A Moment with Lettuce

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

California is awesome!

I had such a blast on my recent trip to UC Davis with my son. While I was there, I toured “America’s Best Farmers’ Market,” learned some tips for a successful farmers’ market visit and was inspired to create brand new food art posters. I also ran into a friend and CFFH subscriber and had a meal to remember at the Culinary Institute of America’s Napa campus, the Conservatory.

But the inspiration didn’t stop there.

While I was at the gardens of the CIA Greystone in Napa Valley, I was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of the fresh and bountiful foods they were growing. As I looked out over the fields of lettuce, the beautifully-developed leaves reflected the evening light. It has just rained, and it had been a misty day. So I did what I always do when I’m struck by beauty — I took a photo.

When I got home, I was still moved by the freshness and light in that photo. That place and time were just so special to me. I love the memories of my education at the Culinary Institute of America and Greystone is just wonderful. I decided that the photo needed to be more than a post on my Facebook wall. It needed to become a resource for health and nutrition educators.

That’s why I added this image to the 6 pack of Farmers’ Market Fruit and Vegetable Paintings. With a photo editing app and some great metallic paper, I transformed this image into art that anyone would be proud to hang on their wall. The picture is 8 by 10 inches and is joined by paintings of fresh berries, tomatoes, apples, asparagus, and more!

Originally, I had thought that this set would be perfect for office decorations, but I soon learned from our customers that these posters are great giveaway prizes and booth displays too. Because this poster set presents healthful foods in creative and appealing ways, it is a perfect tool to use to promote a healthy lifestyle.

This painting set emphasizes positive health messages. It does so visually, with no text or additions to distract from the beauty of fresh and healthful food. What’s not to love?

If you’d like to learn more about this poster set or if you’re ready to buy it today, just stop by the Nutrition Education Store!

Are you in love with lettuce? Try celebrating fresh and tender lettuces with the amazing recipe below!

French Herb Salad
Serves: 4
Serving Size: 1 cup

Ingredients:

2 cups arugula
1/2 cup baby romaine
1/2 cup baby mesclun
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
Leaves from 1 sprig of mint
1 sprig of thyme
2 teaspoons olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Black pepper to taste

Directions:

Rinse the lettuces and dry them in a lettuce spinner. If you don’t have a spinner, pat the leaves dry with paper towels.
Place greens and herbs in a bowl and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, toss the greens and herbs with the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and black pepper.
Serve on chilled plates.

Nutrition Information:

Serves 4. Each serving contains 32 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 11 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 1 g sugar, and 1 g protein.

Each serving has 49% DV vitamin A, 45% DV vitamin C, 3% DV calcium, and 5% DV iron.

Chef’s Tips:

This salad looks nice if it is garnished with a balsamic vinegar glaze.
If you don’t have all of the fresh herbs, feel free to just use parsley.
You can also use a mix of other delicate lettuces instead of the romaine and mesclun. See what’s in season near you.
Toss the salad gently.

Like what you see? Download the French Herb Salad handout for free!

Lettuce: Harvesting and Washing Tips

Is there anything better than a salad made with fresh, tender lettuces from a garden? I certainly can’t think of anything. In order to make the most of your lettuce harvest, try the following tips…

You can pick lettuce directly from the plant — just pluck a few leaves from different areas of the head.
If you have a pair of shears, use them to slice off the top 2/3 of the lettuce leaves, leaving the bottom 1/3 intact.
Once you have your lettuce leaves, fill your (clean!) sink with very cold water. Gently swish the leaves around until the dirt falls off of them and settles at the bottom of your sink.
You can also rinse the leaves under running water, but this method is not as gentle or thorough as the method above.
Place your wet lettuce leaves in a salad spinner and spin until dry.
If you don’t have a salad spinner, place the leaves on a pile of paper towels and pat dry with additional towels.

Remember, the Nutrition Education Store is the perfect source for nutrition posters, health presentations, educational handouts, and much more! Some bestselling customer favorites include…

MyPlate Resource Bundle

Recipe Database: 1,000 Healthful Recipes Download

Cooking Demonstration Book

Free Radical Display Idea

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

Dottie Stambaugh, RD, set up a gorgeous free radical display for her latest presentation, and she even sent along instructions for how you can make your own. Here’s the step-by-step guide…

Dottie began by enlarging our Free Radical poster to 27 inches by 16 inches. Then she tacked it onto a bulletin board.

