Issues > March 1997 (#36) > Equipping the Green Kitchen

Equipping the Green Kitchen

To meet the needs of the health- and environmentally-minded shopper and cook, Mothers & Others partnered with Annie Berthold-Bond to write a practical, real food book, The Green Kitchen Handbook. This is the book we'd always wanted at hand in the supermarket and in our kitchens as we planned and prepared family meals. The Green Kitchen Handbook, published by HarperCollins, should be in bookstores by March 4. The following excerpt advises on equipping your kitchen with greener wares, including pots and pans and small appliances that will help you cook fresh, nutritious, whole foods every day.

The kitchen is the center of our homes--like the center of a wheel, around which all revolves. The kitchen is also the center of a greater community, the hub from which many connections radiate to the world at large. Like the spokes of a wheel linking the center to the rim, the kitchen and community are interconnected in everyday life when we bring things in (such as groceries), and take things out (such as garbage).

Making responsible choices for the kitchen according to their impact on the health of our friends and family, the health of the community, and ultimately the earth, is the process that leads to establishing a green kitchen.

There are three important appliances that can make a big difference in your ability to produce flavorful, fresh, whole foods in your green kitchen: a grinder for grains, spices and nuts; a steamer for grains and vegetables; and a pressure cooker. (For where to look for products, see Resources.)

Grinder for Grains & More

Once grains--and many other foods such as spices and nuts--are milled or ground, they lose a great deal of their nutritional value. And the longer between the milling of the grain, grinding of the spices, or chopping of the nuts, the more rancid the natural oils in the foods can get. Grinding your own flours will cost you a fraction of store-bought. Last but certainly not least, the flavor of freshly ground grains, nuts and spices is incomparable to that of anything that has been sitting on the shelf for a while.

There is one excellent hand (manual) grinder on the market, the Back to Basics Grinder, that will grind and mill grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. This hand grinder is the only one on the market that will mill flour to the finest consistency--the other hand mills only grind coarse flour. Clamp it to your counter, turn the handle, and it will grind in a range from very fine flour to bulgur to cracked wheat. The Back to Basics Grinder retails for $60. It is an excellent choice for those who use a moderate amount of flour a day, say two to four cups. You can grind one cup of flour per minute for fine flour, and two cups of flour per minute on the coarse setting. While not as good as a food processor for making nut butters, the Back to Basics Grinder will quickly grind nuts into small pieces for making breads. It will also grind dehydrated vegetables into powders to make vegetable juices and bouillon. And grinding fresh spices from pods and seeds, to order, means much more flavorful food.

Electric Flour Mills

Electric flour mills are a deluxe way of grinding grains and beans into flour for baking. Most have many settings, from fine to coarse, and they can usually process six cups of flour at a time, with a 19-cup "receiving" pan. The average machine can mill more than one pound of flour a minute. If you bake a lot, this appliance will be a great addition to your life. Electric flour mills cost between $200 and $300.

Rice Cookers

Rice cookers can be used for steaming other foods, as well. The advantage of using an electric rice cooker for rice and other grains is that a thermostat will shut the appliance down at the right time for a perfectly cooked product. You can time grains to be finished and warm for a hot breakfast porridge. Or instead of rice for a meal, you can substitute kasha.

A variety of rice cookers are available. The simplest type will cook the rice and shut the appliance off when it is done. The next, more complicated type, will cook the rice and then lower the heat to keep the food warm for four hours or so. This can be the least preferable, as the rice on the bottom of the pan can get thick and glutinous during the warming time. These types of rice cookers cost from $50 to $100. They can come with baskets to steam vegetables in, as well.

The next level will cook rice and keep it warm for up to 12 hours. This cooker circulates the steam throughout so that the rice does not develop a crust on the bottom of the pan. Some of these rice cookers will also compensate for improper measuring of water and rice. Most have a nonstick interior surface and no steaming plate for vegetables, since the plate can scratch the nonstick surface. Particularly popular in homes where rice and whole grains are a main staple, these units cost from $100 to $200. Some very top-of-the-line rice cookers are induction heating units, which cook the rice completely evenly. They cost around $400.

Make sure the rice cooker you are considering buying can cook brown rice and other grains. You will need to presoak the whole grains and learn the correct water proportions. It is also prudent to avoid food steamers which have plastic baskets, since the plastic can release fumes when heated. Select a size of rice steamer that cooks about twice as much rice as you usually use, so you can make rice and grains for entertaining.

