Consuming Thoughts Fay Strickler Penn State Extension Home Economist For Berks Go. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire brings visions of a warm comfortable home with family gathered to enjoy one of the spe cialty fall products—the chestnut. But in order for your dream to become a reality you need to har vest and store the nuts correctly to avoid spoilage. Fresh chestnuts contain 40 to 45 percent carbohydrate, 5 per cent oil and about 50 percent moisture. It is the moisture that makes them so perishable. Chest nut spoilage is almost always due to mold. There are four ways to prevent mold from developing. The mold - organisms must be destroyed by heat, or the moisture content of the'nutmeats must be 10 percent or lower, the relative humidity of the storage area must be 70 percent or lower, or the storage temperature must be 32” or lower. To destroy the mold on chest nuts, treat the nuts in a warm water bath (125*F) for one hour. A cooking temperature lower than 125*F will not kill the mold organisms. A higher temperature will damage the nuts. The nuts may then be stored in perforated polyethylene bags for two months at 40’F. You can prevent spoilage by proper drying, too. To dry the nuts, place them in mesh bags and hold them at 40'F for four days in an area that has well-circulated dry air, or dry them in food dryers for 4-8 hours at 110‘F. This reduces the nuts’ moisture con tent to 10 percent; dried nuts can be held for more than a year in a cool, dry area. Nuts dried this way must be moistened by soak ing or steaming for about 30 min utes before use. You can store freshly harvests ed chestnuts at 34’F without any preparation, too. Chestnuts are at an optimum temperature and moisture content at this tempera ture. You can freeze only the hot water “blanched” chestnuts and the dried chestnuts. Those that are only stored at 34*F will be injured by freezing. Keep chestnuts dry on the sur face at all times to prevent slime and recontamination with mold. Storage at 40” F or lower is essen tial in preventing insect infesta tion, also. Stored in a cool, dry place or in the refrigerator, the nuts will stay fresh for a month or more. Milk’s New Campaign COLUMBUS, Ohio.— The dairy industry has a new attitude and a unique look in its newest fluid milk advertising campaign ing. The ads send milk lovers on “milk missions,” urging con sumers to go to their refrigerators for the great taste of ice cold milk. “Milk. Help Yourself’ is a $4B million national marketing cam paign focusing on the pleasure To roast chestnuts in the shell —Slash through the shells on the flat side of the nuts. Place chestnuts, cut sides up, on a bak ing sheet. Roast at 400'F (hot oven) until tender —about 20 minutes. Insert fork through cut in shell to test tenderness. To blanch chestnuts —put them in boiling water and let stand 2 minutes. Remove a few at a time, cool slightly, then peel with a paring knife. If nuts are difficult to peel, return them to the hot water for a minute or two. Roasting also will loosen the skins of chestnuts. Remove shells and skins while nuts are warm. Cooked nuts should be cov ered and refrigerated and will keep three or four days. There are 30 to 40 chestnuts to a pound, and a pound yields about 2 1/2 cups of nutmeats. Chestnuts are low in calo ries—for a nut. One ounce of shelled chestnuts contain 55 calo ries. This is because they have relatively little fat —4 percent or 5 percent, compared to 71 percent for pecans, for instance. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 8, 1994-B7 and satisfaction milk lovers receive when they drink milk. “The new campaign represents a shift in direction for the entire milk industry,” says Scott Hig gins, general manager of Mid East United Dairy Industry Asso ciation (Mid East UDIA). “We build on the equity of the health related themes of past campaigns, but the new approach addresses the reason people drink milk— enjoyment. Mid East UDIA kicked off the debut of the new fluid milk adver tising by delivering ice cold milk and breakfast muffins to radio disc jockeys. Dairy and Nutrition Council Mid East nutrition edu cation consultants visited radio personalities in 20 major metro politan markets in Ohio, Pennsyl vania and West Virginia, prompt ing them to talk about the great taste of milk on th air which fur ther extends the campaign mes sage. Milk, cookies and brownies were included with the radio deliveries as an afternoon snack. Mid East UDIA also mailed 350 press kits to advertising and food media. This kit contained information focusing on the fla vor and quality of ice cold milk. In addition, a video news release was promoted to local ABC, NBC and CBS television affiliates for broadcast news. The report focused on the develop ment of the new milk ads and the creative thinking behind the theme, “Milk. Help Yourself.” The American Dairy Associa tion Miii East, the marketing arm of Mid East UDIA, is supporting the new fluid milk advertising by working with regional processors. Processors are encouraged to uti lize “Milk. Help Yourself.” on milk packaging, milk haulers and delivery vehicles which will com pliment and extend the overall advertising campaign. The new fluid milk advertise ments depict a refreshing, ice cold glass of milk as the ideal accompaniment to enticing food choices such as freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Accord ing to a national survey adminis tered by the National Family Opinion, nearly half of those questioned (41 percent ) listed chocolate chip cookies as their favorite snack to enjoy with a glass of milk. A bowl of cereal (21 percent) and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (13 percent) ranked second and third respec tively. This is the first combined advertising effort of the newly formed Dairy Management Incor porated, a joint venture between the United Dairy Industry associ ation and the National Dairy Pro motion and Research Board. This joint effort has allowed for a stronger advertising campaign, resulting in more frequency an cost efficiency. Mid East UDIA is one of 19 state and regional member orga nizations of Dairy Management Incorporated that implements advertising, marketing, promo tion and nutrition education on behalf of dairy farmers in Ohio, West Virginia; western Pennsyl vania and northern Kentucky.
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