Super Cukes Are Rich In Vitamins
What’s green on the outside, orange on the inside and produces a pickle that could combat cancer? USDA researchers have been experimenting with a new variety of cucumber that’s chock full of beta carotene, the trendy antioxidant that the body converts to Vitamin A.
The Washington Post reports that the cukes are a crossbreed between standard cucumbers and a rounder, almost melon-like variety discovered in China in the early 1980s.
Following several years of research, the feds are passing their seed stock along to commercial companies to perfect such details as disease resistance. It could be another several years before the newwave veggie shows up in supermarkets.
It’s a gas
Pardon me, would you have the time to make a telephone call?
The Grey Poupon people have set up a toll-free “Grey Poupon Upon Hotline” (1-800-473-4566) so you can tell them what kinds of foods you use their mustard on, er, upon, as part of the big buildup to National Mustard Day on Aug. 5.
Why bother? Every 100th caller will receive a free gift package including Grey Poupon in the handy new squeeze bottle, a “Pardon me” T-shirt and a recipe book.
There’s a limit of one call per household (violators will be forced to eat only French’s until further notice). The promotion runs through July 15.
Don’t buy it, rennet
Fun facts from the County Line cheese people in Waukesha, Wis. (no, we’ve never heard of them either): The average American consumes almost 24 pounds of cheese a year (about half of which remains on the body as visible weight).
The first cheese is believed to have been produced more than 4,000 years ago as the result of an accident by an Arabian merchant, who was probably moved to cry out: “I’ve created a Muenster!”
In a nationwide survey, 39 percent of adults called Newt Gingrich the “big cheese” in Washington, D.C. - almost as many as chose Bill Clinton (22 percent) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (20 percent) combined.
Last words: ‘Uh oh’
Before convicted killer Thomas Grasso was executed in Oklahoma, he requested SpaghettiOs for his final meal.
Instead, Grasso grumbled on the way to meet his maker: “I did not get SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know about this.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing