Food By Franz

Those green spherical multiple units from the pod. Its one of those vegetable/fruit questions – yes, they are technically a fruit from a legume. There are different kinds of peas that we are all familiar with – garden peas(english), snow peas(sugar), snap peas, field peas (split peas)..and something called a southern pea, which is really a cowpea and grown like beans. There health benefits are numerous – low calorie, hi-fiber, loaded with vitamin A, C, K and Folic Acid – these are literally green gems for your diet.

Historically, peas have been a staple food for thousands of years – they are mentioned in the Bible and prized by ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians. More recently Louis 14th (of France) had them on his menu. The Dutch are credited with the development of the snow pea in the same era as Louis. Snap peas are a recent addition, being a cross between a garden and snow pea.

Frozen garden peas are an easy alternative during the winter and they do not lose a lot nutritionally from being frozen. Use peas in salads, stews, pasta’s. Snap peas in a lunch bag make a wonderful alternative to celery sticks. Mushy peas, split pea soup, peas with butter and mint, in green curry with chicken and basil (yummy – one of my favorite Thai dishes) – good in fried rice, too! Lots of ways to add the nutritional wonder of the peas -

Check out this breakdown – In a 1/2 cup of cooked garden peas – Only 67 calories!

Fiber 2.4 grams
Protein 4.3 grams
Vitamin A 478 UI
Vitamin C 11.4 mg
Folic Acid 50.7 micrograms
Potassium 217 mg
Magnesium 31 mg

Peas are an annual, cool weather vegetable. Only 60 days will bring a crop to your table. They prefer temperatures between 50 and 80 – so they are a great spring and fall crop. Peas will vine and be somewhat self supporting, but do best will a trellis or some type of support to cling to. They are a great “companion plant” in the garden and are compatible with carrots, cukes, turnip, radish, beans and herbs – they do not prefer to be planted next to onions or garlic. When buying peas, remember that younger is more tender – if the pods are scarred, or tough, chances are the peas inside will be starchy. What a wonderfully sweet way to add such value to your meals. Easily grown – even here in our little ol’ four letter state!

Interesting Facts About Peas

Peas are a good source of vitamin K – some of which our bodies convert into K2, which activates osteocalcin, the major non-collagen protein in bone – important to bone mineralization.

In China – the pea sprout and pea leaves are considered a delicacy

Peas contain purine – so individuals with kidney problems or gout may want to limit intake of purine-containing foods such as green peas

Although botanically peas are a fruit, it is treated as a vegetable in cooking

Cutest Pea Poem Ever -

I eat my peas with honey;
I’ve done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.

Okra

Okra – It has some very popular relatives like cocoa, hibiscus and cotton – they are all members of the Mallow family of plants. The scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus. The fruit of this plant are the okra pods – they are green, cylindrical, tapered and full of edible white round seeds. Okra is a source of b vitamins, folic acid, magnesium, potassium and vitamin C. Okra also contains a soluble fiber and the oil (from okra seeds) contains oleic acid and linoleic acid.

Abelmoschus esculentus is among the most heat- and drought-tolerant vegetable species in the world. It will tolerate poor soil and heavy clay and intermittent moisture. The pods are not very frost tolerant.
The products of the plant are mucilaginous, resulting in the characteristic “goo” when the seed pods are cooked. In order to avoid this effect, okra pods are often stir fried, so the moisture is cooked away, or paired with slightly acidic ingredients, such as citrus or tomatoes. The mucilage effect can also be much lessened when simmering the pods by adding vinegar. The cooked leaves are also a powerful soup thickener.

Orignally from tropical africa, it was introduced to the Egyptians and Moors in the 12th century – they used the word “arab” for okra. Distributed by sea it became popular throughout the Mediterranean countries. The slave trade brought the plant to the America’s. It was documented in Brazil in 1658 and was well established as a crop in Virginia by 1781as noted by Thomas Jefferson.

In use around the world – recipes abound – can’t make a gumbo without it! In southern USA is it commonly breaded and deep fried. Frango com quiablo (chicken with okra) is a Brazilian dish. In Nepal, okra is called Rom Toriya, commonly fried with tomatoes is a national dish. It is also an expected ingredient in Callaloo – the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago. In western India okra is one of the most popular vegetables of all and is often cooked in daily meals – generally stir-fried with spices and some sugar. Okra leaves may be cooked in a similar manner as the greens of beets. The leaves are also eaten raw in salads. Immature pods can be pickled.

