Category: Sean Clougherty

While several niche berries have gotten recent acclaim as superfoods, the old standards such as strawberries remain a powerful player in health and wellness. From diabetes to heart disease, strawberries’ health benefits are nothing to pass by. Its heart shape offers a glimpse into just some of its health power. They contain anthocyanins that a Harvard research study has shown to cut heart attack risk in young and middle-age women by 32 percent. Strawberries’ high polyphenol content could also aid against cardiovascular disease and reduce blood pressure, experts say. The fruit’s fiber and potassium also support heart health. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, fewer than 2 percent of American adults meet the daily 4,700-milligram recommendation for potassium. Strawberries a great source, however, experts note if you are already perscribed Beta-blockers, a type of medication most commonly used for heart disease, potassium levels may increase in the blood from that and high potassium foods should then be consumed in moderation. Anthocyanin, along with two other antioxidants quercetin and kaempferol, can help reduce harmful blood clots from forming. Strawberries are low on the glycemic index which, with its high fiber content, helps regulate blood sugar, making it a good choice for diabetics. “Researchers discovered in 2011 that eating about 37 strawberries a day can significantly reduce the complications of diabetes, such as kidney disease and neuropathy,” writes...

Two early bloomers many gardeners turn to for their first bursts of garden color are pansies and primrose. While both come out early, they each present a different look; the pansey putting out flat or ruffled flowers and the primrose offering a tightly wound rosette. Even if you have preference of one over the other, they can also provide a unique contrast in the flower bed. Pansies are widely sold as spring annuals and the color choice spans the rainbow from white, yellow, pink and red, wine and purple, blue and black. Petals can grow to the traditional two inches or out to five inches. The pansies grown today are hybrids derived from several species of Viola from Europe and Asia. Botanically they are known as Viola x wittrockiana and the common name “pansy” comes from the French word “pensée” meaning a thought or reflection. This refers to the flower “face” that is created by bold blotching and veining whiskers on the petals. Plant pansies as soon as the ground can be worked with a trowel, says Leslie Barlow of Barlow Flower Farm Sea Girt, N.J. “Pansies and violas like rich, well-drained soil that is high in organic matter (peat moss, compost, ground bark or decomposed manure). They thrive in full sun or partial shade. Shade is especially beneficial when the weather becomes warmer as the hot sun will prevent flower production.” Barlow adds that pansies need...

by Sean Clougherty Friendships are often one of the things we’re most thankful for when asked so it’s somewhat ironic that getting together with friends can be a tall task during Thanksgiving. That is, unless you plan for it. “Friendsgivings” as they’re called — set get-togethers before or after the main Turkey Day — have gotten more popular over the years, often becoming traditions all their own. “It’s not often that friends can get together this time of year,” says Andrea Blodgett of Queenstown, who’s part of a friendsgiving group that rotates between several houses year to year. “It’s a lot of scheduling to work around.” But it’s worth the effort to get everyone together for a low-key laughter-filled afternoon. “Friendsgiving is my favorite holiday of the year — albeit a made-up one,” writes food writer Alexandra Shytsman in the forward of her recipe book “Friendsgiving.” “Friendsgiving is everything you love about Thanksgiving — hearty food, day drinking, good company — without the things you don’t love, like nagging family members and heated political discussions that make you question if maybe you were adopted after all,” she said. Shytsman started having friendsgivings while in high school, organizing elaborate dinner parties for her buds and testing new recipes and her culinary skills. “I’ll never forget the feeling of triumph when I pulled my first turkey out of the oven and...