Berries May Protect against Alzheimer's

It’s no secret that a good diet is a key to health and longevity. But only in recent years have we begun to understand the positive effect of a nutritious diet on the brain. A new study out of Tufts University shows that regular intake of berries, as well as apples and tea, may protect against the cognitive decline caused by different forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

In the new study, which monitored participants over 20 years, people who ate foods containing high levels of flavonoids were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Flavonoids are naturally occuring compounds that have the ability to neutralize free radicals, which cause damage to cells over time.

Although the exact amount of flavonoids needed to protect agains such diseases is still unknown, researchers theorize that the compounds’ anti-inflammatory effect is what makes them such powerful protectors against dementia. And three types of flavonoids that are found in berries—as well as apples, pears, green tea, red wine, and onions—are thought to be particularly valuable. While flavonoid supplements can help, researchers say there’s no substitute for incorporating them into your diet through fresh foods.

Study participants who experienced the most protection consumed about 7.5 cups of blueberries or strawberries, eight apples or pears, and 19 cups of tea per month—about 1 apple or pear and a handful of berries every few days, and a cup of tea every other day.

That’s an easily attainable goal for anyone, especially in New York State, where we have a wide variety of farms growing fresh, organic and low-pesticide strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Here’s how to find a farm near you that’s selling fresh, healthful berries.

Read more about the new study and how berries can be part of a diet that protects against Alzheimer’s here.

Coconut Cashew Cream with Fresh Strawberries

When you’re craving something sweet and creamy, what’s the first snack you reach for? If you said ice cream, you’re not alone. In the United States, 90 percent of households eat ice cream—to the tune of 48 pints per person per year. But with an average of 20 grams of sugar per half cup, ice cream is best relegated to the “once in a while” snack category. Instead, when we’re in the mood for a sweet, creamy treat, we reach for this non-dairy, low-sugar coconut cashew cream, topped with fresh-from-the-fields local strawberries.

This recipe couldn’t be simpler, but it requires about an hour and a half for soaking and setting. It keeps in the fridge for up to a week, so you can make a batch on the weekend and have a protein-rich snack that also contains a number of vitamins and minerals—including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and phosophorus—throughout the week.

Coconut Cashew Cream with Fresh Strawberries

Ingredients

3/4 raw cashews

1/2 can (about 7 ounces) coconut milk

1/2 cup unsweetened almond, soy, or oat milk

1 tablespoon agave or honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Salt

1/4 teaspoon agar agar

1/2 cup strawberries, sliced

Instructions

1. Soak the cashews in hot water for an hour, or in cold water for at least 4 hours. Drain.

2. In a blender, pulse the cashews, agave, coconut milk, almond milk, salt, and vanilla. Once the cashews are broken down into small pieces, blend until it achieves a smooth consistency. Add a splash of additional almond milk if the mixture is too dense.

3. Pour the mixture into a bowl or container, cover, and store in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, until it reaches a scoopable, ice cream-like consistency. If the sides have hardened but the center is still soft, break up the sides with a spoon, stir well, and put it back in the freezer.

4. Scoop 1/4- to 1/2-cup portions into bowls and top with fresh strawberries.

The Quick & Easy Way to De-Stem Strawberries

We’re firm believers that one of the best ways to enjoy strawberries is to eat them in their perfectly fresh, natural state. And while we don’t mind nibbling the berries right up to the stem or coring a few with a paring knife, neither option works well if you’re serving a crowd.

When you’ve got a fresh, local strawberry haul to share and guests are on the way—for your Fourth of July barbecue and beyond—there’s just one tool you need: a plastic, metal, or bamboo drinking straw. Rinse it clean, then follow these three simple steps:

1. Grasp the strawberry in one hand, with the bottom pointing to the side.

2. Press the straw into the bottom of the strawberry, and continue pushing straight up until the straw comes out the top, taking the stem and core with it.

3. Repeat with the other strawberries. To clean the strawberry cores out of the straw, use a barbecue skewer, pipe cleaner, or pipe brush.

De-stemming your strawberries makes them easy to use in a variety of recipes, from smoothies to salads and sauces for savory entrees. Because removing the cores will affect the structure of the strawberries, core them shortly before you plan to use the berries.

Nourish Your Skin with Strawberries

Long before there were $100 moisturizers and serums, and beauty marketplaces for buying them, like Sephora and Ulta, people made skin-care products straight from their gardens. Fruits like strawberries played a major role, thanks to their ability to cleanse the skin while maintaining its moisture and leaving behind a healthy glow. In fact, 1950s style icons like Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe both attributed their luminous skin to a DIY mask made from mashed strawberries, honey, and a little water.

Turns out they were on to something. As dermatologists have discovered, strawberries are full of a variety of naturally occurring compounds that are incredibly healthy for the skin. These include: 

• Carbohydrates, which are hydrating.