Pressure Cookers

A pressure cooker will cook food very fast and seal in the food's nutrients and flavors. Beans, which generally need to be soaked overnight and boiled for a number of hours, can be cooked in 20 minutes. Rice can be cooked in six minutes. An entire chicken dinner can be done in a flash. Modern-day pressure cookers are safe to use if you follow the directions. If you have an old pressure cooker with a removable "jiggler" valve, you should consider replacing it with a newer version that has a stationary release valve and second safety release. While accidents aren't commonplace with the jiggler valve, they do happen, because food can clog the valve, causing too much pressure to build in the pot and the top to blow off.

Until the controversy over the health effects of aluminum leaching from pans is resolved, the prudent choice is a stainless steel pressure cooker. The cheapest kind available cooks at 16 pounds pressure and has a valve that pops up and releases. Spend the extra money for a pressure cooker with a second safety release valve, which will usually open the gasket and release pressure that way. Another safety feature that some pressure cookers have is that they won't pressurize if the top is put on incorrectly (so it won't blow off when under pressure). The middle-line pressure cookers offer both high- and low-steam pressure, so you can do slower cooking at 10 pounds pressure, for a pot roast, for example. The top-of-the-line pressure cookers even have a timer that you attach to your shirt, to beep you when your food is cooked. Pressure cookers with two safety features range in price from $75 to $200. Electric pressure cookers, which can keep food warm for up to five hours and have an automatic temperature control, cost around $260.

Lead-free Dinnerware

Plates and dishes now sold in the United States are subject to federal regulations for the maximum amount of lead they may contain. The State of California has its own stricter regulations for lead. The federal standards require that plates contain no more than 3 ppm (parts per million) lead, and pitchers and other "hollow ware" that hold liquid can contain no more more than 0.5 ppm. California allows no more than 0.2265 ppm of lead be found in dinnerware, and no more than 0.1 ppm in pitchers or hollow ware.

Because major dinnerware manufacturers sell their dishes in California as well as the rest of the country, they generally meet the stricter California regulations. Be particularly cautious about storing juices and wines in containers that could have lead in them--for instance, lead-crystal decanters. The most serious concern is drinking liquid that has been stored in crystal that was made of lead. Acidic foods also pull out the lead. In pottery, the lead is found in the glazes. When in doubt, ask if the glazes used for the dinnerware you are considering buying are lead-free. Be particularly wary of bright red glazes.

Pots & Pans

Until more is understood about how our bodies handle the small amounts of metals that may leach from cooking pots, one's best choice is to use the most inert cooking utensils available. Porcelain enamel, over metals such as steel or iron, and glass would be the safest bet from this perspective. As with lead, acidic foods such as spaghetti sauce will leach metals from pans. Avoid high heat with nonstick coatings, as small amounts of the coating can release fumes into the air.

Longlasting Kitchenware

Not only will you significantly reduce your consumption of resources by using reusable housewares instead of disposables, but you will also save a great deal of money. Following are some ideas for reusable instead of disposable kitchenware:

+ Gold or cloth coffee filters

+ Cloth towels

+ Cloth napkins

+ Durable plastic plates and cups for picnics and birthday parties

+ Reusable stainless steel utensils for picnics

+ House water filter

+ Travel mug

+ Reusable baking pans

+ Cloth bags for shopping--including string bags for produce

+ Reusable lunch box containers

+ Reusable plastic pop molds

+ Glass or plastic containers

+ Bowl lids (for storage)

+ Cylinder barbecue starter

+ Rechargeable household batteries

Other Reuse Items

Glass mustard and mayonnaise jars can be reused to make salad dressings. Old cotton clothing and sheets can be reused for dusting and cleaning rags. Yogurt tubs are great to store leftovers but not for reheating (see below). Reusing packaging can also be a safety risk, so you need to use good judgement. Some general rules:

+ Only reuse containers that can be washed thoroughly.

+ Never reuse containers that have contained chemicals (for cleaning or pest control, for instance).

+ To reduce risk of bacteria poisoning, do not reuse any packing that came into contact with meat or dairy products unless thoroughly sterilized.

+ Don't use plastic food tubs (like from yogurt, margarine or takeout) for reheating in the microwave because chemicals in plastics tend to migrate into hot fatty foods.

Achieving a green kitchen takes time; don't expect to make all the changes overnight. But once you start the process, you may find that the feeling of centering and interconnectedness it gives you urges you to continue.

From The Green Kitchen Handbook: Practical Advice, References, and Sources for Transforming the Center of Your Home into a Healthful, Livable Place, by Annie Berthold-Bond and Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet, foreword by Meryl Streep, $15.