After a two-week break, it’s back to school/kinder for our kids tomorrow.  That brings up the old question: what should I pack for school lunch?  Ideally, something healthy and nutritious, easy to eat, quick to prepare and, very important, something that kids will eat.  Does such food exist ?

Well, some kids are easier to prepare food for than the other.  We have both ends of the spectrum:  our son’s choice of sandwich fillings ends with number 3, while our daughter is rather a gourmet eater.  But thanks to the Funtainer my life got easier in the last several months!

For quite a while I was looking for a stainless steel food container that looks like a food jar or bowl with wide opening.  All I could find in the shops was either a narrow thermos for liquids or plastic jar containers.  The latter ones  were out of question because of potentially containing Bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical present in some food and drink containers, that can leak into the food and drinks, especially when food is hot or heated (I’ll write about this issue more).  Anyway, I turned to online shopping and found Funtainer.  Our US readers are spoiled for choice, while in Australia Target and Kmart started to stock them recently.

During the past winter our 8yo tested the food jar and like it very much.  He finds Funtainer easy to open and close and not heavy or bulky.  He had many warm, delicious lunches like pasta, soups, casseroles etc., a refreshing change in between sandwiches.

Why do we like Funtainer food jar:

• It’s stainless steel!
• Easy to use
• Keeps food warm for up to 5 hours (cold up to 7 hours)
• Leak proof – important
• Easy to fill and eat from
• Light (312g / .69 lbs)
• Cool to touch outside
• Easy to clean
• Unbreakable
• Looks cool
• Just the right size (12cm x 8.5cm / 4.73in x 3.35) and capacity (290ml / 10.35fl oz) for kids – the measurements are for model we have
• Stable, doesn’t tip over or slip easily.

The drawbacks:

• Inside of the lid is plastic, but BPA free.
• The price (food jar should last though)
• Not widely available in Australia

To keep food warmer for longer, pour some hot water into the food thermos and let it stand for a while.  Pour the water out and immediately put hot food inside and close the lid.  For cold food, put the Funtainer in the fridge (empty or with the food) the night before.

Vanilla is my all time favourite spice!  There’s something luxurious, exotic and warm in the vanilla scent.  This might be why: vanilla plant belongs to the orchid family growing in tropical regions and is the second most expensive spice (saffron is first).

I used to by a single vanilla bean only when cooking for a special occasion.  At $6 plus a pod, it is really expensive for everyday use.  But NOT any more! I turned to the Internet in search for more affordable vanilla beans and wish I did it earlier.  If you use more than 2 vanilla beans per year, you would be nuts to buy it in shops: for the price of two you can have at least 10 or more online!

I found eBay to be a really good place to buy vanilla beans. While searching for vanilla I came across the recipe for homemade vanilla extract on one of the vanilla bean eStore.  Now that I buy in bulk and have plenty of fragrant plump beans on hand I make my own vanilla essence.  For our Australian readers, I would recommend to buy at Australian eBay (as I do) to avoid possible customs issues (food import).

Homemade Vanilla Extract Recipe

There are only two ingredients you need:

1. Vanilla beans and
2. Alcohol, eg. vodka, rum, brandy or spirit of your choice provided it’s at least 40% alcohol and the aroma doesn’t overpower vanillin

The ratio is 3 vanilla beans per one cup of spirits.

I prefer to use rum or vodka. Rum complements vanilla flavour perfectly.  It’s best in cakes or muffins. Vodka on the other hand doesn’t have as strong aroma as rum and won’t compete with the vanilla flavour.   Vodka based vanilla extract is good for cream and cheese based deserts.

