The FruitGuys Almanac» Produce Library

The Root Rainbow

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:00:27 +0000

By Heidi Lewis

An old children’s classic, The Story of the Root-Children, tells of how, in spring, Mother Earth awakens the sleepy little root babies that live underground and sets them to sew new clothes and clean and paint the beetles and bugs. They emerge from their underground home dressed in new rainbow capes and pointed caps and run off to play in the ponds and meadows.

Wintertime carrots can offer a glimpse of a springtime rainbow. Since most of us grew up with orange carrots, it may surprise you to learn that the first carrots cultivated (likely in Afghanistan) thousands of years ago were thought to be purple or yellow. Throughout the ages there have been white and red carrots as well. It was the Dutch who, in patriotic allegiance to the House of Orange (the Dutch Royal family), propagated the bright orange variety that is commonplace today.

Rainbow carrots offer a wide spectrum of micronutrients: orange is the signal flag for beta-carotene; red carrots wave the carotenoid lutein banner; and purple carrots signal the presence of the antioxidant anthocyanin. So it’s not just the wonderful dose of vitamin A (more than 400% of the recommended daily value per cup) you’re getting.

If these jewel-toned carrots look too pretty to cook, consider that they’re sweet enough for a kaleidoscope of crudités. Or coating them lightly in olive oil and roasting them with salt, pepper, and a dash of cumin is a fine way to cook them but retain their color. When boiled, the rainbow colors will fade. These colorful carrots will certainly inspire adults and kids alike (root children or not) to eat their colors.

Preparation: Wash thoroughly and gently scrub—keep the peel for maximum nutrient benefits. Delicious raw on their own; sliced or grated and added to salads and slaws; or roasted, steamed, stir-fried, grilled, boiled, baked, or braised. And don’t forget about carrot juice and carrot cake.

Storage: Tightly seal unwashed carrots in a plastic bag and refrigerate for up to a few weeks. They can also be blanched and frozen.

Gold Nugget Tangerine

jill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:57:13 +0000

Gold Nuggets are sweet and seedless little mandarin oranges, cousin to the Satsuma, recently bred at the University of California Riverside in the foothills of the Box Springs Mountains. This Citrus School also brought us the Navel orange. There’s gold in them thar hills!

Ginger

jill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:46:30 +0000

Ginger is a powerful tuber that can be used as a medicine or zesty spice.
There is a Chinese saying:
“the older the ginger, the more it bites”.
Peel the thin skin with a tip of a teaspoon.

Curly Chicory Endive

jill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:32:52 +0000

The wonderful Chicory Family includes an array of sophisticated flavors:
red, white and curly endive, escarole, frisee, tardivo and radiccchio.

Red Ribbed Dandelion Greens

jill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:03:12 +0000

Dandelion in French means Tooth of the Lion, which describes its look, but also its bite.
It is indeed related to the bright yellow flowers that forever bloom to children’s delight and gardener’s dismay. But unlike the weed, it has been carefully and organically cultivated.

Packham’s Triumph Pear

jill — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:52:18 +0000

Rumbly, bumpy, bulbous, gibbosic.
Packhams’ are sweet pears, with character.
Each a little askew like that friendly odd fellow at the bus stop.
This pear’s parentage is Bartlett and Yvedale Saint-Germain.
It softens as it ripens.

All About…Turkish Bay Leaves

jill — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:17:49 +0000

With a long history of culinary and medicinal uses, bay leaves are thought to have digestive properties and also act as an appetite stimulant. The Turkish bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) is generally preferred over its California cousin for its subtler, less mentholated taste, and it is also more healthful to consume. Bay leaves are used to flavor a wide variety of soups, stews, stocks, sauces, marinades, meats, and fish. In terms of flavor, fresh leaves go further than dried (1 fresh leaf = 2 dried). Let leaves wilt slightly before using to avoid bitterness, and remove whole bay leaves from food before serving.

Rutabaga: Queen of the Roots

jill — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:10:33 +0000

Known as “Swedes” in the U.K. (from the old Swedish word rotabagge, meaning “root bag”), Rutabagas are the glamour girls of root vegetables. In addition to being better dressed, their flavor sharpness/sweetness levels put them between turnips and parsnips, shading toward turnips.
Treat them exactly as you would turnips, but with more assurance. Or as parsnips but with more respect. Bake, roast, steam, braise. They’re bitter if not cooked until tender. You can sauté them only after cooking them through in some other way. They’re excellent paired with apples in a gratin or mashed into a blend of other roots, and are fabulous in cream of vegetable soup. (From cheftalk.com.)

How to Eat a Pomegranate!

jill — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:34:16 +0000

Slice off the pomegranate’s crown, and score the rind in 3–4 places.
Break the fruit apart in a large bowl of cool water to avoid spraying juice.
Separate the red juicy pods from membrane and the rind under water.
Discard rind and membrane, drain seeds, and use.

Corn the Vegetable: Food Frames Summer Memories

admin — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:11:29 +0000

By Heidi Lewis

Sweet corn epitomizes summer, and for many it encapsulates a sensual memory from childhood. Do you recall corn picked at its peak, cooked, and brought to the table in steaming heaps? Maybe you were wiggling in your seat from anticipation — or to keep your sunburned legs from sticking to the chair.

Was there a method to your butter application? Or did you eat it left to right like a Looney Tunes chicken with a typewriter bell at the end of row?

As an adult, corn can be, well, so much more political. The corn that’s the “heavy” in controversial energy (ethanol) and food policies is Corn the Grain.

Delicious sweet corn eaten around the barbeque is Corn the Vegetable. Sweet corn is a shorter plant than the grain variety and comes in yellow, white, or bi-color. It’s sweet enough to be eaten plain, but some can’t resist adding butter and salt.

Corn is a good source of several nutrients, including thiamin, folate, dietary fiber, Vitamin C, phosphorus, and manganese. A cup of corn supplies 19% of the recommended daily dose of folate and about a quarter of the daily value for thiamin.

The important question is how are you going to eat your corn? Left to right? Around the cob? Hunt and peck? The Queen of England may dine on corn on the cob with a knife and fork, but in the U.S. we pick it up and dig right in.

Preparation: To cook, simply remove leaves and silk, and toss the cob in salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Salt in the water hardens the kernels and facilitates them coming off the cob. Another method is to put it in cold water, and when the water just boils, remove corn and eat. Grilling techniques include putting the cob on the grill or putting the husk directly on the coals. Corn even takes well to the microwave.

Storage: For best flavor and juiciest kernels, prepare corn as soon as possible! Otherwise, store in a closed brown paper bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge for up to a few days.