Baking soda is best ‘solution’ for apple scuzz
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They’re crunchy, creepy and hard to come by. Fine, you can’t get them in time for Halloween, but their one-day-only availability makes these treats even more appealing. The skulls — a collaboration between vegan eatery By CHLOE and the crispy rice artists at Misterkrisp — will only be sold at Sweets by CHLOE (185 Bleecker St. Suite B, next to the flagship location) in Greenwich Village on Wednesday, Nov. 1 to mark the Day of the Dead. Score the skulls for $4.95 each.
HIt’s both a trick and treat. Offer a sliver of these milk chocolate thins called Sparkles to a friend — or your kid — and watch their expression as the tiny popping candy hidden inside set off mini explosions in their mouths. They’re like Pop Rocks coated in cocoa. Grab them year-round for $7.90 a box at Max Brenner (841 Broadway) in Union Square.
Perfect for the office or a small, upscale Halloween party, these bonbons are cute and classy. The 12-piece “Halloween Specialty” box ($21) from Jacques Torres packs three different designs and flavors: Monster Mash (apples with maple syrup in milk chocolate); Bite Me (pumpkin spice in white chocolate); and Bloody Boo (blood orange in dark chocolate). Halloween bonbons are also available in 25-piece sets ($39) and 50-piece sets ($75) at Jacques Torres locations (mrchocolate.com) and online.
This will really shake up your lunch. The Pumpkin Vanilla Shake at Bill’s Bar & Burger crams several fall favorites into a single glass. It’s topped with salted caramel sauce, whipped cream and a pumpkin pie slice. And for a feast for the eyes, the glass is rimmed with chocolate frosting and candy corn. The shake is sold at all three Bill’s locations for $6.95 through the end of November. ow ’bout them apples?
The best way to clean pesticides off Granny Smiths, Honeycrisps and the like is by using baking soda, according to a report in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
That means yet another use for the kitchen and baking staple that’s likely in your pantry already — or in your refrigerator to keep it smelling fresh.
While pesticides boost crop yields, there are concerns about the impact on people who consume food produced this way — even with maximum residue limits of pesticides that have been set by the government. And on the Environmental Working Group’s annual Dirty Dozen list of pesticide-laden fruits, apples are at number four this year.
Researchers applied different pesticides to fruit in this new study led by University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist Lili He. One test used the fungicide thiabendazole, which has been shown to be able to penetrate apple peels. In the other, the insecticide phosmet was applied to organic Gala apples.
Three different liquids were then used to wash the fruit: tap water, a 1% baking soda and water solution, and a commercial bleach solution that’s approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and often used on produce. After 12 and 15 minutes, the baking soda solution was most effective. It reduced 80% of the thiabendazole and 96% of the phosmet.
While authors noted that the baking soda solution method “was not completely effective in removing residues that have penetrated into the apple peel,” washing produce with either plain tap water or the bleach solution for two minutes, which is the industry standard, was far less effective.
Residue levels don’t ensure food is totally safe to eat. “Safety is a tricky word,” Dr. He tells the Daily News. “Our study looked into how we can reduce the risk.”