tomatoes

This is the time we’ve been waiting for all year: Tomatoes are in season again.

Roast fresh tomatoes for maximum nutrition and flavor.

Of all the diet doctrines that promise a longer life, better health and a fitter body, the one we like most is the simple Mediterranean diet. Continue reading →

A fairy story told in many lands concerns a foodie princess who is exiled after angering her father, the king, by telling him she loves him as much as salt. She becomes a great chef and, unbeknownst to the old king, arranges for him to be served a lavish banquet prepared without salt.

You know the ending:

When the king complains that his meal is bland and tasteless without salt, his disguised daughter doffs her toque and reveals her identity. The scales fall from his eyes, they embrace in forgiveness and she takes the throne as queen.

The way to a human heart is not through the stomach, but the palate, and no mineral knows it better than salt. For thousands of years, humans have harvested salt from the seas, boiled it out of spring water and mined it from deposits left by ancient oceans, in order to flavor and preserve their foods and trade for goods from saltless lands. Continue reading →

The summer months ahead will bring us gorgeous seasonal vegetables, an abundance of colorful fruit and a wonderful palate of summer herbs and spices. For me, I love this time of year when I can try out a few new recipes on my boys. It is a time when I like using certain herbs and spices during the changing of the seasons, and one particular herb I have my eye on, is savory, sometimes called the "love herb".

Savory comes in two main varieties: summer and winter (not to be confused with the actual seasons).Summer savory (satureja hortensis) is an annual herb with slender, leggy-like branches that can grow up to 18 inches long. And winter savory (satureja Montana) is a shrubby-like perennial with woody branches that grows to about 12 inches. Both are members of the mint family, and both have a somewhat peppery flavor with a minty background similar to thyme. These plants produce slender leaves and tiny, delicate pale-lilac flowers, which are, by the way, a huge attraction for the bees we need to keep the bees happy and healthy! Continue reading →