Christopher Ranch

Halloween’s a popular holiday for garlic, particularly for those looking to ward off vampires.

Except, Twilight’s Edward Cullen, of course.

Still, cooking garlic can also keep the vampires at bay. So, remove that garlic clove from your neck, chop it up and toss in a tasty, ghoulish Halloween dish – characterized by a pumpkin ingredient or orange hue.

Perfect for a night awaiting trick-or-treaters, for trick-or-treating fuel or while doing the Monster Mash at said Halloween bash.

Pumpkin & Yellow Split Pea Soup

Pumpkin Soup With Smoked Paprika

Roasted Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seed Pasta

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Cavatelli With Spicy Winter Squash

Pumpkin & Crispy Pancetta Risotto

Pumpkin-Turkey “Ghoulash” With Caraway Noodles

Caramel Apples

Disclaimer: these recipes are so scrumptious, you might wind up attracting the vampires you were hoping to scare away. It’s a risk worth taking.

Happy Halloween, and happy eating!

Flavor is a well-orchestrated symphony of the senses.
Nothing beats the experience of sinking your teeth into a perfectly ripe strawberry or a nice juicy peach. However, sometimes the senses fail us... ever felt the disappointment of a piece of fruit that looks and smells exquisite, but just doesn’t taste as good as anticipated? So how can you select fruit that will deliver mouth watering flavor, bite after bite, every time? Fortunately, we have another resource to support our pursuit of flavor…BRIX!

Named for Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix who developed the scale in the 1800s, BRIX measures the concentration of dissolved solids (usually sucrose) in a solution. BRIX has long been integral in the winemaking industry to measure sugar content of grapes and determine when they are ripe for harvest (There’s even a fantastic restaurant in the Napa Valley named BRIX in tribute ). Recently, BRIX measurements have become increasingly common throughout the produce industry as a means to quantify flavor using a handy device known as a refractometer. Refractometers measure the degree to which light is refracted when passed through a solution, thus indicating the density of solids.

Customers of Pocono Produce in Northeastern Pennsylvania enjoy the benefit of weekly “Brix blasts” issued by Executive Chef Doug Petruzzi. Petruzzi and his staff use portable refractometers several times a week to determine which fruits and vegetables are extraordinarily flavorful and then communicate that information to their customers.

In field operations across the country, inspectors for retail chains take BRIX measurements to determine whether everything from melons to peppers meet quality specs. If the product makes the grade, it ships. If not, the inspectors move on to another farm, and the pursuit of flavor continues.

BRIX measurements have been integral at Christopher Ranch, where America’s leading supplier of fresh garlic works to differentiate its product from the glut of imports flooding domestic markets. While "sweet" may be the last word people would choose to describe garlic, BRIX is still instrumental in identifying the compounds that give garlic its distinct aroma and flavor. In tests conducted by a 3rd party food lab, Christopher Ranch Heirloom Garlic hammered its Chinese counterpart by a score of 38° to 29° . Every 100g of Christopher Ranch garlic contains 38g of solids including amino acids, essential oils, and other minerals, which is 23% higher than water-saturated imports. Chefs agree that this has a huge impact on the quality of their dishes, confirming that Christopher Ranch Heirloom Garlic has a more pronounced and consistent flavor than Chinese…. It’s all about the BRIX!

The days of corn dogs and tater tots for lunch might soon be over.

Perhaps to the chagrin of K-12 students throughout the U.S. – what kid doesn’t consider tater tots one of the essential food groups? – much-needed nutritional reform is likely on the way, which will give school meals a makeover that looks more like salads, apples, carrots and sandwiches and less like fiesta pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and sloppy Joes.

The health wave might take some getting used to for the 40-million kids eating school meals, accustomed to traditional pizza and cheeseburgers, but our kids – and population – are among the most unhealthy and obese in the world, and in real danger of serious health conditions linked to unhealthy eating habits, which, scaringly, have been reinforced at schools.

Our kids are the future, and they deserve to lead a long, healthy life.

The produce industry, through the advocacy of the United Fresh Produce Association, strongly supports such menu changes, which haven’t been revamped in 14 years.

