All posts by Heather Griffith

Brainfood

A Religions Overview

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In A Religions Primer, I introduced the basic elements of religions and reasons you may or may not be interested in exploring particular faith practices. Below are some of the (still-very-general) specifics of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam—the top four world religions by population.

Photo by Sara Slattery

As I write this, my heart is trembling a little bit. My personal faith practice is a huge part of who I am, and I have close friends for whom different beliefs play just as big a role in their lives. My goal here is to give a general overview of a few world religions, hopefully in a way that helps you learn more about a certain faith. But I am a student of religions, not an expert: if I at all misrepresent a part of your faith, please leave a comment below so that I can remedy the mistake. Rather than in-depth or comprehensive descriptions, consider the following as a springboard for you to continue your own education and exploration. In the interest of space, I won’t mention the many other smaller religions and faith practices out there.

Buddhism

Basic Ideas

Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who abandoned his wealthy life in order to seek enlightenment. He achieved enlightenment after meditating under the Bodhi tree for forty-nine days, after which he sought to share what he had learned so that others may be freed of life’s suffering. He advocated a balance called the Middle Way between self-indulgence and self-denial, and he delivered a set of teachings called the Dharma that reveal how to achieve freedom from suffering. They include the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, among others. Buddhism teaches that there is rebirth after death, but not because our individual souls keep living; rather, we continue being reborn after we die until we attain enlightenment and freedom from suffering. BuddhaNet is a good next step if you want to keep digging deeper.

Weekly Practices

Following the Buddha’s Dharma is the place to start. Meditation is an important daily practice in Buddhism; in order to free yourself from suffering, you need to be aware of your own sources of suffering. The practice of mindfulness—being aware of yourself, your actions, and your motivations—permeates daily life for many Buddhists. Community service is also highly valued.

Faith Community

The Buddha Dharma Education Association has compiled a World Buddhist Directory of Buddhist centers and organizations around the world. You can narrow your search by continent, country, state, and type of Buddhist tradition, making it fairly easy to find Buddhist communities in your area.

Christianity

Basic Ideas

The foundation of all Christian denominations is the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth: raised as a Jew under the Roman Empire, Jesus was  the prophesied son of the monotheistic creator God, sent to redeem humankind. Jesus performed miracles of healing and gave many teachings, the basis of which form the Gospel books of the Bible. Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to crucifixion for the crimes of claiming to be divine and creating political and cultural unrest. Christianity teaches that Jesus was resurrected three days after he was entombed, visited with his disciples and followers, and then ascended into heaven. The Gospel books and books written by early Christians form the New Testament, which in combination with the Jewish Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, form the writings that inform Christian religious practices. One core belief is that humans are imperfect and need redemption to be worthy of an eternal afterlife in heaven. Jesus’s crucifixion is believed to be the sacrifice necessary to redeem humankind’s failures, so acceptance of him is seen as the way to baptism and redemption. Each Christian denomination interprets the Bible differently, and here is a chart that gives a sense of their main differences.

Weekly Practices

Most Christian practices revolve around a gathering or service on Sunday, often in a cathedral, church, or other designated meeting area. Services may include singing hymns or other songs of worship; a message delivered by the priest, pastor, or minister; and spoken or silent prayer, along with other rituals. Outside of the Sunday gathering, practices range from meeting in small groups for prayer and Biblical study to individual daily following of Christian principles.

Faith Community

Churches of many denominations are easily found throughout the United States.  If you’re not sure where to start, this directory has a fairly comprehensive list of churches by denomination, so you’ll be all set to explore.

Hinduism

Basic Ideas

Hinduism doesn’t have a particular founder, and its various forms may follow one deity, many deities, or the sacred nature within all of existence. The Vedas are a collection of scriptures that contain many of the beliefs that Hindus follow, though there are several other sacred texts as well. One core belief is that Truth is the one Reality, but this belief can be expressed in a variety of ways—Truth can be thought of as Brahman, the sacred nature that is all-inclusive, eternal, and that encompasses all existence in the universe. Gods and goddesses in Hindu traditions are considered expressions of Brahman, and a person’s soul in relation to Brahman is often described using the metaphor of a drop of water in the ocean. The dharma is what Hindus strive to achieve in their lives, and can be interpreted as morality, duty, or right conduct. (Sound familiar? Gautama Buddha was raised in a Hindu society, and his Dharma came out of his experiences with Hindu dharma.) Unlike Buddhism, Hinduism holds that our individual souls are immortal and are reincarnated into new bodies after we die. Karma, your actions in this life and all of your past lives, determine what kind of body your soul will inhabit in your next life. The ultimate goal is moksha: liberation of the soul from the cycle of life and death by realizing its true nature and uniting with Brahman.

