Scientists at the University of Chicago have found that zeaxanthin, a plant-derived carotenoid best known for keeping our eyes sharp, may also act as an immune-boosting compound that helps the body fight cancer. The new study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, shows that zeaxanthin strengthens cancer-fighting immune cells and may even improve the success of modern immunotherapies.

“We were surprised to find that zeaxanthin, already known for its role in eye health, has a completely new function in boosting anti-tumor immunity,” said Jing Chen, PhD, senior author of the study.

This discovery adds one more reason to eat your greens (and your oranges and reds too). Zeaxanthin is found in spinach, kale, and orange peppers—but the way we cook and combine these vegetables can make them even more delicious and bioavailable.

Foods Rich in Zeaxanthin

• Orange peppers – one of the richest sources.

• Kale and spinach – leafy greens with a high concentration.

• Corn and egg yolks – also reliable sources.

When eaten regularly, these foods don’t just protect your eyes from age-related macular degeneration; they may now also help prime your immune system against cancer.

Recipe Ideas for Daily Protection

Muhammara (Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

This classic Levantine dip uses roasted red peppers—packed with carotenoids like zeaxanthin—blended with walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and spices. It’s a vibrant, smoky spread you can enjoy with fresh bread or veggies.

? Try our Muhammara recipe on Green Prophet.

Stuffed Orange Peppers

Fill halved orange peppers with quinoa, lentils, herbs, and a touch of feta. Bake until tender. This dish is both eye-catching and immune-friendly.

? For ideas, see stuffed vegetable recipes on Green Prophet.

Make Turkish Red Pepper Paste

If you love Turkish food and crave its flavors at home, you’ll soon find yourself stirring up the Turkish pantry staple, spicy red pepper paste. It’s a basic flavoring ingredient for many dishes in southern Turkish cuisine. There are no tomatoes in the paste; its deep red color comes from slow-cooking red bell peppers and chilies. The ingredients are simple, but the finished paste gives your food spicy complexity. Get the recipe here.

Recipe: Turkish Red Pepper Paste

Zeaxanthin is already sold as an over-the-counter supplement, but getting it from food is safer and more enjoyable. Unlike synthetic pills, food provides a synergistic mix of vitamins, fibers, and bioactive compounds. As Chen explains, this discovery is still in the early stages, but it “opens a new field of nutritional immunology” where everyday food choices can directly influence the immune system. While clinical trials are still needed, the takeaway is simple: put more orange peppers, leafy greens, and corn on your plate.

Your eyes will thank you now, and your immune system may thank you later.

The post Eat for your eyes and against cancer –– the power of zeaxanthin appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eggplant seems an unlikely soup ingredient. But blended with vegetable stock, herbs, and cream, the shiny purple vegetable makes a creamy soup full of Middle-Eastern flavors.

Now is when eggplant is coming into season in the Middle East. In any market there’s a table piled high with long purple-black eggplants, round eggplants, ridged eggplants, purple and white-striped eggplants, even all-white ones. And they’re cheap.

Good cooks in the Middle East and Mediterranean have always known how to make the most of this meaty vegetable, but you don’t often see eggplant soup. Once you’ve tasted this soup, with its robust flavor and creamy texture, you’ll make it again and again.

It’s worth simmering up a quick vegetable stock to use as the base liquid, but in a pinch you can use mushrooms for that added dimension.

Eggplant Soup
serves 6

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants

Olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

8 cups – 2 liters vegetable stock or 8 cups water plus 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 tablespoon dried. Oregano may be substituted.

salt and pepper to taste

6 tablespoons light cream, sour cream, or yogurt

3 tablespoons prepared pesto

Method:
1. Stand each eggplant on its side and cut it in half.
2. Cut a cross-hatch pattern into the flesh, deeply.
3. Drizzle a little olive oil over the cut eggplant halves.
4. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the eggplant is brown, soft, and separating into cubes.