Such moves for nutritional change include:

1.) The Child Nutrition Act expired in September, and there are hopes the program will be renewed and expanded to incorporate additional and more accessible fresh produce. United Fresh, according to a release, has several suggestions for the act, including:
- Enacting a national “Salad Bar In Every School” policy.
- Increasing the current reimbursement rate for all school meals to reflect rising food, labor and transportation costs and to meet current nutrition standards and the Dietary Guidelines.
- Urging USDA/AMS to significantly expand its commodity purchases of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables for schools.

2.) The Institute of Medicine’s “School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children” report has quantified the portions of healthy foods that need to be incorporated into school menus, according to a release, including:
- Increasing the amount of fruit offered in school breakfast to one cup per day for all students.
- Increasing the amount of fruit offered in school lunch to one cup per day for students in grades 9-12.
- Increasing the amount of vegetables offered in school lunch to 3/4 cup per day for grades K-8 and to one cup per day for grades 9-12 and others.

3.) Rep. Sam Far (D-CA) is expected to introduce the Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 in Congress, which supports and emphasizes several of the Institute of Medicine’s suggestions and endorses salad bars as a way to encourage fresh produce consumption in cafeterias, according to United Fresh.

Overhauling school cafeterias is a major undertaking. However, it will benefit the health of children and general population for years to come and can be accomplished with your help. We encourage you to support the move by contacting your representative in Congress.

Like they say, do it for the kids!

I hate being sick.

I rarely come down with anything – knock on wood – but am recovering from a recent case of bronchitis. Apparently, my body does not appreciate it when I don’t sleep, sacrifice food, talk too much and indulge in one too many glasses of wine.

Therefore, I have been trying to ingest as many healthful products as possible, in addition to my 10 bottles of cough syrup and Z-Pak.

Now, numerous studies have indicated fresh garlic’s substantial medicinal value, equipped with antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral properties, but a recent study reaffirmed garlic’s positive health benefits, as a result of its high selenium content.

Selenium is a prominent nutrient found in fresh garlic, and, according to the European Food Safety Authority’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, selenium could provide “protection of DNA, proteins and lipids from oxidative damage, normal function of the immune system, normal thyroid function and normal spermatogenesis.” (See article – “Positive Selenium Health Claim Opinion Welcomed)

Huh? I was wondering the same thing. So, I did some research.

In layman’s terms, selenium is stimulates the production of antibodies, which the immune system uses to locate and battle bacteria and viruses, and is believed to activate T cells that trigger white blood cells to combat infection. Therefore, the nutrient is believed to help boost the immune system and fight harmful cells and tumors.

With that being said, you better believe I accelerated my intake of fresh garlic in recent weeks.

I’m obviously no doctor, and it’s hard to identify whether it’s my meds, my nightly scotch (soothes the throat) or aggressive doses of fresh garlic (maybe all three?!), but I feel much better.

If you’re looking for a holistic approach to remedy the plethora of sicknesses going around – be it bronchitis, flu, swine flu, allergies, etc. – popping a daily clove of California heirloom garlic definitely couldn’t hurt.

The reasons for this are plenty – the leaves begin changing (in Los Angeles, the palm trees turn a darker hue), the air turns cooler, Saturdays – and Sundays – are centered around football (and drinking beers), I ditch the sandals and don the boots and – arguably most exciting – it’s chili season.

I love me some chili, but the air’s got to be cool, and football has got to be on TV. Therefore, the time has come.

There is an art to chili, however. One cannot just slosh some beef, chili spice, beans and tomato sauce in a pot and call it “chili.” This is not goulash we’re talking about it. Being from Kansas – we take our chili seriously.

Good chili has requirements. You need fresh ingredients – fresh bell pepper, fresh chili pepper, fresh onion, fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes. You need serious heat – Tabasco, hot chilies, cayenne pepper, red chili flakes, etc. You need lean meat – like fresh ground chuck meat, turkey meat or bison – none of that highly processed, low-grade mystery meat. You need red kidney beans, black beans, etc. – not the chil-doused beans. Like I said, there’s an art to chili.

So, I compiled some delectable chili recipes – of all shapes and sizes – that pay heed to the caliber of dish chili is:

Building A Better Chili – Garlic Style

Turkey Chili

Bison & Bean Chili Recipe

Vegetable & Bean Chili

My Husband’s Homemade Chili

White Bean Chicken Chili

Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili…in honor of Halloween

Three Bean Chili With Garlic

So, cozy up in a blanket, get the fireplace burning, turn on College Gameday and grab a bowl of chili. It’s the season