Interesting facts:
Slaves roasted okra seeds to brew decaf coffee like beverage
Okra is called lady fingers in many countries
It has been used as a “cold remedy” The pods are a plentiful source of mucilage (the mucus-like substance that gives okra its characteristic slimy texture). Mucilage soothes irritation while reducing swelling and pain.

To go along with the Recipe of the Month (ROM) Chili’s are this months veggie de jour. Chili peppers are actually a fruit (but don’t tell them!) from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Peppers are used in most non-European cuisines, but are essential to Indian, Asian, Spanish, American Southwest and South American cooking from Mexico to Patagonia.

Easy to cultivate (yes, they even grow here in Utah), tasty, from warming to insanely hot depending on the variety – chili peppers add a whole new dimension to your dishes. They have a lot of nutritional value, including calcium, iron, magnesium, Vitamin A & C. No wonder most of the world’s cook use peppers in some way, fresh, dried, ground or smoked.

Here’s a rundown of the most common, locally available chili peppers.

Anaheim: Mild. Six to eight inches in size and bright, shiny green. Can be roasted and peeled, often stuffed or added to salsas.

Ancho: Anchos are mild to moderately hot and often soaked and ground for use in sauces. Sold dried (fresh they are poblanos). Dried anchos are flat, wrinkled, and heart shaped. They range in color from very dark red to almost black.

Cayenne: Hot – comes in a variety of colors green, yellow, orange, or red. Long, skinny, and wrinkled in appearance, 4-12″.

Cherry: Mild to medium hot. Round and red like a cherry. Sold fresh or pickled in jars.

Habanero: Insanely Hot! Typically orange but they can be green, red, or yellow. Uniquely shaped like a lantern and typically about 2 inches long. Can irritate skin on contact – use of gloves is recommended to handle these hot babies. Can be dried, sometimes called scotch bonnett.

Jalapeno: Hot with a bite – most often a deep green when mature but sometimes red. Use whenever recipe simply calls for hot chili peppers. They can be fresh or canned. When smoked, jalapenos are called chipotles.

Poblano: Medium. Poblano peppers are the deepest green, almost waxy looking. Great for stuffing. They can range to hot.

Serrano: Medium Hot to Very Hot. Sold red or mature green and about 1 to 3 inches in length (looks like a miniature jalapeno). Can be found canned, pickled, or packed in oil with vegetables. Often served in Thai or Mexican dishes.

Chili peppers have been used in cooking for a long time – there is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas that is self-pollinating. They were originally grown in the America’s – transported to the rest of the world through Asia, chili peppers spread rapidly into the islands on shipping routes and then to India, China, Korea, etc.

igourmet 1-lb. Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce

Simply put the “staff” of life, whether its tortilla’s, cornbread, corn flakes, polenta or corn chips- it seems we consume corn every day in some manner. Here in Utah we have both the field corn which is used in foodstuffs, and the sweet corn which is grown for human consumption. Besides, what summer bbq is complete without corn on the cob???

Its known as maize to most of the world. Corn is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents. After European contact with the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, maize spread to the rest of the world.

Growing corn requires several things, did you know that it is genetically designed to require a certain number of days above 50 degrees to mature? Pollination involves the male tassles have their pollen carried by the wind to the female silk flowers to produce the kernels. They have genetically changed corn so much that there is actually is a stock center of maize mutants, The Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center, at U of Illinois, the collection of freaks is some 80.000 strong!

Used in many regions of the world, maize meal is made into a thick porridge in many cultures: from the polenta of Italy, the angu of Brazil, the mămăligă of Romania, to mush in the U.S. or the food called ugali, and mealie pap in Africa. Maize meal is also used as a replacement for wheat flour, to make cornbread and other baked products. Masa (lime treated cornmeal) is the main ingredient for tortillas and many other dishes of Mexican food.

Maize is a major source of starch. Cornstarch (maize flour) is a major ingredient in home cooking and in many industrialized food products. Maize is also a major source of cooking oil (corn oil) and of maize gluten. Maize starch can be hydrolyzed and enzymatically treated to produce syrups, particularly high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener; and also fermented and distilled to produce grain alcohol. Grain alcohol from maize is traditionally the source of bourbon whiskey. Maize is sometimes as the starch source for beer.

