Today in Our Garden @birdsblooms #NJ #gardenchat Growing food teaches us not to waste food or water

Today in Our Garden

Use it or lose it!
Food Appreciation

Our gardens exhaust us during August. Now is about the time every season when we slack off in the fight against fast growing weeds and make time to enjoy the birds and blooms. We also start collecting seeds for next years plantings and are busy canning and preserving in the kitchen.

As we think about all there is to do... food is ripening at a rapid rate. Use it or lose it!

• Picking and preparing fresh, organic, homegrown foods gives us a total appreciation for our food and our environment.

Vegetable gardening also makes me wonder: Would people eat less if they grew and prepared their own food? We know scientific studies show that people do eat more fruits and veggies when they garden, but would they eat less overall?

Tomatoes
Heirloom tomatoes are ripening faster than we can pick them! Favorites include Chocolate Cherry tomatoes (shown). Harry cooked our first homegrown San Marzano tomatoes and made 5 quarts of pasta sauce so far with more tomatoes cooking down now. We freeze the quarts.

As gardening cooks, we want to savor and not waste what we plant and harvest. Cooking down a stockpot full of homegrown, ripe, plum tomatoes (with added basil, garlic and onion) made us realize that it sure takes a lot of tomatoes to make just one quart of sauce.

Onions
Garden space needed for growing onions has made us appreciate the abundance of onions always available at the market. We picked our first Ailsa Craig onions yesterday. Most green tops died back and the onions easily pulled up from the soil.

We probably should have picked the onions sooner. And, we weren't sure what to do about the dirt on them? We rinsed the dirt off. The onions are now air drying on a table outside. As you can see, their shape is teardrop and not large and round. 

The fun of gardening includes learning from other gardeners. Stay tuned for updates on how to grow bigger and better onions. If you already know - please share.

Grapes
One of our best years! Mom even helped pick the grapes off the stems. We picked 13.5 lbs. from one, established red grapevine, which made 12 pints of organic grape jelly.

Cow Peas
Cool beans: Fagiolo Nano Dolico -dall'occho: Italian black-eyed peas climbed up into our tomato vines this year - another garden first for us. I didn't realize they climbed. The pods hang like green beans and can be eaten green or left on the plants to brown. I've been picking them as they turn brown and plan to make Hoppin John with homegrown black-eyed peas for good luck in the New Year. 

To release the peas, rub your finger along the pod edge. If the bean is dry enough, the edge will split like a zipper and the beans can easily be dumped out.

Acorn Squash
Look what I found this morning! We have acorn squash growing from rotten squash rejects that were tossed in the beds last Fall.

Happy and Healthy Gardening! 

Related Links
Backyard Gardening, Grow Your Own Food, Improve Your Health 
GardenCuizine Recipe Baked Nutty Acorn Squash

Blog post and photos Copyright(C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Homemade Jersey Tomato fresh Garden Salsa #canning #recipe #GardenCuizine

Homemade Jersey Tomato Salsa

Who had time to blog recipes and photos during peak tomato season? Not I, so save this recipe for next fall harvest season when you have boku tomatoes ripening so fast that you can't possibly eat them all. Salsa also makes good use of affordable, fresh locally grown tomatoes from your farmers market. 

No such thing as too many tomatoes!

1. Share tomatoes your local food bank
2. Give away tomatoes to family and friends 
3. Preserve tomatoes by making pasta sauce, hot sauce, ketchup or salsa.

We decided to make several batches of salsa this year since we were still stocked with several jars of "Harry's Hot Sauce." We've been making homemade salsa for years now. It's always such a treat to have, especially during the Winter and even early Spring, before tomatoes are ready to harvest. Salsa can be enjoyed so many ways - think beyond chips. We like it as a condiment over scrambled eggs, fish, tacos or bruschetta.

This salsa recipe was inspired from a Cooks Illustrated version that uses Lime Juice and Cilantro. Those flavorful ingredients work for us, feel free to change it up to your liking; just remember not to skimp on added acid for food safety reasons.

