Health & Safety

There’s always been this oft-recited piece of advice about oysters: oyster season is only in months that contain the letter “R” in the name. You know, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April. Not May, June, July, August. But if this is true, how do millions of restaurants sell them year-round to people who seem just fine after eating them? If we’ve been eating oysters all summer, have we been putting our health at risk?

Whether you’re packing a lunch for the office or lunch for the kids, you want to make sure you pack the right foods properly to help prevent food-borne illnesses. We talked to Katie Morford, registered dietitian and author of the book Best Lunch Box Ever, to share her tips on how to safely pack lunches so you keep everyone healthy and happy! “Avoid putting certain foods in lunch boxes altogether.

It’s important to know how long foods can be stored and the right ways to store them — especially for perishable foods — but how exactly is the term “perishable food” defined, and which foods fall under this category? Perishable foods are items that aren’t safe to eat unless they’re kept refrigerated at 40°F or below, or frozen at 0°F or below.

September brings many things, chief among them the switch back to school — school wake-ups, school bedtimes, schoolwork, and school lunches. For many parents, this means asking a question about lunch, which theoretically constitutes about a third of the food our kids eat: Who’s going to make it? I think it’s worth parents’ time and money to pack their own kids’ lunches, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think.

When cooking or reheating food in the microwave, you have a quite a few options — like paper towels, a plate, microwave-safe lids, or plastic wrap — for covering it. But is the last option, plastic wrap, actually safe to use in the microwave? If so, what’s the best way to do it? I like making sure my food’s covered in the microwave to both contain any possible splatter, as well as keep moisture in so the food doesn’t dry out.

When cooking fresh fish or shellfish, we’re always admonished to get it at the last minute and cook it ASAP for the ultimate in freshness and flavor. But with busy schedules and last-minute changes in plans, that’s not always going to happen. So just exactly how long can you keep that raw seafood before you should cook it? You should plan to cook and eat your fresh fish and shellfish within two days.

It’s commonly believed that the leaves on a tomato plant are poisonous, so we often discard or avoid them. But is that really true, or simply an exaggerated tale that’s managed to stick around? Are we wasting a perfectly edible part of this plant? Wariness about tomato leaves stems, in large part, from the plant’s status as part of the nightshade family.

Making homemade veggie burgers is a tricky business. It’s not nearly as straightforward as forming a meat patty and tossing it on the grill; there are a few extra things you need to consider. Forget one or two key steps, and that burger will turn into a crumbly mess the second you bite into it. Here are five mistakes to avoid when making veggie burgers. Raw vegetables, while delicious, hold a lot of water.

If you have a big pot of soup or a lot of leftover casserole, you can pat yourself on the back that you’ve now got a quick meal waiting in the fridge. But just how many times can you reheat those leftovers safely? As long as you reheat the leftovers to at least 165°F each time, the food’s technically safe to eat.

Just as some people have the genes that make them more sensitive to bitter flavors, scientists have discovered that the same applies to one of the other tastes: sweet. Researchers asked subjects, both twins (with the idea that twins have at least half to almost all of the same genes) and non-twins, to rate the sweetness intensity of two natural and two artificial sugars.

Q: I’m a surgical resident and I’m frequently on call at the hospital with little time to spare in between cases, so I rarely get to sit down to eat dinner (even a quick one!). The only fridge is nowhere near the ORs, plus there isn’t usually time to run down and heat up food to eat. On the off chance there is time between cases, its usually a greasy, expensive meal from the cafeteria.

The public debate on genetically modified seeds and crops runs high with feelings. When it comes to this line of science and our food, what is healthy, and what should be avoided? Journalist William Saletan spent a year researching the field and came to the conclusion that the anti-GMO rhetoric is not doing us any favors. This is a long, intensely researched and argued piece, and it’s excellent reading for all sorts of reasons.

