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Sunflower Green: This is How You Grow the Healthy Sprouts Yourself

Growing and eating sunflower greens as microgreens? This healthy alternative to enjoying the small seeds of the flower brings you a lot of valuable nutrients and vital substances at any time of the year.

Growing sunflower greens yourself: you need that

You can easily grow fresh sunflower greens yourself. However, you should take a look at them every day and give them a little nurturing. The nice thing is that you can grow the vitamin-rich mini greens in a bright place in your apartment at any time of the year and you don’t need a balcony or garden.

For your sunflower microgreen cultivation you need the following material:

For pre-germination: A germination jar and a dark cloth to cover. Possibly a bowl and colander for rinsing.
For growing: A shallow dish, ideally with drainage holes, and a dense dish or tray to stand on. You can also upcycle used plastic packaging from salads, fruit or vegetables.
The best way to get seed soil is from a garden center. Look for an organic seal and that the soil does not contain peat. As a result, the CO2 balance is better and you protect the moors.
Sunflower seeds: You can use both peeled and unpeeled seeds for sunflower greens. In both cases you should have at least a handful ready and pay attention to organic quality.

Sow and harvest: This is how you get fresh greenery from the windowsill

Whether spring, summer, autumn or winter – you can grow your sunflower greens all year round just like other healthy offspring. For this you do the following:

Soak the sunflower seeds in plenty of water in a saucepan or similar. Cores with shells need about 12 hours, without shells about 6-8 hours soaking time.
After this pre-swelling, which acts like an initial spark for the seeds, you pour off the water and rinse the seeds two or three times with fresh water.
Now fill the seed in your germination jar and let it germinate at room temperature. Because sunflowers germinate in the dark, it is better to protect the seeds from light and cover them with a cloth if necessary. It takes about two to three days for the first sprouts to appear.
Hygiene is important during these first three days: Rinse the germinating seed thoroughly with water every day. At the same time, the kernels receive sufficient moisture for further germination. If you use peeled sunflower seeds, you can now easily detach and skim off the loosening fine seed membrane.
If the white sprouts on the kernels have broken through the shell or are visible on the peeled kernels, you can plant the sprouts to grow. Fill the bowls with about two centimeters of soil and distribute the seed so that there is still some space between the individual plants. Then sprinkle some more soil over it.
Now all you have to do is practice the right feeling for the water supply: Just pour a little at the beginning. There should be no waterlogging, otherwise the seed can become moldy. Always add a little water in the following days.
Place the plant bowls with your “sunflower field” in a room-warm place that offers sufficient sunlight. After about eight to 12 days, the plantlets develop juicy, green cotyledons and begin to develop the next set of leaves.
Now it’s time for the harvest: most of the black shell caps have fallen off. If not, brush them off with your hand. Then cut off the fresh sunflower greens above the ground. You don’t actually have to wash it before you eat it. Unless there is obviously dust or dirt on it.

Germinate sunflower seeds – why?

Sunflower seeds are small packets of fuel. When they germinate, they develop additional qualities. You can harvest the sprouts, which grow into green seedlings, like cress and then process them further.

The tender little plants taste sweet and nutty and are even a little crunchy when they are freshly harvested.
This makes the fresh greens the perfect partner for soups, sandwiches, pan-fried vegetables and anything else that calls for an upbeat topping.
If you want to use a lot of the sunflower bambinis, you can use them to prepare a salad or mix a smoothie. In any case, you should make sure that you eat the sunflower seedlings fresh.
You can process sunflower green better in larger portions than some other microgreens (e.g. from radishes, broccoli, mint), which have a more intense taste and spiciness.
The main advantage: the young plants have a very high nutrient density. In other words, measured in terms of total weight, they contain more vitamins, minerals and trace elements than ordinary vegetables. In addition, there is fresh chlorophyll and antioxidant substances (e.g. flavonoids).

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Food

Storing Tomatoes: This is How Tomatoes Keep For a Long Time

Tomatoes should not be missing in any kitchen, especially in summer. To keep them fresh and tasty for as long as possible, it is important to store tomatoes correctly. We tell you what you should pay attention to.