Recipes using corn are virtually endless – tamales are my favorite mexican use of cornmeal, a nice polenta side dish or check out the corn chowder that is the Recipe of the Month for November.

cautions
Maize contains lipid transfer protein, an undigestable protein which survives cooking. This protein has been linked to a rare and understudied allergy to maize in humans. The allergic reaction can cause skin rash, swelling or itching of mucus membranes, diarrhea, vomiting, asthma and, in severe cases, anaphylactic shock. It is unclear how common this allergy is in the general populace. – this according to Wiki.

Interesting facts:
In the tropics with their long days and shorter nights, the corn can grow so tall so quickly that it produces no seed.
In Peru, purple maize is made into a soft drink called chica morada. Chicha is the alcoholic version of fermented purple maize.

Corn smut is also known as cuitlacoche in Mexico and South America, where it is served as a delicacy.

Delicacy?? I guess...but UGLY for sure!

Beets are one of the only vegetable that you can eat entirely both root and leaf. The leaves are higher in iron than spinach – get that Popeye! Nutritious – You bet! Vitamin A, B6, vitamin C and bits of B1 & B2. Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and copper are also in the package. Low in calories, low in carbohydrates and high in potassium – a great “heart” vegetable. While the sweet beet root has some of the minerals in its greens to a lesser degree, it is also a remarkable source of chlorine, folic acid, iodine, manganese, organic sodium, potassium, fiber and carbohydrates in the form of natural digestible sugars.

It was first eaten like chard or spinach for only its leaves. Beets of the types that produce large, fleshy, edible roots were unknown before the Christian Era. The ancients used the root of the wild beet or chard apparently for medicinal purposes only. The wild beet occurs widely over the Mediterranean lands, Asia Minor, and the Near East. It is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean area, spreading eastward in prehistoric times, with a secondary region of development in the Near East.

Beets are a cooler weather crop – the good news is they are generally easy to grow and relatively pest free – they combine well with cabbage, bush beans, lettuce, onion but tend to dislike pole beans and mustard family crops. Here you can plant them early in spring (as soon as the heavy frost is gone) and late August to have a fall crop. Swiss chard, garden beets, stock beets, and sugar beets all belong to the same species (Beta vulgaris) and will intercross readily. The distance to prevent cross pollination is extreme as the pollen is airborne. Seed crops of garden beets, for example, must not be grown within several miles of a sugar-beet seed crop lest the two kinds become cross-pollinated, a condition ruining the purity of the seed of one or both kinds.

To purchase beets look for beet roots that are unwrinkled and firm. If you store them with the greens attached, beets will keep for only three to four days in the fridge as the root has to supply moisture to the leaves. Without the greens attached, beet root can keep for a couple of weeks. Beets with round bottoms are sweeter than flat-bottomed ones. Remove the skin before cooking.

Beets can be steamed, roasted, or pickled. Check below for some quick idea’s.

Slice, Steam and toss with EVOO and some spicing (garlic/rosemary/parmesan)
Oven roast in combination with sweet potatoes, parsnips
Slice or cube and steam – toss with butter or a dash of lemon to serve
Slice and cook like you would carrots – glaze with brown sugar & a bit of ginger
Steam and mash with butter & salt
Steam the greens – prepare and serve as you would spinach.

Below is the recipe I used with the ROM (link)

BBQ Grilled Beets

1/3 C balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp herbes de provence
3 medium beets, sliced into rounds

To assemble: In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, rosemary, garlic & herbs. Add the sliced beets & marinade for 30 minutes. Put this mix in a “foil packet” and grill for 25 minutes until the beets are tender. Remove the beets from the packet & place directly on grill for a couple of minutes to sear.

Interesting Facts:
Ever heard of “beeturia” – thats the term they give for the beets ability to discolor urine. Apparently there is a connection between how “red” the urine is and iron deficiencies.
During WWII beets were the most popular dried food.
Despite their intense coloring, beet juice does not make a good dye – it is not colorfast nor lightfast.
Individuals with a history of oxalate-containing kidney stones should limit their consumption of beets.

Ah, Tomatoes – Is there any better reward for gardening than a “right off the vine” tomato??? I know gardeners that walk out with a salt shaker to pick their tomato harvest, and by this time of year its a daily thing. By description tomato’s are a herbaceous plant, that we cultivate for its fruit…yes tomato’s are a fruit. The species is Solanaceae or nightshade family and can be very diversified. Did you know that there are approximately 7500 varieties??? Most cooks marvel at the diversity of varieties and the amazing variety of ways they can be used.

