Patel

For example, cherry tomatoes are acidic and bright, but they’re a touch harder to track because their weight doesn’t always match their volume. One cup of halved cherry tomatoes is heavier then one cup of whole ones, because the former have air filling out their spaces. A half will fit more tightly into a cup … Read more

When you buy a medium sweet potato from the market, you think you have yourself a nice little one hundred sixty calorie snack. Wrong, probably. It all depends on variety, size, cooking method, and whether you’re eating skin or not. These things changes the nutritional profile in small ways that add up over time when … Read more

If you eat a lot of strawberries, odds are good that you think about them by the handful. There is no need to weigh them on a scale. Just grab a handful here and there. Toss some into your yogurt each morning or throw a messy pile onto your cutting board as you chop them … Read more

The other day I bought a bag of five Hass avocados. Good idea! And by Wednesday, three is in various stages of being either mushy or rock hard. That’s the avocado paradox: On the exterior, they look fine; on the inside, they’re either rotting away or still green and not-ripe at all. It isn’t just … Read more

The citrus oil hits your nose as you peel an orange in your hand. That bright scent tells you: you’re about to enjoy something healthy. But it doesn’t tell you how many calories you just ate. If most people grabbed for a fruit, it’s because they want feel light, but they have no idea whether … Read more

Eggs are different, most of us eat them as if they were all exactly the same. Eggs is just like slices of bread or cups of coffee, pick up two and fry them because you have two eggs. But it’s not so simple. Egg size vary, cooking fat adds hidden calories, and separating out your … Read more

Are grapes a food with too much sugar or too little? It’s a good question that comes up frequently. On the one hand, yes, grapes are sweet. But do they make for a healthy snack? It sounds easy, and yet, depending on which grape variety (cotton candy, dark Concord, red seedless) you consume, those calories … Read more

When measuring gelatin, your hand twitches: Do I have just enough? Will it be ruined by overdoing it? Will half an envelope do for this panna cotta, or will I need two envelopes to make something like aspic? More often than not, your hunch is wrong. Too little gelatin will result in a runny mess … Read more

A banana seems simple, just a banana. But it’s actualy more complex than that. Depending on how ripe it is, how big it is, or how it was prepared, a banana can has different amounts of nutrients. More often than not, we think that any given banana have a set number of calories. And that … Read more

With eggs, though, most home chef use them as an afterthought, as something of a fill-in-the-blank suggestion instead of building block. Use this many here; do this with that number over there. Crack it in, and don’t give any further thought to what’s holding all that meat together, which is fat. If you are cooking … Read more