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.

Processing Grapes * Making Grape Juice for Grape Jelly #nowinediamonds #GardenCuizine

Homemade 100% Pure
Grape Juice 

for making Grape Jelly

Yesterday we harvested 5 pounds, 10 ounces of organically grown grapes for jelly. We've learned from experience that to make the best homemade grape jelly, it's best to allow two days: one day to crush and blend the grapes into grape juice and a second day to make the jelly.  

Letting grape juice rest overnight in the refrigerator allows 'wine diamonds', otherwise known as potassium bitartrate crystals, to precipitate out. The crystals are easily removed by filtering the fresh juice through cheesecloth.

Potassium bitartrate crystals 
Potassium bitartrate crystals are GRAS approved by the FDA (Generally Recognized As Safe). The first time we made our own grape juice for jelly, we didn't know about potassium bitartrate crystals and some crystals did form in our finished product. I noticed them while eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The harmless crunchy texture in our homemade jelly was undesirable because the crystals resembled bits of glass. 

If your homemade grape jelly is planned for company or intended as a gift, it would be a good idea to plan ahead and allow two days to prepare it. It's worth the extra day.

Putting it all together
Homemade Grape Juice Recipe
1) pick grapes (ours are organically grown)
2) pull grapes off stems (discard stems in compost)
3) weigh grapes
4) rinse grapes to wash - then strain
5) place washed grapes in stock pot
6) mash grapes directly in stock pot using clean hands or potato masher. (note: acid in grapes can make hands itch - some wear plastic gloves)
6) add water: for 3 to 4.5 lbs. of grapes add 1/2 cup water. We had 5 lbs., 10 oz. so we added about 2/3 cup water. You only have to add a little water.
7) bring to boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Mash again with potato masher to release juices.
8) collect juice by straining contents into a cheesecloth-lined pot or china cap (tip: wet and squeeze dry cheesecloth first so it doesn't absorb and waste juice).
9) squeeze out as much juice as you can as the pulp cools, then discard the used cheesecloth and pulp (pulp can be composted).
10) transfer the strained grape juice to a bowl or container, cover and refrigerate overnight. This allows natural crystals to develop and precipitate out.  

The next day, you should notice small wine diamonds about the size of silver glitter floating on the surface (see photo above). Strain the juice a final time in a double layer of cheesecloth to remove any crystals.

Enjoy your pure and natural antioxidant-rich juice. Homemade grape juice can be used in homemade wine, jam or jelly recipes.

Food science note: Potassium bitartrate crystals are a byproduct of the wine industry and are gathered from the sediment in the barrels. They are ground to make Cream of Tartar for the baking industry.

Related Links
Homemade Reduced Sugar Grape Jelly
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

What in the world are these ginormous green seedless GRAPES? #GardenCuizine

"I've never seen grapes this large!" 

says Junetta, my 82 year old mom

In a time of super-sized sodas, fast foods and portion distortion, finally an over-sized food dietitians and the public can embrace. A grape bigger than any grape ever seen makes me wonder, what kind are they?  

Giant Seedless Green Grapes
Super-sized, enormous green grapes seen in markets September through December are most likely Autumn King - an increasingly popular table grape variety released by the US Department of Agriculture in 2005. Autumn King grapes ripen late season, later than Thompson seedless, expanding the grape varieties available for fall. The grapes are so large, it's hard to imagine what they must look like growing on the vines!

Note to Carb Counters
Remember fruit is a carbohydrate, so if you are diabetic or counting carbs, do not go by 17 grapes equals one carbohydrate serving with these big boys. Instead, go by weight of 3 ounces for an estimate of one carb serving.

Related Links
Introduced just eight years ago, Autumn King now dominates late season green market
Why Grapes are Good for You 
Portion Distortion Quiz
Top 10 Ways to Enjoy Grapes 
Blog post Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.