Thursday, November 29, 2007

IN MY KITCHEN


VEGETABLE IN RAINBOW



I LOVE Rainbow Chard

Who would have thought I would develop a love affair with a food I used to scrunch my nose at. But I've eaten the leafy veggie two nights in a row. The stems have an almost nutty taste. And all together it's so colorful and surprisingly hearty.



I'm CRAZY about this recipe!! I picked up the recipe from a lady on NPR, Molly Katz who wrote a book called "Vegetables I can't Live Without." Check out the link.



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16470219#16467977

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Enlightened moments reading Omnivore's Dilemna while flying over Iowa
How buying local, and from organic farms, will help wean us off of our dependence on petroleum.




On my flight back from Illinois, I began reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemna, something everyone needs to get their hands on and READ with the same zeal a famished person would seize upon a juicy lamb shank-- that was a corny metaphorm but while we're on the subject of CORN: the book was more meaningful to me in light of my week surrounded by corn fields.

If you look close you can see a patchwork quilt landscape of farms:



As I drove to the airport over the hilly roads of central Illinois, our car got stuck behind a slow-moving rig carrying a trailer that held white containers of nitrate fertilizer. Of course I knew that farmers used chemical fertilizers, but I didn't realize how tied to them farming has become. Seeing the containers of nitrate bobbing behind that truck, being transported to the cornfields alongside the highway gave me a better jumping off place as I sat on the plane and read The Omnivore's Dilemna, and specifically, the chapter that talked about how farming, which once ran on principals of ecology, now runs more on industrial expediencies.

The chapter I read talked about how ammonium nitrate that fertilizes those corn fields actually came from a surplus the government had of the stuff after World War II, (it is a main ingredient in making explosives.) Basically they discovered that since it's a great source of nitrogen for plants, they would use it to fertilize farmland. Obviously it was a was a boon for farming and allowed food to be produced much easier. Pollan talks about how it changed the basis of farming and it at this point, we've become dependent on it rather than solar energy.

Pollan writes: "The chemical fertilizer industry (along with that of pesticides which are based on poison gases developed from the war) is the product of the government's effort to convert its war machine to peacetime purposes."(Page 41, Pollan.)

"When human's acquired the power to fix nitrogen, the basis of soil fertility shifted from a total reliance on the energy of the sun to now reliance on fossil fuel." (Page 44)


"The ecology of the farm underwent a quiet revolution. What had once been a local, sun-driven cycle of fertility.... was now broken."


Pollan then begins to talk about how farms began to be operated on industrial concepts rather than having to follow biological constraints. "Fixing nitrogen allowed the food chain to turn from the logic of biology and embrace the logic of industry. Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum."(Pg 45.)

Including the natural gas required to run a farm now (in the fertilizer and with the gas it takes to run the machinery...) Polland estimates.. that every bushel of industrial corn requires between a quarter and a third of a gallon of oil to grow it, around 50 gallons of oil per acre of corn.

He points out the dangers of our dependence on fossil fuels required by our industrial corn farms, as well as other costs such as pollution from fertilizers that run off into ditches (in the Spring in Des Moines, when the run-off is the greatest, the community warns kids not to drink the water from the tap) And the costs of pollution washed down the Mississippi river into the Gulf of Mexico where it poisons the marine life... "the nitrate tide stimilates the wild growth of algae, and the algae smother the fish, creating a hypoxic: or dead zone as big as the state of New Jersey-- and still growing. By fertilizing the world, we alter the planet's composition of species and shrink its biodiversity."(Pg 47)


Image found: http://www.hessdesignworks.com/Corn.html

Is it possible that as a society, we need to return to traditional, organic farming to help solve our dependence on petroleum, not to mention the health crisis that as Americans we find ourselves in? Obesity being one, but also the litany of health problems and diseases that stem from being undernourished by "real" food (fresh fruits and veges that are allowed to ripen, that are clean and free of chemicals and other food sources grown and processed to retain optimum nutrients.) Not to mention food that still has a soul... was raised by a farmer or created by an artisan who cares as much about quality as she does about profit. We can't keep eating excessively from boxes, cans and relying on fast-food fixes to nourish us. Who wants to put their future health in the hands of the McDonald's food pyramid or mass-market farms that run on the industrial mantra of "faster, cheaper," rather than care about the health of its consumers. I don't blaim the farmers by any means. IN fact, if any of you are farmers.. I'd love to hear your perspective. I may be in left field here.

