Coconut Oil

DON'T FEEL too guilty as you crack open that coconut-cream Easter egg, though you might want to save half for later. After nearly two decades of being considered "forbidden" in a healthy diet, coconut and products made with it are being viewed in a new light by some scientists, health nuts and chefs. Coconut - be it oil, meat, water or milk - has gone from being a cholesterol criminal to an antiviral, antimicrobial and antifungal "super food. " Monica Glass, dessert chef at 10 Arts Bistro & Lounge by Eric Ripert in the Ritz-Carlton, said she inadvertently stumbled upon coconut oil as a potential cooking fat when Googling cholesterol-friendly recipes about two years ago. "Coconut oil was showing up in a lot of gluten-free recipes," the West Chester native said.

A month ago, roughly 70 percent of movie theaters nationwide were still making popcorn, as they had for decades, with coconut oil. Today, all but one major chain and some stragglers have stopped using coconut oil. And that one chain, United Artists Theaters, says it is offering an air-popped popcorn option along with its traditional coconut-oil-popped corn. Some cinemas, such as the Ritz theaters here and the General Cinema chain, have been using canola oil for years. The problem with coconut oil, in case you missed the recent popcorn brouhaha, is that it is 86 percent saturated.

GREEN JUICE 2 cucumbers 1/2 cup celery stock 1 apple 1 handful spinach 1/2 bunch parsley 1/2 each, peeled lemon and lime 1 inch peeled ginger Blend until smooth. Makes one serving. SWEET POTATO PASTA 1 or 2 sweet potatoes 1/4 cup chopped spring onions 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1/4 cup chopped basil 1/4 cup diced sundried tomato 1/4 cup chopped raw black olives 1 teaspoon lemon zest and juice 1 teaspoon olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Cut the raw sweet potato into spirals.

Q. What kind of oil do movie theaters use for their popcorn? The theater I go to says "Butter-Flavored. " Pat Goodman Oakland, Calif. A. Whenever anything is labeled "butter-flavored," it means it's artificially flavored to taste like butter, but isn't really butter at all. Of the four theaters that I personally surveyed, three of them used a product called Durkee's Liquid Dress-All, which is a soybean oil, described as an artificial butter-flavored...

Tanimura & Antle Broccoflower. $.79 to $2.49 a head. Bonnie: On vacation in Holland, the president of a produce company noticed a green plant in a cauliflower field. He brought the seed of that old European plant back to the states and started growing it. That was the start of broccoflower - a member of the cabbage family that's a natural hybrid between broccoli and cauliflower. It's higher in vitamin C and folic acid than either broccoli or cauliflower and will last longer in your refrigerator.

If you've been avoiding salt and coffee, filling up on complex carbs and polyunsaturated vegetable oils - all in the name of health - the newest nutrition news has some surprises in store. Here are the latest findings from the nation's medical and dietetic journals: Low-Salt Diets: They may not lower blood pressure, according to research in the British Medical Journal. A review of 13 trials showed that the pressure- lowering effect of limiting sodium was small and worked only on systolic blood pressure.

Do coconut oil, palm oil, beef tallow or lard whet your appetite? Not likely. How about Nabisco's Oreos or Brown Edge Wafers, or Betty Crocker's blueberry streusel muffins? Maybe Keebler Club crackers or Sunshine's Hydrox cookies are more to your taste. Probably wouldn't think twice about munching one of those treats, right? Yet each is made with one or more heavily saturated fats - coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, beef tallow or lard. And eating saturated fats, research shows, raises cholesterol and increases the risk of heart disease.

DANGER AT THE BIJOU: The popcorn sold in most movie theaters has joined a list of dangerous fatty foods scorned by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. (This is the same group that labeled fettucine Alfredo a "heart attack on a plate. ") A medium-sized bucket of "buttered" popcorn, said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the pro-nutrition organization, could contain more artery-clogging fat than eating a bacon-and-two-eggs-breakfast, a Big Mac and large order of fries for lunch and a full steak dinner - combined.

In a red stucco building along the rail siding at the edge of Kennett Square recently, Bob Bada was hand-packing his latest batch of Gelati di Capri, slamming each half-filled pint on the stainless steel table to burp out the air, creating a racket - like goats doing flamenco. This is Bada's newest venture, two years now in the refining (though he's still not taking a salary), finally getting traction - in the freezers in two Whole Foods Markets in Philadelphia, and in health-food stores from Kimberton to his sentimental favorite, Spring Run Natural Foods, his first customer, in Kennett Square.

THE BALD FACTS. The Food and Drug Administration is banning sales of nonprescription anti-baldness creams and aphrodisiac products because none has been shown to work. The bans go into effect in six months. Adding that there also is no evidence that vitamins, food supplements or other products taken orally retard baldness or grow hair, the FDA says it will remove these products from the market on a case-by-case / claim-by-claim basis. BATTERY RECALL. Duracell is recalling some lithium camera batteries because of an assembly defect that can cause severe overheating and in some cases damage cameras.