5. With a spoon, scrape the flesh off the skin. Chop the flesh coarsely and put it aside.
6. Heat 3 Tblsp. olive oil in a large pot, over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic in it for 8 minutes. (If using fresh mushrooms, add them now too. If you wish, keep 1/4 cup of mushroom slivers to add to the soup about 5 minutes before serving.)
7. When the onions are golden (and the mushrooms, if using) are starting to release juice, add the stock (or water) and eggplant. Bring everything up to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer the soup for 10 minutes.
9. Add basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook another 2 minutes.
10. With a slotted spoon or mesh spatula, lift the solids out of the pot. Keep the hot soup aside.
11. Blend the solids in a food processor or blender till smooth.
12. Return the puree to the hot liquid and reheat to a simmer. Now the soup is ready.
13. Put 1 Tblsp. sour cream or yogurt into each bowl, or drizzle a little whipping cream in.

Top with 1/2 Tblsp. pesto each.

Serve the soup with cornbread or bruschetta and follow it with a salad.

More delicious Middle-Eastern recipes:
Za’atar Pesto
Preserved Lemons
Majadra: Lentils and Rice
Ma’amoul, Arabian Filled Cookies

The post Creamy Eggplant Soup Recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

Maybe you’ve gone on a diving trip to Sharm el Sheik. Or maybe you are one of the tourists who sit with the Bedouins at a housha for weeks at a time enjoying the slow life close on the Red Sea close to Nuweiba. I’ve been to Sinai about 10 times and when I go to a hotel there is one thing that makes me very happy at the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet: preserved lemons.

The lemons in Egypt are small, not much bigger than a walnut, and when preserved upgrade their status by a mile. You can eat them with hummous and tehina on bread, or take a little bite with every savory dish you fancy. Sometimes I just eat them whole, picking the seeds out with my teeth. We have a recipe for preserved lemons already on Green Prophet but this one is a bit different. You cut the lemons differently, keeping them whole.

In the video below I walk you through the set by step process. Get yourself some Egyptian lemons and you can do it with me step by step.

Fermented lemons are a treat when you are traveling to Egypt. Stay at a hotel in Sinai and enjoy the fermented Egyptians lemon offered at most meals. It’s a staple pickle when you travel to Sinai or Egypt. We’ve even found them in Jordan.

This recipe works with any kind of lemon, but if you can get your hands on walnut-sized lemons from Egypt, even better. If you are using other lemons cut them so the width is no bigger than a centimeter or half an inch.

The smaller you cut them the better the flavor as they will ferment better. Add salt. We added about 5 tablespoons to 4 cups/ one liter of water. You can add garlic. Better to place it on the bottom as if it floats to the surface it will go moldy.

Add some weights to keep the lemons from floating.

Leave for about 5 to 10 days according to your taste. Do not tighten the lid or it might explode.

Eat alone with bread or add to sauces and soups and any dish you can imagine. Preserved lemon is a wonderful spice that adds a layer of flavor to anything savory. It will bring you back to your driving trip at Sharm el Sheikh in no time.

How do you cook with fermented lemons?

The flavor of lemon and salt is very intense. Rinse the piece before cooking with it. The best part is the peel – some cooks scoop the pulp out and discard it.

Consider these ideas for pickled lemons:

• Chop a little piece fine and mash it into a vinaigrette dressing.
• Gently mix a few fine slices into steamed broccoli; drizzle some olive oil over everything.
• Add a teaspoon of chopped preserved lemon to pea soup.
• Put a little bowl of those bright yellow lemon quarters on the table to accompany lamb chops.
• Prepare a fillet of fish with a drizzle of olive oil, some chopped basil or green onion, and a few thin slices of preserved lemon. Bake or pan-fry.

More Middle East recipes:
A Classic Recipe for Muhamarra Red Pepper Spread From Aleppo, Syria
Taking On A Middle East Classic: Baba Ganoush
Cooking the Classic Middle East Kibbeh

The post Make preserved, fermented Egyptian lemons for a taste of Sinai VIDEO appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s 2020 and the world is slowly becoming more environmentally conscious. For most of us, it’s about creating better habits in our day-to-day lives with positive, sustainable changes.

The thing is, when was the last time you considered this when it came to choosing the place for your next date? I know I haven’t and chances are, it’s the same way for most of us.

In this article, I’m about to give you 7 fun date ideas that are also a positive for the environment. After all, the more areas of our lives where we can make this a priority, the smaller our footprints can be.

