Why you should eat raw honey (and shouldn’t all honey be raw?!)

My husband and I recently came across this charming little store here in Cambridge which sold nothing but honey and honey products. It was adorable. We were delighted to be treated to a honey tasting (yay!) and went home with a big tub of deeelicious Atchafalaya honey. It was a good day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about honey lately (I know, the mind of a health coach is… different…ahem) as I recently read that according to ayurvedic teaching, honey is a super nutritious food but is considered toxic when heated. This alarmed me as I’m sad to say that any honey that isn’t raw is heated (thanks to the industrialization of our food supply).

It’s strange — isn’t honey by its very nature a “raw” food… Seriously, what do these people do to honey to make it “un-raw”. The answer is: a lot… commercial honey has been:

• Pasteurized — cooked at super high temperatures and then rapidly cooled. This destroys much of honey’s enzymes and nutritional value (and as I mentioned, the heating makes honey toxic according to ayurveda)
• Filtered — to make it look prettier and easier to package and sell. Sadly, it is often marketing that determines how dark or light your honey is, rather than its natural state
• Mixed — notice how the commercial brand of honey you buy always tastes the same?  That jar may hold honey from different continents (my generic Whole Foods one, which may I add is “organic”, says that the honey comes from Brazil and India!) You don’t get to taste the beautiful differences and subtle notes that we experienced in our honey tasting.

It’s a shame that our food supply has become so commercialized. I suggest that you treat yourself to some delicious (and if possible, local) raw honey the next time you come across some and enjoy the difference.

Why you should add farro to your shopping list. Plus, a recipe

Farro — coined by the New York Times as the “little grain that could” (and for good reason). This grain is high in protein and fiber, is lower in gluten than wheat and is a great source of vitamin B. Whats more is that it is super versatile. You can use it as a substitute for brown rice, make risotto out of it, throw it into soups and stews to make them more hearty and even use it in salad. I can even imagine eating it as a breakfast cereal.

Apparently this “superfood” —  such a cheesy term  – originated in my native Egypt a few thousand years ago. For some reason, I never got across to trying it until I moved across the ocean to Cambridge, MA. I used it in a butternut squash curry stew and it tasted fantastic. The recipe is below.

Curried Farro Soup 

From Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 cup butternut squash (or sweet potato if you like)
• 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons curry powder (I used Madras)
• 2/3 cup farro
• 1 cup black lentils
• 7 cups broth or water (I used water)
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1. In a large, heavy Dutch oven saute onions in olive oil (medium heat). Add butternut squash, salt and curry powder. Stir until the onions soften.
2. After a couple of minutes or so, add the lentils, farro and water.
3. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and cook for about 50 minutes (or until farro and lentils are cooked). Add water as necessary.
4. Season with salt to taste. I add red pepper here — its not in Heidi’s recipe, but I add red pepper to almost everything
5. While the soup is cooking, put yogurt in a bowl and add lemon and zest. Add incrementally — keep tasting and add as much or as little as you like.
6. To serve: add some of the yogurt to each bowl along with a small glug of olive oil.

Okra Khoresh — Persian Okra Stew

Ok, I know that the above picture is not very pretty. It probably wont entice you to make this stew. But trust me, my questionable photography skills aside, this stew is absolutely delicious, and is exactly what you may be looking to make on this cold winter day.

I am not much of a meat eater, but in the winter my body often craves its warming properties. And this recipe by Najimeh Batmangili is one of my favorites Persian stews. The okra and red pepper make this dish well-rounded and nutritious, and even though it takes some time to prepare, the “hands on” cooking it requires is minimal — just keep checking on it to make sure its not burning.

Try this, you’ll be glad you did.

Recipe from Najmieh Batmangli’s ‘New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies’.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 pound stew meat (lamb or beef – I used beef). Organic and grass fed is best
• 3 tablespoons oil (I used organic extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped (I used a whole red pepper)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tomato, peeled and chopped
• Juice 1 lime
• 1 lb fresh or frozen okra

Method:

1. In a heavy Dutch oven brown the onion, garlic and meat in oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and turmeric.
2. Add tomato paste, fresh tomato and red pepper
3. Add 2 cups water, cover and simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Keep checking on the dish and stirring to ensure it doesn’t burn
4. If you are using fresh okra, wash it and boil it in salted water for 10 minutes and drain. If you are using frozen okra then cook it according to package instructions.
5. When the meat is tender, add the okra and lime juice. Taste and season to taste, if necessary.

The author recommends serving with saffron-steamed rice.

Serves 4.

Bulgur and Mung Bean Pilaf

I came across this bulgur pilaf recipe in Najmieh Batmangli’s book, ‘Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey’. This is a fabulous book which I veggies and meat eaters alike will enjoy. I loved the fact that she used mung beans in this dish (super healthy) and her use of bulgur was a refreshing change from the brown rice or quinoa that I would normally turn to. Bulgur — or as we call it in Egypt, burghul — is best known to people as the grain that is used in the very popular Middle Eastern tabbouli salad. Despite its salad claim to fame, bulgur is ever so versatile and can be easily made into a stand-alone main dish. This ancient Middle Eastern grain is made by removing the husk of wheat and steaming, drying and crushing its berries. The result is a nourishing ingredient that doesn’t take very long to cook.

The health benefits of bulgur — to name a few are as follows: its a decent source of protein minus the fat, it is high in fiber and is a good source of vitamin B and iron. The health benefits of mung beans are legendary (ok, maybe this is a bit dramatic, but they are super nutritious!).

To my delight, this healthy recipe also turned out to be delicious and filling. I would highly recommend this dish as a lunch or dinner main meal.

I couldn’t help myself and added broccoli which I sauteed in olive oil and with a touch of fresh lemon juice to my plate. A dollop of creamy organic yogurt brought this whole dish together (feel free to omit though, I put yogurt on everything).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked mung beans (boiled for about 20 minutes until tender)
• 1/4 cup oil (I used much less)
• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 inch grated fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 serrano chilles, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups coarse bulgur wheat
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• Salt, to taste
• 1 large tomato, peeled and sliced
• for the garnish: 1 cup chopped fresh dill, parsley or basil (I used parsley) + 1 tablespoon of butter.

Method:

1. In a heavy pot and on medium heat, heat the oil and add cumin and cook for about 10 seconds until aromatic. Add the onion and fry for about 10 minutes until browned. Keep stirring to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
2. Next add the ginger, garlic chili and bulgur and stir fry for about 2 minutes
3. Add the water, salt, pepper, turmeric, tomatoes and mung bans. Bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling, lower the heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Keep checking and add additional water if necessary. Once the bulgur is cooked and all the water has been absorbed add the dill and butter and fluff with a fork.
5. Season to taste.

Serves 4