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Infusion Update

By Joe
June 28, 2011 //
0

It’s been over a week since I started the nocino, so we thought it was high time for a check-in. After the first day, the liquid turned green-black – dark, sticky and noxious-looking. I’ve been shaking it about every day to mix the flavors. I opened the jars just to smell a few times, and early on, it still smelled like raw black walnuts. Last night, though, the aroma had transformed to something more subtle and balanced. The vanilla and lemon scents came to the forefront. Four of us tasted small sips, and all agreed – it was pretty darn good! Very complex in flavor and surprisingly smooth.

 

The redcurrant infusion is doing well too. Almost all of the color has leached from the berries and into the vodka. The flavor is very bright with none of the sourness of a fresh currant. These are the beginning of what I hope will be a nice collection of infusion experiments over the summer.

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Categories In the Kitchen

Pixie Cot!

By Joe
June 24, 2011 //
1

The lone apricot that I let grow on my two-year old tree was finally ripe! I’ve been keeping a close eye on it over the past two weeks, as it turned from green to yellow before changing to a deep golden orange. Just yesterday, it started feeling less than firm, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before we could pick and eat it. After a normal check in last night, I stepped outside this afternoon to find it on the ground! I was a little bit devastated at first, but it seemed to have survived the three-foot fall fairly well. A family of ants did find it, but they were pretty easy to brush off.

It was much larger than an average apricot – more like a generously sized peach. When I sliced into it, it retained some firmness, but was juicy, too. Pixie Cots are a free-stone variety, which makes it easy to split and eat. All this means nothing, unless the fruit tastes good, and boy, did it! It had none of the sourness that most apricots have, but retained the essence of the fruit. The sweetness was profound but complex. More like a floral honey than table sugar.

On the one hand, I really wish there were more apricots right now. But on the other hand, my asceticism in only letting one mature should result in much larger yields in future years. I really can’t wait until next year!

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Community Garden Update

By Joe
June 23, 2011 //
1

After a few busy weekends of work and family visiting, the community garden had got a bit out of control. We’ve had plenty of rain, so I hadn’t paid it a visit in three weeks. When I did go last Sunday, I was pretty horrified – it was literally choked with weeds. I spent about five hours over two days, and finally got it cleared out. It’s amazing how fast weeds grew in the communtiy garden plot as compared to the raised beds we have at home. I’m not sure if it’s the soil mix I use at home, as compared to native soil, or the fact that the edges aren’t separated from the grass in the community garden, or the fact that there are so many more weed seeds around the community garden. But it was bad.

Underneath the carpet of weeds, lots of plants were actually doing really well. I’ve got a solid six-foot row of cilantro, and I’ll probably let some of it go to seed for corriander.

The artichokes have started to take off – they were relatively clear of weeds all along. They’ve got a lot of growing to do, though, if they’re going to be productive.

The tomatillos I planted in the community garden aren’t staked, but they’ve also grown huge, and these are even starting to bear fruit.

The cabbages getting nice and big, and the cauliflower and broccoli are doing pretty good too. I caught a couple of worms on the cauliflower, but they hadn’t done much damage.

While weeding, I did have a few casualties. A few onions and a zucchini plant got pulled inadvertently last Sunday. But near the compost piles, I found some volunteer watermelon seedlings, so I’m giving those a shot in the empty space.

 

The community garden should be getting a lot more attention moving forward, because I’m starting a new job on Monday that will require much less travel! Woohoo!

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Categories In the Ground

Big and Little

By Joe
June 20, 2011 //
3
Right now, the garden is in an in-between state. Some things have taken off fast – the tomatoes, ground cherries, even the chichiquelite huckleberries are getting really big. Other things are taking their time – the black currant bushes are healthy, but haven’t grown much. A eggplant I started from seed and was pulled up by some bird or squirrel is dwarfed by its nursery-bought neighbors.
 
Among everything else, the tomatillo is enormous – it’s at least four feet tall, and it could easily be taller than me in a month.

Mammoth tomatillo

 After my hardy Chicago fig turned out to be not so hardy, I bought two new bushier figs to put in the planter. I didn’t expect much out of these this year, but there is one tiny fig starting to grow on one of them.

Midget fig

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Categories In the Ground

Nocino (Green Walnut Liqueur)

By Joe
June 19, 2011 //
12

After some heavy storms early this week, we were again cursed with detritus from our neighbor’s awful black walnut tree. Sticks, branches, larger limbs, and some immature walnuts, strewn around the yard. Because black walnuts are 100 times worse than lemons, I decided to turn them into a potent, bitter drink that I hope will be 100 times better than lemonade. Nocino is a traditional bittersweet liqueur from Emilia-Romagna that combines immature walnuts with spices and alcohol.

It’s important to select only the freshest walnuts – there should be no brown spots or squirrel nibbles. English walnuts are more commonly used, but black walnuts are fine, too. This time of year, the walnuts haven’t yet formed their woody shells, and the flesh surrounding the nut is crisp and green. They’re pretty easy to slice into quarters with a heavy knife. Traditionally, nocino is made on or around June 23, so I’m just a bit ahead of the curve. As more walnuts fall over the coming weeks, I’ll add them to the jars.

For each pint jar, here’s the recipe:

Nocino
11 immature Black Walnuts, halved or quartered (It’s traditional to use an odd number of nuts)
1/2 cup sugar
3 juniper berries
2 cloves
1/4 vanilla bean
zest of 1/2 large lemon in wide strips
3 allspice berries
Vodka to fill the jar (I used 80-prood Svedka)

Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories In the Kitchen

Red Currant Infused Vodka

By Joe
June 18, 2011 //
0

I didn’t get enough red currants this year to preserve in jam or jelly or bake into a dessert. About 3/4 cup in total – enough to eat my fill fresh, with 1/2 cup left. I’m not sure how long red currants would keep in the fridge, and I really wanted to make them last. When I asked the Twitterverse what I should do with them, the superstar of Columbus’s restaurant world suggested red currant infused vodka. And who am I to argue?

