"oranges" news and stories

My memories of fruit cocktail mostly consist of eating the stuff from the cans of Del Monte or Libby's (when it says "Libby's Libby's Libby's on the Label Label Label"), and I haven't had it in years. Is it any better? I mean, it was OK, but the syrup was too sweet and thick for me. I like fruit bowls with just big chunks of fresh fruit, though the idea of a retro-ish fruit salad with Cool Whip on top sounds rather inviting.

Today is National Fruit Cocktail Day. Here's a recipe for Fruit Cocktail from Garden Guides that is heavy on apples and cinnamon. RecipeZaar has a Fresh Fruit Cocktail recipe (cooking involved). Here's another recipe from RecipeZaar, for Fruit Cocktail Cake.

And for those of you who like your fruit cocktails in liquid form, here's a recipe for a non-alcoholic Fruit Cocktail drink.

The saying is that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but it never specified which kind. According to research from Chang Y. Lee of Cornell University, apples, as well as bananas and oranges, might keep brain doctors away. Antioxidant compounds found in those fruits seem to prevent neurotoxicity in cells. In other words, eating apples, bananas and oranges "may be beneficial to improve effects in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's."

Cool!

Just don't forget that we also just read about the study that says fructose in fruit like apples increase the risk of gout. So I guess it's up to you. Remember your life in your old age, or have flexible joints.

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If you're a college football fan, then you know that states have been facing off with each other since last week. However, in what we could call a foodish Citrus Bowl, Florida has won out over California in a lawsuit in which Florida Agriculture officials issues a quarantine against citrus shipments from California. The quarantine was issued to protect the State of Florida's citrus industry from a potential plant fungus. California citrus growers sought a temporary injunction in order to keep shipping, but the Florida judge denied it.

We're not quite sure what the big deal here is with California. Florida already has oranges, so why wouldn't they want to keep California oranges out of the state? We're sure there are plenty of people on the western half of the country who can eat all those oranges.

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Our new sister site, Green Daily, has a post up today that I thought might appeal to you Slashfoodies out there in readerland. They have discovered an article on Gomestic about 10 ways to use an orange peel. Back when I was in high school, I had a friend who would carefully save the peel of her orange, and after she had finished the fruit would return to the peel and meticulously scrap out all the white pith and eat it. Someone had once told her that it had lots of Vitamin C and being the health-conscious person that she was took the advice to heart.

I'm not necessarily recommending that you consume your pith (anyone know whether my friend was correct or not?) but some of these other orange peel tips are quite helpful. My favorites are the recommendations to use peels as a safe home fragrance (boil them in little water with a cinnamon stick or two), to use a bit to keep your brown sugar soft (I always have problems with hardened sugar) and put them in with oil to create infusions.

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Every single month of the year has a "National _______ Month" designation. Heck, I think every day has celebrates something. June has a few celebrations, and National Fruit and Vegetable Month is one of them.

Of course, you should eat a lot of fruit and vegetables all year round, but if one month can get you going, then it's a good thing. June is usually the month when I start to eat more salads and apples and oranges anyway, as I'm sure it is with a lot of people, so it's good timing.

Here's more info and tips about the month, along with links to other sites about healthy eating. And if you insist on eating a whole pizza tonight, at least put some mushrooms and onions on it.