by Judith | Feb 17, 2023 | Body: Nutrition and Recipes, Book, Cooking, Gardens, Herbs, recipe, Tea
For most gardeners, spring planning is just about done. Seeds have been purchased and started. Snow comes, soon melts, spring’s official beginning is around the corner, and birds have begun their mating songs.
Years ago I attended an herb class at a local herb farm. The owner prepared a beautiful glass urn of sun tea. The urn was filled with a variety of flowers, violets, johnny jump-ups, roses, lavender, herb blossoms, and more. This tea was refreshing. I was impressed and have not forgotten this experience.
Recently, I came across a new book from Rosalind Creasy, The Edible Flower Garden. Her cover and photography hooked my curiosity as the subject of edible flowers is limited. Rosalind is a well-known author and respected organic gardener. It is a stunning work with gorgeous photography that highlights the beauty of flowers and shows off culinary delights using flowers in a variety of ways. She has researched claims of edibles and addresses some of which are myths, such as stock. History shows it may have been eaten in times of famine but no other time. Therefore, stock is not on her list.
Edible Flowers Idea
I use blossoms in quiches. Small amounts of wild strawberry flowers when in bloom, rose petals, lavender. So many wild and common flowers are edible like the violet leaves pictured above. In my wild food classes, we used echinacea and dandelion blossoms, squash blossoms, and nasturtiums, for example. It all created a lovely palette for the eye in recipes as well as provided a variety of tastes. They inspire our creative juices, fill our senses with texture, color, and form. They are the stuff of poetry and stories. Yet in my travels, I have found folks a bit leery of using flowers in food.
4 Tips To Remember About Edible Flowers
- Flowers should never be used as food from stores. Store-bought flowers often come into our country from overseas and are chemically treated.
- Organic gardens, whether traditional landscapes or vegetable-based, do not have that concern. If you do not have a garden but a neighbor does, please ask questions. Make sure they are organic.
- If you have planters and need to give your plants extra food to maintain growth, please read labels carefully.
- Always check with a reliable source before picking or tasting anything you are not familiar with. For example, most mushrooms are poisonous. Pokeberry flowers and berries are not edible. Daffodils are not edible.
Title: The Edible Flower Garden
Author: Rosalind Creasy
What I like: Rosalind gives the reader an encyclopedia of flowers that are edible. Pictures are crisp and help to easily identify a flower accompanied by how to grow and how to prepare sections. She then provides us with photographs and recipes that are simply elegant. She rounds out her book with appendixes on planting and maintenance, pest and disease control. She has suggestions for nontoxic management if pests show up. Lastly, she has a well-organized section on seed sources.
I recently spoke to a library about the benefits of herb teas. The dried flowers contained in the herb blends were a hit. Folks who love to garden often have no idea that many common plants are edible. And that some of these flowers and plants contribute nourishment. Nourishment, provided from a variety of plant constituents, such as vitamins A, B, C, and calcium, all support our biology.
For those of you who are curious about edible flowers I highly recommend this book.
Enjoy. Judith
by Judith | Jul 7, 2020 | Body: Nutrition and Recipes, Cooking
If you read my last article, hopefully, you are raring to go and buy some sustainable cookware. Great! One problem though – good sustainable cookware isn’t cheap. For example, most ceramic pots and pans actually have a coating. Xtrema is a rare cookware manufacturer that doesn’t coat its ceramic pans. Perfect! Except for this quality, sustainability and non-toxicity cost money. Of course buying durable, long-lasting cookware will save you money in the long run. Sometimes buying cheap is a false saving that doesn’t really help in the short term.
How can you help the planet and save money?
1. Consider Second hand
For some cookware, especially cast iron, there’s no harm in getting something second hand. You can buy it, or even better, maybe talk a family member into passing you one of their pieces of cast iron!
