Monday, April 30, 2012

Meatless Monday: All Greek Yogurt is Not Created Equal

Americans have developed an insatiable taste for Greek yogurt. A recent story in the New York Times describes the current “dairy boom” in the state of New York, largely attributable to the Greek yogurt craze. Unless you are a vegan or on the Paelo diet, it is difficult to forgo the thick, creamy deliciousness of this high protein treat. 

But, as in the case of so many good things, there is a downside. Soon after I tasted Fage yogurt at a conference, I came across an eye-opening report in Mother Jones, which clearly spells out the major difference between Greek and American style yogurts. Greek yogurt is strained to remove its whey and water, which is why it is so thick. In American-style yogurt, the ratio of milk to the finished product is 1:1; for Greek yogurt it is sometimes as high as 4:1. Yes, that means four times the milk (and thus four times the cows) is required to produce that Greek yogurt we all love.

That also means four times the animal waste, a topic I covered in a recent post. And, in the case of Greek yogurt, there is an additional problem of what to do with the excess whey. According to the 2010 Mother Jones article, both Stonyfield and Chobani were in the process of building anaerobic digesters to convert their waste whey into energy to power the factories. I have not been able to verify that this is true. Nor have I yet discovered how Fage, the Athens-based company which introduced Greek yogurt to the US in 1998 and opened its first plant in the US in 2008, deals with this problem.

However, if you crave Greek yogurt and want to make a smaller footprint, you do have a couple of options. You can make your own Greek yogurt at home by straining plain yogurt and saving the whey for use in baked goods.

Or, you can purchase Greek Style yogurt, produced by Cabot, the New England dairy cooperative owned by 1200 farm families.  According to Cabot spokesperson Wendy Scherer, “We do not generate any whey when we make our Greek Style yogurt. It is ‘Greek Style’ and is not the same process as making a true Greek yogurt.” It is thickened by the addition of solid whey and milk protein. [I’ve found Cabot Greek Style to be a delicious substitute for the “real thing” (with less guilt).]

Wendy added, “We do, however, send all liquid whey from cheesemaking to Middlebury and dry it and sell whey to customers who want a protein additive in their products.” 

The old adage “necessity is the mother of invention” clearly holds true for a number of businesses in the Green Mountain State. While perusing the literature rack at Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven the other evening, I picked up a flyer on a promising alternative to polyurethane. The product, Poly-Whey™ Professional Wood Finish, is made by Vermont Natural Coatings. As its name suggests, its formula is derived from whey, a by-product of cheesemaking, instead of crude oil. The whey may not be going into food, but it is being put to a good use. Poly-Whey™ exceeds the toughest standards for indoor air quality. It is promoted as having great coverage, quick drying time, and easy cleanup. Even though I have not tried it yet, I had to include it in this post. How could I not?


I have a couple of projects in mind for Poly-Whey™. I’ll let you know how they turn out. I’ve been waiting for a product like this for a long time.

Happy Monday, everyone. Have a great week.

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Monday, April 23, 2012

Meatless Monday: Celebrating Gardens on Earth Day and Every Day


Yesterday was Earth Day.  Throughout the weekend, citizens of the world honored the earth in a variety of ways — with fundraisers for the environment, clean-ups, tree planting, festivals…


Google marked the occasion by celebrating “Gardening.” The doodling Googlers grew a special Google Doodle and wrote a very special post with an assortment of resources for gardeners, including an interactive guide to finding CSAs and community gardens across the US, a compendium of YouTube videos on various gardening subjects, and a Street View tour of gardens around the world. The High Line, a favorite destination of mine, is one of the gardens featured.

I’ve been thinking about gardens a lot during 2012. I am a step closer to becoming a certified Master Gardener. I’ve been in the classroom since January, I just passed the written exam, and I’ve started fulfilling my outreach hours. I am looking forward to working in the New Haven County Extension Office with my mentor who’s active in the New Haven Land Trust (NHLT).

