With news that the world may or may not be on the verge of a swine flu pandemic, Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization is dropping the colloquial term for the H1N1 virus, due in part to objections from the pork industry. The World Organization for Animal Health called Egypt’s decision yesterday to slaughter every pig in the nation “inappropriate” and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack confessed to eating pork twice in the last 24 hours as part of an effort to demonstrate that the combination human/avian/swine flu is not a food-borne illness and has not at this point been found in any actual swine.

So has the news affected your cooking or your appetite this week? Is it business as usual in your kitchen or does the thought of bacon give you pause?

In my constant quest to make use of parsley stems, parmesan rinds and other remnants that often get snubbed and tossed, I found myself wondering about those green leaves at the end of a pile of rhubarb stalks I picked up at the farmers market yesterday afternoon. Were they off-limits or had I just been ignoring them all my rhubarb-eating years? So I did a little research to find out if rhubarb leaves were edible. Here’s what I found out.

Defrosting food by running it under hot water or leaving it out on the counter is not recommended by the USDA, which advocates three safe methods.

Reference: What’s the safest way to defrost food? (Cookthink)