From there, Dottie added a few free radical magazine articles and a copy of the Color Your Diet: Stave Off Aging handout. That handout’s lists of various food color groups and its guide to what to eat from each color in terms of which antioxidants are present was a perfect way to highlight how a balanced diet can combat free radicals.

The final element of the bulletin board was a poster that Dottie made herself. It illustrated the way that oxygen-free radicals disrupt cellular metabolism, proposing that they are the root cause of chronic disease.

So that was the bulletin board.

Below the bulletin board, Dottie arranged a basket of foods in various colors in order to drive home the point that colorful foods contain antioxidants that destroy free radicals.

But wait — there’s more! There were also two cans in the display. An old, rusty can illustrated what happens to the body when free radicals run wild, while a clean, shiny can highlighted the way antioxidants can rid the body of free radicals. Dottie asserts, “The two cans really got their attention.”

Now, because we love you, we’re making the Free Radical poster available for free! Download it here and get started on your own display.

Looking for more? Check out the featured free radical resources available in the Nutrition Education Store…

Phytonutrient Poster

Nutrition: Get the Facts PowerPoint Presentation

Colors of Health Poster

A Farmers’ Market Tale

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

Do you know about the benefits of farmers’ markets?

I truly believe that farmers’ markets can benefit everyone involved. The local farmers can be empowered as entrepreneurs and the customers get out, get exercise, and replenish vitamin D. The customers are apt to buy more fruits and vegetables too. Of course, farmers’ markets are also great family events.

That’s why I’m sharing a free handout about farmers’ markets today. It’s a great resource for your clients and is chock-full of tips and tricks for making the most of a trip to the market. Get your copy today!

I love to take photos of food at farmers’ markets. What can I say? It’s kind of an obsession.

Recently, I went to an open air farmers’ market in Davis California. Did you know that that market was voted “America’s Best Farmers’ Market”? How cool is that?!

Anyway, while I was there, I was transfixed by the color and freshness of all the foods spilling over the stands. The produce was so beautiful — it really looked home grown and hand picked. The farmers were all so proud too. It was a moving experience to watch them selling everything to droves of people. With all that bounty, who couldn’t be enticed to try something new and healthful?

With that thought, inspiration was born.

I knew that food and health educators could use the images of these amazing fruits and vegetables in order to promote a healthful diet and lifestyle. I snapped away with my camera and chose my best shots to turn into classy posters that we could sell in the Nutrition Education Store.

The light was perfect for photographing, so I ended up having a whole bunch of winning photos to choose from. Once I picked my favorites, I used a software program to create an artistic oil painting effect. That brought me closer to the show-stopping posters I envisioned, but I wasn’t quite there yet. I wracked my brain. What could make these posters perfect?

Metallic paper was the answer.

By taking the oil painting photos and printing them on metallic paper, the images went from “wow” to “OH WOW.”

I wanted these posters to be highly creative, visual, and positive. They represent a way to have truly versatile fruit and vegetable art that can be displayed in myriad ways…

They can used in the offices of food and nutrition educators. The whole display is 24 inches X 20 inches – which is almost the size of a jumbo poster!
They can be posted at farmer’s markets. Separate photos help inspire and add color and art to the display.
They can be part of health fairs, as either displays or giveaways (or both!).

Because I genuinely want everyone to give the farmers’ market experience a try, and because trying new and fun foods is so important to a healthful lifestyle, I’ve kept the price of these new posters very low. That way, more people can make them a part of their lives.

If you’re at all interested in this new food art bundle, then get the details today. Each image is 8 inches by 10 inches and printed on metallic paper. The set contains 6 different prints, to be displayed or distributed as you see fit. Check them out!

I’ve been feeling really inspired lately, and so the store is jam-packed with great new nutrition education materials. Some of my personal favorite new arrivals are below…

6 Pack Farmers’ Market Prints

I Heart Fruit and Veggies Poster

MyPlate Plastic Plate Set

By Judy Doherty, PC II and Founder of Food and Health Communications, Inc.

I Heart Fruits and Veggies

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Stephanie Ronco

Hooray for fruits and vegetables!

Everyone loves the “I heart” message, and now it’s coming to a wellness poster for you! This eye-catching nutrition poster will help remind your clients to eat more fruits and vegetables each day.