GREEN JUICE 2 cucumbers 1/2 cup celery stock 1 apple 1 handful spinach 1/2 bunch parsley 1/2 each, peeled lemon and lime 1 inch peeled ginger Blend until smooth. Makes one serving. SWEET POTATO PASTA 1 or 2 sweet potatoes 1/4 cup chopped spring onions 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1/4 cup chopped basil 1/4 cup diced sundried tomato 1/4 cup chopped raw black olives 1 teaspoon lemon zest and juice 1 teaspoon olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Cut the raw sweet potato into spirals.

DON'T FEEL too guilty as you crack open that coconut-cream Easter egg, though you might want to save half for later. After nearly two decades of being considered "forbidden" in a healthy diet, coconut and products made with it are being viewed in a new light by some scientists, health nuts and chefs. Coconut - be it oil, meat, water or milk - has gone from being a cholesterol criminal to an antiviral, antimicrobial and antifungal "super food. " Monica Glass, dessert chef at 10 Arts Bistro & Lounge by Eric Ripert in the Ritz-Carlton, said she inadvertently stumbled upon coconut oil as a potential cooking fat when Googling cholesterol-friendly recipes about two years ago. "Coconut oil was showing up in a lot of gluten-free recipes," the West Chester native said.

COCONUT OIL CARROT CAKE 2 cups sugar 1 cup extra-virgin coconut oil, melted 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup coconut flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon mace 1/2 teaspoon ginger 4 cups finely grated carrots 2 cups finely grated apples, preferably Granny...

In a red stucco building along the rail siding at the edge of Kennett Square recently, Bob Bada was hand-packing his latest batch of Gelati di Capri, slamming each half-filled pint on the stainless steel table to burp out the air, creating a racket - like goats doing flamenco. This is Bada's newest venture, two years now in the refining (though he's still not taking a salary), finally getting traction - in the freezers in two Whole Foods Markets in Philadelphia, and in health-food stores from Kimberton to his sentimental favorite, Spring Run Natural Foods, his first customer, in Kennett Square.

Blame it on nachos. And guacamole. Not to mention cheese-smothered burritos. Mexican food, as we know it, is high in fat. The reason: The American idea of Mexican food is processed cheese on a taco chip. "Some food you get in some Mexican restaurants is fatty, that's true, but a lot of the food that passes for Mexican is really Tex-Mex" which often relies on deep-fat frying, says Dudley Nieto, chef at Lindas Margaritas in Chicago. "Real Mexican food doesn't rely on fat for flavor.

It wasn't too long ago that fear of cholesterol drove consumers to reach for margarine instead of butter. Recent reports now tell us that margarine isn't exactly the perfect spread either. So where does that put olive oil? It has been credited with lowering cholesterol and is the basis of what is known as the Mediterranean diet, a healthful regimen that is high in plant-based foods, low in animal products and liberal in its use of monounsaturated olive oil as its primary fat. Popular opinion says that this type of diet is, in part, responsible for lowered incidences of heart disease and certain cancers.

A month ago, roughly 70 percent of movie theaters nationwide were still making popcorn, as they had for decades, with coconut oil. Today, all but one major chain and some stragglers have stopped using coconut oil. And that one chain, United Artists Theaters, says it is offering an air-popped popcorn option along with its traditional coconut-oil-popped corn. Some cinemas, such as the Ritz theaters here and the General Cinema chain, have been using canola oil for years. The problem with coconut oil, in case you missed the recent popcorn brouhaha, is that it is 86 percent saturated.

DANGER AT THE BIJOU: The popcorn sold in most movie theaters has joined a list of dangerous fatty foods scorned by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. (This is the same group that labeled fettucine Alfredo a "heart attack on a plate. ") A medium-sized bucket of "buttered" popcorn, said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the pro-nutrition organization, could contain more artery-clogging fat than eating a bacon-and-two-eggs-breakfast, a Big Mac and large order of fries for lunch and a full steak dinner - combined.

Tanimura & Antle Broccoflower. $.79 to $2.49 a head. Bonnie: On vacation in Holland, the president of a produce company noticed a green plant in a cauliflower field. He brought the seed of that old European plant back to the states and started growing it. That was the start of broccoflower - a member of the cabbage family that's a natural hybrid between broccoli and cauliflower. It's higher in vitamin C and folic acid than either broccoli or cauliflower and will last longer in your refrigerator.

Dear Polly: My daughter just gave me a beautiful bright tie-dyed skirt. I love it, but I'm afraid to wash it. Will the colors run? How should tie-dyed garments be cleaned? - Mary Dear Mary: The brilliant dyes used in today's tie-dyed garments hold up under washing fairly well. While new, the colors may bleed a bit, much as any intensely dyed T-shirt or blue jeans, but not in a way to affect the tie-dye pattern. Just wash the skirt alone or with dark-colored items such as jeans.