Shopping Organic and GMO Free

As I sit here preparing my monthly shopping list, I started looking into the products that I was purchasing. I do most of my shopping at my local Safeway. I have been trying to purchase organic and more healthy options for my family but then I question, what is really organic and GMO free. I know that organic food there is a loop hole that allows organic farmers to use certain herbicides and pesticides and I found out recently that Monsanto has purchased a few of the previously deemed organic food companies. The thing is, that even a Monsanto seed can be grown organically. So what are you really buying at the store? Through my research I have found a current list of products in a Excel file that shows the product name, brand name and whether it is organic or not. This was obtained from the Non-GMO project and was updated on 3/16/2015.

Because I do most of my grocery shopping at Safeway, I found their GMO statement which states that all of their O Organics line is GMO free as well as their Open Nature line. Their Lucerne Dairy line is rBST free!

This blog post is short and sweet. I just wanted to share this awesome information with you all. Now back to April Grocery Planning!

Science Saturday: Soil Texture

Soil texture is the relative percentage of sand, silt, and clay sized in a sample collected from a mineral soil. This fundamental property impacts a number of physical and chemical properties of the soil. Water and air movement in the soil are influenced by texture and structure. Soil texture can be used to make general statements regarding plant-water holding capacity.

Do you know what your soil consists of? Most soils consist of sand loam and clay but in order to know what amendments you need to make your garden thrive, you need to know the ratios of each element in your soil. There is a simple way to determine the texture and basic ratio of soil content. This is done by touch. Here is the process:

1. Take a soil sample of your garden area. To get a good sample, you need to dig about six inches into the soil to get past the first profile. take about 1 cup of soil and sift it to remove any rocks or debris. 

2. From your soil sample, take one tablespoon and put it in the palm of your hand. Add droplets of water with an eye dropper to just moisten the soil.

3. Look at the color of the moistened soil. Use this chart to determine the soil color. Dark soil color usually reflects the accumulation/concentration of soil organic matter masking the reds and yellows. Light colors may reflect both the weathering and the lack of soil organic matter accumulation. In more arid environments, light colors, gray and white may be an indication of the presence of carbonates, sulfates, or other salts.

Blue, green, and olive colors often reflect the drainage of a soil. Some soils have a "mottled" color pattern, or visible spots of colors in a surrounding matrix, which again suggest conditions of alternating cycles of bioreduction and oxidation. You can use the Munsell Soil Chart if you wish to determine a more detailed color. 

4. After you look at the color, try to roll the soil into a ball. Does it roll easily or break apart? Now try to make a soil ribbon. What does the soil feel like? Is it smooth or gritty? Here is a great flow chart to help you determine soil type.

You can also visit the SoilWeb to find out more information about the soil rating in your area. 

The Love/Hate Relationship With Cast Iron

I love, love, love my cast iron cookware! Cast iron is becoming such a hot cooking item again and I just wanted to share some information about cast iron cookware. Included in this post will be myths debunked mixed with history mixed with science! (I am such a nerd)

1. Cast iron is difficult to maintain. While cast iron can be a pain to start, once the pot, pan or dutch oven is properly seasoned, it is one of the easiest types of cookware to care for! I recommend either purchasing a pre-seasoned cast iron skillet from a reputable company (lodge is the oldest american manufacturer of cast iron cookware) and season it again anyway just for a little added extra goodness. 19th century American cooks typically used lard to season their cast iron because it was readily available and unsaturated enough to polymerize well. When an unsaturated fat is heated to high temperatures, especially in the presence of a good catalyst like iron, it is broken down and oxidized, after which it polymerizes, which means that it joins into larger mega molecules the same way that plastics do, and mixes with bits of carbon and other impurities. This tough, impermeable surface adheres to the pores and crevices in the cast iron as it is forming. The surface is non stick because it is hydrophobic (it hates water). Water soluble proteins is what makes food stick to pans therefore a hydrophobic surface prevents sticking. The bits of carbon in the seasoning may also act as an additional release agent. I have found some of the best cast iron cookware at garage sales for cheap and if you happen to inherit a cast iron skillet, you couldn't be more lucky. Cast iron cookware can last forever!

2. You should NEVER use soap to wash your cast iron. Many people think that when you season a cast iron skillet that the non stick is actually a layer of oil that is cooked onto the pan. In all actuality, it is not oil cooked onto the pan. It is a thin layer of polymerized oil or fat and there is a key distinction between the two. When a pan is properly seasoned, meaning that is has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic like substance which has bonded to the surface of the cast iron. This polymerized fat layer is what gives the cast iron its non stick feature and the material is no longer oil or fat. Because of this chemical binding, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. One thing that you should NEVER do is to leave your cast iron sitting in water.You need to try to minimize the time that it takes from start to finish when cleaning cast iron, to when you dry and re-season your pan. Just another tidbit about seasoning, Flax Seed Oil is one of the best oils to use for seasoning any cast iron. This is because it is the only "drying" oil that's edible. For more information click here.

