Are you ready for a toxic free Pantry?

Grocery shopping to me is a time consuming task as I go through ingredient lists of each new product that I buy. Any product with unfamiliar ingredient doesn't make it in my pantry. I have a habit of reading nutritional chart. Here is the list...

Rennet: Used in cheese making to curdle the milk. Few years ago my sister mentioned about this Rennet in cheese and their extraction from young calves stomach. After having found the source, I never felt like eating them. For few years I stopped eating Pizza as I was not aware of alternatives. Thanks to Whole Foods who carry Rice cheese and Almond cheese for vegans. Trader Joe's have mozzarella cheese made using microbial/vegetable rennet   and so does Costco in kosher section. Better to avoid if you are a vegetarian.

Carrageenan: These are used in food industry for gelling and thickening. I found this ingredient in Trader Joe's Almond milk. I use Almond Beverage from TJ's. Carrageenan has no nutritional value and some people can't digest them. Better to avoid this addictive.

Sulfites: These are used as preservatives as they inhibit growth of bacteria. I have seen Balsamic vinegar brands and some dried fruits often mentioning sulfites as their ingredient. Some people often experience side effects like face swelling, asthma attacks after consuming food with sulfites. Fermentation naturally causes sulfites. So vinegar has natural sulfites in them. I avoid products where sulfites were "added".

MSG - Mono Sodium Glutamate: This is used as flavor enhancer in Chinese food, canned vegetables and soups. It has long list of side effects so better avoid.

Artificial Food Dyes: Although they make any boring dish look more fancy and colorful, they never make it in my pantry. They pose great risks to kids and sadly all colorful food stuffs are consumed by kids. Natural food Dyes are some options. Found this article for few enthusiast to try. http://nourishingjoy.com/homemade-natural-food-dyes/

High Fructose Corn Syrup: This is found in sodas, baked items like cakes/bread and fruit flavored drinks. It contributes to unwanted calorie hence leading to weight gain. Better to avoid.

Artificial Sweeteners: I remember those days when seeing/trying "sugar free" products never felt guilty. But studies have proved that it does more harm than normal sugar. They never make it in my pantry!!

Trans fat: As kid I loved eating a bag of Potato chips. When the side effects of trans fat surfaced, I had to let go this favorite snack from entering my kitchen. Occasionally I do munch them as they say old habits die hard!!. It shoots up cholesterol levels.

Table Salt: I met a lady few years back who had a son recovered from an unknown illeness. She adviced me start a healthy life by replacing simple stuff like salt and sugar from my pantry. Table salt are mined from salt deposits and are heavily processed to give fine texture there by loosing all trace minerals. They also have additives added to prevent clumping. Use Sea salt/Kosher salt or Himalayan Pink salt as an alternative. I buy Himalayan Pink salt from https://www.seasalt.com and shipping is free in the USA.

Table Sugar: I detest the idea of consuming highly processed food, so normal sugar is one among them!! Like table salt white sugar is stripped off all nutrients and animal bone char added to bleach them. I use a combination of sweeteners in my pantry like Jaggery, Brown sugar, Agave never and Stevie plant. I am finding my way to get hold of palm sugar which is next best natural sweetner.

Learnings from Gardening Failures

Early in my childhood, I was exposed to the concept of gardening. My mom grew Eggplants, Bananas, Okra, Tomatoes and few others in our backyard. So early in life, I had discovered the joys of playing in the dirt. As a kid, harvesting brought lot of excitement. Guess I imbibed my mom's passion of gardening. I see those influences on my 8 year old daughter now!! She is growing her own Potato plant.

Well, this is my first year of gardening in beds. So last winter was just the research and understanding the dynamics to grow in Ohio weather. Faced few hurdles and an action plan to cope up with failures are in progress!! Here are few challenges that I came across.

Lining for Raised Beds: I had a ready raised bed available in my yard when we moved in. Never occurred that some rodents will mess my plants underneath. So having a landscape fabric lining will block Voles and Moles. I have seen few 1 inch diameter holes in my raised bed.

Thinning: I got away with thinning Carrot seedlings and when harvested my Carrots were merely 2 inch long. It is very hard to space out seeds when you sow them as they are tiny. So when the plants reach 4-5 inches tall, thinning is must.

Broccoli Bolting: I have two Broccoli plants one from seed and another from nursery. I harvested multiple Broccoli heads from nursery plant while the one from seed started to bolt(flower). Not able to understand what went wrong. Few on net suggest bolting happens when temperatures go very high. I have another plant in perfect shape still producing heads!! Room for mystery!!!

Caterpillars and Slugs on Cabbage: Slugs and Cabbage showed up when my Cabbage plants were mature enough to produce heads. Used Salt to get away from Slugs. The population reduced drastically. Had spotted white butterflies in my beds making pit stops. Few days later my plant was stormed by Caterpillars. Had to use solution of Neem oil/Water and dish washing detergent to get rid of them.

Squash Vine Borer: My Zucchini plant was producing first set of harvest when one day I noticed the entire plant wilt. In spite of watering, the plant was not able to revive. Then noticed larvae inside the stems close to ground. It was too late to save the plant. I had to pull out the plants and look for buried pupae inside the soil as it will overwinter and moths emerge next summer and lay eggs on stems and the entire life cycle starts again. Pumpkin plant is attacked but it is still producing flowers. I have piled a heap of compost to kill larvae.

Cauliflower: I was not successful in growing Cauliflower this summer. The plant that I started off as seeds never produced any heads but the plant from nursery did form a crooked head!! Guess too much heat won't yield any heads. 

Cilantro: Never had success growing this simple herb. I tried several ways to plant them but somehow it does not germinate. I get seeds from Indian grocery and I suspect that could be the reason!!