O say can you taste the grass?

Image by Powerhouse Museum Collection via Flickr
Raising sheep on grass is common in Australia.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss grass-fed beef, lamb, milk, cheese and eggs, all of which are available in North Jersey.

The phrase "all natural" is thrown around with abandon, but there are no government or food industry standards to enforce it.


The best you can do is to look for meat and dairy products from animals that are treated humanely and raised on their natural diets -- free of antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts.


Chief among them are pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb sold at ShopRite supermarkets, Costco Wholesale and other stores.


Unfortunately, labels carry little information on how cattle and sheep are raised in Australia, but ShopRite sales fliers call the beef -- sold under the Nature's Reserve brand -- "All Natural, Free Range, Grass Fed."


I was told by Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd. (MLA) that Nature's Reserve beef comes exclusively from cattle that are fed grass from start to finish. They are never confined to a feed lot, but they do receive some growth hormones.


The racks and boneless legs of lamb sold under the Costco label, Kirkland Signature, or sold without that label, such as the lamb osso bucco I saw last week in the Hackensack warehouse store, are from sheep raised in the same way-- except they do not receive any growth hormones.


Originally, MLA told me no growth hormones were used in beef sold under the Nature's Reserve label, but later corrected that.


Cattle and sheep stomachs are designed to turn grass into protein. When cattle are fed grain -- as the vast majority in the United States are to speed growth -- they can become sick. 


And the wide use of animal antibiotics is making humans resistant to prescribed antibiotics.


Nature's Reserve steaks, roasts and whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon are sold at ShopRite for about $6.99 a pound and even less when they are on sale. 


The meat is lean and contains beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids. It cooks quicker than conventional beef and is best when prepared medium rare.


I once saw grass-fed steaks from New Jersey on sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for $9.98 a pound, and the Fairway Market across town sold grass-fed, rib-eye steaks for $14.99 a pound and grass-fed burgers for $5.99 a pound in June 2010.


On Saturday, Costco's prices for Australian grass-fed lamb were $5.99 a pound for the boneless leg, $7.99 a pound for loin chops and $13.99 a pound for racks.  


Before I stopped eating meat nearly two years ago, the small lamb chops in the rack were my favorite. I would trim the rack and cut it apart, broiling the chops only until they were rare. They would literally melt in my mouth.


Of course, you don't taste the grass. But the meat is so pure and flavorful, compared to conventionally raised lamb, it needs little more than a bit of salt.


The current price of $13.99 a pound for a rack of lamb chops at Costco compares to the price I recall from a couple of years ago, $9.99 a pound.


The Australian whole beef tenderloin was ideal for slicing thin, marinating with Korean barbecue sauce and cooking quickly on a stove-top grill before wrapping the beef in red-leaf lettuce with rice, kimchi and garlic at the table.


Grass-fed beef and lamb are among several products from pasture-raised animals available in North Jersey.


Fairway Market sells milk from grass-fed cows. Trader Joe's has sharp cheddar cheese made with milk from pasture-raised cows in New Zealand ($5.49 a pound).


On Friday, for $5, I picked up two dozen Grade A Large Brown Eggs "from grass-fed hens with freedom in the field" at H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Englewood. The yolks are a healthy shade of yellow.


They are distributed by Swiss Villa LLC in Lykens, Pa., with a label that tells you the package is made from recycled PET, fewer than 350 hens forage on a pesticide-free acre of pasture "spring to fall," and the eggs come from "Swiss-peasant-descendant, small-scale farmers."


"You would enjoy seeing the hens scatter out over the pasture meadow each morning as dew droplets mirror the rising sun," the label says. 


I'm sure I would, as long as I was served a breakfast of their eggs right away.


Here are Web sites to help you find grass-fed meat.


Australian Lamb


The site lists Costco Wholesale and Stop and Shop supermarkets as sources of Australian lamb. Some brands to look for are Country Meadow Austral American Lamb and Opal Valley.


Australian Beef


ShopRite and Pathmark supermarkets in North Jersey are listed as sources.


Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd.


