LandPaths Bayer Farm Harvest Festival

Sometimes I like to volunteer in my spare time, especially if I am asked and if it's something fun. I could not turn down the opportunity to cook at a Harvest Festival right here in Santa Rosa. It's in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood on a beautiful site that was an old farm which now sits right in the middle of lots of apartments, located across from a school. The site was purchased by the city of Santa Rosa with Landpaths as the non-partner partner. I worked on a project through the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy that involved the school, the community and the farm so it holds a special place in my heart.

It also is pretty wonderful that 16 families got to have their gardens there this year, plus a community area which yielded produce to sell two days a week. All around this farm is a win-win situation.

As I drove up to the festival I saw so many people walking in, it was quite amazing. It was estimated that 500 hundred people attended.

I cooked a vegetable dish that we named something exotic for the population -- Vegetable Melange du Jour. We could have named it Vegetales del Dia but that wouldn't have seemed so good. I used produce picked from the garden a couple of hours before. It included peppers, squash, eggplant (berenjena), tomatoes, kale, collards and chard, onions and garlic (the latter 2 I brought with me but they were locally grown). I added some Bragg's liquid amino acids to the dish and it was really good. I made a number of fast batches in the pressure cooker that we served on small pieces of bread.

There were kids who came back and asked if they could have more. There were grown women who asked how to cook eggplant. A woman asked the name of the green that I was using which was kale. She said that she'd seen it growing but didn't know what it was.

It was a beautiful warm, Indian summer Northern California day with people enjoying themselves outdoors. And I got to do some awesome education there. I keep gaining clarity that once people try new vegetables and realize that they taste OK, that they are more likely to buy them, especially if they have some idea how to cook them. And that's where I come in, having fun doing it.

Photo by LandPaths -- Craig Anderson.

Did You Say that the Figs are Ripe?

Some people attract money but I attract fruit and vegetables. This arrangement seems just fine to me since you can't eat money but you can eat produce.

Today I got my first dehydrator, used from ebay, and it works just fine. Not a top of the line Excalibur but it has an adjustable thermostat. I am currently drying persimmons.

My neighbor has a persimmon tree and one of the branches broke so I ended up with a huge bag of still kind of green persimmons. Since you can dry not quite ripe persimmons and get good results, I cut these and put them in to dry.

Today another neighbor said the magic words: the figs are ripe. That is music to my ears. It didn't send me running to get them as I had a 2 deadlines to meet but shortly thereafter I went to pick. The fig tree is huge and because of how it's been pruned I don't need a ladder to reach the lower part of the tree.

I have been picking figs for years and consider myself an expert. The funny thing about picking figs is that it's hard to see them when you are in the tree, maybe more so for figs than for other fruit which proves the "forest for the trees" theory. And I am very particular about how ripe my figs are except now that I have a dehydrator I may pick some that are not quite as ripe as I usually want them.

I just had a chance to try one of the best figs ever -- desert king. It is light green outside and bright red inside. If I had a place for it, I'd plant one of these in my yard. But for now, I am content to buy these occasionally and to pick my neighbor's black mission figs when they are ripe. I will surely enjoy them dried and canned this winter. I am going back for more as they ripen, and before the winter rains arrive. Oh, let's see -- what can I do with figs? Figgy pudding, fig bars, fig chutney, hmmm? Any good fig ideas? Just let me know jill@theveggiequeen.com.

My Japanese Food Week with Natto and Shoyu

As if using fresh yuba (the soybean skin) in my cooking wasn't exciting enough for me, I got an invitation from one of my former students who is Japanese to try natto, a traditionally fermented soybean product. I have mentioned before, or at least I think that I have, that eating fermented foods is a good thing.

And I may have even possibly posted about trying natto once before. I said that it was right up there with one of the 10 most disgusting foods that I have ever had. Well, I need to rescind my comment on natto. I tried frozen natto and it was beyond gross and smelly.

