Meatless Monday: QK-77 A.K.A. Kamut®, the Ancient Grain with the Registered Name

I am a sucker for a bargain. In fact, the best way to get me to try something new is to put it on sale and to clearly indicate how much I’ll save by buying it now.

Such was the case with Organic Heritage O’s from Nature’s Path, normally $9.59 for 32 oz. at the Elm City Market [I’d never pay that!], on sale for $5.99. The cereal’s main ingredient is Kamut®!?? The other major ingredients are the more familiar ancient grains — spelt and quinoa — but I didn’t have a clue about Kamut®—to what family it belonged or how its registered name should be pronounced. I bought it anyway.

Kamut® is the registered trademark for khorasan wheat flour, recognized as a protected variety and officially named QK-77 by the USDA in 1990. In his article “Kamut®: Ancient Grain, New Cereal,” agricultural scientist Robert M. Quinn explores the elusive origins of this ancient grain, its arrival in North America, and how years later he and his father, Montana farmer T. Mack Quinn, managed to grow it successfully, to name it, and to register it. It’s a fascinating story and you really should check it out. The acres of Kamut® which flourish today can all trace their origins to thirty-six grain kernels brought to North America after WWII by a US airman!

According to Quinn’s article, “Kamut® is an ancient relative of modern durum wheat, two to three times the size of common wheat with 20–40% more protein, higher in lipids, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and a "sweet" alternative for all products that now use common wheat… Nutritionally superior, it can be substituted for common wheat with great success. Kamut® brand wheat has a rich, buttery flavor, and is easily digested. A hard amber spring type wheat with a huge humped back kernel, this grain is ‘untouched’ by modern plant breeding programs which appear to have sacrificed flavor and nutrition for higher yields dependent upon large amounts of synthetic agricultural inputs…Perhaps the most significant aspect of the introduction and cultivation of Kamut® brand wheat is that it is an important new crop for sustainable agriculture. This grain's ability to produce high quality without artificial fertilizers and pesticides make it an excellent crop for organic farming.”

There is an official website with all the information you would ever want to know about Kamut®, including details about its DNA. However, if you go at all deeply into the site, you will get a pop-up warning that all the material on the site is copyrighted, and that you need to get permission before sharing it with anyone. Counterintuitive as that seems, since the site is designed to sing the praises of Kamut®, I will heed the warning and direct you to the site where you can read about Kamut® for yourself. 

I also discovered that Kamut® is pronounced [kah-MOOT] according to this Food Network site.

Now, back to my bag of cereal where this tale began… Each 3/4 (30 gram) serving of Heritage O’s has 16 grams of whole grains, 4 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber. The carbon footprint is rather large; the cereal is a product of Canada (as are many with organic grains). This is mitigated somewhat by the minimalist packaging – a lightweight bag rather than a cardboard box.

The grains can be prepared like pilaf. Bob’s Red Mill is one source for Organic Kamut® Berries should you wish to prepare Kamut® this way. For recipes, check out the Kamut® site. 

It is interesting to note that while QK-77 is thriving in the fields of Montana and Alberta, one site reports that Kamut® has vanished from its original home over the last 50 years. That airman had no clue just how important those thirty-six kernels would turn out to be.

Happy Monday. Eat well. 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 Short Subjects: Go Ahead, Blow

Not so long ago Kimberly-Clark was the enemy in a war waged by the environmental group Greenpeace. The corporation was the target of the Kleercut Campaign, begun by Greenpeace in November 2004 to protest Kimberly-Clark's use of trees from Canada’s ancient Kenogami and Ogoki forests in Northern Ontario to manufacture its products. Kimberly-Clark's brands include Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend. Over the next five years Greenpeace helped organize a series of well-orchestrated protests including campus activism, civil disobedience, media campaigns, petitions, and institutional and consumer boycotts.

Greenpeace's hard work paid off. On August 5, 2009, Greenpeace announced that it was ending its Kleercut Campaign, stating that Kimberly-Clark’s new fiber sourcing standards would make the company “a leader for sustainably produced tissue products.” The entire campaign is archived in timeline form here. 

