General cooking tips

Buy Local Food : Cultivate an awareness of how far your food travels. When Rich Pirog, Food Systems Program Leader for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, tracked the miles traveled for 16 types of produce, he found that locally sourced fruits and vegetables such as apples, lettuce and tomatoes traveled an average of 56 miles, compared to 1,494 miles — nearly 27 times farther — for the same fruits and vegetables delivered through conventional retail channels. Things get stickier with combination foods, strawberry yogurt for example. Pirog came up with 2,216 miles by adding up the distance traveled for the yogurt’s milk, sugar and strawberries. That figure could be slashed by 90 percent if you buy plain yogurt and stir in some locally grown honey and fruit.

Buy Local Food : It’s easy to take locally abundant foods for granted when they’re in season, but you can enjoy many locally produced foods out of season by stocking up. Storing big baskets of hazelnuts (in the Northwest) or pecans (in the Southeast) will come naturally if you start thinking like a squirrel. Look for foods that keep well, such as nuts, honey, winter squash and sweet potatoes and stock up.

Have a Local Food Party : Instead of counting time or distance, simply enjoy the pleasures of local food by organizing a potluck meal in which everything must be local. Keep your fingers crossed that someone will splurge on handmade goat cheese, and don’t forget some local wine, beer or juice. If you’re organizing a big catered event, the Society for Nutrition Education has a downloadable brochure to help you line up local food resources.

Cooking safety

If a deep fat frying pan catches fire don't move it (it could give you terrible burns).
Test the temperature of deep fat fryer oil with a small piece of bread or potato. If it crisps quickly, the oil is hot enough.

Cranberry Ginger Tea Recipe

	Category	Drink Recipes
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Ingredients And Procedures

2 c -Boiling water

1/2 c Ginger, fresh; thinly sliced

1/2 c Cranberries,fresh; rinsed

1 pn Nutmeg

1/2 c Cranberry juice

2 Mint sprigs

In a medium sized bowl, pour boiling water over ginger and cranberries. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Strain, add nutmeg and cranberry juice and stir. Serve warm or chilled over ice cubes. Garnish with mint. SERVES: 2 Preparation time: 25 minutes SOURCE: _Berries_ by Robert Berkeley

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