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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have picked their wedding cake, and they’re breaking with both royal tradition and internet expectations. They won’t be going with the traditional nine-foot fruit cake like Prince William and Kate Middleton, but they won’t be ordering a banana cake, either.

Kensington Palace confirmed this morning that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have hired pastry chef Claire Ptak to create an organic lemon and elderflower cake for the couple’s May 19 wedding.

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My brothers are learning how to cook. Truth be told, they’ve been learning how to cook for a few years now, but that’s only because they’re slowly adding to what they know as they realize it’s missing. So when you mostly make chicken breast and broccoli, solid knife skills aren’t absolutely necessary. But when you upgrade to roast chicken, you need to know how to carve it. There are resources abound on essential culinary techniques. We spend plenty of time sharing them here on Kitchn, Mark Bittman has written a tome on them in his How to Cook Everything, but sometimes you need the bare-bones basics all in one place. Six Basic Cooking Techniques by Jennifer Clair does a good job of culling the canon to a set of essentials. It’s the book I’m giving my brothers because it’s just the really important stuff. We asked Jennifer to tell us how her approach to teaching the basics created the most popular cooking class in New York City and lead to a book on the topic as well. – Hali

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If you spend so much time cooking on your feet that you’re starting to get aches and pains, then you may benefit from an anti-fatigue mat. Standing in one position for a prolonged period comes with several negative side effects, including foot pain, back pain, and lethargy, says Dr. Keith Overland, a chiropractor and past president of the American Chiropractic Association.

That’s where anti-fatigue mats come in: While these pads, which typically come in a foam or rubberized material to provide support for your feet, are not a surefire cure for all that ails you, they can be part of a multi-pronged approach that will help you find relief fast.

Before you go buy one, here’s what Overland says you should keep in mind.

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When our friend (and fab writer) Anjali Prasertong first saw chef Tunde Way’s clever, surprising social experiment plans for his New Orleans pop-up restaurant, Saartj, she was understandably apprehensive. “I was kind of afraid,” she said. “Like, are white people just going to come to the window and yell at us?”

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We woke up this morning to find one of the best things ever sitting in our inboxes: an email from IKEA, showcasing all sorts of new goodies. We then spent the next few minutes (okay, hours) ogling all the pretty soon-to-be-released products. (Everything should be available by April.)

Here are some of our favorites. Warning: You may want to cancel any upcoming meetings.

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This time of year there are some pretty amazing craft-tastic ideas online and in magazines, making it entirely possible to devote days to creating museum-quality ova, but I prefer a less design-y and more rustic approach. After all, they’re eggs you might be stashing somewhere in the lawn. And with a small child in the house, this is not a project likely to involve X-Acto knives and tiny electrical tape stencils.

Easter is a reminder of fertility and abundance, so I say turn on nature’s color and let loose.

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Ask any acupressure practitioner, and they’ll tell you the body is marked by points that encourage natural healing when stimulated properly. For more than 5,000 years, acupressure has been used to combat illness, support healing in chronic conditions and give the body energy. But the best part about acupressure is you can practice it on […]

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As we move into a new era of health awareness, there’s more variety than ever available to us. Overall, this is a very good thing—the average Primal consumer now has far greater access to a wider range of organic, free range, pastured, GMO-free, wholesome foods and products.

But this presents something of a dilemma when it comes to gray areas like sweeteners. While I don’t have much of a sweet tooth myself, I’m not a anti-sweetener purist either. While I lean toward stevia or monkfruit, I get a lot of questions about sugar alcohols, in particular a product called Swerve Sweetener, particularly from the keto crowd. 

What To Know

Swerve Sweetener is a “natural” sweetener blend. Loved by low-carb and keto bakers, Swerve provides a similar level of sweetness to sugar and an ability to caramelize, making it an easy sweet substitute in many recipes. According to the manufacturers, Swerve is “zero-calorie, non-glycemic and safe for those living with diabetes, since it has no effect on blood glucose or insulin levels.”

That all sounds dandy, but what’s actually in the stuff?  Swerve Sweetener is composed of erythritol, oligosaccharides, and natural flavors. Let’s break it down further.

Erythritol

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that comprises the bulk of Swerve. In comparison to sugar, it’s said to be 60-70% as sweet and have a similar taste profile.

But that’s where the similarities stop. Containing a mere 0-0.2 calories per gram, erythritol is virtually calorie free.

As a sugar alcohol, erythritol is made from fermented glucose, usually sourced from corn. Considering Swerve uses only non-GMO corn, this probably isn’t too much of a concern for most folks, but it’s something to note. While the fermentation aspect is “natural,” there are certain synthetic processes along the erythritol production line, including hydrolysis to extract the glucose from corn or other fruits/veggies, and a crystallization phase to form the final product.

