Mint can be used both in sweet and savory dishes. Add mint to new potatoes or to a garlic and cream cheese dip. Mix mint with chocolate cakes or bake with raisins and currants in pastry. Mints are an excellent addition to sauces, syrups, vinegars, and teas. There are more than 2,000 varieties of mint—about…
Search Results for: cucumber harvest
Melons: Kitchen Basics
There are two ways to eat melon: at the beginning of a meal as a hors d’oeuvre or starter for savory dishes or at the end as a dessert fruit. As a starter, melon can be seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper or with ginger. As a dessert, melon can be sprinkled with superfine…
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…
Tomato: Kitchen Basics
There are more than 1,000 varieties of tomatoes. The peak season for fresh tomatoes is early summer through mid-fall. Tomatoes are at their absolute best vine-ripened towards the end of summer. The tomato is a fruit used as a vegetable in savory dishes for its juicy texture and mildly sweet, rich taste. There is nothing like…
Tomatillo: Kitchen Basics
You know the taste of the tomatillo from the green sauce—called salsa verde—served on enchiladas and Mexican pork stews. The flavor of the tomatillo 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,…
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…
Summer Squash: Kitchen Basics
Here is a sauté of fresh zucchini and herbs is a great way to kick off the summer zucchini and tender squash season: Heat a few dabs of butter in a large skillet, add finely chopped yellow onion and brown lightly over high heat. Mix your choice of chopped fresh marjoram, snipped fresh dill, or…
