Good to Know

Short, sourced facts about the food we sell — how to cook it, how to store it, and how to get more out of it. Every tip links to the study it came from.

The fridge is the worst place for bread

Bread goes stale because its starch recrystallises, and that happens fastest at fridge temperature — faster than on the counter. The fridge does not keep bread fresh; it is the one place that stales it quickest.

What to do Keep the loaf in a paper bag or a bread box at room temperature for a few days. If you will not finish it, slice it and freeze it — freezing all but stops the process.

Colder storage gave faster staling and a firmer crumb than room temperature.

Source: Bosmans, Lagrain, Fierens & Delcour, Food Chemistry 2013 · PMID 23993485

Crush your garlic, then wait ten minutes

Crushing garlic starts a reaction that makes its sulfur compounds. Heat shuts that reaction down. Give it ten minutes on the board before it hits the pan and the reaction finishes first.

What to do Crush or chop the cloves, then leave them on the board for 10 minutes before they go into a hot pan.

Garlic heated straight after crushing lost its activity entirely; a ten-minute rest kept it.

Source: Song & Milner, J Nutr 2001;131(3s):1054S-7S · PMID 11238815

Get more from your broccoli

Cooking broccoli destroys the enzyme that unlocks sulforaphane, one of its most-studied plant compounds. A pinch of brown mustard powder puts that enzyme back.

What to do Stir 1/4 tsp (1 g) of brown mustard powder into one serving (200 g) of cooked broccoli.

Over 4x more sulforaphane absorbed than from cooked broccoli alone.

Nature's Market will gift you brown mustard powder with your broccoli.

Source: Okunade et al., Mol Nutr Food Res 2018 - PMID 29806738

These are notes about food, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor about anything health-related.