The natto that I tried today, produced here in the United States, just 10 minutes from where I live, in Sonoma County, is a very different food product. It doesn't have a ton of flavor and certainly not one that I would consider disgusting. I must point out that the texture is certainly not something most Americans are used to, as it is a bit gummy. I was told that the stickiness contains that nattokinase which is the beneficial part of the natto. The soybeans used in this natto are non-GMO beans from North Dakota that are not like any soybean that I have ever seen or used, they are much smaller.

Traditionally natto is eaten daily on top of rice with shoyu and mustard or wasabi, often for breakfast. I tried my natto with some shoyu and ate it on a lettuce leaf. It was delicious and a most interesting appetizer -- very fresh.

This brings me to shoyu -- I happened to be at http://www.gourmet-natto.com/ when there were some Japanese visitors who own a shoyu plant in Japan. I left with a small bottle of 2 year old shoyu, made without water. This is not what we usually see here in the US, unless you spend more money on your soy sauce, which I occasionally do. I actually use tamari, not soy sauce, since I know that it's usually a higher quality than the brown stuff in bottles.

I met with Minami and Shun and it was a great pleasure. I learned more about Japanese foods in one short visit with them than I had anticipated. I cannot wait to have my students try natto to see what they think. And I may have to take a trip to San Francisco to get some special Japanese products. Minami told me that he knows one of the best tofu makers in Japan. Perhaps I should just resurrect my idea of the Tofu Tour to Japan. Are you interested? Let me know by posting a comment here.

My Japanese Food Week with Yuba

Last week I did a cooking demonstration at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. Thank you to all who attended. It was great fun, especially because I got to make Eggplant with Yuba, Ginger and Garlic. I added colored sweet peppers to it and green onions. It was easy, delicious and beautiful and went perfectly with the Massa's brown rice.

Yuba, for those who don't know, which is likely most of you, is tofu skin. I know that this sounds strange. But the good folks at Hodosoy make tofu (and many tofu products which always makes me want to stop in SF at the Saturday market or in San Rafael at the Sunday market to pick them up). They skim off the top layer of tofu to make large, thin sheets of the skin which are about 10 by 15 inches (although I could be way off). I cut them up in strips and put them in with the eggplant but also used one to make a roll with the rice and eggplant dish inside. It tasted very good and looked quite beautiful on the plate, garnished with peppers and green onions.

Tofu skin makes a great topping when making a loaf at Thanksgiving which was in my original cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Volume 1 (way before Deborah Madison wrote her book). But back then I had to use dried, rehydrated yuba sheets. The fresh product beats the other hands down. I don't necessarily expect that you'll find it in your neighborhood store but if you happen to be in the San Francisco area, you now know about another wonderful traditional, i.e., not processed, soy product.

The Veggie Queen Loves Beans

It is likely no surprise that I love to eat beans. I don't care if they're the green, yellow or purple bean type, fresh shelling beans or dried beans, regular or heirloom. They are all wonderful in my opinion.

My friends, Jill and David, at Crescent Moon Farm did me a huge, big deal favor a while back and picked and labeled about 10 kinds of shelling beans for me that I used for one of my show, tell and taste demonstrations. I had Cherokee Trail of Tears, Painted Pony, 2 types of Cranberry -- one almost white and the other dark red, and a number more. I shelled them and added them to dishes but with only a few pods of each, it didn't add up to a meal. But soon there will be dried beans for sale and I can stock up, if I can afford it.

Yesterday I bought cranberry beans from Tierra Vegetables and enjoyed shelling them to teach a cooking class at The McDougall Program today. I made my soup for a Chilly Fall Night, even though it was the day time. Still yummy with winter squash, peppers, cumin, tomatoes, corn, and cilantro for a garnish. But back to the beans...

I realize that growing, picking and threshing beans is a labor intensive, labor of love type process which justifies the high price but there is a limit to my purchasing power. I consider the heirloom beans equivalent to eating a gourmet meal out in the world. Truth is that I much prefer my special beans to most meals that I can get.

Although yesterday fellow Registered Dietitian Jeff Novick and I ate at Peter Lowell's in Sebastopol where they offer a darned good (but possibly overpriced) macro bowl, with brown rice, beans, vegetables and your choice of tempeh, seitan or tofu. I got a really good ginger-something dressing with it that was really fresh. Jeff didn't say it but I know that he liked my tempeh better than his tofu so next time maybe he'll order that. Jeff liked the dish and the place is the "greenest" restaurant in Sonoma County.

