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.”