Tomatoes are sensitive fruits when it comes to storage: they don’t like refrigerators, but they don’t like too much heat either, and they prefer to spend their time away from other fruits and vegetables. Storing tomatoes correctly not only affects their shelf life, but also their taste, because tomatoes that are harvested unripe continue to ripen in storage. Preparation for storage also plays an important role.

Depending on the variety, tomatoes can be kept for up to 14 days under optimal conditions.

How to prepare tomatoes for storage

Even before the actual storage, you can pay attention to certain things that will ensure that your tomatoes stay fresh for a long time.

If you harvest your own tomatoes, you should first harvest them with the stalks and blossom ends and do not remove them even if they have dried up. The green provides the tomatoes with nutrients even after they have been picked.

The following applies to both self-harvested and purchased tomatoes: it is better not to wash them before storing them. When washed tomatoes go into storage, any moisture left behind can quickly lead to mold growth. Overripe tomatoes, on the other hand, burst easily when pressure is applied to them during washing. Therefore: It is better to wash them just before you eat the tomatoes.

Store tomatoes correctly: It depends on the temperature and location

If you want your tomatoes to last as long as possible, the right temperature plays an important role. So the most important thing first: Tomatoes don’t belong in the fridge. This place is the worst imaginable for storing tomatoes. They react sensitively to cold, which means they lose their taste and acquire a floury consistency. In addition, their vitamin content is reduced by the cold temperatures.

But even an environment that is too warm is not good for the harvested tomatoes when they are already ripe. It causes tomatoes to continue to ripen and can therefore rot quickly.

Tomatoes feel best when they

at room temperature
in an airy but dark or shady place
be stored. A simple shelf or the kitchen table is therefore a suitable place to store tomatoes.

Tip for unripe tomatoes: If you want to let unripe tomatoes ripen, you can put them in a slightly warmer place, for example on a sunlit windowsill. Because the higher temperatures accelerate the post-ripening process.

Store tomatoes correctly: Better without neighbors

Another important point is that it is best to store the fruit separately from other fruits and vegetables. Ripe tomatoes emit ethylene, a gaseous plant hormone that stimulates nearby fruit and vegetables to ripen faster—and possibly rot as a result.

Other fruit and vegetables also emit the ripening gas, which means that tomatoes in turn ripen faster – and possibly go bad.

Fruits and vegetables you should keep separate from include tomatoes

Apples, bananas, pears, apricots
Cucumbers, peppers, hot peppers.
Tip for unripe tomatoes: You can of course take advantage of the effects of ethylene if you want to ripen unripe tomatoes faster. Then just store them with these other fruits and vegetables. After a few days, the tomatoes will have ripened and should then be stored separately.

Store tomatoes correctly: the right container

Many tomatoes from the supermarket come sealed in plastic. However, the fruit does not get enough oxygen in it and therefore rots faster. It is therefore better to buy tomatoes without plastic packaging from the start, so you are also doing something good for the environment.

Tomatoes prefer it airy. Therefore, place them in an open container, such as a bowl, basket, storage box without a lid, or on a plate. Baskets work particularly well if they are made of woven straw or metal struts, as this allows for good ventilation.

To prevent the tomatoes from bruising, you can line the container with a clean kitchen towel beforehand.

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Food

Thicken Cherries: This is How it Works Without Lumps

Thickening cherries is worthwhile for refining various desserts. We present three ways to help you thicken without much effort.

Thickening cherries is an easy way to create a delicious topping for desserts and sweets. There are three options: You can thicken cherries with cornstarch (or a cornstarch substitute), vanilla pudding powder and cake glaze. For this you need the following ingredients:

650 g organic cherries
0.5l water
2 tbsp cornstarch/custard powder/cake glaze

It usually takes less than five minutes to thicken the cherries. We explain step by step how to do this:

Place the cherries in a saucepan with the water.
Let the kirsch come to a boil.
Stir in the starch/custard powder or frosting as soon as the mixture boils. Caution: Begin stirring immediately after adding your thickener of choice to the water. That way no lumps form. You should also not add cornstarch directly to the boiling water, but mix it with a little cold water first and then add it. This also prevents lumps from forming.
Important: cherries are in season from June to August. So this is the best time to thicken cherries.

