HOW DID A PLANT FROM THE ANDES turn itself into an international star, and the world’s most-eaten vegetable, with more than 300 million metric tons consumed a year? This week’s Summer Fest event celebrates the humble but adaptable potato, Solanum tuberosum, with tips on growing, harvesting, and most of all storing, in case your harvest is in need of a winter home any week now. Oh, and yes, with recipes from my creative culinary colleagues—this is a cross-blog recipe swap, after all. Got one to share? [read more…]
Search Results for: summerfest
celebrating, and storing, the humble potato
September 15, 2010 By 20 Comments
{ 20 Comments }
growing and storing a year of garlic
September 8, 2010 By 33 Comments
MY HOMEGROWN CROP OF GARLIC GETS ME TO ALMOST FEBRUARY, and then it’s just not what it used to be. You know how it goes—you’ve bought late-winter cloves that start to sprout and just don’t feel as firm or weigh what they did before time took its toll. I don’t have a perfect storage spot; considering that I do quite well. But this year I’m laying in a supply in the freezer, too, following safe, sane methods—no, you cannot just pack it in oil and refrigerate! My tactics for growing, harvesting and enjoying a year of garlic. Both softneck and hardneck types are welcome here, by the way—dare I ask which camp you’re in? [read more…]
peppers: short and sweet, or feeling spicy?
September 1, 2010 By 30 Comments
IHAVE HAD A ROW OF TINY HOT PEPPERS PINNED to my wall for years, just under the primitive still life of fruit over the dining table. I don’t know what got me started turning chiles into pin-ups, but it’s a habit that has stuck (tee hee), and every so often one becomes the zip in a pot of wintertime chili—or the start of next year’s pepper plants. Welcome to the first extended week of Summer Fest cross-blog recipe swap, where the topic is…you guessed it: Capsicum annuum. Are you feeling sweet, or spicy? [read more…]
there’s more than one way to ripen a tomato
August 25, 2010 By 76 Comments
AH, THE JUICY JOY OF A RIPE TOMATO—IF YOU CAN NURTURE ONE unscathed to that perfect shade of orangey-red, that is. This hot, dry summer the chipmunks (who demonically began taste-testing at about half-ripe) drove me to picking early and ripening every fruit indoors—which might not be such a bad thing, it turns out. To mark Week 5 of Summer Fest—Tomato Week—what better topic than how to turn a tomato red? Well, perhaps a recipe for green tomato “mincemeat,” too, just in case our magic fails? That, plus a buffet of delicious links from my Summer Fest recipe swap co-conspirators: [read more…]
think green: as in leafy, beans and herbs
August 11, 2010 By 49 Comments
IAM UP TO MY KNEES IN GREEN(S)—chard, arugula, and beans (sometimes yellow-green!), with kale coming on. I’m also up to my ankles, or at least toes, in deliciously lovable green frogs (Rana clamitans, a native species here). The amphibians seem to be sticking close to my home, where a few backyard pools and ceramic troughs provide respite in dry times. The botanicals do best near my sprinkler, which I’m moving every two hours practically 24/7, hoping to be fresh looking for today: Herbs, Greens and Beans Week of our 3d annual Summer Fest, a giant cross-blog recipe swap featuring nonstop green. Welcome! [read more…]
