OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. To keep you sated between episodes, we’ve brought on food writer Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian and ecologist, to highlight different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she offers a recipe for cold sesame noodles and some tips for eating well during a heat wave.

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It is truly feeling like summer out there — the corn is knee-high and we’ve been stuffing ourselves on hot dogs and potato salad. It’s also our favorite time of year to enjoy a crisp and fruity beer on a shady patio, preferably with our feet tucked into a bucket of cold water. Thankfully for us Northwesterners, there are hundreds of local beers to choose from because craft brewing was pretty much invented here. What Portland-born microbrewing institution turns 40 this month? Read on to find out!

Petri dish pork chops, booze that makes history, how to eat well while staying cool, and a new series

Freshly picked morsels from the Pacific Northwest food universe:

Can lab-grown meat save the environment?

The reasons behind what and how we eat are varied and sometimes complicated, but most people who eat a plant-based diet list carbon footprint and animal welfare high among the reasons they don’t eat meat. Growing meat in a field is certainly costly with regard to the space and energy required to feed, slaughter and deliver animals to our plates, but can cultivated meat produced on a commercial scale deliver us from a warming planet? The MIT Technology Review unpacks this new issue.

The country’s first zero-proof distillery opens its tasting room

Hood River-based Wilderton has opened a tasting room where visitors can sample the booze-free botanical spirits either alone or in cocktails. It’s the first nonalcoholic distillery in America, helmed by wunderkind Seth O’Malley, former head distiller at Townshend’s Distillery (RIP) and mastermind behind some of Straightaway’s most complex vermouths and amari.

McMenamins celebrates 40 years

This month in 1983, two Portland brothers opened the Barley Mill Pub on Southeast Hawthorne in Portland, Oregon, and within a couple years helped launch the microbrewery movement that would come to symbolize culture in the Northwest. Over the decades they’ve added 55 properties to their repertoire, including 20 restored historic buildings now functioning as movie theaters, hotels and pool halls. The Oregonian spoke with Brian McMenamin about his and his brother’s legacy here in the Northwest.

Lifehacks for eating well while keeping your kitchen cool

We could go on for pages listing summer dishes that won’t heat up your home, but isn’t it more fun to hack kitchen tools instead? Here’re some tips:

• Use a tea maker (or the microwave) instead of the stove to heat water for fast-cooking stuff like couscous, fine bulgur wheat, rice vermicelli, and glass (mung bean) noodles. These “cook” by soaking in hot water rather than boiling. Noodles can soak in plain hot water since they’ll be drained and sauced, but it’s a nice idea to season the water for couscous and bulgur wheat so they absorb something flavorful. Then just pile on your favorite vegetables and protein.
• You can cook more than just rice in a rice cooker! Add your protein, veg, and seasoning to the pot with the rice and make the whole meal all at once. You can also use it to heat soup, chili, or even taco filling and keep it warm.
• On one really sweltering day last summer, we channeled our inner Ed Begley Jr. and rigged a solar cooker by merely applying the glass lid to a frying pan and leaving it in the sun — our legal team insists we mention that we don’t recommend cooking meat this way unless you can be sure to get the internal temperature high enough but you can certainly use it to heat a veggie burger, melt cheese, or wilt some greens.

New series: ‘I’m Begging You, Please Save Me From All This Superabundance’

Whether we’re avid gardeners or just have ambitious neighbors, we’ve all been there: standing in front of a basket overflowing with one single fruit or vegetable. “Please, for the love of all that is good, save me from all these zucchini/pears/raspberries/etc.,” we’ve muttered under our breath. It doesn’t help that our superabundance comes at the time of year that precisely no one wants to stand in front of a stove. (Not that we don’t love a salad — we just like noodles more, see above.) Our new newsletter series promises to help, from now through the harvest season. We’ll start with a request from our colleague Michael Bendixen, who asked OPB’s food Slack channel for suggestions on using his surplus of Swiss chard. Chard patties from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book “Jerusalem” were mentioned and baked “Company” eggs from Bon Appetit got a nod. He could also make a sort of deconstructed spanakopita (if he doesn’t want to turn on the oven) by sautéing chopped chard with garlic and dill and mixing with pine nuts, a creamy feta sauce and pasta. What vegetables are you buried in right now? Send us an email and we’ll help!

Good things in markets

Summer produce has arrived! Northwest-grown raspberries are still at their peak, and we’re starting to get really beautiful cucumbers, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes too. But let’s give it up for the stone fruits — it’s our favorite summer produce, because the Northwest does it best. Local cherries continue to gleam, and our friends John Becker and Megan Scott, the Portland-based duo behind the latest edition of “Joy of Cooking,” just made a galette with juicy Robada apricots (a USDA-patented variety released in 1997) that looked incredible.

Recipe: Cold sesame salad to save you from a hot kitchen

It’s really feeling like summer out there, but grilling just never sounds good when it’s hot out — if you ask us, only a sadist wants to stand in front of a hot grill when it’s in the 90s. Noodle salads to the rescue! OK, you do technically have to cook, but we offer this pro tip: Cook the noodles in the cool of the morning, and the noodles will have longer to absorb the delicious sauce. You can enjoy this as-is, but we usually add protein of some sort, like cubed tofu (the baked teriyaki kind is great here) or some chopped rotisserie chicken. If you like it spicy, add a few pinches of chile flake or a dribble of your favorite chile oil. Serves 2-4 (this recipe makes enough for 2 large servings by itself or 4 servings if you add protein).

Ingredients

8 oz thin, straight noodles such as udon, soba or linguine

1 cup chopped greens such as baby bok choy or spinach

½ cup julienned carrots

¼ cup sesame oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp mirin (or 1 tsp honey)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 tbsp minced ginger

½ tsp ground white pepper

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Chile flake or chile oil for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. In the last minute of cooking, add the greens and carrots, then strain and rinse with cold water.
2. While the noodles are cooking, whisk the remaining ingredients. Pour the sauce over the strained noodles and chill for at least 30 minutes, preferably a few hours. If you stash the noodles in an airtight container you can shake it every few hours to ensure the noodles are evenly coated.
3. Add chile if you like, and serve.

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