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Cooking Tips

Pectin: This is Hidden Behind The Vegan Gelling Agent

Pectin is a vegan gelling agent. But how can it be used and what should you consider? The answers and more information about pectin can be found here.

pectin in plants

Pectin is a gelling agent that is used in many foods. Similar to agar agar

Chemically, pectin is a polysaccharide. Basically there is no such thing as pectin. It is a component of almost all plants and stabilizes the cells of the plants and regulates the water. It comes in different forms.

Fruit in particular has a particularly high proportion of pectin. For example, the pectin content of cherries is 0.4 percent. Apricots contain one and apples even up to 1.5 percent.

Pectin as a gelatine substitute

Pectin is widely used in the food industry. The ability to gel is responsible for the consistency of jams, jellies and preserves. It can be used as a plant-based substitute for gelatin in vegan foods.

If you want to make jam yourself, you can use pectin in the form of preserving sugar. It consists essentially of sugar and pectin. The advantage of jam sugar is that it is very easy to use. According to the manufacturer’s instructions, you add a certain amount of preserving sugar to a certain amount of fruit.

Because you also dose the pectin via the amount of sugar, you have to use the specified dosage of gelling sugar in order to achieve the desired result. So you can’t sweeten freely according to your taste. There is another disadvantage of jam sugar: Depending on the supplier, it may contain other substances such as citric acid or preservatives in addition to sugar and pectin.

Pure pectin – an alternative to jam sugar

If you don’t want any additives or preservatives in your homemade jam, you can also buy pure pectin as a powder. It is then highly concentrated and you should dose it precisely so that your jam gets the desired consistency. You can sweeten the jam to your taste with sugar or even better cane sugar.

You can even make your own pectin yourself. This is not so hard:

Cut apples into small pieces and boil them with water in a 2:1 ratio for about 45 minutes.
Allow the resulting mush to drain in a cloth overnight. But you mustn’t squeeze it out.
Reduce the liquid by half the next day.
Add one part of your homemade pectin to four parts of fruit to make jam.

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Cooking Tips

Drying Porcini Mushrooms: This is How You Make Them Durable

Porcini mushrooms cannot be grown commercially, so they are not available fresh all year round. However, if you dry porcini mushrooms, you can preserve them. We’ll show you how.

Drying porcini mushrooms: the right preparation

Before you dry the porcini mushrooms, you should take the following precautions:

Dry the mushrooms as soon as possible after picking. This is the best way to preserve their aromatic taste.
Wet porcini mushrooms are not suitable for drying, as they easily mold. Therefore, only clean the mushrooms with a slightly damp cloth before drying. You can also scrape off dirt with a sharp knife.
Cut out any eaten spots on the porcini mushrooms. The best way to dry porcini mushrooms is to cut them into slices three to five millimeters thick.
Now you can decide, because there are two ways to dry porcini mushrooms without a professional dehydrator: in the air or in the oven.

Air dry porcini mushrooms

Air-drying porcini mushrooms is the easiest and most environmentally friendly option. However, you need the right weather for it. The air drying process only works when the weather is dry and as hot as possible. How to do it:

Thread the porcini slices on a thin thread or spread them out on a baking sheet. The mushroom pieces should not touch each other.
Dry the porcini either in full sun or in the shade. The former speeds up the drying process, but the latter is gentler and better preserves the aroma of the mushrooms.
If the mushroom slices are on a baking sheet, you should turn them several times a day. If you dry the mushrooms outside, you also have to bring them inside in the evening, otherwise they could absorb moisture from the cool night and morning air.
The duration of the drying process varies depending on the weather. The dried porcini mushrooms are ready as soon as they are dry on the inside but can still be bent. They also rustle like dry leaves.

Drying porcini mushrooms in the oven

Drying in the oven requires more energy. Proceed as follows for the drying process in the oven:

Spread the porcini slices on a baking sheet and place in the oven.
Then let the mushrooms dry at a maximum of 50 degrees and circulating air. Important: Hold the oven door ajar with the handle of a wooden spoon so that the moisture in the mushrooms can escape into the oven.
With this drying variant, too, the duration of the drying process varies depending on the performance of the oven.
Tip: If you have a stove with a stone plate, you can also let the porcini mushrooms dry on this plate while the fire burns in the stove. This way you don’t use any additional energy.