The Method

• Prepare a clean glass jar or bottle.
• Split vanilla beans lengthwise and then in half
• Put vanilla halves into the bottle and pour the alcohol
• Close the lid or bottle top and leave in a dark place like a cupboard for at least 1-2 months
• Shake occasionally

With the time, colourless spirits like vodka will develop lovely brown colour.  Rum colour will deepen further and become cloudy and less transparent.  So will the flavour: the longer it stands the stronger and more aromatic your homemade vanilla extract will become.  The picture below is rum based vanilla extract on the day I made it:

The first time I made vanilla extract I couldn’t wait longer than one month!  Once you’ve used half of the homemade vanilla extract, simply top up the alcohol or add vanilla beans halves that you’ve scraped the seeds out or cooked with (just wash it thoroughly). Topping up can be done indefinitely.  If the aroma becomes too strong or the jar too crowded, simply divide the vanilla extract and beans into two bottles and pour more alcohol.  The second bottle would make a lovely present!

The homemade vanilla extract and the shop bought are worlds apart.  The latter one can contain sweeteners such as sugar or corn syrup, thickeners, artificial colours, caramel, stabilisers etc.  Especially bad is imitation vanilla essence that contains artificial vanillin made from wood-pulp by-products – give it a miss.

So get in action and make your own lovely vanilla extract.  It will take you only 5 minutes and you’ll know exactly what is in it!  Did I mention that I make my own vanilla sugar, vanilla ice cream and vanilla scented body deodorant too?

Organic Expo featuring the Green Show is on in Melbourne this weekend, 25 – 26 July 2009.  Friday, July 24^th is trade only day.  The event alternates between Sydney and Melbourne annually, so if you happen to be in Melbourne, don’t miss it.

With over 150 organic & green exhibitors there will be so much going on:

• Kylie Kwong (Sat) and Tobie Puttock (Sun) will have cooking demos and talk about eating ethically and locally
• Tasting, sampling and buying organic wines, produce and green products
• Opportunity to talk to exhibitors, ask questions and learn from them
• Lots of fun activities for kids (under 14 free entry):

• Children can sow their own organic veggies to take home
• ‘I LIKE ORGANIC’ children’s competition­ – the prize is a beautiful Handcrafted Mahogany Hobby Horse
• Organic Kids Fun Zone:Farmyard Friends, Creepy Crawly Garden and Eco Art

• Great door prize: cool electric bike
• Live and interactive demonstrations, presentations and talks on Anti-aging the organic way, Nanotechnology, Additive Free Kids, The truth about cotton and many other interesting topics.

The Organic Expo is open to the public on:

Saturday 25th July 2009 - 10.00am – 6.00pm
Sunday 26th July 2009 - 10.00am – 5.00pm

Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton, Melbourne

Born in Europe, my husband and I were brought up without the fast food chains, on homemade and often home grown food.  I watched my grandma and mum cooking and that experience definitely influenced my love of homemade food.  Feeding our kids nowadays has so many challenges:  food specifically marketed towards children is mostly over processed, laced with numerous, potentially dangerous and unnecessary food additives and has little nutritional value.

Since having kids, my interest in nutrition grew.  One day while our first child, then a baby, nibbled on a dry biscuit, I read the ingredients on the packet and searched on the Internet for the food additives listed there.  A whole new world opened for me.  I couldn’t read enough about the food additives, preservatives, artificial colours and flavours.

Checking the labels and ingredients lists while shopping was a must for me and many products were crossed out.  It took a while to finish my shopping initially, but in the long term I narrowed the products I buy and it helped me do the shopping quicker.  Having said that, the food our family consumes isn’t completely free from food additives and preservatives.  It is unrealistic to eliminate them all, especially when you have kids.  Explaining to a 4 year old that bright coloured lollies are bad for her is a complicated task.  Not to mention the birthday parties junk food bonanza.  But whenever I cook at home from scratch using fresh, natural ingredients, I know I’m reducing the amount of additives we consume.

Cooking from scratch using organic ingredients whenever possible  is an important part of sustainable living.  In our busy lives when families have little time to sit and eat together, when food outlets are at every corner and shops are full of readymade meals, many are asking: why bother cooking?

