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Friday

Southern Fishermen Cash In On Asia's Taste For Jellyfish

Cannonball jellyfish soak up the sun on a South Carolina beach. Fishermen are now pursuing the pest that used to clog their shrimping nets. Courtesy of Steven Giese hide caption

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Courtesy of Steven Giese

The Salt

Southern Fishermen Cash In On Asia's Taste For Jellyfish

After the worst year for shrimping in recent memory, fishermen in the Southeast U.S. say they're thankful to catch jellyfish for the Asian market. But conservationists say the expanding jellyfish fishery is a sign of the ocean's decline.

For A Twist On The Lunar New Year Dumpling, Add Green Tea

Ying Compestine's green tea-steamed shrimp dumplings. Lucy Schaeffer/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hide caption

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Lucy Schaeffer/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Salt

For A Twist On The Lunar New Year Dumpling, Add Green Tea

A Chinese cookbook author remembers her childhood in China, where dumplings were steamed to conserve precious cooking oil. Recently she gave her favorite steamed dumplings an update.

For A Twist On The Lunar New Year Dumpling, Add Green Tea

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Super Bowl Ads Go Healthy: Selling Yogurt With A Steamy Kiss

The Full House cast John Stamos, Bob Saget and Dave Coulier are featured in Dannon's Superbowl ad. OikosYogurt/Youtube hide caption

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OikosYogurt/Youtube

The Salt

Super Bowl Ads Go Healthy: Selling Yogurt With A Steamy Kiss

Advertising during the big game is traditionally the realm of beer, chips and soda. But better-for-you foods will also make a play for viewers' wallets this year. Expect clever ads pitching nuts, yogurt and whole grain cereals.

Super Bowl Ads Go Healthy: Selling Yogurt With A Steamy Kiss

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Thursday

Small Cuts To Food Stamps Add Up To Big Pains For Many Recipients

The farm bill proposes a $1 billion cut to food stamps, which would affect nearly 850,000 struggling families who already depend on food banks like the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, Calif. Antonio Mena/Courtesy of Alameda County Community Food Bank hide caption

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Antonio Mena/Courtesy of Alameda County Community Food Bank

The Salt

Small Cuts To Food Stamps Add Up To Big Pains For Many Recipients

The proposed farm bill would cut nearly $1 billion a year from the food stamp program, known as SNAP. While it's far less than what Republicans had originally wanted, the proposal will affect roughly 850,000 households, many of which are still struggling from cuts made only three months ago.

Small Cuts To Food Stamps Add Up To Big Pains For Many Recipients

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Utah School Draws Ire For Taking Kids' Lunches; Debt Cited

Uintah Elementary School in Salt Lake City, where up to 40 students were served lunch Tuesday — only to have it discarded. They were told they didn't have enough credit on their accounts. Google hide caption

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Google

The Two-Way

Utah School Draws Ire For Taking Kids' Lunches; Debt Cited

Anger and frustration followed an incident Tuesday, in which up to 40 students had their lunches taken away from them at the cashier's station in an elementary school cafeteria. The food was thrown away; the students were told their accounts had no credit on them.

Your Nose Knows Which Foods Are Fattiest

Charles, Prince of Wales, smells before tasting some ice cream during a visit to Gloucestershire. Maybe he was sniffing for fat? Barry Batchelor/Getty Images hide caption

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Barry Batchelor/Getty Images

The Salt

Your Nose Knows Which Foods Are Fattiest

Low-fat ice cream just won't cut it for you? Maybe it's your nose telling you it's not the real deal. Researchers have found that people can actually smell differences in dietary fat in food. It's an ability that might have helped our ancestors find the best foods to survive on.

Grade Inflation In The Maple Syrup Aisle: Now Everything Is An 'A'

It's All Grade A Now: Different grades of maple syrup are displayed in East Montpelier, Vt. Toby Talbot/AP hide caption

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Toby Talbot/AP

The Salt

Grade Inflation In The Maple Syrup Aisle: Now Everything Is An 'A'

If you like richer, darker, more intense maple syrup, you should pick Grade B. But the idea that B beats A seems counter-intuitive to lots of consumers who are just looking for something sweet to pour on their morning pancakes. So the syrup industry has revamped its grading system.

A Surprise Play: Beefy Butternut Squash Chili

Just like the Super Bowl, the Beefy Butternut Squash Chili takes a couple of fall favorites and pairs them in a winter classic. John Lee/Courtesy of Rebel One hide caption

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John Lee/Courtesy of Rebel One

Found Recipes

A Surprise Play: Beefy Butternut Squash Chili

Chips and dip may be the usual suspects on Super Bowl Sunday, but Food Network's Sunny Anderson recommends that you try something new, too. The main event of her big game party? The Beefy Butternut Squash Chili — a hearty, spicy meal that's fit to be a halftime headliner.

A Surprise Play: Beefy Butternut Squash Chili

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Wednesday

A Milk Mystery: Did Gloomy Weather Make Us Love The Stuff?

A new study on lactose tolerance among early farmers in Spain challenges a leading theory that humans developed an appetite for milk to avoid calcium deficiency. iStock hide caption

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iStock

The Salt

A Milk Mystery: Did Gloomy Weather Make Us Love The Stuff?

The latest twist in this evolutionary whodunnit has us questioning whether the lack of vitamin D from the sun played any role in our complicated, sometimes dangerous, love affair with milk. New DNA analysis of ancient farmers from sunny Spain suggests that this theory may have gone sour.

Farm Bill Charts New Course For Nation's Farmers

Farmer Steve Henry of Arapahoe, Neb., looks at a patch of corn that failed due to drought last September. The new farm bill would expand crop insurance for farmers. Nati Harnik/AP hide caption

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Nati Harnik/AP

The Salt

Farm Bill Charts New Course For Nation's Farmers

KCUR

The House on Wednesday approved a five-year compromise farm, signalling perhaps the final stretch for a two-year legislative battle. Because so much of the spending in the measure depends on enrollment in programs like food stamps, it's hard to know if it will save taxpayers money.

Farm Bill Charts New Course For Nation's Farmers

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Tuesday