There are two ways to eat melon: at the beginning of a meal as an hors d’oeuvre or starter for savory dishes or at the end as a dessert fruit. The high water content of melons makes them refreshing especially during hot summer weather, but because they are so high in water content the are…
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Early August Fresh at the Farm Market
August is truly the month of plenty. All of the vegetable and fruit gardeners’ and farmers’ hard work seems to come to fruition in August. This is the month that we had in the back of our minds back in April, May and June. Time to get out the garden harvest basket and enjoy the…
Cilantro and Coriander: Kitchen Basics
The cilantro plant and the coriander plant are the same plant. In most parts of the world, coriander is simply known as coriander. However, in the United States coriander refers to the seeds of the coriander plant, and cilantro refers to the herb leaves of the coriander plant. Why the difference? Well, it basically comes…
Nine Ways to Cook Tomatoes
Ways to cook tomatoes, try: fry, sauté, roast, broil-grill, stew, and steam, also make tomato gratin, stuffed tomatoes, and tomato soup. The tomato is a fruit used as a vegetable in savory dishes for its juicy texture and mildly sweet, rich taste. Tomatoes are at their absolute best vine-ripened towards the end of summer. The…
How to Cook and Serve Tomatillos
Tomatillo flavor is delicate but slightly tart in a green tomato sort of way, although it can sometimes border on sweet. Some say the flavor of the tomatillo is a combination of apple, lemon, and herbs. Tomatillo can be sliced raw into a salad or diced into salsa. Most often tomatillo is slowly simmered until…
Dill: Kitchen Basics
Partnering dill with fish and seafood got its start a few thousand years ago in the Nordic countries of northern Europe. Dill—which has a flavor somewhere between celery and parsley with the peppery undertones of anise and the feint aroma of lemon—brings lingering warmth to cured and marinated salmon and herring as well as fried…
Marjoram and Oregano: Kitchen Basics
Marjoram and oregano and oregano and marjoram. Have you noticed that these two spicy herbs are inseparable when you go to cooks’ reference books? The reason is that marjoram and oregano are generic names for two frequently interchanged (but different) herbs. Both are small aromatic shrubs that grow to approximately 2 feet (.6 m). Both…
Mid-June Fresh at the Farm Market
Spring ends and summer begins next week in the Northern Hemisphere. There are more flowers in June than in any other month. Bees are at work now: “A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon,” says an old rhyme. The flower of June is the rose. This month, fruit blossoms are starting…
Eight Ways to Cook and Serve Summer Squash
Summer or tender squash can be sautéed, steamed, boiled, baked, grilled, microwaved, or eaten raw. Use raw tender squash as an addition to crudités trays and salads The tender summer squashes–zucchini, Costata Romanesca, round and globe, scallop or pattypan, yellow crookneck, and yellow straightneck, and Zephyr–mature during the summer and can be claimed as baby…
Chives: Kitchen Basics
You’ve tried fresh chopped chives added to sour cream and served as a filling for a baked potato. But how about chives added to sour cream to serve with borscht and tomato soup? Fresh picked and snipped chives are a tasty garnish or flavoring in omelets, scrambled eggs, salads, and soups. Chives are also a…
