84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 11, 2001 Consuming Thoughts by Fay Strickler Penn State Extension Home Economist for Berks Co. A lot of people assume that if a blue cheese is made in Europe, it’s better than what we make here. Most experts agree that it’s not better. It’s just different. Blue cheese is noted for its blue veins, semi-soft texture and pi quant, tangy flavor. The strain of blue mold, rather them the vein ing visible are one factor that de termines its distinctive flavor. Traditionally, domestic Gor gonzola cheese has a sharper flavor than blue cheese because of its longer curing time. Lower moisture content makes it more crumbly. When domestic blue cheese is made, the milk for production comes from area farmers. After pasteurization and homogeniza tion, enzymes and harmless bac teria cultures are added to the milk to begin the blue-veining process. The curds are transferred to round cheese forms or hoops and turned hourly to drain the re maining whey. After 12 hours, the cheese is removed from the hoops and rolled in salt or placed in salt brine to aid flavor devel opment and preservation. It is then placed on storage racks for seven days. As many as 60 holes are punched in each wheel, con tributing to the development of the characteristic blue mold. The blue cheese wheel requires 60 days for cooking and curing. Gorgonzola requires an addition al 30 days for aging. Some of the more popular of the blue cheeses include dana-blu, roquefort and stilton. Try blue cheese in a moist, rich spoonbread for brunch or lunch; or in a low-calorie dressing or dip that’s high in flavor. Here is a low calorie blue cheese dip you may want to try. Slimline Blue Cheese Dressing And Dip I/2 cup unflavored nonfat yo gurt 'A cup skim milk '/: cup thinly sliced green on ions, including green tops ‘A cup crumbled blue cheese (1 ounce) ‘A small clove garlic, pressed l A teaspoon basil 'A teaspoon crushed rose mary Salt, to taste In small bowl combine yogurt and milk. Mix in onions, blue cheese, garlic, herbs and salt. Cover and chill 30 minutes or more to blend flavors. Serve as a dressing for salads or as a dip for vegetable chunks. Makes about VA cups. Storing cheese properly is im portant to maintain product quality. Firm, semi-firm and semi-soft cheese should be wrap ped airtight in a plastic bag and stored in a refrigerator’s cheese compartment (or warmest loca tion) for up to several weeks. Such cheeses can be frozen, but will likely undergo a textural change. Fresh and soft-ripened cheeses should be tightly wrap ped and stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator, generally for no more than two weeks. If mold appears on firm, semi firm or semi-soft cheese, simply cut away the offending portion (plus a little extra) and discard. Mold on fresh or soft-ripened cheese, however, signals that it should be thrown out. Firm and semi-firm cheeses are easier to grate if they’re cold. All cheese tastes better if brought to room temperature before serving. Talk And Taste Of Soy Health professionals are in creasingly promoting the ben efit of soyfoods. It is no longer just a meat substitute for vege tarians to obtain enough pro tein. The Talk and Taste of Soy, Wednesday, Sept. 12 at Berks County Ag Center, 1-2:30 p.m., will highlight soy’s positive roles in heart disease, cancer, menopause, osteoporosis, and more. You will also see which soy Read This Before Recycling That Old Computer Thinking about selling, donat ing, or disposing of an old per sonal computer? If so, federal officials urge you to delete financial records, tax re turns, and other personal inform ation from your PC. Why? Because computer files often contain Social Security numbers, birth dates, bank ac count numbers, and other per sonal information that can be used to commit “identity theft” Non-Native Plants Threaten Survival Of Native Insects, Birds NEWARK, Del. Ever won der about an insect’s preferred cuisine? Not likely, unless, of course, the critter in question is an uninvited guest chewing on your prize rose. Yet Dr. Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware professor of entomology and ap plied ecology, is concerned. In a recent study, he found that insects largely ignore the leaves of non-native plants, opt ing instead to eat the leaves of native species. But with non-na tive plants choking out native growth, the insects’ food supply is disappearing rapidly. At issue is the availability of insect food, a fact on which the entire food chain rests. “Why should the disappear ance of insects concern people who spend millions every year getting rid of them in the gar den?” Tallamy poses. “Plants are at the base of the food chain, and insects feed on plants. If insects disappear, so do the creatures that depend on them. “More than 90 percent of in sects are restricted in their diets, because they do not have the en zymes required to digest the leaves