Food news antipasto

A stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes just doesn’t seem right without a drizzle of maple syrup, and the sweet substance has a long and rich culinary history that dates back centuries. In recent years, maple sap production, which relies on a specific variance between daytime and nighttime temperatures, has plummeted due to changes in the weather. With reserves at an 16-year low, the future of maple syrup seems uncertain.

Thursday is Thanksgiving in the US, and people are preparing for the biggest food holiday of the year. For many that means turkey, stuffing/dressing, and all manner of side dishes depending on region and family tradition. Pies usually make an appearance, and while some folks like to make them from scratch, others choose to buy their pies. Food and Wine decided to test and rank Costco’s traditional apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies. I think they made the correct choice for number one.

Thanksgiving is widely celebrated even if it is only an official holiday in the US and Canada (although held on different days). While the tradition dates back to the colonists who settled in what is now the US, the treatment of Native Americans by the settlers leaves an indelible stain on the occasion. At SBS Food, Liz Bond wonders if we should still be celebrating Thanksgiving due to this dark history. (Spoiler alert: she says yes and provides her reasoning.)

Tea and Britain go together like peanut butter and jelly (or perhaps something more appropriate like jam and scones). In recent years, however, there’s been a seismic shift in the beverage consumption in the UK, with black tea slipping down and coffee and herbal teas on the way up. The Independent’s Hannah Twigg searches for answers as to why Britain has fallen out of love with tea.

Matt Rodbard’s podcast This is TASTE recently had Eater correspondent Jaya Saxena on to discuss The Best American Food Writing anthology that she edited. Jaya says that since everyone has to engage with food, that makes it a great lens through which to see various issues, and she described the selection process for deciding on which stories to include. Matt and Jaya also talked about Padma Lakshmi being the guest editor of the anthology.

Additional products were added to the large organic carrot recall that was issued last week involving carrots from Grimmway Farms that were sold under a variety of brand names. The carrots were sold at various retailers including Target, Walmart, and Trader Joe’s. An E. coli outbreak that has caused at least one death and sickened dozens of people in multiple states has been traced to these organic carrots.

Eating too much salt can have adverse effects on your health, but unless you make every meal from scratch, salt can be difficult to avoid. Everyone knows that foods like crisps/chips and bacon contain high levels of salt, but other prepared foods can contain surprising levels of salt, say nutritionists. You can avoid it if you know what to look for, and the linked article has ideas for reducing salt intake. You won’t be surprised to learn that making your own meals is high on the list – although you might need to modify some of the recipes you find in your cookbook collection.