Weekly Practices

Many Hindu practices include daily or weekly rituals centered around shrines with sculptures and images of deities in their own homes—these follow bhaktimarga, or the path of devotion. Other practices called jnanamarga, or the path of philosophy, don’t involve deities at all and instead focus on Brahman through meditation. A third branch of practices—karmamarga, the path of works and action—is based on fulfilling the social and moral roles specific to one’s lot in life. All three paths are equally valid. For more specific rituals and practices such as Ayurveda, different types of yoga, and the daily puja, here is a list to get you started.

Faith Community

Temples, ashrams (religious centers or monasteries), shakhas (Hindu theological schools), and Hindu cultural centers are good places to get plugged into communities of practicing Hindus. This comprehensive directory lists such places located in the United States.

Islam

Basic Ideas

Somewhat similar to Christianity, Islam is founded upon the belief that there is one all-knowing God (Allah) and one man (Muhammad) who was chosen to communicate divine truths to humankind. The central creed of Islam is called the Shahada: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God.” Unlike Jesus, Muhammad was not divine; rather, he was the last in a line of great prophets who received messages from God to give to humanity. The Qur’an is the central scripture of Islam and contains the teachings given to Muhammad from God through the angel Gabriel. The teachings show how to live life in a way that pleases God, so that after death one’s soul will be judged worthy of spending eternity in Jannah (paradise) rather than in Jahannam (the abyss).

Weekly Practices

The Five Pillars of Islam are considered the essential practices of the faith. They include the Shahada, or confession of faith; the Salat, or ritual prayer performed five times a day; the Zakat, or alms tax; the Sawm, a period of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; and the Hajj, a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. (Exceptions to the Sawm and the Hajj are made for Muslims who are physically or financially unable to fulfill these duties.) Certain sects of Islam have other practices in addition to the Five Pillars.

Faith Community

Muslim places of worship are called mosques, but many Muslims also gather at community centers and Islamic schools. Here is a directory of mosques and Islamic schools in the United States.

Still interested? Or want to learn about a religion I didn’t cover? There are a lot of great resources out on the web. ReligionFacts.com and Pluralism.org are good introductions to a wide range of religions practiced worldwide and in the United States. Pluralism.org also includes a great directory of religious centers, organizations, and places of worship in the United States.

Brainfood

A Religions Primer

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I’m not sure that there is any other part of human existence that is so often disputed as religion. Alongside politics and money, most won’t touch it with a ten-foot-pole in polite company, yet belief systems have formed and continue to form the foundation of life for many societies and individuals. “Religion” can be many things to many people: a set of guidelines for how to live a good life, a part of their culture, a guide to connecting with the divine, a source of oppression and violence, or simply nothing at all. My goal here is not to give the end-all-be-all breakdown of world religions and how to choose one—you can do that here, or here, or with this (taken with a grain of salt, of course)—but to look at the tip of the iceberg and share some ideas that might be helpful if you are interested in exploring a particular faith or faiths.

Photo by Sara Slattery

Let’s take a moment or two to consider why humans have gravitated towards religion throughout our existence and what basic characteristics distinguish religions from each other. A little “Religions 101,” if you will.

There are several main camps into which people fall when you look at their perspectives of religion: materialistic, functional, and belief-based.

  • A materialistic perspective proposes that humans have imagined that the supernatural exists, when in fact the material world is all that is real. (Marx and Freud fell into this camp: Marx felt that religion provided a false security to people and was used to oppress them; Freud thought that religion was no more than a “universal obsessional neurosis.”)
  • A functional perspective proposes that, regardless of whether or not the supernatural exists, religion is useful for both societies and individuals to create harmony and health, to further the human species, and/or to create a sense of purpose and security.
  • A belief-based perspective proposes that there is a larger-than-life supernatural reality, and religions are humanity’s responses to that reality. (Many names have been given to encounters with that reality, like enlightenment, realization, illumination, kensho, awakening, self-knowledge, gnosis, ecstatic communion, and “coming home.”)