Thought to originate in South America. It is know that Aztecs and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking; it was being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by 500BC.
Some believe that the Spanish explorer Cortez may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City in 1521. Yet others believe Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, was the first European to take back the tomato, earlier in 1493.

Tomatoes are easy to grow and known for outproducing a consumers need. There are a couple of choices basic to tomato growing..the first is determinate vs non-determinate. Determinate, or bush, types bear a full crop all at once and top off at a specific height; they are often good choices for container growing. Determinate types are preferred by commercial growers who wish to harvest a whole field at one time, or home growers interested in canning. Indeterminate varieties develop into vines that never top off and continue producing until killed by frost. Variety is your second basic – do you want a specific color, taste or firmness? Here there are two basic catagories – slicing vs paste tomatoes. Plum, Roma or smaller tomatoes that are slightly longer than round make for the best variety for making paste, ketchup, chili sauce.
Most home gardeners use non-determinate, slicing variety – usually grown for flavor. Visiting your local farmers market will give you a good visual of what varieties grow best in your area.

How many ways can tomatoes contribute to cooking???? Tomato’s are the basis for the mother sauce Pomodoro or simply tomato sauce. Italians love their Marinara sauce (tomatoes simmered with onion, garlic and spices) or as americans we call spaghetti sauce. In Mexican cooking they are essential to pico de gallo or salsa. In France, sauce tomate is a classic, according to Auguste Escoffier, consists of butter, salt belly of pork, flour, carrots, onions, bay leaves, thyme, tomato purée or fresh tomatoes, white stock, garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper.. To Americans, its the basis of “creole” sauce used in cajun cooking.

Home made marinara sauce is one of those tastes that cannot be reproduced commercially. Its like the difference between Salsa Fresca and bottled salsa. The natural goodness (vitamin C, vitamin A, and lycopene) that the tomato gives us makes it a very healthy addition to ones diet. Recommended for healthy hearts, the lycopene content is one of natures best antioxidants.

Tomato Toxicity: The plant (leaves and stems) as well as the unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain the poison Solanine. Solanine is toxic to humans and animals. The fresh fruit is harmless.

Interesting Tomato Facts:
The word tomato comes from a word in the Nahuatl (Aztec) language, tomatl.
The specific name, lycopersicum, means “wolf-peach”.
It is thought that the Pueblo people believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination.

Here’s handy kitchen type gadget – especially handy for those who have sensitive noses in the frig!

Broccoli Rabe, Italian broccoli, rabe, rape, rapini, broccoletti, or friarielli. Ever heard of it? Ever known a vegetable with more aliases? Cousin to cabbage and califlower, this member of the prolific mustard clan has flavorful leaves and clusters of tiny, broccoli like buds. It is a cruciferous vegetable with all the good things that implies: antioxidants (cancer fighters), high in fiber and rich in vitamins A, C, K.
Rich in minerals calcium, potassium and iron. Let’s hear it for Healthy Vegetables!

I found it locally as Rapini and Aspersion – billed as “baby broccoli” – long thin stems with little heads – I used a saute/steam method, it was wonderful, still crisp but fork tender.

According to Wiki, the vegetable probably descends from a wild herb, a relative of the turnip, that grew either in China or the Mediterranean region. It is similar in shape to the Chinese Brassica oleracea cultivar called kai-lan.

Rapini is now grown throughout the world. Rapini is available all year long, but its peak season is fall to spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Rapini is commonly used in traditional Barese and southern Italian cuisine.

The italians do love this vegetable. It can be bitter if not prepared correctly. Eaten young it can be steamed, fried or sauteed. Trim the bottoms of any tough stems. To counter the bitterness, blanch it briefly then shock it in cold water. Then cook as you would prefer. The italians use it frequently with pasta, adding tomatoes to counter any tartness.

Various recipes I’ve read generally call for placing the vegetable in salted, boiling water until the stems are tender (2-5 minutes), then draining & saute in a bit of EVOO quickly with a variety of things, ie: a dusting of parmesan shavings, or sliced garlic and red pepper flakes.

Just imagine a steaming bowl of penne pasta with sweet italian sausage, broccoli (of some variety), cheese and olives or sun dried tomatoes – Yummy!

