Go Green! Eco-friendly
kitchen tools in vogue

by DENISE LINDBO
Contributing writer

Editor’s note: April 2010 marks the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. This article is presented to acknowledge this important date..

As I was looking around the store today to see what to write about, I remembered an article I read recently in National Geographic on the California redwood trees. Apparently, we humans have cut down over 95 percent of the redwoods that grew in the California region. Yikes! No wonder they are having such issues with mud slides with no beautiful trees left to hold the soil in place.

We do try hard here at Gourmet Chef to do our part with helping the environment, with recycling as many boxes, paper, empty plastic or glass bottles as possible. You never know how much it’s really helping, but you got to try.
 
So, I started looking for items in our store that are eco-friendly. Here’s what I came up with. Just today we received in a line of BPA-free storage containers made in New Zealand called Klip Its. Coming in assorted sizes and shapes, these are safe for microwave, dishwasher, and freezer. They cut down on the plastic bags that get tossed because no one likes cleaning them out.

Plus, my 8-year-old son thought it was the coolest thing ever to keep his stash of candy corn in. Speaking of kids, we have a fun line of stainless steel kid-safe drinking bottles with cute patterns on them. Hopefully, they’ll get filled with fresh clean water instead of pop.
 
Bamboo dishcloths and towels have been a big hit lately. Besides being extremely soft, they are very absorbent. It’s hard to believe all the uses there are for bamboo, from flooring to kitchen utensils to towels! Save those redwoods! Use bamboo. We also have barbeque tools that are made with recycled stainless steel, and farm-raised bamboo handles.
 
When we went to the International Housewares Show in Chicago in last March, one of the biggest pushes was for green products. Many of the cookware companies have made eco-friendly cookware. They are PTFE- and PFOA-free, ceramic-based non-stick, and have recycled stainless steel handles.

Even the packaging is made from 100 percent recycled materials and is printed with soy ink. Epicurean cutting boards, based out of Duluth are made using eco-select paper from trees harvested under the guidelines of the North American Sustainable Forestry Standards. Plus, they will last much longer than a regular wood cutting board and are dishwasher safe.
 
Republic of Teas carries a number of teas that are Fair Trade Certified, use only sustainable ingredients, and are made in canisters that are recyclable. We even got in a line of organic cinnamon from Sumatra where the company donates 5 percent of all profits to protect orangutan habitat.

So, slowly many of the companies are becoming aware that being eco-friendly is also friendly to their bottom line. Hey, as long as it helps the environment and helps save the only planet that our kids are going to grow up on.
 
Happy cooking and Go Green.

The author is owner of Gourmet Chef at 122 Main Street South.