Whew. I swear, I blinked and May was nearly over. I almost let the Tigress Can Jam May deadline slip past me! I know it is the 11th hour, but I’d like to say that for the record I just made an excellent Rhubarb and Ginger Chutney. Unfortunately, it is now too dark to take a picture of the final product. But don’t worry! You can expect some snapshots of my first ever chutney next week.

In addition to eating lots of chutney with cheese and crackers this weekend, I’m hoping to get my tomatoes and peppers in the ground and plant some of the seeds that are piled up in my office. Every time I open the door the seed packets shout “Plant Us Already! It is warm enough!” If I don’t make time for some gardening soon, I’m afraid that I will have a revolt on my hands. Happy Weekend!

Our neighbor has a beautiful old apple tree that arches over the fence into our backyard. Yesterday, I stood underneath its branches and I could hear our honeybees buzzing from one apple blossom to the next as they gathered little bundles of pollen to take back to their hive. The pink flower buds began unfurling their petals last week, but the show is already coming to close. A fast moving rainstorm blew through overnight and our garden is now polka dotted with hundreds of pale pink petals. Luckily, I got out before the showers with my camera and played around with the macro lens my friend Matt is kindly letting me borrow. It was my first time using a macro, but I was pretty happy with the results! Enjoy!

Strawberry pots are urn-shaped containers with wide mouths at the top and pockets on the side. The pots are great for growing fruit in small spaces, especially in balcony and patio gardens. I always plant two or three strawberry plants in the top of the pot and a single plant in each pocket, but there is another way. Strawberries produce runners—long offshoots with baby plants at their tips—that root easily. So you can simply plant a few strawberry plants in the top of the pot and leave the pockets empty. When the plants up top produce runners, guide them down into the pockets and pin the baby plant to the soil with a hair pin. Once the baby plants root, cut the stems connecting them to their mother plants off. Voila! You have a bunch of new strawberry plants and a full strawberry pot.

I always use the first planting method because you get the most berries in the least amount of time, but the second option is less expensive and kind of fun. If you want to snack on strawberries all summer it is a good idea to choose ‘Tristar’ or another everbearing strawberry variety rather than a June-bearing variety that produces a concentrated crop in early summer.

Strawberry pots are typically made of unglazed terracotta, which is not the best material choice because the porous terracotta dries out quickly and wicks moisture away from the soil. This makes it difficult to keep the plants well-watered, which is a problem because inconsistent soil moisture leads to poor fruit set. One way to get around this issue is to put a gravel channel in the center of the pot (you can find step-by-step directions for doing that here). Choosing a glazed ceramic container also helps, because they hold water in better than unglazed terracotta ones. I’m particularly fond of the new strawberry pots at Crate & Barrel ($39.95) because the berries contrast so nicely with the bright green glaze. Just one word of caution—these pots don’t have a drainage hole, so you’ll need to drill one before planting.

The problem with so many edible plants is they are just so green. Dark green. It makes for a pretty boring color palette in the kitchen garden. I like to liven things up with vegetables like ‘Ruby Streaks’ mustard and scarlet runner beans, but I’m always on the hunt for edible plants with more color.

Enter ‘Golden Alexandria’ strawberry. A gorgeous, runnerless alpine strawberry that will be playing a starring role in a new bed I built last weekend. I’m planning on planting several ‘Golden Alexandria’ plants along a berm with a mix of basils (‘Lettuce Leaf’, ‘Genovese’, ‘Ararat’, ‘Mrs. Burns Lemon’, and ‘Purple Ruffle’s) in the mid-ground, and a row of pole beans trellised on black bamboo behind.  ’Golden Alexandria’ supposedly produces sweet, small berries all season and grows well in light shade, too, which is good news for all of you with sun-challenged gardens!

I first spotted this strawberry at Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco last March. Regretfully, I did not buy any plants to bring home and by the time this spring rolled around I couldn’t remember the name. Luckily, Clarke de Mornay, Flora Grubb’s vegetable expert, knew exactly which plant I was talking about! I haven’t been able to find any ‘Golden Alexandria’ plants in Seattle, so I’m mail ordering from Annie’s Annuals nursery.

In 1903 nearly 7000 different apple varieties were grown in orchards across the United States. Over the next few decades historic, regional varieties were abandoned in favor of those with high yields, uniform size, and good shipping qualities. Old orchards were ripped out and planted with modern varieties. By 1983, 86.2% of the apple varieties grown at the turn of the 20th century were extinct. Gone. Never to be grown or tasted again.

Luckily, we haven’t lost all of the apples our ancestors grew. Monticello’s Center for Historic Plants offers several heirloom apple varieties grown by Thomas Jefferson in his Virginia orchard. I’m most interested in ‘Hewes’ crabapple.

