Open Forum: What’s your Favorite New Food Discovery of 2011?
Dec 27, 2011
I hope you have been having a wonderful holiday season! Â Before we turn the page on 2011, I thought it might be fun to ask a quick question.
Last year, my new favorite food was nutritional yeast. Although it’s easily dismissed as “hippie health food,” this stuff is definitely worthy of consideration, if only for its great taste. Â I love the versatile, cheesy-nutty flavor (especially sprinkled on popcorn!), and it adds a savory Umami flavor to soups and other dishes. Oh yeah, and there are all those B vitamins it delivers (Vegans: It’s a good idea to choose a brand that is fortified with B-12). Â So when I finally tried it last year, it quickly became my favorite new food.
This year, my discovery is hulled hemp seeds. Like nutritional yeast, they’re both healthy and delicious (swoon!). Hemp seeds are a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids, a “complete” protein source, and very high in several other vitamins and minerals.  I’ve been sprinkling them on my morning oatmeal, on top of a bowl of greek yogurt, or just blending them into a smoothie.  I think they taste like sunflower seeds — but with less of a crunch. Yum!
What’s your new favorite food discovery of 2011? Â Let us know in the comments!
(RSS and email readers, click through to share your discovery).
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Photo by Evelyn Parham.
I’d have to say my new favorite discovery is garbanzo bean flour! It is gluten free, high in protein and I actually enjoy the flavor and texture.
O.K. As you know I’m Greek, but my recent discovery was “Organic Phyllo” by Filo Factory which is big for me! But, I’m still waiting for them to deliver, gluten free phyllo.
I would be in heaven if they were to come out with gluten free phyllo. Hope they’re reading this!
It’s not a single-ingredient food, but baking my own bread every week has been so satisfying. Even better, I’ve successfully shifted my white bread-loving husband over to a multigrain loaf!
Lacto-fermented foods, like KimChi and sauerkraut. Probiotics, baby!
Cha cha cha chia seeds! You can make a sugar free pudding using just chia seeds, plain coconut milk,unsweetened coconut flakes, and plain cocoa. It is delish and nutritious. Also all alternative ‘grain’ flours such buckwheat,millet, coconut, almond,amaranth and quiona. Thank you for assisting me onto a completely whole foods lifestyle. Happy new year and new recipes to you!
WOW – going to a clean whole foods diet has been amazing!!!
I have discovered to really love and enjoy food again!
My favorite discovery’s would be unrefined oils, chia seeds, exotic rices and best of all I have discovered I can live quite contently without all the sugar and processed foods!
Spelt/kamut/farro.
Thanks to Danielle, I now need to find out more about “holy crap” cereal 🙂
http://www.holycrap.ca 🙂
I turned over a new leaf this year and consequently discovered a lot of new fooods that I love. The ones that stick out to me that I’ve embraced this year are:
-quinoa
-hemp seeds (particularly when mixed with “Holy Crap” cereal)
-brown rice pasta
-nooch (nutritional yeast).
I’ve also been testing out protein powders to decide which I like best in my morning smoothies, but I’m still on the hunt for a perfect one! I can’t wait to see what other people say so I can add some new things to my to-try list for 2012. 🙂
Danielle:
I love using Garden of Life RAW protein powder. It’s unsweetened and unflavored. GF and vegan. Definitely needs other things with it to flavor it but I use it in smoothies.
Steel cut oats. I know they aren’t new, but I finally got the courage to try them. While the chewiness bothered me at first, I’ve grown to love it. Right now I’m trying to find a good way to cook and freeze them, so I can have them in the mornings when things are super busy and I’m not awake yet.
Jacqueline, to cook steel cut oats quickly in the morning, try cooking a big batch ahead of time then freezing them in ice cubes trays. Keep them i the freezer and pop a couple of ‘cubes’ in the microwave or cookpot every morning. Worked for me.
Great idea freezing them. I usually freeze mine in a standard 12 muffin tin for 1/2 cup servings.
I set mine up the night before in a mini slow cooker plugged into a timer. It starts cooking at 4:30am and by 7am it’s ready.
I have so many foods I rediscovered this year or found new uses for. Finding new uses for nuts and tofu and flax meal would have to be my big ones this year!