Things are really starting to happen now.  The water doesn’t get turned on at the community garden until mid-April. Normally this isn’t a problem since we’re usually knee deep in mud this time of year, but our last significant rainfall was on March 3rd. This means ever since I planted my peas I’d been hauling a couple of watering cans and whatever containers I can find around the house to the garden each day, and my peas and spinach were getting just barely enough water to stay alive. I wasn’t sure if my poor little perennial herbs were going to make it. As you can probably imagine, the email I got at the end of last week announcing that the water had been turned on was pretty much the most exciting email I’ve received in a long time.

Now that they’re getting enough water, the peas are noticeably taller every day. I’ve enjoyed fresh spinach for dinner twice now. What a treat after a steady diet of kale for the past six months! I’m ready to not eat kale for a long time now. On Saturday I transplanted my lettuce, mixed greens, kale, and chard from the cold frame. I sowed beets and carrots too.  I’m hoping to plant my leeks and onions this weekend. There’s still more brown than green in the garden, but now I have something growing in each of the beds.

Learning to cook and eat dark greens like kale is essential to creating health. First off, when you nourish yourself with greens, you will naturally crowd out the foods that make you sick. Greens help build your internal rain forest and strengthen the blood and respiratory systems. They are especially good for city people who rarely see fields of green in open countryside. Green is associated with spring, the time of renewal, refreshment and vital energy. In Asian medicine, green is related to the liver, emotional stability and creativity.

 Nutritionally, greens are very high in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K. They are crammed with fiber, folic acid, chlorophyll and many other micronutrients and phyto-chemicals.

Some of the benefits from eating dark leafy greens are:

• Blood purification
• Cancer prevention
• Improved circulation
• Strengthened immune system
• Promotion of healthy intestinal flora
• Promotion of subtle, light and flexible energy
• Lifted spirit and elimination of depression
• Improved liver, gall bladder and kidney function
• Cleared congestion, especially in lungs by reducing mucus

There are so many greens to choose from. When you get bored with your favorites, be adventurous and try greens that you’ve never heard of before. Broccoli is very popular among adults and children. Each stem is like a tree trunk, giving you strong, grounding energy. Rotate between bok choy, napa cabbage, kale, collards, watercress, mustard greens, broccoli rabe, dandelion and other leafy greens. Green cabbage is great in the form of sauerkraut or raw. Arugula, endive, chicory, lettuce, mesclun and wild greens are generally eaten raw, but can be consumed in any creative way you enjoy.
Be aware! Spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens are best eaten in moderation because they are high in oxalic acid, which depletes calcium from bones and teeth, and may lead to osteoporosis. Cook these vegetables with something rich like seeds, nuts, beans, butter, animal products or oil. This will balance the effect of the oxalic acid.

Drop the iceberg and get on the wagon! Dark leafy greens are where it’s at. Maybe soon you’ll be listing kale as one of your favorite foods too. By the way, the more I ate greens, the more my taste buds changed, as if they got cleaner. I noticed the taste of my foods better, had less sugar cravings, and felt satisfied simply by eating greens.

Unsure how to prepare/cook greens? Check out my website for some delicious dark leafy green recipes!

]]> http://forgottenpickles.com/2012/04/12/mesclun-from-the-cold-frame/ Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:25:01 +0000 kate http://forgottenpickles.com/2012/04/12/mesclun-from-the-cold-frame/

In early March I started several kinds of lettuce, red Russian kale, chard, tat soi, and two different packets of mixed greens. I sowed them thickly in big containers, the idea being that I would eat the thinnings while they were in the cold frame, and whatever was left could be planted out in the garden. Now the cold frame is packed with greens that are ready to be transplanted. I’m hoping to get them in the ground this weekend. In the mean time I’ve been going through and snipping off leaves once a week or so, and enjoying the most delicious salads of baby greens. This afternoon I harvested two big handfuls of greens, which we proceeded to eat one leaf at a time, straight out of the salad spinner. This salad is so fresh and delicious, it doesn’t even need any dressing.

