It’S A Baffling Bean Scene

A bean is a bean is a bean. Think all beans taste the same? You’re not alone. The mother-daughter team from The Dreaded Broccoli Cookbook and newsletter held a bean-tasting event to find out if anyone can tell the difference between a pinto and black or a chickpea and a black-eyed.

They cooked the beans in just a bit of water and pureed them so the tasters (many of them food professionals) couldn’t distinguish them by size and shape. Six beans — kidney, black, imported French lima, great Northern, cranberry and pinto — were tested along with black-eyed peas and chickpeas.

Of the 11 panelists, four identified none of the beans correctly. Four identified one, two identified two and one identified three correctly. Their conclusion: Beans, for the most part, taste the same (at least when pureed and spoon-fed to you). For the full story on beans, head to www.dreadedbroccoli.com.

Breast cancer awareness

Pampered Chef consultants have teamed up with the American Cancer Society to promote breast cancer awareness throughout the month of May. For every Twixit! Clip product that Pampered Chef consultants sell this month, $1 will be donated to breast cancer early detection programs. The five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer at an early stage is more than 96 percent. For more information, contact your Pampered Chef consultant or call Nicole Bauer at (509) 327-0302.

Just another cream puff

You say you like your churros fluffy and light, not doughy and cakey? Reader Norma Hodgson, who two weeks ago saw a recipe in this section for Spanish doughnut sticks, shared this tip for light and fluffy treats. Use any cream puff recipe and squeeze the batter through a star-shaped pastry tube into hot oil and fry until golden and crispy on the outside. Dip the crispy brown treats in cinnamon and sugar to taste.

Cast away!

The race is on. Actually, there’s probably already a winner, but this went to print before Monday’s scheduled official opening of the Copper River Salmon season. Some 500 boats were expected in Prince William Sound vying to catch the season’s first Copper River Salmon. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game controls this carefully monitored run, which produces that coveted fish. Now, if only the fish will cooperate, we might actually see some in this area before too long.