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Wider
Rhubarb is field-grown, and will need more sugar in recipes. |
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Piping
hot Rhubarb Pie was Pres. Herbert Hoover’s favorite
dessert. |
RHUBARB
(Monday, March 7): The Iditarod
Dog Sled race is under way in Alaska. Speaking of our 50th state,
Alaskans actually believe that Rhubard originated in their great
state. Russian Fur Traders, traveling from Russia to the Pacific
Northwest, stopped off in Alaska. They planted two vegetables they
brought with them from Siberia, Cabbage and Rhubarb. Today, Rhubarb
is found in Alaska, Washington and Oregon…because of these
Russian fur traders. Alright. Let’s get it out of the way.
Is Rhubarb
a fruit or a vegetable? My simple definition of a fruit is this:
All fruits have seeds, and ripen. Rhubarb has neither. It is indeed
a vegetable, the stem of a plant, much like celery. However, in
the 1880s, the New York Custom’s Court had nothing better
to do than to decide whether Rhubarb was a fruit or a vegetable.
Back then, it had to do with taxes and duties. Fruits and vegetables
were taxed at different rates. The court decided, that since we
use Rhubarb in “pies, tarts and desserts,” then it shall
be deemed a “fruit.” Botanically speaking, however,
we know that it is a vegetable. As the court viewed it, this vegetable
is indeed a strange one, because it is best used as a fruit. There
are so many great Rhubarb recipes,
however, Rhubarb does extremely well in pies,
or tarts,
or get out the vanilla ice cream for a Rhubarb
crumble. How about Rhubarb
ice cream itself? Most of our commercially grown Rhubarb is
grown in the Pullyap Valley in Washington or the Williamette Valley
in Oregon.
Spring is the start of Rhubarb season. And to be honest, I don’t
care if you call it a fruit or vegetable, just as long as you use
it. Hothouse, or strawberry, rhubarb appears in markets as early
as January and continues to be stocked through April. Field-grown,
or cherry, rhubarb begins to arrive in markets in March and can
continue to arrive through the summer (depending on the area where
it is grown). Rhubarb’s history dates back to 2700 B.C. in
China, along the Rha River. Here, it was said barbarians
lived. Thus the name “Rhabarb.”
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The
season is just beginning from the Northwest. These have been
“pulled” harvested, not cut. These will have better
storage life. |
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Who
can resist the many desserts of rhubarb, like this Rhubarb
Crisp? |
It was primarily grown at that time for medicinal purposes. Rhubarb
has been used to cure fevers, taken in times of plagues, forbidden
in 1759 by the Qianlong emperor of the Qing dynasty to be exported
to the Russians after a border conflict in northern China, and declared
by the same emperor that the Western countries will have to do without
rhubarb! A planting of rhubarb was recorded in Italy in 1608, and
about 30 years later in Europe, where it was recorded as a food
plant in 1778. The earliest known usage of this beautiful plant
as a food appeared as a filling for tarts and pies, and this particular
plant was suspected of being a hybrid of the Chinese variety used
for medicinal purposes. According to Clifford Foust in his "The
Rhubarb Compendium", explorers, traders, botanists, gardeners,
physicians and pharmacists tried with remarkable efforts to adapt
rhubarb for convenient use in Europe. As a food, rhubarb is only
about as old as the US. Around the 1820's rhubarb was appearing
in produce markets. Also known as Pie Plant, rhubarb is used for
jams, jellies, syrups, bread puddings, crisps and cobblers. Add
something sweet, like Strawberries, to tame the mouth-puckering
tartness of rhubarb and it lends itself to numerous desserts. Rhubarb
contains about 25 calories, is fat free and has about one gram of
fiber per cup. It also contains Vitamins C and A, and some of calcium.
Select crisp, well-colored stalks, and avoid wilted and oversized
product. Spring stalks are the juiciest and most-tender. Fresh stalks
are flat, not curled or limp. When stalks that have been pulled-not
cut-from the field are available; choose them. Pulled stalks dry
out less rapidly. Size is no indicator of tenderness. Deep red stalks
are sweeter and richer. Wrap rhubarb in plastic wrap and store it
in the coldest part of the refrigerator for up to one week. Cooked
and raw rhubarb both freeze well. Rinse and trim from base and tip.