Hot dogs are sold fully cooked, so do you need to grill or heat them? While they are generally safe to eat as is for most people, there are some food safety guidelines to keep in mind when you’re cooking hot dogs. There are some people (pregnant women, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems) who are more at-risk for food-borne illnesses like listeriosis. Heating hot dogs until they are steaming hot will help kill listeria.

Cilantro might be one of the most controversial herbs out there. For a certain percentage of the population (estimated to be somewhere between four and 14 percent), the leafy green makes everything it touches taste like soap. Why does it affect some people and not others? Turns out it’s genetic.

Gluten is a word in action these days, popping up on labels at the grocery store, in the news, and all over the Internet. Many of us have even chosen to eliminate gluten from our diets — but I have to ask: Do you really know what gluten is? Here’s a guide to the science of gluten and what that little word actually means. A bread dough that is just mixed, and that you haven’t kneaded at all, looks completely different after you’ve slaved over it for 10 minutes.

For the most part, the greatest risk one takes when cooking a recipe is producing an inedible meal. That being said, cooking usually involves heat or fire, knives, and hot metal — all things that can potentially be dangerous. And whether you’ve experienced it yourself or heard tales from others, burns, cuts, and trips to the ER do happen. This causes, for some, a real fear of certain equipment or cooking methods, and in turn, the refusal to use them.

I know it can seem tedious, even annoying, to have to wash produce before you cook. Sometimes it feels like such a chore, an extra step, before you can get dinner on the table. However, whether you cook it or use it raw, produce always needs washing. A good scrub, run, or shake under water, followed by a thorough rinse, will remove dirt, grit, and sand that can affect the quality, texture, and taste of your finished dishes.

Modern varieties of vegetables, the ones you see for sale in the produce section of the supermarket, are generally sweeter, starchier, and less fibrous than their wild ancestors. They are also far less nutritious: wild dandelion leaves, for example, have eight times more antioxidants than spinach and forty times more than iceberg lettuce.

Even if you’re trying to only stick to three meals a day, you can’t ignore the occasional need for a snack when hunger strikes. Snacks can be grab-and-go affairs that you stash in your purse to nosh on between errands, or they can be eaten during your ritual 4 o’clock break on workdays. No matter the reason you need a snack, I’m sure we all would prefer it be healthy and delicious. Here are some tips to help you prepare and make the best choices for snacking!

When I make fish, I always opt for fresh fillets from the fishmonger. I buy my fish with the intent of cooking it the same day, although sometimes life happens and those plans get pushed to the back burner. Here’s a guide to just how long that fish will last. → Know how to store it! Tip from The Fishmonger: How To Store Fish To make sure you’re eating the freshest fish possible, it’s best to cook it as soon as possible.

Parents, we’re guessing you’ve all been there. You’ve finished feeding your kids, and now it’s time to make yourself something to eat. But those leftover bits and pieces from your child’s plate are just easier to eat, and somehow that becomes dinner. Dan Pashman, of WNYC’s The Sporkful, is ready to fess up to snacking on his kids leftovers from dinner, and he’s come up with a hierarchy of what’s okay to eat.

There are lots of ways to thaw frozen food: you can put it in the refrigerator, run it under cold water, leave it out on the counter, or even use the defrost setting on your microwave. Which method is the best and safest one to use? The refrigerator is the safest method of thawing food because it keeps the food out of the “Danger Zone” (temperatures between 40°F and 140°F, where bacteria multiplies rapidly) the whole time it is defrosting.

When the weather warms up, is there any lunch better than a picnic lunch? Ice-cold drinks, homemade sandwiches, and creamy potato salad, enjoyed for hours in the sunshine … wait. How long has that potato salad been sitting there in the sun? Sadly, warmer weather also means more opportunities for the bacteria and viruses that cause foodborne illnesses to thrive on food that has been improperly prepared or stored.