Meat and Livestock Australia is a marketing, research and development  agency that represents ranchers, processors, exporters and others involved in meat production in Australia.


To take a virtual farm visit in Australia, click on this link: 


On a Farm Down Under

Ingredients label has a sweet spot

Image via Wikipedia

"Agave tequilana," or blue agave plant, in Jalisco, Mexico.

I started using Organic Blue Agave Sweetener a few years ago after seeing it on the shelf at Trader Joe's in Paramus. 


But the ingredients label on the Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave I found at Costco Wholesale recently contains a lot of information I seemed to have missed.


The natural nectar, extracted from the heart of the agave plant, "is a low-glycemic index sweetener, so it is slowly absorbed into the body, preventing spikes in blood sugar," according to the label.


"It is 25% sweeter than sugar, so you need less, and it has been consumed by ancient civilizations for over 5,000 years."


There's no mention of whether the nectar comes from the same part of the blue agave plant used to distill some of the best tequilas.


The label recommends using the sweetener whenever you use table sugar, such as for sweetening beverages and in baking. I use it in espresso and pour it over yogurt and hot, 10-grain cereal. 


The single ingredient listed is "organic light agave nectar." It's also gluten free.


The label identifies the sweetener as a product of Mexico, distributed by a company in Sugar Land, Texas.


Staying close to home


We've been wanting to try the Organic Tofu House in Ridgewood -- as we search for the best Korean soft-tofu stew in North Jersey -- but I just didn't feel up to getting on Route 17 and driving there.


So, on Saturday evening, we had dinner at one of our favorite places, Wondee's in Hackesnack, which is about a mile from our home.


I made a wonderful, meatless dinner of spicy soup with fresh shrimp, button mushrooms, chili oil and cilantro; crunchy green papaya salad with fish sauce; a whole, fried red-snapper covered in a sweet-and-sour red chili sauce; and a  bowl of brown rice.


My wife and son also had part of the fish, in addition to Thai wonton soup, with sliced pork; and fried pork, shrimp and crab dumplings, which were a bit dry. I mistakenly ordered them instead of the juicy steamed dumplings they prefer.


Wondee's menu also has a page of vegetarian appetizers and entrees, including a terrific mock-duck salad made with fried tofu and fruit.


The chef-owner, Wandee Suwangbutra, held the line on prices for a couple of years, but recently redid the menu. Her new price for a whole, wild-caught fish ($18) is still among the lowest around.


Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 
201-883-1700. Free parking in rear, BYO, no delivery.


The fatted goat


My wife defrosted a 3-pound package of Coleman's organic goat meat we bought at Whole Foods Market in Paramus ($7.99 a pound), only to discover an unusual amount of fat.


It's not the first time we've bought goat meat on the bone from Whole Foods, but it has never had so much fat, which my wife trims for her curry goat dish. We're looking for the receipt to return it.


In the past, we bought our goat meat in New York, at Fairway Market in Harlem, where we'd stop anytime we were on the way home from doing something in the city.


When Fairway opened its store at the Fashion Center in Paramus, I thought I'd have a reliable source for goat meat closer to home, but I was wrong. The store didn't stock any.


The butcher there said I could call and he'd have some sent over from Manhattan, but Fairway's frozen goat meat wasn't organic and there was no package information on how the animals were raised.


Coleman's label specifies the meat is halal and comes from animals raised without antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts.



Related story

• Agave Nectar- A Naturally Healthy Sweetener (findingcoffee.wordpress.com)

Bright spots on the road to recovery

Image via Wikipedia


The good news is that my weight has dipped below 190 pounds (bathrobe off). But the bad news is  I still don't have my old appetite back and medication continues to affect my taste buds.


My other vital signs this morning were blood pressure, 117 over 71; heart rate, 75; oxygen saturation, 97%; and temperature, 96.6 degrees. I am 5 feet 9 inches.


I'm more or less following the diet I stuck to for about a year before my Sept. 16, 2011, open-heart surgery -- losing about 30 pounds -- but straying occasionally with a slice of pizza or toast with peanut butter, jelly, and thinly sliced cucumber as a reward for surviving.