Polland writes about how corn subsidies created by the government to benefit the farmer, now keep corporations like Cargill and ADM rolling in the dough. These two corporations buy probably "near a third of the all the corn grown in America."

"These two companies now guide corn's path at every step of the way: they provide the pesticide and fertilizer to the farmers, operate most of America's grain elevators....broker and ship most of the exports, perform the wet and dry milling; feed the livestock and then slaughter the corn-fattened animals; distill the ethanol; and manufacture the high-fructose corn syrup and numberless other fractions derived from number 2 field corn. Oh, yes-- and help write many of the rules that govern this whle fame, for Cargill and ADM exert considerable influence over US agricultural policies. More even than the farmers who recieve the checks.... these companies are the true beneficiaries of the "farm" subsidies that keep the river of cheap corn flowing. Cargill is the biggest privately held corporation in the world."
(Pg 63)

http://www.cargill.com/


I did a little experiment on the "snack box" to see which contents contained CORN products. The box is the size and heft of a box of envelopes and is meant to feed me while in flight


I came up with three products containing CORN:

A bag of cookies and crackers both containing corn starch and my chicken salad in easy-open can contained high fructose corn syrup.

Thursday, November 08, 2007


FALL HARVEST



HELLO FROM CORN COUNTRY USA

I know, i know, you're thinking, how does Jenie manage to wind up in North central Illinios, of all places... somewhere in the middle of patchwork cornfields.

I'm driving around and see this cute little shack that says FARM MARKET (look at the flag, it will show you how windy it is.. there's constant wind here.)


And inside I meet Marion, wife of a corn farmer


who sells me some "ground berries," sweet potatoe squash


and some bad tasting tomatoes, lovely new potatoes, yummy apples and some purple berries with seeds that are labled "HUCKLEBERRIES"



CORN-FED HUCKLEBERRIES

A MIDWESTERNER'S version of Huckleberries, which tastes nothing like the kind I found in Idaho as a kid. Marion says they are bitter. She recommends i make a pie out of 'em with lemon juice, a cup of sugar and something to thicken. I'm going to try it tomorrow!!



THE PIE: I can't describe this thing... but it was delish, bright purple (almost artificial-looking because it was so colorful) and it tasted slightly of roses (really, an assessment other partakers of the pie agreed with.) A MUST-try if you can ever get your hands on the midwestern huckleberries. Would also be great in a cobbler!!


CHEESE DUTIES OF A WORKING MAN


I've been in a funk lately, but had a sneaking suspicious that spending time around artisan cheese makers would snap me out of it. So I made my way to the Beehive Cheese factory near Ogden Canyon to get romanced by curds. And thanks to BEEHIVE CHEESE and their cheese therapy, I'm on the MEND! Thanks co-owner Tim Welsh for inviting me! And please keep your melt-in-your mouth cheddar coming. These guys are a true family-run tender-loving-care operation. They dote on their cheeses (play opera when they stir the milk right before it seperates into whey and curd.) They love what they do and their cheese is becoming known far and wide... Murray's in New York selected Beehive's Barley Buzzed (rubbed in coffee and lavendar) as their cheese of the week.

lITTLE MISS MUFFET GOT OFF HER TUFFET AND WATCHED THE MAKING OF CURDS AND WHEY


photo courtesy of: http://www.alphabet-soup.net/goose/muffet.jpg

Check out: http://www.sltrib.com/food/ci_4094581

Excuse my pathetic cellphone photos.



Journey of the Squeaky Cheese.


STEPS OF CHEESE MAKING
After the milk is collected and heated, rennet and bacteria are added... we get this lovely custard-like mass of 500 gallons of milk.... It's soft as silk and smells good enough to eat!!

CHEESE CUD



CHEESE SCREEN


NO WHEY!



CUTTING THE CHEESE (no odorous smell involved.)


FLIPPING CHEESE BRICKS


CHEESE FLAB


SALTED CHEESE CHUNKS