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The Seedy Side of Pumpkins

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By MARY KEITH

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 9, 2008

Q. What is the nutritional value of pumpkinseeds? Do they have a lot of digestive enzymes?

A. One ounce of dried or toasted pumpkinseeds has about 150 calories. Most of that comes from the 13 grams of fat, which is mostly polyunsaturated. It has about 7 grams of protein and 5 grams of carbohydrate.

Most of any enzymes they have will have been inactivated by the toasting or drying. Any that are still active will immediately be inactivated when they hit the strong acid in your stomach.

Q. What are cornichons? Can I just skip them in a recipe for cauliflower salad?

A. Cornichons are like gherkins but tart instead of sweet. They are tiny, sour French pickles. Leaving them out would change the taste of the salad. If you can't find them, dice some sour dill pickles as a rough substitute.

Q. How much is in a "small can" of evaporated milk? The recipe doesn't give cups or ounces and I don't want to make a trip to the store to buy a small can when I have a regular size can here.

A. Small cans of evaporated milk have 5 ounces - or 10 tablespoons, in case you don't have a cup that measures ounces. Regular cans are 12 ounces, so you can't just use half a can. How they arrived at such unusual sizes, I do not know!

Q. What's the best way to store cheddar cheese for a long time? We got a 5-pound chunk and mostly just use it for macaroni and cheese or casseroles.

A. Since casseroles are how you'll use most of it, you can freeze it. Cut it into pieces of a size that you can use in a week or two. Try to just hold it with the wrapper instead of your bare fingers to avoid putting contamination on it. Wrap each piece tightly in freezer-weight plastic wrap, then either in foil or in a sealable plastic freezer bag. Freeze them, and just thaw as needed. The cheese will crumble after it has been frozen, but the flavor will be fine.

Q. I got a list of recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals that also lists what the most is that we should eat of each in a day. I notice that for one of them, magnesium, the recommended amount is more than the maximum amount! How can that be?

A. Looking at the list, I can see why you're confused. But the problem is a missing footnote. The maximum amount is for what is taken as supplements, in pills, fortified foods or from other supplemental forms. The recommended amount is what is recommended from foods, and there is no problem if you take in more than the maximum amount in "real foods." The body can regulate those better than the amounts in purified supplement form. Men need 420 milligrams and women 320 milligrams from foods, and the supplement maximum is 350 milligrams a day.

Q. I'm about to bake bread. I have the recipe started already, and I just noticed that the expiration date on the jar of yeast was several months ago. What will happen if I use it anyway?

A. Probably you won't notice a difference if the jar has been refrigerated the whole time. At most, the dough won't rise as fast or as much. Proof it by mixing the required amount of yeast with a teaspoon of sugar in a quarter-cup of very warm water. If it gets nice and foamy within 10 to 15 minutes, you're in good shape. If it barely bubbles, then you either need to use more yeast, get fresh or make a starter with what you have to increase the amount of yeast. That would mean mixing the slow yeast with flour and water and letting it sit and grow for four to eight hours or overnight, then using that as the yeast in your recipe.

Q. What goes into a macedoine? That's what it said on the menu. My friend said it was just a sweetened fruit salad. But it definitely tasted different. Is there something else they put in it?

A. Usually a fruit macedoine is a mixture of chopped fresh fruit that has been soaked or at least drizzled with sugar syrup and a liqueur of a complementary flavor. You might have tasted the flavor of the liqueur that was used.

Mary A. Keith, a nutrition and health agent at Hillsborough County Extension, can be reached at (813) 744-5519 or mkeith@ufl.edu.

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