My Mexican Sunflower suffered three casualties of death by dehydration.  Whoops!  One end of the starter row seemed to get less water than the other, and with my weekend of neglect, they succumbed!  Watered and rehydrated all my indoor starts this morning.

All the lettuces that were started in the last batch are doing well.  The Romaine/Paris White Cos is definitely slower to germinate.  I thought I had done something wrong with the first batch.  I guess not.

On the lettuce note… I had transplanted some of the Mesclun lettuces to larger containers, as the lettuces (and broccolli and kale) seemed to have plateaued.  (Have I told you before I am making it up as I go??)  The transplanted ones do seem hardier and seem to be leafing out quite a bit more.  I may do what my friends Mike and Jess did over at Our Permaculture Trip and start seeds in larger containers from the beginning.

Horseradish update: There is no update.  No signs of anything.  But alas, who knows how long it will take a chopped up piece of horseradish to show signs of life above ground. (Have I told you before I am making it up as I go??)

On other notes, I really need to get reoriented to my original planning calendar.  Man, having company was loads of fun, but it really derailed me!  Also been distracted by Convergence planning.  (Oy.)  I need to set up some new starts (in larger containers), plant direct outside, and find some new free resources for the garden.  I’ve got a line on some cheap organic rabbit poo from the next town over.  Until we get our own little composter, that will have to do.

Oh, and I’ve gotten 5 pallets… Planning on doing some making it up as I go patio furniture.  Those 80 degree days a few weeks ago got me pining for some outdoor evening wine drinking on some rickety pallet furniture.  If I ever get to that project, I’ll post about it!

Oh yes, and I have some pea shoots and favas popping up outside!

The romaine started indoors on 2/26 is also pretty sad. They are leggy and falling over on themselves. I only hold out hope long term for one measly plant. They took the longest to germinate, and I fear I may have removed the greenhouse top too soon. I’m doing the best I can with a small space, so I have to get creative about placement of the various seed trays and cups. Sometimes, conditions are not ideal!

Started new batches inside today of the lettuces: mesclun, romaine, and NY-12.

Also, on my Mexican Sunflower, there appears to be some algae (?) growing on the surface of the soil. I’ve made sure my fan is on more frequently, but, also, not positive how that will turn out. Other than that, they are going like gangbusters!

Also, I need to start my herbs indoors, too.

From one letter's change can spring a new breed . . .

Whoever chanced upon the bag of “Mescaline Salad” before sharing its portrait online must have been elated both at the pleasurable frisson of surprise and the consideration of whether his dinner greens might in fact be hallucinogenic. After all, a product-testing could conceivably explain the truth-in-labeling serendipity itself. The “Sliming Tea” I found on the weight-loss product shelf at a health food store seemed to me as though it might have been assisted in its production by this post’s titular creatures, but on second thought I was reminded of the effects such dietary aids can often have on digestive tracts en route to achieving their, ahem, ends. This led me to wonder further if the product was to be followed by consumption of yet another product I spotted in the refrigerator case, the “Steamed Mini-Bum”–or if it actually produced the latter item.

You see how marvelously, magically this all works. One good mislabeling–or indeed, inadvertent libeling–can lead to yet another, and each offers opportunities of the richest and rarest sorts for improving one’s health, wealth, and entertainment, not least of all by virtue of increasing the quantity of belly-laughs-per-hour in a day. Best medicine of all. For example, if I should accidentally ingest some of the aforementioned miraculous products, I wonder if I would have been more or less inclined to accept the printed invitation I once read to attend the special breakfast being served at “Our Lady Queen of Heave”, which I rather pictured as a chastely Catholic version of a fine Roman vomitorium at which attendees could enjoy communal pancakes-and-puking.