If you feel that you have a functional or belief-based perspective about the supernatural or divine reality, exploring the kinds of religions that might suit you could be the next step. However, it’s helpful to be aware of how your perspective influences your interest in religion. If you have a functional perspective, then the lifestyle, daily practices, or community aspects of a religion may be the most important to you. If you have a belief-based perspective, then the ideas and beliefs of a religion may be more important, though those often will still include the lifestyle, practices, and community elements.

Once you know why you want to explore religions, it can help to think about the different kinds of religions that are out there, in case certain types resonate with you more than others.

Some religions (like Christianity or Judaism) distinguish between the profane existence of our everyday world and the sacred existence of the spiritual world. Some religions (such as Taoism) say that the profane and the sacred co-exist or aren’t different realities at all. Certain religions (like Buddhism) teach that the sacred is immanent or present in our lives, whereas others (such as Hinduism) teach that the sacred is mostly transcendent, existing in another sort of reality that can be accessed through prayer or ritual.

Then there are the concepts of a sacred being or entity. Depending on the religion, there may be a personal being: a Mother, Father, Teacher, Friend, or the Beloved; or, there may be a specific being with a name and a life-story. These beings often serve to personalize some or all aspects of the divine in a way that allows practitioners to connect with it. These deities may also serve as examples for how humans should live. And, sometimes, the divine is characterized as something other than a person—as elements of non-human nature, as all of existence, or as a pervasive force or love that exists in the world supernaturally.

Religions are often categorized by the number of sacred beings or entities they believe in—monotheistic religions have one, polytheistic religions have many, monistic religions hold that there is a divine nature underlying everything, and nontheistic religions don’t attribute the divine to any particular being or entity.

Whether you are atheist (believing that there is no deity), you are agnostic (not sure whether the divine exists), you believe in something but want to give it more structure, or you were raised in one religion and don’t feel like it is spiritually fulfilling anymore, understanding why you are interested and what basic types of religions are out there is a good start! If you find that you want to learn more about particular religions, you can check out resources like BBC’s religions guide website; though beware of the plethora of biased and inaccurate information about religions that exists online. To play it safe, you can find many basic comparative religion books, like John Bowker’s World Religions or Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions.

DIY, Home

DIY Household Cleaning Products and Haircare

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If you had asked ten-year-old me what baking soda and vinegar were good for, I would have peered into my mother’s kitchen cabinets, scrunched my face in confusion, and hazarded these guesses: “Baking soda goes in waffles to make them fluffy. Vinegar just smells bad.” And thus, I lived most of my life in darkness, never realizing the true power of these two lackluster kitchen staples.

CleaningSquare

Photo by Heather Griffith

One look at the list of ingredients on any household cleaning product and your head will start to spin. (Unless you’re a chemistry nerd, in which case, you might actually understand what you’re reading.) Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t just a big hoax to get us to buy more petroleum-based products so oil companies can make money. Whether that’s true or not, you can bet your bottom dollar that you can save your bottom dollar by making your own cleaning products, and even shampoo, for a fraction of the cost of your usual products. The secret ingredients? Yup, baking soda and vinegar—they form the foundation for most of these recipes, with a few other household products playing supporting roles:

All-Purpose Cleaner

Use in place of Windex, 409, Mr. Clean, Lysol, or any other spray cleaner.

What you need:

- a spray bottle

- 2 cups water

- 2 cups white distilled vinegar

- 3 teaspoons liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s, sold at Trader Joe’s and some drug stores)

- 1 teaspoon of tea tree oil

Pour all ingredients into a spray bottle and shake well. If your spray bottle holds less than four cups of liquid, just cut the recipe in half. The castile soap and tea tree oil are optional, but they add cleaning and disinfecting properties.

Surface Scrub

Use in place of Comet, Scrubbing Bubbles, Soft Scrub, or any other abrasive cleaner.