The stringy, outside layer should be removed from the rhubarb stalk
before cooking. Start by cutting away and discarding the toxic leaves
and trimming both ends of the stalk. You may peel or cut with the
skin intact. Rhubarb needs to be kept refrigerated, and you can
easily freeze fresh, tender stalks by boiling in water for one minute,
cooling quickly under running cold water. The blanching process
prior to freezing inactivates the enzymes in the rhubarb that may
continue to act and cause flavor, color and texture loss during
freezing. It is wonderful in quick breads, cakes, ice sorbet. Rhubarb
sauces and chutneys taste great on many desserts such as pancakes,
crepes, waffles and French toast. Rhubarb is a great match with
strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, oranges, peaches,
apricots, pears and raisins. It is enhanced by ginger, cinnamon,
orange, lime and mint. Mix all of these wonderful items together
and enjoy a terrific fresh fruit salad - add honey, maple syrup
or another sweetener to calm down any tartness. Remember that the
stalks of rhubarb are the only edible part of the plant. The leaves
and roots are poisonous, so trim completely and discard these parts.
On a culinary note, due to the high acid content of fresh rhubarb,
always use a non-reactive pan to cook it in - stainless steel, glass
or an enamel coated container. Containers such as aluminum or uncoated
iron cookware will turn the rhubarb a very unattractive grey color.
Rhubarb has been a staple on the prairies of America for generations.
It thrives in the toughest conditions, requires almost no care and
annually produces dozens of leaf stalks. Do you know anyone in Minnesota
and neighboring states who does not have a patch of rhubarb tucked
away in a corner of the garden, near the garage or house?
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Cassava
Root, also known as Yucca Root. It’s where we get Tapioca. |
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| Too bad that some people’s
only touch with celery, is in their Bloody Mary. |
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The
smell of a celery field is one of the most pleasurable smells
on earth. |
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| To harvest 3,000 stalks
a day, a celery cutter will make between 12,000 and 20,000 cuts
a day. |
CELERY (Tuesday, March 8): Right now, celery prices
have gone up. The reason goes all the way back to unusually heavy
rains in California in January. Oxnard is one of the major celery
suppliers for this time of year. January rains saturated the soil,
so to prevent pithiness in the celery, growers harvested fields
earlier than normal, leaving a supply gap right now. It shouldn’t
be a long term problem. As soon as you get home from the store with
your bags of groceries, the first thing you are to do is fill your
sink with cold water. Now, add some ice. You want this water ice
cold. Next, get your celery out and a very sharp knife. Cut off
a very thin slice on the cut-end of the celery, and submerge your
celery into your sink of ice cold water. Now you put away the rest
of your groceries. When you are done putting groceries away, now
you can go get your precious stalk of celery. Shake off excess water
and put your celery in a long plastic bag and refrigerate. By cutting
a thin slice off, you allowed that ice cold water to travel up the
stalks, and will help keep your celery fresher…longer. Celery
is grown year-round in California, which leads the nation in celery
production. The #2 producer is Florida, which grows it about 6 months
out of the year. Michigan is the 3rd largest celery producer. Farmers
in Michigan are able to grow celery only 4 months out of the year.
Celery (Apium graveolens) is believed to be the same plant as selinon,
mentioned in Homer's Odyssey about 850 B.C. Our word "celery"
comes from the French celeri, which is derived from the ancient
Greek word. The old Roman names, as well as those in many modern
languages, are derived from the same root word and sound remarkably
similar. This tells us that celery is actually quite young in its
widespread distribution. Smallage, a plant now cultivated in gardens
for flavoring purposes, is apparently "wild" celery, the
plant that has been known as celery in the Mediterranean countries
for thousands of years. Wild celery grows in wet places throughout
Europe, the Mediterranean lands, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and southeastward
toward the Himalayas. It is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean
area, but it took the Western Europeans to tame the wild celery.
The oldest record of the word celeri is in a 9th-century poem written
in France or Italy, giving the medicinal uses and merits of the
plant. The Greeks and Romans used wild celery to cure hangovers,
banish the blues and purify the blood. Maybe that's why a stalk
comes in a Bloody Mary. Not so long ago folks thought celery tonic
was good for the nerves. Today, dieters know it helps fill the need
for something crisp and crunchy. When its culture in gardens was
begun in the 16th century in Italy and northern Europe, it was still
a primitive plant and was used for medicinal purposes only. In France
in 1623 use of celery as food was first recorded. For about a hundred
years thereafter its food use was confined to flavorings. In France
and Italy, by the middle of the 17th century, the little stalks
and leaves were sometimes eaten with an oil dressing. In the late
17th and early 18th centuries, in Italy, France, and England, were
seen the first evidences of improvement of the wild type. Gardeners
also found that much of the too-strong flavor could be eliminated,
making the stalks better for salad use, by growing the plants in
late summer and fall, then keeping them into the winter. By the
mid-18th century in Sweden, the wealthier families were enjoying
the wintertime luxury of celery that had been stored in cellars.
