Curious Cook in the New York Times: Slowing the spoilage of fresh berries

In today's Curious Cook column I write about a simple hot-water treatment that slows the spoilage of berries fresh from the market.

The treatment goes back to research done at the Fresno, California station of the USDA in the 1960s. It's been widely studied since then as an option for fruit producers and distributors, but no one seems to have told consumers about it.

The term "thermotherapy" appears in Portuguese and English in a paper from Brazil about the fruits of Spondias mombin, a mango and cashew relative known by many names, including "hog plum."
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Couey, H.M. and M.N. Follstad. Heat pasteurization for control of postharvest decay in fresh strawberries. Phytopathology 1966, 56: 1345-47.

Karabulut, O.A. et al. Control of postharvest diseases of organically grown strawberries with preharvest applications of some food additives and postharvest hot water dips. J. Phytopathology 2004, 152: 224-28.

deBrito, C.H. et al. Thermotherapy for post harvest pathogens on Spondias fruits. Acta Scientiarum-Agronomy, 2008. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Thermotherapy for post harvest pathogens on Spondias...-a0193756598

Fan, L. et al. Effect of hot water treatments on quality of highbush blueberries. Journal of Food Science 2008, 73(6):M292-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00838.x

Vicente, A.R. et al. Maintenance of fresh boysenberry fruit quality with UV-C light and heat treatments combined with low storage temperatures. J. Horticultural Sci. Biotechnology 2004, 79: 246-51.

Adegoroye, A.S. and P.A. Joliffe. Initiation and control of sunscald injury of tomato fruit. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 1983, 108:23-28.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Tomato leaves

In today's Curious Cook column I write about tomato leaves, which have an undeservedly toxic reputation. Like other members of the disreputable nightshade family, tomato plants do contain alkaloids, but the tomato alkaloid is poorly absorbed in the body and lowers LDL cholesterol levels. Tomato leaves have occasionally been used as a herb without any reported problems. Their flavor runs from viney to grassy to tea-like, depending on how they're handled.
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Friedman, M. et al. Tomatine-containing green tomato extracts inhibit growth of human breast, colon, liver, and stomach cancer cells. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2009, 57: 5727–5733.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf900364j

Friedman, M. et al. Protective effect of dietary tomatine against dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DBP)-induced liver and stomach tumors in rainbow trout. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2007, 51: 1485 – 1491.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.200700176

Friedman, M. Tomato glycoalkaloids: Role in the plant and in the diet. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2002, 50:5751-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf020560c

Burrows, G.E. and R.J. Tyrl. Toxic Plants of North America. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 2001.

Shlosberg, A. et al. Effect of feeding dried tomato vines to beef cattle. Vet. Human Toxicology 1996, 38:135-36.

Abudogupur, I.K., T. Tago. Method of effective utilization of tomato leave and branch. Japanese patent application JP2008142064 A, 2008.

Jeurissen, S.M.F. et al. Basil extract inhibits the sulfotransferase mediated formation of DNA adducts of the procarcinogen 1'-hydroxyestragole by rat and human liver S9 homogenates and in HepG2 human hepatoma cells. Food and Chemical Toxicology 2008, 46: 2296–2302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2008.03.010

Curious Cook in the New York Times: American dry-cured hams, country and European-style

In Wednesday's Curious Cook column I write about the new wave of fine American hams, cured with salt and eaten uncooked, like Spanish jamón iberico and serrano and Italian prosciutto.

Last month I attended the 5th World Congress of Dry-cured Hams, which was held in the Spanish town of Aracena, near Sevilla. I enjoyed some remarkable jamón there and learned a great deal from producers, scientists, and ham lovers. I'll be writing more about this later on.

In the meantime, if you like ham and haven't read David Arnold's brief and brilliant treatise on the subject, published a couple of years ago in Food Arts, get it here. It's packed with information and beautifully written.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Asparagus snapping

In the May 6th edition of The Curious Cook, I write about asparagus: why and how it toughens after harvest, how to slow its toughening, and whether snapping the stalk really separates the tough from the tender.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Making yogurt and crème fraîche

In this month's column I write about cultured dairy products and how to make them at home. I've also put together a recipe for a hybrid between two Indian desserts, easy shrikhand (sweetened drained yogurt) and tricky mishti doi (milk cooked down by about half, then fermented into yogurt). It sweetens a drained yogurt with its own whey, cooked down with sugar to make a tart caramel.

For two dozen unusual recipes from the yogurt belt (Eastern Europe to India), including "proto-pasta" made from yogurt and wheat, see Anne Mendelson's recent and fine book Milk (Knopf, 2008).

Cooking pasta in minimal water: seconds

My Times column of last Wednesday incited dozens of readers to write, more by far than any other column has done. Here's a summary of what I heard from you.


To my surprise, no one seriously objected to the idea of cooking pasta in much less water than the usually prescribed 4 to 6 quarts per pound. A couple of readers doubted that fresh pasta can be cooked this way. I doubted it too, until I tried it.

Many people have been cooking pasta in minimal water, including Sicilians in Sicily and here in the U.S., and parents of young children who are impatient to eat. Frequent campers point out that the savings in water and energy are especially valuable in outdoor cooking.

Some people, including Ligurian olive growers and chef Alain Ducasse, have been cooking small pasta shapes in the manner of a risotto, starting with a small amount of liquid and making frequent additions as the liquid is absorbed. The released starch helps thicken the liquid into a sauce. (Thanks to Patrick Wang for the link.) The Valencian dish fideuà is a version of paella made with pasta instead of rice.

Many people bring pasta and a reduced volume of water to the boil, then turn the heat off while the pasta cooks through. Some use an infomercial product, a plastic tube, designed for this method. Off-heat finishing does work (the pot temperature stays plenty high), and saves the energy of keeping the water at the boil.

A number of technically minded readers suggest other ways of saving energy. Start the water in an electric kettle, which is more efficient than a pot on a burner. Put the lid on the pot to prevent heat from escaping via evaporation. Once the pasta is cooked, keep the water in the pot and let it contribute its heat to the dwelling, rather than pouring it down the drain. (Works best in winter.)

Some readers avoid wasting pasta water by adding it to soups. Others add it to their gardens.

My thanks to everyone who took the time to write!

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Cooking pasta in minimal water

In today's Curious Cook column, I write about a different way to cook pasta: starting in cups of cold water instead of quarts at a rolling boil. The pasta comes out fine, and the small amount of leftover cooking water is thick, delicious, and useful.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Aging, aerating, and uncorking wines

In this month's Curious Cook column I report on an instructive tasting and conversation with wine chemist Andrew Waterhouse and retailer and connoisseur Darrell Corti. We talk about storage temperatures, how much a wine can be really be changed between opening and sipping, and a simple way to get rid of cork taint.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Two-tone persimmon pudding

The chemistry of dark, rich persimmon pudding is the subject of my column in the New York Times this week. There's also a recipe for a pudding with two very different colors and flavors.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: To brine or not to brine the turkey

In this week's Curious Cook column I write about how brining produces a moister roast, why I still don't like to brine the Thanksgiving turkey, and how to moisten the turkey breast after cooking it, not before.