Ingredients 
5.5 lbs (~2,480g) Jersey tomatoes (about 6 large)
2-3 jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers of choice
1/2 cup (116ml) lime juice
1 medium (174g) red onion
1 bunch scallions 
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup (59ml) olive oil 
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

 Putting it all together

• Chop and let tomatoes drain in a large colander; drink the tomato liquid or use it in soup or other recipes - don't waste it! Water soluble nutrients like vitamin C leech out into the tomato liquid. In our batch the tomato liquid measured 356g; yours will vary depending on how juicy your tomatoes are.
• Chop 1 cup of cilantro leaves; set aside.
• Seed and chop the jalapenos or other hot peppers; set aside.
• Gather up the remaining ingredients. 
• Add all the remaining ingredients to the chopped, drained tomatoes. Stir to combine - serve immediately or refrigerate for later. 

To preserve by using water process canning method:

• Stir in 2 teaspoons citric acid powder
• Heat entire contents and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot into sterilized canning jars and process following USDA's Guide to Canning Tomato Salsa (link below).  
• Recipe yields 5, 8-ounce jars.

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis coming soon... we know tomatoes are a good source of Lycopene and Vitamins A and C!
Related Links
Time for Tomatoes - Fresh Talk check out my interview with Cheryl Sternman Rule
Canning Salsa Safely
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning Tomato Products

Recipe, photos and blog post Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved. rev 11/1/1

Fiberific FIG butter recipe! #GardenCuizine

 Homemade Fig Butter
 High Fiber * Honey Sweetened

Our young fig tree is still far from yielding fresh figs. Most of our South Jersey summer has been so dry that our little fig tree is happy just to be alive, let alone bear fruit. A recent culinary treat was coming across fresh figs being offered from an Italian woman nearby my office in Vineland, New Jersey. She shares her prolific organically grown fig harvest with the community.

One order, led to another and another. We have so many nutritious, fiber-rich figs, but you can only eat so many! And, unlike apples that have a decent shelf life, fresh figs only last a few days. No wonder you usually just find dried figs at the market. What can you do to preserve figs? Drying them was not an option, since we don't own a dehydrator. Fig jam came to mind. 

After making our first batch of Fig "Jam", Harry decided it was better named - Fig "Butter". Figs are rich and filling and make a spread that tasted rich, like apple butter. Apple butter just doesn't have the little visible seeds. And fyi, you can use store-bought dried figs to make nutritious fig butter - just add enough water to hydrate and soften the figs first. 

Using the recipes provided by Pomona's Universal Pectin, here is how we made our fig jam, aka fig butter, using fresh figs. Enjoy it in your sweet and savory recipes.

Yields: about 5 cups
Ingredients  
4 cups ripe Figs (3 1/2 cups will be okay too)

1/4 cup Lemon Juice (we didn't have any fresh lemons at the time for lemon juice, so we used Key Lime Juice and it worked just fine)

Pomona Universal Pectin (a low methoxyl brand of pectin extracted from citrus peel; it comes with pectin powder and calcium powder): 3 teaspoons pectin powder; 4 teaspoons calcium water (the calcium water recipe comes with the Pomona Pectin).
 
1/2 cup Honey

Putting it all together

• Wash the figs and trim off the stems.
• Let the figs get really ripe. We put them in a plastic baggie in the fridge and in few days they were juicy and breaking open. If your figs are not really ripe and soft, you can cook them with a little water to soften them before smashing. 
• Directly in a medium size sauce pot, smash the figs using a potato masher.
• Add the citrus juice and calcium water. Mix well. Bring mixture to a boil.
•  In a separate small bowl combine the pectin with the honey. I noticed if you don't combine the pectin with the sweetener first and add it directly to the fruit, it will clump up and not dissolve well.
• Bring back to a boil. Stir in the pectin-honey blend. Remove from heat.
• Puree the honey sweetened fig mixture in a blender or using a hand held mixer.
• The fig mixture is ready for canning. Follow water process canning guidelines. 

Buon Appetito!