Some benefits of healthy home cooking from scratch:

• Eat delicious, freshly prepared food
• Cook using all natural ingredients
• Avoid or reduce food additives
• Avoid or reduce food preservatives
• Avoid or reduce artificial flavours and colours
• Support sustainable living
• Enjoy nutritious food
• Cut on over processed food without nutritional value
• Avoid packaging
• Set an example for children
• Enhance the health
• Control ingredients
• Save money

Of course, there are healthy takeaway options and home cooked meals could be quite unhealthy, too.  However, when cooking from scratch there is definitely less food additives and preservatives in there, if any at all.

Food additive categories

Food additives are divided into categories and assigned a number for easier identification internationally and I guess, to shorten and hide the long and in some instances scary chemical names behind those numbers.  In Europe the numbers have E in front of them.  The categories are:

• 100-182 Colours
• 200-297 Preservatives
• 300-385 Acidity Regulators, Anti-Oxidants, Mineral Salts
• 400-495 Vegetable Gums, Thickeners, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Gelling Agents
• 500-586 Mineral Salts, Anti-Caking Agents
• 620-641 Flavour Enhancers
• 900-1521 Thickeners, Vegetable Gums, Humectants, Artificial Sweeteners, etc.
• Flavours, natural or artificial, are not regulated and thus don’t have any numeric identification

Not all food additives are made same:  some are natural and ok to use, others, however whether natural or artificial are unsafe for consumption, and have been banned in different countries.  While researching the food additives, I came across several food additives tables that listed potentially unsafe additives.  Every source was different so I decided to make a table of food additives for myself as my personal shopping guide.

I divided food additives into two groups:  green – ok to consume and red – avoid if possible.  The additives in green are either natural, regarded as safe for use or derived from natural ingredients.  However, some could be either derived from a natural source or made artificially like citric acid 330 or turmeric colour 100.  The additives in red have either been proven as unsafe, connected with health or behavioral problems, have not enough information about them or have been added recently to the approved list.  My motto here is: if there is a question mark – it’s red.

The black numbers are the worst offenders. They are either banned in Australia or in other countries, or are suspected carcinogens!  Just few of them are:

• 102 Tartrazine – Colour. Linked to hyperactivity, skin rashes, migraines, behavioural problemss, thyroid problems, chromosome damage. Used to colour drinks, sweets, jams, cereals, snack foods, canned fish, packaged soups and a dye for wool and silk. Banned in Norway, Austria and Finland. Restricted use in Sweden and Germany.
• 249 Potassium nitrite – Preservative.  Linked with behavioural problems, asthma, breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness, possible carcinogen. Typical products include processed , cured and smoked meat and fish, root vegetables. Not permitted in foods for infant and young children.
• 621 Monosodium L-glutamate or MSG – Flavour enhancer.  Should not be permitted in foods for infants and young children. Some of health problems MSG is linked with include asthma, hyperactivity, depression, mood changes, sleeplessness, nausea, migraine, linked to infertility. To be avoided especially by pregnant women, children, elderly and people with heart disease. Commonly found in potato and corn chips, powdered soup stock, snacks, crackers, sauces etc.
• 951 Aspartame – Artificial sweetener. Present in more than 7000 products worldwide.  Linked to many health problems:  cancer, asthma, nausea, depressions, hyperactivity, seizures, breathing difficulties, memory loss and many others.  It is believed to be the most dangerous food additive on the market.  Sold as Equal®, NutraSweet®, Canderal®, Benevia® and Spoonful® sugar substitutes.  Commonly found in cordials, juices, snacks, deserts, vitamins, diet and low calorie drinks, and many others.

Sustainable Eco Food Additives List – Free Download!

Disclaimer: I compiled this table from different sources (some listed below) for my personal use.  The content is not intended to constitute professional advice nor it does include all information about every additive.   If you find this Food Additive List helpful, you are welcome to download it for your personal use.