The corporation’s new goals were high: “Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the company's wood fiber for tissue products, including the Kleenex brand, from environmentally responsible sources. The revised standards will enhance the protection of Endangered Forests and increase the use of both Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified fiber and recycled fiber. By the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark will ensure that 40 percent of its North American tissue fiber is either recycled or FSC certified - a 71 percent increase from 2007 levels that represents 600,000 tonnes of fiber.… Also by the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark will eliminate the purchase of any fiber from the Canadian Boreal Forest that is not FSC certified” 

Kimberly-Clark has since divested its woodlands and pulping assets, but has established a global fiber procurement program committed to using environmentally responsible fiber.

This information is now printed on the bottom of the Kleenex box . 

FSC is the acronym for the Forest Stewardship Council, founded after the 1992 Earth summit in Rio failed to produce an agreement to stop deforestation. The Forest Stewardship Council mission is to promote environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world's forests. The FSC trademarks enable consumers to choose products that support forest conservation, offer social benefits, and enable the market to provide an incentive for better forest management. 

This makes me feel a little better. Normally I am a hankie user. I have stacks of them – good for the usual light sneeze or sniffle, or tears at the movies. But with my recent cold from Hell I needed tissues – scads of them. What I discovered on the Kleenex box bottom cancelled my expected guilt trip.

Go ahead, blow (gently). 

I am hoping this is my last post on discoveries as a result of winter illness and that you are all well and warm. 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).

Meatless Monday: The Mighty Elderberry

Recent archaeological finds indicate that as far back as prehistoric times, the Europeans have revered the Black Elder (Sambucus nigra) for its healing properties. Known by many common names including: Elder, Elderberry, Black Elder, and European Black Elderberry, the Black Elder is a deciduous shrub or small tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, which thrives in sunny locations in a variety of conditions from wet to dry, and is both cultivated and found in the wild.

Hippocrates is said to have described the elderberry as his “medicine chest.” Over the centuries the elderberry has been used to treat a wide range of maladies from cold and flu to wounds and toothache. In fact, the proven ability of elderberry extract to lessen the duration of colds and flu was the subject of my post on Saturday. 

Native Americans have a long tradition of using a closely related plant, the American Elder (Sambucus canadensis), for medicinal uses, particularly for curing fever and rheumatism. 

Native to the eastern and central sections of North America from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to Montana and Texas, the American Elder blooms from June-July and bears dark purple or black berries. [Note: The plant can sometimes be confused with the red-berried elder (S. racemosa Michx. or S. pubens Michx.) which overlap territory but blooms earlier and produces bright red berries. These berries are toxic and should not be eaten.]

Why does the elderberry have such power? Black Elderberries are rich in the phytochemicals known as flavonoids. Among all fruits, elderberries are the most concentrated source of anthocyanins, a class of flavonoids, that act as antioxidants, protecting the body’s cells and boosting its immune system. Black Elderberries have almost five times as many anthocyanins as blueberries and twice the overall antioxidant capability of cranberries. 

Many of the elderberry remedies (including Sambucol®) now come from Europe. Should current research continue to confirm the health benefits of this crop, there is tremendous economic potential for growers.

Demand for this crop may soon exceed supply as ever-growing numbers of “foodies” covet its berries for pies and jam, and artisanal spirit-makers on both the East Coast and the West seek fruit for distilling into cordials. 

Missouri has a plan. With the largest acreage of elderberries in the US, the state aims to stay in the lead, and has set the objective to “fast-track the growth of Missouri’s elderberry industry by organizing and hosting the First International Elderberry Symposium, linked with a concurrent elderberry producer workshop in Columbia, MO, in June, 2013… This international Symposium and producer workshop will place Missouri at the forefront of elderberry research and development, and will profoundly influence the competitiveness of the Missouri elderberry industry.” It looks like the citizens of the “Show Me State” will be ready to go, and to grow.

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 Short Subjects: Sambucol Saves the Day

Merçi K for introducing me to Sambucol®. Vive the virologist who developed this elixir, and the French company which manufacturers it for the Australian PharmaCare Laboratories.

Sambucol®’s main ingredient is black elderberries, which have been used for centuries to help cure a variety of ailments including flu, cold, and colic. The only other additives are glucose, purified water, citric acid, and potassium sorbate (to retard spoilage). Sambucol® was first developed in 1991 and has since become a popular way to get a daily dose of antioxidants. A mainstream healthcare provider in the Boston area prescribed it to K’s niece, who was diagnosed with the flu, “to help shorten the virus' siege & blunt its symptoms.”  K happened to email me with the tip for my blog (not knowing I was under the weather) and now I’m a believer. 

