Meatless Monday: Greek Cucumber Salad

A couple of weeks ago, a recipe for Greek Cucumber Salad caught my eye. It appeared in the early August edition of the Co-Op Deals flyer, distributed at the Elm City Market. 

I’ve already made it twice. Best cucumbers ever!

Try it while the cucumbers are still in season and you know where they are grown. [Cucumbers are number 10 on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list.] 

Grab three good-sized cukes at your neighborhood co-op or farmer’s market the next time you shop (or from your yard if you are lucky enough). And while you’re at it, pick up some local feta, honey, and garlic. 

Greek Cucumber Salad would make a perfect side dish for a Labor Day gathering. Or, served on a bed of greens with some hearty bread, it becomes a complete meal. 

Two tips:

• Dried dill works fine. Cut the amount to one teaspoon, combine it with the liquid ingredients for the dressing, and make the dressing before cutting up the vegetables. 
• Assemble the salad just one half hour before serving if possible, allowing the flavors to mingle, while maximizing the crunch of the cucumbers and minimizing the juice.

My version with dried dill.

Enjoy!

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday Short Subjects: GMO or Non-GMO? That is the Question.

On November 6, besides helping to elect the next president of the US, voters in California will consider a proposition which has been denied to residents of other states. They will have the opportunity to vote on an initiative requiring labeling of all genetically modified food sold in grocery stores in their state. 

If Proposition 37 passes, California will become the first state in the nation to require labels on genetically engineered food. The lobbying for and against the measure has heated up drastically over the last few weeks. The San Jose Mercury News reported that as of Thursday, August 23, proponents had raised $2.8 million, donated by individuals as well as organic businesses including Nature’s Path and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. Opponents had succeeded in raising nearly $25 million. 

It should be no surprise that Monsanto is the largest single contributor to the opposition,  with a donation of $4.2 million. It was Monsanto’s threat to sue the state of Connecticut that caused the portion of  CT-HB5117 requiring labeling of GMO foods to be withdrawn. 

Other large and well-known corporations have joined Monsanto in opposing Prop 37. This pie chart clearly shows who they are and how much they have contributed to the war chest.

But what may surprise you is some of the ‘organic’ brands owned by Prop 37 opponents. The Cornucopia Institute clearly spells out the opposition and the companies they own, and what companies support the measure. 

The Organic Consumers Association is asking consumers to boycott brands owned by the opposition, and to go to their Facebook pages and consumer response lines to call them out.

This is no small request. Many of my grocery cart items are on the left hand side of this chart. I haven’t yet decided whether or not I can forgo them all. But it’s food for thought, and I’ve started in on the comments already – first one just sent off to Honest Tea.

In 2008 California passed Proposition 2, which prohibited the close confinement of farm animals in crates, so there is hope that this measure, too, might pass. Passage of CA Prop 37 could pave the way for passage of similar measures in the 19 other states with proposed GMO labeling. 

If you believe in the consumer’s right to know, here’s a chance to “Vote with your fork [or spoon or straw or bowl]. 

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Peach Paradise

Last week, in honor of National Peach Month, I presented a few facts about the much-loved peach, which arrived in this country, like so many good things, from somewhere else.

I had just purchased my first till of local peaches of the season. They were ripening on the counter as I wrote. I promised to let you know what I made with them. The answer is – Paradise!

Paradise is the Joy of Cooking’s version of fruit crisp, found in the 1973 paperback version on page 607, under the title Fresh Fruit Crisp or Paradise. Paradise it is — easy to make, and simply delicious, especially when warm. And the JoC version uses about half the butter of most other crisp recipes. 

My dog-eared and grease-stained copy of the Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, was once my only cookbook. Today I still return to it for three essential recipes — Paradise, Rich Sour Cream Coffee Cake (made with Greek yogurt and wheat germ in my version), and brownies Cockaigne, IMHO the only recipe to use when brownies are required for a crowd. 

Now, back to Paradise. The recipe is below – Original instructions followed by my tweaks in brackets.

Paradise, warm from the oven, crunchy and brown on top.

FRESH FRUIT CRISP or PARADISE

• Preheat your oven to 375° [350° if using a pyrex dish]
• Peel 4 cups tart apples, or the same amount of peaches, slightly sugared rhubarb, or pitted cherries. [5 large, just ripe, peaches]
• Slice into the baking dish or pie pan. [9 inch square pyrex dish]
• Season with two tablespoons lemon juice or kirsch, optional. [Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.]
• Measure into a mixing bowl the following:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour [1/4  flour + 1/4 cup quick oats + 1/4 cup chopped pecans]
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar [dark]
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, if using unsalted butter [Omit in either case.]
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional [NOT optional]

• Stir together to combine.
• Cut 1/2 stick butter into small pieces. Combine with dry ingredients using your fingers until the mixture is crumbly.
• Spread over the peaches.
• Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.
• Serve warm, with sweet or cultured sour cream [One scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream. Cabot’s from a can is fine.]