What you need:

- a clean glass jar with a lid that seals tightly

- 2 cups baking soda

- ½ to 2/3 cup liquid castile soap

- 5 drops essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer

Mix ingredients together in the jar and store in a cool, dark place. (It should have the consistency of a goopy toothpaste.) Slap some of it on a sponge whenever you need to tackle some tough grime. The essential oil is optional, but will add antibacterial qualities.

Cheater version: add just enough water (start with ½ cup, and add ¼ cup at a time until the mixture is moist enough) to 2 cups of baking soda to form a wet paste and store in the jar. The baking soda will still work wonders, even without the soap and essential oil.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Use in place of Clorox, Lysol, Scrubbing Bubbles, or any other toilet cleaner.

What you need:

- 3 tablespoons to ¼ cup baking soda

- ¼ cup white distilled vinegar

Sprinkle the toilet bowl with baking soda and drizzle the vinegar on top. Let it soak for about a half an hour—go for a run, do some reading, get lost on Pinterest—and then scrub with a toilet brush.

Drain Opener

Use in place of Drano, Liquid-Plumber, or any other drain de-clogger.

What you need:

- ½ cup baking soda

- ½ cup white distilled vinegar

- 2 cups boiling water

Pour the dry baking soda down the drain, then vinegar. Cover with a small plate or jar lid and let sit for 10 minutes to a half an hour, and then pour boiling water down the drain. Don’t worry if your drain seems to “belch up” air bubbles: that’s totally normal.

Shampoo and Conditioner

Use the baking soda solution instead of shampoo and the vinegar solution instead of conditioner. It sounds weird, but trust me, it’s worth a try. Baking soda strips your hair of all of the grease and gunk, while vinegar detangles, seals your follicles, and makes your tresses shine.

What you need:

- 2 clean plastic squeeze bottles (reuse empty shampoo and conditioner bottles!)

- baking soda

- apple cider vinegar (not white distilled vinegar this time)

Into one bottle, mix 1 tablespoon baking soda for every 1 cup of water. Pour 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar for every 1 cup of water into the second bottle. Make sure to shake each bottle before squeezing some of the solution onto your hair. Start with the baking soda solution: squirt some onto your hair, massage, and rinse. Use the same technique for the vinegar conditioner. (The intense vinegar smell goes away by the time your hair is dry, I promise. If you’re still nervous, add a drop of essential oil or vanilla essence to counteract the smell.)

Note: the ratio of baking soda to vinegar can vary between hair types. If your hair is too dry after using this ratio, try using less baking soda in your shampoo.

Recipes adapted mostly from Women’s Voices for the Earth and here and here on Grist.org. If this gets you on a DIY cleaning and personal care kick, the possibilities are endless! This primer on DIY household cleaners and this list of homemade self-care products are great places to start.

Home

Compost vs. Recycle vs. Trash

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You’ve just finished sipping down warm peppermint tea at a farmers’ market, and you pause in front of the large plastic bins. They loom, inscrutable—challenging you to the Sphinx’s riddle of what to do with your now-empty paper cup, plastic lid, and teabag. Well, the paper cup can be recycled, right? But…it’s wet from holding tea, so does it have to go in the trash? The plastic might have to be thrown away, or maybe it can be recycled. And the teabag is a conundrum in itself: it’s made from plants, so it can be composted, except that it’s also made from paper, so it should be recycled…?

A few weeks later, you and your friends tidy up after watching the game and chowing down on take-out pizza and a few drinks. You again find yourself pausing, this time in front of the small trash can and recycling bin in your friend’s kitchen. You confidently rinse out the glass bottles, rinse and crush the soda cans, and put them all in the recycling bin. But then there’s the pizza box, its paper liner filled with grease and cheese scraps. It’s made of cardboard, so it could be recycled…but there’s grease on it, so maybe it has to go in the trash. None of your friends know the answer, either, so you shrug your shoulders and forget about it.

Okay, let’s drop the pretense. This “you” was me. Though I proudly wear my tree-hugging heart on my sleeve and I was an RA at a college that emphasized waste reduction, I suffered from waste disposal anxiety for years.

I’m here to share what I’ve gleaned from friends whose jobs are to educate the public about these things, from studying the lids of municipal recycling bins and looking up tips from the omniscient Internet.