Meanwhile, on the home front, I need only look at my voicemail transcriptions or activate the subtitle function on the television in order to enjoy the best garblings of garbage on offer. There, our friend Wyant becomes “why amps” and I, as Kathryn, get to become “Captain”; I really think Captain Sparks has quite a dashing ring to it, don’t you? Though it might be even better as it’s occasionally written, Spanks. But I have a feeling that Captain Spanks might receive communications less delightful or at least a tiny bit less polite-full than otherwise. Why, now that I’ve mentioned the name, I could even be getting a new reader or two who came here searching for one kind of play (‘swordplay’, if you will) and stayed for another (wordplay). Because that’s just how fantastically a misplaced consonant can change the path of one’s life. And don’t get me started on what can happen when something goes awry with one’s vowels! It can be a little disconcerting to get a message that one’s colonoscopy doctor (in this case, Dr. Panzer) on Wednesday will be “Dr. Cancer”, or discover that apparently the titration study for which one is scheduled might be a “castration study”, something that I think it’s safe to say not a one of us would show up for willingly (a quick return phone call to clarify, at the least, is required).

Stranger Danger: the slightest misunderstanding or misinterpretation can turn a perfectly innocent phrase into a dangerous expedition into unknown territories . . .

In that case, it might be best to obey the Spoonerific actor who implored his mistress to “sift and shave thyself” and make a dash for the nearest door. Potentially life-and-happiness-hazardous typos aside, there is still a whole universe of fun to be found in the misadventures of the lettered sort. I know my dear husband “Dr. Splotches” (thank you, Google Voice) and I have found a great deal of amusement in the translation of previously-unknown worlds through the artful misplacement of a letter or two along the way.

I adjure you, do not trust overmuch in your Spelling Supervisor or Grammar-Magic software to save you from your worst self. The machine knows not of homophones, colloquialisms or, as mine has proven many a time, what might to you be perfectly commonplace words and terms–I love the alternatives my computer offers for any words it finds unfamiliar, but they’re not often appropriate replacements, sometimes especially for use in mixed company. Scientific phrases and jargon can trip up the masters, but beware your trusting it’s (not its) okay to let a computer impose its (not it’s) will on your verbiage. Even artificially intelligent characters (I’m referring here to technology, not to politicians, zealots, critics and other humanoids) can slip on the banana skins of word choice and phrase placement. The computer is the veritable Dogberry of the modern world and not to be trusted any further than the assumption of GIGO can go. So I will leave you with Dogberry’s farewell admonition, “Adieu: be vigitant, I beseech you.”

At what point does an Adventure become a Misadventure? It might depend on whom you ask--and how the response is worded . . .

Luckily, we have many packets leftover from last year that are still viable, leaving us with only a few to purchase for this year.  But I’m going to shunt the veggies aside for a moment and talk about what I’m really excited about: the flowers I’m going to seed! I decided that we need more bees and beneficial insects in our second-story patio garden and my best excuse to lure them is to plant tons of flowers. I’ve picked a lot of old-fashioned favorites in blues, purples and oranges to create a vibrant set of colors for this year. And I picked some fun weird ones to try, like purple Hyacinth Bean and Chinese Lanterns.

Let’s see, for  the corners of our balcony–to sit on the ledge and trail down– I have Thunbergia “Spanish Eyes” for one corner and trailing single blend Nasturtiums for the other. Both lead to at least a 5’ vine and I cannot wait to see the looks on the HOA people’s face at what I’ve done to their continuity.  I’m combining herbs in with my flowers to save space. If there is room, Oregano will go with the Thunbergia and Cumin with the Nasturtiums. Also, a planter with Cilantro and Mirabilis, “Broken Colors” blend, will fill another container on the ledge.

