Add Green to Your Salt Lineup

Your salt wardrobe may already include black and pink. But what about green? A new naturally green salt substitute produced from salicornia, a halophyte, has hit the market. Decades ago, José Ramón Noriega planted salicornia on salt-affected farmland in northern Baja California, Mexico. Now his sons, Paul, Erick and Irving Noriega, and another partner, Chris…

A Book to Inspire in the Kitchen

Through a series of profiles, reminiscences, essays, interviews and recipes, “Why We Cook” explores many facets of women in the world of food. More than 100 chefs, writers, entrepreneurs, farmers, wine experts and educators contributed to this lively book. The bright illustrations are by the author, Lindsay Gardner, who seeks to understand exactly why she…

At Least One Thing Good Came Out of 2020

Olive oil is made all over Italy, but no region produces oils as singular as those from Tuscany. Mannie Berk, the president of the Rare Wine Company in Brisbane, Calif., is a connoisseur who has had Tuscan extra-virgin olive oils bottled for his company since 1995. Lately, he has found them lacking their customary verve…

A New Home for Wondrous Pastries

The merveilleux, the signature pastry made by Frédéric Vaucamps in Lille, France, has been available in his small shop on Jane Street in the West Village for many years. Now the company, which has 46 shops worldwide, has opened a second New York store, a flagship in Midtown named for the pastry. The feather-light cake…

The Joy of Plantains

Good morning. Yewande Komolafe is in The Times this week with a fantastically detailed and informative treatise on plantains that will, I hope, encourage you to cook with the fruit more than you already do — which may be often or may be not at all. Of course she has recipes to help you on…