I didn’t write the names of the food additives because it would make the table too long. You can see the food additives names listed alphabetically here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_additives

or listed by numbers here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_additives,_Codex_Alimentarius

Manufactures have the choice of listing the food additives as a number or they can print the full name.  For example monosodium glutamate or MSG can be identified on the ingredients list as: flavour enhancer (MSG) or flavour enhancer (621).To find out more info about a specific food additive by number or by name go to:

http://www.additivealert.com.au/

Food flavourings

Food Standards Australia New Zealand, FSANZ, states three types of food flavourings: natural, nature-identical and artificial.  FSANZ definitions of last two:

“Nature-identical substances means flavouring substances that are obtained by synthesis or isolated through chemical processes, which are chemically identical to flavouring substances naturally present in products intended for human consumption. They cannot contain any artificial flavouring substances.

Artificial flavouring substances means flavouring substances not identified in a natural product intended for human consumption, whether or not the product is processed.”

Unlike other food additives, flavourings aren’t assigned code numbers.  They are listed simply as flavour or flavouring because as per FSANZ “It would neither be realistic to require, nor meaningful to consumers to be provided with the chemical names of the individual flavouring substances present, even if they could all be identified.”

To illustrate why it is unrealistic to list all the ingredients the artificiall flavours contain, please read the ingredients list for artificial strawberry flavour:

“amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.   Yummmmy!”  Source: http://mbm.net.au/health/guide.htm

One example of different wording: Pear yoghurt should contain pears, but pear flavoured yoghurt doesn’t.  I usually buy plain yogurt and mix pureed or chopped fruit in.  The best bet is to avoid flavoured products.

But wait, there is more!

There are two instances where food additives aren’t required to be listed:

• 5% loophole: additives in the ingredient that makes up 5% or less of the product.
• Processing aids – not listed although might have traces of it in the food. Example: enzymes used to pump up the bread.

Even if the label isn’t listing any food additives, we might be eating unknown substances.

Next time you go shopping or reach for processed food, please read the ingredients.  Arm yourself with the knowledge about the food additives and don’t wait for the food regulation body in your country to ban or declare an additive unsafe.  Be your own judge.  Very often the authorities play down the research results linking specific food additives with health problems like asthma or hyperactivity.  Also, the research is frequently concentrated on one additive at the time.  But what happens when we eat dozens of them at the same time as a toxic cocktail, in doses well above the daily recommendations?

My main concern in regards to food is health of our kids and how to reduce the chemicals and additives they eat.  The strategies I use range from buying organic whenever possible, growing some of our food, cooking from scratch to reading the labels and limiting the “bad” food, plus risking the cross looks, complaints and occasional tantrums.  Hope, our kids will appreciate it one day!

As said previously, to eliminate all food additives, chemicals, pesticides etc. is not a realistic task in 21^st century.  But with one step at the time, everyone can steer towards healthier food choices.  And as a final word in this post: preparing fresh meals shouldn’t be regarded as a chore. It’s rather a way of looking after your health and wellbeing.

P.S. On 10  June 2009 ALDI announced it will  reformulate all its exclusive branded food items to remove the six food colours (102, 104, 110, 122, 124, 129) which have been proven to cause hyperactivity in children.  Read more: http://aldi.com.au/au/html/company/8821.htm

References:

Eady Julie; Additive Alert – Your Guide to Safer Shopping

Hanssen Maurice; Additive Code Breaker

Wilkinson Giselle; The Conscious Cook

I write this post from a perspective of a mother: what I think is a thoughtful mother’s day present that many other mothers would like too.

My favourites aren’t really material things and wouldn’t cost a cent: kisses and hugs, a flower from the garden, a Happy Mother’s Day written on a notebook paper and a pretend coffee and a playdough cake.

Explaining to our children that presents aren’t always “things” is a bit challenging in our consuming society.  However, my husband and I are trying to teach them the importance of giving as well as simplicity.  The emphasis though should be on thoughtfulness when selecting a gift rather than on a price tag.

