Category Archives: Fruit

Fruit – Strawberries!

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Strawberries!

The photo says it all.

Our two surviving strawberry mounds say hello to their second summer with a fat little crop.

We just returned from five days away visiting Neal’s parents in Florida.  Maybe being away actually let them ripen, the slugs and rodents must have other things to eat since only a few of these had any nibbles.

B loves her welcome-home present from poppa (a new watering can) and watered the strawberry patch with renewed enthusiasm.

You can grow your own strawberries, you can be pretty intense about it or you can go pick your own in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Search your local area for varieties to grow or pic- your-own farms.

Kids – Growing to Eat

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I posted the pic our two year old eating chives on tumblr yesterday.

The Greedy Gardener summed up in a comment my entire philosophy on the importance of providing real food to our children:

I think the best way to encourage kids to eat veg is to grow it at home – it becomes part of every day life rather than a penance rewarded by cake

I was scarred for life when Bunny (our child’s nickname, one of many) was a few months old and we stayed with friends who had two daughters, about ages 4 and 6.  If it didn’t come in a package or look like white pasta, they wouldn’t eat it.  Period.

So much packaged food is something to eat, but it isn’t food.

Children 100 years ago didn’t survive on squeezable fruit sauce and puffed toddler snacks.  They ate food that was cooked and prepared in a kitchen.

Children of developing countries don’t have Go-Gurt.

Toddlers in India eat – wait for it – Indian food. 

Spices and all.

Street food in Rio de Janeiro (and everywhere else we went in Brazil) is real food – kids have cups of fruit, pastries filled with meat and cheese, sticks of roasted cheese…

Not everyone can grow vegetables for their kids or manage a garden – the reality is people work multiple jobs, don’t have the know how to get started, don’t have the hours in the day to get it going or the space for a few containers.  But the importance of farmer’s markets and access to real grocery stores (produce at Wal-Mart and Target matters, regardless of the farming practices) is so fundamental.

Smart phones are bringing the internet into households that never before had it (to both low income and rural communities).  Buying fresh vegetables, looking up how to cook them and serving them with meals is a vital part of raising healthy kids.  Even if only a few times a week, it matters.  Adding them to a frozen pizza before cooking it is legitimate.

I’m preaching to the audience if you’re reading this.  But realize your influence as gardeners.  You can grow a child’s love of herbs, fruits and vegetables:

- Invite a busy neighbor and their child over to pick a few strawberries.

- Let your nieces and nephews smell all your garden herbs and choose a few for dinner.  Better yet, make grilled cheese sandwiches in a skillet with the herbs.

- Help the Sunday School teacher do a few lessons on sowing seeds and reaping the rewards (radishes are fast and fun – you can scare up something to grow them in and you can tote back and forth to church for a month).

- Bring bunches of mint to the BBQ and let the kids munch on it and add it to their lemonade.

- Ask your own kids how you should share your garden.

Last spring, Bunny wasn’t quite 2 and I called her over to the chives.  “You can eat these, would you like a taste?”  She opened her mouth.  I gave her a piece and she cried.  I gave her a cracker, told her “It’s ok” and that they taste better when added to other foods.

This spring she has been really into smelling everything, especially the rosemary (which I constantly cook with).  When we got to the chives, she said they smelled like onions and that she wanted to “taste it.”  Her eyes got wide and she said “Those good, mom!”

Now she picks them at will, bringing me a few to eat as we get ready to garden.

DIY – Preserving Lemons! Part Two – Make it Moroccan!

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This was a fantastic project, especially since I had never heard of Moroccan lemons or knew anything of how to make them.  Our downstairs neighbor suggested over dinner that we make them and I immediately thought of my mother-in-law, Betsy, and her Meyer lemon tree.  Betsy packed up a box of Meyer lemons, limequats and tangerines for us to have our way with and suggested using the limequats since she has so many (and thus receive a jar of our efforts in return).

Note that two of the three varieties of limequat are named after Florida towns near my own hometown.

Also note that Betsy is a master gardener, runs her kitchen-of-projects with style and grace, and gifts me amazingly useful kitchen tools.

A quick search on epicurious pulled up Moroccan-Style Preserved Lemons.  I called it good with no further research, the recipe was so simple and straight forward and we had all the ingredients on hand:

(As presented at epicurious.com, originally from Gourmet, 2008)
10 to 12 lemons (2 1/2 to 3 lb)
2/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Equipment:
a 4- to 6-cup jar with a tight-fitting lid

Blanch 6 lemons in boiling water 5 minutes, then drain. Cut each lemon into 8 wedges and discard seeds. Toss with kosher salt in a bowl, then firmly pack with salt into jar.
Squeeze enough juice from remaining lemons to measure 1 cup. Add enough juice to cover lemons and screw on lid. Let stand at room temperature, shaking jar gently once a day, 5 days. Add oil to lemons and chill, covered.