And this brings me back to the expensive beans. If I cook my own rice (not in a nice oven proof crock) and serve it with the beans, vegetables and I'd add some of my very tasty sauerkraut, it would cost me far less than $9.50, even with my $8 per pound beans. Generally a pound of beans will yield from 5 to 7 cups, at a cost of more or less a dollar at the high prices. Add in my rice and veggies and I can have a darned good "gourmet" meal at home for a few dollars. The heck with eating out, except that what happens to the rice and other ingredients in that wood-fired oven is rather magical. And I've got to learn how to make the ginger dressing. And then I'm there.

For now, I wait for heirloom beans to be dry and ready to buy.

Today a Rainbow, Yesterday a Sun Shower, What's Next?

I know that this post might not seem like it has anything to do with food or eating but it, of course, does. I love rainbows. Seeing them seems almost like a miracle to me. They are always there but don't often show themselves. Well, vegetables seem to me to be another type of miracle. You can take one seed and produce an entire plant, that yields multiple fruit, grains, nuts, beans -- whatever happens to be growing. Now, this is obviously an entirely different animal than a cow, goat, pig, chicken or even a human being. How on earth can one seed carry so much potential?


It boggles my mind. And that's what rainbows do for me -- give me a new perspective. And yesterday when there was a brief sun shower but not a cloud in the sky that was interesting. Thankfully I was in Petaluma, a small city, and there were other people who were also looking skyward to see where the water was coming from, otherwise I might have been completely baffled.


And my rainbow today occurred when there is no rain, just a large cloud and then sun's rays from which it could reflect. All this as our harvest season winds down, and I have tomatoes, figs and peaches drying in the dehydrator. I'm savoring the last of the green beans, summer squash and eggplant. The wonders of nature are inspiring but especially the vegetables.

Why Sauerkraut? And other probiotic questions.

I read an article yesterday that in a poll of 1000 people in the US only 15% had any idea of what probiotics are, and my guess is that many have heard the word but are still unsure of what these living marvels do.


This means that there are far too many people who just don't know that eating live food can make a difference in their life. (But that's because so many Americans eat food that's way beyond dead -- processed beyond recognition.)


Probiotics help populate your gut with beneficial bacteria -- the stuff that's supposed to be there, that sometimes gets wiped out by antibiotics or GI disturbances. Also, there are prebiotics, which help keep your system healthy, in beans, whole grains and other vegetarian foods.


The other day I made sauerkraut. It is incredibly easy to do. And today I am eating some delicious pink kraut, that didn't cost me $10 per pint, which I just verified at the store today. Mine cost me $2.50 for the cabbage and I ended up with 2 pints, which is quite a savings. And where shall I spend what I've saved, I keep asking myself.


But back to the kraut. I did not grow up eating this stuff. And, in fact, since I don't eat hot dogs or sausages, which is what I think most people do with sauerkraut, I have to find other ways to use it.


One of the best, to my taste, is to mix it with cooked brown rice and vegetables. It's best if there's ginger or hot peppers in the mix. The cool and sour of the kraut, is a great complement in this simple-foods dish. I must admit that I first had something similar at Cafe Gratitude which was called The Macro Bowl (but of course, it had a name something like I AM LOVED or GRATEFUL).


A daily dose of sauerkraut will likely help keep your system populated with the good guy bacteria. And it will keep you healthier. If you want to know more about making sauerkraut and other fermented foods, check out http://www.wildfermentation.com/. Sandorkraut tells all.

Here's to your health and the health of your gut. Isn't that where your intuition lies?

More People Eating Soy and More New Products

A report that showed up in my inbox has all kinds of statistics about how more Americans are eating soy. It appears that a lot of the information is coming from a study done annually by the United Soy Bean Board. And guess what there mission is? To get people to learn more about, and eat more, soy.