We combine color, a simple visual message, beautiful food photos, a heart icon, and a fresh look at health in this poster. It can serve as a wellness poster, motivational poster, fruit and vegetable promotion poster, school poster, or a food art poster. Which role would you like it to play?

So why use a health poster?

The possibilities are endless! You can pep up any space, communicate key health messages in a fresh new way, and even introduce people to fruits and vegetables that they haven’t tried before.

Check out these rave reviews of the posters we’ve created…

“I think our folks can get and are getting a lot of information from these posters. Thank you!” — Melissa A. Chlupach, MS, RD, LD, ANMC Food and Nutrition Services
“The poster, as is true with many of the posters from Nutrition Education Store are colorful, interesting to the eye, and fun to look at. They are a real draw to a booth!” — Marla Hill, RD, CD
“The materials and poster I ordered were great.” — Michelle McCracken-Brown, PA-C, Physician Assistant, Health Center Manager, Take Care Health Systems, Inc.

So what are you waiting for? Get your copy of the I Heart Fruits and Veggies Poster today! Or preview this free handout that accompanies the poster!

Remember, there’s always more in the Nutrition Education Store! The latest bestsellers include…

6 Grocery Shopping Tour Guide CD

The Way to Eat with Diabetes Color Handout Tearpad

Nutrition Healthy Food Poster

No Kale?

Posted on March 19, 2014 by cheryle

Kale seems to be one of those foods that you either like or you don’t. For my husband, it’s a definite dislike. According to him, one of the only good things about his recent heart attack is that he isn’t allowed to eat kale.

OK…perhaps this is “selective hearing” on his part. All he heard was don’t eat kale or other leafy greens because it will interfere with your drugs. Yes, he is now taking Warfarin (also known as Coumadin) prescribed to prevent blood clots due to his heart disease. He also has to go to his doctor’s office frequently to have the Warfarin levels in his blood tested (INR). In the beginning these levels varied greatly and the he wanted to get it balanced, so he avoided kale (this was not a big sacrifice) along with all other green vegetables.

Why the avoidance? Vitamin K. This vitamin plays an important role in blood coagulation—which when you are on Warfarin you don’t want to happen. It is found mainly in green vegetables. What foods are the highest in Vitamin K? Kale, spinach, collard greens, mustard greens and cooked broccoli.

The doctors and the folks at cardiac rehab were quick to tell him, “no, don’t avoid these vegetables completely—just balance them out”. The key is to eat the same amounts of Vitamin K foods every week. Yes, it does affect the working of the drugs, but the levels can be adjusted for the amounts of Vitamin K foods you eat on a regular basis—the key word here is consistent.

So did he do this? No. He avoided all vegetables that were even close to green—including iceberg lettuce. Why, I don’t know, perhaps it is one way he can to be “in control” and also to make sure that the levels of the drug in his system were constant. I can understand this.

I bet he’s not the only heart patient that has done this.

But this avoidance of vitamin K foods puts a real crimp in our menu planning. He’s now trying to eat more healthful, follow the DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet and lose some weight. We all know one of the most important things we all should be doing is eating more vegetables. Hard to do when you’ve taken many out of the running.

This goes counter to everything I’m used to regarding shopping and eating. No broccoli, no salads, no spinach…no kale. We’ve been eating lots of tomatoes, celery, winter squash, zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash and have even expanded to pumpkin and eggplant. We’re always teaching variety in vegetables…this isn’t the way to go.

Now that we’re almost five months into this adventure he has begin to add these vegetables back in to his (our) diet. I’m glad. But I’m not sure I’ll ever get kale onto his plate.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Here are tips for people who are timid about eating and trying new vegetables.

Focus on the presentation. Chances are, if the vegetables are fresh, cut in small pieces, and served with a sauce, people will try them just because they are sitting in front of them. One favorite idea is to place vegetable sticks in a glass with a little light Ranch Dressing on the bottom.
Carrots, yams, and winter squash are sweet and they have a bright orange color so they are a great place to start.
Cook items perfectly so they are not overcooked or discolored will help. Steam items for 2 minutes to start and then check doneness.
Focus on a favorite dressing or sauce.
Grilling vegetables can be a fun and delicious way to get people to eat them.
Chopping vegetables finely and adding them to salads and pasta sauce can bring success.
Chili is also a great place to add more veggies.