May you find the time to enjoy a taste of Paradise this week…

Paradise in a serving dish, but not for long…

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

More on the Emerald Ash Borer

When the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) was detected in Prospect on July 16,  2012, Connecticut joined the ranks of 15 other states where infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) have been found. [Details on its life cycle and the press conference which announced its discovery can be found in my initial blog post of July, 21.] The EAB feeds exclusively on ash trees and is responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees, of all species, from the Mid-West to New York state and south to Tennessee. Infestation of an ash by EAB usually leads to the tree's death, often within two to three years.

How was the EAB discovered?

Purple detection traps, known as “Barney traps” because of their color, baited with manuka oil (a chemical lure to attract any EABs in the area), have been used in Connecticut since 2008. They are hung in ash trees in May, checked three times, and then removed in September. Initially, a total of twenty traps were deployed. In 2011, in anticipation of the EAB's arrival from New York, 940 traps went up. In 2012, 540 traps were hung in more carefully targeted areas. Traps, however, were not the means by which the EAB’s presence in Connecticut was first detected.

Dr. Claire Rutledge hanging a purple trap.
Photo by Mioara Scott.

The EAB is a prey of Cerceris fumipennis, nicknamed the “Smoky-Winged Beetle Bandit,” a ground-nesting, non-stinging native wasp, which hunts beetles in the family Buprestidae, which includes EAB. Scientists along the eastern seaboard and in parts of the Midwest have been using Cerceris as a bio-surveillance tool. They have recruited an army of citizen scientists as “wasp watchers,” who monitor baseball fields adjacent to woodlands during the peak of Cerceris hunting time — late morning to early afternoon on hot, sunny summer days. Their assignment? To intercept the Cerceris prey before she (always a female) can get her catch into her underground burrow. If the EAB is in the area, it is evident in the Cerceris catch. Dr. Claire Rutledge, a scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) in New Haven, has been assembling a cadre of Cerceris watchers in the state for the past several years. This past summer, the watchers included 17 Master Gardeners who signed on after wasp watching was approved as an official outreach activity.

Mioara Scott, who has worked with Dr. Rutledge for five summers, was the one who found Connecticut’s first confirmed EAB — in Canfield Park in Prospect, in northern New Haven County. She caught the Cerceris wasp carrying the female EAB that then was sent to USDA Animal and Plant Inspection Service (USDA APHIS-PPQ) offices for verification. After the initial discovery, watchers captured 25 more EABs at Canfield, and three more at nearby Fusco Field. An EAB was caught in Beacon Falls later that week. EAB was also discovered in a catch sample submitted by the wasp watcher (a Master Gardener) assigned to Canfield Park. This triggered an early check of purple traps in the area. A trap in Prospect yielded three, and EABs were found in traps in Naugatuck State Forest and in Bethany. Summer surveillance in Fairfield, Litchfield, and Middlesex counties has not yielded any EABs; the newly confirmed infestation seems to be confined to the Prospect area. 

The Prospect, CT EAB
(Actual size approximately 1/2" long)
Photo by Katherine Dugas

Why Is everyone so concerned? 

Ash makes up 4% to 15% of Connecticut’s forest and is a common urban tree. An important source of food for a wide range of native wildlife, ash is already in decline because of a disease called ash yellows. There is concern that the EAB could reduce the population of ash in the state to a point where it might not be able to recover, potentially causing a ripple effect in the ecosystem of Connecticut’s forests.

How did the EAB travel to Prospect? 

Prospect is a good distance from Dutchess County, New York, along the Hudson, where EAB was detected earlier this year. Some speculate that the EAB may have blown into Prospect on storm winds, but more likely the EAB arrived on firewood. The EAB has great flight potential. Movement of firewood containing EAB to a new location gives the beetle the opportunity for rapid expansion of its territory —the quickest way to spread the infestation. 

What are the current action steps and goals?

• Establishing the borders of the current infestation. Now that wasp-watching season has ended, and the EAB’s adult life cycle stage is about over, means of detection will shift to physical examination of trees in the Naugatuck State Forest for signs of EAB presence. 
• Slowing the infestation’s spread. On August 9, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station issued the terms of a quarantine on the movement of hardwood and hardwood products out of New Haven County, to take effect immediately. You can read the full text of the quarantine here.

What can you do to stop the EAB?

• Inform everyone you know.
• Don’t Move Firewood.
• Be alert. Watch for visible signs of infestation. If you see something, immediately call CAES (203-974-8474) or email: CAES.StateEntomologist@ct.gov. 
• Become a wasp watcher. Volunteers normally watch once a week for an hour or two at a time during the six to eight week Cerceris hunting season, from late June until early August. Visit cerceris.info for more information, and then email Dr. Claire Rutledge (Claire.Rutledge@ct.gov) if you are interested in joining the program. You will need to commit to a one-hour training session and approximately ten hours of active wasp watching.