A 2008 study by the International Food and Information Council (IFIC) reports that people are changing their eating habits to improve overall well being (69%), lose weight (69%) or improve their physical well being (64%). Many of them are eating more soy foods in an attempt to do this.

It sounds fine in theory, except the soy that isn't organic is genetically modified and most people are not getting soy in its whole form. They are eating many of the 2700 new products that have been introduced into the marketplace from 2000 to 2007. These are processed foods. And you've read before what I think about processed foods -- they are not as good as foods in their natural state, and never will be.

So, if you are seeking out soy, seek out tempeh, edamame, miso, tofu or lightly processed soy milk. Avoid foods that contain soy protein isolate or other processed soy products. And always buy organic soy. Read labels, or choose mostly foods that don't contain labels. Don't be duped by the United Soy Bean Board or anyone else.

BTW, IFIC referred to above, is an industry trade group. They will not necessarily present unbiased information. I try to take a good look at the issue and give you my best perspective.

Spicing It Up -- Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

The saying is that if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Well, this post is about spicing things up in the kitchen. And sometimes it's going to get hot and sometimes it'll get messy and sometimes ugly and downright not-too-tasty. But if you don't try new things, you'll miss that experience, however it turns out in the end.

Just the other day I was the presenter at an all day workshop. My goal was to teach the people working at the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) office in Napa about whole grains, seasonal vegetables and fruit and soy, especially tofu. The way that I did this was through talk, tasting and cooking.

What I discovered is that some people have a narrow range of tastes and flavors that they are used to eating. But also, many people are willing to try new things if they are presented. They are not likely, though, to go out of their way to try them without prompting.

This is where The Veggie Queen comes in. I encourage people to try things that may seem foreign and have them become part of their everyday eating. A number of the participants at the workshop kept asking me about adding salt. I tend to cook without adding a lot of salt. I use a lot of spices and herbs for flavoring. I teach people what they are and how to use them. It opens the door to a new world of flavors.

Today I baked some tofu with my latest favorite herb blend Organic Vegetable Rub from The Cape Herb and Spice Company. These herbs come from South Africa. I know that it's far away but they know how to do it there. I will be selling them in my next email newsletter so sign up now at my website http://www.theveggiequeen.com/ so that you can get the info. I often have exclusive offers only for my mailing list.

Baked Tofu with Organic Herb Blend

• 1 pound extra firm tofu, squeezed, cut into thin slices and then triangles (makes 30 or so)
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)
• 1-2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (unseasoned)
• 1-3 teaspoons herb blend (or your favorite spice mix)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Use a 9 X 13 glass baking dish.

Put the tofu triangles into the dish. Drizzle the sesame oil on top, if using. Drizzle the tamari on top of the tofu, along with the rice vinegar. Sprinkle with the herb blend and let sit for 5 or more minutes, but not longer than 15. Turn the triangles over.

Put into the hot oven for 10 minutes. Turn the triangles again. And bake another 10 minutes or until the triangles are dry and a bit crispy. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove tofu and eat as is, use in sandwiches, added to grain salads or in stir-fries.

c 2008, The Veggie Queen, http://www.theveggiequeen.com .

Think of spicing up your life every day. It's OK to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. Remember, it will only be NEW once.

The Vegan 100 List

The Vegan's 100 list was compiled by Hannah of Bittersweet . I found out about it from http://whatimcookingnow.blogspot.com/. Hannah states " News travels pretty fast in the blogosphere, and the latest craze that’s been showing up on food blogs far and wide has been The Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of 100 foods that all omnivores should eat at some point in their lives. Well, I like the idea, but obviously that sort of thing just doesn’t fly with me. Instead, I present to you my revised list, The Vegan’s Hundred instead!

Everything here is either naturally free of animal products or can be veganized, and just like the original, these foods vary from the every day to extraordinary, delectable and disgusting. They’re simply all of the things that, in my opinion, any vegan foodie should definitely sink their teeth into at least once. (MY note, I am not sure I agree as there are some things that I've had once and it was one time too many. For instance, number 1 on the list -- natto.) My Vegan 100 list would look a bit different but, that's just me.