Check out our Fruit and Vegetable Promotion Items:

Frost on the tomatoes

Posted on October 19, 2013 by cheryle

My tomato plants didn’t do too good this year. My husband currently has it calculated that each cherry tomato we ate cost 33 cents. But there are still a couple little green tomatoes on the plants, if they ripen that will bring my cost per tomato down a little.

But other people had better luck than I did with their tomato plants. As the days are getting shorter and the nights colder, they are looking for ways to use up or save tomatoes on their plants that haven’t quite ripened. With special care, green tomatoes will ripen indoors and can be stored 4-6 weeks. But, it’s important to remember that not all tomatoes can be saved, they must have reached a certain stage of maturity on the vine or they will never ripen.

Obviously, the best way to ripen tomatoes is to leave them on the vine as long as possible. However, as the temperatures cool and there is a risk of frost, it is important to pick the tomatoes. When the temperature goes below 45 degrees for several days, the tomatoes may not ripen satisfactorily or may rot and decay before ripening.

For best results, select the largest, blemish-free tomatoes from healthy plants. Mature green tomatoes are greenish white on the blossom end, these are the one you’ll have the most luck with ripening. Hard bright green tomatoes will never ripen.

After harvesting, remove the stems to prevent them from puncturing each other, rinse and let them dry before storage. Just wiping the soil from the tomatoes is not recommended as it may cause damage which may lead to decay.

Sort by degree of ripeness, this way you can store then in the order in which they will ripen. To reduce bruising, wrap the tomatoes individually in newspaper. This also helps trap some of the ethylene gasses that the tomatoes give off which helps them to ripen. Pack the green tomatoes one or two layers deep in shallow boxes or trays.

The tomatoes should be stored in moderately moist airy place. Too much dampness will promote decay and if the room is too dry the tomatoes will shrivel and dry out before they ripen. Since homes and garages vary in humidity levels and temperatures, you’ll need to learn by trial and error which works best.

Mature green tomatoes reach an eating-ripe state in 14 days if held at 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Ripening can be slowed down by holding the tomatoes at 55 degrees. Storage at temperatures below 50 degrees will slow ripening, but result in poor quality.

Home refrigerators should be set at 40 degrees or slightly lower. This is too cold for green tomatoes. Tomatoes held at that temperature for more than a few days will never ripen. Tomatoes may be kept in the refrigerator after they are fully ripe but they may become watery after a couple of days.

Be sure to check your stored tomatoes frequently and remove any damaged one, as one spoiled tomato can ruin the entire batch.

If your supply of green tomatoes is plentiful you might try then in a green tomato salsa, grill them or oven fry. Nutritionally, according to the USDA data base, a green tomato has slightly more calories– 41 calories— than a raw ripe red tomato at 32 calories per cup (180 grams). Green tomatoes also have a little more Vitamin C (70% DV vs. 38% DV) and a little more sugar (7 grams vs. 5 grams.)

With some special care you might be able to have fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS

Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Pumpkin all around us

Posted on October 9, 2013 by cheryle

It’s undeniably fall. No, it’s not the shorter days, turning leaves or cooler nights that let me know. It’s pumpkin. It seems that pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING have popped out of everywhere. It was hardly past Labor Day when I started seeing promotions for pumpkin coffee, pumpkin donuts, cookies and cakes, pumpkin coffee creamer and even pumpkin yogurt.

I don’t have anything against pumpkin. Actually I rather like this iconic fall flavor. But this is ridiculous. It doesn’t take an expert to figure out that most of these items don’t really have pumpkin in them.

I have a friend who owned a bulk food store. She had a pumpkin pudding and pie filling mix that everyone loved. At closer look we found that the mix did not contain any pumpkin at all…just the sweet spices of nutmeg, allspice, cloves and cinnamon that are frequently used with pumpkin…it gave the “hint” of pumpkin pie to the pudding. If you really wanted to make a pie they suggested adding mashed pumpkin to the pudding . Isn’t it amazing what our taste buds and the sense of smell can make you believe?

But, not all of the pumpkin foods are “smoke and mirrors”…or should I say “spice and herbs”? I did find some yogurt with real pumpkin added as the second ingredient and pancakes that had pumpkin in them, too. Good for them!

In addition to the flavor, adding real pumpkin to foods could be a super nutrition boost. Pumpkin has Vitamin A and lots of it. The Produce for Better Health Foundation says that just 3/4 cup of cooked pumpkin contains 130% of your daily value for Vitamin A and only 25 calories.