• Antioxidants, which protect skin against damage from free radicals as a result of aging and exposure to environmental pollutants. In particular, strawberries have alpha lipoic acid, a compound that slows the breakdown of collagen elastin, and vitamin C, which aids in collagen synthesis and makes the skin look brighter. Strawberries are considered even better for the skin than oranges, another vitamin C powerhouse, because they don’t strip the skin of oils in the same way as citrus.

• Acids, which are gently exfoliating, helping to remove surface dirt and oils. Salicyllic acid, a well-known anti-inflammatory, is a beta-hydroxy acid that’s often used in acne treatment products. Like the other acids in strawberries, it can also help balance oil production in the skin.

There are dozens of new products on the market containing skin-loving strawberries; look for Fragraria chiloensis extract on the label. A few of the brands that make skin-care products with strawberry include Drunk Elephant, Sugar, the Body Shop, Edible Beauty, Hydropeptide, Eminence, Arbonne, and Volition.

If you want to try making your own strawberry mask, wash a package of strawberries and set aside any squashed or lightly damaged berries, plus the cut-off tops. (Save the other berries for snacking!) Remove the stems and leaves, and mash the berries and tops in a bowl. For oily or normal skin, add honey in about half the amount of the berries. For dry skin, add almost as much honey as berries. Then mix with a little spring water to create a paste. Spread it over the skin with a clean cotton pad or cloth, wait about 5 minutes, then rinse clean for a rosy glow.

Vegan Banana Berry Muffins

Muffins are the ultimate portable breakfast or snack; just peel them out of their wrappers, pop a few in a bag or container, and go! We didn’t think it was possible to improve on the muffin concept . . . until we tried these Vegan Banana Berry Muffins—a fluffy, cakey delight bursting with sweetness and the bright flavor of berries. You can use a single type of berry—strawberries or blueberries, for example—for this recipe, but we love a mix.

Because overripe banana is richly sweet and works well as a binder in baked goods, this Vegan Banana Berry Muffins recipe calls for very little oil, and only a small amount of sugar. We’ve blended two different flours here—whole wheat for fiber and almond for protein and an extra zing of flavor, but you can substitute either with all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour (you may need to add more or less almond milk if you do this). Likewise, the nuts are optional, but we love their crunch and the added protein. The almond flour and nuts make these muffins a little more filling than those made with only white flour, so you won’t be tempted to overindulge in one sitting.

Serve these Vegan Banana Berry Muffins with vegan butter or cashew cream cheese, or a spoonful of lemon curd. They’ll keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week, or in the freezer for up to two months.

Vegan Banana Berry Muffins

Ingredients

1 flax “egg” (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons water)

3 medium ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup granulated sugar or coconut sugar

3 tablespoons agave

3 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoons salt (pink Himalayan sea salt is our favorite)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

3/4 cup unsweeted plain almond milk or coconut milk

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts (optional)

1 cup strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries, or a combination

Brown sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper or silicone baking cups.

2. In a large bowl, make the flax egg. Wait 10 minutes, then add the banana, baking powder, and baking soda and beat until fairly smooth, with only small chunks remaining.

3. Add the sugar, agave, oil, salt, and cinnamon and beat on medium to combine. Add the almond or coconut milk and beat until combined.

4. In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal and flour. Add to the banana mixture and mix until just combined; don’t overmix! Gently fold in the nuts and berries.

5. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling completely. If desired, sprinkle a little brown sugar over the top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the edges of the muffins have turned golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes. Remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a rack.

Myths and Truths about Strawberries

Wondering how to tell truth from fiction when it comes to strawberries? Let’s look at some of the common myths about strawberries—and the real truth behind them.

Myth: Strawberries are best picked just before ripening, because they’ll last longer and ripen upon standing.

Truth: Strawberries are nonclimacteric fruit; their tissues won’t continue the metabolic process of ripening after harvest. Consequently, underripe berries also lack the nutritional value and flavor of fully ripe berries. Because of this, always pick berries at the height of ripeness. Your local farm store already knows this, and will only harvest fully ripe berries. If you prefer to pick your own, look for plump, firm (but not hard) fruits with a uniform bright-red color. Strawberries that have green or white spots are underripe; those with shriveled, very dark skin or a “collapsed” look are overripe.  

Myth: The bigger the berry, the more flavorful.

Truth: When it comes to berries, size doesn’t indicate taste or juiciness. In fact, large berries are often less flavorful than smaller ones!

Myth: Berries should be the same size.

Truth: Grocery store strawberries are typically big and uniform in size, but this is purely a marketing tactic. Those berries have been bred for high volume and transportation hardiness, and lack both the flavor and nutritional content of locally grown berries of varying shapes and sizes. So don’t worry if your farm-store pint (or quart!) contains both small and large berries, and even or alien-looking berries with funny, irregular shapes. They taste even better than the “perfect” large-scale-grown berries!