1. Natto


2. Green Smoothie


3. Tofu Scramble


4. Haggis


5. Mangosteen


6. Creme brulee


7. Fondue


8. Marmite/Vegemite


9. Borscht
   
10. Baba ghanoush


11. Nachos


12. Authentic soba noodles


13. Peanut butter & jelly sandwich


14. Aloo gobi


15. Taco from a street cart


16. Boba Tea


17. Black truffle


18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes


19. Gyoza


20. Vanilla ice cream (try So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla)
    
21. Heirloom tomatoes


22. Fresh wild berries


23. Ceviche


24. Rice and beans


25. Knish (I grew up in New York)
    
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper


27. Dulce de leche


28. Caviar
    
29. Baklava


30. Pate (you've got to try mine with walnuts, mushrooms and lentils)


31. Wasabi peas


32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl


33. Mango lassi


34. Sauerkraut (Making some right now)


35. Root beer float


36. Mulled cider


37. Scones with buttery spread and jam


38. Vodka jelly


39. Gumbo


40. Fast food french fries (Not in 20+ years)


41. Raw Brownies


42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans


43. Dahl


44. Homemade Soymilk


45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (Not often enough)


46. Stroopwafle


47. Samosas


48. Vegetable Sushi


49. Glazed doughnut


50. Seaweed (almost daily)


51. Prickly pear


52. Umeboshi
    
53. Tofurky


54. Sheese (I'd like to but haven't seen it)


55. Cotton candy


56. Gnocchi


57. Piña colada


58. Birch beer


59. Scrapple (as a child one time -- GROSS)


60. Carob chips


61. S’mores (not a fan ever)
    
62. Soy curls


63. Chickpea
    
64. Curry


65. Durian


66. Homemade Sausages
    
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake (more fried things, yuck)


68. Smoked tofu (especially good when tea smoked by you)


69. Fried plantain


70. Mochi


71. Gazpacho


72. Warm chocolate chip cookies


73. Absinthe


74. Corn on the cob


75. Whipped cream, straight from the can


76. Pomegranate


77. Fauxstess Cupcake


78. Mashed potatoes with gravy


79. Jerky


80. Croissants


81. French onion soup


82. Savory crepes


83. Tings (WHAT?)


84. A meal at Candle 79 (I"D LIKE TO GO)


85. Moussaka


86. Sprouted grains or seeds


87. Macaroni and “cheese”
    
88. Flowers


89. Matzoh ball soup


90. White chocolate


91. Seitan


92. Kimchi


93. Butterscotch chips


94. Yellow watermelon


95. Chili with chocolate


96. Bagel and Toffuti Cream Cheese
    
97. Potato milk


98. Polenta


99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee


100. Raw cookie dough

Jeff Novick Entertains at McDougall Advanced Study Weekend

Today I had the chance to listen to my fellow Registered Dietitian, colleague and friend Jeff Novick as he presented at the McDougall program to a group of about 100 very interested people. Jeff is very funny. And he also provides a lot of useful information.

His talk today was on label reading and why you want and need to avoid processed and packaged foods. He explained that most of what you read on a label is a lie, and it is really your responsibility to learn how to judge a product. His rules were simple, and I won't repeat them in case you get the chance to hear Jeff speak. I don't want to ruin your fun or his.


The one thing that he did discuss that I want to echo is about sodium in the diet. He provided the following statistics:

• 77% of the sodium in your diet comes from processed and restaurant food


• 12% occurs naturally in food


• 5% is from what you use in cooking


• 6% is added at your table

So you can see that eating at home cooked food and adding a bit of salt is just fine. One of my biggest complaints about eating in restaurants is that the food is too salty for me. I'd rather undersalt and then add a sprinkle on top, where you can really taste it.

I am going to be carrying a line of seasonings in adjustable grinders that contain salt and seasonings. They are perfect for boosting flavor in a big way.

Eating real food at home is the ideal way to get what you need nutritionally and for taste.

Considering Blackberries

Throughout the summer I think about blackberries because they grow wild where I live. They are an amazing plant with a good defense. You likely know the saying that the best offense is a good defense. Well, blackberries have it down.