Heck, if Las Vegas can work on going green, I don’t see why it’d be a struggle for the rest of us!

Go on a picnic

Not just any old picnic but a zero-waste picnic, at that. If you’ve never tried this before, the challenge in itself can be part of the fun.

While being truly zero-waste might not be practical, the closer you can get the better. Rather than disposable plastic cutlery and cling wrap, find better solutions. Reusable containers, regular cutlery and beeswax wraps all make a big difference.

You could even take it a step further and make your own beeswax wraps too! If you’re a little intimidated by sitting face-to-face for a couple of hours you can always look up a great list of flirty questions to ask that will keep the conversation going.

Cook at home together

You can either integrate this into your picnic plans or do it as a standalone activity, but either way it’s a great option. It’s fun to get creative with the food you’re taking and it also helps to keep the costs down.

On a recent date, I invited her over to make vegetarian sushi together. We experimented with different ingredients, packed it all up and went for a walk to a local lookout to enjoy it.

I find it far more interesting than just ordering food at a restaurant and it’s nice to work together as a team, too.

With around ⅓ of the world’s food going to waste each year, even the act of cooking can help reduce our total waste!

Go for a bike ride

Bikes are one of my favorite eco-friendly ways to get around downtown and explore new things. Get out in the sunshine, exercise and enjoy the sights and sounds around you.

This makes it a fun date idea too. You can explore so much of the city together and stop at anything that takes your fancy.

Visit the local farmers market

Farmers markets are a great way to support local and buy plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. They’re about so much more than local produce though, often packed with local artwork and performances too.

This makes for a fun date with so much to see and do. No matter what you’re both into, you’re bound to find something of interest.

Since farmers markets tend to have a strong focus on sustainability, you can also do it with a clear conscience. You might even come across some helpful products or ideas you hadn’t thought about before.

Walk to your favorite vegan or vegetarian restaurant

Whatever your stance on the topic, reducing meat consumption does have a positive impact on the environment.

You don’t have to “be a vegetarian” to eat at one of these restaurants and they’re a very simple substitution to make. Believe it or not, both of these diets are about more than just eating salads.

Walking to and from the restaurant is a great opportunity to work off some of your meal and chat too. I find it to be a relaxing end to a date and the perfect time to escalate if things are going well. Far better than driving two cars there and finding parking spots.

Explore new parts of your city together on foot

Just like cycling around downtown, doing it on foot can be a great option as well. Unlike in a car where you’re so insulated from your surroundings, you have the opportunity to slow down and take it all in.

Enjoy the sights and sounds around you, appreciate each other’s company and make it up as you go. In fact, my favorite way to do this is to start with a single plan and let the day unfold on its own.

Since you’re both making it up on the fly, the possibilities are endless and nobody feels pressured for time. Depending on the weather and fitness levels, you can really cover some ground this way.

I did this last year and a casual Saturday stroll turned into lunch, healthy snacks, dinner and over 20 km of walking! Things were going so well, we were enjoying our time in the sun and neither of us were in a hurry to leave. Personally, I’d consider that a successful (and eco-friendly) date.

Pick an outdoor sport you can both enjoy

If physical activity is something you’re both down for, outdoor sports are ideal. You’re getting some fresh air and exercise and don’t have a need for gas or electricity.

For some added fun you can both find something you haven’t done before and figure it out together. There’s something very disarming and humbling about being bad at a new activity which I find to be helpful to dating.

So long as you keep a positive attitude and remember that it doesn’t actually matter if you’re any good, things go well. The idea here isn’t to show off your skills at a sport, it’s about spending time with your date and doing something unique.

You just never know, today might be the day you find your new favorite activity and you get to do it with someone else.

–

There’s seven simple, fun date ideas to get you started. Once you start to build these eco-friendly habits into your dating life as well, it’ll slowly become second nature.

We all have a responsibility to do our part and it’s really not that hard to do it in this context either.

The post 7 Great Eco-Friendly Dates appeared first on Green Prophet.

In this day and age, with the superpower of Google, you can locate any recipe, and find infinite recipe ideas, online. So what’s the point of owning a cookbook? Aren’t cookbooks a little outdated?

