Sow there! 8-3 Too hot to handle
Here we are.
Now is the pinnacle of the fruit and vegetable season. Most people who are semi-serious about gardening have way too many fruits and vegetables than their families can eat.
This week has been the prime of peaches. Sally at work brought in a big box of fuzzy fruit. Near the end of the work day I went over to the picked-over box and said I was going to take a giant bag of them home unless anyone had concerns.
Roger chirped up and said that I should go easy, because he wanted to bring several home to his wife, who, like me, has been having fun coming up with recipes for which to use available fruit. (See crabapple recipe above.
As Roger was defending his territorial right to some peaches, Sally perked up and said we shouldn't worry. She has a tree full of peaches at home. Now that she knows her coworkers are interested, she will bring another big batch, she promised.
The problem is, there's so much bounty right now, my freezer is getting filled.
It's about now that people become creative about cooking with garden vegetables and fruit. Zucchini is a prolific producer and about this time of year, many people are sick of adding zucchini to each and every recipe. One can only eat so many zucchini squash or make so much zucchini bread.
Roger joked that people should analyze their ability to make friends if they find themselves mid summer buying zucchini from the grocery store.
Inspired by Sally’s generosity, I brought in a big bag of jalapeño peppers.
We only have four plants jalapeño plants in the garden. Over weeks, we delighted as they flowered, and later started to grow the leathery green peppers.
I've made salsa and spaghetti sauce spiked with jalps. But the peppers are so hot that only one or two are needed for each recipe.
That meant more to share. Right?
My bag of peppers just sat there on the desk at work where various reporters and (sometimes) editors bring treats to share. After a while, they started to ripen and turn red.
I understand that not everyone enjoys eating the type of peppers that secrete oil that makes your hands feel like you’ve scalded them on a tea pot. Likewise, not everyone’s pallet can handle eating them without developing tears and a runny nose. (See blog entry about heat content of peppers).
However, maybe folks would eat more and become accustomed to jalapeños if they realized that hot peppers provide the chemical capsaicin, which stimulates the nervous system and produces endorphins. The effects can last for hours and some folks even become addicted to peppers.
This week I attended a rather groovy event organized by Jeremy Miller. On Wednesdays, Jeremy organizes a garden swap event where people bring their excess vegetables to share with one another.
The vegetables were splayed out on a table including several varieties of tomatoes, squash, onions, herbs, eggplant, plums, peaches, and others I might not be remembering right now.
Walking up to the share table, I was giddy, much like it might be like for someone with a shoe fetish to visit Saks Fifth Avenue.
Nibble event
Don’t miss this one
A tomato taste-off is planed Saturday from 3-6 p.m. at the Chico Community Environmental Gardens, behind Costco.
Forty varieties of tomatoes will be available to sample. The event is free, but donations are happily accepted.
This is the kind of event put on every year by folks like the editors of Sunset Magazine. So while you’re gnoshing on Chico-grown tomatoes you can feel smug about how you don’t need to face traffic to indulge in high culture.
The event is on Silver Dollar Way, off Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
Jeremy plans to send out e-mail posts to let people know where the event occurs each week. To add your name to the list, drop him a line at jeremy@jeremymiller.org.
The gardeners are also on the prowl for people to host the events in the future, so drop Jeremy a line if you’re willing.
While at the event, I brought up my growing issue with the excess of jalapeños to one of the nice women who was sharing veggies. She suggested pickling them.
Here’s a simple recipe I found online. I also hunted down several other jalp recipes. (See more above).
SIMPLE JALAPENO PICKLING RECIPE
(http://www.jalapenomadness.com)
1 pound jalapeño peppers, quartered
1 pound sliced carrots
clove garlic, chopped
1/8 cup salt
1/8 cup pepper
1/8 cup white pepper (optional)
2 cups white vinegar
Dash of your favorite hot sauce
Bring the white vinegar to a boil in a small pot.
Add the sliced carrots, boil 10 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 10 minutes.
Remove from heat. Pour Contents into a jar, screw on jar lid, and let cool.
Refrigerate.
Don’t miss this one
A tomato taste-off is planed Saturday from 3-6 p.m. at the Chico Community Environmental Gardens, behind Costco.
Forty varieties of tomatoes will be available to sample. The event is free, but donations are happily accepted.
This is the kind of event put on every year by folks like the editors of Sunset Magazine. So while you’re gnoshing on Chico-grown tomatoes you can feel smug about how you don’t need to face traffic to indulge in high culture.
The event is on Silver Dollar Way, off Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.