I've sometimes wondered about some of the traditional food pairings that so often find their way on to my plate. For example, why do the Japanese add vinegar to sushi rice? For that matter, why does traditional salad dressing almost always pair an oil with an acid? And, while we're at it, what's with all those recipes, from all around the world, that combine three or four vegetables in a seemingly random mix?

Your answer to these questions might vary, depending on whether you're a historian, sociologist, chef, or scientist. One possible solution, according to many recent studies, is food synergy. Basically, this theory holds that certain combinations of foods make them more healthful, release more vitamins, or otherwise maximize their positive effect upon the body. For example, the vinegar in sushi rice can reduce the glycemic index by up to 35%, limiting the rice's effect upon blood sugar. Similarly, the oil in salad might make it possible for the body to absorb all the dish's antioxidants. Finally, vegetable combinations like succotash, ratatouille, and even good old peas and carrots may work in concert to help release all of the available nutrients.

One researcher notes that the best way to maximize one's nutrient consumption is by ensuring that every meal contains at least three different-colored vegetables and one "good" fat, like avocado, olive oil, or nuts. In other words, salad may just be the perfect meal!

I recently tried this bread recipe from Young Mo Kim I found while perusing a magazine called Pastry and Baking North America. Bread and red wine just go so well together that I had to see what a bread made with red wine would taste like. It was good if I do say so myself.

The recipe is called red wine walnut bread, but I had some dried currants which I thought would be so much better with the red wine. There's no specific red wine mentioned, and I just used a Cabernet Sauvignon. I made two more deviations from the recipe. Since I didn't have any rye meal, I used the same amount of wheat bran instead. Also, I forgot the softened butter, so I'm not sure how the bread would have turned out with it.

Even with all of the changes I ended up making, the red wine bread was very good. It was a little dry, which I'm sure would have been taken care of had I not forgotten the butter (or added a little more hydration), but the red wine taste really came through. The taste of the red wine was strongest when I first took a bite, and mellowed after that to a sweet, wheat-y taste. The dried currants were also really nice in this bread, and they added to the sweetness. For more of a crunch and less fruity-ness, go with the walnuts. Recipe after the jump.

Isn't it funny how you eat something a lot as a kid but you drift away from it as an adult? I'm not talking about something sugary and child-like, like certain cereals or candy bars or Yoo-Hoo. I'm talking about staples such as fruit or milk.

Case in point: blueberries! I used to eat these a lot as a kid, not just in cereals but as a snack, finishing off an entire pint while watching The Courtship of Eddie's Father. This is a recipe for Blueberry Salad, from Pixie Collins (via the KVBC site). It's more of a fruit salad than one based in lettuce and tomatoes, and includes cream cheese and walnuts.

You know a cookbook is a keeper when you pick it up as you would a novel, and page through carefully, taking in the words and photographs and recipes as if they were classic literature. You savor each page, admiring the layout, drooling over the photos, and scheming about what recipe you'll try next.

That is what Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets is to me. I'll read it when I'm not even planning on baking, for fun or inspiration. Walter, an accomplished pastry chef, divides her book into twelve categories, including drop cookies, "big boys," rugelach, biscotti, meringues and more, each with its own glossy, full-color photograph and often accompanied by a sweet story about her children or grandchildren.

The drop cookies chapter alone is enough to stop you in your tracks. Rustic Maple Pecan cookies mingle with Crystallized Ginger and Macadamia Wafers and rub shoulders with Zach's Chocolate Coconut Devils.

Overwhelmed, I went with a safe bet: the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Nuts have been my "go-to" snack lately. I'm trying to stop eating stuff like chocolate and cookies and cake while still satisfying my snack food cravings, and nuts can actually be very good with you (within reason - watch the amount you eat). Now, if I could just stop eating the chocolate-covered cashews...

Today is National Nut Day. Grab a bag or can of your favorites, whether its cashews, pistachios, walnuts, or peanuts (which, as you may know, aren't a nut at all but a legume, in the bean family). Here's an easy recipe for Roasted Almonds, and here's one for Recipe Goldmine has a ton of nut recipes, including Cajun Cocktail Nuts, Glazed Pecans, Chili Walnuts, and Citrus Nuts.

It's an endless summer in LA:

• He's a "kid" in LA, but Matt Molina is running the kitchen at the hottest restaurant in town, Mozza.
• For Labor Day, break out the keg
• The best way to chill out if you're Korean (or not) is with an ice cold bowl of naeng-myun
• Take advantage of the height of fig season with a Fresh Fig Tart
• Speaking of tarts, SOS gets its hands on the Walnut Praline Tart with Espresso Ice Cream from Hatfield's

First of all, shame on you for what you're thinking. Second, shame on you for what you're thinking.

Today is National Grab Some Nuts Day. I have no idea how this differs from National Nut Day (I'm sure such a day exists), except for the grabbing aspect. Don't lift or scoop, you have to grab.

My favorite nuts are cashews and pistachios, and I've been meaning to pick a can or two up (even if I do think of nuts as a fall and winter snack, don't ask me why). Here are some recipes you can make with nuts: Sugar and Spice Nuts, Rosemary Toasted Nuts, and a bunch of recipes from GroupRecipes.com, including salads, side dishes, and desserts.

