"gas" news and stories

Not to be confused with art made from ripening bananas, the Miami Herald recently ran an interesting profile on Pat Foster (right), the director of ripening for Chiquita in Port Everglades, Florida. As the shipments of bananas (400 tons a week) come in, Foster decides how the fruit should be ripened using ethylene, a gas that also occurs naturally as fruit ripens. According to the article, Foster has to consider not only the weather and production patterns in the countries where the bananas are grown, but also the buying habits of the customers to whom they're being shipped. Hispanic customers in some areas by fruit more frequently, so it must be closer to ripe. Other customers might only make it to the store once a week, so they want greener bananas. Foster has apparently been working with bananas for 40 years and has trained other ripeners all over the country.

[Photo: Jared Lazarus/Miami Herald]
[Via FreshPlaza]

Many people love beans and they are a staple in the diet of hundreds of thousands of people all across the globe. The problem with beans is that they can have unwanted social side effects, like farting. Scientists in Venezuela have been working furiously, trying to eliminate or reduce this problem and have finally come up with a solution.

Farting is the end result of a process that begins when the soluble fiber in beans, not already broken down in the small intestine, is broken down by the large intestine. They found that adding two strains of bacteria, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, to the beans, reduced soluble fiber by 60% and lowered the level of another gas-causing compound known as raffinose by 88%. This means that there were fewer farts. It also increased the insoluble fiber in the beans by almost 10%, adding more nutritional value of the beans, in addition to uncovering the root of a social problem.

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Having grown up with, learned to cook on and generally taken for granted the vintage gas stove in my family's kitchen, you can imagine my surprise when I saw a red one just like it on the Food Network, crouched behind Rachael Ray. Stoves like our 1952 Chambers Model 90C (above) have become all the rage and it's no surprise. They're beautiful, obviously durable and hey, what good cook doesn't like cooking with gas? When restored, these stoves can command upwards of $4,000.

We acquired ours in the mid-70s while our house was being restored. As you can imagine, the house has evolved around the stove, which hasn't really moved in a few decades. While it still cooks just fine, there's a bit of finesse involved. There's no pilot, so the oven and ranges must be lit by hand. This usually results in a fun "booof" sound that makes most guests back away from the stove.

[Photo: John Vagnoni]

What's the most important thing to remember about Super Bowl snacks? (And I know you just didn't answer "health," because no self-respecting football snacker counts calories during the Super Bowl!) Well, reducing the number of farts induced by your food, of course.

OK, maybe that's not on your mind, but Bill Downs (creator of the "world's first fart blog") says it should be. His advice is to avoid refined foods ("if it's white, it ain't right") and broccoli, eggs and beer (uh-oh). He advises that you start your day with an apple, some oatmeal, or whole grain bread. And drink water.

So what does make a good, low-fart, Super Bowl snack? He doesn't really say, so I'll take a couple of stabs. Maybe a nice layered dip with salsa fresca, avocadoes, and plain yogurt, served with flax-seed tortilla chips? Savory biscotti served with tapenade? Pimiento cheese toasts made with homemade mayo, green olives, and wholegrain country sourdough? Now I'm getting hungry...

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