You can add this classic fall flavor to your own beverages, baked goods and menu with “real” mashed pumpkin. If you want to be “authentic” select a from your farm market or grocery. Be sure it’s a pie pumpkin, not one grown for Jack-O-Lanterns, they are usually smaller, meatier and less stringy.

Pumpkin can be simply prepared by placing slices on a cookie sheet and roasting in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until tender and slightly caramelized (varies with thickness of slices). Remember to wash the outside rind before cutting and to save the seeds for roasting.

You can sprinkle the pumpkin with spices before baking or just let the pumpkin flavor come out. The cooked pumpkin could be eaten as a vegetable or mashed to be added in other recipes.

Just want some quick mashed pumpkin? They can also be prepared in the microwave (see the recipe for spaghetti squash.

Canned mashed pumpkin is easy and works well in recipes, too, when real pumpkins are not available. If you’re wanting to preserve pumpkin, the National Center for Home Food Preservation cautions against canning mashed pumpkin . They recommend canning cubed pumpkin or freezing the mashed pumpkin.

Create your own fall pumpkin specialties. Here are a few recipes ideas from the Food and Health Communications files to get you started.

April Fool Chili http://foodandhealth.com/recipes.php?id=105

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal http://foodandhealth.com/recipes.php?id=135

Pumpkin Apple Butter http://foodandhealth.com/recipes.php?id=276

Easy Pumpkin Pudding http://foodandhealth.com/recipes.php?id=131

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS

Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Eat your jack-o-lantern?

Posted on October 8, 2013 by cheryle

Kids love Halloween, costumes and carving pumpkins. Extend the fun by serving dinner in a pumpkin. This meal could be made ahead and served before the goblins go out trick-or-treating or have it in the oven while passing out treats at home. I made this for family friends a couple of years ago and they still talk about the time I put a pumpkin on the table.

Get the kids involved in this meal. Make it a family outing to select the pumpkin or pumpkins. The large round pumpkins that make great jack-o-lanterns are not the best for eating, they are usually stringy and tasteless. Smaller flatter pumpkins are best for cooking. Look for sugar, pie pumpkin or cooking pumpkins.

I could only find small orange pie pumpkins at our farmer’s market. There was also a hybrid pumpkin variety called a Buck Skin. This was a tan on the outside rather than orange but bright orange inside. This is one of the varieties of pumpkins used by commercial canneries use to make canned mashed pumpkin and pie filling. So, it’s a great eating pumpkin.

A word of caution when it comes to selecting pumpkins to fill for a meal. Don’t get one that’s too big. It might not fit in your oven or may be too heavy once filled. If you can’t find a nice medium-sized cooking pumpkin, you might want to go with individual smaller pumpkins. Everyone could have their own pumpkin for dinner.

It may be tempting to try to do “double duty” with a pumpkin, to first have it as a jack-o-lantern and then make it into a pie. Let’s not go there. Like any other food, once it has been cut, pumpkin needs to be kept refrigerated. You should plan to eat or refrigerate pumpkin the same day you cut into it. You could use the whole pumpkins for yard decorations, just don’t cut them until you’re ready to cook them.

The bright orange color is a dead give-away that pumpkins are full of important nutrients and antioxidants and beta-carotene. Pumpkin is an excellent source of vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient for proper health of eyes, respiratory tract, skin and tooth enamel.

Tips for making a meal in a pumpkin:

Make a recipe of your favorite soup, chili or meal-in-one casserole. Cook that recipe almost complete.
Wash the outside of the pumpkin. Cut off the top as if you were making a jack-o-lantern and thoroughly clean out the seeds and strings, leaving the pumpkin shell. This can be a great job for the kids.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spoon the hot filling into the cleaned pumpkin shell, replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin with filling on a baking sheet in oven.
Bake for 1 hour or until pumpkin is tender.
Carefully place the pumpkin on a serving platter (this may be difficult or impossible if your pumpkin is very large.) Remove the pumpkin lid and serve the contents. For your vegetable, scoop out the cooked pumpkin and serve.
Add a cold glass of milk and toasty bread and this provides a complete meal.