The answer, in my opinion, is no. An analogy could be made comparing “real books” to “E-books,” such as those purchased for Kindle. With a three-dimensional, weighted book, you can enjoy the feeling of flipping through the pages, keep it in a specially designated spot, and appreciate what it’s given you as you see the subtle wear and tear over the years.

And what makes a cookbook even more desirable is if it’s a work of art. Beirut Cooks is the first book by Pascale Habis, a Beirut-based design expert. It is what The Daily Star called Habis’ “love letter to the city [of Beirut] and its people.”

On its beautifully designed pages are recipes contributed by 37 individuals, all Beirut locals, professional chefs and amateur cooks alike. A few names stand out from other circles – for example, Rabih Keyrouz is a well-known fashion designer, Bernard Khoury a prominent architect – but the aim of the cookbook is to highlight the home cooking of everyday people.

Home cooking is easily cheaper, fresher, and more honest than cooking you’d get when dining out. Recipe ingredients are likely to be bought and used more promptly, not frozen or allowed to turn bad, and many items like fresh produce can be homegrown.

While local and organic ingredients are not often used in the restaurant industry, they should be readily available and highly considered by those shopping for home.

Due to the mixed pool of recipe-donators and the aesthetic mind of its creator, Beirut Cooks boasts a special look at the diversity of Lebanese cuisine on tastefully formatted pages.

Beirut Cooks was published by Rawiya Editions and can be purchased online or found at all major bookstores in London, Paris, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East.

Images of Pascale Habis and fresh ingredients found on the Beirut Cooks website.

The post Beirut’s Pascale Habis cooks up a new local Lebanese cookbook appeared first on Green Prophet.

“Middle Eastern food” is a catch-phrase that embraces the cuisines of so many countries, and ethnic streams inside those countries, that a list of 60 essential ingredients can’t cover everything. But if you love the flavors of the Middle East…be it cumin-scented, crunchy falafel or the fragrance of rose-water in pastries like ma’amoul, it’s worth organizing space in your kitchen for the ingredients listed below.

You probably already have many of the suggested items in this post. We have also posted recipes for some exotic things, like pomegranate molasses, that you can make yourself. Some items, like sheep’s tail fat, are available only in Middle Eastern butcher shops and supermarkets. Olive oil or smen (clarified butter) are fine substitutes for sheep’s tail fat.

In most cases, you can omit or substitute ingredients. Some are unique, though,  like the unmistakable taste of saffron (the world’s most expensive aphrodisiac). Much as we appreciate turmeric and indeed often cook with it, it will never smell or taste the same as saffron. For the cook experienced with Middle Eastern fare, this post may look like a shopping list, useful for reminding which items to replace.  For those eager to learn more about cooking Middle Easter delicacies at home, it’s a good start.

Dry Spices

To bring out spices’ best flavors, buy them whole, in small quantities, and grind them yourself. A traditional mortar and pestle takes little space in the kitchen and does the job quickly.

• Allspice berries
• Anise seeds
• Bay leaves
• Black pepper
• Cardamom, both ground and whole seeds
• Chilies, dried
• Cinnamon, both ground and in sticks
• Cloves, both ground and whole
• Coriander seed, both ground and whole (for grinding fresh)
• Cumin
• Fennel seeds
• Fenugreek seeds
• Ginger, ground, or fresh root in season (can be frozen)
• Mint, dried
• Nigella seeds (black cumin)
• Nutmeg

• Rose petals, dried
• Saffron
• Sesame seeds
• Sumac, whole berries or powdered (Rhus syriaca)
• Turmeric, ground or fresh root in season (can be frozen)
• Za’atar leaves, dried

Fresh Herbs In Season

Place your leafy green herbs in a jar of water where they can get some indirect light, and they will keep for at least a week. Some, like mint and basil, might actually grow roots. Those, you can transplant to dirt and put outside to snip bits off whenever you need some.

