What do you like to make with Beets?

The other day, a friend told me that she had received a couple of beets from the All Peoples garden. She had eaten store-bought, canned beets before, but had never eaten a fresh beet in her whole life. She wanted to know how to cook it. So, let's talk about beets!

Photo credit:  Culinary Hill

Beet Basics

Beets have three basic parts:  the leaves, the stems and the bulb or root. Beets come in different colors, usually described as golden beets or red beets. When we think about eating beets, we usually think about the big round root bulb, but we can actually eat all of these parts of the beet plant.

Beet leaves are great for using in salad, if they are small and tender. Use a scissors or a knife to cut them from the beet stems, and be sure to wash the leaves well. Bigger leaves can be cooked in the same way that you might cook Swiss chard or collard greens.

The stems are also edible, and can be used in the same way that you might use celery. The bigger ones can be tough and stringy, so those might be better off in the compost pile than on your dinner plate.

The beet root itself might be big, might or might be small. The bigger the beet, the tougher it might be. If you want to eat the beet raw, you need to wash it really well, peel it with a potato peeler and then grate it.  There are many recipes online for grated beet salad. Most recipes call for cooked beets. If you have big beets, it is best to cook them.

If you are going to cook your beets, or use them in a recipe such as pickled beets, the easiest way to remove the peel is to boil the beets. Use a scissors or knife to cut the stems, leaving just a little bit of each stem still on the beet. Wash the beets really well, and put them in a pot. Cover them with water and set them on the stove to boil until they are tender enough to stick a fork in them. Do not boil them until they are mushy. You can save that beet water to use for soup stock or as the liquid to make pink tortillas or bread or muffins. Let the beets cool a bit. Stick a fork into the end with the stem bits and gently use a paring knife to slip the skins off toward the fork. Lastly, set the beet down and cut off the stem end, like you would an onion.

The cooked, peeled beets are then ready to eat. You can eat them warm or make a beet salad or use them in a recipe. When I was growing up, we picked beets and ate them several times each week, usually warm with a little butter on them (which I personally DO NOT like). My grandmothers always canned jars and jars of pickled beets every summer (which I personally LOVE). If I have beets, I usually make beet salad with goat cheese or I make pickled beets.

This year, I was looking through my grandma's cookbooks and found a recipe for Beet Relish, submitted to a community cookbook in 1923. I decided to give it a try, and I am very glad I did!

Beet Relish Recipe

This is the original recipe as it appears in the cookbook.

I put my cooked, peeled beets into my food processor.  I scooped one cup
of ground beets into a measuring cup, and estimated I had 1 1/2 cups total.
This is where fraction math comes in handy!  1 1/2 cups, or 3/2 cups is 3/4 of
the original recipe.  Multiply each ingredient by 3/4 to make the adjustment.
If you need help with that, be sure to contact Miss Linda for  math lesson
at Peeps Academy!

This is what the beet relish looked like once I added all of the other
ingredients.  

I like to store relish and pesto in small canning jars. Because there
is butter in this recipe, the relish cannot be canned in sealed jars for storing
in the pantry. Instead, it is best stored in the freezer.

It is important to label your homemade items so you are sure to use the
oldest things first. 

Are you curious about this?  Do you see my frozen saved beet water?
This is the collection of stuff I saved from one week of harvesting, freezing,
canning and cooking. The celery water and beet water melt down with the
vegetable scraps to make a nice vegetable stock, which I cooked, strained and froze for soup.

What kinds of things do you like to make with beets? Maybe you can try out a new recipe and post a photo in the comments.

Note:  Beets are very good for you and if you eat a bunch of the red ones, yes, your pee will turn pink.

Submitted by Linda Muth

Kohlrabi - It looks like an Alien

If you grew up in Wisconsin, you probably grew up eating raw kohlrabi.  In my home, we had kohlrabi slices next to our sandwiches instead of potato chips (and as kids, we were not too happy about that).

Yet, if you grew up with this vegetable and you have not had it for a while, you might find a taste of it will bring back fond memories.  It does make a great snack, and the new juicier, tender varieties taste better than you will remember.

Kohlrabi (pronounce it like coal-robby) is in the family of vegetables that includes turnips, rutabaga, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower.   These vegetables mostly were grown in Europe and then later brought to the Americas.  Kohlrabi is popular in the US with families of German heritage.  Even the name is German:  Khol for cabbage and Rabi for turnip.  