I see the green berries forming early in the summer, and watch the vines grow long and thorny. Then when the fruit is ripe, the vines get incredibly unruly and tangled so that picking the berries can be a painful affair. The vines snake across the path and even up into trees -- they are good at movement for something without legs.


There are 2 kinds of blackberries that grow here -- one is large and the other is small. And when they are ripe, they are equally as delicious. When they're not quite ripe, and picked by mistake, they are both sour. They're always full of fiber which means that they have seeds although when dead-ripe and almost falling off the plant, the berry seems to just melt in my mouth. This is the exception, not the rule.


Some of the best berries are hard to get to or hidden high in a tree. I'm short so they are a challenge to pick but worth it.

And as I worked on this blog post, I came across a link to a rat study recently done on black raspberries and their anticancer effect http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/mediaroom/press/article.cfm?ID=4214. That fruit likely contains the same kind of antioxidant activity as blackberries. So eat them up, when you can easily get to them.

Victory Garden Means Something Different to Me

Those of you who read this blog probably know that I walk my dog Bear every day, along a creek trail that backs up to homes. I see many backyards along the way. What I most notice is what's growing: who has a pear tree, where the figs hang over the fence, where to find the most succulent (and clean, if you know what I mean) blackberries and who has a nice garden.

This year I noticed a few gardens in particular. One of them used to be spectacular in its bounty but that was a few years ago. This year I saw just one squash plant, and it seemed to take over. I now see that it is a giant pumpkin-like squash possibly growing as a Harvest Fair entry.

A couple of yards down they plant a garden yearly. Usually there are a couple of tomato plants that shrouded by a PVC cage and plastic early in the season. These plants grow quickly as their home obviously traps heat and keeps them from the frost. This year I saw that the garden also has a summer squash, a number of flowers such as dianthus and a peach tree bearing fruit.

In the yard directly adjacent to the small garden, there was a lot of activity early on with raised beds, large pots, drip irrigation pieces and more. The garden got all set up, the plants looked great and I was certain that this garden was going to thrive, as it was so much lusher than the neighbor’s was. (BTW, I don't think that they actually see each other or their yards due to a large fence between them. This is California where this is common.)

I had tomato envy as I watched daily as their plants grew large, green and strong. However, sometime in the summer, when I saw large red tomatoes in the small garden I saw plants in the other garden start to die back. Now, the raised bed garden is in shambles and seems quite disregarded.

And all of this brings me to my little raised bed garden -- hardly a Victory Garden (which is more of what my mother has) except for me. I’m thrilled to harvest the fruits of my labor. This year it's strictly tomatoes as my two cucumber plants died, and I had to pull out the nasturtium that adopted aphids that hopped onto my tomatoes.

My tomatoes seem to be doing fine except for some attacks by critters who want to claim them as their own. It will be the battle of the wills and wits to see who ends up with more fruit. I am still waiting patiently for the first ripe tomatoes to arrive and it seems as if they will this week. I always hope to have them by the end of August but not this year.

If you live east of the Rocky Mountains, you are lucky, as your summer garden doesn't need watering but mine does almost daily, especially if it is hot, as we don't get summer rain. Despite that, I like to grow what little I can, and just participating in the process is the victory for me.

Seasonal Recipes -- Sometimes Just Talk

Eating in season is an art and science that is easy to adopt if you shop locally, or grow your own food. So it irks me when chefs, cooks and recipe developers say that they do seasonal recipes yet it's obvious to me that they don't.


I realize that different vegetables grow in various places at different times but if I am not mistaken, it's still summer and it's the season of tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, summer squash and corn, just to name a few. Why push the fall vegetables such as winter squash or sweet potatoes on us now? We can wait, and so can our bodies.


When it's still hot out, we need lighter foods than when the weather turns cooler. For now, let's enjoy the fresh-dug, new potatoes to get our earthy starch.


Sticking to what's in season is a practice that I take seriously, just like daily exercise or a yoga routine. It's not for show or fluff, it's real. When you eat closer to what nature offers, you might find that you feel better.


