Todays soups from the Conspiracy Kitchen are Winter Squash Bisque(Vegetarian & Wheat Free) and Southwest Chicken, Vegetables and Rice(Made with Free Range Chicken & Wheat Free) Its time once again for fun facts with your kitchen staff, Did you know: Although winter squash has long been recognized as an important food source of carotenoids, only recently have research studies documented just how fantastic winter squash can be when it comes to these key antioxidants. For some groups of study participants, winter squash turns out to be the primary food source of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene in the entire diet! For lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta-cryptoxanthin (three other health-supportive carotenoids) winter squash also comes out among the top three food sources in several studies. Seeds from winter squash make a great snack food, just like pumpkin seeds. If you scoop the pulp and seeds from inside the squash and separate out the seeds, you can place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and lightly roast them at 160-170°F (about 75°C) in the oven for 15-20 minutes. By roasting them for a relatively short time at a low temperature you can help minimize damage to their healthy oils. Linoleic acid (the polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid) and oleic acid (the same monounsaturated fatty acid that is plentiful in olive oil) account for about 75% of the fat found in the seeds. We think about winter squash as a very starchy vegetable—about 90% of its total calories come from carbohydrate, and about half of this carbohydrate is starch-like in its composition. However, recent research has made it clear that all starch is not the same, and the starch content of winter squash brings along with it some key health benefits. Many of the carbs in winter starch come from polysaccharides found in the cell walls. These polysaccharides include pectins—specially structured polysaccharides that in winter squash often include special chains of D-galacturonic acid called homogalacturonan. An increasing number of animal studies now show that these starch-related components in winter squash have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, as well as anti-diabetic and insulin-regulating properties. Winter squash is a vegetable that might be especially important for us to purchase organic. Recent agricultural trials have shown that winter squash can be an effective intercrop for use in remediation of contaminated soils. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including pyrene, fluoranthene, chrysene, benzo(a)anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene are unwanted contaminants. PAHs are among the contaminants that can be effectively pulled up out of the soil by winter squash plants. When winter squash is planted as a food crop (as opposed to a non-food crop that is being planted between food crop seasons to help improve soil quality), the farmers goal is definitely not to transfer soil contaminants like PAHs up into the food. But some of that transfer seems likely to happen, given the effectiveness of winter squash in mobilizing contaminants like PAHs from the soil. For this reason, you may want to make a special point of purchasing certified organic winter squash. Soils used for the growing of in certified organic foods are far less likely to contain undesirable levels of contaminants like PAHs. While weve become accustomed to thinking about leafy vegetables as an outstanding source of antioxidants, weve been slower to recognize the outstanding antioxidant benefits provided by other vegetables like winter squash. But we need to catch up with the times! Recent research has made it clear just how important winter squash is worldwide to antioxidant intake, especially so in the case of carotenoid antioxidants. From South America to Africa to India and Asia and even in some parts of the United States, no single food provides a greater percentage of certain carotenoids than winter squash. (In the United States, a recent study that has determined winter squash to be the number one source of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene among Hispanic men ages 60 and older living within the state off Massachusetts. And weve seen studies ranking foods from this Cucurbita genus at the top of the carotenoid list in Cameroon, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies!) The unique carotenoid content of the winter squashes is not their only claim to fame in the antioxidant department, however. There is a very good amount of vitamin C in winter squash (about one-third of the Daily Value in every cup) and a very good amount of the antioxidant mineral manganese as well. Recent research has shown that the cell wall polysaccharides found in winter squash also possess antioxidant properties, as do some of their phenolic phytonutrients. Most of the research to date on winter squash and inflammation has either been conducted using laboratory animals, or has been focused on laboratory studies of cell activity. Still, results in this area have been fascinating and also promising with respect to winter squash as an anti-inflammatory food. In some of the more detailed studies, specific inflammation-related molecules, enzymes, or cell receptors (for example, nuclear factor kappa-B, nitric oxide synthase, or cyclo-oxygenase) have been studied as targets for the activity of the cucurbitacin molecules found in winter squash. Cucurbitacins are glycoside molecules found in a wide variety of foods, including the brassica vegetables, some mushrooms, and even some ocean mollusks. But they are named for the gourd-squash-melon family of foods (Cucurbitaceae) due to their initial discovery in this food family. Cucurbitacins can be extremely bitter tasting to animals as well as humans, and they are considered to be part of the plants natural defense mechanisms. Yet the same properties that make cucurbitacins potentially toxic to some animals and microorganisms also make them effective as anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory substances when we consume them in winter squash. While winter squash should not be treated as a high-fat food, it does contain fats, including the anti-inflammatory omega-3s. One cup of baked winter squash will