2. One Pan at a Time
I wouldn’t suggest going out and buying a new cookware set straight away. If you are used to cooking with Teflon, it’s better to replace pans as you go. Cast iron, for example, is more work. It’s heavier, and you need 
to change your cooking style slightly. What if you hate it? Try one, second hand, pan before you buy more. Who knows – maybe you’ll love it and get a set.
3. Take a Look at, or Through Glass Cookware
I recently researched and wrote about glass cookware, which I find interesting. Do you know there is such a thing as a glass frying pan? I have been thinking about getting one (and keeping it away from my children!) I will wait until my nonstick pan starts to wear though. I don’t need it straight away, so why not use what I’ve got? It’s the opposite of sustainable to throw away perfectly usable pans.
4. Less Cookware
I write about cookware so maybe that’s why I have a bit too much in my kitchen! My kitchen isn’t huge but it isn’t the smallest either. I always feel like there isn’t enough room though. Sometimes less is more. If you can’t afford a full sustainable cookware set, perhaps you don’t need all the pieces? As an example, I don’t use a proper griddle to cook pancakes – I use a normal pan.
5. Go For Flexible Pans
A way of using less energy is by having fewer pans. It also has the advantage of clearing some space in your kitchen. I can use the same pan for different things then that helps declutter my kitchen. Versatility can come in different ways and depends on each person, but for example:
- Oven safe can be convenient
- Having a lid makes it easier to turn a frying pan into a saute or even saucepan
- Being easy to clean means they are ready to use for the next meal
- Fitting on one burner on the stove but having a decent capacity. For a frying pan, 10 inches seems to work well
- Whatever you do make sure it’s what you need, and it works for you.
6. Mix It Up!
Flexibility goes more than one way. By mixing and matching you increase what you can do. For example, when heating liquids, stainless steel is fantastic. This is great for cooking things like pasta, soup, and sauces, or for steaming. So a stainless steel stockpot can be a great idea. But then a large cast-iron skillet could help with popping corn, frying, and searing.
7. Consider Cores
Copper or Aluminum cores are a great way of using these conductive metals. Copper bottoms often wear off. A core is inside the pan so avoids this problem. It will save you money in the long run through more 
efficient heating – plus not more hot spots!
8. Consider All Your Options
If you need to fry some eggs, perhaps even consider a small nonstick pan. Yes, it’s better to use the cast iron skillet, if you can, but it is harder! Actually even better could be a stainless steel frying pan with a copper core as it wouldn’t need much heat. Except the eggs will probably stick. If you can deal with that – perfect!
9. Beware Coatings
Coatings are the “Gotcha!” of cookware. Do you think you are buying a healthy stone pan? Great – but what’’s it coated in? Apart from chemicals, the coating will eventually wear away and you’ll need to replace the pan.
10. Be Realistic
The worst thing you can do is go and buy a sustainable cast iron cookware set and never use it. Are you prepared to do the extra work? Do you even have the time? You can buy really low maintenance, sustainable cookware for a high price. You can also get some nice, affordable, sustainable cookware that does need a little work. Getting affordable, long-lasting, sustainable cookware that doesn’t need any maintenance – well that might be harder!
What Cookware Should I Get Then!? What should you aim for in the long term? Here are my thoughts:
- Up to 1 Nonstick frying / sauté pan with an aluminum body to heat food quickly. Or (better yet) a stainless steel pan with a copper or aluminum base or core.
- A stainless steel stockpot, ideally with copper or aluminum base of the core.
- A cast-iron Skillet
- Steamer / colander – stainless steel
- Ceramic or glass bakeware
Of course, it depends on what you cook. Want a nice crunchy stir fry? Then a carbon steel wok is perfect. And, clearly, the larger the family the more cookware you need!
