Bamboo Shoots -- The young, tender, spring shoots of the tropical bamboo plant are a popular Asian vegetable. The ivory-colored shoots are conical, usually about 3" wide and 4" long. They can be purchased whole, sliced or in chunks, or water packed in cans. These add texture and sweetness to soups, stews and stir fried dishes.
To use, make sure you rinse canned bamboo shoots well, washing off any grainy white calcium caught in the ridges.

    BEAN SPROUTS -- Young, white sprouts of the mung bean have a crisp texture and delicate flavor. Bean sprouts can be found fresh or canned. Just prior to cooking, they should be rinsed in cold water to retain their crispness. Keep them covered with cold water in a covered container in the refrigerator; use them within four days.
Read more about Bean Sprouts HERE!
BRUSSELS SPROUTS -- Is a member of the cabbage family, native to northern Europe. Instead of one large head, the plant produces numerous small heads arranged in neat rows around a thick stalk. Cooked Brussels sprouts may be eaten cold as a salad but are generally eaten hot as a side dish, dressed with butter, oil, or meat roasting juices. Their nutty flavor is flattered by sliced almonds, braised chestnuts, and cream sauces. Choose sprouts that are small and odorless, tightly closed, and bright green, without yellowing or loose leaves around the base. Wash; trim stem ends and remove wilted or discolored leaves. Cut an X in stem end for faster and more even cooking.

   NEVER cook Cauliflower -- in an aluminum or iron pot. The sulfur compounds will react with the aluminum to turn the cauliflower yellow. If cooking in an iron pot, the cauliflower will turn brown or bluish-green.
To wash away insects, soak the head in ice water with the florets facing down. Cauliflower will be snowy white if soaked in cold, salted water for ½ hour prior to cooking. Cook florets face down and add a teaspoon of white vinegar or a little milk to keep the BRIGHT WHITE color.
OR Add a little milk during cooking.
OR Cauliflower odor is almost eliminated if you drop a few unshelled walnuts into the pot.

Celery -- When buying celery, choose a firm, tightly formed bunch of celery with crisp green leaves. Wash celery and trim the base just before using. The stalks stay fresher longer if they are still attached to the base.
To make Celery Curls, cut celery into 3" to 4" pieces. Cut each piece into narrow strips, leaving about 1" at the end uncut to hold the piece together, then put them in ice water until they curl, about ½ hour. Cook a stalk or two of celery with broccoli, cabbage, and sauerkraut to prevent strong odors. Celery will keep longer if you store it in the refrigerator in paper bags instead of plastic.

Limp Carrots or Celery? -- Freshen them by soaking them in a bowl of ice cubes and water for 1 hour in the refrigerator. They come out hard and crisp again.
Cucumber -- To REMOVE the WAX -- Simply rub with vinegar. The skin is a good source of nutrition and helps in the digestion of the cucumber.
REMOVE the Bitterness -- Cut off 1" on one end of the Cucumber and then rub the two exposed areas together in a circular motion while occasionally pulling them apart. This will cause enough suction to release a substance that causes the cucumber to sometimes have a bitter taste. Just throw away the small end.
To Store Cucumbers, keep them in the warmest place in the fridge - when they get TOO cold, they get mushy. Slice a cucumber in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, salt, and drain. Fill with dip--great for parties.

Eggplant Bitter? Salt it! -- Eggplants will last only a few days under refrigeration. Since they tend to be bitter, the easiest method to eliminate this problem is to slice them into ½" slices and then lightly salt them placing them in layers in a colander. Allow them to drain for 30 minutes. Never cook in an aluminum pot since it will cause discoloration.

Choosing Eggplant -- GO for the SHINE! Glossy generally means fresh. The skin should not be wrinkled at all, soft or slack. In peak season, there is no need to slice and salt eggplant to purge the bitterness. Japanese and Italian varieties are particularly sweet when fresh and need no salting. Soft eggplants are usually bitter.
NEVER eat RAW eggplant since it contains the toxin solamine. Solamine is destroyed by cooking.