Food safety notes:

The soup, chili or casserole should be hot and almost completely ready to eat when put into the pumpkin shell.
Do not put raw ingredients, especially meats or poultry into the pumpkin shell, the heat will not penetrate the hard shell enough to cook these items.
Ingredients such as rice that need a long cooking time should be almost tender when placed inside the pumpkin.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

How to Make A Rainbow Salad

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Admin

We love special requests. Here is a recent one for a Gluten Free Information Poster which shows the safe, gluten-free grains that are common:

Gluten free is not always easy but hopefully we have made it easier. Thanks to Pat Hunter, MS, RD, for her request.

Here is another request from Goleta School District. They wanted a sign to jazz up their salad bar. So we did a little research here in the Boulder school district to find out what they are doing. They taped together a sign like a table tent. So we set out to design a big table tent that is the length of a salad bar or about 3 feet long. And Goleta School District wanted a rainbow salad. So we worked on a 3 foot salad.

The real salad was indeed 3 feet long. But you can’t take a great closeup photo of a 3 foot long salad so we took multiple shots and hand-stitched them together for the best results. This salad, in our Photoshop file, was over 300 inches long. It took up hundreds of meg on our computer. It had to be right-sized and then set into the poster:

We liked it so much we made a 18X12 Rainbow Salad poster and a large 2X3 vinyl Rainbow Salad banner. So anytime you want to promote eating LOTS of fruits and vegetables in all colors, these products are for you.

Or if you want to make a 3 foot long salad you can copy this one:

We found a glass plank at Crate and Barrel – it was on sale. And we studied photos of real rainbows.

Then we arranged the vegetables and fruits like so:

Kidney beans
Cherry or pear tomatoes
Red peppers
Orange peppers
Orange segments
Yellow peppers
Garbanzo beans
Pineapple
Cabbage
Jicama
Cucumbers
Celery
Broccoli
Romaine
Parsley
Green lettuce
Snow peas
Blueberries
Red baby romaine lettuce

This would make a great party platter or family style salad bar, too.

ENJOY!

If you have a special request, let us know – we make a lot of our special requests and always love more!

If you are looking for more healthy food photos, check out our new photo store: http://healthyfoodphotos.com

Salsa: Not Just for Chips Anymore

Posted on July 22, 2013 by cheryle

Fresh fruits and vegetables are abundant this time of year. Why not combine them to make your own creative and delicious salsa? I know some folks that make “refrigerator salsa”…just take a little of everything in your crisper and VOILA salsa! That might yield some unusual combinations…but then you never know. Here are some tips for making your own salsa.

Be creative. Salsa recipes are very flexible and forgiving. Maybe not everything in your crisper, but go out of your comfort zone and try something new. How about strawberries, kiwi, jalapeno, red onions and a little cilantro? Add a little olive oil and lemon juice and you’ve got a great salsa for fish.
Salsa can be a fun and tasty way to add fruits and vegetables to your meals and snacks. Every ½ cup of salsa counts as one serving toward your fruit and vegetable totals for the day.
Think of salsa as a condiment, not a dip.
Experiment with vegetables and fruits instead of chips as salsa dippers or look for low-fat, high fiber chips or crackers.
Use fresh herbs and spices when they are available to make salsas low-salt and low-sodium.
Once made, salsas need to be refrigerated. Remember the two-hour-rule: for food safety reasons, salsa should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.
Fresh salsa can be safely stored covered in the refrigerator for one week.
Not all recipes for salsa can be safely canned. Be sure to use a research-based tested recipe for canning. Don’t be fooled by the heat. Bacteria that can cause foodborne illness can grow in salsa no matter how hot it is.
Speaking of heat: use gloves when working with fresh chile peppers that are very hot. The capsaicin in fresh chilies can cause a painful burn. Chile tip: generally the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is.
Add salsas to soups, salads and casseroles—any time you want a zippy flavor boost.
Salsa is the perfect condiment for tacos or grilled protein like fish or chicken.

Salsa can be chopped fresh like a pico de gallo or it can be roasted. Try this delicious roasted salsa recipe which has a longer shelf life than fresh salsa:

Roasted salsa

Here are three great fresh salsa recipes:

Mango Salsa

Corn Salsa

Banana Dessert Salsa

Anything goes. Have fun.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University

Tag Archives: vegetables

A Moment with Lettuce

Free Radical Display Idea

A Farmers’ Market Tale

I Heart Fruits and Veggies

No Kale?

Frost on the tomatoes

Pumpkin all around us

Eat your jack-o-lantern?

How to Make A Rainbow Salad

Salsa: Not Just for Chips Anymore

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