GardenCuizine Nutrient Analysis Fresh Figs: calculated from USDA nutrient values
Good Source of dietary Fiber and Potassium
3 medium Figs (150g): dietary Fiber 4g (18%DV); Potassium 348mg (10%DV); Vitamin B6 0.12mg (8%DV); Magnesium 26mg (7%DV); Calcium 52mg (5%DV); Vitamin C 3mg (5%DV); Vitamin A 213IU (4%DV); Iron .56mg (3%DV)

Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older
Related Links

Uncommon Nutrition from the Common Fig - Ficus carica

Figs Fruits and Veggies More Matters
Pomona's Universal Pectin
Fig Butter, Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onion Crostini recipe

Photo collage and blog post Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Preserving Your Grape Harvest * Reduced Sugar Jelly @Canvolution @dgdave #GardenCuizine

Reduced Sugar Grape Jelly 

using home grown organic red grapes

Harry and I have been learning about and growing organic grapes for several years now. We have a few varieties, red Vitis labrusca and green Interlaken grapes, Vitis labrusca uva variedad Interlaken. The grapes grow along a split rail fence in full sun. In 2008, my online article with recipe, A Beginner's Guide to Making Jam or Jelly, was published on Dave's Garden. It's been popular, with over 17,000 people reading it so far. 

This year I added another sequel about our jelly making adventures. Our late summer red grape harvest inspired us to make jelly again, only this time we made it with much less added sugar. And...yes...it gelled! (yay, a big achievement for us). The lower sugar jelly tasted plenty sweet and delicious too.

We were able to cut half of the sugar from our original recipe by using a type of pectin that does not depend on using high added sugar. Read more about it.

Here is the link for the article and recipe:  

Homemade Reduced Sugar Grape Jelly by Diana Wind

I'm glad Connie Sumberg, partner in Workstead Industries (Pomona's Pectin) approves! 

***

Pomona's Pectin, For Jam & Jelly "I am very impressed with your article: lovely pictures & a well written, correct jelly making process. When using concord grapes, I would highly recommend letting the juice sit overnight & then pouring it off without the sediment. Crystals in your jelly are like pieces of glass."
~ Connie    Facebook - September 22 at 11:35am ·

Related Link 

Pomona's Universal Pectin

Photo collage and blog article Copyright ©2011 D.Wind. All rights reserved.

Passion for Pickles Video

Passion for Pickles 

If you think pickles are just cucumbers or beets soaked in vinegar, water and salt... think again. Alex Hozven opens our eyes to the wide world of pickling using alternative methods for food preservation. She has built a business using traditional Asian pickling techniques, which use sea salt and natural brine (drawn by salt) from fresh garden vegetables, versus pickling using a wet acid (vinegar) solution.

According to the Obsessive Video documentary caption, posted on CHOW, Alex craved pickles when she was pregnant with her first son. Her passion for pickles led her to opening a family pickling business called The Cultured Pickle, located in Berkeley, CA.

The Cultured Pickle shop makes everything you can imagine in pickles, ranging from a Vintage Sauerkraut with green cabbage, caraway seed, juniper berries, green apples and sea salt, to seasonal specialties, such as summer Armenian cucumbers with fresh turmeric. The Cultured Pickle produces a range of pickled products, including 'Super Sauerkraut Salad' made from green cabbage, beets, carrots, ginger and sea salt, and a house Kim Chee made with pickled green cabbage daikon, carrots, ginger, cayenne pepper and sea salt.

Alex takes pride using Japanese techniques to make her company's fermented vegetable creations. According to her website, she purchases their veggies from an impressive range of locally grown, organic produce suppliers. Green thumbs up from GardenCuizine!

Note: Pickled products are very high in sodium, enjoy their intense flavors in moderation along with daily exercise and home cooked meals. Cooking at home helps to control your daily sodium intake.
 
Related Links  
Pickles: Helping Preserve Memories of Home by Lucy Morris, author of Pickled
Sodium in the Diet

Special thanks to Jill Nussinow, MS, RD for posting about The Cultured Pickle Shop on Facebook. Jill is known as ‘The Veggie Queen’ -- Growing Vegetable Enthusiasm - Vegetable, vegetarian, vegan and pressure cooking expert and Food and Nutrition Strategist

Copyright © 2010 Wind. All rights reserved.