Myth: Strawberries contain toxic pesticides.

Truth: Each year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out a list of “dirty” fruits and vegetables that consumers are supposed to avoid because they contain pesticide residues. For the third year in a row, strawberries were ranked number one on the list (also on the list: healthful foods like spinach and apples). But the EWG list is misleading from both a scientific and a social standpoint.

The EWG’s approach to ranking has not been supported by any scientific organization, undergone peer review, or been published in a scientific journal. It also ignores the facts that plants produce natural pesticides to combat pests, and these residues exceed human-applied pesticides by ten-thousandfold. Pesticide residues in plants are generally quite low; only at very high levels are they considered toxic to the point of demonstrating negative effects on the human body. And pesticide applications vary greatly according to climate—for instance, berry growers in wet climates such as Florida typically need to apply pesticides more frequently than growers in New York, yet the EWG list only considers averages that may be skewed by location.

Myth: Strawberries don’t taste as good cold and shouldn’t be refrigerated.

Truth: While it’s true that the strawberry’s flavor comes out best when it’s at room temperature, cold storage is necessary for preserving fresh berries. Once you get them home from the farm store, place them in the fridge until just before you’re ready to eat them. Then either allow them to come to room temperature, or rinse them with warm water.

Also, if the container your strawberries came in is small and the berries are packed tightly together, transfer them into a larger container. More room between berries will slow down the natural spoilage that occurs as fruits pass their prime.

Myth: It’s a good idea to wash all your berries all at once, then store them for later.

Truth: Because moisture promotes the growth of mold, only wash the quantity of berries you need at the moment, and store the remainder unwashed.

Myth: Strawberries have vitamin C, but they don’t have many other healthful attributes.

Truth: Strawberries—and all berries—are nutritional powerhouses! In addition to a whopping 152 percent of your daily requirement of vitamin C, strawberries also contain fiber and antioxidant compounds that are known to reduce the effects of oxidative stress caused by aging and a variety of diseases. These superfoods are also fat- and cholesterol-free, and low in calories. Want to learn more about the many health benefits of berries? Read on. 

Myth: Strawberries have too much sugar to be healthy.

Truth: Carbohydrates, in the form of naturally occurring sugars, are an important part of a healthy diet and a primary source of energy for humans. A cup of strawberries has about 11 grams of carbohydrates, just 4 percent of your daily allowance. Strawberries are also considered low-glycemic-index foods, so they have little effect on your blood glucose levels or insulin response, unlike foods that contain refined sugars.

If you have diabetes or irritable bowel syndrome, talk to your doctor about how you can incorporate strawberries into your diet in quantities that won’t negatively affect those conditions. Otherwise, strawberries are an excellent source of a variety of nutrients and can be a fantastic addition to a healthful, disease-prevention diet.

6 Strawberry Recipes You’ll Love for Spring & Summer

For us, spring hasn’t truly arrived until the first crop of strawberries is here. Since they’re almost here, we rounded up six fantastic appetizer, entrée, and dessert recipes for using your favorite fruit from now into summer.

Breakfast Flatbread with Ricotta and Strawberry-Basil Jam

A breakfast version of pizza that combines the crunch of warm flatbread with the mild savoriness of ricotta and the floral-sweet flavor of a strawberry jam punched up with basil? Yes, please.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Strawberries

Strawberries are a natural counterpoint to tangy cheeses. This simple recipe, with the extra zing of balsamic vinegar, makes an easy yet unexpected party hors d’ouevre. Save the scooped-out strawberry centers for making compotes, smoothies, or strawberry ice cubes.

Citrus Steak Salad

With its mix of oranges and strawberries, this take on sirloin is light, bright, and filling, and looks impressive, too.

Strawberry Horchata

A twist on the classic Latin rice-based milk drink, this berry version of horchata will satisfy the sweetest of palates. Make it vegan—and a bit more grown up—by substituting half of the condensed milk with coconut milk and half with a cream liqueur, such as Amarula or Guappa.

Chocolate Strawberry Slump (Cobbler)

Perfect for when you need a dessert that looks and tastes impressive but doesn’t take sophisticated kitchen skills—or a lot of time—to put together.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Fudge

Why let peanut butter, chocolate, or maple have all the fun? Strawberries make a delicious flavor and texture complement to this fudge, which is made entirely in the microwave.

Not Just for Dessert: How to Use Berries in Savory Recipes

Berries are a no-brainer in dessert, as well as in dozens of waffle, pancake, muffin, and breakfast-cake recipes. But why stop there, when you can enjoy the phenomenal taste and supernutritious benefits of berries with every meal? Here’s a little inspiration for using strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries in some unexpected savory meals.

