Curious Cook

Organic, and Tastier: The Rat’s Nose Knows

IN any controversy it can be helpful to consider the views of disinterested parties. So, on the subject of agricultural policy and practice, it’s worth noting that an unimpeachably neutral group has joined the ranks of those who prefer organic foods over foods produced with the help of synthetic chemicals. That group is 40 Swiss rats.

A team of Swiss and Austrian scientists recently concluded a 21-year study of organic wheat production. As an “integrative method” for assessing quality, they gave lab animals a choice of biscuits made from organic or conventional wheat. The rats ate significantly more of the former. The authors call this result remarkable, because they found the two wheats to be very similar in chemical composition and baking performance.

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Chemical signals that boost basil flavor

In today's Curious Cook column I write about the elusive flavor advantage of organic foods, and about a simple treatment that can increase the flavorfulness of basil and quite possibly other herbs and vegetables.

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P. Maeder et al., Wheat quality in organic and conventional farming: results of a 21 year field experiment. J. Science of Food and Agriculture, 2007, 87, 1826-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.2866

H.-J. Kim et al. Effect of chitosan on the biological properties of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). J. Agriculture and Food Chemistry 2005, 53, 3696-3701. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf0480804

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Clarifying liquids with gelatin

In my column in the September 5 New York Times, I describe a recently discovered method for making intensely flavored liquid essences, or "consommés," from all kinds of foods, from meat stocks and fruit juices, baked potatoes and chocolate. 

The Times prints a recipe for brown butter consommé from H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, authors of the remarkable blog Ideas in Food. David Kinch, chef-owner of the acclaimed restaurant Manresa in Los Gatos, California, generously sent me a recipe for a pumpkin consommé, but the the Times didn't have space to print it. With chef Kinch's kind permission, here it is.