This Holiday Tastes Sweet

September may be the sweetest month of all in the Jewish faith.

Rosh Hashana, the religious New Year, begins at sundown Friday. And honey plays a major part in the holiday’s menus, in hopes that the coming year will be sweet.

Ashkenazic Jews, whose roots are in eastern and central Europe, traditionally begin the meal by dipping apples in honey and eat a dense honey cake for dessert.

Sephardic Jews, who originated in Spain and Portugal, use honey as a dip for fried pastries that often are made with anise or sesame seeds, which symbolize fertility.

Other dishes are often sweetened, too, including sweet potatoes in place of regular potatoes, caramelized onions and meats cooked with fruits and honey or sugar.

Safety patrol

While children are the ones going back to school these days, adults could stand to brush up on a few subjects, too — such as food safety.

In conjunction with National Food Safety Education Month, the International Food Safety Council has produced a brochure called “Cook It Safely — It’s a Matter of Degrees.”

Along with several safe food preparation tips, it includes a chart showing what internal temperatures various meats should be cooked to in order to destroy dangerous bacteria. (Of course, completing that lesson could require a field trip to the kitchen shop, since fewer than half of American adults own a food thermometer.)

For a free copy, call toll-free to (800) 266-5762.

Kitchen aid

For those interested in cooking school, the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation will award an estimated $1 million in scholarships for the 2000/2001 school year.

Scholarships are available for high school seniors, college students in culinary programs and professionals pursuing graduate degrees, as well as work-study grants for cooking teachers who want practical restaurant experience.

Application deadlines range from November to next July. For applications, call toll-free to (800) 765-2122, ext. 733, or visit www.edfound.org.

Palate-ically correct

Mystery meat may finally have met its match in school cafeterias in — where else? — Berkeley, Calif.

City schools in the famed counterculture mecca are starting to serve all-organic meals, including pesticide-free baby carrots, sandwiches made with organic bread and milk free of bovine growth hormones. Students will grow some of their own food in school gardens, with the rest supplied by local farmers.