This morning, I had an egg-white omelet filled with small, egg-like seaweed topping from Ikea and oozing with marinated fresh mozzarella cheese from Costco Wholesale.


On the side, I has two plumb tomatoes, sprinkled with za'atar thyme mixture from Fattal's Bakery, and mixed Italian olives from Jerry's Gourmet & More. I drank hot organic black tea (Newman's Own from Amazon.com). 


For dinner Monday night, I had leftovers from Sunday night: Fresh wild Alaskan coho salmon fillet from Costco, with lemon juice, chopped garden herbs and Aleppo red pepper (Fattal's); baked yams and a salad of organic spring mix, plus a glass of wine.


Recent breakfasts have included leftover imported whole-wheat spaghetti from Trader Joe's with codfish, onion and sweet peppers -- with an egg-white omelet oozing that fresh mozzarella.


Jerry's Gourmet and More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

What makes Greek yogurt so pricey?

Image by Newbirth35 via Flickr

You have to dig deep for some Greek-style yogurts.

Greek-style yogurt is strained to make it thicker, but what makes it so expensive?

Fage, Oikos and Chobani are not only hard to pronounce, their inflated prices are hard to stomach.

At ShopRite supermarkets, a 32-ounce container of Chobani Greek-style yogurt is $5.99. Trader Joe's own brand of non-fat Greek yogurt is $4.99 for 32 ounces and $2.99 for 16 ounces. 

They're made here, not in Greece.

Now, Costco Wholesale in Hackensack has brought the price of Greek-style yogurt down to earth -- $6.49 for two 32-ounce containers of Kirkland Signature non-fat yogurt (about $3.25 each).

I tried a free sample with honey before I made the purchase and could not believe this thick, mouth-filling yogurt has no fat.

Up and down prices

Also at Costco, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is up to $4.99 for 16 ounces, but those incredible, small, round Campari tomatoes  are down to $4.49 for a 2-pound package.

Fairway Market in Paramus sells two 1-pound packages of these same Sunset-brand Campari tomatoes for $5, but their taste doesn't compare to the ones from Costco.

On Tuesday, I bought a large seedless watermelon at Costco for $4.99, the lowest price so far this season. 

Today, ShopRite put seedless watermelons on sale for $3.99, a $2 discount.

Not recommended

I drove to Trader Joe's in Paramus this morning to check Greek yogurt prices and pick up a few pounds of its imported Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti ($1.39 for 16 ounces).

As good as that product is, I was disappointed with a can of Wild Pink Shrimp that I tried for the first time ($1.99 for 4 ounces).

The label says, "Crisp, tiny Oregon shrimp."

They are tiny -- about the size of the nail on my smallest finger -- but I found them far from "crisp" when I ate them over a big salad. "Mealy" is more like it.

Yuck.

What's in your freezer?

We have a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer and the freezer side is stuffed, to the point where we "lose" food that gets shoved to the back of  shelves or bottom of drawers.

I did a quick inventory yesterday and found a package of guacamole from 2005, presumably from a multi-pack I bought at Costco. I am going to serve it tonight with Trader Joe's chipotle salsa, shoulder lamb cops from Australia, collard greens and potato salad with extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and allspice (photo above).

This is what else I found: uncured all-beef hot dogs and bacon from Tader Joe's, spinach-cheese ravioli, lobster bisque and wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, all from Costco; coarse, red Aleppo pepper, cumin, spinach pies, meat pies and spicy lamb sausage, all from Fattal's Bakery in Paterson; potato fritters and frozen pancakes from IKEA; three or four kinds of Korean dumplings, including meat-less, from Best Dumpling and H Mart, both in Englewood; pizza and focaccia from Jerry's in Englewood, Readington Farms' antibiotic-free whole broiler and chicken parts from Shop-Rite, some Turkish borek from Taskin Bakery in Paterson, and those Australian lamb chops, from Stop & Shop.

We have a house guest arriving tomorrow and plan to serve her some of these freezer "treasures."

 See next post: "A quick bread salad for breakfast."