October 2015
&
35
FOOD BITES
By Angela S. Hoover, Staff Writer
Saving Spoiled
Produce
It happens to all of us at some time
or another: Our produce starts to go
bad before we can eat it all. But keep
in mind produce is still nutritionally
(and tastily) viable even after it shows
signs of decay. It’s just a matter of how
to prepare the items to taste good.
Instead of trashing them, here are
ways to save spoiled produce and still
enjoy delicious its taste and nutrition.
• Broccoli or potatoes: Roast them.
The high, dry heat draws the sugars,
which create the crisp edges and
sweet flavors of roasted vegetables, to
the surface. Preheat the oven to 450
degrees and toss evenly cut vegetables
with olive oil to coat. Roast until
golden brown and tender, usually five
to 20 minutes, depending upon size.
Cooked this way, broccoli and potatoes will last another five days in the
fridge and can also be used in soups,
salads, omelets, pasta or eaten as is.
• Leafy greens: Juice them. A
blender is all you need. Blend them
with an apple and some water and
strain the pulp out afterward for an
invigorating, healthy drink. You can
also leave in the pulp for a heavier
“shake” if you like.
• Cucumbers and onions: Pickle
them. Sprinkle them liberally with
sugar and salt and let stand until the
sugar and salt have dissolved and
drawn some liquid out of the vegetable. Cover with a 50/50 mix of water
and vinegar (use rice vinegar for a
milder taste) and refrigerate.
• Lemons, cucumber, hot chilies
and ginger: Infuse them. Flavor vodka
by steeping the peels of any vegetable
in the bottle for two weeks. You can
also infuse water the same way, only
faster, in a couple of hours. Fruit is
also great for infusing water.
• Zucchini, carrots or other vegetables: Grate them and add them to
salads. Or you can sauté them in a stir
fry, fold them into a bread batter, use
them in an omelet or mix them with
egg and flour to make a batter to fry
up crispy, tasty fritters.
Meaty Matters
This past September, horse DNA
was found in the United States food
supply chain. The discovery was
made by researchers at Chapman
University’s Food Science Program
in two separate studies on meat mislabeling in consumer meat products
sold in the United States. One study
analyzed commercial ground meats
from supermarkets and online specialty meat distributors. Of 48 samples, 10 were mislabeled. Of those 10,
nine were found to contain additional
meat species. Horse meat, which is
illegal to sell in the United States
commercial market, was found in two
of the samples. The researchers, who
published their findings in the journal
Food Control, suggest the mislabeling was due to either intentional mixing of lower-cost meat species into
higher-cost products or unintentional
mixing of meat species due to crosscontamination during processing.
The second study looked into the
$39 billion game meat industry. Of
54 samples, 10 products (18.5 percent of the samples) were potentially
mislabeled. Two products labeled
as “bison” and one labeled as “yak”
were actually domestic cattle. The
distributor sold ground beef products
for $22/kg, compared to $43.98/kg
for yak burgers. Black bear-labeled
products were found to actually be
American beaver, and a product
labeled pheasant was actually helmeted guinea fowl. Additionally, five
products containing the DNA of
near-threatened bison and vulnerable
lion were correctly labeled and legally
sold.
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