A hallmark of reason is that opinions change when new information gives good cause.  The truth is that habits and social inertia are a bit harder to change.  This dichotomy could not be better illustrated than thru the American nutritional relationship with dietary fats.  Now, changes to ubiquitous food labeling are helping support a known shift in perspective on fats in our food.

If you buy packaged foods, like many Americans you are intimately familiar with the Nutrition Facts Label. You know, that minimalistic black-and-white label on the side or back of more than 6.5 billion food packages; the stark info table above the ingredients list that doesn’t judge your food choices, but neither does it hide the truth about your foods’ salt and sugar content. Although instantly recognizable to us all, the Nutrition Facts label is only 20 years young. Per recommendation of the FDA, The label was born in 1990 under provision of the Nutrition and Labeling and Education Act, and it has remained essentially unchanged since then. From that perspective, 20 years is a long time for something to go unchanged or without revision.

The FDA announced dramatic changes to the Nutrition facts label layout in 2016, and will be requiring it on packaged foods next year. It may appear much the same as it does today, but we’re awfully excited about the details of the new label. 

The label has always been used to direct consumers focus to the nutritional components of a food that bear the most significance on their health. Since the changes are based on recent scientific research and updated public health information, the label has been modified to shift that focus elsewhere. For example, “Total Fat,” “Saturated Fat,” and “Trans Fat” will remain on the label but “Calories from Fat” is being removed. Despite conventional (and outdated) dietary advice, research has shown that fat is not linked to the chronic nutritional diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. It is more important to know what type of fat is in a food than how much of its energy content fat contributes (1,2)

This is very vindicating for Kriemhild, being we are bringers of full-fat dairy. A serving of our Crème Fraîche provides 100 delicious, filling calories, and we’ve listened to many-a-customer gush with guilt they need not feel when they realize that all 100 of those calories are from fat (wholesome & beneficial fat, but fat none the less). Though food producers originally had been mandated to put ‘calories from fat’ on their packaging to encourage consumers to move towards low-fat diets, nutrition science has since found overwhelming evidence supporting the health benefits of good fat in our diets. 

Although there is a growing body of scientific evidence over the last decade to debunk the “fat makes you fat” myth, the ‘calories from fat’ still acts as a scarlet letter marking our Nutrition Labels and infecting our conscience; and so this guilt-trigger remains for many of us. Ideally, it’s removal will encourage the public to embrace healthy fats like those from grass fed or grass grazed dairy.

Instead of demonizing fat, the new Nutritional Facts label will shine a light on the real culprit of an unhealthy diet: added sugar. ‘Added sugar’ was not originally added to the original nutritional facts label because (at that time) the FDA stated that the body made no physiological distinction between added and naturally occurring sugars.  This has old stance has since been proven false (1,2)

On the new label ‘Added sugar’ will be nested under total sugar. This way, after a little math, you can determine how much sugar in your food is natural sugar, like lactose in milk, and how much is added by the producer (1). Many low-fat or fat-free foods, especially dairy, claim to be healthier that their full-fat counterparts when in fact they typically have large amounts of added sugar to improve the taste and thickeners to simulate the texture of the full-fat version. We are proud to say that this more transparent labeling practice will only further underscore the wholesome makeup of our grass-based dairy (being added sugar and stabilizer free) and empower you to compare the facts on sugar content between your selections at the store.

There are more differences between the original and second generation of our familiar Nutrition Facts label, and we encourage you to learn more about them here.  It is one of Kriemhild's virtues to be transparent, and we feel that information is empowering to our customers.  

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this new Nutrition Facts label.  Do you feel these changes better equip you to make healthy choices?  Did grandma have it right, resisting the low-fat movement thru the last few decades?  Let us know in the comments below, or on social media.

Sources:

1. https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm385663.htm
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/05/20/heres-a-first-look-at-the-fdas-new-nutrition-label-and-10-reasons-why-its-different-from-the-old/?utm_term=.0973ce8db78a

Makes: 6 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 8 ounces uncooked chicken or turkey Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 (5- to 6-ounce) bag baby spinach
• 10 large eggs
• ¾ cup crème fraiche
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more for seasoning
• 6 (1-ounce) slices cheese, like cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Swiss
• 6 English muffins, regular or whole-wheat

Instructions:

• Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375°F. Meanwhile, grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or oil.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the sausage and cook, breaking the meat up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
• Add the spinach and cook until wilted and the liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes.
• Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and spread into an even layer.
• Whisk the eggs together with the crème fraiche and salt in a large mixing bowl. Pour into the baking dish.
• Bake until the eggs are puffed around the edges with golden spots, and a paring knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely.
• While the eggs are cooling, place the English muffins cut-side up on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for just a few minutes, until the edges are toasted. If desired, you can brush the muffins with butter before toasting.
• Use a spatula to lift the eggs out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Using a large biscuit cutter or drinking glass (roughly the same size as your English muffins), cut 6 rounds out of the eggs. (Save the
• scraps to make breakfast quesadillas.)
• Lay the bottom halves of the English muffins in a row on a work surface. Top each one with an egg round and a slice of cheese. Finish by adding the muffin tops.
• Wrap each sandwich in a square of aluminum foil. Use a permanent marker to write the contents and date on the sandwich. Put all the sandwiches in a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 1 month.