I think that people are looking for more energy, hence the proliferation of energy drinks and coffee houses. Heck, it really comes from your food and lifestyle. But that's enough talk, I'm off to make some fresh salsa with tomatoes from my garden, along with locally grown onions, garlic, hot peppers and cilantro. Next to gazpacho, it's the essence of the season for me.

Santa Rosa Farmer's Market Cooking Demonstration

I spent Saturday morning doing a cooking demonstration of tomato and eggplant sauce which I called Salsa di Pomodoro e Melazane as it would be in Italian. It was great fun and I got to speak to a lot of people. It was the annual tomato festival at the market where people get to taste a host of heirloom tomatoes. The dish takes only 3 minutes at pressure in the pressure cooker, tastes fresh and delicious, and all the ingredients came from Santa Rosa.


A woman named Ann from Pasadena found me on the Relish Culinary website and wanted to come see me. Her friend in Santa Rosa has lived there for 22 years and never made it to the market until she urged him to go. I cannot imagine not going to the market for 2 weeks, let alone years.


Later in the day I attended a LIFEE (http://www.ecoleader.org/) picnic. A colleague who is in this year's class said that when she first moved to Santa Rosa she went to the farmer's market because it gave her a place to feel connected.


With Slow Food Nation almost upon San Francisco, I am sure that there are many people who are thinking about their connection to their community and the food associated with it.

As I've said before, food is the language common in all cultures. When you break bread (or other food) with people it changes your relationship. This is likely why people like to socialize at events that involve food.

And the summer is a great time for it. Then again so is the rest of the year. You can still catch me doing cooking demonstrations and classes this year at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's market and other locations. Check my website http://www.theveggiequeen.com for more details as they become available or sign up for my email newsletter on my site.

Here's to great cooking.

Bread -- The Staff of Life

I don't often have to look too long or far to find something to blog about. Today, it's bread and the cost of food.

I ran into my favorite Alvarado Street Bakery delivery guy this morning at my favorite local market Community Market, and we had a discussion about the cost of food, as I stood in front of the organic pasta which suddenly shot up to more than $3 per pound.

Jerry said that many years ago he used to cringe when he compared the cost of Alvarado Street's all natural, sprouted wheat breads to other brands but now, Alvarado Street is at the lower end of bread prices.

We went on to discuss the mark up that some big stores (think regular supermarkets) are making on their bread sales. While the bread was $3.99 a loaf at Community Market, it is often found in the higher $4 range at the supermarkets. The difference goes into the coffers of the market and that higher price often helps offset the loss leaders such as the buy 10 for $10 and the buy one, get one free deals. Think about that.

We also talked about the fact that some white, and not very good for you breads, are around $4 a loaf. What has the world come to?

Those who have read my posts know that I am not hot on bread but when I do eat, I want to choose a brand such as Alvarado Street for a number of reasons -- their bread is made from organic sprouted wheat which is better for you than just whole wheat flour, and they are local, at least to me.

Next time you buy bread, think about who and what you are supporting. Maybe it's time to make a big pot of brown rice, quinoa or some other whole grain.

The Global Flavor Market Worth 7 Billion Dollars

According to Cargill, one the big villainous multinational corporations (do you hear my cynicism?) the global flavor market is worth $7 billion. I was a bit overwhelmed when reading this factoid, which was associated with an article about how some researchers in Italy discovered a flavor compound that somehow simulates mushroom in another plant.

I honestly had no idea about how a researcher goes about identifying a flavoring component in a flower or plant but obviously it is worth the search if you find a good one -- it's a big score.

The following was reported in the Food Navigator:

Distilling the aerial parts of Melittis melissophyllum subsp. melissophyllum (Lamiaceae), a member of the mint family, yielded “extremely high amoun[s]t of the mushroom-like aroma component 1-octen-3-ol (43.6-54.2 per cent)”, according to findings published online ahead of print in the journal Food Chemistry.

Now, I am quite thankful that the Food Navigator delivers such news because I don't often read the journal of Food Chemistry although I am sure that I would find it a good nap- or bed-time read. Although, I can get a bit geeky about the scientific side of food and perhaps I'd really get into it.