Properly store dried porcini mushrooms

You should store dried porcini mushrooms in airtight jars in a dark, dry place.

Stored in this way, dried porcini mushrooms will keep for several years. If they get a slight gray tinge after a while, this is harmless: they are leaked minerals.

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Lifestyle

Feeding Cats: This is How You Feed Your Cat Sustainably and Healthily

The choice of cat food is huge. But how can you feed your cat well and sustainably? We give you tips on what you should consider.

Feeding the cat: nutritious nutrition for four-legged friends

Cats need a lot of nutrients that they can only get from food. The composition of a balanced cat menu consists of:

high-quality animal proteins,
fats,
phytonutrients,
vitamins,
minerals and
Water.
Carbohydrates are difficult for cats to digest. This is also one of the problems with conventional cat food: grain is often added to it, which can cause problems for cats. Of course, this isn’t the case for all cats, as many cats’ stomachs have become accustomed to even small amounts of grain over time

Ingredients for the cat food: what goes in it?

There are many foods that cats absolutely cannot tolerate: dairy products, onions, garlic, strong spices, grapes, raisins, caffeine, alcohol and chocolate. Under no circumstances should these products end up in the feeding bowl.

The composition of purchased cat food is particularly problematic. In principle, it doesn’t matter to your cat whether it’s “meat waste”, but it depends on the proportions. Too many hooves, claws or feathers can harm your cat just as much as too much grain, fat or meat components. Category 3 animal by-products may be further processed into animal feed, but are not suitable for human consumption. The quality of conventional cat food is therefore often inferior and enriched with additives, sugar and flavor enhancers. The cat can become really dependent on it. For this reason, your cat is better cared for with organic food. Here the quality is assured and the ingredients are sometimes even specified in exact quantities.

In addition to incompatible ingredients, there can also be residues of antibiotics and mercury (especially in fish) in cat food – even more reasons to use organic quality or even to prepare your own cat food.

Avoid cat food waste

If you buy cat food regularly, there is also a lot of packaging waste.

With dry food, you can buy as large a quantity as possible in one sack. If this is too much for your cat alone, you can simply share it with one or another cat owner in your circle of acquaintances.

For large cans of wet food, you can try reusing a matching lid from another product and using it to seal the can when you put it in the fridge. There are also bowls with lids, so that you can divide the large can into them immediately after opening and pre-portion everything.

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Cooking Tips

Frying Tofu: This is How it Gets Сrispy

Frying tofu doesn’t have to be difficult: With a few extra steps during the preparation, you can create crispy, golden-brown tofu cubes with lots of flavor in the pan or in the wok.

Sometimes tofu doesn’t want to get crispy enough in the pan or doesn’t absorb enough flavor. With a few simple tricks during the preparation, you will no longer have this problem in the future and your fried tofu will be nice and crispy.

Frying tofu: How to prepare it

So that tofu also tastes good when fried, you should first prepare it:

Press the tofu dry: the less moisture it contains, the crispier the tofu can be fried. Before you continue to use it, it is therefore important to first remove the liquid from it. You can simply place the tofu block between several layers of cotton towels and weigh it down with a thick book or another object. Then leave it there for about ten to fifteen minutes. The weight forces most of the liquid out.
Marinating the tofu: Because tofu doesn’t have a strong taste of its own, you can season it in a variety of ways. If you marinate the tofu for a few hours before cooking, it will absorb the flavors best. You can prepare the marinade according to your taste, for example with soy sauce, ginger, garlic or chili.
Toss the tofu in cornstarch: when it is marinated, you can fry the tofu. Cut it into oblong slices or cubes. Before the tofu pieces go into the pan, it is best to turn them in some cornstarch. You can use potato, wheat or corn starch for this. The starch draws out the remaining liquid from the tofu before it is fried, making it even crispier.