From that time on, its use as we know it today spread rapidly. We
do not know what group of European colonists brought it to America,
or when, but four cultivated varieties were listed here in 1806.
All through the 19th century in America, England, and much of Europe,
it was believed necessary to blanch the green edible portion of
celery to rid it of unpleasantly strong flavor and green color.
This was done by banking the plants with soil. Some kinds, like
Pascal and Utah, that remain green when ready for eating, are now
considered to be of the finest quality. Even so, the lighter the
color, the sweeter the celery. In Tuscany, they like to dip chunks
of raw celery into olive oil seasoned with salt and freshly ground
pepper.
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Kiwifruit:
The healthiest fruit grown on planet earth. |
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Sweet Potato:
The healthiest vegetable grown on planet earth. |
SWEET POTATO, KIWIFRUIT (Wednesday, March 9):
March is National
Nutrition Month, so with that in mind, it might be good to talk
about the most nutritious fruit and vegetable grown on planet earth.
The National Nutrition Month campaign reinforces the importance
of nutrition as a key component of health, along with physical activity.
Healthy eating helps you get the most out of life. A healthy lifestyle
is the key to looking good, feeling great and being your best at
work and play. It all starts with a healthy eating plan and these
simple helps:
• Individual needs and preferences determine your personal
food choices. Match your food choices to your lifestyle and individual
requirements, choosing enough to achieve and maintain a healthy
weight.
• Actively pursue variety. Expand your range of choices and
explore new tastes, within and among food groups. Eating a wide
variety of foods not only promotes optimal nutrition, it provides
the pleasurable aspects of eating.
• Make moderation your goal – you decide how much and
how often. Healthy eating doesn't mean feeling deprived or guilty.
Look at the big picture; it's what you eat over several days –
not just one day or one meal – that's important.
• Develop a personal fitness plan that fits your lifestyle.
The key is to find a variety of activities. You don't need expensive
equipment or complex fitness programs.
So what are the most nutritious fruit and vegetable? Well, the most
nutrient dense fruit grown on planet earth today…is the Kiwifruit.
More Vit. C than even an orange, and twice as much potassium as
a banana. It’s a vitamin pill…with fuzz. The most nutritious
vegetable happens to be former President Bill Clinton’s favorite
vegetable…the Sweet Potato.
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| Chile, in the Southern
Hemisphere, has a fruit season opposite of U.S. growers. |
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| Vineyards in the Copiapo
Valley are located near the Andes Mtns. |
GRAPES (Thursday, March 10): From now through
about the middle of March, it is peak of the season for table grapes
from the Southern Hemisphere. Chile supplies most of our winter
supply of table grapes, with South Africa also supplying some, mainly
to the East Coast. Just south of Santiago, Chile, vineyards are
in full production as harvesters glean the vines of the sweet, juicy
grapes. Vineyards in Chile are actually trellased high, about 6
– 7 feet high. This allows the pickers to simply walk under
the canopy of trellased grapes and clip off the dangling bunches
of grapes. This means far less banging around of the grapes, and
of course that means less handling damage. Many California growers
are now adopting this over the head trellasing of the vineyards.
The old style vines were very cumbersom for pickers. They had to
bend over a lot more, slowing the picking process. They had to hunt
through the vines to find the clusters. As they moved vines out
of the way, this caused some bruising to some clusters of grapes.
The Chilean trellased method does away with those problems. It is
certainly more costly per acre to trellase the grape vines this
way, but in the long run, it is far better. Right now, several boats
a week are landing on the East Coast and the West Coast. About 60%
of the cargo space of these vessels, are loaded with grapes. When
the Chilean fruit export really began about 30 years ago, it took
about 21 days from harvest to the port of import here in the United
States. Today, with the speed of these vessels, they can make the
ocean trip from the port of export in Chile, Valparaiso, to the
United States from between 7 – 10 days. That means fresher
grapes. Peak of the season is now, with the best quality and the
best pricing. Chile, the land of llamas. David Selkirk survived
a shipwreck and lived for several years on a desert island off the
coast of Chile. Daniel Defoe heard of this story and inspired by
it, wrote the classic novel, “Robinson Crusoe.” This
country is like none other. Melting glaciers from the Andes send
icy rivers to the desert floor below, where they carve deep valleys
fortified by the nutrient-rich runoff. It’s a phenomenon unique
to Chile, and the fertile Copiapo Valley is one of the finest examples.