Q: Inspired by all the freezer talk, I went ahead and froze some minestrone soup. I used a quart-sized plastic food storage container (similar to a yogurt container). I froze the soup three weeks ago. When I went to move the container to the fridge to thaw, I saw that, somehow, the lid had come off in the freezer, leaving the soup exposed. I don’t know when this happened. Is my soup consumable? Or should I toss it, lesson learned, and buy some different containers?

Q: I recently pulled out a bag of bulgur that had been tied up and stored in a jar, where I keep my other opened bags of grains. I know it’s been there for some time, and when I opened it, I noticed some stringy, cobweb-type things hanging in there. This has happened to me before with lentils I left in the cupboard for a few months. I threw the bulgur out, but I’m wondering what it is and if it’s harmful, or if a quick rinse would be enough.

Nothing brings me greater joy than cooking for people I love. But nothing gives me greater fear than feeding someone a meal that makes them sick. Do you share this fear? It’s reasonable to be very cautious about serving safe food. But sometimes that fear can hold us back in the kitchen — worrying unduly, or throwing out perfectly good food.

Up until now, the discoveries showcased within this series have highlighted achievements made during the 19th century. Not by design, I promise you. All of these food science breakthroughs were hand-picked on merit alone, as is today’s: genetically modified crops. But genetically modified crops come with some baggage. Unlike canning, fermentation, or milk pasteurization, where we have a solid understanding of both the science and the result, GM crops are still in their infancy.

If there’s one food science breakthrough that stands apart from the rest, it’s pasteurization, milk pasteurization to be specific. Its very adoption changed the health of our nation. To put it another way, in New York during the 1850s, fewer than half of all children born lived to see their 5th birthday, with tainted milk being the biggest cause of illness.

Imagine summertime without ice cream, or an ice-cold lemonade. No chilled wine or cold beer can be found — anywhere. It’s horrible and downright post-apocalyptic, like something Tina Turner sings the theme song to. But a world quite similar to this existed, mere centuries ago. Refrigeration is not only responsible for what you eat, but probably also where you live, which is why it’s next on my list of the five all-time most important food science breakthroughs!

There are juice cleanses to supposedly get rid of them, celebrity-approved products that claim to be free of them, and everywhere you go these days people seem to be talking about them. Toxins. But what are toxins really? The dude slinging $9 green juice is vague, and I’m pretty sure he isn’t the one you want to rely on for health information anyway.

We all talk about how happy we are that fresh asparagus is finally back in season. We buy it in bundles and rave about all the ways we’re cooking and eating it. But you know the one thing no one talks about when it comes to asparagus? The way it makes your pee smell. We think about it when it happens, but it’s not something we really talk about. But it’s totally normal, and there’s an interesting reason why it happens! The smell comes from asparagusic acid.

This week I’m talking through five of the greatest breakthroughs in food science, from fermentation to today’s topic: canning. Because seriously, when was the last time you considered Louis Pasteur, or how canned food was discovered? It’s been a while. These days we’re preoccupied by health fads, gluten-free eating, and vegan alternatives.

Whether you're cooking a whole leg of lamb, a Frenched rack, or lamb chops, remember this.

Advice from: Peggy Sutton of To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. Read the series → Part One, Part Two, Part Three If you placed a mound of conventional flour and sprouted flour side by side, you might not be able to tell, just by looking, which was which. But Peggy Sutton, owner of To Your Healthy Sprouted Flour, insists that your taste buds would be able to discern the difference. Ready to try your hand at baking with sprouted flour? Here are three tips for making the most of it.

In an about-face, a new study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine says that kids exposed to peanuts as babies are significantly less likely to develop a peanut allergy when they’re older. The results are apparently so compelling, the study recommends an immediate change to infant feeding guidelines.

I resolved to pack a lot more vegetables into my meals this year, and an obvious assistant in this goal is the omnipresent lunch salad. There’s only one problem: salads are cold. And when I’m cold too, shivering at my desk with my hands wrapped around a mug of tea, the last thing I want is a bowl of chilly greens. But there are a few easy tricks to warm up a salad, and I’ve been using these to help me eat (and love) my greens all winter long.