Cooks’ note: Lemons keep, chilled, 1 year.

We used jars given to us from a Betsy and another friend then followed the gist of the recipe.  Instead of 10 – 12 lemons we had 5 large Meyer lemons and 12 small limequats.  We reduced the salt by a guessed amount.  We cut the limequats into wedges as though they were lemons for the three taller, slender jars.  I sliced two Meyer lemons (instead of cutting wedges) to fit the two squat jars.  Juice for the whole project came from three Meyer lemons.

Cooking in the kitchen with a friend is a special treat.  Jumping into a little preserving project on a Saturday night where neither has done it before is downright thrilling.  So much so that we forgot to document the real action of blanching the limequats and slicing.  I did document the Meyer lemons, though.

The recipe calls for blanching the lemons prior to slicing, which we did.  My neighbor read that blanching lemons prior to squeezing yeilds more juice – we blanched our juice Meyer lemons for about two minutes and they juiced incredibly well.  However, we did come up a little short on juice to cover what we packed into the jars.  David Lebovitz really presses his Moroccan preserved lemons into their jars, which we haven’t done yet but it should remedy the limequats poking just above the juice line.

I’m not sure exactly how gently we should be shaking our jars of lemons every day but they look great at the close of Day Three.  I have some incredibly fancy olive oil I scored from the Fancy Food Show over the summer, we’ll pack the limequats and Meyers down firmly and seal their fate with it on Day Five.

DIY – Preserving Lemons! Part One – Admiring the Fruit

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Tangerines from Betsy

Our neighbor downstairs says to me across their dining table two weeks ago, “Hey, Martha, you might be who to do this with – I want to make Moroccan lemons.”  A friend of hers did it recently and having a jar of sultry lemons in the fridge to add intrigue to soups and stews sounded great.

My in-laws have nearly a half-dozen citrus trees in their yard oasis.  I called to see if she could ship us some of her fruit, she usually has more than they can use and she doesn’t use pesticides.  She suggested using the limequats if we wanted a quick turnaround since the Meyer lemons were so large.  I asked if she could send a mix.

Corner limequat

The box arrived last night.  Oh what a box!  Packed with care and unpacked with excitement, it included Meyer lemons, limequats and tangerines – all ripe and ready to go.  She threw a few extra goodies inside such as extra mason jars she had on hand.

The lemons get to know their new home

Another friend donated her extra mason jars to the cause and, looking at what we have, this will be a great lineup.

The Big

We have three jars of each shape and it looks as though the big Meyers will fit perfectly into the larger jars whole and we can use the squat square pint jars for sliced.

The Squat

The limequats should squeeze into the skinny jars like interns into skinny jeans.

The Skinny

Looks like all we need is kosher salt and olive oil.  Tomorrow we’ll do the deed.

 

 

 

 

Spring Tease

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Lavender

For the first time I actually have plans laid for the back yard while snowy cold fronts light up the weather map.  The budget is thin but we live in the land of Plentiful Alleys.  B and I took her wagon for a scavenger hunt this morning turning up two small and pristine pallets, some decent fencing wood, a clay pot and two contractor’s buckets.

B thoroughly enjoying "Being up high!"

We went back out to the back yard before starting dinner so I could tuck our finds under the stairs.  B pushed around her dump truck and collected rocks as I realized I have never really checked on the plants before March or April in years past.  Looking around, all the winter survivors are quite busy.

More lavender

The herbs on the back stairs are waking up.  Lavender looks great, the sage is filling out as well from it’s harsh Halloween harvest.

Sage

I had no idea the parsley would make it through winter.  I just ordered seed but am thrilled to find the recent freeze and snow hasn’t taken a toll.

Flat leaf parsley

Seriously, that parsley is downright lush for January.

And then there’s the abandoned gardenia.

Gardenia

This poor gardenia was given to our ex-neighbor nearly-dead.  She did what she could then put it out to pasture in its pot in the shade.  She bought a house, moved and left the plant.  I’ve done nothing to it… It looks the best I’ve seen it since it arrived last summer.

Mystery lilies

Our ex-neighbor, mentioned above, lived in the apartment next door and did most of the in-ground gardening in our back yard (four apartments share the yard).  She planted these lilies a few years ago and, well, I think they are Easter Lilies.

Strawberries!

The strawberries.  I have such a lovey spot for these in my heart, mostly because I didn’t realize until last summer how easily they grow.  B loves to eat the little wild strawberries that fill every spot not otherwise claimed by gravel, mulch or tended plants.  They don’t taste like much.  We planted three cultivated strawberries early last summer and they look primed to produce this year.  Some of the daughter plants are slated for pots so we can actually enjoy the fruit before the slugs and rats do.