FENNEL -- Also called Florence fennel, has a large bulbous base, long, pale-green stems and feathery bright-green leaves. Fennel bulb is eaten like a vegetable. The bulb is sliced and added raw to salads or cooked in soups and gratins.
  To remove Garlic Odor from your hands, try rubbing your hands with salt on a slice of lemon.
OR Pretend a piece of Silver or Stainless Steel is a bar of soap and wash your hands with it under cold water. This really does work well.
To help Cure "Garlicky Breath", drink a little lemon juice mixed with some sugar to avoid telltale breath.
  Peeling Garlic -- For a speedy way to peel garlic, lay the clove on its side. Using the flat side of a kitchen knife, press firmly on the clove and crush it and loosen the skin. Remove and discard skin.
OR A Handy Peeler is a Rubber or soft plastic jar opener and works great for peeling garlic. Lay the opener on a flat surface. Place a clove or two of garlic on one half and fold it over the cloves. Then rub gently back and forth. The skin comes right off.
Fresh GINGERROOT -- One of the oldest and most important spices, ginger has been cultivated and used in Asia for over 3,000 years. Fresh ginger is the hard, knobby root or rhizone of the ginger plant. It has a lively, fresh aroma and a slightly hot and pungent flavor. When choosing fresh gingerroot, select roots with a smooth skin that are firm and heavy without any shriveled ends. Store unpeeled gingerroot tightly wrapped in plastic up to 3 weeks. For longer storage, immerse peeled slices of fresh gingerroot in wine, oil, or sherry and refrigerate tightly covered up to 3 months. It can also be frozen, wrapped in plastic than placed in a freezer bag, up to 1 year. Cut or grate off what you need, then return the rest to the freezer. Ground ginger tastes much different than fresh ginger and should not be used as a substitute.
   Garlic & Ginger -- When a recipe calls for Garlic and Ginger, work with the garlic first, and follow up with the ginger, as it will remove the garlic smell from your hands, utensils and cutting board.

HORSERADISH -- Horseradish is a member of the mustard family (sharing lineage with its gentler cousins, kale, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and the common radish) and is cultivated for its thick, fleshy white roots. The bite and aroma of the horseradish root are almost absent until it is grated or ground. During this process, as the root cells are crushed, volatile oils known as isothiocyanate are released. Vinegar stops this reaction and stabilizes the flavor. For milder horseradish, vinegar is added immediately.
While growing up, my mother served many meals with horseradish including Pot Roast and Roast Beef. I do not enjoy either one of these meals as much, if there is NO horseradish. Besides, it is wonderful to clear out your sinuses.
A dear, elderly lady that I cleaned house for when was in my 20's, gave me a great tip using horseradish. She used to serve me lunch every time I cleaned her house. One day, she served me a Tunafish Sandwich. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I hated tunafish and I started to eat the sandwich. Much to my surprise, it was delicious and I ate the whole sandwich. Afterwards, I had to ask her how she made the tunafish salad, just to find out what was in it that made it taste so good. You guessed it - horseradish!! Just a teaspoon per can of tuna. And I have made it this way ever since. You don't taste the horseradish at all and you also do not have any fishy smell or taste.
For more HORSERADISH FACTS, visit The Horseradish Organization!

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES "SUNCHOKES" -- Neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem, this brown-skinned tuber is a member of the sunflower family. Crisp, nutty, and slightly sweet in taste, sunchokes are equally good served raw in a salad or cooked. Peel them or simply scrub the skin well before using. When shopping, choose firm, unblemished tubers free of soft spots and green-tinged portions.

Visit the ARTICHOKE section HERE!

    JICAMA -- Jicama, also called Mexican potato, is popular in Mexican cooking. The large bulbous root is covered with a thin tan skin. Inside, the white jicama flesh is like a cross between an apple, a potato and a water chestnut. Raw jicama is sweet, juicy and crisp--perfect in salads.