Jefferson’s entire north orchard was devoted to this apple, which apparently produces a “delicious cinnamon flavored cider”. The tree is pretty enough to be grown as an ornamental and grows to a modest 12 to 15 feet in height.

‘Albemarle’ or ‘Newtown Pippin’ is a green skinned apple with a sweet yellow flesh and a flavor that is said to improve with storage (the apple is pictured at the top of the post, its blossom is pictured above). This variety was favored by Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who imported barrels of the apples to England in 1759.

Jefferson also planted 32 ‘Esopus Spitzenburg’ apple trees in his orchard. Prized as a dessert apple, the green fruit is blushed with red and is apparently thought to be one of the best tasting apples ever.

If only I had a bigger yard…for now if I want to plant more apple trees I will have to learn how to espalier!

Monticello begins shipping apple trees on February 23rd. The trees are $35 each and grafted onto MM-111 rootstock, which is valued for its drought tolerance and adaptability to a range of soils. You can order them online at Monticello’s online store. Like all apples, these varieties need to be planted in a spot with full sun.

These wee apples are so incredibly cute in real life. All three fit right into the palm of my hand. I picked them up at a harvest party this weekend in Yakima, which is pretty much the epicenter of all things apple in the state of Washington. This particular variety, whose name I could unfortunately not track down, is used to make cider.

I have apples on my mind because 6 apple trees, 1 cherry, 8 maples, 7 elms, and 3 dogwoods are sitting outside on my parking strip right now waiting to be planted. We participated in a free City of Seattle program that gives neighborhood groups trees to plant in their parking strips, plus one fruit tree per family. Seattle only has 23% tree cover, which is down from 40% in the 1970s. My block is getting together this Saturday to plant our new trees and do our small part to help the city meet its goal of reaching 30% tree cover by 2037.

If you live in Seattle, you can apply to participate in the Community Tree Program next year (the deadline is in August). If your city doesn’t have a tree giveaway, I still encourage you to get together with your neighbors and buy some trees in bulk. Nurseries often give discounts for large orders and many conservation districts offer discounted bareroot trees (you can search for your local conservation district right here). This weekend I plan on taking step-by-step pictures of how to plant a tree and will post directions next week!

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend time in the Okanagan Valley, which stretches across the border of northeastern Washington and southern British Columbia. Jon competed in (and finished!) Ironman Canada and I was along for the ride as head cheerleader, driver, and chef. As we drove up Highway 97, I was completely taken with the Okanagan countryside. Picture wide open blue skies, rolling hills dotted with pines, winding rivers, and orchards. Lots and lots of orchards.

The Okanagan’s hot, dry summers and cold winters make it perfect fruit tree country. Everywhere we went there were signs offering peaches, apples, nectarines, and pears for sale. And as soon as we crossed the border we entered Canadian wine country. Yes, they make wine in Canada. And it’s good, too.

On our drive back to Seattle, I just had to pull the car over to the side of the road so I could snap a few shots of this pear orchard. Huge crates lined the rows of trees, just waiting for workers to come in and pluck the ripening pears from their branches. I was enchanted by the beautiful setting and just amazed at how many pears there were growing in one place. Enjoy the pictures, and if you have any good pear recipes, send them my way. I’m anxious to cook with some local pears now that I’ve seen them in person.

P.S. If you want to know more about Canadian wine country, check out the August issue of Sunset. Margo True wrote a great article about the Okanagan wine trail that included some great tips on what wines to try and where to taste them.

Hi, my name is Justine, I was thrilled to meet Willi a few years ago while we served together on the board of Seattle Tilth. Willi is one of the first people I met in Seattle that has a passion for growing vegetables that equals my own and I love reading what she is up to on Diggin’ Food!

My husband John and I live in a small house on an average sized 5000 sq ft lot in Seattle. I mention this because when I talk about my garden people often think it’s really big, when in fact our number one challenge is dealing with limited space! However,  we have been inspired by people like Angelo Pellegrini and the Dervaes family to grow as much of our own food as possible on our little plot of land.  So for the past six years we’ve been working hard to turn our little plot into a productive edible oasis in the city.

John and I share a passion for food, but each in our own way.  I love to grow it, and he loves to create delicious meals, which makes us a good team. Together we  enjoy experimenting with gardening, cooking, foraging, and various DIY projects. Our most exciting recent project is a wood-fired clay oven that John built to bake pizza and bread. Needless to say when Willi asked us to be guest bloggers on Diggin’ Food over the next few weeks we were excited by the opportunity to share what we’re up to on our little urban homestead!

Raspberry Drinkin’ Season!