For some three weeks now I have been laid low by an upper respiratory tract infection which has been sweeping through Connecticut (along with the flu, but I’ve had my shot for that). Normally I am charged up in January, eager to start all kinds of new endeavors. I was desperate and ready to try anything. I found Sambucol® Original Formula Liquid at the Elm City Market and immediately started using it according to the Intensive Use directions (2 teaspoons, 4 times daily). The elixir is the consistency of prune juice but tastes better. The good effects were almost immediate. Purely psychological? Perhaps. But that would not explain the relapses on day one each time the 6 hours were almost up. At any rate, I have been using Sambucol® for the last three days and have been otherwise drug free. I am not totally out of the woods yet, but this is the best I’ve felt in weeks.

Do I know if the elderberries were sustainably harvested or organically grown? No. Do I care right now? No. I am on the road to recovery and that’s what matters to me right now. Sambucol®' s properties have been assessed in a variety of clinical trials. Here is a link to an abstract summarizing studies in Israel which confirmed Sambucol’s effectiveness in shortening the duration of the flu by 3-4 days.   

Sambucol is not inexpensive, but it is cheaper than many other remedies. And, since it is basically an elixir of elderberries, there are no side effects or warnings. It is sold in many stores, including many large chains. If you decide to use it on a daily basis for immune system support, you might want to purchase it online. One good source is iHerb which is my go-to place for vitamins, supplements, and xylitol chewing gum. If you decide to shop there, you can use this link to receive $10 off your first order of $40 or more ($5 off a smaller order).

Stay well. Enjoy the rest of what for many of you is a long weekend.

Come back on Monday for more on the elderberry and its many powers and uses.

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).

Meatless Monday: Quinoa [KEEN-wah] Gets Its Due

For 5000 years, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has been a staple food of the Andean indigenous peoples. In recent decades the rest of the world has begun to sing its praises. In fact, the United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa! 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations issued the report Quinoa: An Ancient Crop to Contribute to World Food Security. In brief, the report is a compilation of the many nutritional benefits and agricultural versatility of quinoa. The authors also propose that quinoa is a crop “with high potential to contribute to food security in various regions worldwide, especially in those countries where the population does not have access to protein sources or where production conditions are limited by low humidity, reduced availability of inputs, and aridity.” You can download the entire publication here. 

Quinoa is an annual species in the goosefoot family (the same botanical family as sugarbeet, table beet, and spinach) and is related to common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.), considered by many a weed. Quinoa is sometimes referred to as a "pseudocereal" like buckwheat and amaranth, because it is a broadleaf non-legume that is grown for grain unlike most cereal grains which are grassy plants. 

According to the FAO, “Quinoa is the only plant food that contains all the essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins and contains no gluten.” Its nutritional quality has been compared to that of dried, whole milk. Quinoa is very low in cholesterol and sodium, is high in dietary fiber, and is also a good source of magnesium and phosphorus and a very good source of manganese. 

Quinoa can be used in many of the same ways as rice and takes about the same time to prepare. It can easily be cooked in a larger quantity to be reheated or used in salads. Be warned about one quinoa trait, however. The quinoa “berry” has a coating of bitter saponins, which can be removed by rinsing in water; the water will acquire a sudsy appearance as it does its work. Some packaged quinoa is sold pre-rinsed, but read the label carefully. [It is interesting to note that according to one source I discovered, “In South America the saponin which is removed from the quinoa is used as detergent for washing clothes and as an antiseptic to promote healing of skin injuries.]

Cooking Light offers a collection of 15 easy quinoa recipes to get you started. They may not be traditional Andean fare, but they are an easy way to introduce this “ancient grain” to your cooking repertoire.

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 Short Subjects: A Sorcerer Among Us

A powerful magician wanders the quiet woods at my city’s edge. With his expert skills Cyril the Sorcerer can make a carbon footprint disappear. Just watch! 