I've had this particular type of fudge many times since I was a kid, but I had no idea it was called "Penuche Fudge."

According to Wikipedia, it's a New England fudge (and parts of the south) made with butter, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla, and tastes a lot like caramel. It's lighter than regular fudge.

Here's a recipe from recipezaar.com made with walnuts, and here's one from AllRecipes made with pecans.

You know what I haven't made in a while? Yes, you can guess it from the title of the post. Brownies! I've been making my brownies the same way for years, but I think it's time to shake things up a little bit.

The cool food blog Andrea's Recipes has a recipe for Michael's Favorite Brownies, and it sounds perfect. I particularly like the desciption: "chewy, fudgy, with that slightly crackly top." I might even add some cayenne pepper to see what that does to them (though I'll skip the walnuts). Full recipe after the jump.

Researchers at Universiti Malaya have created a tablet for erectile dysfunction that uses walnut extract!

40 men have tried the pills and they seem to work. And because the tablet isn't a drug, it's safer to use than products like Viagra and is probably even safe for people with other medical problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Supposedly the Romans and French have been doing this for years.

This is the part where you are free to make as many jokes as possible out of the words "nuts" and "erectile dysfunction." Have fun.

[via Boing Boing]

I've met a lot of people who love bananas but hate banana bread. I guess I can understand that. I love peas but hate pea soup, and I hate anchovies but I like Caesar Salad. Different forms, different flavors.

So I doubt that banana bread haters would want to try this recipe. It's for the A-Number-1 Banana Cake, and you can check it out over at the new and improved AOL Food. Recipe after the jump.

To be completely honest, I am not usually impressed too much by nuts, even those coated in sugar and spices. I can easily make my own. So with this in mind, it was a complete surprise to me that I liked the Nutorious Nuts I sampled at the Fancy Foods Show so much.

Nutorious Gourmet Nuts started out as an old family recipe. Deliciously flavored nuts were passed out as holiday gifts to family and friends until their popularity finally pushed the nut-makers into the business world. Using only nuts and a few ingredients, like butter, sugar and spices, every batch of nuts is handmade in one of several delicious flavors that are crazily addictive:

• Oooo La La Original - classic buttery sweet combination
• Cha Cha Chipotle - savory and a little spicy, an updated bar snack
• Door County Cherry Vanilla Crunch (my favorite!)- a sweet nut mix with the addition of some dried cherries coated in the same sugar crust
• Cranberry Orange Crunch - nuts mixed with cranberries and tossed in an orangey sugar coating
• Chocolate Coconutty (updated!) - amazingly addictive, with chocolate and toasty coconut.

A spike in prices for walnuts and almonds has created a nut poaching problem for California farmers. Thieves have become so bold that in addition to stealing harvests from farms they are snatching truckloads of nuts from warehouses. The state produces 80 percent of the world's almonds and 99 percent of walnuts grown domestically.

One Fresno farmer reports that he's caught whole families plundering hundreds of pounds of walnuts from his orchard. But the real money lies in almonds. Last month a staggering 44,000 pounds of processed almonds worth $135,000 were recovered by a Fresno County task force. Thus far this year, the state's farmers have lost at least $1.5 million due to stolen almonds.

Ever wonder where all of our nuts come from, especially considering that they are easily found in just about every market you could wander into?

• Cashews are grown throughout the tropics, but most come from are India and East Africa. They are never sold in the shell because there is an extremely caustic oil between the inner and outer layers which must be burned off before they can be sold.
• Almonds originated in the Mediterranean, but California now produces 80% of the world's supply.
• Macadamia nuts are native to Australia and were brought to Hawaii about 100 years ago. Commercial production began around 1920 and most of the world's macadamias are now grown on Hawaii.
• Walnuts are the third most popular nut in the US and California produces 2/3 of the world's crop.
• Pecans are native to the Mississippi valley and are the only nut native to the US. Georgia is the largest producer of pecans.
• Hazelnuts, also known as filbert, are primarily grown in Turkey, where 75% of the world's supply comes from. Almost all the US grown hazelnuts are from Oregon's Willamette valley
• Pistachio production is the largest in Iran, which accounts for about 40% of the international crop. The US is the second largest producer, with almost 30% of the crop, 98% of which is grown in California.
• Peanuts are not really nuts, but are legumes and members of the pea family (only included here as they most often grouped with nuts). China is the largest producer, with almost 40% of the world crop. India has almost 25%and the U.S., the third largest producing country, has only 6%. Roughly 2/3 of the global peanut crops are processed into peanut oil.
• Brazil nuts are resistant to cultivation and are still primarily harvested from the wild in South America.

[sources, source]

Without naming any names, some cultures have a tradition of overcooking vegetables almost to the point of mush. If you had a grandmother or a great grandmother who liked to prepare vegetables in this way, you are probably familiar with one of the least pleasant smells that the kitchen has to offer: overcooked cabbage. When overcooked, cabbage tends to emit a faint (or strong, depending on how much cabbage is being cooked) smell of sulfur. To cope, the usual strategy is to turn on a fan or open the windows, but this week I heard about a different technique. Apparently, if you add a whole, unshelled walnut or a celery stalk to the cooking water, there will be no smell.

I don't cook enough cabbage to test this - and certainly try to avoid overcooking it, in any case - but does this actually work, or is it just an old wives' tale?