• Basil
• Chives
• Coriander leaves (cilantro)
• Fenugreek
• Garlic
• Ginger root (may be frozen, whole)
• Hot peppers of all sizes and varieties and degrees of heat
• Mint
• Onions
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Scallions
• Thyme and lemon thyme
• Turmeric root (may be frozen, whole)
• Za’atar

Varied Seasonings

If you’re not familiar with an ingredient – say, dried limes – buy only a little at first, then find a recipe using it. Once you’re comfortable with the ingredient, decide if you want to invest in a little more.

• Anba, pickled mango relish (to dribble on falafel, shwarma and grilled anything)
• Date honey (silan) – try our sweet potatoes roasted in date honey, here.
• Honey, local
• Lemon juice
• Lemons and limes, dried
• Orange-blossom water
• Pomegranate molasses
• Rosewater
• Tahini paste to dilute and season
• Tamarind paste or syrup

Fats

• Olive oil
• Smen (clarified butter, recipe here)
• Sheep’s tail fat

Sheer Necessities

Some items listed below, like walnuts and raisins, are not exclusively Middle Eastern, but are there because every Middle Eastern cook has some on hand, all the time.

• Almonds, whole or blanched
• Arak
• Beans, navy and fava (broad beans), dried or canned
• Burgul (cracked wheat), medium ground
• Chickpeas, dried or canned
• Couscous, instant
• Dates
• Lentils (see our delicious majadra,  lentil and rice recipe here)
• Pine nuts
• Raisins, black and golden
• Rice, long-grained Persian or Basmati varieties
• Semolina
• Walnuts

Middle Eastern Pantry Checklist

Dry Spices

Allspice berries

Anise seeds

Bay leaves

Black pepper

Cardamom (ground and whole seeds)

Chilies, dried

Cinnamon (ground and sticks)

Cloves (ground and whole)

Coriander seed (ground and whole)

Cumin

Fennel seeds

Fenugreek seeds

Ginger (ground or fresh root)

Mint, dried

Nigella seeds

Nutmeg

Rose petals, dried

Saffron

Sesame seeds

Sumac

Turmeric (ground or fresh root)

Za’atar leaves, dried

Fresh Herbs In Season

Basil

Chives

Coriander leaves (cilantro)

Fenugreek

Garlic

Ginger root

Hot peppers (varieties)

Mint

Onions

Parsley

Rosemary

Scallions

Thyme / Lemon thyme

Turmeric root

Za’atar

Varied Seasonings

Anba (pickled mango relish)

Date honey (silan)

Honey (local)

Lemon juice

Lemons and limes, dried

Orange-blossom water

Pomegranate molasses

Rosewater

Tahini paste

Tamarind paste or syrup

Fats

Olive oil

Smen (clarified butter)

Sheep’s tail fat

Sheer Necessities

Almonds (whole or blanched)

Arak

Beans (navy and fava)

Burgul (cracked wheat)

Chickpeas (dried or canned)

Couscous (instant)

Dates

Lentils

Pine nuts

Raisins (black and golden)

Rice (Persian or Basmati)

Semolina

Walnuts

The post 60 Must-Have Pantry Items For A Middle-Eastern Kitchen appeared first on Green Prophet.

Opposites attract; just ask salted caramel, chocolate-covered pretzels, or kettle corn. These treats are all sweet-and-salty food combinations and here’s a new one to add to summer – just before the season ends.

Watermelon and feta cheese may not seem like the perfect pair, but you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that they are. I tried the combination when I traveled through Israel and became a believer in their seemingly unbecoming food relationship.

The sharp tanginess of the feta nicely complements the juicy, sugary flavor of the watermelon. The cheese needn’t be feta, but it should be salty.

For a get-together with family or friends, you can make a tray of hors d’oeuvres to pass out.  Cut the watermelon and feta into bite-size pieces – a small circular cookie-cutter will make cute round shapes – and stack them, in that order, adding a fresh basil leaf on top of each bite.

Stick toothpicks or cocktail picks in the mini-masterpieces for the final step. This starter is essentially like the classic Italian tomato-mozzarella-basil antipasto, except sweeter and saltier.

In a salad, practically “anything goes,” and if you try tossing watermelon and feta with arugula, you won’t be disappointed.

Other flavors to include in such a salad or in different ways with watermelon and feta are cucumber, kalamata olives, red onion, fresh mint, and balsamic vinegar – and that’s certainly not the end of the list.