Here is the link to the Google Map of the community gardens in New Haven, all made possible with the assistance of the NHLT. The NHLT has helped with the development of approximately 50 gardens throughout the city. More are on the way. This is in addition to their conservation activities and maintaining close to 80 acres in six nature preserves. New Haven is so lucky to have them.

Happy Monday, everyone. Have a great week.

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Friday, April 20, 2012

Occupied No More

The Upper Green is occupied no more. 

On Tuesday morning, after hearing one final round of arguments, a panel of three judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City ruled that the City of New Haven had the right to remove the Occupy encampment from the New Haven Green. Occupy attorney Norm Pattis does not plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Following that ruling, New Haven attorney Irving Pinsky filed a last minute complaint in housing court on behalf of two Occupiers, charging they were tenants who were being evicted without due process. The court rejected the claim, stating the paperwork was not in order. The reason given by  attorney Pinsky? The court would not accept his check. 

Early Wednesday morning the eviction began. By all accounts, most occupiers packed up and left peacefully. Observers had only words of praise for the police, who were taunted by the few Occupiers who refused to go quietly. You can read more about it and see photos here. Thirteen Occupiers were arrested. 

Gone are the tents, the signs, the generators, the portable toilets … A few incongruous items remain stuck high in the tree limbs. [I think I saw a Big Wheel?!?]

As evidenced in this photo I took early Wednesday afternoon, the Green is brown. The earth is hard. One severely stressed maple has failed to leaf out.



The NHPD fenced off the area; the Parks Department and City officials have assessed the damage. The maple will likely have to be cut down, the ground aerated, and new grass planted. You can read the details here

The cost to restore life to the Upper Green? About $25,000. The total cost to the City for the six-month occupation? An estimated $145,000.

But at least the Green and its trees have been liberated in time for Earth Day. 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Meatless Monday: Kicking BPA from Cans

By now most of us know to avoid cans when we can. But cooking without canned ingredients is pretty hard to do, particularly during winter and spring in New England. I finally found barramundi in my store’s freezer case, and three of the ingredients for the recipe I’ll be preparing tonight come in cans! More on barramundi sometime soon.

But there is good news on the can front. Early in March, Campbell’s Soup added their name to the growing list of companies pledging to remove BPA from their can linings. Campbell’s products showed some of the highest-ranked levels of BPA in studies conducted by Consumer Reports in 2009. Organizers for the Breast Cancer Fund’s  “Cans Not Cancer” campaign claim that over 70,000 letters were sent to Campbell’s urging them to make this change. 

According to information in the April edition of The Voice, the email newsletter of Women’s Voices for the Earth, the list of companies with BPA-free cans includes: including Eden Foods, Muir Glen, Trader Joe's, Heinz, Hain Celestial Group, ConAgra, and now Campbell’s. Consumers do have the power!

Consumer groups had called upon the FDA to issue a ban on BPA in cans, similar to the one it issued for  infant bottles.  But late in March, the FDA made the announcement that it will continue to study BPA. 

Earth Day is coming. What’s on your agenda? I’ll be biking in Rock to Rock, New Haven’s Earth Day Ride. [Note the link goes to my fundraising page. ;) ] It’s been sunny and dry here, but there is rain in the forecast. Here’s hoping it arrives a day early. We could use it. Brush fires in Connecticut in April? Really. Check out these weather tables for 2012 and 2011.

Happy Monday. Have a great week.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Monday, April 9, 2012

Meatless Monday: CEYo Mooves Over

Stonyfield co-founder Gary Hirshberg announced in January that he was stepping aside as “CE-Yo” in order to have more time to devote to the food policy efforts in which he is involved, in particular his work with the Just Label It campaign.

Just Label It’s founding premise is that we Americans have a right to know if our food has been genetically engineered. Over 40 other nations, including 15 in the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, and even Russia and China, require such labels. According to the Just Label It site, more that 90% of Americans support such mandatory labeling. 