3. Don't use metal utensils in your cast iron. Why not? This polymerized layer of oil or fat is tough as nails and chemically bonded to the pan. If you see black flakes coming from your pan, it is very very unlikely that it is seasoning. More than likely the black flakes coming out of your pan is carbonized bits of food that were stick to the surface of the pan. So scrape away with metal utensils, unless you are scraping so hard that you are gouging into the surface of the metal. So maybe use wood utensils if you are having a "glass of wine or two" kind of day.

4. New cast iron is as good as old cast iron. Cast iron has been used since before the Han Dynasty in 5 BC. Back then it was used for things from monumental statues to woks. Cast iron pans were used as early as 206 BC and were used for salt evaporation. Cast iron cauldrons and cooking pots were invaluable kitchen items for their durability and their ability to retain heat, thus improving the quality of cooking meals. Before the introduction of the kitchen stove, meals were made and cooked over a hearth or fireplace and the cookware were designed for use in the hearth. The first cast iron pots and pans were designed with feet or legs so that it could be set over the coals. The flat bottomed design did not come about until the introduction of the modern cooking stoves became popular in the late 19th century. The production methods have changed through the years and most cast iron companies no longer cast in sand molds like they did in the "olden days". Vintage cast iron has a satin smooth finish whereas the newer cast iron has a bumpy surface because the production dropped the previous sanding step. With proper seasoning techniques, your new cast iron skillet will take on a nice non stick finish but will never be as good as the vintage. For this reason, I like to stick to garage sales for older cast iron pieces.

~An added science/history bonus! 
There are 3 types of cast iron. White cast iron, malleable cast iron, and grey cast iron. The white cast iron is used for items such as coins. It is the most brittle of the cast irons and although this iron is harder than quartz you have to be careful as to not drop it or it may shatter. Malleable cast iron is heated at a high temperature for days so that it causes the iron to precipitate as graphite making a material which has much better mechanical properties than ordinary cast iron. Grey cast iron is the most common cast iron used today. It has a graphite micro-structure. Grey cast iron is the type used for cast iron cookware because of its high thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. this is also the reason that it is used for disk brake rotors. Grey cast iron is also used for housing where the stiffness of the component is more important that its tensile strength, such as internal combustion engine cylinder blocks, pump housings, valve bodies, electrical boxes, and decorative castings.

For more information
The Metallurgy of Cast Iron
Heavy Metal: The Science of Cast Iron Cooking

Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs!

This "winter" hasn't been much of a winter and our hens have been laying all year. They usually take a little break during the winter months. I am overrun with eggs and have been trying different storage ideas for them so that they don't go to waste. Our family eats a lot of eggs but not enough to keep up with what the hens are laying! Here are some ideas for long term storage of eggs. These tips can be used with store bought and farm eggs so if there is a mega sale on eggs at the grocery store, you can stock pile. :)

Eggs can be stored for up to two to three months at temperatures no higher than 55 degrees F without doing anything to them but the humidity needs to be close to 75%. If humidity is too low, eggs will become dried out and if it is too high, they will become moldy. Select only clean, uncracked eggs to be stored in this way. If you have to clean an egg before storing it, put it in the fridge to be used later in the week. This is because anytime you have to wash or buff an egg, you are removing the protective outer coating which allows bacteria to enter the egg more easily.

There is a craze about mineral oil and it is a good way to preserve eggs but there are a few things to keep in mind. People claim that they last up to 9 months with mineral oil but Mother Earth News did a study on this and found that they last only a good 5 months. After that, the egg starts to get runny and is not as flavorful. You also should rotate the eggs (just by gently turning the entire egg carton upside down) about once a month or so. This is to help keep the eggs longer and keep the yolk from getting runny.

Other than keeping fresh eggs, I have heard that you can freeze eggs in an ice cube tray and use at a later date. I have never tried this but it seems logical that it would work. Simply crack the egg into an ice cube tray and freeze. (I will experiment with this idea and post about how it turned out)

A great idea for long term storage and use is to bake your eggs in a muffin tin and freeze in an air tight bag like a food saver. These are awesome to take out of the freezer and reheated to use for breakfast muffins. Cook your eggs in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until the whites are cooked fully.

You can also scramble a desired amount of eggs and freeze them in a freezer bag for use at a later date. Put the bag in the fridge to thaw the day before and fry up as you would normally. You can cook your scramble first and then freeze. If you do this wrap first in freezer paper and then put into a freezer bag or use a food saver. Precooked scramble can last up to 12 months!

More resources on egg preservation.

Mother Earth News
National Center for Home Food Preservation
Off the Grid News