ARCHIVE RANDOM RSS Home About Manifesto Foods Contact Us HEALTHY Making the Perfect Trail Mix Spring is here (or almost here)! For many of you, that means it’s time to shed some layers and get outside to enjoy nature again. That means sneakers and maybe some water bottles. But what about trail mix? Yes, that’s the stuff that comes in a long plastic tube bag, plentifully found in gas stations, and usually skipped over in favor or chips or granola bars. In today’s world of energy bars and cryo-powders, an old-fashioned bag of trail mix seems like the last thing you’d reach for when it comes to hiking, or maybe even an intense study session. That’s because many mixes load up too heavily on simple carbs, sweets, or sodiums, leading to crashes and thirst rather than tasty, sustainable energy that will provide you with fuel for hours. In times like these, don’t be afraid to take charge and make your own power mix. Below, we’ll make it easy for you to make your own perfect snack by breaking down (with a handy reference pyramid) how to DIY trail mix for your own custom blend of yummy, healthy energy. Continue reading ] Share R COOKINGGUIDES Hot or Not? How to Assess Jalapeño Spiciness Jalapeño lovers undestand that there’s a risk in every bite. That is, that you never know if the pepper you’re using is spicy or not. Indeed, jalapeños range from 2000 to 9000 scovilles, which is a very high range that makes it difficult for cooks to titrate their usage for cooking. If you’re not sure how spicy any given pepper is, how do you know how many to buy/use, whether to take out the seeds, whether to warn more sensitive guests, etc? That’s why we’ve done some research to put together some clues for determining how spicy your pepper is before you start cooking with it. Be aware that the extant body of research offers no guarantees* as to the efficacy of these tips, but if you know the following tips, you increase your chances of properly assessing the spiciness of a given pepper, which leads to smarter, better cooking. Below, a summary of what to look for, as well as a handy cheat-sheet you can glance at the next time you’re at the store. Continue reading ] Share R GUIDESCOOKING Are You Using the Right Salt? Salt has been an important commodity throughout human civilization. Due to its efficacy in food preservation, its necessity has been second only to water, and accordingly, people have built communities around it, fought over it, and bartered for it. Today, salt is readily available and affordable, but it is still an essential in food preparation. The typical chef is more likely to use salt as a flavoring agent than in curing his or her own meat. For that task, several common salts have emerged as popular choices. We go into the most commonly used salts in American cuisine, outline the characteristics of each, and provide advice for the best ways to use each. Continue reading ] Share R GUIDES Cheap and Good - Get Seasonal Produce When grocery shopping, the best way to get your money’s worth and ensure that you’re getting the freshest, tastiest produce is to veer towards what’s in season. Even in today’s ever-shrinking world/globalized economy/all that jazz, the best things are often the things that occur naturally and aren’t forced to flower under greenhouse lights. An added bonus is the fact that, without the additional cost of implementing such artificial methods, seasonal produce costs the grower less to grow, which means it costs the grocery store less to stock, which means that it costs you less to buy. Plus, seasonal produce is more likely to be grown locally, so if you’re a fan of the locavore movement, this is your best bet. Photo by Sodanie Chea, CC by 2.0 In honor of these benefits and a rapidly-fading winter (at least in the northern hemisphere), we’ve compiled a quick list of winter produce that is at its prime for just a few weeks more. Get your hands on these while they’re still fresh! Continue reading ] Share R HOLIDAY Best Chocolates for Valentine’s Day Photo by y kawahara, CC BY 2.0 Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day! In the grand tradition of the holiday, it’s the time to gift and/or receive chocolate to yourself or a loved one. Russell Stover may be the drugstore heavyweight and Godiva might be the mall favorite, but we have a few chocolates that we prefer quite a bit more. Keep reading for our picks of** truly delicious, well-made, and unique** chocolates that will have you buying more than one box. Continue reading ] Share R What to Order at a Chinese Restaurant for the Lunar New Year This week marks the kick-off of the Lunar New Year, which is the start of the new year for certain Asian cultures that traditionally adhered to the lunar calendar (as opposed to the contemporary standard Gregorian calendar that marks the new year on January 1 of each year). Today, these cultures recognize January 1 as the start of new year for business purposes, but the Lunar New Year remains a time to get together with family and eat lots of food. Photo by Juliana Phang, CC BY 2.0 If you’re not lucky enough to be a part of someone else’s Lunar New Year celebrations, that’s okay – most Chinese restaurants will be open during this time, and it’s never too late to get your own group together for some cultural immersion and good eats. Here’s what to order when you go. Continue reading ] k1 notes Share R COOKINGGUIDES All About Spatulas When stocking up on kitchenware, one of the most important tools is the spatula. This handy device, in its simplest form, is a stick with some kind of flattened spoon or blade at the end. It’s a versatile tool that can be used for baking, scraping, flipping, stirring, and more. For the casual chef, the best spatulas are multi-purpose tools with features that maximize all of these functions, which minimizes the number of additional tools that you’ll need to buy and store. There are probably thousands of spatulas readily available on the market, but what should you look for when selecting one? We list some of the features to consider and reveal our ultimate preferences. Continue reading ] Share R GUIDES Oranges and their Relatives: A Practical Purchasing Guide If you’re anything like us, you might not be quite sure about the differences between oranges, tangerines, clementines, and the like. When in the mood for citrus, you might wander around the fruit section and pick out anything that’s round, orange, and on sale. Only afterwards, when you’re already home and have started to peel your fruit, will you discover the exact nature of your purchase. Ohhh, that’s the one I like or egh, not this one again. With winter – prime season for citrus – in full throes, you might find yourself encountering this issue with increasing frequency. We acknowledge the frustration with buying something without being sure of what it is, and in response to that, here’s a quick and practical guide to the most common orange-y fruits that can be found at a typical grocer, along with a summary of important characteristics to be considered when making such a purchase. Continue reading ] k3 notes Share R OPINION Mast Brothers - an Inquiry into Responsible Marketing and Mocking A few weeks ago, DallasFood.org published a series that unveiled the apparent fraud that the brothers behind Mast Brothers Chocolate Makers had been perpetrating in selling their $10 chocolate bars to the unsuspecting consumer through a variety of upscale coffee and foods boutiques, or through their own storefronts. By now, you may have already read the original series, or some of the subsequent commentary/coverage that followed in publications such as Slate and The New York Times. Photo by jseliger2 is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Continue reading ] Share R COOKINGHEALTHYGUIDES A Guide to Brussels Sprouts Brussels sprouts are among the most hated foods in America. In this post, we explore the hatred, history, and health benefits of this controversial vegetable, and end with a brief guide to its successful preparation. 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