Wisconsin's cooler climate is very similar to the climate in Germany, and kohlrabi grows really well here.  The plant looks pretty weird as it grows.  The leaves are light green, and are good to cook and eat just like you would cook collard greens or kale.  The bulb part grows above the soil, and is actually part of the stem.  It can be white-ish, light green and even purple.  No matter the color of the stems or the bulb on the outside, the inside of the kohlrabi bulb is bright white.  

Small kohlrabi bulb growing in the All Peoples
Darius Simmons Community Garden

If you are growing kohlrabi, don't let it get too big!  Most varieties of kohrabi get tough or "woody" (hard to chew, like if you were trying to chew wood) if the bulb gets too big.  When the bulb is about the size of a baseball, it is just right for picking.  A softball size kohlrabi will be too big and tough to eat.

When it is ready, you can harvest the kohlrabi by picking the plant right up out of the soil.  Cut off the leaves and wash them.  Cut them up and prepare them just like you would any kind of green.

The top of the kohlrabi bulb

The bottom or root side of the kohlrabi bulb

The bulb is prepared by peeling it.  Like rutabaga, kohlrabi has a waxy outside skin and an inner tough skin.  You need peel off the skin in order to eat kohlrabi raw or to cook it.  

Cut a thin slice to cut the top off

The root side can be tough, find the place
where it is tender and cut it off

Inside, the flesh is white and juicy

Use a sharp knife to carefully peel away the waxy outer
and green inner skin. 

Once the kohlrabi is peeled, you can cut it up however you like.

Raw kohlrabi is good to eat in slices, chopped or shredded on salads.  It is also a good vegetable to serve with dip or hummus.  

Thin slices or strips of kohlrabi are very good as a substitute for bamboo shoots in Chinese dishes or as a nice crunchy addition to any stir fry.

So if you come on over to the All Peoples garden and you see these weird green or purple balls with leaves growing out of them, you have found the kohlrabi.  They do look a little bit like garden aliens.  Usually kohlrabi are ready to harvest in early to mid-July.  Maybe you will get lucky and can find some freshly harvested kohlrabi on the garden stand so you can take it home and try it.

Make Chive Pesto While the Sun Shines

This is the time of year when there are chives, chives and more chives!  

When I was a little girl, my mom would always say, "You gotta make hay while the sun shines."  Maybe some of you have heard that phrase.  Even if you haven't, you get the idea: it is best to complete a task or harvest your crop while you can, before time runs out and the moment to harvest or complete the task passes.

Well, we are not talking about hay.  We are talking about chives! 

 

Chive patch beside the All Peoples Greenhouse

As summer progresses and it gets hotter outside, the chive flowers dry up and the chive leaves sometimes get a little tough or even turn brown.  So, in June, while we have nice, fresh, juicy green chives in abundance, it is good to DO something with them.  Then we can enjoy them all year around.

We already learned how to make chive flower vinegar in a previous chive story.  Let's see what else we can do with chives!

Did you know you can freeze chives?  Cut small bunches from your plant with scissors.  Sort and wash the chives with cold water. Dry them with a clean dish towel.  

After you cut your chives from the plants, spread them
out on your counter and pick out any brown ones.  You can 
use a scissors to cut any brown tips off of otherwise
perfectly good green chives.

Wash the chives really well, then dry them with a towel.

Cut the clean, dry chives into small pieces and freeze them.  I wrap little packets of them in wax paper and store them in a container in my freezer.  Then, in the winter, when I want to make baked potato soup or a stew, I can pull out a little chive packet and dump the frozen chives right in.

Little frozen chive packets

When I harvested my chives the other day, I accidentally cut a few of the flower stems too.  That's OK.  Those stems are not good to eat, but you can set them aside while the flowers dry.  Then carefully turn the flowers upside down over a bowl to catch the chive seeds.  You can save those seeds to plant chives in a new location next year or to share with a friend!  Chive plants are perennial, and should come back year after year if you take good care of them.

These chive flowers are already too dry to eat.

One tasty treat you can make with green chives is pesto!  Pesto is basically a paste, made from ground up herbs, that you can use to spread on crackers or toast or as a sauce with pasta.  To make chive pesto you need a lot of chives.  Start with a small and simple recipe.

