LOVE THE VEGETABLES YOU HATE
Provided by Prevention
Hold out for perfection
While tomatoes rival potatoes as America's favorite vegetable, many people say they taste funny, feel pulpy in their mouth, or are too bland. And in winter, those pale hothouse tomatoes prove their point. The secret is making sure you buy those that are vine ripened, which eliminates almost all the bitter flavors, says Autar Mattoo, PhD, a molecular biologist with the USDA. Ask for them in season at farmers' markets, and at better and specialty grocers. Find out about some interesting bioengineered tomatoes and other veggies of tomorrow at www.prevention.com/links.
Protect them from bad company
Parsnips, which have a strong flavor to start with, can become bitter when stored near apples and other fruits, which produce ethylene gas, according to research from Penn State University. (The flavor of carrots, squash, and some herbs will also suffer, while crucifers such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage may turn limp and yellow more quickly.) The best way to store parsnips: in a closed paper bag, with ethylene producers (which also include apricots, avocados, peaches, cantaloupes, peppers, and tomatoes) in a separate crisper from ethylene-vulnerable produce.
Enroll in Eggplant 101
While everyone knows too-mature eggplants are bitter, the size of this fiber- and potassium-packed vegetable isn't your best clue: If your thumb leaves an indent that doesn't bounce back, the eggplant will be spongy, tough, and bad tasting, even if it's a little one. To further improve taste, check out its "belly button": At the blossom end, eggplants have either an oval or round dimple. Buy only the ovals-the round ones tend to have more seeds and less "meat." And to reduce eggplant's bitter tendencies even more, after you slice it, sprinkle it with salt, then wait a half hour, rinse, and proceed with your recipe. The salt draws out water, which contains the bitter-tasting compounds, says Klein. Eggplants are worth the trouble: The insides of these veggies are high in cancer-fighting polyphenols (the same chemicals that make apples so good for you); the pigments are high in antioxidants.
Get thee to a farmers' market
The flavor in cruciferous veggies intensifies the longer they're on the shelf, particularly if they're wrapped. "Lots of times, I'll give somebody broccoli I picked that morning, and they'll rave about how delicious it is, convinced it's some gourmet variety. It's just that fresh tastes that much better," says Mark Farnham, a broccoli breeder and geneticist with the USDA. In winter, look for broccoli that's sold in bunches, rather than shrink-wrapped to Styrofoam.
Add stealth vegetables
If you don't like the taste of many vegetables, soup may be your best solution: Most soups cook for so long that the vegetable flavors mellow and weaken while the seasonings become more pronounced. And you can sneak grated carrots or zucchini into muffins and breads. Next time you make a meat loaf, after you add your usual 1 cup of bread crumbs and an egg, throw in 1 cup of grated vegetables: Onions, zucchini, mushrooms, or even green beans will be virtually undetectable, even to you. While the longer baking time breaks down some nutritive value, minerals and vitamins stay in the casserole, and veggies make a moister meat loaf.
Read up on the vegetable you hate most
A recent study at Monell Chemical Senses Center found that understanding why something that tastes foul is good for you-combined with repeated, regular exposure to that particular food-actually makes it easier for you to stomach it. "If you knew that kale could help protect you from cancer, you might be more willing to forget the taste and eat more of it, particularly if cancer runs in your family and is a concern for you," says researcher Leslie J. Stein, PhD.
Honor your inborn sweet tooth
All babies are born with a natural aversion to bitter foods and a preference for sweets, says Jennifer Fisher, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Scientists have long speculated that's because so many poisonous plants are bitter. "What we do know is that sweet tastes better to us," she says. So indulge in sweeter vegetables-yams, squash, peas, and carrots-which pack plenty of nutritional advantages.
Are you a supertaster?
If you're a vegetable hater, go ahead and blame your parents: How intensely we experience bitterness in our broccoli is genetic. About a third of all Americans fall into the category of "supertasters." Compared with the rest of us, these people are exquisitely sensitive to bitter tastes and perceive them more intensely, says Danielle Reed, PhD, of Philadelphia's Monell Chemical Senses Center.
To identify supertasters, researchers rely on a chemical called PROP, used to treat some thyroid conditions, applied to small strips of paper that tasters put in their mouths. Nontasters, who also account for about a third of the US population, will taste nothing, and medium tasters, another third, will find the taste moderately bitter. But to a supertaster, the taste is overpoweringly bitter: Some researchers believe supertasters experience flavors with three times the intensity of others.
You don't need to check into a lab to measure your own sensitivity: Just stick out your tongue and look in the mirror. The more plentiful your fungiform papillae (the little structures that house your tastebuds), the more sensitive you're likely to be. You may have to check out the tongues of a few friends for perspective.
Highly sensitive tasters tend to have more food dislikes and perceive bitter tastes in many different foods; they are more likely to ask for sauce and dressings on the side, according to research done by Virginia Utermohlen, MD, of Cornell University. Moderately sensitive tasters tend to think about food in the most positive way of all three groups; chefs are most likely to fall into this category. Nontasters (who can't detect PROP but can detect other tastes) are the most likely of all three groups to prefer food that is intensely sweet.
Research from Yale suggests that supertasters are more likely to be thin than others (there's just plenty of food they don't like), but supertasting is also linked to higher rates of cancer, explained by their avoidance of many healthy vegetables.
So even if it is genetic, there's no excuse for hiding behind your supertaster status to spurn veggies. "After all," Reed says, "look at how many bitter-sensitive people learn to love coffee and gin and tonics."
The spice is Right
If you hate ... Beets
Try adding... Cloves
If you hate ... Broccoli, Brussels sprouts
Try adding... Caraway seeds
If you hate ... Green beans
Try adding... Tarragon; mustard; dill weed and seeds
If you hate ... Green peas
Try adding... Bay leaves; mint
If you hate ... Kidney beans
Try adding... Chili powder; cumin; marjoram
If you hate ... Lima beans
Try adding... Sage
If you hate ... Spinach
Try adding... Nutmeg
If you hate ... Squash
Try adding... Allspice; curry; coriander seeds
If you hate ... Tomatoes
Try adding... Basil; oregano; red pepper; sage; rosemary
If you hate ... Yellow and red peppers
Try adding... Thyme
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