Is there such a thing as Superfood?

I think we can safely say that apart from eating our own heirloom, non GM chemical free, organic home grown vegetables we are risking a load of health problems. Well according the World Health Organization anyway.

The WHO recently did a survey testing over 940 different substances and found only one of them to NOT be a cancer concern. If you are wondering which chemical is safe, it’s called “Caprolactam” and is found mainly in yoga pants. I’m still not sure if this is meaning wearing the pants or eating them is the safe way and probably never will. The WHO has also been busy with presentations, some of them more successful than others; the bacon scare comes to mind… Here’s a recent report from unaustralian.net that puts an interesting point across humorously. 

Two pigs

Last week the World Health Organisation retracted a study that revealed a connection between bowel cancer and bacon after an alert staff member discovered that the doctor presenting the results was actually two pigs dressed up in a long white lab coat.

“The presentation he gave was certainly impressive with lots of graphs and pie charts,” said Dr Hermione Trotter, head of ontological research at WHO. “No-one questioned his credentials because he had a stethoscope around his neck. We were on the verge of recommending a worldwide ban on bacon and sausages when one of our secretaries noticed something out of the ordinary.”

“I happened to see a little curly tail poking out from the back of his lab coat”, said UN stenographer Penny Stencil. The bogus bacon study follows on from a similar attempt to discredit chicken nuggets carried out by seven chickens dressed up as an expert on heart disease.

“We’ve stepped up our screening procedures and any doctor wearing anything longer than a poncho will be x-rayed on the way into the building,” said WHO security chief Warren Truncheon. “You’ll have to excuse me; I’ve got to go to a lecture on the dangers of horse meat that’s currently being delivered by a doctor with a really long face.”

Alternatives

It just goes to show that we can’t believe everything we hear about food and diet. There have been a long list of “Superfoods” over the years and as one comes on the market to convince us to eat more healthily to counteract the ‘harmful’ foods. 

Foods that have been elevated to superfood status in recent years include those rich in antioxidants (such as beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, E, flavanoids and selenium) and omega-3 fatty acids. They come and go with marketing, well except chocolate (yes that is a superfood some of you will be pleased to know) then there are blueberries, goji berries, oily fish, wheatgrass, pomegranate juice, green tea, broccoli, garlic and beetroot. The next big thing will be products from the fast growing Moringa tree native to South Asia and now found throughout the tropics. Its leaves have been used as part of traditional medicine for centuries. You will soon see products with the tree leaves as an ingredient promising good health. You heard it here first.

Superfood

There is no official definition of a "superfood" and the EU has banned health claims on packaging unless supported by scientific evidence. But that hasn't stopped many food brands from funding academics to research the health benefits of their product.

The superfood trend exploits the fact that healthy lifestyle choices, including diet, can reduce our risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke and cancer. The food industry wants to persuade us that eating some foods can slow down the ageing process, lift depression, boost our physical ability, and even our intelligence. Many of us want to believe that eating a single fruit or vegetable containing a certain antioxidant will zap a diseased cell.

The problem is that most research on superfoods tests chemicals and extracts in concentrations not found in the food in its natural state. Garlic, for example, contains a nutrient alleged to help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. But you'd have to eat up to 28 cloves a day to match the doses used in the lab. A friend of mine says she had two cloves a day for a week and it made her really aggressive so you’d need to avoid her if she ate 28 of them.

Fantasy

While the concept of a "miracle food" remains a fantasy, it's pretty well-established that obesity and alcohol are the two most common causes of major long-term illness.  Diet plays an important role in our health, but there is concern that too much focus on individual foods may encourage unhealthy eating.

"No food, including those labelled 'superfoods', can compensate for unhealthy eating," explains Alison Hornby, a dietician and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association (BDA). "All unprocessed food from the major food groups could be considered 'super'. All these foods are useful as part of a balanced diet.”

"If people mistakenly believe they can 'undo' the damage caused by unhealthy foods by eating a superfood, they may continue making routine choices that are unhealthy and increase their risk of long-term illness."

Dieticians avoid the term "superfood" and prefer to talk of "super diets", where the emphasis is on a healthy, balanced diet, rich in fruit and vegetables and wholegrain foods.

