Green Options

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Back in the days before refrigeration, freeze-drying, vacuum-pack processing, aseptic packaging and even canning, savvy cooks invented ways to store food for future use. Salting, smoking, pickling, confiting, canning and drying were the most common methods of food preservation, especially on country farms. Root cellars for storing vegetables like potatoes, parsnips and carrots, and fruit like apples, were also common, and a necessity.

Today, in some sense, we’ve come full circle, seeking greater flavor, taste and control of what we eat and how it’s raised, grown, processed and preserved. Happily, we can take advantage of the freezer - it really works now. We’re rediscovering methods of preserving foods that were common over a century ago. Preserving the harvest dovetails perfectly with the concept of sustainable cooking, since it’s all about using what is produced or raised locally, what’s in season, and storing it so it can be used in the future.

Happens every year here in the Midwest — that week when the mercury peaks, the garden wilts and everyone droops and sweats. My motivation to harvest produce, much less cook it, fades as fast as an ice cube on the driveway.

Wait — save that ice cube. As a matter of fact, bring out all the ice trays. When temperature and humidity rise, there’s only one word that inspires us through: blender drinks. And look no further than the humble rhubarb for cocktail inspiration that frappes local flavor with a new twist on happy hour.

You have to admit, rhubarb could use a new recipe twist, something other than pie or cobbler. For the gardeners with prolific rhubarb patches, bet you could use a recipe that uses twelve cups of this vegetable that thinks its a fruit.

This cocktail recipe uses a rhubarb-sugar syrup as the base, blended with ice and rum. If you’re in more of a margarita mood, blend with tequila. For a non-alcoholic version, mix equal parts of the syrup with plain seltzer. The syrup readily freezes and is easiest (and most energy efficient on a hot day) made in the crock-pot.

Here’s the Rhubarb Cocktail recipe, using the sugar syrup

Home canning is all the rage. Eating locally is in, and doing so year-round pretty much requires some kind of food preservation. No one’s freezer space is unlimited, and home canning is a great way to preserve the harvest. It seems every food blogger is canning and offering recipes for the foods she’s canned.

Unfortunately I’m seeing a large number of unsafe canning recipes posted on various food, recipe, and local eating blogs, and we aren’t talking about just the kind of unsafe canning that gives you a few days of gastrointestinal misery. We’re talking serious neurotoxins, botulism, paralysis, and death.

Here are a few key bits of knowledge, useful whether you’re canning yourself or are the recipient of a home-canned gift.

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

Hurry!  It’s almost over!  Like any good thing, the blueberry season is all too short, and the smart cook embraces it for all its worth while it’s here.  The same could be said about the sour cherry season, but, frankly, I’m really only in this (“this” being the making and eating of Berry Cherry Pie) for the blueberries. 

It’s that time of year. My mouth is watering and a body is craving antioxidants. And there’s no better time than right now to grab, buy or even pick your own summer jewels. I’m of course talking about berries - a myriad of types and varieties can be found in virtually every area of the U.S.

So once you have your hoard, what now? My culinary intuition and memories turn to bettys, buckles, crisps, crumbles, cobblers and grunts. The questions for most home cooks is, “What does it all mean?” and “What’s the difference anyway?”

Ah, grassfed beef. Suddenly, it’s THE thing to eat. You’ve heard all about the complex flavor and the bonus of being able to find sustainable and filet mignon on the same plate. The moment has come. You carefully create your marinade or even just a salt and herb rub so you don’t hide the flavor. You’ve grilled a few steaks, you have your timing down. The perfectly seared finished filet hits your plate. You take that much anticipated bite. And …

It is bone dry. Overcooked. Gray.

Well, this whole grassfed beef thing is lousy, you say. I can’t eat that! What happened?

Shannon Hayes, author of The Farmer and the Grill, has your answer. Her latest book provides all the information you need to grill grassfed meats and poultry and avoid such disappointment when you transition to more sustainable meats.

