Farmer's Market Haul, July 4th

The July 4th holiday is a big one. And like most holidays, it has its own food associations and traditions.  Strawberries, certainly, and cherries are two.  Both are patriotic colors and come into season around early July.  Pies, cakes and other pastries made with these red fruits or in combination with blue ones like blueberries are on the dessert menu.  Grills are fired up as summer is perfect grill season.  The problem is when these fruits come from conventional farms that use a lot of pesticides, when the meat on the grills comes from factory farms where the animals are fed an improper diet and kept in inhumane conditions.  The problem also manifests itself in the white bread hamburger and hot dog buns, the potato chips fried in vegetable oils, and all the rest of the processed foods that help fill out the picnic.

I celebrated my independence from the industrial food system by going to the farmer’s market bright and early and purchasing the bounty that you see in the photo above.  Going shopping is a pleasure rather than a chore if you have a farmer’s market or a farm that you can buy directly from.  I love talking with the people running the stalls – often times it is the very farmer him/herself!  And just seeing all of the wonderful food and thinking of all the possibilities with the ingredients fills me with optimism.  Cooking food isn’t so bad either.  In the summer you can rely heavily on salads which don’t require a hot stove or hours in the kitchen.  And even in the winter, roasts and soups provide delicious meals and many leftovers with very little effort involved.  And when I do rely on packaged foods or convenience foods, they can be purchased from ethical companies that source good ingredients and create the food in a way as to keep the nutrition in.

Want some examples?  Look no further than the rest of the posts on this blog, or read many of the food blogs linked on the right.  Or stay tuned as I blog over the next few weeks about some of these foods in more detail.  Below the jump you’ll see what I purchased on July 4th and a description based on what I know so far of these foods.

Heavy Cream – I got this from Ronnybrook Farm.  They are an organic dairy upstate.  They feed their cows grass and they pasteurize the milk at the lowest possible temperature allowed, as to retain more of the nutrition.  Heavy cream can be used to whip into whipped cream for desserts (especially fruit desserts!), it can be added to scrambled eggs instead of milk for a little extra richness, added to soups, or used about a hundred other ways.  I specially purchased it to pour it over berries for a simple sugar free dessert.  The cream is sweet enough that I don’t need to add any sugar.  It even overcomes the tartness of the berries.

Red Leaf Lettuce - This lettuce is especially beautiful in salads or on sandwiches, with its ends tinged of red.  Leaf lettuce may not last a long while in the fridge, but it can also be cooked and added to stocks, soups, or stir fries, giving you more uses for it.  Red leaf lettuce is particularly high in beta carotene and vitamin K.  I bought this for salads, but I’ll probably throw some into a stir fry as well.

Quark - yeah, I had never heard of this either!  Quark is a traditional cultured dairy food from Germany.  The easiest way to explain it would be yogurt or sour cream made out of buttermilk.  It is thick enough to spread on toast or crackers, but still creamy.  It can be used in baking, as a dip or a spread.  The taste is similar to sour cream.  A little sour, a little tangy.  But there was something about it, I loved it more than I love either of those two things!  It can go savory with the additions of herbs or sweet with fruit.  Quark will make a regular appearance in my diet.  Absolutely delicious.  And since it is made with probiotics and the milk from happy grass fed cows from Hawthorne Valley Farm, I know that it is at least as nutritious as it is delicious.

Apple and Black Currant Juice - from Red Jacket Orchards.  Their interesting fruit combination and from what I can tell, good farming and juice making practices make them a good place to buy juice from, if you are inclined to buy juice.  I don’t buy a lot since I’d rather eat the whole fruit instead, but they are a good way to help keep a smoothie drinkable, so I do buy every now and then.  This fruit combination is very good!

Broccoli - We all should know by now that broccoli is good for us.  There are so many great nutrients in abundance that I couldn’t list them all here or my post would get too long.  I got this for a stir fry, but I plan on using the entire broccoli, not just the tender heads we all love to eat.  The stems are very good for you too, and eating them helps stretch your food budget and prevent waste.  Chop them into smaller pieces to use in soups, fritattas, pastas, stir fries, or anything else you can think of.

Purslane – I love purslane!  It is one of the best vegetarian sources of omega 3s, and plus, it just tastes good!  A little tart and lemony, it goes well on salads or cooked in stir fry or soup.

Purple Cabbage - I got this for a stir fry (sense a theme?) and chose it over the green because of its pretty color.  Purple cabbage has more fiber and beta carotene than green cabbage.  All cabbage is a decent source of vitamin C which can be further increased by turning the cabbage into sauerkraut.

Zuccini – I made a yummy zucchini bread that made me hungry for more zucchini.  Aside from being put into baked goods, zucchinis are great stir fried, or battered with some egg and fried, which is how I ate a lot of them as a kid.

Green Beans – These just said “summer” to me!  I’ll probably just cook them with some butter.  Delicious and simple.  Green beans are high in vitamin K, vitamin C, and beta carotene.

Sweet Cherries – The pits annoy me (I need a good pitter, recommendations?) so I got the sweet kind that I can just eat out of hand.

Gooseberries – Gooseberries look like miniature watermelons.  They are the same size and shape as grapes and have the same feel in your mouth.  They taste wonderfully sour and can go sweet or savory.  I’ve put some in salads, but I want to try a dessert with them too.

Blueberries - They are packed with antioxidants, but is that why I eat them?  No.  I eat them because they are just so good.  I remember going blueberry picking in Michigan as a child, or hiking in Alaska, eating blueberries along the trail.  That these are so healthy for me is just a bonus.