In any case, I think that I shall stick with the natural flavors in food by eating them just the way that they are. One more reason to stick with food as it exists in nature. I don't have to be part of the economic incentive for scientists to track down "natural" flavoring agents. I often wondered where they came from and I now I know at least for one of them. Don't you wonder why can't we just use mushrooms to get a mushroom flavor? I do.

Another Beef Recall: Whole Foods is NOT exempt

I wonder how many beef recalls need to happen before people realize that eating conventionally raised beef is a bad idea. It's a bad idea, in the same way that eating mass packaged produce is -- there is just too much risk. And somehow the idea that if you bought the stuff at Whole Foods it was going to be pure, is now turned on its ear (or somewhere else).

The latest recall is for 1.2 million pounds of beef that came from Coleman's Natural which had assured Whole Foods that its product was just fine. It turns out that they processed their beef at Nebraska Beef Ltd. which had a recall of 5.3 billion pounds just over a month ago. The reality is that considering the amount of beef eaten, very few people were affected by the E. coli. But truth is, you don't want to be one of them. Either give up beef or buy it locally, from people you know.

I make this point repeatedly -- know where your food comes from, and know the people that grow it or raise it. Doing that will keep you much safer from the danger that exists in the world on a daily basis, especially with something as sensitive as food and your body.

Food safety is a serious matter, and you have the power to do something about it. Buy local, buy organic and make friends with your farmers.

Cucumber Show and Tell

It's so much fun to do show and tell with adults. I just had the chance to do that with 7 kinds of cucumbers that I brought just for that purpose. Let's see if I can name them here:

1. Armenian


2. Striped Armenian or painted serpent


3. Suyo long (Japanese)


4. lemon


5. New Zealand (whitish yellow)


6. Pearl (white)


7. pickling

I, of course, could have also included an English cuke and a regular supermarket type, or a Greek if I had been at the previous Saturday market to buy one. So I guess that I could have gone as high as 10 different cucumbers. And if I had my Amira growing this year, or the Indian type that I grew last year, it could have been even more. Amazing, I think.

After the cucumber show and tell, I got people to taste a delicious purple kohlrabi. One of the people told me that she'd seen the kohlrabi before but thought that it looked weird so didn't want to buy it. Now, she'd changed her mind.

I so enjoy having people try a new-to-them vegetable, turning them into converts. Those are wonderful a-ha moments. And I am sure to have many more in the future. I hope that you will, too.

Summer Fruit is So Yummy

I am sure that I have been blessed as I have had the opportunity to pick great fruit all summer. It started with cherries and has progressed through apricots to nectarines, peaches and plums. I just wish that I had more freezer space to accommodate the riches of fruit that I have received.

To combat the lack of freezer space, I have been cooking some of the fruit with great results. 2 of my latest, greatest accomplishments have been apricot ginger butter and plum ginger butter. They are simple to make and delicious on their own or mixed into savory dishes such as my Sweet and Sour Squash, which I will be making for a cooking demonstration this evening.

To make the fruit butter all you do is cut up the fruit and put it in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. My 4-quart Fagor pressure cooker works well for this (without its pressure lid). Cook over medium heat. Use a microplane grater and add ginger to your liking as the fruit cooks. Add sweetener to taste. I use agave syrup which is a low glycemic index sweetener that may be almost as sweet as sugar but doesn't give you that fast blood sugar rise. The agave is much more expensive, though.

I cook the fruit until it gets thick. And then it's done.

When it's plum season, there are lots of plums and this is a great way to use them. You could potentially add some spices to the plums, if you like. I haven't tried that yet.

Once the fruit is put into glass jars, you can can the jars to seal them in a boiling water bath for about 10 minutes. I won't go into the canning process but will say that I like to do what is called small batch canning. I might do 4 to 6 half-pint jars at a time, and that's all. It's easy to do and helps me use the fruits of my labor. Yes, I do pick the fruit myself.

If I did all this in a certified kitchen, I supposed that I could sell it but for now, I will enjoy it myself. And during the holiday season, what's left will become special gifts. This year, people might really be in luck. Need to get picking again...