We grow raspberries in our garden and this years’ crop is particularly abundant! Sometimes we fall behind picking berries and those that were perfectly ripe yesterday are, today, overripe. The sugars in raspberries intensify when they go past their peak making them very sweet. But they begin to develop a bit of an off flavor, a little fermented, which gave us an idea…

Not wanting to waste the berries, and taking inspiration from the Italian liqueur limoncello, we thought we could try making a raspberry infused liqueur. The results have been fantastic and it’s incredibly easy to make! Served chilled with a sprig of mint on a hot summer afternoon its raspberry flavor is intense and refreshing. Or bottle it up and give as a gift!

You don’t have to grow your own raspberries to make this tasty treat. Go out and buy a flat of berries from a local farmer.  We’ve never tried it, but other berries could work too.

Raspberry Liqueur Recipe

Proportions are not super critical; you can use any amount of raspberries. The important thing is to use enough vodka to completely cover the raspberries.

What you need:

1 quart Raspberries (overripe or regular both work fine)
1 – 750ml bottle Vodka
Glass jar with lid large enough to hold berries and vodka
Fine mesh strainer

Put raspberries in the jar, add vodka, and put on the lid. Let steep for about 7 days. That’s it!

Every day or two give the jar a little swish to mix it. After a few days you will notice that the berries begin to turn whitish as their color and flavor is infused into the vodka. When the time is up pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer collecting the raspberry infused vodka in another container. Compost the raspberries.

Store in a bottle in the freezer and you will have your own homemade raspberry liqueur on hand to add to cocktails or sip by itself through the hottest days of summer.  Enjoy!

]]> http://www.digginfood.com/2009/07/raspberry-season-in-seattle/feed/ 13 http://www.digginfood.com/2009/02/pretty-pretty-pears/ http://www.digginfood.com/2009/02/pretty-pretty-pears/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:36:57 +0000 Willi http://www.digginfood.com/?p=646 Today’s Monday morning eye candy comes again from the lovely and talented Christa Neu of c neu photo. Christa sends the most beautiful holiday cards, and these pears were featured on one a few years back. Believe me, discovering a card from Christa in the mailbox—along with a nice note—is a real treat! I hope you enjoy [...]]]>

Today’s Monday morning eye candy comes again from the lovely and talented Christa Neu of c neu photo.

Christa sends the most beautiful holiday cards, and these pears were featured on one a few years back. Believe me, discovering a card from Christa in the mailbox—along with a nice note—is a real treat!

I hope you enjoy this second installment in the new food photography series! Be sure to take note of Christa’s hints below for capturing such pretty pictures and her favorite place to buy pears:

I really love pears–we make pear sauce and buy pear cider and make all sorts of baked goods during pear season.  I get my Asian pears from North Star Orchard at the Emmaus Farmer’s Market. When I’m taking photos like these I try to keep the propping simple, and pay attention to small details–how are the pear stems pointed? Is there a wrinkle in the cloth that is distracting? What about my horizon line? It always helps to have a second pair of eyes when you’re shooting.

Still life shots like this are fun to do by yourself, but I find they can be stronger if you collaborate, especially when your collaborator has a good sense of style. I was  super lucky because Abby Poulette of Good n’ Planty styled these photos for one of my holiday cards.

Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, oh my! Markets and gardens are filled with berries right now and it is almost impossible to not think about making berry cobblers, fools, and crumbles. But these desserts probably won’t materialize on my dinner table. No, I’m not lazy. I just don’t have air conditioning. And it’s way too hot to think about cranking up the oven and baking.

At this time of year, I prefer to make tarts with graham cracker crusts. These buttery, crumbly crusts need to bake for only 10 minutes, and because my tart pan fits into our toaster over, I usually just bake the crust in there. This particular tart features a creamy mascarpone filling sweetened with honey and topped with fresh blackberries.

Blackberry Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Filling
Blackberries are kind of sneaky. They turn a deep blackish, purple before they fully ripen. But these almost ripe berries are tart, firm, and just not as tasty as fully ripe ones. When picking blackberries (either off the canes or at the market) choose only the most luscious ones—they should be plump, soft, and have a dark (rather than whitish) core.

You can cover the entire tart with berries if you like, but I like to leave a pool of filing exposed in the middle because it looks so pretty.

What you’ll need:
1 7.5 ounce box of animal graham crackers (about 2 heaping cups)
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup mascarpone cheese
½ cup sour cream
1/3 cup honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint of blackberries (or more if you want to cover the entire tart)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees F. Process the animal crackers and brown sugar in a food processor until the mixture looks like coarse sand (about 10 one second pulses). Then, with the processor blade running, pour in the melted butter and process until the crumbs are evenly moist. Press the crumbs into a 9 inch tart pan and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is firm to the touch. Remove the crust from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

2. Meanwhile, beat the mascarpone cheese and sour cream in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in the honey and the vanilla. Spread the filling onto the cooled crust and arrange the berries in concentric circles over the filling, starting at the outside and moving in. You can chill the tart, if you like, but I usually eat it right away!