Thanks to Cerceris and the wasp watchers, we know EAB has arrived in the state. Connecticut now has an action plan. People are mobilized. Let’s hope it’s in time to save Connecticut’s ash trees.

Meatless Monday: Celebrating the Peach

Local peaches arrived in Connecticut markets early last week – just in time for National Peach Month.

Some are ripening on my counter right now, releasing their sweet, calming scent. [The peach is, after all a member of the fragrant Rose family.]

My niece just tweeted about grilling peaches on the Cape. And I am dreaming of peach jam, peach crisp, and peach pie.

This luscious fruit is an important crop in a number of states, most notably in California and in Georgia. But did you know that this celebrated summer fruit is not native to North America? 

The peach was first cultivated in China. From there it spread west to Persian and then to Europe. The Romans, who mistakenly believed the peach originated from Persia, named it the Persian apple (Prunus persica). It is believed that Spaniards brought peaches to the New World; Spanish missionaries planted the first peach trees in California.

Since the 1800s peaches have been grown commercially in the US, which now supplies 25% of the world’s peaches. 

Soon it will be Pick-Your-Own season in Connecticut, and I can’t wait.

In anticipation, I have begun rooting around for some of my best recipes for one of my favorite summer fruits. Come back next week to see what I’ve turned up.

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Market Find of the Week — Portulaca olearacea

“Never buy it at the farmer’s market,” my master gardening mentor had told me. But I did it anyway. Yup, I paid $3.00 for a rubber-banded handful of “weeds” at CitySeed on Saturday. Advertised as “Gandhi’s favorite food,” the bunch of fat-stemmed greens I bought was purslane, which you’ve most likely seen growing in the cracks of sidewalks, near a foundation wall, or along the borders of your garden. If you are like me, you’ve pulled it out many times without ever a thought of eating it. 

50¢ worth of purslane

In my defense, how could I resist? I had wanted to give purslane more than a nibble, which is about all I would give any random purslane I pulled downtown (even after a few good washings), without knowing the lead content of the soil (most likely high) or whether Chester, the small dog next door, had used it for a pit stop. The purslane was being sold by the organic vendor from whom I often purchase kale. It came from their fields, I was told. I considered this $3.00 well spent.

Purslane’s scientific name is Portulaca olearacea, or portulaca “of the vegetable garden,” according to Peter Del Tredici in his tome Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast. Purslane has a prominent tap root; its shoots grow outwards in the shape of a circle. Like the flowers of its close relative, Portulaca grandiflora (Moss rose), its yellow blooms open only when the sun is bright. 

Note the tap root.

Purslane grows throughout much of the world, including most of the continent of North America. Its geographical origins are unclear, [Del Tredeci calls it a “cosmopolitan weed of Eurasian origin.”] but it seems to proliferate in almost any clime where it can get enough sun. It grows best in the heat, in nutrient-rich sandy soil, but it can also tolerate compacted ground of lesser quality. Its time in the New World pre-dates Columbus, and Del Tredici states that purslane was cultivated in Plymouth colony.

Purlslane’s praises have been sung by everyone from “Wildman” Steve Brill to the New York Times. The Cornell University Department of Animal Science devotes a page to the medicinal merits of this drought-resistant succulent. Purslane is packed with nutrients, including Vitamin C, and Omega-3 fatty acids, and protein. The site contains a lengthy list of purslane's medicinal uses, garnered from the world over; many of these pertain to reducing inflammation.

How did I prepare my prize purchase? First, I triple washed it. [It was very dirty and likes sandy soil, remember?] I then chopped up some of the leaves and tender shoots and used them to top a salad, dressed with a homemade lemon vinaigrette. They were somewhat chewy and had a slightly bitter taste; I wouldn’t suggest a salad of purslane by itself. I have read that the stems can be used to thicken soups. Steve Brill turns the stems into mini-pickles. 

Once the purslane is picked (or pulled), it is best to stick it in a pitcher of cold water and to use it in the next day or two.

Not so perky purslane.

I’m fairly certain the bunch I bought was “weeded” from the field in which it simply grew. But I do believe I’ve seen a hydroponically-grown version at CitySeed, sold by by Two Guys from Woodbridge. 

If you are interested in cultivating your own, you can purchase seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. 

By all accounts, it should be fairly simple to yield a good crop from plants harvested from the wild. Each seed capsule on the plant contains numerous tiny seeds which are purported to be able to survive buried in the soil for up to 40 years. Plants that have been uprooted and set aside in a heap can use the water in their stems and leaves to develop a new root system — more purslane! 

But be warned: It may be difficult to contain this crop once you get it going. Unless you aspire to be a one crop farmer, and unless your plot is very far from your property border, you might want to grow purslane in a container. 

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”