There isn’t one-size-fits-all mother’s day gift.  Think about what your mum (or wife if having little kids) likes and needs, what are her interests.  A mum of small children might need one night of uninterrupted, good sleep and some pampering.  A mum of grown up kids living in another state might love some time spent together, a good talk and a lunch with her son(s) / daughter(s).  Maybe a phone call is the only thing a mum wishes:  it’s sad that so many children don’t keep in touch with their mothers and fathers.

Tips for thoughtful mother’s day gifts:

• Flowers: the classic, can’t-go-wrong present.  However, check that they are  organic and fair-trade!
• Eco gifts: homemade or organic body care products
• Plants or a fruit tree,
• Gift vouchers for organic, Oxfam and/or fair-trade shops
• Time spent together – good one for mums of busy, grown-up children
• As mentioned above, something that is really appreciated and matches mum’s needs and likes
• Subscriptions to a favourite magazine or web site
• Something handmade
• Avoid gifts like appliances that everyone will use more that mum herself
• Think about the environment: avoid presents with excessive packaging, lots of plastics and hard to recycle stuff
• And don’t go overboard with gift wrapping.  Check the post on environmentally friendly gift wrapping for some ideas.

On mother’s day kids always wake up very early and come to our bedroom. They can’t wait to bring the present and /or mother’s day cards they made at school and kinder, their eyes beaming proudly when I praise their lovely artwork.  Then we laugh, cuddle and talk for quite a while before my husband gets up and prepares the breakfast. These mornings I’ll always remember and treasure.

I would love to hear about your memorable mother’s day gifts and moments!  If you would like to share them, please do so in the comment box below.

A lot in this post!

We are big fans of u-pick or pick your own fruit and  berries.  U-pick means you go to the farms and pick the fruit yourself.  It is good in many ways:

• buying locally
• the freshest produce
• reducing rubbish (with byo containers)
• money goes direct to the farmer, no middleman
• fruit tastes great without time spent in refrigerators
• low food mileage attached, provided you don’t travel for hours to the farms
• great outing and fun for the kids
• cheaper produce – buying in bulk.

Farmgate  buying is similar:  you buy fruit or veggies at the farm, but already picked, mostly freshly that same day.  We usually combine u-pick and farmgate.

Our two favourite areas for u-pick in Melbourne region are the Dandenongs (blueberries, cherries, peaches, beans, raspberries) and Kinglake (raspberries, strawberries).

If you are a reader from Australia, you might have guessed the connection between frozen raspberry yogurt and bushfires.  As mentioned, we often went to Kinglake for raspberries u-pick.  Kinglake is a small town burned in the February bushfires.  The famous Kinglake raspberry farm has been partly destroyed, but several plots have survived and now have autumn raspberries for u-pick.

We went there last week.  The idea was to support farms and business that have survived and/or reopened.  We had to brace ourselves for what we were about to see:  vast areas of burned trees and houses.  Hard to describe.  We were the only people picking on the farm that afternoon: weird feeling knowing that on such a beautiful, school holiday day the farm would be so busy.  However, people still aren’t sure if it’s OK to come.

Talking to the locals, they would love to see more people coming, to boost the local business activity.  So, if you live in the Melbourne area, it would be great to visit the bushfire affected communities and spend some money: pick the fruit, have a lunch or coffee, support business running.   See on the internet or call first to check if the roads are open to where you intend to go. For more info about Kinglake raspberries visit their website:

http://www.kinglake-raspberries.com.au/index.htm

The freshly picked raspberries at our place have almost disappeared: we ate most of them, froze some and made a batch of frozen raspberry yogurt.