Organic Seed-Organic Broccoli Raab The Gourmet Treat Rich in vitamins and minerals 45 days. The gourmet treat that’s both nutritious and delicious Broccoli Raab also called Rapa Rabe or Rapini is now available in Certified Organic seed form You will love growing this easy and quick crop which sets abundant crisp bright green upright leaves to be harvested just before their florets open.Broccoli Raab isn’t actually related to broccoli it’s in the Turnip family but the florets it sets will remind you of broccoli which is how it comes by its common name. Rich in Vitamins A C and K they are also loaded with potassium calcium and iron. The flavor is both nutty and somewhat bitter with a pungent bite. Steamed or sauteed this is a gourmand’s delight Our seed is Certified Organic by Clemson University DPI according to NOP standards. You will find it fresh and ready to take off. Harvest the leaves when they are between 10 and 15 inches high for best flavor. Enjoy one of the finest and most healthful veggies straight from your own backyard this season with Organic Broccoli Raab Packet is 100 seeds.

Colewort Cabbage

If we lived between 500 and 1500 a.d.—the Middle Ages or Medieval period—we would be very familiar with colewort, a leafy green plant widely cultivated throughout Europe. A lowly potherb, colewort was an essential part of every kitchen garden and working-class diet, yet was not counted in the household food tally that included spices, salt and meats.

Kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts—all Brassica oleracea species—are modern descendants of the ancient wild colewort. They belong to the brassica family, and are also sometimes considered cruciferous vegetables, so named for the plants’ cross-shaped (crucifer) flower petals. At least five centuries before Christ, colewort plants were cultivated by continually selecting and reseeding plants with the largest leaves, resulting in a large-leaved kale, B. oleracea acephala (roughly “vegetable garden cabbage without a head”).

When plants with a tight cluster of tender young leaves at the top of the stem were singled out, our modern cabbage, B. oleracea capitata (“vegetable garden cabbage with a head”), began to appear. Germans favored colewort plants with fat stems; these became kohlrabi, B. oleracea caulorapa (“vegetable garden cabbage-like-stem turnip”). Belgians selected plants with tightly packed leafy buds along the main stem, and these became brussels sprouts, B. oleracea gemmifera (“vegetable garden cabbage bearing gems”).

Health Benefits of Cabbage
Cabbage ranks right up there with broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts with a reputation for fighting cancer. It’s also a good source of vitamin C, fiber, potassium, and other nutrients. Cabbage also offers a major payoff — the fewest calories and least fat of any vegetable.

From green cabbage you’ll enjoy a fiber boost and a respectable amount of vitamin C. Two types of cabbage, savoy and bok choy, provide beta-carotene — an antioxidant that battles cancer and heart disease. For those who don’t eat dairy products, bok choy is an important source of calcium, which may help prevent osteoporosis and aid in controlling blood pressure.

The phytochemicals in cabbage, called indoles, are also being studied for their ability to convert estradiol, an estrogen-like hormone that may play a role in the development of breast cancer, into a safer form of estrogen — powerful incentives to add cabbage to your diet.

Growing Cabbage
Cabbage is a great plant for your home vegetable garden. It is easy to grow in a home garden, and, once harvested, can be enjoyed in numerous dishes.

Cabbage is a cool-weather crop that can tolerate frost but not heat. If the plants are cold for too long, or if the weather is too warm, the plants will bolt (go to seed without forming a head). If the head has already formed, it will split in hot weather. Splitting happens when the plant takes up water so fast the excess cannot escape through the tightly overlapped leaves, and the head bursts.

Cabbage likes fertile, well-drained soil with a pH in the 6.5 to 7.5 range. Cabbages are usually grown from transplants. Where there’s a long cool period, seed can be sown directly in the garden in the fall for winter harvest. Plant transplants that are four to six weeks old; plant two to three weeks before the average date of the last frost.

Cabbage Tips

When buying cabbage at the market, select firm heads with loose outer leaves; the heads should feel heavy for their size. Older cabbage often lacks outer “wrapper” leaves and is pale in color. Store cabbage in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Wash and cut or slice just before serving. To freeze cabbage, coarsely shred it, then blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Chill the cabbage in cold water, then drain well. Pack into airtight containers and freeze for up to six months. Frozen cabbage is perfect for use in stocks, soups and stews.