If I could marry a vegetable

I love cauliflower SO much, I think I will marry it.  

Why Cauliflower?  

• Let's start with it's beautiful head, also known as a curd.  A beautiful cluster of unopened flower buds or florets/flowerets.
• Also I like it's little leafy jacket -- so stylish, yet practical.  The way it grows over it's head is so smart -- to protect it from the sun and additional photosynthesis -- and keeps it's curd pure and white and delicious.
• I like how it likes me too, and protects me with natural anti-cancerous phytochemicals like sulforaphanes and indoles.
• I'll never forget the first time I learned in spite of it's innocent appearance -- it's actually a nutritional powerhouse.  From all it's antioxidant powers which are called glucosinolates which helps my bod cleanse and remain youthful, to the high amounts of Vitamin C, potassium, folate and fiber!

Looking for a Cauli of your own?

• White is most common, a classic if you will.
• Green (broccoflower or Romanesco) is crossed with Broccoli and has a really neat fractal-like apperance and is HIGHER in protein and Vitamin C!
• Purple is touchy -- it requires less cooking time BUT can turn green if overcooked.
• Orange (aka Golden) is cool because it looks like cheese.  But besides that, it also retains its color fully when cooked and is very high in Vitamin A (thanks beta-Carotenes).

• Fresh cauliflower will be creamy and consistent in coloring with tight, firm florets and no sign of flowering.  Green shoots emerging from the head are ok though.  The large, protective outer leaves (that wrap around the head) discussed above are usually removed before shipping or displaying in retail settings.
• Keep refrigerated in a reused/reusable plastic bag with the stem down (not on top of it's head!). Use within a week ideally if bought whole -- precut florets should be used within a handful of days.
• Cauliflower can also be blanched and frozen for up to one year!  Really smart!
• TIP: be sure to use a nonreactive pot when cooking cauliflower to maintain the color integrity!  Otherwise your white cauliflower may turn some undesirable clear/gray mucky color.

Cauliflower can also be prepared in a surprisingly large number of ways besides raw & steamed.  

How about a creamy purée with curry spices?  

Or in soups or chili.  

Stir fry or curry.  

With cheese on it!

Fried (or deep-fried!), with spices -- or just sautéed and added to rice (yes, fried rice).

Or, my favorite, roasted!

Here is the main reason I love cauliflower so much lately.  I could eat that dish every meal.

Green "Romanesco" Cauli = HIGHER in protein and Vitamin C and love!

Citrus Season: Oranges

Happy New Year!

Apologies for the posting-gap....

So, if you haven't noticed, the Midwest is a cold, barren, arctic wonderland at the moment and unless you are lucky enough to have a local aquaponics, hydroponics or 4-season greenhouse in your locality there isn't much to say about local produce.

By this time you might be growing bored of potatoes, root-storage veggies, and winter squash, huh?  Well, lucky for us, our beloved California, Florida and Texas are full-swing in the midst of their citrus season.

Not excited?  Well, now and only now is your prime chance to grab a variety of orange-tinted orbs and do some homework.  Here is a little guide:

ORANGES

The common orange in grocery stores is the Valencia which does not have a navel and is available all year round -- primarily in season in the summer.  It is more difficult to peel, but contains lots of sweet liquid and used often for juicing.

Navels include the common sweet Navel (just seasonal in our wintertime, easier to peel than Valencia, enjoyed often in sections, less juicy so not preferential for juicing)

and also the amazing Cara Cara (pinkish interior with a hint of super sweet grapefruit flavor!)

and the kool-aidish, crowd-pleaser, the Blood Orange (which makes an impressive colored marmalade!!).

HOW TO SELECT AN ORANGE

• For pretty much all citrus you want to ensure there is no brown scabbing (which spreads and ruins the flavor, primarily seen on lemons and limes).
• No soft spots which will only get softer...
• NAVELS: You want to select one that has a smaller navel opening because the size is correlated to the thickness of the pith.  The larger the navel opening, the thicker the pith, the smaller the juice sacks and therefore the less fruit you get to enjoy.
• Look for a dark, uniform, deep mature coloring.  For oranges, the oranger the better in the case of Navels -- no green!  BUT not necessarily so for the Valencia!  Why?  Well Valencia's can be left on the tree for a longer period of time, specifically throughout the summer, before being harvested.  The increased exposure to light and photosynthesis means that chlorophyll from the tree might actually leak back into the fruits.  So a greenish Valencia might actually be riper than a dark orange one -- but it might not...
• The most useful tip I've picked up on is to compare the weights of your desired citrus specimens.  If you pick up two similar sized oranges of the same variety -- and one is heavier -- that one contains more liquids, more juices, more sweetness!

