By Deena Shanker, Bloomberg

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ordered up new nutrition labels for cereal boxes, candy bars, and every other packaged food item in the supermarket. Soon, they will list not just how much sugar is inside, but whether that sugar was naturally occurring, as in raisins, or added later, as on the flakes that come with them.

Though this additional information won’t be required until next year, health advocates predicted that such legally mandated disclosure would deliver less-sugary foods in its wake. They were right.

Four Twizzler strawberry twists have the same sugar content as an apple, but clearly the fruit is a better choice—in no small part because it comes with fiber and Vitamin C. The FDA decision recognized that the source of sugar matters, and that listing “Sugars” alone doesn’t reflect that. The agency decision attempts to outsmart food manufacturers that commonly call added sugar ingredients by other names, such as high fructose corn syrup, agave, and fruit juice. Current-ingredients lists and nutrition-facts panels, the FDA was saying, can be surprisingly deceptive.

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 By Kathryn Reed

Summer vegetables never tasted so good – especially from a farmers market.

These corn cakes can be a meal unto themselves or a side. It’s the fresh corn and tomatoes that makes all the difference. Any other time of year and the sweetness just would not be the same.

I used Panko breadcrumbs because that’s what’s in the cupboard. Plain yellow cornmeal would be a good substitute.

While they tasted fine as leftovers, they were best that first night.

Corn Cakes with Salsa

¾ C whole wheat flour

½ C Panko

2 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp kosher salt, divided

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1 C light sour cream

2 large eggs

2 T olive oil, divided

1½ C fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)

2 T jalapeño, minced

½ C yellow squash, diced

¼ C green onions, chopped

¼ C fresh basil, chopped

1½ tsp white wine vinegar

1 medium tomato, chopped

Combine flour, Panko, baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.

Combine sour cream, eggs, jalapeño, corn and 1 tablespoon oil in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Add this mixture to the flour and stir well.

Heat a large nonstick griddle to medium-high. Divide corn mixture into 8 patties. Cook 6 minutes on each side.

Combine squash, green onions, basil, vinegar, tomato, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and remaining salt and pepper.

Serve salsa over corn cakes.

By Ashley Andrews, Reno Gazette-Journal

As a child, I squirreled away unpopped kernels from the bottom of a bag of microwave popcorn. I hid them in the pockets of my summer dress until I could plant them under the swing set. I hoped they would grow into a fairytale secret garden. They did not.

As an avid green thumb, I have continued my tradition of small gardening mistakes. Mini mess-ups are good to make. Hands-on experiences in seed-starting and pollination make me a better grower.

However, I put a lot of focus on avoiding big gardening mistakes, like E. coli.

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The 31st annual Autumn Food and Wine Festival returns to Northstar Sept. 9-11.

New this year are a Star Tour wine pairing, the final phase of competition for Northstar’s Mountain Kids Cook-Off, and a family movie night with wines for adults.

Renowned regional chefs, craft breweries, wineries and distilleries are all part of the mix. The three-day event culminates with the grand tasting that Sunday.

Events are in the Village at Northstar and the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe. The gourmet marketplace is ongoing throughout the event, where people can sample food and adult libations, while perusing artisan booths. There is no charge for the vendor fair.

For a complete list of events/activities and to purchase tickets, go online.

Barton Foundation’s 7th annual Cocktails for a Cause is Sept. 21.

This year’s event will benefit the expansion of Barton Health’s Cancer Wellness Program. The expanded program will address the social, emotional, and functional aspects of a patient’s cancer journey through supportive services such as massage, exercise, psychotherapy, and nutrition classes. The program will be offered free to community members undergoing cancer treatment.

At Cocktails for a Cause, attendees may sample a variety of libations made by local mixologists featuring Tahoe Blue Vodka.

The best cocktail will be featured at the Barton Foundation’s 25th annual Gala, a black-tie fundraiser at the Festival of Trees and Lights. Attendees are invited to vote for the Most Congenial Bartender with their tips, while the “Best Cocktail” will be determined by a panel of local celebrity judges based on taste, theme, originality, presentation, and connection to the cause.

Cocktails for a Cause takes place at Riva Grill from 5:30-8pm. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 on the day of the event.

By Denise Roland, Wall Street Journal

Scientists on opposite sides of the globe appear to be getting closer to harnessing one of red wine’s most elusive health-giving ingredients and putting it into a pill.

The ingredient, resveratrol, has been touted for years for its ostensible powers to prolong life and protect against a range of ailments including heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Studies pointing to those benefits have been performed in laboratories on yeast, worms, fruit flies and mice, among other organisms.

Testing those benefits in humans has proved more complex. Resveratrol occurs naturally in red wine at such low concentrations, and in combination with so many other substances, that studying its health benefits among wine drinkers isn’t practical. And purified resveratrol is broken down in the liver so quickly that it must be given at very high concentrations to prove effective.

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Homewood Mountain Resort will host a Craft Beer & Food Truck Festival on Aug. 28.

It will feature food trucks, live music and a craft beer garden from noon-4pm.

The event is free and open to all ages. An array of beers will be available for purchase by guests ages 21+, including taps from Lagunitas, Great Basin, Track 7, Founders and Elysian. Festival attendees will have the option of buying a flight for $15 that will allow them to sample all taps.

The food truck lineup will include food for purchase from Starkeys Food Truck, Red Truck, EATS Truckee and IceCycle Creamery.

Live music will be performed by Jeff Jones and Brad Perry.

By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Each year, Americans throw out 66 billion pounds of food — organic material wasting away at the bottom of a landfill.

While successful programs recycle tons of aluminum cans, glass, plastic, cardboard, and newspaper and help account for 63 percent of waste diverted from landfills in California, you can’t say the same about table scraps. With no widespread re-use and few programs, food waste has emerged as one of the biggest categories of refuse filling up the nation’s landfills, making up 18 percent of the trash buried in California landfills, according to state records.

Aside from the social issues of Americans wasting billions of pounds of food every year, there’s an environmental problem. Organic material decomposing in landfills creates methane, which can leak into the atmosphere. Methane is 87 times more potent in terms of warming the Earth than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, scientists point out.

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By Mike Dunne, Sacramento Bee

Memo to fans of El Dorado County wine, in particular those of Lava Cap Winery: Tom Jones hasn’t retired, he’s just moved south.

For nearly three decades, Jones was winemaker at Lava Cap, founded by his parents on Apple Hill outside Placerville in the early 1980s.

But in 2013 he and his wife, Beth Goodlin-Jones, sold their interest in the winery and began to scout for a place where he could resume winemaking.

They found it the next year, Amador Foothill Winery in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley, where owners Ben Zeitman and Katie Quinn were looking to retire.

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By Kathryn Reed

Watermelon has evolved since I was a kid. Then it was all about not getting in trouble for spitting the seeds. Today it’s all about finding new ways to use it.

This recipe is quick, fun and tasty.

It would be easy to have this as a side or dessert.

Just make sure your grill is hot before you start cooking. It will just take a few minutes to get those char marks.

Grilled Watermelon with Salsa

1 avocado, cut into small pieces

1 C cucumber, diced

3 T fresh lime juice

1 jalapeño, diced

¼ tsp ground cumin

¼ C olive oil, plus more for brushing

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 4-pound watermelon, cut into wedges

½ C cilantro

Light a grill so it will be hot when ready.

In a medium bowl, mix the avocado, cucumber, lime juice, jalapeño, cumin, cilantro and ¼ cup of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Brush the watermelon pieces with olive oil.

Grill over high heat, turning once, so it’s charred on both sides. Spoon the mixture on the watermelon. Optional — add cilantro sprig.