There’s nothing easier – just dump the currants into a jar, and top with vodka. Wait a month, strain, and you’ve got a great cocktail mixer! I used 1/2 cup of currants and 1 3/4 cups (give or take) of vodka. Svedka is a nice brand to use for infusing – it’s inexpensive and of good quality which will let the currant flavor come to the forefront. Over time, the color will bleach out of the currants and give the infusion a pink hue. Even after a few hours, you can see the currants giving up their color.

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Berry Season

By Joe
June 18, 2011 //
1

The redcurrants ripened almost all at once. They’re bright, tart, juicy and altogether great! It’s easiest to pick them in their clusters and then remove the berries into a collander before you eat them. I got about a cup of berries this year, and from the way the bush has grown even in the past few months, I think they’ll start producing tons next year.

There are about 20 total blackcurrants on one of my bushes this year, and they seem to be ripening one by one rather than most of them at once like the redcurrants. I’ve never eaten a fresh blackcurrant before this one – the flavor is very tart, and very strong – but very good! This one may have been a bit underripe still. Hopefully next year, the bushes will start to come into their own.

The two ground cherry plants I have in the backyard are huge, and giving me a handful of berries every day. It seems very early to be getting anything at all from them, but I’ll take it. For the amount of space these plants take up, they might be the best bet for fruit from the garden this year. I love the sweet-tart flavor.

 

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Categories In the Ground

Mulberry – Juneberry Jam

By Joe
June 15, 2011 //
5

After a haul of more than seven pounds of mulberries my sister-in-law and I picked from the tree in the park down the street, I knew there was a lot of canning in my future. She and I ate a lot of them fresh, then made up a big match of mulberry jam. We still had a whole lot left over, so I pulled out the junberries we had left in the fridge, and I made a wild-picked, mixed berry jam. There aren’t any recipes out there for this one, so I was working a bit without a net.

Mulberry – Juneberry Jam
3 cups juneberries
4 cups mulberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 box low sugar pectin (only use 2/3 of the box)

Wash the mulberries carefully and drain them fully. In a large saucepan, mix the juneberries and mulberries, and crush well by hand. Don’t use a food processor, or your jam will come out oddly textured. Add the lemon juice, and bring to a full boil for one minute. Add the pectin and 1/4 cup of sugar and bring to a full boil for one minute. Add in the remaining sugar, and bring back to a full boil for one minute. Ladle into sterilized jars and process in hot water for five minutes. Makes 7 cups.

The jam turned out really tasty. The mulberries dominated the appearance, but the junberry flavor shines through with a slightly floral apple-y flavor. It’s pretty sweet, even though the low-sugar recipe is about half of what is called for in a traditional recipe. The juneberries contain a fair amount of pectin on their own, and even with using 2/3 of a packet of pectin. You might try even less, or no additional pectin, especially if your juneberries are still red rather than purple.

All in all, it’s a great way to preserve the wild flavors of the month.

Categories In the Kitchen

The sideyard in photos

By Joe
June 10, 2011 //
1
 Most of the yard is looking pretty great right about now. However, there are a few places we haven’t got around to sprucing up yet. The two-foot-wide strip of dirt on the east side of our house is pretty much a wasteland. But among all that, there are a few bright spots, and of course, a great opportunity for next year.

I've let the bed around this elderberry bush get out of control. I didn't get the bush until late November, and most of it had died - but new sprouts did come up. It's not going to produce any fruit unless I plant another variety to pollinate it.

Not bad for plants I was going to throw out!

The mint I planted in the sideyard has migrated about five feet to the south of where I planted it. I planted five kinds two years ago, and they're all interwoven now.

Categories In the Ground

In Lieu of Potatoes

By Joe
June 9, 2011 //
2

You may recall my nearly complete failure with potatoes last year. Potatoes are supposed to be really easy to grow – hell – they fed Peru, Ireland and Poland for centuries. But somehow, my finely crafted potato box didn’t do the trick. The potato foliage was robust, but I got 2 3/4 pounds total. Delicious, of course, but not worth the space. At the end of last year, I thought too much sun was the problem. I was going to move the box. Then I thought I had the wrong soil mix.

 Also, I realized we don’t eat a lot of white potatoes at home (thought I can’t resist French fries in a restaurant…) and that even organic potatoes are phenomenally inexpensive to buy.  So instead of trying again, I threw in the towel on potatoes altogether, left the box where it was, and started to think of the box as a place to pamper a new crop. That bright sunlight is a big asset, as is the deep, rich soil.

I added a full bag of leaf compost this spring, as well as some additional composted peat. My choice to replace the potatoes are two other members of the nightshade family: ground cherries and chichiquelite huckleberries.

A benefit of the very tall box is that the ground cherries can drape over the sides rather than needing to be staked and/or supported. It’s a small box – just 2 by 2 feet, so I only have four plants total in the box. The ground cherries have taken off incredibly – they’re sprawling everywhere and have lots of fruit, a few of which have already ripened. The huckleberries (which I grew from seed) are having a more challenging time. Some insect has found their leaves to be delicious, and even with vigilant applications of neem oil, they’re laced with large holes. Still, the plants have more than tripled in size since I set them out in mid-May.

Already, I think switching from potatoes has paid off. Those ground cherries are going to be really prolific!

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