Now, to decifer the differences between mandarins, tangerines, clemintines and satsumas!  Oh my!

Glass Gem Heirloom Corn

I never really thought I'd want to grow much corn until today.

Too bad the seed already sold out for now.

Quick explanation of heirloom seeds and their importance?  Ok.  

In general, the best heirloom seeds are open-pollinated (by birds, bees, other insects, wind, natural means), and not hybrids which would not occur naturally.  Nor are they genetically modified in any way.  Because they're not hybrids they will sow true -- which means that if you properly grow, collect, store and plant an heirloom seed it will be true to it's parent plant.  

This is not true for, as a popular example, a hybrid tomato plant.  If you saved the seed of a hybrid tomato odds are if you planted the saved seed you would get a cherry tomato (per my experience) or at least one of the parent varieties used to create the hybrid -- not the hybrid itself.  Hybrids exist for a variety of reasons, mostly because they express the beneficial traits of the parent varieties.  I personally consider hybrids a hard sell because you must buy or renew each year -- not very sustainable environmentally or self-sufficient.

Heirlooms are important because of their genetic consistency and stability.  Plus they tend to pretty much always exhibit prettier and tastier qualities over the hybrids and GMOs.  There are also so, so, so many kinds.  Which has made for a lot of really neat seed saving movements, banks and libraries.  Besides being cool to collect -- they are of extremely understated importance to maintaining diversity in our food crops which, in turn, invests in the hopes that we will always have something edible to grow.  

Plus a lot of banks and libraries are regionally-focused which is a sustainability measure as well so that we spend less resources (water, greenhouse heating, etc) trying to grow things that aren't native or very well acclimated locally.

Did I mention they're prettier?

New recommended reading about heirloom seeds for sustainability by the director of Seeds Trust, Bill McDorman.

Deciphering Cilantro

So what is the difference between Cilantro and Parsley?

drawings of unidentifiable flora from the Voynich Manuscript
which is still undeciphered
and
 wiki'ed as "the world's most mysterious manuscript"

Err.... 

I've been able to console many customers with their cilantro vs. coriander dilemma (they're the same plant -- coriander is just cilantro's seed) -- but never thought to be ready to describe the difference between the two herbs.  Perhaps it's a simple question, but I'm all for giving you all TMI about the difference between the two.

Can you tell the difference?

Parsley is on the LEFT.  Cilantro on the right.  I still have trouble telling the difference sometimes but the main thing is the shape of the leaves.  The flat-leaf parsley has longer leaves whereas the cilantro is more compact... the best way to learn is to go to the store and check it out in reality.

First, they're easily confused because they are closely related, both being from the Apiaceae or Umbel family (as are carrots, celery, fennel, dill, and wild Queen Anne's lace, etc.)

As for the differences.  It's hard to keep them separate in an organized-matter, so here is my attempt at organizing, hopefully not overkill:

Whew!

Ok, so -- about cilantro being soapy.  There's a nice article about this, and here are a few key excerpts:

  The authoritative Oxford Companion to Food notes that the word “coriander” is said to derive from the Greek word for bedbug, that cilantro aroma “has been compared with the smell of bug-infested bedclothes” and that “Europeans often have difficulty in overcoming their initial aversion to this smell.”   

...

The senses of smell and taste evolved to evoke strong emotions, he explained, because they were critical to finding food and mates and avoiding poisons and predators. When we taste a food, the brain searches its memory to find a pattern from past experience that the flavor belongs to. Then it uses that pattern to create a perception of flavor, including an evaluation of its desirability.
If the flavor doesn’t fit a familiar food experience, and instead fits into a pattern that involves chemical cleaning agents and dirt, or crawly insects, then the brain highlights the mismatch and the potential threat to our safety. We react strongly and throw the offending ingredient on the floor where it belongs. 