Plumcots – A plumcot is a cross between a plum and an apricot.  It can occur naturally in areas where these trees are both grown from seed.  Plumcots have been known for some time.  They look similar to a regular plum, dark smooth skin.  The taste is sweet in the flesh, tart in the skin, a delightful combination.  And, like many fruits, high in vitamin C, fiber, potassium, and much more.

Black Raspberries – it struck me that the “blue raspberry” artificial flavor that you can sometimes find in slurpee style drinks and popcicles might actually have its inspiration from nature.  These are small, firm, dark raspberries.  They look black, but stained my fingers purple.  They didn’t spoil as quickly as regular raspberries.  The flavor is somewhere between a blackberry and a red raspberry, and I suppose their nutrition is similar as well.

Lamb’s Quarters – This is a green similar to spinach in taste and usage.  Cook it or eat it raw.  In many places it grows wild like a weed, so you might already have it in your garden!  Don’t weed it out!  It is at least as healthy as spinach, with high amounts of vitamin C, K, beta carotene, and calcium.

Middle Eastern Summer Squash - I can’t remember the exact variety of this summer squash, possibly Magda.  It is a middle eastern variety that holds up well to cooking.  I love trying out new varieties of vegetables, so I thought I’d give this one a try and compare it to zucchini.

And there you have it.  Celebrating my independence from the industrial food system with these great foods.  This will easily last me a week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with very few pantry items added in.  I won’t even want to make any desserts since the fruit and berries are plenty sweet to satisfy any dessert craving I might have.

Making Water Kefir

Everyone is talking about probiotics.  And with good reason!  Probiotics are good for us.  We depend on the beneficial microorganisms in our gut to help us digest food.  Popular name brand yogurt commercials tell us that yogurt helps regulate our digestive system and even is an important part of our immune system!  Healthy gut flora can prevent more dangerous strains of bacteria and viruses from multiplying and causing illness.  I’m sure you have all heard of yogurt as being probiotic.  Today I will discuss another one – water kefir.  Water kefir also serves other purposes – it contains vitamins and minerals, and since it tastes very similar to soda, it is a healthy way to satisfy your craving without all of the unhealthy ingredients of soda.

Water kefir is made by culturing water with water kefir grains – not grains like wheat or oats, but some sort of colony of beneficial bacteria and yeast that resemble small grains. There is also milk kefir (commonly just called kefir), which is made with similar grains put in milk.  I’ll discuss that at another time, but I wanted to mention them so you won’t be confused.

When you make water kefir, you get an effervescent drink that can be flavored with citrus, ginger, or vanilla, just like your favorite sodas. But instead of being full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other nasty things, it is filled with probiotics. Soda that makes you healthier! The culture feeds off the sugar, so the resulting drink isn’t too sweet or sugary, and the process by which they do this creates carbonation. The benefits go beyond the probiotic benefits. The resulting drink is high in various minerals such as calcium and magnesium, B-vitamins and more.

The steps to make basic water kefir seem pretty easy:

1. Dissolve sugar into water.
2. Add kefir grains and whatever fruit for flavoring (certain fruits are typically used, others are best avoided. I will post more on this as I learn more and experiment more)
3. Let sit in room temperature for no more than 12-48 hours, depending on your preference.
4. Strain the grains, save your drink, and start again!

I’ve been trying to make water kefir unsuccessfully for a while, and I have finally learned a few tricks.  I’ve gotten quite a few delicious batches now!  I wanted to share with you my tips so you can learn from my mistakes as well as my successes.

• Don’t use filtered water. Water kefir grains like the little bits of minerals that are found in spring water and well water.
• Do make sure to use dechlorinated water. If your water is chlorinated (most municipal water), you can get rid of the chlorine with a few different methods:

1. Leave the water out in a bowl, uncovered overnight. Chlorine will evaporate. This is the best option if you have time.
2. If you need the water in a rush, you can boil it and then let it cool back down.
3. I’ve also been told that you can aerate it in a blender, though I’ve not tried this method.

• Heat the water up so that the sugar can fully dissolve in the water. Be sure to cool it back down to room temperature before adding the kefir grains.
• Do not use metal utensils. Use wooden spoons and a plastic strainer.
• Use evaporated cane juice crystals, rapadura, or sucanant. Or any similar less refined sugar. There are minerals in this unrefined sugar that the kefir grains need. Molasses may work, but I haven’t tried it. Regular refined sugar does not work well.
• Kefir grains can multiply.  Make sure you keep a ratio of 1/4 cup grains to 1 quart water to 1/4 cup sugar.

My process lately is to follow all of the above steps, let it sit out for 48 hours, then strain, add a few drops of either lemon juice or vanilla extract, bottle, and stick in the fridge.  When you add vanilla, you get a “Cream Soda” and when you add lemon juice you get something that tastes similar to a popular citrus flavored soda.  I can’t wait to experiment with more flavors!

If you think you’d like to give this a try, you need to acquire some water kefir grains.  I’ve ordered from Cultures for Health and have been very satisfied.  They also have a variety of other cultures you can order – milk kefir, yogurt, and sourdough to name a few.  You can also visit the Nourished Kitchen’s culture exchange to see if anyone is offering any grains.

Soda made from real foods, instead of overly processed, additive-laden beverages.  Sign me up!  This post is submitted to Real Food Wednesdays.