Thanks, Beatriz for 2 great articles and information about the differences in cookware and what’s sustainable and what’s not. I appreciate your contribution to holistic and sustainable living from all aspects. Now we know something about sustainable cookware. Got any tips, comments? Beatriz and I would love to hear from you. Enjoy. Judith
by Judith | Jun 30, 2020 | Cooking, sustainability
Beatriz Garcia is my guest blog post writer this week. She reached out to me recently about sustainable cookware and I found her information useful. We often look at packaging as sustainable or not but what about our kitchen cookware? Summer is also a time for weddings and purchases for college dorms. I happen to be a fan of cast iron. Yes, they are heavy but I find them easy to clean and I like the even heating. What type of cookware is your favorite and why? Beatriz and I would love to hear from you.
Beatriz Garcia found out about the sustainable side of cookware when researching healthy cookware for her site Clan Kitchen. You can find her writing there in the rare moments she isn’t busy looking after her family. Beatriz is keen to cook healthily and sustainably, but also has to balance this with quickly cooking foods her kids want to eat!
Coatings
Whatever material you choose, you need to beware of the coating. If, for example, you want to avoid Teflon, then you should look for “PTFE free”. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is the active ingredient in Teflon. Unfortunately, many pans are advertised as PFOA free. This is not helpful – PFOA was banned years ago. Other chemicals are now used to manufacture PTFE! Unfortunately, when reviewing different pans, I’ve found many ceramic or stone pans actually have a coating that includes PTFE. People buying those bands could be misled by this. I certainly wouldn’t expect a ceramic or stone pan to include Teflon. Dr. Mercola, the number one holistic wellness expert, and site in the world, says this about Teflon coatings:
“In fact, the convenience of a nonstick or stain-resistant surface comes at a steep price, as such chemicals persist in the environment, are contaminating water supplies and have been linked to developmental problems, cancer, liver damage, immune effects, thyroid problems and more.”
My advice here is that if you are buying a pan that advertises itself as non-stick; check if it is PTFE free. If it doesn’t state PTFE free, then it probably does have Teflon. This is especially the case with ceramic, stone, aluminum pans, or any pan with a special coating. Here’s the problem with coatings in general: They wear away over time. And when they wear away, the pan loses any non-stick properties it had. The underlying layer/body of the pan is also exposed. This is often not healthy. For example, Aluminum exposure may cause Alzheimer’s. Once the coating of any pan starts to chip, I’d recommend throwing it away. And here we are back to the durability issue! One coating that you can repair is the seasoning on cast iron or carbon steel pans.
Efficiency
It’s not just the energy used in creating the pan that counts, but also the energy used every time you cook with it! The miles per gallon metric for cars is unachievable and unrealistic. But at least it allows you to 
compare different cars. Yet cookware doesn’t come with anything like that. How can we compare? The overall conductivity of each material to get an idea of which cookware is best. This isn’t perfect, but it’s something.
Examining this factor suggests copper and aluminum top the charts, followed by cast iron. Stainless steel is the worst of the typical cookware metals. You don’t normally expose food directly to copper or aluminum for safety reasons. One option is a copper or aluminum core to help conduct and spread the heat. Some pans even have a copper bottom. I can’t imagine a layered pan would make the job of recycling any easier though!
This might also depend on how you cook though. Cast iron is in the middle of the conductivity range and takes ages to heat up. But there is a way around this! Heat the cast iron pan before putting the food on it, then turn it off the stove when the food is almost ready. The pan keeps its heat a while and carries on cooking. With a little bit of practice, you can get the timing right on this.
What Next?
So, you’re sold on sustainable cookware but you’re not sure what to do next! Perhaps you don’t have money to just go and buy another cookware set. Keep using the pans you have for now, and watch out for my next article, where I will give you 10 tips on how to buy and afford, sustainable cookware.
Thanks, Beatriz, for sharing the above information on how to look at our cookware sustainably. Next week Beatriz offers 10 tips for buying sustainable cookware.
Remember your comments are appreciated.