...

“When your brain detects a potential threat, it narrows your attention,” Dr. Gottfried told me in a telephone conversation. “You don’t need to know that a dangerous food has a hint of asparagus and sorrel to it. You just get it away from your mouth.”But he explained that every new experience causes the brain to update and enlarge its set of patterns, and this can lead to a shift in how we perceive a food.“I didn’t like cilantro to begin with,” he said. “But I love food, and I ate all kinds of things, and I kept encountering it. My brain must have developed new patterns for cilantro flavor from those experiences, which included pleasure from the other flavors and the sharing with friends and family. That’s how people in cilantro-eating countries experience it every day." NY Times, Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap 

Pretty cool.

Also, it's important to respect your herbs and keep them fresh.  For fresh green herbs like cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, etc. once you want to store them make sure they are dry and snip off the ends.  Place them in a cup or jar of clean water like flowers.

If you're going to store them in the fridge place a plastic bag over the top loosely to protect flavor.  Some recommend keeping basil and parsley room-temp because they can be damaged if they get too cold and most herbs will not last as long if the leaves get damp.

Change water as needed -- can keep herbs fresh and usable for up to 2 weeks!

Consider yourself debriefed but don't get frustrated if your cilantro-parsley wires cross -- it happens.

Sensitive Plant

I really like this.  

Looking to start some from seed again next year.

Seasonal Celebrity Spotlight: Brussels Sprouts

Have you been burned in the past by the brussels sprout?  Try to forgive and forget for the season, at least, and give them a second chance.

Brussels sprouts get a bad rep because they're usually cooked incorrectly -- overcooking is the most common, and least tasty, mistake made when preparing these cute little cabbages.

My favorite way to prepare them is roasted:

1.5 lbs brussels sprouts

3 T olive oil (or grapeseed or whatever you have)

.5 to 1 t sea salt

.5 to 1 t ground black pepper

First, cut of any excess stalks on the individual little guys and remove any undesirable outer leaves.

If you want to roast them whole -- the core cooks slower than the leaves so cut an "X" into the bottom with the cross of the X centered in the leftover stalk part.

If you want them halved (better in my opinion), then do that.

Put the prepped sprouts in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the spices, then toss so that they're evenly coated.

Bake at 400 on preferably a shallow dish or even better a cookie sheet, for 30 to 40 minutes!

THEN try to tell me you don't like brussels sprouts, and we'll talk about it.

Besides being heavenly and adorable, brussels sprouts are great for your bod.  They are part of the Brassica (aka the mustard) family (with broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, mustard greens, turnips, kale, cauliflower, radishes, etc. etc.).  All members of the Brassica family are cool weather crops -- which means for us in the Midwest they are freshly in season during the Spring/early Summer and Fall/NOW (and not when the weather is too hot mid-Summer).

All of these tasty veggies are full of sulforaphane, which is an anti-cancer agent, as well as a bunch of Vitamin C (also shows to reduce cancer), Vitamin A, folic acid, and PROTEIN (more than 25% of their calories)!  They are a very low-cal and low-fat source, in fact -- though they don't provide the full-spectrum of the essential amino acids, they can be completed with a side of whole grains!

Selecting your little cabbages:

• Look for firm, tight, bright-green headed sprouts -- preferably on the smaller-side.  Some say that smaller sprouts are sweeter but I'm not sure about that -- I DO know that sprouts which have been frosted before harvesting ARE indeed sweeter.
• Avoid brussels sprouts that are dull in color, puffy, wilted and/or soft.
• Try to get a bunch that are all like-sized so that they cook evenly.

You can keep them stored in the fridge for a few days, or freeze them for up to 2 weeks -- some say 5 weeks but I'm skeptical.

So, now to dispel the myth that brussels sprouts are disgusting.

When over-cooked, brussels release glucosinolate sinigrin -- which is responsible for the sulfurous taste and odor for over-boiled, mushy, gray brussels sprouts.