I have a large container of spring flowering bulbs that I’m anticipating and once they have bloomed out, “Black Magic” Centaurea and (because I couldn’t help it) “Evening Sun” Sunflowers will take over. Other solid flower containers include Calendula “Zeolights”, French Marigolds, and Gazania “Sunshine Mix” in one, with my beloved sweet pea in another. I always have sweet pea; I change up the variety and container, but they are always present. My grandparents had a huge trellis of sweet pea when I was growing up and it’s one of the few things I can have physically from their homestead. This year I purchased “Royal Blend” for the balance of colors and heat tolerance.

Ok, I guess on to veggies. We are big into greens, tomatoes and peppers so we have a lot of each that we like to plant. For greens we’ll have Buttercrunch lettuce, Mache, a Mesclun blend, Mizuna, Sorrel and Spinach. We had issues with weather fluctuations and tomatoes last year, so this year we will only do two varieties “Black Krim” and a red and yellow Pear blend, cherry size. We also tried out the upside down container fetish and were not impressed, so hoping for a better yield this year, weather pending.

Peppers are our favorites. We will do one each of Jalapeno, Serrano, Cayenne, Bhut Jolokia, Bell, and finally a chocolate Habenero, if I can find seeds. If not, we’ll do a plant starter from the Nursery.  The only other veggies I’ve yet to mention include carrots, radishes, sugar snap peas, and 1 cucumber.

This probably sounds like a lot for a balcony/patio space, but it’s good sized and we’re good at organizing it. But It does make me long for a yard even more….

Now on to rearranging the spare bedroom to make room for all the starts, trays, our new heat mat and everything else!

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Did you see the boots at the end of the video? Suddenly I remembered I had them out in the trailer. I use them clam digging. Now I am ready to use them in the snow (except that the snow is almost gone)

Duel purpose boots....clam digging and snow chores

You can see the video on my utube channel

Date: Saturday, 1/14/2012

Planted: 1/2 starter tray of Swiss Chard, 1/2 starter tray Beets, 1 whole starter tray of Lettuce, 1 whole dish pan of Mesclun.

Status: The Swiss Chard and the Beets seem to be doing OK, but they are a little “leggy” from the time without a grow light.  The Lettuce in the starter tray is OK, but the ones I tried to transplant don’t seem to be thriving.  Next time, I’m just throwing them into a pot to grow without using a starter tray.  That was a rookie move.  The Mesclun is doing very well and I want to eat it.

Photos:

Date: Wednesday, 1/18/2012

Planted: 2 8″ shallow pots of Spinach, 2 8″ shallow pots of Peas N’a Pot (bush style pea meant for container growing)

Status: The Spinach is just barely at the surface, and the peas sprouted this morning.

Photos:

Date: Friday, 1/20/2012

Planted: Garlic in an 8″ shallow pot.  I broke up some old cloves to plant when I couldn’t cook with them.  Kind of a spontaneous planting.

Status: TaDa! 3 successful plants so far.  For trash, they really seem to be doing quite well.

Date: Saturday, 1/21/2012

Planted: Beans in a window box, Broccoli in a GIANT 18″ pot

Status: Nothing yet from the beans.  First little Broccoli sprouts today!  2 of them!

Date: Sunday, 1/22/2012

Planted: 1 15″pot of carrots, 2 10″ pots of mini carrots

Status: Looks like slightly damp soil.  Nothing yet.

Photos: Too boring to bother.

And that’s the status update.

I thought I would give you a little garden tour. We have had good weather for a winter garden, as the days were sunny and clear.  There was very little rain, so we did water much more than usual.  I took these photos a few days ago, before a cold front and rain storm came in. Most of the produce seems to have survived the weather,  but we did harvest all of the caulilower except one of the heads before the freeze. The one we left looks like it is ruined from the cold. However all the other vegetables seem to be holding up okay, and we did have a great salad last night from the greens we picked yesterday during a break in the rain storms.

Broccoli raab is a new favorite vegetable in our family.  I cook it the same way that I cook chard and other greens. http://californiamediterraneandiet.com/recipes/cooking-chard/ . If you want to make a main dish out of it, saute some onion and spicy turkey Italian sausage in olive oil, then scoop in the par-boiled broccoli raab and saute it for a few minutes. Finally add cooked pasta and stir it up well and serve. This has become one of our favorite quick entrees.

