes where we once used a touch of ginger, we might now add a pile! We use it fresh, pickled, and juiced. Penny has become a pro at peeling it with a teaspoon but, in some cases, she’ll just give it a scrub and use it peel and all.

At least half of the homemade chicken broth we make contains ginger along with scallions, star anise, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. We use this to make quick, pho-like noodle soups and to add to stir-fry dishes in place of a more basic chicken stock.

And, don't limit yourself to savory uses, pour ginger syrup over ice cream, rice pudding, and other desserts.   

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015-2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Toasting November with a Special Wine: Guy Larmandier, Cramant Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs in a Special Place

November is a month to give thanks, so we are going to toast it with a Champagne: Guy Larmandier, Cramant Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs at Select Oyster Bar.

We recently had another reason to celebrate, so we shared a half bottle of Guy Larmandier Blanc de Blancs over lunch. It reminded us that this is one of the few all Chardonnay Champagnes that we have on our favorites list. It's from one of our favorite importers, Neal Rosenthal. And, it made the beautifully curated wine list at one of our favorite places, Select Oyster Bar. That certainly qualified it for a place in this year of favorites.

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month! This year we have selected a favorite wine for our monthly toast. 

We hope you'll join our Sparkling Resolution. You don't have to buy a bottle. You can go to your favorite place with a good wine list and enjoy a glass of sparkle over lunch or dinner or share a bottle or half bottle as we will today. 

We'll toast all the people along the way, from grapevine to glass, who dedicate themselves to bringing great wine our way!

 

Related Posts:

Here's the original post on this wine.

Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

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Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

September's Toast: Here's to Keeping Summer Going with Etxaniz Txakoli Rose!

If there is a Txakoli on a wine list, you can be sure Ed will consider ordering it. In this year of old favorites for our Happy New Month toast, we'll pour from on high with a bottle of Etxaniz Txakoli Rose.

After a scorching month of August, we're hoping for a September that's more typical of a Boston summer. We've been hoarding a few bottles of this favorite wine from the Basque region of Spain. This particular producer creates one of our favorites. It's a nice low 11.5% alcohol by volume and is wonderfully food friendly. Lower alcohol makes for a more refreshing warm weather drink.

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month! In 2018 we decided to feature a year of old favorites like this one. Tonight we'll pop the cork and pour this frizzante wine from on high to create its signature froth! 

On egin!  (A Basque toast which roughly translates, "Enjoy your meal!")

 

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Food Waste Feast Is Our Friday Link

Today we want to encourage all our food loving readers to click over to Food Waste Feast, the website that helps you, "Cook more creatively, and stop throwing away perfectly good food."

This site comes from Mei and Irene from the Mei Mei food truck, restaurant, and catering company. We have deep admiration for all the wise, generous, and sustainable decisions this family has made as they've found a place for themselves in the competitive food world. 

Now they have found a way to help you become more sustainable by using the food you might be tossing out. Earlier this week, we published a post that explained that "Your Most Expensive Food Is the Food You Waste."

The next step is to buy just what you will use and use what you buy.

Recipes by Ingredient!

The Food Waste Feast team is building valuable resources for those of us who no longer feel that wasting food is acceptable. You can find recipes by ingredient for what you have on hand. For example, the photo above is a recipe they call, "Pasta with Wrinkled Cherry Tomatoes."

They say,

"Because sometimes you get super excited about tomato season, and you purchase three large local containers of cherry tomatoes, and then some of them inevitably linger a bit longer than you wanted them to and get all wrinkly and forlorn on the countertop....anyone else ever find themselves in that position? Just me?"

We say,

Irene and Mei you are not alone. We've done that too. But, from now on when that happens, we'll click over to the recipes by ingredient section of Food Waste Feast and find inspiration for a dish to use them.

More Resources!

Food Waste Feast also gives you information about the issues surrounding food waste and tips on how to buy, store, and use up the things you do purchase and, sadly, when to toss them. For example here is the section on "Veggies that are actually fruits" like those tomatoes we're all overbuying right now.

This is a deep treasure trove of useful information. We suggest you make an initial visit and click around to find the areas you need right now. Then bookmark Food Waste Feast on your phone and make that your reading for times when you have to sit around waiting. Penny has been doing that for the past few weeks and has picked up useful information and been inspired to make new dishes by reviewing the recipes. 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos and screenshots: courtesy of Food Waste Feast

Your Most Expensive Food Is the Food You Waste

People complain about the high price of food in restaurants, especially those places that source prized, fresh, local products for their menus. Ed and I hear complaints about the price of produce at farmers markets compared to supermarket sale prices or places that sell overstock and remainder clearance fruit and vegetables. But, in reality, the most expensive food most of us buy is the food we throw away.