1/2 cup freshly grated cheese (Parmesan, Romano or a hard cheddar - just not a gooey cheese)

2 cups chopped chives (wash them, dry them, cut them into pieces about 1/2 inch long)

1 ounce chopped almonds (use a small handful of whole ones and chop them up)

1 small clove of garlic (chop it into a couple of chunks)

1/8 c olive oil

You really need a food processor or maybe a blender to do this.  In a processor, just use the regular knife blade.  (If you are a kid reading this, be sure to have a grown-up do the things which involve sharp tools like the processor and the knife.)

Shred/grate the cheese right in the processor.  Add the chives, almonds and garlic.  Process until it is all chopped up.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the small opening as the processor is running.  You should get a pretty smooth pesto, but a little chunky is OK too.  Add salt and pepper until it tastes good to you.  

Chop the chives

It should look like this when it is ready.
See the little canning jar?  Any little clean jar
or airtight container is fine for freezing pesto.

Scoop 1/3 of the pesto into a small canning jar, and 1/3 of it into another jar. Push the pesto into the jar with a spoon and smooth the top. Pour just a touch of olive oil over the pesto and pick up the jar to swirl it over the surface.  This helps to keep your pesto green.  Put on the lids on and screw them tight and freeze.

With the 1/3 of the fresh pesto that you have left you can make yummy chive pesto pasta.  Boil some noodles in salted water.  When they are done (not mushy), drain the water and pour a bit of olive oil over them.  Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Add the pesto and stir over very low heat (especially if your pesto was in the fridge for a bit) until the noodles are covered.  Add a little salt if needed.

Sprinkle a few sunflower nuts or other seeds over
your pasta to give it a little crunch.

You can experiment with making pesto using different herbs and different kinds of nuts.  This was the first year I tried making chive pesto, and I think it is one of the best kinds!  

So, have fun making Chive Pesto while the sun shines!

Submitted by Linda.  

Students in the Kids Working to Succeed program are encouraged to try this and other recipes at home.

Chives, chives, chives!

I grew up in Wisconsin and lived pretty close to Underwood Creek, back when it was still a natural creek (or crick, as we would say).  One of my memories of springtime is the taste of wild chives.  We used to walk in the woods along that creek looking for crayfish and would munch on chives for a snack.

Maybe that was a little weird for a kid, but how many of us as adults love our sour cream and chives on baked potatoes?  You know what I am talking about.  Yum!

One of the chive pots on my front porch. This is a sister plant
to the ones that grow along the All Peoples Greenhouse.

Springtime is chive time.  Specifically, springtime is the time when chives bloom.  Different varieties of chive plants produce flowers from pale pink (almost white), to deep purple, to dusky blue (if you are growing garlic chives).  Leaves can vary in color from lime green to forest green, some are rounder and some more flat.  A fun thing to do with kids or adults is a taste test - pick a chive leaf from each different plant and see if you can taste any difference as you munch on the different leaves.

Most of the time, chive harvesting is done by cutting the leaves off of the plant with a scissors.  Cut them in bunches, leaving about an inch of leaf left at the base.  Wash and dry them, then snip away over your salads, soups and baked potatoes.  Chives are best when harvested right before you use them, and you can cut them all summer long. 

However, in early June, while it is in full bloom, before the plant produces little black seeds between the flower petals, the chive flower is delicious to eat!  The chive flower sits atop a stalk that is coarse and not good for snipping. We have all probably gotten that tough flower stem stuck in the scissors while trying to cut the leaves.  Harvest the flower by plucking the head off of the stem. Let the stem remain part of the plant and dry.  Gather a few fresh flowers in the morning to wash and break apart over your salad or sandwich.  If you aren't sure what the taste is like, sample one little bloom from the compound flower head.  Enjoy it's delightful crunch and burst of sweet, onion flavor.

To keep your chive plants healthy, leave some flowers on the plant and let them go to seed.  Most mature plants produce more flowers than are needed for seed or that can be used for salads.  Another fun thing to do with chive flowers is to make chive-infused vinegar.

Pop your clean chive flowers into small glass bottles or jars.  You can experiment
with the number of flowers needed for the flavor strength that you like.
I usually use 3 flowers for each small bottle.

My chive flowers are huge.  I try to pick smaller ones, and close them up
a bit to push them, stem first, into the bottles.  I use a chop stick to get them in there.
Don't worry if a few small pieces fall off.  I just toss them in with the flowers.

Use a funnel and carefully add distilled, white vinegar
to each bottle.  The flowers will float up a bit.  I bought bottles
with the nifty plastic tops that snap on for easy drizzles onto
salads and such, but you can use whatever bottles you have.
If you use recycled bottles (with or without the plastic toppers)
be sure to wash them super well so they don't have residual smells.