Broccoli Raab

Unfortunately, we did not harvest some of the broccoli raab in time, and it flowered. However, we left it in the garden as the bees were going crazy over it. The bees seemed to be very active this winter due to the warm weather, but there are only a few plants flowering right now.

Broccoli Raab with bee

Mesclun salad mixes contain a variety of lettuces and spicy greens such as mustard and arugula. They have a bitter bite due to the mustard and arugula, which can be an acquired taste. Mesclun mixes are good in salads containing fruit, nuts and cheeses to balance the bitterness. The greens can be cut over and over again and they will grow back.

Mesclun salad mix

Little gem lettuce is another household favorite. It is crisp, yet tender with a buttery mild flavor.  It is good served it in a simple salad with a mild dressing such as green goddess, or as an alternative to romaine in a caesar salad.

Little Gem Lettuce

Kale is a very nutritious vegetable that can be added to soups, stews and pasta dishes.Lacunato “dinosaur” Kale

Cauliflower can be roasted in the oven using the same method as roasted Brussels sprouts. http://californiamediterraneandiet.com/recipes/cooking-chard/.  It can then be served hot or cold.

Cauliflower

Raw broccoli makes a great southern style salad with mayonnaise, bacon and raisins. Broccoli is also great roasted with olive oil in the oven, or sauteed in the same manner as broccoli raab, chard and other greens.

Broccoli

Peas, onions, shallots and garlic are planted in the fall for a spring harvest.

English peas (Will be harvested in the late spring)

Shallots (will be harvested in the late spring)

Garlic (will be harvested in spring)

Another interesting experiment that has worked out well is a bacon avocado tree which we planted about 3 years ago. Bacon is a fairly frost tolerant variety. We got 6 avocados from our little tree this year! I love bacon avocados in a salad with little gem lettuce and a creamy green goddess dressing.

Bacon Avocado

And of course we continue to harvest our citrus which we also sell from our little farm.

www.burgesonfamilyfarm.com

Our Owari Satsuma mandarins get sweeter after a mild freeze. They are at their sweetest right now, at over 13 percent sugar measured with a brix refractometer.  They skins of ripe Satsumas are very thin and fragile however, and may not hold up well to this long period of wet weather we have entered.

Owari Satsuma Mandarins

Oro Blanco pommelos are incredibly sweet. They are sometimes huge, but a lot of the large size is due to the thick skin. Inside, they are usually the size of a grapefruit but much sweeter and juicier. They are eaten like a grapefruit.

Oro Blanco Pommelo

Meyer lemons are a sweet lemon and tend to be more frost tolerant than other lemon varieties.

Meyer Lemon

Key limes are small, very tart, with a pronounced lime flavor. They have small seeds. The famous key lime pie is easy to make and delicious.

Key Lime

Bearss limes are called bartender’s limes. They are very juicy, with no seeds. They are ready to harvest when they are green, but will turn yellow as they continue to ripen and become more sweet. They are fabulous in lime cocktails such as margaritas. You might want to try a mandarin margarita, made with Satsuma mandarin juice and Bearss lime juice.

http://burgesonfamilyfarm.com/2012/01/15/mandarin-margarita-recipe/

Bearss Lime (bartenders lime)

We have 3 varieties of blood oranges: Moro, Sanguinella and Tarocco.

Blood oranges

Come back often for more recipe ideas using this beautiful winter produce.

He mentioned that his family farm supplies the local farmers market and some of the local restaurants. Saturday, as a friend and I grabbed lunch at Alan Wong’s restaurant The Pineapple Room, so when I noticed Nalo greens on the menu, knowing his farm was called Nalo Farms, I had to have a salad with fresh greens! And yes, I checked with the waiter, the greens were most definitely from Dean Okimoto’s farm!