Experimentation is the only way to create something new and refreshing. After all, the simple two-ingredient creation of watermelon and feta cheese was probably an accident, one of those culinary “mistakes that worked.”

Some odd couples do end up withstanding the test of time.  Marry the darling fruit of summertime with the choice cheese of the Mediterranean, and you’ll taste the love.

The post Watermelon and Feta Are an Odd Couple appeared first on Green Prophet.

We all know that eating sustainably, and eating local is good for the planet and good for the economy. Now that your New Year’s resolutions to eat better have come into effect, check out your local bookseller for seven recycled titles that will help bolster your New Year’s food resolutions. These titles are largely published before 2012 but still relevant.  Dig in.

1. Eating Animals (Penguin, 2011)

Part memoir, part science: novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s takes a philosophical look at how we justify what we eat . Prepare yourself for an epiphany.

2. Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed (South End Press, 2007)

Food activist Vandana Shiva edits a collection of papers from advocates of the slow food movement, organic farming and local eating.  A choppy ride, but in the end these varied views (from the likes of Prince Charles and Michael Pollan) make a solid case for food deindustrialization.

3. Animal Vegetable Miracle: Miracle of Our Year of Sustainable Eating (Faber & Faber, 2007)

A chronicle of the year that author Barbara Kingsolver and family went to the woods, unlike Thoreau, to eat deliberately. Their radical experiment to “go locavore” explores my mom’s old gem “you are what you eat”.

4. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin Press, 2006)

Michael Pollan explores modern American eating: dubious trends with far-reaching influence. If you like your wake-up calls loud and clear, crack this binding.

5. New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Alfred E. Knopf, 2000)

Claudia Roden’s original 1973 classic updated and expanded.  Culled from 30 years of extensive Middle East travel, she’s concocted simple prep methods for over 800+ regional recipes from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.  Read it for the recipes, but also for the riveting stories behind this extraordinary food.

6.  Book of Jewish Food (Alfred E. Knopf, 1996)

Oy, Claudia, again with the 800+ recipes?

Here’s the story of the Jews told through the story of their cooking, with emphasis on development of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisine. Ms. Roden’s stories are as delicious as her recipes.

7. Appetites (Counterpoint Press, 2003)

It’s sad to tag this as an “anorexia” book. Sadder still that its author died before publishing more of her sagacious take on the modern female experience. Caroline Knapp’s memoir of her war with self-image expands to explore wider cultural messages. It’s a powerful call to all women to learn what it is to “feed both the body and the soul”.

Top image of books on a bun by Shutterstock

The post 7 Evergreen Books on Sustainable Food for Your New Year appeared first on Green Prophet.

A hot Pyrex type glass baking dish can literally explode if placed on a cool surface like a sink counter top…In an illuminating article about the dangers of non-stick ceramic cooking ware, we advised readers of the risks involved in cooking with some types of ceramic cooking utensils following an exposure by a local Israeli TV program. The results of this revelation made us think about buying colorful ceramic cookware. And indeed in Israel some of this cooking ware being either taken off the market or sold at low “fire sale” prices by stores to get rid of existing stocks. What many people may not know, however, is a very serious risk involving the use of what is known as glass bake ware, sold for many years in under the brand name of Pyrex.

Studies conducted on Pyrex bake ware were published last month in the September edition of the Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society found that some of this glassware “is more susceptible than others to explosive shattering.”

Pyrex was the trade name given to this glassware by the American Corning Glass Company that originally began manufacturing this heat resistant glassware more than 80 years ago. The original Pyrex bake ware was made of a mixture known as borosilicate glass which contains at least 5% borosilicate oxide. This substance is what made the glass more resistant to extreme heat or cold; resulting in Corning claiming that it was possible to transfer a hot food dish “from oven to ice box.”

Later versions of Pyrex bake ware, however, were made of a less costly substance, soda-lime silicate, after Corning sold the Pyrex brand name  back in late 1990’s. European versions of the cookware continue to use the older, and safer, borosilicate glass, however.