Glucosinolate sinigrin is also responsible for the bitterness of cauliflower and broccoli and brussels -- which I've experienced being stronger in veg grown conventionally and pumped full of synthetic Nitrogen fertilizers -- over organic crops, which tend to be sweeter, perhaps because they were grown on mineral-balanced, organic soils...?

If you choose to boil over roast, only do so for 3 to 5 minutes depending on the size of the heads to avoid overcooking and sulfur stink.

So, I dare you to give them a try.  Or a second, or third.  Or perhaps one of their Brassica cousins -- since they're all currently in season!

Rebel Pineapple

Thanks Stephen & Rebel Youth by Karlheinz Weinberger

Pineapples are difficult to figure out.  Especially considering that Hawaii is the most local source for the golden fruits we find in our Midwestern grocery store.

Like most fruits -- pineapples are best at peak maturity and ripeness.  However a fully-mature pineapple (the super-yellow one with uniform coloring on the far-left) is not fit to be shipped.  It is too juicy and soft and would never make it to our produce shelves in solid-form.  So the only way you can really enjoy a true, ripe pineapple is to either go to Hawaii or grow a pineapple from the original pineapple's top in your home (but it will take 2 to 3 years)!

But in the meantime, let's focus on how to improve our abilities to pick-out our second-best, lower-48 variety pineapple from the produce department.  Our pineapples are picked and arrive to us mature and hopefully fresh (bright and greenish, center pineapple in photo above) but unripe -- unfortunately, once a pineapple is picked it will not mature any further.  But you can still ripen it on your counter.

So, now you're looking for three things: mature, fresh, and then desired ripeness.

How to find the freshest, most mature, and ripening pineapple in the line-up:

• Mature: Pineapples ripen from the base-up to the crown and are considered mature when they start to develop a "color break" which could be yellow, golden or reddish -- contrasting with the unripe green. 
• The higher the yellowing/golden color break rises-up the fruit, the higher the sugar content.
• Fresh: Smell the fruit at the base -- fresh pineapples should have a sweet aroma.  If there is no smell -- it's unripe and will not ripen.  If it smells bad and like it's fermented (vinegary) then it's overripe.
• The flesh should be firm but can give very slightly under pressure but it shouldn't be soft.  Avoid any fruits with localized soft-spots or bruising.
• The crown's leaves may be dried-out and look a little rough -- but focus on the fruit which will probably look good even if the crown doesn't.
• Ripe: Depending on when you want to eat it -- as long as there is a color-break you can take the fruit home to ripen on the counter.  One that is more green (like the center photo) will take longer, perhaps a week, compared to a fully-bronzed/golden pineapple (like the far-right photo) would probably be ready within the same day or two!
• NOT TRUE: if you can pull a leaf from the stalk then it's ripe.

Avoid the not-fresh/overripe:

• An overripe pineapple can be brown, bronze, red or even green -- don't depend on darkness alone!
• Smell is the main indicator -- an overripe pineapple will smell fermented like vinegar or alcohol.
• Soft flesh and wrinkled, loose skin indicates overripeness.
• Avoid any oozing or molting leaves from the crown!

Raw pineapple contains a living enzyme called Bromelain which aids in digestion by breaking-down proteins.  Bromelain also has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties.  Regular consumption of raw pineapple has shown to reduce indigestion AND worm-infestation!

Pineapples are also high in Vitamin C (helps make collagen which is the body's main structural protein), Vitamin A, and the B-complexes.  

Also somebody once told me that consuming pineapples makes your body odor smell good but who knows.  I guess this could be true -- but more because of the high water content keeping you hydrated and diluting your sweat than of anything to do with the pineapple.  Eh?

Have a nice day! 

p.s.

What's the difference between ripe and mature in fruit (or rebel) terms?

Ripe fruits may not be mature (usually somewhat immature)-- they will be prime for eating -- sweet with nice texture.

Mature fruits may or may no-longer be ripe -- this means the fruit has reached it's full-potential and may or may not still taste good or have a good texture. 

Generally the texture of mature fruits can be too tough or woody to enjoy or the flavor may not be desirable anymore. 

Also there is a fine line walked between fully-mature and rotten so many fruits in the store are not mature when shipped or purchased to prolong shelf life and storability.