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Verjus coming

A tart tonic of sour grape juice may be making its way into your glass - not to mention your salad dressing, pan sauces and stews. Long revered by European chefs for its earthy tartness - and known for the zing in Dijon mustard - verjus is the non-alcoholic, unfermented juice of sour grapes. It can be used instead of any acid and provide a base for cocktails as a stand-in for sour mix.

In August, unripened chardonnay and pinot-noir grapes were harvested from a Kendall-Jackson vineyard in Monterey, Calif., to produce about 4,000 bottles of verjus to be sold in the spring at major retailers and supermarkets nationwide.

Healthy Chinese

Chinese takeout is always a treat, but it can be hard to sort out whether it's a healthy one. Of course, with egg rolls, spare ribs and fried rice, there's not much guessing. But when it comes to the vegetable stir-frys and noodle dishes, the answer isn't as obvious as we'd like.

In principle, most Chinese stir-frys and noodle or rice dishes should be nutritionally sound, with lots of vegetables and carbohydrates, and smaller amounts saturated fat from meat. But those ingredients usually are accompanied by plenty of oil and sodium in the wok.

If you really want to enjoy the healthy balance of ingredients in Chinese dishes, you can take matters into your own hands. For instance, homemade chicken and shiitake-mushroom lo mein has all the flavor of the restaurant version, but just four teaspoons of oil and a lot less sodium. You can substitute whole-wheat spaghetti for the traditional lo mein noodles.

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