Enjoy. Judith
by Judith | Jan 8, 2019 | Body: Nutrition and Recipes, Classes, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Cooking, Gardens, Holistic Nature of Us, Interviews/Community Outreach, Podcast, Tea
Description: The Institute of Sustainable Nutrition, TIOSN, offers a one-year certification program in Sustainable Health and Nutrition. They have four focuses:
1. Learn and practice sustainable gardening methods.
2. Take the food from the garden, weeds included, and grow your culinary skills in the kitchen.
3. Identify nutrient-rich wild plants, for culinary and medicinal uses both for us and the garden.
4. Learn about preparing wild edibles for food and medicine.
Joan Palmer, the founder of TIOSN, shares her experiences, and how she is attempting to connect the dots between our health, the health of the planet, through the science and art of gardening and nutrition.
About My Guest: Joan Palmer is the Founder and Director of The Institute of Sustainable Nutrition and owner of Real Food Matters, LLC. Joan has an MS in Human Nutrition, a BS in Education and received her certification as a Family/Community Herbalist. She has been planting the seeds of real food matters for decades through educational programs presented to schools, businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. Joan presents the Art and Science of Eating as part of an accredited master’s degree program in Ct.
Transcript: Joan Palmer #45
by Judith | Nov 27, 2018 | Body: Nutrition and Recipes, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Cooking, Holistic Nature of Us, Interviews/Community Outreach, Podcast, Tea
Description: Holidays are here. Many family and friends have food sensitivities or are choosing to make dietary changes. Gets confusing though doesn’t it? Cousin X is vegan, Auntie Y is diabetic. How can we enjoy traditional foods, family, friends and make healthy choices? I invited Janet back to share some nutrition tips and ideas for the holidays. Her background is in Ayurvedic nutrition and health coaching. She reviews dosha types and how to plan for the seasons, the holidays and gives us recipe ideas. Recipe suggestions are included.
About My Guest: Rev. Janet M. Pagan, CEO of Phoenix Sol H.P., Inc. is a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. Rev. Pagan is a Certified Health Coach; Ayurvedic Nutritionist; Reiki Master and Spiritual Counselor. Rev. Pagan also holds a Master Degree in Public Administration from Baruch College and has worked in the field of Child Welfare servicing children and families for over 15 yrs. (Rev. Pagan received a Bachelor of Science in the field of Education and Black Studies with a minor in Latin American Studies from SUNY- New Paltz. )
Transcript: #39 Janet Pagan
by Judith | Nov 20, 2018 | Body: Nutrition and Recipes, Cooking, Holistic Nature of Us, Interviews/Community Outreach, nature, Podcast, storytelling, wisdom
Description: History is told from the eyes of the recorder, often orally noted and passed down, and where and when possible, through documents and letters. What is the true history of Thanksgiving? What is the Native American record of this holiday connected to the colonial time period of the 1600’s? Rachel Sayet, Mohegan tribal member, adjunct lecturer for Native American Culture Classes and presentations, relates the stories told among New England Tribes. The oral tradition was valued, revered and served a great purpose during that time period. Thanksgiving, as told by the native peoples from NE America may surprise you. Enjoy a thought-provoking discussion, stories, and prayer told by Rachel Sayet.
About My Guest: Rachel is a Mohegan tribal member from Uncasville, Connecticut. She received her bachelor’s degree in restaurant management from Cornell University. While attending Cornell, Rachel worked in kitchens and took many culinary classes. Upon graduation, Rachel worked as a personal chef in upstate New York. She later went on to receive her master’s in anthropology at Harvard University. Rachel has been working for the Mohegan Cultural Department since 2013. Since then, she has also been researching Native American foods. She has presented her work throughout the country at conferences and classrooms, and has begun food sovereignty initiatives at the Mohegan Tribe; partnering with the health department on gardening events, cooking and storytelling workshops for Mohegan youth, and a native cooking show. Her most recent project is the Native Food Discussion Group, created in order to share knowledge about seasonal eating, harvesting, growing, and fishing practices.
Transcript: #38 Rachel Sayet #2
For more information and to read the complete prayer go to:
01_02_Thanksgiving_Address: found at:
https://americanindian.si.edu/environment/pdf/01_02_Thanksgiving_Address.pdf
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
