Onions are an essential ingredient of many different global cuisines. Onions can be delicious not only raw, but also, for example, caramelized, oven roasted, sauteed, or sweated. Caramelizing onions is a process that is all about recognizing onion’s natural sugar content, natural moisture content, and understanding cooking principles of both time and also temperature. The time needed for “caramelizing” onions or another “aromatic” vegetable exceeds the time it would take for “sweating” the same vegetable. Both are classic techniques for cooking onions and other aromats and used for flavor profile building when cooking in cultures around the world.
Category: Vegetables
Tips To Honor 40th National Nutrition Month
It’s March once again and National Nutrition Month (NNM) is here! National Nutrition Month helps remind us of the unmistakable link between food, nutrition and health. You can find out more by visiting this year’s NNM site. In honor of the 40th anniversary of National Nutrition Month, we’d like to share 10 categories of tips with you. Won’t you join us in making this the best celebration ever of NNM?!
Whole Food Focus Thanksgiving Preparations
Many people are considering the merits of a Whole Food focus basis for planning their upcoming Thanksgiving meal. Of course, the most important aspect of Thanksgiving is truly the opportunity give thanks for the blessings in our lives and to share that sentiment while being able to spend time with family and friends, so any food choices should enhance that overall experience. Memories of Thanksgivings past are connected to our emotional perceptions of those times, so there are sounds, sights, smells/aromas, tastes, textures that all contributed to the sensory perceptions we have locked in our memory banks of those special
Kale Chips–Good Enough for the White House or Your House
Do you remember hearing or reading about the First Ever White House Kids State Dinner (actually a luncheon) served on August 20, 2012? A blog post of that date focused on the event since we feel the entire Let’s Move campaign being supported by First Lady, Michelle Obama, is such a great idea! The entire Healthy Lunchtime Challenge culminating in that White House Kids State Dinner event was a collaborative effort involving a number of partners. It involved a wide range of staff, including from the Let’s Move campaign, the White House, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, and Epicurious
Read MoreKale Chips–Good Enough for the White House or Your House
Back to School and Back to Basics: Homemade Wheat Based Rolls
A pulled pork sandwich on a homemade roll is a favorite of the webmaster’s husband and a great alternative to outdoor BBQing. (Photo of BBQ’d Pulled Pork on a Homemade Bun courtesy of & © 2012 GH (Webmaster)/Sensory Nutrition/US12). Since around the country it is some stage of “back to school” time and folks are extra busy, we thought we would mention it as the pork is cooked in a slow cooker at the same time that the dough is rising for the rolls, all while you can be busy doing something else. I went to visit the webmaster last
Read MoreBack to School and Back to Basics: Homemade Wheat Based Rolls
Tips When Shopping for August Abundance
In the Northeast, August is the month where truly more localized produce variety increases and all sorts of marketplaces will start to feature a wider range of locally sourced product. We’d like to share some tips below to help make shopping for August Abundance that much more enjoyable for you. We’ll include ideas for before you head out shopping, once you arrive at the market place destination and while you are there, and then after you get back home again. In PA the weather has often been more temperate in the growing regions and they’ve had enough rain fall to
Is it Really Possible to Suffer From “Food Fatigue” in Italy?
According to their program’s newsletter, some students enrolled in a special gastronomic curriculum in Italy claim it is still possible to suffer bouts of “food fatigue” there, unlikely as it sounds. Mind you, second year students in this Italian rooted program often have a chance to further expand their food horizons by traveling to additional places around the world. For example, they might engage in study trips to Brazil, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, that allow them to explore the local gastronomy and culture wherever they go. The curriculum, including additional countries visited, is always subject to change. (Graphic of
Read MoreIs it Really Possible to Suffer From “Food Fatigue” in Italy?