The above study went on to say that one of the most common dangers of the soda-lime silicate versions is removing a hot baking pan from the oven and placing it on a cool counter top – especially a wet one. From a scientific standpoint, the heat tolerance of the borosilicate glass versions is as much as three times that of the soda-lime silicate ones  which can never be transferred “from oven to ice box.”

With so much adverse publicity going around involving the use of ceramic coated cookware and frying pans, many households have been resorting to cooking with iron or other types of cookware; including that of the long trusted Pyrex brand types.

Heat resistant glass baking ware is common place all over the Middle East. While much of it is made in Europe, especially in France, some does some from various origins under the Pyrex brand name made in the USA. As a result of the American Ceramic Society published study, it might be wise to check to see what substance the glass in that baking pan that you plan to purchase is actually made of. As for glass cookware already on hand, being a bit more prudent when removing a hot dish from a hot oven may prevent an explosive situation at the next family meal.

Tips for cooking safe:

To be on the safe side, read the product warnings when purchasing bakeware, and be ready for the idea that all glassware is breakable at some point. Use glassware in conventional ovens as the directions state, and be careful about placing them on ceramic or new-age stove tops. Lastly try to avoid sudden and extreme changes in temperature when can stress the glassware causing it to shatter.

A new report from CBS is that consumers should also be on the watch out for exploding glass shower doors, also prone to extreme changes in heat as you go from a hot shower to a cold one or vice versa. And this great piece by Wired explains how molten glass can ge made to be shock and heat resistant.

Read more on cooking ware and related products from ceramics:
Ceramic Cooking Pans May be Killing You With Color
Ceramic Cookware Fire Sale After TV Exposure
The Famous Potters of El Qasr
Explosion_Broken Glass_Burst: by Shutterstock

The post Explosive Glass Pyrex Coming to a Kitchen Near You? appeared first on Green Prophet.

We wrote a few articles about the potential dangers of cooking with ceramic coated cookware, and the resulting lawsuit filed by one of these cookware manufacturers against the Israeli TV consumer watchdog program, Kolbotek which warned consumers against using the company’s ceramic cookware products.

With all this in mind, the time has come to find out if any new updates have been published regarding safe brands of ceramic cookware that do not release poisonous metals and chemicals to foods during the cooking process.  Known by the scientific name of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the substance is not only used as a non-stick substance in cookware but also in piping and containers where corrosive chemicals are used. PTFE has a fairly high heat resistance, and has has been found to be fairly reliable for cookware as long as pans containing it are not scratched (resulting in the substance being consumed) and as long excessive cooking heats are not used.

“Fire Sale” of ceramic cookware at Israeli supermarket

Ceramic cookware contains different substances, however; and some brands have been found to contain poisonous metals.

Metal cookware, especially aluminum, coated with substances to make frying easier and with less food sticking to the pan have been in the market for years.

These products began with pans coated with substances that “if consumed in large quantities could be hazardous to human health.”

Health issues related to using non-stick cookware  are still being reported however. A more recent one is an article on Yahoo News dealing with high exposure to  polyflouroalkyl compounds or PFC  by pregnant women resulted in babies born with lower birth weights than women who had not been exposed to these compounds.

The study dealing with these compounds which are also used in other food preparation products (including microwave popcorn bags) also noted that babies born from PFC exposed mothers also were larger at age 20 months, resulting in conditions of being overweight.

The study also concluded that women who were over-exposed to PFC’s during pregnancy more often gave birth to girls who later in life became overweight.

Study researcher Michele Marcus, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, recommends the use of stainless steel and iron cookware. She also recommended not warming foods in a microwave using plastic containers.

A complete safe bill of health has still not been found regarding ceramic cookware; although there are some brands that are considered to be safe, as long as excessive cooking heat is not used and a small amount of cooking oil is poured into pan prior to cooking.

The bottom line is to use either ceramic cookware or those coated with PTFE of PFC at your own discretion.

Read more on ceramic and other non-stick cookware:

Ceramic Coated Cooking Ware My be Killing You With Color

Ceramic Cookware Fire Sale After TV Exposure

Ceramic Fry Pan Company Neoflam Sues TV Show for False Report

Image of microwave popcorn bag from Shutterstock

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