COMPOST

Foreign though it may seem, figuring out what to compost is actually the most straightforward of all waste disposal skills.

If…

    • it is a plant or part of a plant (vegetable scraps, fruit peels, grains, tea leaves, coffee grounds)
    • it was made from plants (for example, bread or anything made from flour.
    • it is an egg shell

…you can compost it.

Don’t compost anything that came from an animal, or anything that’s greasy. (That means no meat and no dairy!)

Note: Those fancy compostable dishes and biodegradable bags that you might see at farmers markets are biodegradable, but usually only if they are taken to a special composting facility that is more high-tech than your average worm bin. If you get your home compost picked up by a municipal service, then you should be able to throw that potatoware right in, but if you’re doing it yourself, it might take awhile.

RECYCLING

Things get a little more complicated when it comes to recycling, and you should make sure to check the guidelines for what is recyclable in your county.

I’ve lived in California, Texas, and Montana, so to give you some perspective: in the Bay Area, most paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum products are recyclable for free; in the suburbs of Houston, you have to pay for a recycling service; in Missoula, Montana, you have to bring glass recyclables to a drop-off location so they can be shipped to a recycling plant in Washington.

You should be able to find guidelines for what and how to recycle on your city or county website. I’ll outline some general tips, but it’s always good to double-check what services are available where you live.

Important rule: when you recycle food containers, it’s important to make sure they are cleaned of any food residue.

  • Paper and Cardboard

You can usually recycle most items made of paper or cardboard: newspaper, phone books, cereal boxes, egg cartons, etc. Pizza boxes can sometimes be recycled—as long as you take out the liner and there isn’t any grease/cheese residue on the box itself. (Some counties can even recycle it if there’s a little grease on the cardboard, so check the details for where you live.)

Watch out for soymilk (and other alternative milk) containers. Because they’re actually a combination of paper, plastic, and metal, they’re pretty impossible to recycle.

  • Plastics

Ooh boy, plastic materials may be the most complicated. For starters, look on the plastic you’d like to recycle. If there’s no triple-arrow recycle symbol, then it’s gotta go in the trash. But even if there is a recycle symbol, you still have to be careful. You should see a number (1 through 7) inside the symbol, which indicates what type of plastic it is. Most places recycle plastics 1-5, but 6 and 7 aren’t always guaranteed. Again, it’s worth the little bit of time spent on the Internet to learn what types of plastics can be recycled in your county.

Pay attention to plastic bags. Many recycling centers can now recycle plastic bags, but the types that are recyclable vary. In any case, make sure the plastic is clean and dry.

  • Glass

Any kind of bottle or jar can usually be cleaned and recycled. If the bottle or jar has a metal lid, make sure to take it off so that it gets properly sorted.

  • Metal

Any metal can is recyclable—as long as it doesn’t have food residue and it’s empty (in the case of spray canisters). Aluminum foil, pie plates, and trays are also good to go (sans traces of food).

  • Other Possible Recyclables

Electronics can be recycled! But they must be taken to a specific electronic waste recycling center. Check online to see if there’s one near you.

TRASH

And, well, everything else is garbage. Remember that Styrofoam (including those little packing peanuts) is never recyclable or compostable. Things like CDs and batteries aren’t either. (In fact, batteries really shouldn’t even go in the trash. Several chain stores offer programs to accept your old batteries for disposal or recycling.)

This might all seem pretty overwhelming. That’s okay. I used to feel that way, too—it doesn’t mean that you’re an ignoramus or anti-environment. These things take time to learn, just like any worthwhile habit. I’ll leave you with a few simple, easy-to-remember nuggets:

  • If it came from a plant, compost it.
  • If it is clean paper or plastic or glass or metal, you can probably recycle it.
  • If it came from an animal or it’s Styrofoam or anything else that doesn’t fit in the first two categories, trash it.

Like Captain Planet says, “The power is yours!”

Compost1Hero

Photo by Meaghan Morrison

Transportation

How I (Accidentally) Suspended My Drivers’ License

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January 2012.

The squad car’s floodlight glares through my rear-view mirror. I wait, berating myself for being stupid enough to talk on my phone while driving in California. It’s night, so no one can see you, right? Wrong. The cop returns to my window with my registration and license.