Mushrooms -- Buy only mushrooms that have closed caps. The gills should not be showing. Never immerse mushrooms in water when cleaning them because they will absorb too much water. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to each ¼ lb. of melted butter to keep mushrooms white and firm. You can use an egg slicer to slice fresh mushrooms quickly and uniformly. To keep mushrooms from becoming slimy, always refrigerate them in a brown paper bag--NEVER plastic. Paper lets the mushrooms breathe while holding in the humidity that keeps them fresh.

PARSNIPS -- Available all year round, parsnips are at their peak in winter. Their creamy texture lends itself beautifully to cold-weather favorites such as smooth mashed, purées, and soups, while their sweet nutty flavor makes them excellent in stew or roasted as an accompaniment. When buying, look for firm, smooth, medium-size parsnips without cracks. Large, older parsnips have a stronger flavor than younger ones; they may also have a woody core, which should be removed before cooking.

Rhubarb -- Though a vegetable, rhubarb is treated more like a fruit, and it's typically made into such things as pies, tarts, preserves, and wine. It's very tart, and at its best when combined with berries. Varieties includes cherry rhubarb and the more delicate strawberry rhubarb. Fresh rhubarb shows up in markets in the spring. If you can't find it fresh, frozen rhubarb is a fine substitute. Don't eat rhubarb leaves; they contain high levels of oxalic acid, a toxin. Cut down on the amount of sugar needed in rhubarb sauce by soaking the rhubarb in cold water and a pinch of baking soda prior to cooking. The water will turn black. Drain off this water, add fresh water and cook. The sauce gets sweet with less sugar because you've lowered the acidity of the rhubarb.
See more about RHUBARB under FRUIT Category

RUTABAGA -- A cross between a cabbage and a turnip, rutabagas have yellow-orange flesh and a thick skin, which is often waxed to prevent drying out. They will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, and can be prepared as for turnips. Rutabagas are often confused with turnips because of their similar shapes. Both vegetables are members of the mustard family and are indeed interchangeable in most recipes, even though turnips are smaller and have white skin and flesh. Like raw turnip, uncooked rutabaga has a peppery sweet taste that gets sweeter as it cooks.
To prepare rutabaga, cut away the thick, waxed skin with a sharp knife, then cut the flesh into slices or cubes and boil until tender. Rutabaga is delicious mashed with butter and nutmeg or combined with mashed potatoes.

Scallion Brushes -- Trim off some of the dark-green tops and all of the white root ends to where the stalk starts to turn green. Use a small, sharp knife to make narrow slits from the darker to the lighter green. Chill in cold water (ice water makes them frizz) until the ends curl. Scallions come in batches of 6 to 8. Keep the remaining onions from drying out by storing them in a self-sealing plastic bag with a damp paper towel. Chop them as needed.
Scallions -- A super quick way to chop these green onions is with a sharp pair of kitchen scissors.

Grow your Own Sprouts -- Buy grains and seeds for sprouting in a health food store. Do not use seeds intended for use outdoors, because they are usually chemically treated. Soak seeds in lukewarm water overnight; they will swell to double their original size. Rinse under cold water. Line a flat-bottomed strainer or colander with 2 layers of cheesecloth rinsed in warm water. Scatter seeds on cloth, making sure not to crowd them, and cover with another layer of cheesecloth which has also been rinsed in warm water. Place the colander on a plate and leave it in a dark place at room temperature. Spray with warm water twice a day to keep cloth and seeds moist; discard any liquid that accumulates on the plate. After a few days, tender, light-colored sprouts will appear: Wheat takes about 3 days, mung beans 4 to 5 days, soybeans 6 to 8 days. Store all sprouts in a cool, moist place to keep them crisp. They're a tasty, very healthy ingredient for salads.

TURNIPS -- To LESSEN their Smell while cooking, add a teaspoon of sugar to the water and that unpleasant smell will practically disappear and be a lot more tolerable. Remove the bitter taste when cooking turnip or mustard greens by adding ½ teaspoon baking soda to the cooking water. NEVER salt the water when cooking Turnips, it will remove the sweetness.

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