So again, it’s conclusive evidence that growing and eating our own veggies is a healthy pursuit.

A Chat with Denise Dunne at The Herb Garden

I was chatting to Denise Dunne who runs the Herb Garden in Naul, County Dublin this week. Denise runs training courses, sells herbs and seeds online that have culinary, medicinal and fragrance as well as decorative uses in the garden. The Herb Garden is a Certified Organic Herb Nursery, established by Denise in 1995 and also produces certified organic salad, flower and native Irish wildflower seed to compliment the herbs.

I asked Denise what initially got her interested in Herbs “One of my earliest herb memories is standing on a chair in the kitchen, beside my Mam, and picking the thyme leaves off the stem for stuffing, rissoles, or our family special, ‘pigeon pie’. Picking the tiny thyme leaves was a tedious job that required patience, but not a huge amount of skill, so it was the perfect way to introduce a child into the world of plants and cooking. I felt the attention to detail was important and I was very careful to pick out every last bit of stem that fell into the bowl.”

Denise knows how important good food is to a family.  “We were practically self-sufficient long before it became fashionable”.  She tells me “Mam and Dad planned and developed a lovely garden themselves in our new home and transformed a barren plot into a miniature paradise, with an orchard, soft fruits and beehives.”

It wasn’t always easy for a teenage Denise though “When I was growing up all the neighbours called us ‘The Good Life’. I did find it quite embarrassing, especially when the hens escaped onto the street.  It is only with hindsight that I realize what a wonderful gift my parents gave to us all. They both put so much effort into providing the best food possible for their family. It is only natural that cooking and eating together was always a special occasion and still is an integral part of any family celebration.” Denise concludes. 

As it’s coming to the end of the season I ask Denise if she can give us any tips and advice about how we can preserve herbs for the winter before the frosts come. 

PRESERVING HERBS

“Herbs for preserving should be harvested on a dry, sunny morning, after the dew has evaporated. To obtain maximum flavour and nutritional content, material for preserving needs to be at its very best. This will depend on the part of the plant that is required.

• Leaves should be harvested just before the plant flowers.
• Flowers are at their best when they have just opened.
• Fruit should be just ripe.
• Seed is ripe when it changes from green to brown. For seeds in pods, shake the stem. You will hear the seeds rattle when they are ripe.
• Roots are at their best when the top growth of the plant has completely died back, in autumn or winter.

Drying

Cut the stems just above ground level. Trim and discard any discoloured or damaged leaves. Tie into small bunches and hang in a dark, dry, airy place, or put them in a paper bag punched with holes, to eliminate light and dust. When the plant is completely dry, it will become brittle. Remove the leaves from the stems and store in airtight jars, in a dark place. To retain maximum flavour, it is best to store the leaves whole and crush, if necessary, just before using.

Freezing

Freezing is the best method for preserving the colour, flavour and nutritional content of herbs with soft, lush, green leaves, (eg. chives, dill, basil, mint, tarragon). Wash the herbs, if necessary, and shake dry. Freeze them in plastic bags, in bunches, on the stem. There is no need to thaw before using, just add at the end of cooking.

Alternatively, chop the herbs finely, put them in ice-cube trays and top up with water. Flowers, especially borage, can be frozen in ice-cubes for adding to drinks.

Preserving in Oil/Vinegar

Herbs preserved in oil or vinegar are very useful for adding flavour to many dishes.

Herb Oils

Fill a wide-necked, sterilised jar with fresh herb, broken into pieces with your fingers. When the jar is as full as possible, cover with good quality olive, sunflower, safflower or almond oil, preferably organic. Put on a tight fitting lid. Stand the jar in a warm or sunny place, covering it with brown paper if it's in a sunny position. Shake at least once a day for 14 days. Strain and store out of direct light.Suitable herbs - basil, garlic, fennel, lavender, rosemary, savory, tarragon, thyme. Spices, chillies and orange or lemon peel can be added.

Herb Vinegars

Bruise the herb and fill a wide-necked jar. Top up with warm (not hot) wine or cider vinegar. Continue as for herb oils.

Suitable herbs - bay, chervil, dill, elderflower, garlic, fennel, lavender, mint, rosemary, tarragon, thyme. Spices, chillies and citrus rind can also be added.

