week 10

Cooking in SeasonWeek 10

The bright red tomatoes clinging onto giant green bushes, warm from the sun and completely packed with flavor are what makes the boring winter tomatoes green with envy. There is nothing quite like walking through the garden and picking a ripe tomato and biting into it with it’s warm juices set at the perfect blend of acidity and sweetness. The quest for the best tomato has begun.We’re now taste testing the fruits from the heirloom mix seed packet we got from Fedco and the random varieties we collected along the way as well. The great whites are massive. The mortgage lifters are almost living up to their name... but not quite paying off my credit card bills, and the big rainbows are showing all beautiful hues of reds, yellows, and greens. In the garden fresh taste tests, the black krims are squeaking up to the top of the list with their gorgeous layered green skin over dark red flesh that’s not quite black, but something that has the warmth of a dimly lit room with a warm fireplace, or those old paintings of king’s tables. We’re saving seed, so if there’s one that you especially like, send me a picture of it (even if it’s half eaten) or scoop out a few seeds and bring them in next week.

Another vine ripened, warm from the sun beauty that made it into the baskets this week are peaches from Mount Hope. I’m thinking of all the delicious ways to put them in the freezer, in pies, in jams, and in cobblers just to keep a slice of summer to break out on a cold winter day.
The beans are not as stellar this year as they were last year, but they’re still vying for a spot in the baskets. Regrettably, the purple ones turn green no matter how you cook them, much to the dismay and frustration of one member last year. But we grow them because they are easier to pick as the purple doesn’t blend in as well as green beans do.And speaking of beans, I have quite a few shelling beans that will start making their way into baskets next week. I’ll try to mark the different types, but we have all colors, shapes and flavors. Shelling can be a pain, but these beans will repay you in protein and keep for a long time when stored properly. (More on this when they come in.)

Anyway, the apples are starting to come in along with the pears and soon the grapes. The ground cherries are really coming on as long as we keep scooping them off the ground as they fall. I’m going to start concentrating them into quantities in some baskets for those interested in making ground cherry pie. My mom has this amazing pie crust recipe that she got from Georgia Wilson. It’s an old amish recipe that is just amazing, no matter what the filling.

********* secret recipe omitted **********************