An efficient locavoristic cooking class at Cavallo Point.

I’ve been doing a lot of work in the MetaEfficient lab. I thought I would post an update on my experiments and research:

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Recently, I was lucky enough to meet Allison Rogers, who is now working with the House of Representatives to Green the Capitol.  Allison shared some of her optimal green techniques and  knowledge with me. I am currently documenting some of her activities on TreeHugger. Later, she surprised me with an unusual but efficient organic cheese and organic wine pairing. (more…)

Roasting your own coffee beans at home is quite simple. It takes about 5 to 15 minutes and you get the freshest coffee around. Green or raw coffee beans can be bought for $4 to $5 per pound, about half the price of the roasted kind. Look for fair-traded, organic coffee beans — it’s the metaefficient choice. Sweet Maria’s is an online coffee bean store that offers a huge selection of green coffee beans from around the world. They feature fresh coffee beans arrivals on their weblog. They mark fair-traded, organic beans with the abbreviation “FTO”.

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4 Copas Tequila is said to be the world’s first organic tequila. The drink was certified by the international organization Bioagricert. The organic certification was announced at a gathering at the La Quemada distillery where 4 Copas is made, in Jalisco, Mexico. Named the Tequila of the Year 2006 by Wine & Spirits Magazine, the organic elixir is breaking into new markets throughout the USA. The company says: “We cultivate and supervise our own plantations, as well as the fields resulting from our partnerships with other agave producers, to assure the handling of organic raw materials, that is, free of pesticides and chemical manures.”

Via Alternative Consumer

A new eco-friendly vodka has been launched by McCormick Distillery. The bottle is 80 percent recycled glass with a unique closure that looks a little like the Grolsch beer bottle. It seems like the vodka is not organic, which is disappointing (we sent a email to the company to confirm this. In the meantime you can see our organic vodka reviews here). However, McCormick will also set aside $1 for every closure returned to the “360 Close the Loop Program” to recognized environmental organizations. Also all the packaging and print materials associated with 360 Vodka are produced in an environmentally friendly manner. The website reveals that it is quadruple distilled and filtered five times but not if the grain used is organic or what water is used. Also there is no word on price yet. Via Luxist

If you are going to brew beer at home, why not brew organic? You’ll have clean tasting, fresh beer without using ingredients that are not genetically modified, and not grown with pesticides. Organic brewmaking ingredients cost slightly more but the rewards are worth the expense (in our moderately humble opinion). On a more technical side, organic malts on average have a lower protein content which produces a clear mash and less haze problems in the finished beer. Also, organic malts generally have a higher mash efficiency and a faster fermentation.

If you are interested in brewing organic beers, a good place to start is Brew Organic, which has a collection of recipies, a store full of organic ingredients, and a bookstore too. It’s run by the Seven Bridges Cooperative, and they even offer a video ” Virtual Organic Home Brewing Class” to get you started. You can also check out the book which is widely considered the “bible” of homebrewing: The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

Link: Brew Organic

Weed ‘Em and Reap is a light-hearted but informative introduction to the free bounty of wild foods in lawns and woods, prairies and pastures. Even if you have no intentions of brewing up a crock of dandelion wine or tossing a salad of sour dock and purslane, you will enjoy reading Roger Welsch’s adventures in the world of weeds. We’re betting it won’t be long before you will be watching roadsides and byways for your own secret trove of morel mushrooms, wild asparagus, or elderberries.

Available from Amazon for about $10.

Syzmo is the first energy drink to be certified 100% organic. The drink contains no artificial colors and flavors, and contains no preservatives. It is sweetened with organic blue agave nectar. (We’ve featured agave nectar in a previous post.) The nectar is composed of 90% fructose sugars and 10% glucose sugars. Because fructose is 42% sweeter to the human brain than granulated sugar, less is needed to achieve the same level of sweetness. Fructose is also a great deal easier to digest and use by your body than standard refined sucrose.

The energy-enhancing ingredients of the drink include guarana, yerba mate and caffeine (naturally derived from coffee). The Syzmo web site has an interesting comparison between their drink and other leading energy drinks.

Syzmo can found at Wholes Foods, Exxon, and few other stores. It can also be ordered online from Amazon.