Poor pasta. That most comforting of comfort foods has really had some bad press in recent years. If you’re going gluten free, or paleo, or just following the common sense advice to eat less refined flour, pasta is not on the menu as much anymore. When I first cut back on it, I missed its ease. Pasta night is a delicious breeze of a weeknight meal. But then I discovered a use for pasta that can be summed up in one word: croutons. Look, I love pasta in all of its various forms.

Of all the things I believe about losing weight or maintaining weight, this causes the most arguments. I weigh myself—every day, and against the advice of almost everyone I’ve ever asked. In fact, I named my own blog “What I Weigh Today” after this daily habit because it is, for me, the foundation of managing my weight and my health. But the scale is sharply divisive.

Q: I prepared your How To Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time and they are perfect. At the end of the cooking and resting time, there is some tasty-looking liquid left over. Can that be used as stock? I am a new cook. Sent by Jeanne Editor: Sure, you could definitely reuse that liquid! It will be a bit thinner and less rich than a full-on chicken stock, but it would be great for cooking rice or as a weeknight soup base.

Healthy cooking starting with bacon? Seems counterintuitive, right? But it’s actually one of the best ways to get your new or old wok seasoned so that you can move on to healthy quick cooking instead. We love wok cooking here at The Kitchn because you can use it to cook vegetables and proteins quickly with small amounts of oil, just the sort of cooking we like to do in January after the holidays.

Q: My husband bought a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes from the grocery store and many of them were green. Are these okay to eat? They kind of creeped me out and I tossed some, but surely they wouldn’t bag five pounds of potatoes if most of them are inedible, right? Is this safe? Sent by Mimi Editor: Green-tinged potatoes are usually a result of exposure to light, which increases alkaloid levels. This is generally not harmful in low amounts, though it can make the potatoes taste bitter.

Cookbook: 100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake Overall Impression: A well-researched book with a lot of information on eating healthy food with a focus on kid-friendly recipes. All of us always want to eat better food and live healthier lifestyles. However, when life gets maniacally busy — with school, work, and life — it is almost too easy to turn to convenience food, even though we all know that healthy, home-cooked food is best.

When you have a tight budget, meal planning and grocery shopping has its challenges. When you have a tight budget and you’re dedicated to eating healthfully, it’s even trickier. We’ve talked about each of these topics quite a bit in the past, and every time, our readers respond with loads of great tips and suggestions. So we decided to round up the best tidbits of advice.

It’s easy to enjoy eating winter squash — these versatile vegetables taste good roasted, stuffed, pureed, or even baked into desserts like pies and muffins. Prepping these stubborn, hard vegetables is not enjoyable though, and I’m sure we’ve all struggled with peeling and cutting them.

A few years ago there was a state of emergency in the beekeeping world. Bees were disappearing by the millions. Where were they going? Any why? Did colony collapse signal the end of agriculture as we know it? Now, you don’t hear so much about disappearing bees. What’s happening?

You probably already have everything you need.

Are one of the many people who go out of your way to avoid monosodium glutamate a.k.a. MSG? Turns out, not only is it nearly impossible to avoid, but it also is completely safe to eat. A new video by the American Chemical Society is attempting to dispel the MSG myth and explain where our misconceptions originated. MSG’s bad rap started in a letter written to the New England Journal of Medicine in the late 1960s in which the author attributed his symptoms after eating Chinese food to MSG.

Vegetables and I have grown super close over the years. Where I used to be terrified of Brussels sprouts and eggplant, now a meal doesn’t feel complete without a huge helping of something green. Or purple. Or cauliflower. While I am not a vegetarian by any means, I find going meatless once in a while stretches both my creativity and my shopping budget. But what about hot dogs? What about the good ol’ frankfurter?

What does a daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables look like? Like this.