“Ma’am, are you aware that your license is suspended?”
Wait, what? “Uh, no, it is?”
“It looks like it has been since last May.”
It’s been suspended for EIGHT months!? …WHAT?!

Rewind to November 2010, almost two years ago, in sunny Santa Cruz, CA. I executed a perfect California stop at a stop sign as I was turning right. Excellent form. Unfortunately, the motorcycle cop sitting across the street wasn’t impressed. I waited to get my ticket notification in the mail, cough up a painful amount of money, and just forget the whole thing. But the notice never came. I even called the traffic court (months later), but the line was always busy. I couldn’t find the citation number on my receipt, so I thought, “Great! He didn’t actually cite me. Case closed.”

Fast forward to August 2011. (My license is already suspended but I won’t find out about it for another six months.) I was lost in Berkeley and accidentally crossed Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard at 5:28pm. This is important because I, and the three other cars getting tickets, missed the tiny sign telling us it was illegal to cross MLK, Jr. Blvd. between 4 pm and 6 pm on weekdays. As expected, I received a citation notice in the mail (several months later) and planned to pay it on time like the law-abiding citizen I am.

So here we are again in January 2012. I now have two tickets—one forgotten, one yet to be paid—and I’ve just been told my license has been suspended. (Ironically, I was about to pay MLK, Jr.’s ticket before this all happened.) I’m essentially on house arrest for the next week and a half. I stew and fume and tell the universe exactly what I think of it for being so unfair…you try being stuck inside your parents’ house for a week. Then I decide to be an adult about the whole thing and look up traffic citation policies. I find out that notifications are mailed to your address as a “courtesy.” Apparently, in California at least, the driver is still responsible for paying the fine or going to court even if they don’t receive a notice. Ugh. Humbled by the traffic gods, any sense of ego is reduced to a pulp as I try to explain to my friends why they have to pick me up so we can hang out.

Nevertheless, I gather together what sense of self I have left, and start calling the various traffic courts and fee collecting companies. In case you find yourself in a similar situation, start by calling the traffic court in the county where you got the ticket that you forgot to pay. I call the Santa Cruz traffic court, because that ill-fated California stop happened there. Make sure you ask questions and understand how to best pay your overdue fine–every county operates a little differently. If it’s been more than a month or two, it’s likely you’ll have to pay an outside fee-collection agency, who will then let the traffic court know that you paid the fine. Once that’s done, the traffic court will clear your record, and you can have your mom a friend drive you to the nearest DMV to pay another fee to reinstate your license. They’ll give you a provisional piece of paper like they did when you were 16, and then you’ll get your new license mailed to you. So, a few days—and hundreds of dollars—later, I’m able to drive again.

Morals of this sad story? Always pay your traffic tickets, even if you don’t get a notice in the mail about your citation. Don’t cross MLK, Jr. Blvd between 4 pm and 6 pm on weekdays. And for goodness sake don’t hold your cell phone to your ear while driving…ever. (You can check your state’s specific cell phone laws here.) Especially in small towns where cops don’t have anything better to do than watch people drive around in the dark.

Oh, and there’s an epilogue! It’s juicy. I was moving out of my house in Santa Cruz a few months ago and happened to be sorting through a box of old papers and documents. You know, that box you keep for official-looking things that you probably won’t need again but feel like you should keep because you’re supposed to be an adult and that’s what adults do. Well, I came across an official-looking envelope, unopened. Guess what was inside? The original citation.

keysHero

Photo by Meaghan Morrison

Food

Reusing that Jar: Making Whipped Cream

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Okay, let me get this out of the way right now: I’m kind of a hippie. Ok, I am a hippie. I live without a microwave, a working dishwasher, or a hand mixer. I also love to cook. Being a poor grad student, and a little low-tech, but still wanting to try out the latest recipe for mint-lemon crème brûlée (or whatever Martha Stewart is up to these days) means I have to get a little creative in the kitchen.

Whipped cream is one of those delicious accents of sweetness that makes nearly any dessert go from good to mind-blowing. If you’ve ever had homemade whipped cream, then you know it tastes way better than whatever you can squirt out of a can. So, how on earth did Mom, or Aunt Josie, or Grandpa Steve, ever get cream to fluff like the clouds baby angels live on? They probably used an electric mixer. But I’ll tell you a secret: You can use a mason jar instead. (Extra bonus: buffed arms!)

