theo

Organic Trail Mix

Posted by theo at 11:14 am No Responses »

Aug 272010

I recently bought a small sample of Organic Trail Mix at the local shop. I almost fainted at the cost of $9.35/pound (here’s my point of reference..this week lobster is going for $3.99/pound..) but bought a small sample just to check it out. .. Well, as expected, it was interesting and had a nice mix of flavors going on. However, I don’t think I’ll be buying it again anytime soon. And the reason is not so much the cost as the fact that it’s only various ingredients mixed together .. simple. And so this is something that could be customize to one’s own palate to be an even better match for you personal preferences.

For instance, almonds and walnuts would be increased, and the raisins .. these would be changed to organic jumbo raisins (which I’m pretty fond of).. And having a sweet-tooth there would probably be some broken up Newman’s O’s cookies in there. All made fresh and exactly how you like it.

Organic Cantaloupe

Posted by theo at 7:53 pm No Responses »

Aug 112010

If your repertoire for cantaloupe is limited to slicing and eating on a plate consider the following:

Cantaloupe Based Organic Fruit Salad (made with Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Pineapple, Blueberries and Banana)
Cantaloupe Ice Pops (made with Cantaloupe, water, sugar and mint leaves)
Cantaloupe Martini (made with pureed cantaloupe, water, sugar & lime mixed with Vodka & Midori)

Not only are there many foods we haven’t tried but many different ways to serve the foods we now love. Go ahead, be fearless. Laugh at your mistakes and delight in your successes.

Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans

Posted by theo at 3:44 pm No Responses »

Aug 102010

If you’re not using fresh roasted organic coffee beans then your coffee is unnecessarily sub-par. .. How do I know this? Simple chemistry and the nature of the beans. Here’s the skinny:

Roasted Coffee Looses Most Of It’s Aromatics About 1 Week After Roasting: One of the largest contributing factors to the complexity and fullness of freshly roasted coffee comes about due to the presence of volatile aromatic compounds. After about one week these will deteriorate to an unacceptable level. This is one of the reasons instant is so bad, it virtually has no aromatic compounds left.
Sealed, Vacuumed-Pack, Nitrogen Protected Etc Will Not Solve The Problem: Big Coffee will roast beans and have an expiration date 6-7 mounts out. Your coffee will still get stale no matter how it’s packaged, all they can do is somewhat slow it down. … Don’t believe the hype.
Buy From A Roaster Who Ships The Same Day They Roast: One of the reasons I like Cafe Valverde is that they do just that. Is the 1-2 days shipping an issue? No. The reason being that right after roasting the beans need 1-2 days to degas the residual carbon dioxide still left in the beans. So when they get to you they’ll be ready for brewing. I’m lucky Joan & Nelson from Cafe Valverde roast right up the street. When I had a “coffee emergency” (about to run out soon) they took my order and roasted on the same day. Good people, good coffee.
Consider Roasting Your Own: Just like there was a revolution in home baked bread about 10 years ago now there is a similar thing occurring in the coffee world. People are purchasing the green coffee beans and roasting at home. My friends at Cafe Verde tell me this is growing rapidly and they are shipping the beans all around the world (including to the base in Antarctica). By the way, the green coffee bean side of their business is called Invalsa.

This is such an important topic that we have launched a new blog called EnCoffee that deals strictly with coffee & espresso, it’s enjoyment and creation. Join us if you want to take a journey and learn more of this wonderful, friendly and satisfying world. It’s similar to the culture of wine but for me even better since I can enjoy coffee at any time of the day and actually have the option to craft the product by roasting my own beans. Please share post this with a friend. Cheers!

