What's
the latest at lunch? What's the dish during dinner? Here's where you'll
find out what's new in the food world, from new temptations in the
market to new cookbooks in your bookstore's cuisine section. Check
in frequently for updates. After all, news is like food — you
want to get it when it's fresh!
The
simple soybean is poised to be one of the most formidable foods
of the next century. Though soy has been the mainstay of the Asian
diet for centuries, only recently has soy been "rediscovered" in
the United States. As the health benefits of eating soy come to
light, new uses for the bean are popping up everywhere. Soy-based
foods such as soy milk, soy cheese and tofu are making healthy headlines.
Soy contains disease-fighting isoflavonens that ward off such maladies
as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. It is said to build
bones, and ease menopausal symptoms in women. If you haven't a clue
what to do with soy, and want some great recipes, pick up The Soy
of Cooking cookbook by Marie Oser. When cooking with soy, especially
in the form of tofu, remember – soy will take on any flavor
you add to it.
One
of the most important culinary inventions of the last millenium
is the original fluoropolymer resin developed in 1938 by DuPont
chemist Roy Plunkett - which you know as "Teflon®". So touts
the September 1999 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. Teflon® was
eventually applied to cookware as a non-stick coating. Re-engineered
over the years to meet consumer needs, the Teflon® coating,
available today as SilverStone® and Autograph® brand non-sticks,
has evolved into what Bon Appetit magazine calls a "quick-release,
easy-clean surface" that "protects manicures and helps save calories."
Cooking
Light gave millennium kudos to DuPont's non-stick cookware.
In its October 1999 forecast of future cuisine, the magazine noted
that when the first-ever coated pans were offered, "Teflon®
was an instant hit," adding that presently, "hard-anodized non-stick
cookware is the fastest-growing category."
Heirloom
Gardening, which entails using seeds from fruits and vegetables
grown before 1925 to plant new gardens, is experiencing a resurgence.
Food grown from the heirloom seeds is said to have far superior
flavor to regular produce, which due to refrigeration and modern
production procedures, loses its taste.
In the past, Heirloom growers found their produce unable to withstand
shipping and the rigors of the produce aisle. Today's heirloom gardeners
are developing easy-to-grow varieties for the modern supermarket.
These days, there are many sources for heirloom seeds and information
on what farm markets carry the produce nationwide. One helpful source
is the Seed Savers Exchange at 319-382-5990.
Artisan
cheeses - cheese made by hand from sheep's milk - are gaining popularity
in the United States. Sheep dairying has long been a tradition in
other parts of the world with such cheeses as Pecorino and Roquefort,
the result.
One
of the most successful companies in the sheep's cheese market is
the award-winning Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in Old Chatham,
New York. Using traditional European methods of cheese-making, the
small company in rural upstate New York creates new American cheeses,
such as a sheep's wheel with edible rind and a buttery Camembert.
The company's heavenly Ricotta recalls the fresh cheese of an old-world
European dairy farm.
Old
Chatham's sheep roam lush organic pastures, chewing on hay and whole
grains. The sheep are milked twice daily in the farm's custom-designed
"milking parlor." An on-site creamery transforms the sweet flavored,
naturally homogenized milk into small batches of artisan cheeses
that are shaped and then placed in a salt brine bath. The cheeses
are then cured on special racks where they are turned every day
for even curing. Old Chatham Sheepherding Company cheese, symbolized
by a lone black sheep, is available through gourmet shops or by
mail order at 1-800-SHEEP60.
The
simple soybean is poised to be one of the most formidable foods
of the next century. Though soy has been the mainstay of the Asian
diet for centuries, only recently has soy been "rediscovered" in
the United States. As the health benefits of eating soy come to
light, new uses for the bean are popping up everywhere. Soy-based
foods such as soy milk, soy cheese and tofu are making healthy headlines.
One
of the most important culinary inventions of the last millenium
is the original fluoropolymer resin developed in 1938 by DuPont
chemist Roy Plunkett - which you know as "Teflon®". So touts
the September 1999 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. Teflon® was
eventually applied to cookware as a non-stick coating. Re-engineered
over the years to meet consumer needs, the Teflon® coating,
available today as SilverStone® and Autograph® brand non-sticks,
has evolved into what Bon Appetit magazine calls a "quick-release,
easy-clean surface" that "protects manicures and helps save calories."
Heirloom
Gardening, which entails using seeds from fruits and vegetables
grown before 1925 to plant new gardens, is experiencing a resurgence.
Food grown from the heirloom seeds is said to have far superior
flavor to regular produce, which due to refrigeration and modern
production procedures, loses its taste.
Artisan
cheeses - cheese made by hand from sheep's milk - are gaining popularity
in the United States. Sheep dairying has long been a tradition in
other parts of the world with such cheeses as Pecorino and Roquefort,
the result. 