Screw the lids on tightly and set your vinegar in a cool,
dark place, like a cupboard.  After one day, you will already
see a change! Store in a cupboard, away from sunlight to retain
the pink color.  The chive flavor will grow stronger as it sits,
and after about 2 weeks it is ready to use. You can keep it for 2 years.

During the summer, you can freeze little bundles of snipped up chives to pop into your winter soups and stews.  The dry flower stalk is sturdy, and you can use it as a natural skewer.  I leave all the dead growth on my plants over the winter to protect them.  In the spring, before the leaves begin to sprout again, I remove most of the dead stuff and add it as a brown ingredient to my compost.  

What are your favorite things to do with chives?  Tell your stories and share your photos in the comments!

Submitted by Linda Muth

Rhubarb Special Sauce

submitted by Linda Muth

When you think of "special sauce" in Wisconsin, you think about that tasty stuff at the condiment station at Miller Park - you know - the stuff you squeeze onto your brat or Italian sausage.

The suggestion that you might want to replace THAT special sauce with a rhubarb-based product might seem way out in left field, but seriously, once you make this stuff, you will not only squeeze it out over your sausages, but will find yourself licking it up by the spoonful.

This recipe is based off of a similar recipe featured in the summer 2016 issue of "Graze" - the magazine put out by Outpost Foods.  My version is a result of not having the exact ingredients suggested in the Outpost recipe, and because I always like to mix things up a bit.

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups of sliced rhubarb (1/4 to 1/2 inch slices)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (or whatever kind you have)
5 cardamom pods*
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated fresh ginger**
1/2 cup lavender vinegar (or any fragrant floral or fruity vinegar)
1/8 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or toss in part of a chopped up pepper or roasted pepper - not too spicy)
1/2 tsp paprika
3 Tbsp honey

*You could try substituting 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom
**I keep a chunk of ginger in the freezer, but you could substitute 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Dump everything into a pot.  Simmer and stir frequently for about 40 minutes until the rhubarb is soft.  Find the cardamom pod shells and remove them.  Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.  Place into prepared canning jars and process the jars using a hot water bath, boiling for 8 minutes.  Carefully remove the jars and place them on a towel and listen for the lids to pop.  Do not disturb them for 12-24 hours.

Got Cilantro?

Reposted from Linda's El Salvador Blog

For anyone who grows cilantro or buys cilantro, you know that it is a short-lived crop and does not keep very well in the fridge or on the counter.  So, when you have a batch, it's important to find good ways to use it. It's also important to wash it well by grabbing the bundle by the stems and swirling the leaves in a bowl full of water.  Repeat this step if your bundle is pretty dirty.  Then remove any slimy stems or leaves.


One of my favorite things to make with cilantro, whether in El Salvador or the US, is chirmol.  It's easy, it's tasty, it's healthy and it goes with everything.

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes, chopped small
1/2 medium onion, chopped small
Juice of 1 large lime
Chopped cilantro to taste
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Mix up all the ingredients and let it sit for a bit, then enjoy!  You can keep it in a sealed container in the fridge for a week.



No matter how big a batch of chirmol you make, you will no doubt have leftover cilantro.  A good way to keep it is to let it dry.  You can dry it with the stems on or off.  I do it on the kitchen counter on a clean cloth and cover it with a second clean cloth.  In El Salvador during the rainy season, it takes a while to dry.  Once the leaves are crispy, remove them from the stems and put them into a recycled spice jar. I prefer to crush mine right before use.

Dried cilantro is great in chicken soup, beans, rice, salad dressings ... any number of things.

Submitted by Linda Muth


Flor de jamaica - Rosa de jamaica - Te de jamaica - Frozen de jamaica...

Jamaica (pronounced huh-my-kuh) means "hibiscus,"


However it is written on the menu, I order it.  Hot. Cold. Frozen.  You can order it by the pitcher at Pizza Hut and Pollo Campero.  At fancy restaurants it is served in big goblets, and with its deep red color you might mistake it for a glass of robust burgundy. 


You can buy jamaica at the Super - crushed in tea bags or as whole dried flowers in big plastic bags.  You can often find the dried flowers in small markets and artisan shops.  I almost always have a pitcher of it in my fridge. 