Organic Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by theo at 6:08 pm No Responses »

Aug 062010

Need a quick, delicious and cooling ice cream sandwich? Need it Organic? Need it with virtually NO WORK. Then read on:

One of the things I personally don’t like about traditional ice cream sandwiches are they’re not organic, the “cookie” is mushy and they have too much ice cream and not enough cookie going on (for me anyway). Oh, and they are work if you want to make your own. So here’s a solution that uses all store bought materials and can be put together in no time. Here’s what you do:

Go Shopping: Buy a package of Newman’s O’s Organic Cookies and buy some organic ice cream or frozen yogurt.
Remove the Icing: Twist the Newman’s O’s Cookies into two halves and scrape out the icing with a butter knife.
Add Ice Cream: Take some ice cream out using the butter knife and spread on the Newman’s O Cookie half. Replace the other half to make the sandwich.
Refrigerate: Chances are the cookie halves softened the ice cream. Freeze until hard again or it will just squeeze out when you bite in (but eating the ice cream coming out the sides is a good thing.. I’ve tried it). If the ice cream never gets hard enough then break the Newman’s Cookies into bite size chunks prior to assembling.

Now this may be a little too much chocolate cookie flavor for some but I really love it. Enjoy!

Farmer's Market & Locally Grown Produce

Posted by theo at 7:37 pm No Responses »

Aug 042010

Photo by Jim Davis, article by DC Denison of the Boston Globe

If you have been buying locally grown produce your decision has done more than improve the quality of food on your table. One of the “ripple effects” has been a dramatic increase in the number of farms even in the small state of Massachusetts. This is a growing movement away from the mega-mart and towards the local farmer. Fueled by people waking up to where the real quality and often organic produce can be found. … and that is, right around the corner. This trend has been covered in an excellent article by DC Denison of the Boston Globe. It provides an excellent example of one of the long term consequences of a collective “I’ve had it and am not going to take it anymore” type of mindset. And that one consequence is the rise of local farming.

Anyway the key statistic is that although the size of the individual farm had decreased from 85 to about 67 acres, the number of farms in Massachusetts had increased by 27% in the five year period from 2002 to 2007 for a total of 7,691 (and for our small state I’m very impressed by this number). And this trend is expected to continue through 2012 when the next census is due to be completed.

In addition to the farms being in state, the other significant change is in how this fresh local produce is being sold. There are of course the farmer’s markets which eliminate the mega-middle man and all his accouterments such as a large air conditioned building (which is no problem to me … I’m a big fan of fresh air, natural lighting and the social atmosphere of the farmer’s market). But there’s also a trend for consumers to purchase a share of the crop. For instance Dave Purpula’s Farm in Middleboro, MA (lovingly named Plato’s Harvest) sells subscriptions for $675 each. Each subscriber gets herself a weekly box of fresh produce from the farm. Admittingly, I would guess that it probably cost more than the mega-mart but instead of coming all the way from Mexico or wherever it comes from right up the street. … ocean freight and fumigants not required.. As the Organic Test Kitchen Community is well aware. It’s all about quality, purity and environmental responsibility. I just shake my head when people question this… this is food, the stuff we put into our and our children’s bodies….and it’s worth every penny.

This is just another example of the many ways that going organic or at least local reaches out in many directions creating a greater good.

The EU Steps Up It's Organic Program With The Euro-Leaf And New Regulations For Organic Aquaculture

Posted by theo at 6:45 pm No Responses »

Jul 042010

The EU is further evolving it’s Organic Food System with a few changes, some of which are highly significant as described in a EurActiv article here. First, they have mandated the use of the “Euro-Leaf” which must be displayed on food items produced by any EU Member Country. One of the good aspects of the EU Program is that a location code to back-track the origin of ingredients is included in the labeling requirements.

And in addition to this, they have laid out new regs regarding the world of Organic Aquaculture (the EU’s Organic Farming Website is here for additional details on all aspects of their system). Specifically, it places limits on stocking densities (crucial in preventing sickness, sea lice infestations etc), has tighter controls regarding the use of organic feeds and also includes guidance for seaweed and mollusk production. This is definitely an important step in the right direction. Aquaculture does hold promise for efficiently producing a healthy and sustainable supply of high quality protein & oils. And with the issues of depleted fish stocks this could be a win-win all around. However where there’s promise there’s also the potential for problems such as the chemicals and colorants commonly used for farm raised salmon. In any case, it appears that world-wide we’re starting to get our arms around this new old thing called organic food. and whether or not you buy into the healthier aspect of it there’s no doubt in my mind that the general quality of such food is at a different level.

