Nutrition & Health

 Nutrition Policy Institute researcher Ron Strochlic will retire from the University of California on July 1, 2026. Strochlic began his UC career at the UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health in January 2012 and in 2015, he and other staff transferred to NPI, one year after it was founded. In his 14…

Preserve it! Dehydrating your herbs Fresh herbs, whether purchased at a local grocery store or grown in your own herb garden, are easy to dehydrate and preserve. Start with a clean kitchen and clean countertops. Then, rinse the fresh herbs under running water to get rid of insects and dirt. Use a salad…

Results of 2025 UC Cooperative Extension field trials to evaluate tolerance of lettuce varieties to Fusarium wilt in Monterey and Santa Barbara counties.

Preserve Today, Relish Tomorrow. Many of our local u-pick blueberry farms are open between late-May and mid-July. We all know blueberries are pretty expensive, but, oh, so worth the effort and expense. Here is a recipe that gets the most out of your harvest basket: Blueberry Bonanza is two recipes in…

Will your garden soil produce well? One of the best items to check is your soil pH or acidity. pH stands for the “potential of hydrogen” and is a scale that indicates whether your soil is acid or alkaline (basic). The pH scale runs from 0 to 14 with 7.0 being neutral. If your pH is below…

June bugs are among the most familiar insects of early summer. Although people commonly call them “bugs,” they are actually scarab beetles in the genus Phyllophaga. These beetles are usually brown, oval-shaped, and active at night, often flying clumsily around porch lights. Their larvae, known as white grubs…

A new Nutrition Policy Institute research brief summarizes a 2026 study: “Measuring change in school-based practices that promote children’s healthy eating and active living: A psychometric study.” This study evaluated the ability of the previously validated School Site-Level Assessment Questionnaire, or…