Reheating instructions:

• Unwrap the frozen sandwich and place on a microwave-safe plate lined with a paper towel. (The towel helps absorb some of the melting ice so the bread doesn't get soggy.)
• Heat at full power for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the frittata is warmed through. (You can also toast the muffin top separately, if you'd like.)
• Frozen breakfast sandwiches can also be reheated in a 325°F oven until heated through, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Recipe Notes:
Hot breakfast sandwiches for a crowd:

• You can serve everything right away. Assemble the sandwiches after all the components are out of the oven, while the eggs are still warm.
• To melt the cheese, place the open-faced sandwiches in the warm oven for a few minutes, then add the toasted English muffin top.

Refrigerator breakfast sandwiches:

• You can also refrigerate all the sandwich components separately and assemble them when ready to eat. All the components will keep for up to 5 days

.

Ingredients:

Homemade Pumpkin Butter:

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup apple cider or juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pumpkin Butter Rolls:

• 2/3 cup homemade pumpkin butter (see above)
• ¾ cup (180 ml) whole milk
• 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ¼ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons (55 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Creme Fraiche Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• ½ cup (115 g) creme fraiche
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

• Prepare the pumpkin butter: In a medium saucepan, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until the mixture has reduced and thickened. Set aside to cool completely before using.
• As the pumpkin butter is cooking, prepare the rolls. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until it is body temperature (you can also use the microwave for this). Transfer the warm milk to a large bowl and stir in the yeast. Let the mixture sit until the yeast is dissolved and looks cloudy, about 5 minutes. A few bubbles on the surface is also a good sign that your yeast is ready.
• Crack one of the eggs into a small bowl and beat with a fork. Add the beaten egg to the milk-yeast mixture, along with the flour, granulated sugar, salt, and butter. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If after a minute or two of mixing it doesn’t pull away from the bowl, add a little more flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it does. If the dough seems far too dry and impossible to mix, add a little more milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it becomes a little more forgiving.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into a large ball and knead it by pressing it with the heel of your hand and pushing it away from you, then immediately pulling it back, folding the top of the dough back on itself. Turn the dough clockwise a little bit each time you push and pull it so that it gets evenly worked, and knead it until its surface is completely smooth and the whole thing feels both solid and soft at the same time. It will take a solid 5 minutes of kneading.
• Put the dough back in the large bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit in the warmest spot in your kitchen until it’s soft and puffy and just about doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Return the dough to the lightly floured work surface and use a floured rolling pin to roll it into a large oval rectangle measuring roughly 18 in long and 12 in wide. Spread the surface of the dough evenly with 2/3 cup pumpkin butter, leaving a ½-in border. Starting from a long side, roll the dough up tightly so you end up with an 18-in rope. Cut the rope into a dozen even slices.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the buns, spiraled-butter-side up, on the prepared baking sheet in relatively even rows. The buns should be touching each other but not shoving each other and the seams on the rolls should be facing inward in the “huddle” so that they don’t unravel in the oven. Cover the buns loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until they’ve risen a bit and are soft and puffy, about 1 hour. Or, so you can prepare them the night ahead, let them rise at room temperature for just 30 minutes, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, pull them out and let return to room temperature, about 1 hour, before proceeding.
• Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F. Crack the remaining egg into a small bowl and whisk it with 1 Tbsp water. Uncover the buns and brush them with the egg mixture. Discard whatever egg mixture is left over.
• Bake the buns until they’re beautifully browned and the exposed butter is caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes. While the buns are in the oven, in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, crème fraîche, and vanilla.
• Drizzle the hot buns with the crème fraîche mixture. Serve immediately. These buns are best served warm out of the oven.

Yield: 2 smoothies
Prep Time: 5 min
Total Time: 5 min

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 2 Tbsp lemon grass
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

• Add the banana and berries to a blender or food proceesor, pulse a few times.
• Add the yogurt, almond milk, crème fraîche and lemongrass and blend until a smooth consistency is reached.
• Enjoy at home or on-the-go!

Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
​Servings: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 large rainbow swiss chard leaf, rinsed and dried
• 1.5 Tbsp natural salted peanut butter (crunchy is best)
• 1 medium (perfectly ripe) banana
• 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal
• 1 handful basil
• 5 tbsp Creme fraiche

Instructions:

• Flatten your rainbow chard and, with a knife, shave the stem down so it's easier to roll up.  Alternatively, cut out the bottom portion that tends to be more rigid.
• Starting at the bottom about 1/4 of the way up (see photos) smear on peanut butter, creme fraiche, add flaxseed, banana and basil and roll the whole thing up like a regular wrap, tucking the sides in as you near the top. If your banana isn't ripe/sweet enough, add a drizzle of honey or agave to sweeten.
• Secure with a tooth pick and cut in half. Or, simply grasp in your hands and enjoy immediately! I ate half at breakfast and carried the other half in a baggy for a snack later on. It was just as delicious a few hours later.

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 7 (1/2 cup servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (135 g) rolled oats (gluten free for GF eaters)
• 1/2 cup (32 g) raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup (56 g) raw almonds (or pecans)
• 1/2 cup (56 g) raw sunflower seeds
• 3 Tbsp (30 g) hemp seeds
• 2 Tbsp (24 g) chia seeds
• 1/4 cup (35 g) dried cranberries
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Arrange oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and sunflower seeds on baking sheet and spread into an even layer. If any of your nuts or seeds are already roasted, do not add them to the pan and reserve to add later.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly toasted and golden brown, stirring once at the halfway point.

Optional serving add-ons include fresh fruit (I love banana) and/or a drizzle of maple syrup.  Enjoy!