Review Of Teddie Organic Peanut Butter, A Step Up From Just Natural Peanut Butter

Posted by theo at 2:33 pm 1 Response »

Jul 022010

It’s a common misconception that eating organically is the equivalent of subsisting on a diet of twigs, roots and berries. This is of course is to the uninitiated who tend to follow in zombie-like fashion a preference for “real food” (as opposed to the radical stuff we like to consume). .. OK then..

So let’s take a look at something radical. Peanut butter made from Organically Grown Peanuts (that is, just peanuts without chemicals of any kind sprayed on them) and sea salt. It’s as pure and simple as that. This is of course is in contrast to the more mainstream peanut butter. For instance, the local store carries a Creamy Peanut Butter.. Sounds good and they are extremely proud of it being Gluten-Free (displayed in big letters). However the devil is in the small print which of course is the list of ingredients. This stuff contains: Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed, Cottonseed, Soybean), Dextrose, Salt, Molasses, Monoglycerides. … Huh … Well I guess I’ll be a radical and go with the chemical free peanuts and sea salt option..

So one of the first things you’ll have to do is to stir all the oil back in as it would have separated itself out (that’s why they add monoglycerides, keeps separation from happening .. I’ll pass, just give me the real food). The key to doing this is a stiff wide blade butter knife and just taking your time. There’s no rush. The second thing to remember is to relax. it doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect. Good enough is good enough with peanut butter.

Now the taste… I guess I’ll fall back to a common description used in this blog. .. Bright. Clean.. really peanutty with a nice & oily mouth-feel. When compared against that chemical mish-mash known as store brand creamy as described above… Well, the store brand chemicalized PB was sort of bland and my taste buds seemed a little out of focus. There just wasn’t that sharp bang of the strong peanutty flavor. … Would I have noticed it if I never compared? Probably not. But would I notice it if I never got a good glass of wine or a cup of fresh roast coffee? Same thing. Live a little and bring some additional quality into your life already.

Organic Green Peppercorns Might Be Something To Consider

Posted by theo at 3:21 pm No Responses »

Jun 252010

Of all the blog categories to use for this post, “Try Something New” was really a no-brainer. As mentioned before, and before, ad nauseam.. we are generally stuck within culinary boundaries of our own making where we eat an extremely limited variety of foods … day..after day… after day. .. Now don’t get me wrong, Green Peppercorns won’t rock your world as something radically different, rather they’ll expand the old pepper theme with something more subtle … and open the door to other things such as sauces that you may enjoy for the first time.

First some background, Black Pepper as you may know comes from the Piper Nigrum plant. Green Pepper comes from this same plant and is simply the berries that have been harvested before ripening has occurred. And FYI: White Pepper is nothing more than the Black Pepper with it’s pulp removed.

Now what you’ll get from these guys is a milder kick than you’d experience from black pepper. Some typical uses are in sauces (where it’s subtlety is appreciated). … In case you want to try this spice in a sauce you could go for a Grilled Salmon with a Green Peppercorn Sauce (however, be aware that I haven’t as yet tried this or any other recipe from Larry Ervin so you’re on your own). And another from Epicurious, also untried, for Filet Mignon with a Green Peppercorn Cream Sauce.

Typically the Green Peppercorns are best fresh or when preserved in brine or vinegar. However, I picked some up in the dried form at the Co-Op and simply use them in the pepper mill. This is good for when you need some peppery notes but really want to keep them in the background. If this is the case, Green Pepper will do nicely at not overpowering your food so that the other flavors can shine.