I hope you enjoy the photos & video, even if I did get a little bit wordy on Wednesday.

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sa·lu·bri·ous /səˈlubriəs/ [suh-loo-bree-uhs] –adjective: favorable to or promoting health; healthful

Harvest Salad with Pears

Harvest Salad with Pears

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon light olive oil (or canola oil), divided
• 2 large firm but ripe Bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 7 – 8 cups of mixed bitter greens such as radicchio, mesclun, watercress and endive
• 4 Tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola
• 8 Tablespoons roughly chopped walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted

1. Add 1 tablespoon of the light olive oil (or canola oil) to a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the pears, reduce the heat slightly, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pears are tender and slightly caramelized but still retain their shape, 5 – 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool on a plate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegars, shallots and honey.  Add the 1/2 cup of oil in a steady stream and whisk until emulsified.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large bowl, combine the greens and add about 1/3 of the dressing.  Toss to coat.
4. Divide the greens among 4 plates.  Divide and place the pear slices over each salad.  Top each salad with 1 tablespoon of gorgonzola and 2 tablespoons of nuts.  Serve with additional dressing on the side.

1 serving (with 2.5 tablespoons of dressing):  356 calories, 32.2 g fat, 3.5 g fiber, 7.5 g protein, 15.2 g carbohydrates

You won’t believe it!  The mesclun mix that I just planted on Friday has already begun to sprout!  That is very happy news to me.    The other seeds have yet to start but with our warm temperatures this week, I expect them to pop up very soon.

I didn’t really expect to do much work outside today, but the weather proved too much to resist.  I began the day with feeding bunny Hyacinth a piece of kale and a few carrot tops.  She is very fond of kale, which I did not know before today.  Then, I moved on to the bee hive where I asked the ladies how their morning was going.  Speaking of the honeybees, I was able to inspect the inside of the hive today!  I did not expect to be able to do so, but my friend who sent along the pollination video recommended that I inspect.

Here are some photos of the inspection:

All seems to be well with the honeybees, except for some small hive beetle (which is to be expected with such mild weather) and the varroa mite.  To  help defend against the varroa mite, I sprinkled powdered sugar on the bees.  They will groom themselves and knock the mites onto the floor of the beehive.  Isn’t that clever of them?    I also added an apiguard treatment.  Apiguard is derived from the herb thyme and has a nice strong fragrance that the varroa despise.  So, the treatment fumigates the hive, using a relatively natural process.

The only other job I did in the yard was to rake a massive pile of leaves.  We’ll use the leaves (which are already decomposing) in our compost piles.  In order to make sure no seeds sprout, I plan to keep the leaves inside a large garbage can.  It should get hot enough to destroy any weed seeds.

We should be getting strawberry plants sometime this week.  I really look forward to sharing that with you!

Microgreens are fast becoming a popular garnish for everything from posh plates to simple sandwiches.

When trying to categorize them, it’s easiest to think of microgreens as being smaller than baby lettuces, but larger than sprouts. And, like sprouts, they should be grown in a shallow, soil-filled tray in full light.

The plants from which microgreens can be harvested are almost endless. Broccoli, carrot, spinach, cabbage, celery, fennel, onion, parsley, radish, turnip, leek, watercress, mustard, arugula, lemon grass, lettuce, clover, mizuna, milk thistle, tatsoi: all can produce microgreens simply by allowing the seedlings to grow until they have between one and two true sets of leaves, then harvesting them by snipping them off with scissors just above the soil surface.

Microgreens work equally well as a garnish for, or as an integral element of a dish, offering chefs that extra bit of colour and texture when composing a plate. They can also provide an additional layer of flavour – ranging from delicate to loud, subtle to spicy.

Ironically, despite their size, these small plants come with a hefty price tag: around $8 per 100 grams. Still, for many chefs, the options and additional oomph microgreens provide are worth the added cost.