Here is the frozen raspberry yogurt recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup natural yogurt
• 300 g (0.6 lb) fresh raspberries
• 150 g (0.3 lb) caster sugar or icing (confectionery) sugar

Method:

1. Mash or puree the raspberries.  Sieve to remove the pips, optional
2. Add sugar and yogurt to the raspberries and mix together.
3. Pour into the ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer instructions.
4. Optional: add grated white chocolate when the mixture starts to freeze.
5. Transfer to a freezer safe container and keep in the freezer.

Frozen yogurt is healthier alternative to ice cream.  Our kids love it as much as ice cream and are happy with a serve of frozen yogurt (especially if it has white chocolate bits).  If you don’t have the ice cream machine, you can freeze the yogurt in the freezer, but have to mix it several times during the freezing process with a hand blender or fork to break the ice crystals.  Use frozen raspberries if fresh aren’t in season.

Easter is just around the corner and it’s time to start some planning (I should say it’s the last minute to do so).  If you are celebrating Easter, think about how to green your Easter celebrations this year.

Here are some of things we do at our place:

• Number one: we limit the quantity of chocolate Easter eggs (at least at home)!  Kids really want the Easter egg hunt, however by Easter they have eaten too many at school and kinder.  So we hide about 3-4 small ones per child.  And we rarely buy any chocolate eggs as they keep coming from school, friends and neighbours. When buying chocolate Easter eggs, it’s best to find the smallest eggs, ideally hollow ones that have least chocolate in them.  Organic and fair-trade Easter eggs are now available.  Skip huge Easter bunnies and eggs with lots of packaging.

• At school and kinder our kids make Easter egg baskets form paper or recycled plastic tubs filled with shredded paper.  Refuse bought plastic basket with fake plastic grass.

• We boil and decorate real eggs.  Now that our chickens are laying we have our own fresh eggs.  Usually I boil them with the onion skin for lovely and natural colour:

• We bake the hot cross buns, make Easter cookies and generally all food for the celebration is homemade.

• Easter decoration is arriving on a daily basis form kinder in form of different paintings and paper craft – so I don’t have to worry about that task

• Decorated blown eggs:  we have a set made 5 years ago and still using it.  Simply, make two holes with a wooden skewer and blow the egg out using a straw.  Then rinse, dry and decorate.  You can hang them on some branches (see below), arrange them in a bowl or use them as a simple table decoration.

Here are just some of ideas for greener Easter.

Would you like to share your tips for eco friendly Easter? Please do so in the comments below.

Once upon a time, bicarb soda (Sodium Bicarbonate, Bi-Carb Soda, baking soda) in our household would be used for baking exclusively. Then, I started to use it instead of commercial cleaning products. Then, as a good natural tooth cleaning powder. And so on. There is a long list of all the different ways I use it now. And still use it for baking as well. I love that stuff.

Recently I found out a new use for the bicarb soda: as a natural body deodorant! Becoming aware of aluminum and other chemicals in the commercial deodorants and antiperspirants years ago, I’ve switched to natural and organic ones. However, the price tag and the plastic packaging got me into searching for a simple natural deodorant recipe. I’ve found several, but too complicated to make. Then I came across a great post about using baking powder as a natural deodorant. I gave it a go, and it worked well for me.

It’s pretty simple:

Put some baking soda in a container and using a brush or a powder puff apply on clean, dry skin. If you find pure bicarb soda irritating, after shaving for example, mix in some corn starch (so far, I’ve been using pure bicarb). Infusing it with essential oils makes a nice, lightly scented powder. Pure lavender essential oil is mild and safe to use on your skin. Add 2-3 drops to a quarter cup of bicarb, shake well to distribute and let stand few days before using. Apply as necessary.

I have a new batch of bicarb soda being infused with vanilla bean, the same way I make my own vanilla sugar. It smells really nice so far; I hope it will retain that heavenly vanilla scent I’m addicted to after applying it!

Since using bicarb powder soda as a deodorant, I haven’t looked back. And the benefits:

• It works even in hot weather
• It’s natural
• Inexpensive
• Readily available
• Waste reduction / less packaging.

