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Can You Lead A Fruit Fly to Vinegar (or wine)?

October 20, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Walk into your kitchen – and there they are — swarming around your ripening peaches or bananas.  Don’t those eighth of an inch little red-eyed fruit flies (but really, can you get up front and personal to see their red eyes?) drive you nuts?

Where, oh where, did they come from – and how did they multiply from zero to hordes in no time at all?

Where Did They Come From?

Those fruit flies that can turn into a legion almost instantaneously, initially come from outdoors.  They prefer a diet of yeast, a microbe that eats fruit and spits out alcohol.  They don’t like unripe fruit.

They can be a problem all year but are really common in late summer and fall because of their attraction to ripe or fermented fruit and vegetables that are brought in from the garden. They’re common in homes, restaurants, supermarkets — any place food can rot and ferment.

Produce like tomatoes, melons, squash, and grapes from the garden are often the cause of an indoor infestation. They’re also really attracted to ripe bananas, potatoes, onions, and unrefrigerated produce you buy at markets or grocery stores.

They also can breed in drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. They only need a moist film of fermenting material to set up house..

Can You Still Eat The Non-Yucky Parts of Infested Produce?

Have you ever wondered if you can cut away the yucky part of the fruit or vegetable that the fruit flies seem to like – and have it still be okay to eat?  The answer is, you can.

Fruit flies lay their eggs near the surface of fermenting foods or moist, organic materials. After they emerge, the larvae continue to feed near the surface.  This means that if you want, you can cut away the damaged or over-ripe sections of fruits and veggies without having to throw away the rest for fear of harboring any lingering larvae.

The reproductive ability of fruit flies is huge; given the right conditions they can lay about 500 eggs. The entire life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week. According to Discovery.com, someone went to the trouble of calculating that in one year one pair of flies (calculated at only 100 eggs per female) could produce a dynasty that, packed in a ball, would fill the void between the Earth and the Sun.

Are They Harmful?

Fruit flies are mainly nuisance pests – but they do have some potential to contaminate food with bacteria and other disease-producing organisms.

Most agricultural products contain a few insects or insect parts but, due to Department of Agriculture regulations, the levels are kept very low which is deemed not to equate to being unsanitary or unhealthy.

How To Keep Them From Flying Around Your Kitchen

The best thing to do is eliminate the prime attractions. Ripe produce should be used, thrown out, or refrigerated. Cracked or damaged parts of fruit and veggies should be cut away and thrown out in case eggs or larvae have set up house in the wounded area. A rotting potato or onion languishing in the back of a cabinet or fruit juice that has spilled and seeped under the refrigerator can breed thousands of fruit flies. Other potential breeding grounds are sink drains, garbage pails, food compactors, and recycling bins that are infrequently emptied or cleaned. Window and door screens help prevent adult fruit flies from coming in from outside.

Once You’ve Got ‘Em . . .

University of Kentucky Entomology

Fruit flies love cider vinegar – and, apparently, wine.  The best approach to catching them seems to be by constructing a trap by putting a paper funnel (rolled from a sheet of notebook or other paper) into a jar that has a few ounces of (apple) cider vinegar in it. Put the jar trap(s) where you see the flies. If you heat up the vinegar in the microwave for about ten seconds it releases even more vinegar smell which the fruit flies seem to love.  They fly through the cone into the vinegar and get trapped. Wine seems to work, too.  Have you ever been outside holding a glass of wine, looked down and found a small fly bathing in it?  Now you know one of the reasons why.

 

 

Filed Under: Food for Fun and Thought, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: apple cider vinegar, food facts, fruit, fruit flies, vegetables, wine

Things That Grow Together Go Together

August 18, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

I have lots of tomatoes on my tomato plants: large ones, small ones, cranberry greenish heirlooms, and canary yellow ones. The voracious woodchucks and chipmunks (I watched a little Alvin wrestle a tomato off a plant on my deck, roll it across to the stairs, and then snag it in his mouth like a toddler carrying a giant beach ball) are feasting to their hearts’ content and there’s still a surplus.

An Experimental Mixture

Some unexpected company prompted me to use up some odds and ends in the fridge and to whittle down my tomato surplus.

Aside from my tomato overload, I had a big bowl of ripe peaches from the farmers market, lots of basil growing on the deck, and a hunk of feta cheese.

Do Things That Grow Together Go Together?

I had read somewhere that things that grow during the same growing season go together – an idea that my Mother, who grew up on a working farm, absolutely upholds.  So, I figured if it’s peach and tomato season, why not try them together?

To go with a roasted chicken I picked up at the market, I made what turned out to be an absolutely delicious tomato, peach, feta, and basil salad.

Tomato, Peach, Feta, And Basil Salad

I didn’t use any precise measurements although the cut up amounts of tomatoes and peaches looked about equal.