This is how you can fry tofu crispy

The right pan: To fry tofu, it is best to use a high-quality cast iron pan or a non-stick pan. This will prevent the pieces of tofu from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Of course, you can also prepare the tofu in the wok, especially for Asian recipes.
The right temperature: To make it as crispy as possible, you should sear the tofu. To do this, set your stove to high, heat some oil in a pan and add the tofu. A few minutes is enough for it to turn golden brown and crispy. Don’t forget to turn the tofu regularly while frying so that it can brown evenly and doesn’t stick or burn.
The right oil: You can be generous with the oil if you want to fry tofu crispy. Note, however, that not all cooking oils are suitable for frying at high heat: Olive oil, for example, is ruled out here because it has a comparatively low smoke point. Instead, use unflavored sunflower oil to fry your tofu — or, if you like, sesame oil or coconut oil. They also give the tofu an interesting flavor.
Once you have finished frying the tofu, you can use it, for example, for vegetable pans, as a soup ingredient or as a special addition to salads. Or you simply eat it with a delicious dip.

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Freezing Porcini Mushrooms: You Should Pay Attention to This

If you freeze porcini mushrooms, you can make them last much longer. We explain how it works and what you should consider before buying or collecting the mushrooms.

Freezing porcini mushrooms: You should pay attention to this

If you want to freeze porcini mushrooms, they should be fresh. When you buy porcini mushrooms, an organic seal guarantees you organic cultivation that is free of chemical-synthetic pesticides. With your purchase you can also support regional suppliers, such as the farm or organic market in your area.

If you are looking for porcini mushrooms in the forest, you should note that mushroom picking is strictly forbidden in nature reserves. In other forests you are usually allowed to collect for your own use, but find out about it beforehand.

Freezing porcini mushrooms: this is how you do it

If you want to freeze porcini mushrooms, the mushrooms should be in an unprocessed state if possible. This way you can keep them for up to 12 more months by freezing them. We explain in three steps how to freeze raw porcini mushrooms:

Clean mushrooms: First, carefully clean the porcini mushrooms with a cloth or brush. Don’t wash the mushrooms with water at this point, because that way they will go mushy very quickly.
Cut the mushrooms into small pieces: Use a paring knife to remove the stem ends of the porcini mushrooms. Now cut the mushrooms into small pieces. Halve, quarter or slice the mushrooms.
Freezing: Put the porcini mushrooms in an empty screw-top jar and freeze the mushrooms at around minus eighteen degrees.

To use the porcini mushrooms for various mushroom dishes, you can heat the porcini mushrooms while they are frozen. If you let them thaw for a long time, they lose their firm consistency.

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Food

Harvesting Walnuts: This is How You Collect Them For The Winter

You can harvest walnuts in autumn and stock them up for the whole winter. But harvesting alone is not enough. We’ll tell you what to look out for.

Harvesting walnuts – when does that work?

Walnuts are healthy and delicious. In addition, they can be stored well and for a long time. What could be more obvious than stocking up for the winter in autumn? If you have the opportunity, you should use it.

Walnuts ripen in the fall. They can be harvested from mid-September to the end of October. Strictly speaking, the term “harvest walnuts” is not so apt. Because you shouldn’t harvest walnuts from the tree. Rather, you wait until they fall from the tree on their own and collect them. This way you can be sure that they are really ripe.

Harvesting walnuts – this is the best way to do it

When walnuts grow on the tree, they have another, softer shell in addition to the hard, woody shell. This shell is initially green. When the walnuts are ripe and fall from the tree, the green shell bursts open. Later it turns black.

Especially in damp grass, the outer shell can quickly start to mold. Therefore, you should collect the nuts as regularly as possible. Preferably daily. It is best to sort out walnuts that are moldy or infested by caterpillars immediately.

Clean and dry walnuts

After collecting, you need to clean and dry the healthy walnuts. Remove the green outer shell by hand. You can also use a brush to remove any residue that gets stuck.

Drying the cleaned walnuts is not difficult. To do this, place them in boxes or baskets in a single layer if possible. It is best to turn them once a day or mix them vigorously. It is important that the walnuts dry as quickly as possible. Otherwise you run the risk of the walnuts starting to get moldy. An airy place with 20 to 25 degrees is best. If you dry the nuts outside, you should put them inside in the evening. Otherwise they will get wet again during the night.

The walnuts are dried enough when they lose about 50 percent of their weight. This is of course a bit difficult to control. The drying time is about three to six weeks.

Storing walnuts

After the walnuts have dried, you can store them for several months. Make sure that they are stored as dry and airy as possible. High humidity can lead to mold. It is best to hang the nuts in bags or nets.

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