Nutritionally speaking, hibiscus tea contains important vitamins and minerals (A, B1, C, E and iron).  Salvadoran grandmothers will tell you it is good for your kidneys, digestion, your liver and helps to lower your blood pressure.  These are important health benefits, but I drink it because I like it.  I recently added a new twist to my hibiscus tea after I made boiled plantains.  I think my grandma would be very proud of me for this excellent use of resources. In the US, Rosa or Flor de Jamaica is available at markets that feature foods from Latina cultures.  Many supermarkets also carry the flowers or tea bags.


Boiled Plantains with CinnamonFill a pot with water, enough so your plantains, once cut, can swim around freely. Add one large or two small sticks of cinnamon.Bring water to a boil.Peel and cut 1-3 large plantains cross-ways into chunks about 1 1/2" long.Drop the plantain chunks into the water.  Boil until very tender, but not so long that they lose their shape.Scoop the plantains out of the water, and enjoy eating them!  Sprinkle a touch of brown sugar or raw sugar over them if they are not sweet enough for your taste.Save the water, and let it cool.

Hibiscus TeaPlace about 1 cup (2 handfuls) rosas de jamaica (hibiscus roses/hibiscus flowers) in a glass jar that has a tight-fitting lid (1.5 liters)  Add a few extra if your jar is bigger.(To make this with tea bags, toss about 8-10 tea bags into the jar, depending on the size.)Pour the cooled plantain liquid with cinnamon into the jar.Add water until the jar is full.  Put on the lid.


Set the jar out in a sunny spot.  (I put mine out in the morning before I head out for the day, and take it in at night when I get back.  A couple of hours in the sun should be sufficient - in El Salvador, anyway.)

I usually enjoy my first cup warm.  If the tea seems too tart for your taste, add sugar to the whole batch while it is warm.  I do not add any extra sugar to mine.




You can strain the tea, but I find it easier just to dump the tea, flowers and cinnamon all into a plastic pitcher that has a lid with a little strainer, and just pop the whole thing into the fridge.

Chill.  The tea keeps fine for a week, probably longer, but I always drink it up in a few days.

Enjoy!  

Savory French Toast

Savory French Toast
or What to Do with a Few Yucky Tomatoes...

Submitted by Linda Muth

We have all been there - harvesting in the garden and plucking a couple of big, red, seemingly beautiful tomatoes off the vine, only to discover that the bottom half is rotten or the top is cracked and oozy.  In the spirit of "no food goes to waste" you take these ugly tomatoes home.

My general feeling is that tomatoes with blossom end rot, tomatoes which are cracked and red on one side and green on the other, tomatoes which have endured bird pecking or insect nibbling, are a secret bounty.  Wash them.  Cut off all of the offensive parts, including hard cores, slimy cracks, bite holes and brown rotten spots, and toss the good parts into a sauce pan.  Now you are ready to make all kinds of wonderful things like sauce, salsa, preserves...

Yet, if you only end up with a small amount of good tomato stuff in your pot, you might not have the quantity or motivation to create a big tomato recipe or get out the canning jars.  This is where I found myself a few days ago...in the kitchen with a small pot of tomatoes and no idea...until...I thought of French Toast!  Why not?

Step 1
Prepare ugly tomatoes by washing them and cutting off all of the offensive parts.  Cut the remaining chunks into 1/2" to 1" pieces over a sauce pan so you can catch all of the juices. For about 2 cups of tomato chunks, add:
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 medium yellow or white onion (or whatever leftover onion chunks are in your fridge), chopped
Herbs (dried or fresh) such as basil, lemon basil, lemon mint, parsley
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
Add all ingredients to taste - measuring is not important.
Stew the tomato sauce over medium heat, until it thickens up a bit.

Step 2
While the tomatoes are cooling, beat 2-3 eggs in a shallow dish.  Prepare the rest of your breakfast foods and get your griddle ready. Add about half of the tomato mixture to your eggs.  Start by spooning some of the tomato juice in and then add some of the chunkier parts.  Do this slowly so that your eggs do not cook from the warm tomatoes.

Step 3
Soak pieces of bread in the egg and tomato mixture.  Mop up some of the chunky parts and place soaked bread onto the griddle (I set mine at 350 degrees).  Be sure to cook it all the way through.

Sprinkle freshly grates Parmesan or Romano cheese over the top, or use any grated cheese you might have on hand.

Serve it up with a little extra tomato sauce (in place of syrup) and garnish with garlic chives or any herbs you might have.  If you are a meat-eater, bacon goes super well with this!

What do you do with a few yucky tomatoes?  Send us your favorite recipes which use the gleanings of your gardens!