Cyril is the alter ego of East Rock “Resourcerer” CJ May. CJ uses magic to call attention to the environmental problems in our midst and, while he has our attention, to talk about changes we can make in our daily lives to mitigate them. Check out some of CJ’s tips here.

Earlier this week we learned that 2012 was the warmest year on record. What better time to harness some potent magic? 

CJ is available for gigs, either as Cyril, or in a suit. He is an extraordinary performer, but you don’t have to take my word for it. 

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).  

Troubling Trends

State of the Climate, a report issued yesterday by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, confirmed that the year 2012 was the warmest on record for the contiguous U.S. The average temperature was 55.3°F, 3.2°F above the 20th century average and 1.0°F above the previous record set in 1998. The first 8 months of the year were all warmer than normal; the last four months were still warm enough for 2012 to remain the record warmest year. 

Check out this site for a wealth of statistics on a variety of subjects from average precipitation (2.57 inches below average for last year) to extreme weather (2012 was the second most extreme year on record). A map clearly illustrates that not a single state had an average temperature cooler than usual. 

The only good news to come of this is a new conviction among former doubters that climate change is real. AP Science writer Seth Borenstein summarized the results of a December 2012 poll saying, “Nearly 4 out of 5 Americans now think temperatures are rising and that global warming will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it.” Follow-up interviews of the respondents suggest that personal experience has played a role in this change of attitude.

Meatless Monday: The Versatile Lentil

I started off 2013 much the way I began 2012, by cooking up a huge pot of lentil stew. I used the recipe I shared with you last year, courtesy of my friend Kevin who had supplied it along with the reminder that Italians eat lentils on New Year’s Day to bring prosperity in the days ahead. [Couldn't we all use a bit of that?] This time I followed Kevin’s suggestion to use Marsala vs. red table wine and to add a parmesan rind. Once again I went the vegetarian route. Oh, did it turn out well! One of the beauties of this soup is the huge quantity one recipe yields. It is perfect for sharing with a large group, or for eating once or twice and freezing the generous amount of leftovers. 

The lentil (Lens culinaris) has been mentioned in literature for thousands of years. In the Book of Genesis, the hungry Esau trades his birthright to younger twin Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup. In a fairytale by the brothers Grimm, Cinderella’s stepmother scatters her bowl of peas and lentils into the ashes. “A Pot of Red Lentils” is the title of a poem by Peter Pereira which closes with these words, “I want to remember us this way…spoonfuls of hot soup rising to our lips, filling us with what endures.”

Lentils were a subject of an entire episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats in which he prepared lentils three ways: Soup, Salad and Cookies! 

Unlike some of the other legumes, lentils cook quickly without needing to be soaked, and they readily absorb the flavors of other ingredients.

Lentils are inexpensive, have a long shelf life, and are packed with nutrients. Very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, lentils are a good source of protein, iron, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of dietary fiber, folate and manganese.

Lucky. Delicious. Quick and foolproof. Inexpensive. Nutritious. Reasons enough to give this versatile staple a try?

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 Short Subjects: Green Products Online

In September of last year, Quidsi (owned by Amazon since 2010), added Vine.com to its family of specialty shopping sites, offering products ranging from diapers to pet supplies. Vine is its shopping site for “green products.”

Like Amazon, and the other Quidsi sites, Vine.com offers free 2-day shipping for purchases of a certain dollar amount — in this case $49+.

Vine’s tagline is “Better for you. Better for the planet.” All products selected for their site must support Vine’s “Green Philosophy,” falling into at least one of the following categories: 

• Made from Sustainable Materials
• Energy Efficient
• Natural
• Organic
• Designed to Remove Toxins
• Powered by Renewable Energy
• Reusable
• Water Efficient

The Grocery Products, Nutritional Supplements, Personal Care, Beauty, Cleaning & Baby Care Products do not contain any substances on Vine’s Banned Ingredients List. 

Each product's green attributes and certifications are clearly listed on the site. This makes it easy to compare products for their "greenness" as well as cost and other qualities. 

If you need a green product you can’t find locally or make yourself, Vine.com is a good place to start. There is a code for getting 30% off one item in your first order. You can even add a product from one of the other sites in the Quidsi family to your Vine cart to save on shipping.

Thanks to my college friend Pennlee for telling me about this site when it launched. 

Have fun, but remember: Buy only what you need!

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).