of non-native plants, sometimes referred to as exotics,” he explains. “Fewer plant food foods provide these health benefits (it’s not soy sauce), and you will learn how to pur chase and prepare delicious recipes. Mail $1 for each reservation to .Consumer Connection, Berks County Cooperative Ex tension, Berks County Ag Center, P.O. Box 520, Lees port, PA 19533. Include your name, address, and phone number. to make purchases or get cash using your name. Just choosing to “delete” files using the basic commands on your keyboard or mouse won’t do the job, because the deleted in formation still can be easily re trieved from your computer’s hard drive. Use software avail able from computer stores that is formatted to completely erase computer files. sources, fewer insects, wildlife vanishes.” Over several months this year Tallamy and Rebekah Baity, an undergraduate researcher in the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, began to measure the amount of leaf area eaten by insects on more than two dozen plants and trees. His research site was 10 acres of long uncultivated farmland in Chester County, where non-natives specifically, oriental bittersweet, autumn olive, Japanese honey suckle and multiflora rose have crept into unmowed fields once inhabited by native plants. Evaluating the food prefer ences of native insects, Tallamy found that the insects consumed 239 square centimeters of the leaves on black oak, a Native American tree, as compared with 12 square centimeters of Norway maple, a highly invasive species rapidly spreading throughout eastern North America. The UD entomologist says that although a number of studies have beeh conducted on ecologi cal problems caused by non-na tive plants, the focus has been the economics of unchecked invasion and the biological threat of dis placing native plants. Tallamy believes his is the first study to quantify the effects of non-native plants on the food supply of in sects, relate it to the food supply of birds and the ultimate conse quence to ecological balance. “Fast-growing non-native vines such as bittersweet, Japa nese honeysuckle and climbing bushes such as multiflbra rose can actually strangle a healthy tree even a native mulberry like this one,” Tallamy says, pointing to a huge tree trapped under a jumble of honeysuckle vines. “All plants vie for sunshine for photosynthesis, yet vines have an advantage,” he says. “Before long, the tree weakens, first los ing its ability to bear leaves, seeds and fruit, then declining to the point that a wind or ice storm finishes it off. The result is a loss of plant food for insects and pro tein and shelter for birds.” Tallamy points to the multiflo ra rose as an example of a shrub introduced into this country as an ornamental plant. This rose offers excellent nesting sites for birds and berries for birds to for age in fall, so marketers purpose ly appeal to people who encour age wildlife in their yards, gardens and farms. But now this aggressively-growing bush has overtaken creek banks and road sides all over the U.S., effectively choking out native plant species. “Yes, it does provide nesting and berries for winter-feeding birds,” notes a frustrated Talla my,” but what is overlooked is that native birds also nest in na tive plants. More important, when raising their young in the spring, birds depend upon a sup ply of insects and larvae to feed hatchlings. If the insects are eliminated, so are future generations of birds.” According to Tallamy, when people see green open spaces they think nature has taken over. What they don’t recognize is that the fields of green in many parts of southeastern Pennsylvania and Delmarva are overrun with 90 percent non-native growth. “A green field in which the na tive plants have been chocked out by invasive non-native ones is more productive than a parking lot when it comes to providing food for insects, birds and other animals,” the scientist says. “The non-native butterfly bush is another case in point. People plant butterfly bushes in the mis taken idea that they are helping nature,” he says. “Okay, the bush attracts butterflies for its flower nectar, but they will not lay their eggs on these leaves, because the foliage offers no nutrition to the hatching larva. “Planting a native species, such as viburnum, milkweed, Joe Pye weed or purple cone flower for every butterfly bush now that would really help nature.” Tallamy is optimistic that the data he and Baity have collected will attract the attention of bird ers, who may be able to influence the garden marketplace. “I hope the scientific evidence gathered in this study will help spur people into action,” says Tallamy. “Just imagine the fri ture impact on the bird popula tions and our natural heritage if homeowners replaced the non native ornamental plants on their property with plant species his torically native to the area.”
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