It can be tricky to find organic food, that is grown or raised within a hundred mile radius of your home. Luckily, there a couple of online resources to help in this endeavor. The Eat Well Guide is a free directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores and restaurants in the US and Canada. You can enter your zip code to find local products that were raised sustainably, including no antibiotics, no added hormones, pasture raised, grass fed and organic. You can select a search radius from 5 to 200 miles. A similar resources is Local Harvest, which lists grocery stores, farmer’s markets and CSAs, based on your zipcode.

Amaranth is an ancient plant whose seeds can be ground or popped — they have a sweet, nutty flavor. The ancient Aztecs considered Amaranth a “super food”. It was an important part of the empire’s crop base, and was fed to runners and warriors because of its reputation for providing large bursts of energy and improving athletic performance.

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If you are looking for a drink container which has a completely inert lining, you might try SIGG Bottles from Switzerland. These bottles are extruded from a single piece of pure (99.5%) aluminum. They are strong, lightweight, and do not contaminate their contents with phthalates, Bisphenol-A or other potential toxins. The liner is a food grade, water-based resin that is sprayed and baked on to the bottle. It has undergone extensive tests in Switzerland and Germany. It contains no petroleum products, and exceeds all associated FDA requirements for food liners. They also make similar bottles for infants and children.

They are available from Amazon for $12-$20 each.

In its pure state, chocolate, or cacao, is quite nutrious, and inspires eudaimonia. There are number of varieties of cacao. Almost all commercial chocolate is made using beans of the Forastero Group. Another more prized cultivar, Criollo, is used by the top chocolate makers around the world. It is less bitter and more aromatic than any other bean.

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Chile peppers contain one of the most effective curative substances in the world — capsaicin. While many people enjoy eating hot and spicy food they are not aware of the therapeutic properties of chile peppers. The authors of The Healing Powers of Peppers present a wealth of scientific and medical information, including personal testimonies about the healthful advantages of chile pepper living. They show that many cultures have known about pepper power for quite some time and catalog dozens of medicinal recipes. The book is available from Amazon for $10.50

There are three organically produced rums on the market today. Currently, they are only available through dealers in the U.K. However, some specialty retailers in the U.S. are starting to offer these rums too.

Papagayo Organic Rum comes from Paraguay, it has organic ingredients giving the rum flavors of vanilla, ginger and even a hint of chili. The sale of the rum benefits a group of 800 family-based sugar cane farms. It’s available from the U.K. for £11.99. Also from Paraguay is “Utkins Fairtrade White Rum”, available for £11.99.

Matraga White Rum is an organic and fair-trade white rum from Capanema in southern Brazil. Double distilled in the traditional way directly from fermented cane not from sugar industry waste. It is said to be dry, smooth and clean. Available for £13.99 from Vinceremos.

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Authentic root beer owes it distinctive flavor to Sassafras, a tree native to the eastern U.S. The root or root bark of sassafras can also used to make tea. The leaves are used for thickening sauces and soups, and when dried and ground are known as filé powder, a spice used in Cajun, Creole, and other Louisiana cooking, such as the dish filé gumbo.

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Virgin coconut oil is one of the healthiest foods out there, and it’s also a great cooking oil. A company based in the Philippines called Tropical Traditions produces an organic virgin coconut oil. It can be purchased online from Tropical Traditions or PureSweeteners. This coconut oil is unrefined — fresh coconut meat is shredded (wet milled), and then cold-pressed to make coconut milk.

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Not many people know that the pods from the mesquite tree can be ground into a flour. It’s a traditional Native American food — the flour has a distinct warm and spicy flavor. The mesquite tree grows in the desert regions throughout the world, and it can be found from central Texas to southeastern California and Utah.

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Heirloom beans! These are special bean varieties that have been passed down by generations of growers. The beans have their own distinct flavors and heritages. For example, here’s a description of the “Tongues of Fire” bean:

A cranberry-type, mottled beige and brown marked bean grown from a seed variety originally collected from Tierra del Fuego, on the tip of South America. This variety later found its way to Italy. A good baking bean. Tenderizes easily while absorbing aromatic herbs and spices well. Popular in New England succotash, a myriad of Italian pasta dishes, side dishes and soups.

You can purchase them by the pound from farms that specialize in heirloom beans.

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We’ve found the best place to purchase raw cacao butter. This is the pure oil of the cacao bean, extracted using a cold-press technique — the temperature stays around 104 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of 300 degrees which is the norm. It’s certified organic and it’s produced by Nature’s First Law. The oil is edible and possesses a rich, delicate chocolate aroma.

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