Curiously, despite their rising popularity amongst chefs and foodies, microgreens have yet to make their way onto the shelves of grocery stores.

Baby lettuces and mesclun greens, pioneered by California chef and restaurateur Alice Waters decades ago, are now a staple of virtually every supermarket produce section and the go-to salad mix for many home cooks. Sprouts, too, despite occasional concerns about E. coli contamination, also remain readily available. Even herbs, long available only in their dried forms, are now being sold fresh.

How long before microgreens find their place in the produce aisle?

It’s only a matter of time.

In the Ottawa valley, for example, in the past few years a number of producers have cropped up (pun intended) to support that region’s robust restaurant scene, including Butterfly Sky Farms, Bryson Farms, Fines Herbes par Daniel, and Les Jardiniers du Chef.

As with so many things, the supply-and-demand dance will continue for some time yet before microgreens reach the same ubiquity as mesclun. In the meantime, chefs can continue to do their part to raise the awareness of, and increase the demand for microgreens by seeking them out from regional producers and using them in their dishes and on their plates.

Who knows? By the end of the decade, Safeway might be stocking bunches of shiso, mizuna and pak choi alongside heads of romaine, iceberg and red leaf.

‘The hills are alive with the sound of music.’

Graz, Austria

Three years ago I boarded a train in Krakow, Poland and headed south to Graz, Austria to my friend Eva’s hometown for a ski holiday.  It was a nice break going from numbingly cold to refreshingly chilly. I was greeted by a relaxed and charming student city nestled between beautiful mountains, rivers and bike paths. We set off early in the morning to the ski station where we rented a cabin literally situated on one of the ski runs for one full week of powdery snow bliss.

We set off early the next morning to the ski station where we rented a cabin literally situated on one of the ski runs for one week of powdery snow bliss.  Now, before you get an image of some posh ski-in cabin, I must clarify. I felt like I had somehow found what was the original mountain cabin. We were a huge group of about 22 Austrians, one English and myself. We took turns in groups cooking and cleaning for every meal and there was no CD, television or DVD player. So we played lots of board games, there were guitar players for music (which was all quite interesting since most of it was in German) and I learned some very important phrases in German like ‘I’m thirsty for a radler’ (beverage similar to a shandy or panaché). It was an amazing time.

Kernol Oil

During this trip I made a personal culinary discovery of Kernöl oil which comes directly from the region we were visiting called Styria.  In English we call it pumpkin seed oil. Dark greenish-brown in color, it’s appearance makes no apologies. This aromatic oil pours thick and is rich in nutty and buttery flavors. I learned from the Austrians that this oil is a regional delicacy and we can top just about anything with kernol (salads, soups, potatoes and even vanilla ice cream). The gourmand that I am, I was thinking to myself ‘seriously how have I never had this before?.’ Well the answer to that is quite simple actually. Ninety percent of the oil produced is consumed in Austria but that percentage is quickly changing and this oil can now be found in a number of specialty grocery stores world-wide and can be ordered straight from Austrian producers online.

This oil is high in vitamins A, D and E and was once used as a folk cure in Styria.

Although this oil can be eaten and topped on many different foods, it should not be heated or used for cooking as it contains essential fatty acids that are easily broken down in heat.

One of the simplest and common ways to use pumpkinseed oil is on salad. In Austria we often ate salad with a mix of onions and potatoes topped with pumpkinseed oil and cider vinegar. In this recipe I swapped regular potatoes for sweet potatoes.

Recipe

4 cups Mesclun (or any preferred salad)

2 cups of roasted sweet potato cut into large pieces

1/2 medium onion – chopped

2 Tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds (or preferred nuts)

Styrian salad sauce (add oil directly to salad first, then add cider vinegar)

3 Tablespoons pumpkinseed oil

1 Tablespoon Cider vinegar

*1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Thank you Eva and the Hagar family for your warm hospitality.