A Look At Shaw's Wild Harvest Organic Olive Oil

Posted by theo at 7:12 pm No Responses »

Jun 232010

I had a bottle of Wild Harvest Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil on the shelf and just cracked it open. From the bottle you can learn that this product is Extra Virgin which is what you really want if you need to maximize it’s contribution to a dish (such as homemade bread dipped in olive oil… one of the simplest and best tasting food combinations of all time). Extra Virgin which comes from the first pressing of the olives has a maximum acidity of 0.8% and is simply the most flavorful of all the olive oil grades. And like wine (and coffee) there’s an entire vernacular surrounding the tasting of this wonderful product. Terms such as fruity, grass and ripely (no, that‘s not a typo). Anyway here’s a link to get you started so that when you’re at your next cocktail party you’ll sound pretty worldly & impressive (or kind of boring .. it all depends upon your delivery ..).

So much for pleasing the palate. But as you know, Olive Oil is one of those rare foods that in addition to being fantastic also has this amazing list of health benefits. Whole Foods does a good job in summarizing these on their olive oil page here. … And why organic? … Well you might want to check this out. .. Is this something we should worry about or not? … Who knows?.. But, back to flavor for a sec, I just compared the Wild Harvest Organic Olive Oil to a leading brand of Extra Virgin Non-Organic I had laying around. Surprisingly, the Non-Organic was actually more aromatic, however,the Organic Olive Oil had, for me, superior flavor. And flavor of course is something you can really put your finger on as a definite reason to recommend this product. I know it’s a little more expensive.. Just make coffee at home for a day instead of going out and you’ll be in decent olive oil for a month.

The Business Of Freshly Roasted Organic Coffee ... A Visit To A&E Roastery

Posted by theo at 6:50 pm 2 Responses »

Jun 182010

The other day I was talking my father out for a drive and decided to drop by the A&E Custom Coffee Roastery in Amherst, New Hampshire. This was totally a last minute idea but getting his reaction …”That organic stuff is a bunch of malarkey, what the heck are you thinking?” … was…Priceless … If nothing else it would get his circulation going, sort of like a mild cardio routine. Emeran Ownerr of A& E Custom Coffee Roastery Anyway, I called and dropped by with absolutely zero notice. Emeran the owner as well as Justin the roaster were kind enough to drop everything to chat for awhile.

So I’m told that they are the only USDA Certified Organic Coffee Roaster in New Hampshire. Thank God we have at least one up there. And, being a processor you need to do more than just purchase organic green coffee beans. As part of the organic standard they are required to be certified USDA Organic by undergoing an annual audit. … But the fact that they are organic means more than just producing awesome aromas and having to close your eyes while savoring their blends. Much more. You see, for coffee the environmental and health considerations are ratcheted up a notch from where they usually are. I know, I know, coffee as compared to other organic foods has low residual levels of pesticides since it’s the internal bean that’s consumed (and some feel that the high temps of the roasting process destroys anything left… although I haven’t

seen the before and after chemical analysis to know if this is true or just a combination of speculation & wishful thinking). The big issue really is that coffee is basically a third world crop where growers tend to raise their families in intimate proximity to the farm. Also, the rules for pesticide and herbicide usage can get pretty loose and fancy-free in some of these countries. .. So.. we have a direct exposure issue and then there’s the run off … and then there’s the potential drinking water supply issues etc etc. Definite issues in every case? No. A definite concern? Absolutely. .. This just isn’t a visual I feel comfortable with. Anyway, with coffee, more so than with most products, I feel that I’m doing the world as well as myself a favor by going organic.

So much for the “malarkey theory” of organic food. … Now what about the the coffee in and of itself? First, we need to know how fresh is fresh and does it make a difference? Well this morning I sauntered down to the corporate coffee cafe and took a peek at a pound of French Roast. Noted that the expiration date is a mere seven months from now. This of course would make Justin and Emeran just about pass out (my father would say what’s the rush). These guys, like every coffee connoisseur, states that after a week forget about it, it’s morphing into instant. … A week vs. seven months. … But they do qualify this statement by saying that the coffee changes, evolves, as soon as roasting is complete. First, in a universally good way.. you need to give the newly born roasted beans about 24 hours to degas and otherwise settle down before they can be truly appreciate in their full coffee flavored purity. But they continue to change, age and as a general rule, get as my old friend Ray Kavanaugh would say, “not-good”. But like anything there are exceptions .. Justin mentioned that one coffee he found tends to become better with age to his palette.. but I doubt he was talking seven months worth of aging.