Ingredients:

  • Equal amounts of tomatoes and ripe peaches cut into small chunks (I halved the larger grape and cherry tomatoes)
  • Crumbled feta cheese to taste
  • Fresh basil to taste
  • Salt
  • Balsamic vinegar

1.  Core and seed the larger tomatoes

2.  Chop tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, salt them, and let them drain

3.  Remove the stones (pits) from the peaches and chop the peaches into bite-sized pieces about the same size as the tomatoes

4.  Make a chiffonade of basil (cut it into thin strips)

5.  Mix everything together

6.  Add the crumbled feta

7.  Mix again

8.  Correct the salt and add balsamic vinegar if desired

9.  Serve at room temperature

10. Refrigerate any leftovers – they’re great the next day as a type of tomato/peach salsa on fish, chicken, sandwiches or anything else you can think of.

Filed Under: Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: basil, feta, food facts, fruit, peaches, recipe, salad, tomatoes, vegetables

Pesticide In Your Food – Or Not

June 17, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

What has happened to the iconic apple?  According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the apple is the produce item with the greatest amount of pesticide residue.

EWG’s 2011 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce lists the Dirty Dozen, or the produce with the most pesticide residue (which they suggest buying organic), and the Clean Fifteen, the produce with the least residue.

Dirty Dozen 

  1. Apples
  2. Celery
  3. Strawberries
  4. Peaches
  5. Spinach
  6. Imported Nectarines
  7. Imported Grapes
  8. Sweet Bell Peppers
  9. Potatoes
  10. Domestic Blueberries
  11. Lettuce
  12. Kale/Collard Greens 

Clean Fifteen

  1. Onions
  2. Sweet Corn
  3. Pineapples
  4. Avocado
  5. Asparagus
  6. Sweet Peas
  7. Mangoes
  8. Eggplant
  9. Domestic Cantaloupe
  10. Kiwi
  11. Cabbage
  12. Watermelon
  13. Sweet Potatoes
  14. Grapefruit
  15. Mushrooms

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: Clean Fifteen, Dirty Dozen, food, food facts, fruit, organic, organic produce, pesticide, vegetables

What’s Round, Red, Delicious, And Has A Stem And A Stone?

June 3, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Cherries!

It’s cherry season so grab them while you can.  They’re delicious and they’ve been linked to health benefits – like helping the pain of arthritis and gout and reducing risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. They also contain melatonin which can help regulate sleep patterns.

On the other hand it’s just fun to eat them whole (and spit the pits) or chow down on a fresh slice of sweet/tart cherry pie.

Each cherry has:

  • 5 calories
  • 0g fat
  • 1g carbohydrate
  • 0g protein

1 cup of cherries (with pits, 138g) has:

  • 87 calories
  • 0g fat
  • 22g carbohydrate
  • 3g fiber
  • 1g protein

 

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: cherries, food facts, fruit

How Many Carrots Are In A Portion?

May 31, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Good-bye pyramid, hello plate.  The word is that the government’s food pyramid is going to be ditched for a plate shaped system that uses wedges for the basic food groups and a half a plate for fruit and vegetables.

Despite all of the information about why we should eat more fruit and vegetables, according to the State of the Plate: 2010 Study. from the Produce for Better Health Foundation, 93.6% of Americans don’t hit our vegetable target and 92.4% of us don’t reach our fruit target.

 

How Many Fruit And Veggies Should You Eat?

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines makes a point of telling us to increase our consumption. But, here’s a question for you:  do you know how many carrots or grapes or broccoli florets are in a 1 or ½ cup serving?  Probably not. How much do you need, anyway?

The recommended amount is going to vary depending on your age, gender, and level of activity.  Go here for some general recommendations – or, trying filling up half of your plate.

 

Some Visual Portion Guidelines

But, it isn’t always so easy.  What if you pack your lunch, grab lunch at a deli, or snag a piece of fruit off of the platter in the conference room?  Or, maybe you eat out a lot and you want to guestimate the portion on your plate.  Here are some general visual guidelines from the CDC:

One cup servings:

  • 12 baby carrots or 2 medium carrots
  • 1 large ear of corn
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 medium potato
  • 2 large celery stalks
  • 1 large bell pepper
  • 8 large strawberries
  • 1 small watermelon wedge
  • 1 large banana
  • 1 small apple
  • 1 large orange
  • 1 medium pear

One-half cup servings:

  • 16 grapes
  • 1 large plum
  • 1 small (1/4 cup) box of raisins
  • 1 medium slice of cantaloupe
  • ½ medium grapefruit
  • 5 broccoli florets

 

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Manage Your Weight, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: calorie tips, food facts, fruit, portion control, portion sizes, portions, serving size, vegetables, weight management strategies

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