All in all, not too bad as far as sweeteners go. The scientific literature is positive regarding erythritol, showing no adverse effects on blood sugar and demonstrating beneficial effects on vascular function and oral health. Swerve also claims that erythritol is non-allergenic and less likely to cause digestive issues than other polyol sweeteners like xylitol. Good times.

Oligosaccharides

Next down the ingredient list are oligosaccharides. These are a type of prebiotic fiber otherwise labelled as inulin, providing additional sweetness for your tastebuds and a beneficial food source for all the little good guys hanging out in your gut. The oligosaccharides found in Swerve are likely sourced from starchy root vegetables like chicory root, onions and garlic.

Once again we have an ingredient that’s natural (in origin, at least), provides a beneficial effect in the GI tract, and doesn’t adversely effect blood sugar. That being said, those folks sensitive to FODMAPs might not react well to Swerve, on account of the oligofructose found in plants like chicory root.

Natural Flavors

This is where Swerve lets the team down a bit. Under the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations, any compound can be deemed a “natural flavor”, provided it was sourced from something natural. All well and good. But there’s very little legalities surrounding how that natural compound can be processed to form the end product (aka the natural flavor): it could be fried, distilled, squashed, roasted, acidified, discombobulated, or all of the above – just whatever takes the manufacturer’s fancy.

And by the time that natural compound makes it into your sweetener, it’s no more natural than the artificial flavors in the cheaper sweeteners further down the aisle. Can this flavor really be considered natural, then? I think not.

What’s more, Swerve has no legal obligation to disclose what that natural flavoring was actually derived from. On their site, there’s vague references to “natural flavor from citrus”, but really that doesn’t mean a heck of a lot in the grand scheme of things.

The Science On Swerve

Once again, the literature is overwhelmingly in favor of Swerve Sweetener. With regards to erythritol, high-dosage trials in rats (up to 4.6 g/kg) failed to show any chronic toxic or carcinogenic effects. Human trials at lower dosages (1 g/kg body weight—still a decent amount) didn’t reveal any gastrointestinal concerns or digestive upset, aside from higher fluid intake. That being said, there are anecdotal reports of some people personally not taking well to the stuff.

On the oligosaccharide front, it’s also reasonably smooth sailing. Oligosaccharides like those used in Swerve have been positively associated with improved gut microbial health and permeability, but there is a certain propensity for prebiotics like these to increase flatulence and have a mild laxative effect. Fair warning. Maybe it’s another reason to embrace the adage “a little goes a long way” here. 

Then there’s the natural flavors. There’s not a lot I can speak to here, not being privy to the actual contents of said natural flavors. It’s worth noting, however, that while the FDA requires natural flavors to be sourced from compounds that are considered GRAS, there have been times when GRAS ingredients and products have been taken off the shelves because the FDA didn’t do their homework.

Final Thoughts

At face value, and even below the surface, there’s nothing to complain about: Swerve Sweetener really does seem like the real deal. But it’s not my favorite sweetener when I reach for one, especially when I get that strange cooling sensation on the tongue after eating something sweetened with it. 

But the fact remains that most people tolerate Swerve well, and it’s won over much of the keto crowd—arguably some of the most discerning of all foodies. If you’re looking for a new sugar substitute, play around with Swerve, maybe mix it with other natural sweeteners to optimize taste, and see whether it works for you.

Thanks for reading everyone. Whats your take on Swerve? Do you use it? Tolerate it well? I’d love to hear your feedback. 

The post A Look At Swerve Sweetener appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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My favorite part about being an herbalist is geeking out over the relationship between humans and living things — like plants and fungus – that give us life.

This is probably a good time to establish that there is a difference between plants and fungus. There are so many differences, in fact, that they make up two distinct kingdoms: Plantae and Fungi.

Mushrooms, molds, and yeast comprise kingdom Funghi. Humans have relied on mushrooms for millennia as remedies to a wide range of illness and activity. The oldest European human mummy Otzi, who lived nearly 5,000 years ago, is thought to have strung two types of mushrooms around his neck: one as a remedy to intestinal parasites and the other as a means to carry fire from one location to another. The first type of mushroom is what’s called a polypore: mushrooms without gills that release spores through small pores or tubes. They grow annually on stumps and trunks of trees.

Reishi mushroom — which I’m seeing a lot of these days in cool (but in my opinion, packaging-excessive) elixirs — is one polypore that is getting a lot of hype. But what are they? Where do they live? And what do they do in our bodies?

Read more: Here’s What You Need to Know About Adaptogens

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Although we don’t shop there often, there’s a time and a place for Whole Foods. There are just a few things that I can’t find elsewhere, and sometimes I find myself in a pinch — like when my husband and I got up on a Sunday, perused our copy of The Food Lab cookbook, and decided nothing else would do for dinner but seared rib-eye. Our butcher shop, alas, is closed on Sunday, and we’re pretty picky about where our infrequent steak dinner comes from, so off to Whole Foods it was for some good beef.

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