Do you have a favourite natural deodorant or recipe for one?  Please leave your comment below.

Updates:

Vanilla scented bicarb has a lovely scent!

My husband switched to bicarb too and finds it really effective.

Recently I went to a flower shop to buy a bunch of fresh flowers for a special occasion. Usually, I pick some from my small garden, whatever is in bloom, but there was almost nothing.

At the local flower shop I spent at least 15 minutes trying to choose: the choice was huge and all flowers looked so beautiful. Eventually, I picked not one, but two bunches of roses, one for the visit and the other for me. I couldn’t resist – they are my favorites after all.

To my liking, they were wrapped in paper only. While paying, I was chatting with the florist and commented how big and gorgeous the roses are, but still reasonably priced. She agreed adding that they come from Ecuador!

That information took me by surprise. It was late spring in Melbourne and roses were in full bloom everywhere, so I (wrongly) assumed they were grown somewhere locally. But more than that, this particular situation was a good example of how sustainable living and thinking can be applied to every aspect of life and how I can do so much more. Now, that florist was the owner of the shop and it’s not always possible to find out the origin of the bunch. But next time I buy some flowers I’m sure I’ll ask first and then choose.

I bought some flowers again last week. This time I got two bunches from a local grower while passing a flower farm. The stall at the road side had only four different varieties (less time spent choosing!), but they were freshly picked, didn’t have CO2 emission attached and all the money went direct to the grower. I could only imagine how little the growers in Ecuador were paid. I can tell you, I enjoyed my local bunches somehow more knowing they are “greener” choice!

Whenever possible I try to shop for a local produce. This isn’t some sort of national pride and bunt against globalization. It’s rather a common sense: I don’t see the point in flying fresh produce out of season here across the globe just to have it available all year round.

And this week there is a bunch from my garden in the vase: the greenest choice possible!

P. S. I told my husband not to buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day at hugely inflated prices. I would rather receive a wild flower posy handpicked with love.

Please share your thoughts in the comments!

I love buttermilk and I love to have it in the fridge all the time! Buttermilk is easy to digest, great for cooking (just made buttermilk pancakes – yum), goes well with savory food like pies and is great in salad dressing.

Traditional buttermilk was a byproduct from churning cream into butter – that’s how it got the name. Nowadays, buttermilk we buy from the shops is rather cultured low fat milk using lactic acid bacteria.

If you love buttermilk and buy it frequently, here is my easy homemade buttermilk recipe:

• To start with, you need a small carton of buttermilk – 1-2 cups and milk (I use full fat milk)
• Pour milk into a bowl
• Add buttermilk: as a rough guide use 1 cup of buttermilk to 1 litre of milk, mix well
• Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature for about 24 hours (or overnight if very hot)
• Check for consistency – once fermented it should be slightly thick and smell pleasantly sour
• Use beaters or whisk and mix for a few minutes until smooth and free of lumps
• Pour back in a clean milk plastic bottle or any container you can easily pour form.
• NOTE: if you pour the buttermilk back into original milk bottle, label it as buttermilk to avoid confusion or someone can get sour over a sour coffee!
• Store the buttermilk in the fridge – when cold it will thicken a bit more.
• When you almost have used it all, save the last cup or so and repeat the process – it’s like a bottomless jug of buttermilk!

I have repeated the same process for months using only one carton at the start. I have tried the same method with kefir and it worked.

Buttermilk keeps 2-3 weeks in the fridge, but check regularly. Make the quantity according to your consumption and it’s better to make a fresh batch more often. If you made 3 litres for instance and used more than half, pour what’s left into a smaller container.

If the buttermilk starts to smell unpleasantly sour, discard and start with a new batch form beginning.

Also, by buying organic buttermilk for a start and organic milk first every time after, you are making your own organic buttermilk – and you can save considerable amount.

Note:  To make buttermilk form scratch you need raw milk!

Please leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or further ideas on how to make homemade buttermilk.