Just Label It recently launched a campaign petitioning the FDA to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GMO) foods.


The campaign yielded over 1.1 million comments which the FDA is currently uploading to the public record.

There are many ways you can help the cause. Check out the site’s 8 action steps

More than 500 organizations are listed as partners in Just Label It’s endeavors. It should be no surprise that Stonyfield is on the list.

Just Label It can certainly put Gary Hirshberg’s talents and influence to good use. After all, he is the man who introduced Stonyfield Organics into Wal-Mart.

Happy Monday. Have a great week.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Saturday Short Subjects: Gmail Tap

I wasn’t planning to post today, but I can’t wait to share this new app with you. Introduced a week ago, I just learned of it last night. If you use Gmail on your phone, this product will rock your world.




The app’s release date was April 1. If you haven’t guessed it by now, this is one of Google’s 2012 April Fool’s Day pranks. There are lots more, including Google Maps in 8-bit designed for the NIntendo, Google Really Advanced Search, and Google’s partnership with NASCAR. You can check out all 16 pranks and their links here. Tap is my favorite.

Have fun, and have a great weekend.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Monday, April 2, 2012

Meatless Monday: What Goes in Must Come Out


… And that is the big problem with the dairy boom. The dairy business is having a growth spurt in the Northeast, particularly across the border in New York state which has become the mecca for Greek yogurt makers. Since Greek yogurt is manufactured by straining out the whey and water, it requires three times the amount of milk to make the finished project, which means three times the cows. Three times the cows also equates to three times the waste.

Let’s start with just one cow. The EPA tells us that a single dairy cow produces approximately 120 pounds of wet manure per day, and that the waste produced per day by one dairy cow is equal to that of 20-40 people. That’s the scoop on the solid waste. Cows also manufacture a lot of gas. According to MIT, one cow passes 480 liters of methane gas a day. To put this into context, a large bottle of soda is 2 liters.  

So far we have been talking one cow. California is the nation’s number one dairy state with 1.4 million cows. Ready for some math? 1.4 million x 120 pounds = 168 million pounds of solid waste a day. Each day the same cows also produce 672 million liters of methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming. And that’s just in California!

Back in 1999, the EPA and the state of California, in recognition of this problem, worked together to forge the Dairy Quality Assurance Partnership, a collaborative effort to address the issues the California dairies face.

In 1997, on the other side of the country, Matt and Ben Freund, two forward thinking brothers managing a family farm in northwestern Connecticut, decided to tackle the problem of their dairy waste. Their dad Eugene had been one of the first in the state to store manure to be later used as fertilizer. The brothers decided to invest in a methane digesterand their farm became one of the first in the country to separate their cows’ raw manure into methane gas which is collected and burned as fuel, liquid which is used to fertilize the fields, and solid matter which continues to compost. 

Not content merely to see the solid cow manure as compost, the innovative brothers began exploring ways to turn the solid waste into a biodegradable plant starting pot. They acquired some grants from the USDA and began a series of home kitchen toaster oven experiments (according to the their website). 

The end result was the CowPot, a durable container for starting seedlings which can withstand months of growing in the greenhouse, but will totally dissolve within four weeks of being planted in the ground, while continuing to feed the plant. 

I heard about these at Master Gardening class. Unlike peat pots, CowPots can be placed directly into the ground, leaving the plant roots undisturbed and eliminating “transplant shock.” Since they disintegrate totally, they do not wick moisture. Read the testimonials here

This product is great for both the farmer and the grower. Kudos to these ingenious brothers!

And now to why I am talking about this on Meatless Monday. Two things:

  • CowPots are perfect for starting your vegetable seedlings, your future food. And the time to think about that is now! 
  • The dairy industry has a big footprint. Be aware when making your food choices, and above all, don’t waste your food! Some yogurt producers manage their waste stream better than others. But that will have to be a future post…
Happy Monday! Have a great week and come back to visit soon.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”