Tip: A quick stir-fry, like this cashew chicken, can prevent wasted food by using up the bits and pieces in you refrigerator.

Wasted Food vs Food Waste

A lot is being written these days about food waste. We need to rethink that term. Food waste, to us, is the potato peels, apple cores, trimmed fat, and onion skins left when we finish preparing a meal. Many of those item can be turned into compost and some of what you are tossing can become a new menu item with the right recipe. We'll have more resources for doing this in upcoming posts. 

Wasted food, on the other hand, is the avocado that became overripe and was tossed because I bought too many. It’s the leftover chicken that sat long enough in the refrigerator for us to question its food safety. It’s the moldy orange or rotten peach in the fruit bowl. We’ve taken aim at this wasted food in our personal campaign to get the most value out of our food dollars.

Tip: We hard boil any older eggs whenever we buy a new carton. Those ready-to-go eggs help us turn a bit of leftover potato salad into a well-balanced lunch.

Vacation Lessons

If you are at all like us, you shop with greater care in the weeks before a trip because you have a set deadline to use up all the fresh food you buy.

Tip: Some toasted bread cubes, a ready-to-use avocado, and a drizzle of good olive oil can turn take-out gazpacho into a favorite meal.

Before and during a recent visit to Provincetown, Ed and I restricted our shopping list to those things we could use up in a few days. We bought food one or two meals at a time. When we extended our stay in P-town, we continued to follow that pattern. The result was that we had very little wasted food as we packed to return to Boston.

Since we’ve been home, I’ve followed that same rule. Each day I think about what I have on hand and only add staples that will soon run out and items I need for the next few meals to my shopping list. Try it and see how much less food you waste. 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

A Few Tidbits About Onions and Other Alliums

Our shopping lists always seem to include some sort of allium, be it onions, scallions, garlic, shallots, chives, or leeks. Wikipedia explains that, “... Allium is the Latin word for garlic, and the type species for the genus is Allium sativum which means cultivated garlic." Around our house, we use a lot of this species!

Yellow, Brown, Red, Spanish, or  Sweet Onions

You may notice that some recipes specify which of the major types of onions to use. What we typically call an onion is known as a “storage onion” by those in the trade. These break down into: white, yellow, red, Spanish, and sweet.

Brown or yellow onions are the most popular for everyday cooking. Red onions are most often used raw or pickled in dishes and these caramelize beautifully when grilled. White onions are the standard for Mexican recipes. Sweet onions include Vidalia, Walla Walla, and Bermuda and seem to be rising in popularity.

We love having a jar of pickled red onions on hand to add to salads and sandwiches. This can be a simple, quick pickle that you make by bringing a cup of vinegar, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, and a tablespoon of salt to a boil until everything is dissolved. Then pour it over sliced or diced red onions and refrigerate.

In early summer, we may be able to buy what are called spring or summer onions from our local farmers. These have larger bulbs than scallions. They are the same ones the farmer will harvest and dry later in the season.

Other Alliums

Most plants selected to grow scallions never form bulbs. Scallions are perhaps our favorite allium. We always have these on hand, but have a split opinion on the best part of this vegetable.  

Ed likes the white bulb and will happily chomp up any pieces that Penny decided not to use in a dish. Penny loves the green section and will sprinkle them on many of the plates coming out of our kitchen. She’ll put more of the white on Ed’s plate and lots of the green on hers.

Shallots and garlic are among the first additions to many a pan on our stove. We also use finely minced shallots and crushed garlic as the start of most vinaigrettes. We’ll add the acid to these early in the salad making process. A few minutes of marinating seems to gentle and round out the flavor. Leeks are essential additions to our stock pots and are wonderful as one of the vegetables at the bottom of a roasting pan that will hold up and flavor a chicken, beef, or pork roast.

Nutrition

Who knew alliums were so good for you? Perhaps anyone who lived through the Great Depression and still enjoys the occasional raw onion sandwich that was part of their diet in those days.

In her book "Vegetable Literacy” Deborah Madison summarized the health benefits of onions.

"Strong-tasting onions are the ones that prevent blood clotting, lower the heart rate, benefit the stomach, and provide us with a long list of vitamins (including B, C, and E), minerals (phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulfur, and even traces of copper), and disease-fighting quercetin in amounts that far exceed those found in other extremely good-for-you vegetables. And the really good news is that the benefits remain even after the onions have been cooked, although it appears that they may be more effective when eaten raw."

Raw, grilled, sautéd, braised, sliced, chopped, smashed, or pickled, we love them all!

Related Posts:

Cook's Treasure: Sautéed Onions and Garlic

It's Great to Have Pickled Red Onion on Hand. My Two-Ingredient Method and Tips for Enjoying Your Treasure

A Follow-Up on Our Pickled Red Onion Post

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2015-2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino 
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)