Joel Salatin writes the book’s introduction:

As a quintessential devotee of pastured livestock, I am keenly aware that the most environmentally-progressive meat and poultry in the world will not sell unless the eater has a favorable dining experience. At the end of the day, taste and eating pleasure trump altruism every time. Healing the planet and keeping cancer at bay just don’t compare to the visceral bond connecting nose, palate, and pocketbook.

There’s a missing ingredient in our diet today that’s imperative to our nation’s health. You can’t add it to your grocery list, forage it at the local farmers’ market or plant it in your garden. It’s media literacy — the ability to critically question the hidden agendas in our “media diets” and evaluate the manipulating media messages we’re bombarded with daily .

Have no fear, Melinda Hemmelgarn is here. A national public health advocate, registered dietitian and award-winning “Food Sleuth” columnist, Hemmelgarn is the cape crusader for helping us, particularly if we have children, develop the savvy-thinking skills to objectively understand the media and thereby support a truly healthy food system. “After decades of working in the nutrition field, I grew convinced that the ‘eat healthy’ messages from the public health community simply weren’t working,” explains Hemmelgarn. “People aren’t changing their eating habits and a key reason why is that we are constantly bombarded with media messages promoting unhealthy food choices. When Pepsi has an annual advertising budget of $1.3 billion, their messages dilute the National Cancer Institute’s “eat more fruits and vegetables” messages, promoted with a budget of less than $5 million.”

Knowing that healthy food message couldn’t compete on advertising dollars, Hemmelgarn instead chose to help teach people how to navigate the message minefield of today’s vast media empire.

Have you noticed that fish tend to lie? Or should I say that people tend to lie about fish. Chilean Seabass is not a bass at all but actually Patagonian Toothfish. California White Seabass is a member of the Croaker family, Pacific Red Snapper is really Rockfish and Halibut is just a really big Flounder.

Now that I got off my chest, let’s talk halibut. Halibut, found on the continental shelf from California to the Bering Sea, can grow to over 400 pounds grow to nine feet long and are among the largest fish in the sea and the largest member of the right-eye flounder family. They have a translucent white flesh with an incredibly high moisture content.

I was thinking, last hot July Saturday, as we were stuck like sardines in the farmers market, that maybe this whole local food thing is catching on. Maybe, I thought, I don’t need to promote it so much. Well, maybe. The demand has to grow if the supply is going to. Next season, the farmers will be able to plant more, perhaps the market will expand.

The vegetables, like the people, were crowded. Tables loaded with all the abundance of summer. I brought home more than I may be able to get cooked. It all just looks so good. I stuffed my market basket full with summer melon, peaches, blueberries (lots), blackberries (even more), peppers, heirloom tomatoes, onions, beets, carrots, corn. I paused at the daikon radishes and some other unusual items. I love to buy the unique veggies because it ensures that the farmers will keep growing new things.

Caprese Salad is the first dish I prepare with heirloom tomatoes. Recipe and links after the jump.

This is one of those recipes that isn’t really a recipe at all, just some instructions.

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.

I bet you and your friends have a few summertime traditions. An annual 4th of July BBQ? Maybe a no-excuses-we’re-going-to-the-beach-the-same-weekend-every-year outing? Or perhaps a camping trip instead? A group of my friends, who have long scattered across several state lines and life stages (singles, newly weds, divorcees, and new parents are all among them), come together one night a summer to sit under the same tree in a big back yard, drink a lot of beer, play horseshoes and pretend for a little while that we’re still carefree and 20.

Quite frankly though, I’ve outgrown what little taste I had for a keg of lager beer. So, this year I decided I’d try a taking along the ingredients for a cocktail. Spurred by my success with the Lavender Lemon Soda recipe, I thought I’d try another simple syrup infused with a fresh herb that would add a little somethin’-somethin’ to my cocktail. The rosemary plants in my garden called out to me immediately.

I like dessert. Especially if it’s quick and easy and healthy… We don’t eat it every day, but some days just call for dessert.

This recipe is an all-time favorite at our house, and it has many variations, depending on what ingredients we have. It’s great for the summer, because it doesn’t require cooking and won’t heat up your kitchen. It also makes awesome travel, backpacking, or biking food, kinda like a home-made energy bar.