This valley is the first of Chile’s growing regions to harvest
and export fresh grapes each season. The region is divided into
to sections: the Upper Valley, located closer to the Andes, and
the Lower Valley, closer to the coast. Overall, the climate of the
Copiapo Valley is much like California’s Coachella Valley,
receiving very little rain during the brief winter, but the average
temperature difference between the Upper and Lower Valleys results
in harvest dates that are roughly 20 days apart. It is here where
growers are harvesting some very sweet Perlette and Red Flame Seedless
Grapes. There may be some “old crop” California grapes
still in the markets. You will notice that the berry size is large,
but the stems are quite brown and dried out. Actually, to have California
grapes in December is quite a testimony of the technology and ability
of the California farmer. Let’s get back to Chile, the 2,700-mile
long country, the long, thin country on the Pacific Coast of South
America. At its widest point, Chile is no more than 110 miles wide.
There are over 2,000 volcanoes in Chile, of which 50 are still active.
Chile’s agricultural region is like an island, isolated. Take
a close look at Chile in your World Atlas. In the north is Atacama,
the driest, most arid desert on the face of the planet. To the east,
the backbone of South America, the towering Andes Mountains. To
the west, the Pacific Ocean. In the south, Antarctica. These four
natural geographical barriers help prevent pesty insects and plant
diseases from reaching orchards and vineyards. In the past 16 years,
Chile has increased exports of fresh fruit to North America by 700%.
This year, Chile expects to export about one billion pounds of fruit
to North America, with about 2/3 of that being grapes. These early
grapes are from the Copiapo Valley, just south of the Atacama Desert,
and because of their great growing season so far, sugar content
is much higher than normal. Many Perlette and Red Flame Seedless
grapes are testing between 16 – 19% sugar, which is normal
levels for middle of the season grapes.
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| We celebrate Johnny Appleseed
Day… with Apples. |
APPLES (Friday, March 11): Today is Johnny Appleseed
Day. We honor missionary John Chapman, who traveled throughout the
Midwest preaching the gospel and planting apple orchards. He may
have helped spread the gospel of apples, but it took high technology
to keep those apples crisp. Have you heard of the term “CA?”
Yes, that is the official U.S. post office abbreviation for the
state of California. But when you talk apples, CA means “controlled
atmosphere.” It’s a way of storing the fruit long-term
that allows the fruit to stay sweet, juicy and crisp. There are
two main types of storage for apples, common storage and CA. Common
storage is simply refrigeration. It’s meant to store marginal
fruit for a short period of time. The best of the best fruit is
placed into longer storage, into controlled atmosphere. If left
simply in common storage, you end up with dehydration and shrivel.
Shrivel is caused by water loss from the produce during the storage
period. The greater the water loss the greater the reduction in
quality and value. A water loss of 2% of product weight can become
noticeable. The longer the storage period the greater the opportunity
for loss of water. Ancient Egyptians learned this secret by placing
fruit in limestone crypts. This meant higher humidity in storage.
CA storage got its start in England before World War II when farmers
discovered their produce kept longer if stored in an airtight room.
It was up to scientists to unravel the reasons for longer storage.
Apples take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide as starches in
the flesh change to sugar. In the sealed rooms, this respiratory
process reduced the oxygen, thus slowing the ripening process. Based
upon earlier discoveries in England, controlled atmosphere was finally
developed by Cornell
 |
Look
at the difference in storage life between the three types
of storage. By controlling nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide,
temperature and moisture, you can easily store apples
for up to 10 months. |
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University in the 1930s, and finally implemented in the apple industry
by the 1950s. It allows an apple to basically stop breathing. The
apple is put to sleep, so to speak. That’s why some people
in the industry call these controlled atmosphere apples, “sleeping
beauties.” These specially designed rooms not only keep apples
cold, but also control the "breathing" of apples, by controlling
the oxygen and nitrogen levels in the room. Different varieties
need different controlled atmosphere levels. Growers generally start
opening the CA rooms by late January. Apples from CA will be just
as crisp and juicy as when they were first put into the CA storage
right after harvest. Controlled atmosphere controls the oxygen,
carbon dioxide, moisture and temperature levels. This is why we
can enjoy crisp apples in the summer, 9 or 10 months after they
were harvested. But you must beware, also. You see, apples, which
come out of the controlled atmosphere rooms, will ripen 8 times
faster at room temperature. That means it is very important that
when you get your apples home from the store, get them in the refrigerator
immediately.
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