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Tuesday

High Tea, Afternoon Tea, Elevenses: English Tea Times For Dummies

Afternoon Tea, 1886. Chromolithograph after Kate Greenaway. If you're looking for finger sandwiches, dainty desserts and formality, afternoon tea is your cup. Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption

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Print Collector/Getty Images

The Salt

High Tea, Afternoon Tea, Elevenses: English Tea Times For Dummies

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the English and their social tea traditions. What time does each of them take place, anyway? But don't fret. The Salt is here to offer guidance.

Monday

Why You Should Thank A Caterpillar For Your Mustard And Wasabi

A cabbage butterfly caterpillar. For tens of millions of years, these critters have been in an evolutionary arms race with plants they munch on. The end result: "mustard oil bombs" that also explode with flavor when we humans harness them to make condiments. Courtesy of Roger Meissen/Bond LSC hide caption

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Courtesy of Roger Meissen/Bond LSC

The Salt

Why You Should Thank A Caterpillar For Your Mustard And Wasabi

Eons ago, cabbage butterfly larvae and the plants they eat began an evolutionary arms race. The result: "mustard oil bombs" that give the plants, and condiments we make from them, distinctive flavors.

Curb Your Appetite: Save Bread For The End Of The Meal

Bite into that bread before your main meal, and you'll spike your blood sugar and amp up your appetite. Waiting until the end of your dinner to nosh on bread can blunt those effects. iStockphoto hide caption

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The Salt

Curb Your Appetite: Save Bread For The End Of The Meal

A hot bread basket is a tasty way to start off dinner. But all those carbs before the main fare can amp up appetite and spike blood sugar. Saving the carbs for the end of the meal can help avert that.

Curb Your Appetite: Save Bread For The End Of The Meal

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Sunday

Do Try This At Home: Hacking Ribs — In The Pressure Cooker

To make baby back ribs in an hour, instead of the usual three to four hours, you'll need a pressure cooker. Photo Illustration by Ryan Kellman and Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration by Ryan Kellman and Emily Bogle/NPR

The Salt

Do Try This At Home: Hacking Ribs — In The Pressure Cooker

Tender, smoky, fall-off-the-bone ribs can take three or four hours to make the traditional way. But Baltimore chef Shirlé Koslowski uses a pressure cooker to get all that flavor in only an hour.

Do Try This At Home: Hacking Ribs — In The Pressure Cooker

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Friday

Drink Beck's? Anheuser-Busch May Owe You A Refund

Several of the world's largest brewers are being sued for suggesting their beers are imports. Anheuser-Busch settled a class action suit that will require it to pay out millions of dollars.

Drink Beck's? Anheuser-Busch May Owe You A Refund

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Missouri Food Pantries Help Clients Grow Their Own Produce

Bill McKelvey created Grow Well Missouri with a five-year grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to help create more access to produce — and the health benefits that come with growing it yourself. Kristofor Husted/Harvest Public Media hide caption

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Kristofor Husted/Harvest Public Media

The Salt

Missouri Food Pantries Help Clients Grow Their Own Produce

KBIA

Fresh fruits and vegetables can be hard to come by for low-income people who rely on food pantries. So some aid programs are now handing out seeds and plants and teaching clients to grow their own.

Thursday

Farewell, Low-Fat: Why Scientists Applaud Lifting A Ban On Fat

On the left, olive oil, which is low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat, which may lower bad cholesterol levels. On the right, coconut oil, which is 90 percent saturated fat and may raise bad cholesterol levels. iStockphoto hide caption

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The Salt

Farewell, Low-Fat: Why Scientists Applaud Lifting A Ban On Fat

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report that came out in February contained some pretty game-changing advice that's largely been overlooked: Don't worry about the total amount of fat you eat.

A Toast To Butter Sculpture, The Art That Melts The Hearts Of The Masses

Art of the people: Fill a glass with hope, a butter sculpture crafted by Jim Victor and Marie Pelton. "People don't understand how [the sculpting] is done --€” it's like magic and just appears," Victor says. "But people understand butter." Courtesy of Jim Victor and Marie Pelton hide caption

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Courtesy of Jim Victor and Marie Pelton

The Salt

A Toast To Butter Sculpture, The Art That Melts The Hearts Of The Masses

Once the province of nobles, food sculptures became the art of the people in America. Nowhere is this truer than the butter sculpture, a form that is at once familiar and impressive.

Wednesday

Dynamic Duos: How To Get More Nutrition By Pairing Foods

Eating eggs with your salad helps boost absorption of carotenoids — the pigments in tomatoes and carrots. Photo illustration by Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Meredith Rizzo/NPR

The Salt

Dynamic Duos: How To Get More Nutrition By Pairing Foods

Adding eggs to salads helps us absorb the beneficial pigments like beta carotene in the raw vegetables, a new study finds. Here are other foods that, when eaten together, pack a more nutritious punch.

Genetically Modified Salmon: Coming To A River Near You?

AquaBounty's salmon (background) has been genetically modified to grow bigger and faster than a conventional Atlantic salmon of the same age (foreground.) Courtesy of AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. hide caption

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Courtesy of AquaBounty Technologies, Inc.

The Salt

Genetically Modified Salmon: Coming To A River Near You?

Scientists are trying to predict what might happen if genetically modified salmon escaped growth facilities. It's a scenario often raised by critics who don't want the FDA to approve sale of the fish.

Survival Of The Greenest Beer? Breweries Adapt To A Changing Climate

The Smuttynose Towle Farm brewery in Hampton, N.H., has an invisible but tight envelope that keeps the interior temperature consistently cool or warm, prevents energy loss and ultimately saves money. Courtesy of Smuttynose Brewing Company hide caption

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Courtesy of Smuttynose Brewing Company

The Salt

Survival Of The Greenest Beer? Breweries Adapt To A Changing Climate

Breweries are grappling with more weather extremes — heat waves, snowy winters, heavy rains and drought. Many are coming up with creative ways to adjust to their changing environments.

Tuesday

As Tastes Shift, Food Giant General Mills Gets A Makeover

This 55-foot-tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant — the instantly recognizable icon for General Mills' Green Giant line of frozen vegetables — is in Blue Earth, Minn., about 100 miles away from the company's headquarters in Minneapolis. Robin Zebrowski/Flickr hide caption

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Robin Zebrowski/Flickr

The Salt

As Tastes Shift, Food Giant General Mills Gets A Makeover

General Mills is one of the world's most successful food companies, with iconic brands like Green Giant. But fast-changing tastes are forcing it and other food firms to innovate to stay relevant.

As Tastes Shift, Food Giant General Mills Gets A Makeover

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