Yes. That’s right. A mason jar. You know, like a jam jar, one of those things that all the hipster kids (including me) are using as drinking glasses and vases right now? They totally make great travel mugs, flower vases, containers for leftovers, and pencil holders… but that’s another article. Or five.

Back to whipped cream—let’s talk about how this works:

What you need:

  • One (clean!) mason jar (or an old tomato sauce jar, applesauce jar, or really any glass jar with a tightly sealing lid)
  • A freezer
  • Heavy whipping cream (often sold in pints, like the mini milk cartons you used to get in elementary school)
  • Powdered sugar (totally optional, often labeled “confectioner’s sugar”)
  • Vanilla extract (also totally optional)

What to do:

1. Put your clean glass jar in the freezer—with the lid off—for 15 to 20 minutes before you need to make the whipped cream. (This step isn’t entirely necessary, but it’ll help your cream get fluffier faster.)

2. Take the jar out of the freezer and fill it no more than halfway full with cream. If you fill it more than halfway, the cream won’t have enough room to expand and won’t reach its optimum fluffiness.

3. Here’s where you can add the powdered sugar and vanilla if you’d like. A tablespoon of powdered sugar should be plenty, but it depends on how sweet you want it to be. (No measuring spoons? A tablespoon comes out to be about as much as a rounded average spoonful.) A teaspoon of vanilla extract is enough (about 1/4 of an average spoonful).

4. Now the exercise comes in! (Who said dessert can’t be healthy?) Screw the lid tightly onto the jar, and shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake that… jar. Vigorously. (Make sure the lid is securely screwed on, otherwise you could end up in the whipped cream version of the Marine World splash zone.) You can even take turns with friends—passing around a jar of cream and making Shake Weight jokes is an excellent way to wait for those brownies to finish baking.

5. The time it takes for your cream to become fluffy goodness depends on how hard you shake that thang and the size of your jar. You’ll know it’s getting close when the cream coats the sides of the jar and makes it hard to tell how full it is.

6. Check after 5 minutes or so of quality shaking, and every few minutes after that. A larger jar—like a quart jar or an applesauce jar—can take a little longer. It’s whipped cream when it’s so fluffy that it doesn’t pour or drip out of a spoon easily. (Sometimes I’m impatient, and I only wait till it’s fluffy but still pourable—a great option if you’re serving it over fruit, ice cream, or pudding, etc.)

Editor’s Note: In an effort to fulfill our goal of road testing some of our articles (and because whipped cream in a jar is ridiculously delicious), Elise and I attempted to follow Heather’s instructions. We discovered that over shaking can lead to undesirable (and inedible) curdling. (Not to be confused with curling—a winter sport popular in Canada.) This can happen quite suddenly. Be careful to check your cream every 15 seconds or so after it starts to coat the sides of your jar. (Seriously, don’t over shake. When you think it’s done—STOP! We can tell you, bickering over the appropriate fluffiness level does not end well.)

7. If you need more whipped cream, spoon and scrape what you’ve got out of the jar into a bowl, wash the jar, and repeat until you have enough for everyone.

8. Enjoy!

What-ifs:

  • If you have leftover whipped cream: store it in the jar or another airtight Tupperware-style container in the fridge. It’ll keep for a few days, but will be iffy after more than a week. Besides, who can let whipped cream sit for that long without devouring it?
  • If you don’t use your heavy whipping cream before the “use by” date: you’re outta luck. I tried freezing my heavy whipping cream once… it was in a glass bottle, and I opened the freezer to find the bottle cracked and frozen to the cream. Then I tried defrosting the cream, even straining out the shards of glass, in an effort to salvage the situation. (I would not recommend this.) It ended up being something in between butter and milk and not all whippable.
  • If you want to get fancy with your whipped cream: go ahead! Experiment with adding a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg when you add the sugar and/or vanilla. (A dash is one shake of the spice jar, if it has a lid with little holes, OR a mound—a little smaller than the size of a dime—in your palm.)
whippedcream

Photo by Meaghan Morrison