provide you with approximately 340 milligrams of omega-3 fats in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). While that amount is only about one-third as high as the concentration of ALA found in the best of the best omega-3 plant foods like walnuts, it is still a valuable amount being provided by a low-fat food. (Less than 15% of the calories in winter squash come from fat, compared with almost 90% of the calories in walnuts!). With winter squash, we have a fantastic anti-inflammatory food opportunity in which we can get a valuable amount of our anti-inflammatory omega-3s without much of a change in our total fat intake. Its the combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds in winter squash that have shown this food to have clear potential in the area of cancer prevention and cancer treatment. Prostate cancer is the cancer type that has been of greatest research interest in this regard, followed by colon cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer. We have yet to see cancer-related studies that involve everyday amounts of winter squash consumed in food form. Most of the studies in this area have involved extracts from foods in the Cucurbita genus, or isolated, purified substances (like cucurbitans) that can be obtained from those foods. Still, given the clear antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of winter squash, we expect to see cancer studies in humans eventually identifying this food as a risk reducer for certain cancer types. A second area of high potential for winter squash and its health benefits is blood sugar regulation and prevention of type 2 diabetes. Weve already seen evidence in animal studies that show improvement in blood sugar and insulin regulation following intake of cell wall polysaccharides from winter squash and other Cucurbita foods. Likewise, weve seen research pointing to other nutrients found in winter squash as beneficial for blood sugar control. These nutrients include the B-vitamin like compound d-chiro-inositol—a nutrient we expect to see moving up on the radar screen with respect to blood sugar regulation. Its also important to remember that blood sugar regulation is closely tied to our overall supply of B-complex vitamins, and that winter squash is unusual in its B-vitamin composition. This food provides a good amount of five B-complex vitamins! Those vitamins are B1, B3, B6, pantothenic acid, and folate. Winter squash, members of the Cucurbitaceae family and relatives of both the melon and the cucumber, come in many different varieties. While each type varies in shape, color, size and flavor, they all share some common characteristics. Their shells are hard and difficult to pierce, enabling them to have long storage periods between one week and six months. Their flesh is mildly sweet in flavor and finely grained in texture. Additionally, all have seed-containing hollow inner cavities. We are just beginning to discover the wealth of nourishment supplied by the mildly sweet flavored and finely textured winter squash, a vegetable that was once such an important part of the diet of the Native Americans that they buried it along with the dead to provide them nourishment on their final journey. Winter squash is available from August through March; however, they are at their best from October to November when they are in season. Butternut squash: Shaped like a large pear, this squash has cream-colored skin, deep orange-colored flesh and a sweet flavor. Acorn squash: With harvest green skin speckled with orange patches and pale yellow-orange flesh, this squash has a unique flavor that is a combination of sweet, nutty and peppery. Hubbard squash: A larger-sized squash that can be dark green, grey-blue or orange-red in color. The Hubbards flavor is less sweet than many other varieties. Turban squash: Green in color and either speckled or striped, this winter squash has an orange-yellow flesh whose taste is reminiscent of hazelnuts. Kabocha squash: A type of Japanese squash that is becoming more and more popular in the U.S., kabocha squash is very sweet in flavor. It has deep green skin and orange flesh. Pumpkins are also members of the Cucurbitaceae food family, and also within the Cucurbita genus of these amazing foods. However, the word pumpkin can be confusing and it is used in different countries in different ways. In Australia, for example, the word pumpkin is often used to refer to the same category of foods that are called winter squashes in the United States. Since there are literally hundreds of pumpkin varieties grown worldwide, and since there are pumpkin varieties that can be found within each of the Cucurbita species presented in the chart above, pumpkins can be confusing from a botanical standpoint. Additionally, they are not always easy to categorize within a summer versus winter classification system (even though they are generally a warm weather crop). Pumpkins are not the least bit confusing, however, from a taste and texture standpoint! These delicious foods can be amazingly sweet tasting (as is the case with sugar pumpkin, also sometimes called pie pumpkin), and they are among the most versatile members of this entire gourd-squash-melon food family. Modern day squash developed from the wild squash that originated in an area between Guatemala and Mexico. While squash has been consumed for over 10,000 years, they were first cultivated specifically for their seeds since earlier squash did not contain much flesh, and what they did contain was very bitter and unpalatable. As time progressed, squash cultivation spread throughout the Americas, and varieties with a greater quantity of sweeter-tasting flesh were developed. Christopher Columbus brought squash back to Europe from the New World, and like many other native American foods, their cultivation was introduced throughout the world by Portuguese and Spanish explorers. Today, the largest commercial producers of squash include China, Japan, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, and Argentina. Sited: whfoods/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=63 Well now you know and knowing is half the battle, CO-OP JOE! Stay happy and healthy friends!
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 19:10:39 +0000
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