Serve berries in your next:

Raw salad. All berries, but especially strawberries and blueberries, are delicious with spinach, kale, mache, or mesclun mixes, where their sweetness takes the bite out of greens. Add a handful of nuts, like almonds or walnuts, for contrasting textures and extra nutritional punch.

Bruschetta. Fresh or as a jam, berries work beautifully with a drizzle of fine olive oil.

Grilled cheese. Make a berry jam or conserves—either from a single berry or mixed berries—and spread it over your bread before you grill cheese. We haven’t met a cheese yet that doesn’t taste amazing when paired with berries, so experiment with everything from sharp, tangy goat cheeses or aged hard cheeses like Parmesan or Asiago, to milder cheeses like Swiss, Gruyere, and cheddar.

Baked Brie. We weren’t kidding when we said berries go with any cheese! This dish never fails to please at dinner parties, but it couldn’t be easier to make. Simply stew the berries on the stovetop first to create a jammy consistency, the spoon it over freshly baked Brie.

Pizza. You could easily make a sweet—and crowd-pleasing—pizza with berries and a young goat cheese. But did you know that blackberries and raspberries provide a natural “lift” to earthier flavors like blue cheese and arugula? Or that strawberries and blueberries are a dream team when paired with spinach, mozzarella, and a dash of balsamic vinegar?

Sauce for proteins. This is one of our favorite—and probably the most underused—way to serve berries in a savory recipe. Stew them with a squeeze or two of agave or honey, plus a little cornstarch (if needed for thickening), then pour the sauce over roasted or grilled pork, beef, lamb, or tempeh. Serve with healthy grains like quinoa and brown rice.

Dipping sauce. Similar to the above, a stewed sauce of raspberries or strawberries makes a deliciously unexpected dip for fried chicken (or vegan “chicken”).

Spicy barbecue sauce. If you love a kick-in-the-pants barbecue sauce, try mixing berries along with chile peppers, like habanero, jalapeno, and chipotle, while cooking. Let the mixture sit for several hours before using, to deepen the flavors.

Ceviche. While berries may not seem like the most natural pairing with fish, they’re delightful in this traditional Latino dish, where citrus brings out their inherent brightness.

Tropical salsa. Mix the berries with mango, pineapple, cilantro, red onion, jalapeno, a healthy squeeze of lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Then serve over crispy fried tilapia or sea bass in fish tacos, or over shredded beef or pork nachos.

Mixed-berry Thanksgiving sauce. Tired of the same-old cranberry sauce? Reinvent it with a mixture of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. Your turkey—and your tastebuds—will thank you!

Cocktails. Sure, you’ve had berries in sweet spiked lemonades and iced teas. But have you tried them with stronger spirits? Muddle the berries with cachaça for an update on the Brazilian classic caipirinha, or blend with rum and mint for an unforgettable take on the mojito.

Are Frozen Berries as Nutritious as Fresh? You Bet!

A May article in The Guardian posed the following question and answer:

Q: Fresh [food] is best – right?

A: In fact, studies on the relative benefits of fresh and frozen show no consistent differences.

As far back as the late 1990s, the Food & Drug Administration declared that frozen fruits and vegetables provide the same essential nutrients and health benefits as fresh. Meanwhile, a more recent story on Health.com notes, “Some of the healthiest foods in the market are in the freezer section.” 

So when it comes to those local berries you bought and froze during the summer, rest assured that enjoying them during the fall and winter doesn’t mean that your favorite recipes will lack for any of the health benefits that make strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries the superfoods they are. No matter whether fresh or frozen, berries are nutritional powerhouses that can contribute to a variety of positive health effects, from preventing to disease to maintaining a consistent weight.

The ability of frozen fruit and vegetables to retain their nutritional value has a lot to do with the quick-freezing and flash-freezing technologies that have been developed and refined since the 1920s. These days, frozen berries show no significant difference in nutrient levels as their fresh counterparts. They’ve also improved a lot in texture and flavor, thanks to manufactures’ desire to satisfy the savvy customer’s demand for healthier, better-tasting, and better-quality foods.

So take out a bag or two of your frozen farmers’ market berries and allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge. Add strawberries or blackberries to pancakes or acai bowls, fold blueberries into muffins and breads, and savor raspberries in sauces for meat and fish. Or enjoy enjoy a mix of berries in pies, tarts, trifles, and parfaits—without guilt or fear that they’re not as good for you as their freshly picked friends.

Farmers' Market Finds with Dale Ila Riggs

This summer, NYSBGA board chair Dale Ila Riggs was interviewed by Albany radio station WEQX about how she got her start in farming and why growing and selling healthy, happy berries has become such an important part of her work. Listen to the interview through the link below.