It's tomato time!
Tons of tomatoes, and over 70 different varieties are represented at the Portland (Oregon) Farmers' Market annual tomato fest. These farm fresh tomatoes have character, beauty, and yes, even charm. Oh, and did we mention taste?
For more on tomatoes, see the links below:
8 easy international recipes using fresh tomatoes
Saving tomato seeds
Building tomato cages
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Added on: Jul 22, 2007 in
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From the Garden
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Other News in the From the Garden category |
| 1. |
The Sorry Secrets of Sweeteners
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By
Elizabeth Yarnell
www.GloriousOnePotMeals.com (http://www.gloriousonepotmeals.com/)
The other day I went to buy some of the individual bags of
flavored waters for my kids....
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| 2. |
Eat-out Nation
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Each year, the US Department of Agriculture compiles and publishes data about America's food habits and purchases. 2005 represented a turning point in the way Americans eat: for the first time since statistics were kept in this area (i.e. 1953), we ate more foods prepared outside our homes than ones we cooked ourselves at home. While the US has been famously dubbed "Fast Food Nation", it seems like "Eat-Out Nation" might be a more accurate term.
For those interested in seeing the raw data, you can find it here
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| 3. |
Fire roasting red peppers
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You've read about this, seen the technique on TV, and now it's time to give it a try at home using those red peppers that your garden (or local farmers' market) is so generously providing. And who better to demonstrate it than Chef John of FoodWishes.com?
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| 5. |
July 2007 Newsletter
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Dear Kitchen Gardener,
Walking through the well-known farmers' market in Uzès,
France, as I recently had a chance to do, is a religious experience for
food lovers. The
olive stands alone are worth the trip. Add to that heaping
tables of sun-drenched produce, artisan breads and cheeses, a
mind-boggling choice of honeys, meats and seafood fished from the nearby
Mediterranean Sea and you have all the
makings of a memorable meal, if not several.
In fact, the quality and
variety of the produce is so dazzling that you might be tempted to ask
yourself why any area resident would bother growing some of his or her
own. Yet, despite the fresh bounty on offer twice a week at the Uzès
market, the kitchen garden, or "potager" as the French call it,
seemed much alive and well where I was staying.
I had a chance to meet and
speak with a few gardeners while I was there. If they grow some of
their own food, it's for the same reasons that you and I do: taste,
variety, freshness, economics, concerns about the environment, and, most
importantly, because they enjoy the process. My trip
reinforced what I already knew: kitchen gardening is a universal
language with many different dialects. What's different is that
some of us have a better garden view out our back door than others!
I learned a lot while I was
there. Rather than try to share it all in one gush, I'll let the
stories, pictures, and recipes trickle out over the course of the next
several months. In fact, if there's sufficient interest, we may at
some stage even consider organizing a KGI trip for those of you
interested in seeing and tasting the pleasures of Provence firsthand.
I'll look forward to updating
next month in the week leading up to
Kitchen Garden Day. I hope you'll find a way of recognizing
the day in some small way. We've got a lot to celebrate and share
with others.
Warm regards,
PS: Interested in starting a
local kitchen garden group in your area?
Check out
our new info page on gPods
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Other News |
New Year's Eve Soup Buffet Party
A buffet is one of the easiest ways to entertain. What could make it easier? Offering soups in a gaggle of crockpots! This delicious menu has something...
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November 2007 Newsletter
To read the full newsletter online, please see: www.kitchengardeners.org/newsletternovember07.html
Dear Kitchen Gardener,
Here’s a question for you: when a gardener in Geneva or Zurich grows chard is it called "Swiss Swiss chard", “Our chard”, “Swiss© chard ”, or something completely different?
I’ve always wondered about the origins of the name “Swiss chard”. Aside from Brussels sprouts, it’s rare that one region gets top billing for a whole species. What’s interesting is that North Americans seem to be the only ones calling chard Swiss these days. Like a James Bond of the vegetable world, this plant travels under many different identities in other parts of the world including silverbeet (UK and Australia), bietola (Italian), blettes (French) and acelga (Spanish).
As it turns out, Swiss chard is about as native to Switzerland as James Bond too. Botanists have traced its origins back by to Sicily. So, why don’t we call it Italian or Sicilian Chard?
There are multiple explanations depending on who you ask and how deep you are prepared to dig. I recently read a column by a chef who claimed that chard is referred to as Swiss “because of its extensive cultivation in Switzerland”. Hmmm. I’ve been to Switzerland before, a few times in fact, and cannot recall seeing it at all. Verdant valleys with dairy cows, yes. Snow-capped mountains, yes. Endless fields o’ chard, um, no.
Another interesting, though implausible, theory is that chard earned its moniker after a “great flee beetle epidemic” which made it resemble Swiss cheese. If that’s the case, I grow many varieties of Swiss spinach, Swiss radishes and Swiss arugula in my own garden each year. Swiss cabbage is one of my specialties.
The explanation that gets the most attention on the internet attributes the Swissness of chard to a Swiss botanist named Koch who is said to have named the plant first. But try finding information on this famed botanist and you’re almost back where you started. Some sources have Koch living in the 19th century whereas others say the 16th. And you thought Austin Powers was a man of mystery!
So, several inquiries and sentences later, the confusion surrounding chard’s name continues and maybe that’s not a bad thing. It’s often when we think we really know something, or someone for that matter, that we start losing interest.
If you’re lucky to have some chard still growing in your garden (mine got wiped out this past week by two consequentive nights of 20°F temperatures ), give it a fresh look and try preparing it in a new way. Similarly, if you’ve got an alternative theory on its name or some better information on our Mystery Man Koch, send it my way. Inquiring minds want to know.
Happy harvests and harvest feasts,
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French Fried Dill Pickles
Recipe: French Fried Dill PicklesRecipe Description: French Fried Dill Pickles make a great appetizer.Related Recipes:Pickle ThingiesFoodClassics.com Tools:Submit your favorite recipeSearch for a specific recipeBrowse recipes by categorySubscribe to our free recipe newsletterShop for cooking related books
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