Fruit vinegars are made by the same method. Roughly chop the fruit in a food processor first.

Suitable fruits - blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries.”

You can find more tips and advice about herbs and seeds and a newsletter on Denise’s website theherbgarden.ie      

Frost Damage

To keep with the Halloween theme, here’s Arlena’s image of her succulent stuffed pumpkin.

There are a couple of pointers to remind me of the oncoming cooler weather. Two being the shorter days and the ever decreasing times that I can take my dogs for a walk in the daylight around the park. Then there’s the butter dish on the kitchen table. Gone are the days when I can scrape out big dollops of lovely creamy butter onto my knife. It’s now a case of placing lumps on the toast and letting it soften. We are slowly being acclimatised to the colder weather so when the first frost comes it’s not too much of a shock to the system. Plants also acclimatise themselves, not by putting the butter in the microwave, but by changing their metabolism, anatomy and physiology to prevent frost or chill damage.

How do plants cope?

One response plants have to dropping temperatures is the thickening of liquid within plant cell membranes, from a liquid to a gel-like state with amino acids. This slows everything down, conserves energy and lowers the freezing point, a bit like antifreeze. At the same time, the cell membranes themselves become more permeable, allowing water to leak between the cells as a kind of buffer. This is the process of cold acclimation.

Acclimatisation is also known as ‘superfreeze’ where the cell contents remain liquid even though below freezing point. To do this plants have to experience several days of cold weather before the freeze and this explains why even hardy plants can be damaged by a sudden autumn frost.

2 Types of Frost

The two main types of frost are advective or radiative, depending on the atmospheric conditions. An advective frost occurs when cold air sweeps in, usually with strong winds. A radiative frost occurs on clear nights where there is little or no wind.

  

Frost can Benefit Plants

Frost can actually benefit some plants. Deciduous fruit trees benefit from winter chilling, and cold snaps turn starches to sugar in crops such as parsnips, improving their flavour.

Frosts can also disrupt pest and disease cycles, and improve soil structure – when moisture within soil freezes, it expands, and splits open soil particles.

Prevention of damage

There are a number of ways to keep your plants safe during cold weather;

Choose plants that are reliably hardy and suited to your growing conditions. 

Select planting positions carefully to avoid ‘frost pockets’ this usually happens at the low point of the garden.

Slightly tender plants should be grown in a warm sunny spot, against a south-facing wall for example, which will provide some extra warmth and winter protection.

Cover plants with a double layer of horticultural fleece or other suitable protection when frost is forecast. This cover is thin enough to let sunlight in, warming the soil and to keep in the warmth at night as the temperature drops.

Mulch the root area of evergreens now, conifers, tender shrubs and tender perennials with a thick layer of organic matter to prevent the ground becoming frozen. This is better done in warmer weather as adding mulch later on could trap the cold air in the ground.

Move container-grown plants to a sheltered part of the garden in cold weather and provide some extra protection by wrapping the pot in bubble wrap.

Leave the previous seasons growth on more tender plants until spring, for example penstemon, as this provides valuable frost protection during the winter.

Tender plants can be lifted or moved to a more sheltered position or greenhouse. If this is not practical then protect them by wrapping them in sacking. 

Lift tender perennials such as dahlias, cannas, pelargoniums and fuchsias before the first frosts.

Hardiness can be improved by feeding plants high concentrations of soluble nutrients including potassium and sugars in the growing season. Some plants also have physical protection such as thick bark, furry leaves or a canopy that protects the inner shoots. Avoid applying nitrogen-rich fertilisers late in the season though as they stimulate soft, sappy growth which is especially vulnerable to frost damage.

Plants exposed to early morning sun may thaw too rapidly after a frost, causing damage to flowers and young growth. Camellia and magnolia flowers in particular can be ruined by a single frost.

Ensure tender plants are overwintered safely in the greenhouse by providing adequate heating or insulation

It's the late frosts that we should be the most wary of. Plants emerge gradually from dormancy in spring, but they can still respond quickly to sudden spikes in temperature which triggers new fresh growth which is very vulnerable to cold snaps. It’ll be a while before we need to give that any thought though!