West meets East for diverse recipes

Someone called Mythili, in the US, has been inspired by a conversation with her ((I know, stereotyping, but …)) grandmothers to concoct a series on traditional small grains of India. Mostly recipes, although she may be gathering other kinds of traditional knowledge too from her grannies. Be interesting to see where Mythili’s blog goes with this, but I think interviewing grandparents is a good way for children to get a feel for agricultural biodiversity.

Of course, if you don’t have the sort of relationship in which you can simply talk to older people (or, indeed, anyone) fear not. Help is at hand, in the form of something called an Earth Dinner. I kid you not. The helpful folks at Organic Valley have produced a set of cards you can buy that ask questions like “Describe a family recipe …” Could be valuable if someone were to collate all the results.

Indian potato chips

Indian potato growers are turning to a new, low-sugar variety of potato because it is better for making chips (crisps if you’re British), for which there is rapidly increasing demand. Would be interesting to monitor the effect on “local” varieties, no?

Coconut brandy

A bottle of brandy “distilled from the essence of the coconut flower and … matured for a minimum of two years” is going for sale for a million bucks. Talk about value adding!

Peppers fight flab

It seems that capsaicin, the stuff that gives hot peppers their zing, prevents immature fat cells developing into the fully-fledged sort. At least in laboratory experiments – but at levels not unlike those found in the stomachs of people who’ve just eaten a Thai meal. So, rather than jogging today, I’m going for a curry.