I'm putting this here rather than in the general recipes section because I think it kind of applies to bento cooking in terms of increasing food safety, and so I'm hoping there might be lots of bento-intended recipes that will work quite well. :) Basically, my mom has been told to be very careful about eating raw fruits and vegetables, due to being on chemotherapy and thus more susceptible to stuff that can be on raw produce. However, after several months of this, she's going insane not having anything that still has much of that crisp/crunch fresh texture and taste. (I mean, we've been blanching things like broccoli and carrots, but there are some items like cucumber that really do not do well cooked.) I know that there are bunches of recipes out there for 'pickled' type preparations, and that sort of thing, where the salt or vinegar content seems like it would help with the bacteria issue quite effectively, so I was wondering if anyone has any particular favorites they'd suggest, or any ideas how to do something similar with fruit like apples or pears without turning them into mush.