Q: I’m having a very busy week coming up, with work all day then my husband and I volunteering with neighborhood kids all evening. I will be driving directly from work to volunteer. Flop into bed at night and repeat seven days a row. I will have about 20 minutes for dinner as a break in the volunteering. I’ll have access to a sink and microwave, but no fridge or stove. My question is what can I make ahead (a week ahead) that is reasonably healthy and portable?

On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s, I noticed a new-to-me product in the baking aisle: cashew meal. Now I’ve been using almond and walnut meal for quite some time, but cashew meal hadn’t made its way into my weekly lineup. I purchased the bag, began experimenting, and I’m here to report that its uses are varied, delicious, and nutritious! It’s been a lot of fun to play with in the kitchen. Have you tried cashew meal or cashew flour yet?

When I was a teenager, my mom picked up a habit that she’s kept ever since — keeping a plate of crudités in the fridge at all times. It’s her favorite way to have a healthy snack on hand, and now it’s mine, too! If I’m rummaging around in the kitchen for a snack, my usual M.O. is to grab whatever’s most convenient.

Finding, making, and eating great low-sodium meals requires a little education and some preparation up front. But once you know your low-so stuff, every part of keeping this diet (from shopping to cooking), becomes routine. And that’s a good thing. First we talked through six first steps and encouragements for the beginning of your low-so journey. Now we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty. Today’s lesson: let’s learn the difference between salt and sodium.

I hate to brag, but for almost a decade, I’ve eaten ridiculously well. Like, five-star level deliciousness. At home, abroad, and with some of the most amazing chefs at the helm. All without touching a grain of salt. So if you think that keeping a low-sodium diet means being doomed to days of steamed chicken breast, eaten alone, while watching Golden Girls reruns, think again, my friend.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about vegetarian and vegan recipes is that they just aren’t enough. I mean, how can a plate full of vegetables and legumes be filling and satisfying? Rest assured, it can be. Here are my five tips for making a well-rounded vegan meal. I think the misconception that vegan meals are all veg and nothing else gets to the issue at hand.

Q: I recently moved into my very first apartment post-undergrad, and my mother and grandmother have been stopping by to teach me family recipes and I am so grateful. However, there is some tension over the proper way to make spaghetti sauce. Help! My grandmother puts her raw meatballs and sausage in the sauce that simmers on the stove for hours. My mother on the other hand says that’s terrible for my health, and all meat should be cooked prior to adding into the sauce.

I was wary of stinging nettles for quite a while. Until just the other week, in fact. There was always something about the sign marked ‘DANGER’, perched in front of the bin of nettles at the farmers market, that kept me away. Not to mention their painful-sounding name. I mean, stinging nettles…not exactly the most friendly-sounding name. So, will stinging nettles really sting you? Yes, and no.

Sticky rice goes by many names — waxy, sweet, and pearl among them — but the most confusing one is glutinous. Does glutinous rice actually contain gluten? The answer is no: glutinous rice is gluten-free. The misleading name simply comes from the fact that glutinous rice gets glue-like and sticky when cooked. Why is it so sticky? It all comes down to starch content: the starch in rice has two components, amylose and amylopectin.

Packing for a picnic might seem like a breeze since, unlike a barbecue, there’s no on-site cooking or raw meat involved. But since you’re traveling and eating outside without the convenience of refrigeration, here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re loading up the picnic basket to pack it safely. You still need a cooler. Pack your cute picnic basket with non-perishable food, napkins, and dinnerware, but pack all perishable items in an insulated cooler with ice packs.

The conversation over what kind of cheese is cool for consumption during pregnancy has got to be one of the more polarizing debates among cheese-eaters-with-child.

Q: I love wild Alaskan salmon, and where I live in Texas, the salmon has all been previously frozen. When I buy salmon in the fish case, it is delicious, but when I buy frozen salmon and thaw it myself, it always tastes fishy. Why is this? Am I thawing it wrong, or has it been thawed and re-frozen? It’s so convenient to have salmon in the freezer, is there any way it can be as delicious as the salmon in the fish case? Thanks! Sent by Sue Editor: Readers, any thoughts on this?