In addition to these post birth from the roaster issues, there are also considerations beyond the organic pedigree for the prenatal green coffee beans. For instance, Emeran mentioned how the industry is continuing to evolve where in the past it was generally assumed that a one year shelf life for the green beans were acceptable where now things are beginning to turn where three months is starting to become the more prevalent standard of excellence. And then of course there’s the trend towards micro-lots where they will separate the better grade high altitude coffees form the the other “not so good” beans instead of bagging everything together was was traditionally done. … And, even the bags themselves. Where jute tended to be used exclusively is now giving way to the use of so called “GrainPro” Bags which help maintain freshness.

But getting in the finest beans (Emeran generally looks at cupping data to make her choices…BTW her staff recommended the Brazil Blend for it’s ashy notes.. Awesome! So good I finished the bag before taking the earlier pic) and keeping them fresh is only part of the beautifully complex world of coffee roasting. Since coffee is a natural product it will obviously not only vary by grower and farm but also season to season from such things as a particular year’s unique climate (here wine has the upper hand where a vintage from 2007 could be excellent … with green coffee, after three months… not a pretty picture). So the raw materials of the roast, the green beans, are a constantly moving target and it takes a bit of artistry to combine and roast them to achieve a consistent and almost decadent product. Making a low end product is easy.. High end is hard. And high high end with ingredient variations like coffee… now we’re starting to drift into artistry. And I’m not being dramatic. It literally takes years of apprenticeship before one is considered a Master Roaster. In fact, one business in the next town over makes it known to new roasters that they would like to see at least a ten year commitment to the company before starting out. … These are important people you want in your bunker .. And here’s a small snippet as to how they go about their craft. .. When fresh beans arrive Eneran & Justin will roast small batches and after a day taste test the coffee. Depending upon the attributes found they will make their adjustments in order to produce a consistent flavor and aroma profile for the various blends. And for those not yet introduced to the world of coffee tasting.. there’s an entire vernacular to learn and understand … they’ll mention taste notes such as chocolatey or blueberry (that’s right blueberry) … if you’ve ever heard a wine tasting described you’ll know what I mean. According to Emeran coming into a coffee shop and asking for French Roast is like going into a bakery and asking for bread. .. Indeed. .. A word of caution to the uninitiated. Get into the world of freshly roasted coffee at your own risk. By this I mean that you really don’t know how bad your current on the shelf for seven months coffee is. But once you learn, it will ruin you for life. .. Take my father. He has been drinking this horrible mass marketed $2.99 a pound stuff forever. .. And he’s happy with it. It’s a disaster but he doesn’t know any better so he’s satisfied. .. That’s one hand. … On the other, however, is that I really don’t see him savoring his coffee. He just chokes it down and calls it a day. A nice piece of home-baked chocolate cake … this he savors..

So bottom line is that if you haven’t as yet taken the plunge I highly recommend that do and pick up some really fresh roasted coffee. It has a depth and complexity you’ll never find in the cheapo or even the corporate specialty coffees. Fresh is best in coffee, it truly is. And looking at the price, I can buy Corporate French Roast for about $11 a pound or purchase freshly roasted beans from someone such as A&E for just about the same money (with shipping & handling it may or may not be pricier, and if so, not by much). To me this is a total no-brainer. Superior product for the same to a few cents more per cup, no pesticide issues, feeling the love, etc etc. .. And if you were wondering, my father did ask Justin (seriously he did) if he got his coffee from the poo of some animal (if you don’t know what I’m talking about rent the movie ”The Bucket List” or read this New York Times Article, BTW Justin said no) … I think he meant this as a good thing, a gourmet thing, but who knows. He has been known to slide in a zinger under the radar to avoid detection. . .

Hope you enjoyed this post and that it gets a few people interested in the Fresh Roast Revolution. If you think this is any good please pass it along to your friends or family members who insist of torturing you with the black coffee swill of the past. Spread the word about Organic Test Kitchen.com … Best, Theo

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