Q: I’m a breastfeeding mom and my daughter is sensitive to dairy and soy, so I’ve had to cut them out of my diet. I can have a little bit of butter but that’s it. I’m desperate for breakfast ideas — I’m so sick of plain scrambled eggs. Please help! Sent by Lizzie Editor: Lizzie, you’ll find some ideas in the comments of these posts: Ideas for High-Protein, Make-Ahead Vegan Breakfasts? High-Protein, Vegetarian & Dairy-Free Meals for a Breastfeeding Mom?

Do you know what 100 calories of almonds looks like?

My three-year-old rescue dog, Goblin, will do anything for a morsel of food, which is why I always keep a stash of dog treats on hand. But the cost of high-quality treats without corn and other fillers can start to add up, which is why I’ve bookmarked EatingWell’s budget-friendly (and healthy) list of fruits and vegetables dogs can safely snack on — and there are quite a few for cats, too!

When it comes to lunch, tuna fish offers it all. It’s high in protein and flavor, and it’s economical too! But more and more people are concerned about tuna due to questions about sustainability — specifically issues of overfishing and damage to ocean ecology. There are also questions about high levels of mercury. And yet I do love my tuna fish sandwiches! So I went to an expert with this question: should I feel guilty buying and eating canned tuna?

Q: My husband has a very active metabolism. He eats all the time and cranks through food while he works 12 hours a day. This obviously has taken a toll on our food budget and he ends up turning to fast food for a quick fix. He can only carry so much and meals that must stay cold aren’t an option because he is on the road. What are some healthy meals I can make that will help keep him fed and satisfied all day long?

Q: I just purchased a half-dozen store brand eggs from a major grocery store chain. When I cracked the first egg, the shell essentially imploded — it seemed unusually soft. The egg itself looked fine, but I discarded it and used another. The next egg was totally normal. Why would an egg have such a soft shell? Is it safe to eat a soft shelled egg? Sent by Kathleen Editor: Readers, does anyone have insight on why an egg might have an extra-thin shell? Are these eggs safe to eat?

Before I got pregnant, I had visions of chowing down on sardines and kimchi and kale salads throughout my pregnancy. Instead, I got morning sickness.

Q: My husband and I absolutely love MorningStar Farms Hot & Spicy Sausage Patties. What we are not so in love with is the long list of unpronounceable ingredients that grace the side of the package. Is there a less processed, meat-free (eggs and dairy are okay) recipe for a copycat version? Sent by AJ Editor: Readers, can you recommend any vegetarian sausage recipes that replicate the taste of the MorningStar Farms Hot & Spicy Patties?

Oh, winter. That lovely time of year when I love to stay in, curl up with a good book and eat a hearty chili or stew from the slow cooker. But then comes spring, warm weather, and trips to the beach. And who has the money for a new, larger wardrobe? Lately, I’ve been trying to satisfy my craving for meat, cheese and pastry with lighter fare. And it’s working! In the spring and summer, I serve a lot of fresh produce with every meal.

Snacks get a bad rap, but this year I have managed to fill my pantry with an arsenal of good choices. As my kids geared up for back to school over the fall my snack mission was find treats that were easy, health conscious, actually taste good, and make my kids feel like I am spoiling them. This was no easy task. We’ve been back to school for a few months now and packing snacks can get to be a real pain. I’m a packer — a lunch and snack packer.

One of my greatest food altering moments involved a banana. Newly gluten-free and timidly entering the world of special-diet cooking, I watched as a woman on TV blended a mixture of frozen banana chunks, vanilla extract, and a splash of milk. That was it. And ta-da, she made a vanilla milkshake without ice cream. In under five minutes. Mind. Blown. Since that fateful day, I’ve discovered more of banana’s talents beyond splits.