The Mustard in Your Life

When I say “mustard” what do you think of, the greens we eat in the fall or the yellow stuff some of us put on hot dogs? Well, today we are going to talk about mustard the condiment.

There are three colors of mustard seeds: black, brown and white. The most recognizable is made with white seeds mixed with salt, spices and vinegar. Turmeric is added to create the bright yellow color. This is a pure American style created by George T. French and is called “ballpark mustard” by many.

France gave us Dijon mustard. This was the first mustard to be regulated. It is made in Dijon, France and uses brown and black seeds, seasonings and verjuice (the juice of unripe grapes). White wine or wine vinegar or a combination may be used in place of the verjus. True Dijon mustard is made in Dijon, France. Any others should be labeled Dijon-style. We are probably must familiar with the Grey Poupon lable. It was created in France by Maurice Grey and Auguste Poupon, but through a series mergers and sales it is now produced by Kraft Foods. Do you remember the commercial with the Rolls Royces and the passengers passing mustard across?

Another distinct style is Creole mustard. It is put out by several companies has a darker color with a hint of horseradish. The brown seeds are marinated in vinegar then ground to become a hot spicy mustard.

Several countries have their own distinctive mustards for their style of food. German mustard is mild to hot, spicy and mildly sweet. It can be pale yellow to brown and smooth to course ground. Just think of a fat sausage on a good bun with sauerkraut and that spicy mustard (maybe throw in a cold beer for good measure).

English mustard is made from all colors of seeds with a little flour, and turmeric. It is usually bright yellow and extremely hot to the tongue.

Chinese mustard is served as dipping sauce and not a spread. It can be made at home. If you prepare it at home let it rest for 15 minutes to allow flavors to develop, but no longer than an hour before serving. 

There is a wonderful story of a Franciscan friar who helped found the California missions. Father Junipero Serra (1713-1784) brought mustard seeds with him and scattered the seeds as he explored the area and charted for further development. The seeds took root and created a “ribbon of gold” for others to follow. These blooms reappear annually and have become a reminder of the ties California has the Spanish Missions. Each year, in the Napa valley from early February through late March they have the Napa Valley Mustard Festival. The grape vines are at rest and the wild mustard comes up between the rows of grape vines. Check any Napa Valley web site for dates, activities and photos. On the Grey Poupon jar you will see a medallion stating that it was a winner at the Napa Mustard Festival.

TIP: If your recipe calls for dry mustard and you only have prepared mustard, here is the formula to substitute prepared for dry. For one teaspoon of dry mustard use one tablespoon of prepared mustard and vice versa for the other way around. If you are substituting dry for prepared you may need additional moisture in you dish. Just add one teaspoon of water for each teaspoon of dried mustard.   

If you have questions or just want to chat I can be reach at PatsChat@livingston.net

Back to your Roots

We are going underground to talk about what we pull up to eat. Some are very familiar and others need more explanation.

     Potatoes come to mind first, technically it is a tuber, but we will consider it part of the root vegetable family. Our grocers offer us many varieties of potatoes. Choose wisely, no hack marks or bad spots. Store in a cool, dark place (use a brown paper bag and leave on counter).  Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator. This will cause the starches to turn to sugar.

If the potato starts to turn green in spots trim this away before using it. Potatoes are part of the nightshade family and could be poisonous if allowed to develop too much of the green skin. The sweet potato is also a tuberous root and should be stored the same as regular potatoes.

      Rutabagas, (also known as swedes or Swedish turnips, are a cross between a turnip and cabbage) are high in vitamin C and low in sodium like carrots. They should be stored like potatoes in a cool, dark place.

     I like to call turnips and beets my two-fers. These plants give us both a root vegetable and a green to eat. You get two for the price of one, and sometimes you eat the turnips and greens all together.

     Carrots, beets and sweet potatoes are the big winners for health.  They are dark colored vegetables that bring us many nutriments that are valuable to our overall well-being. Take time to explore these vegetables and put them on your table more often. The fall season is when most of them are at their best.

     The vegetables I have discussed are the most commonly found in our local grocery stores, but there are many others worldwide. Numerous cultures have found ways to utilize native plants for centuries, supplementing their food supply when moving into new lands with the plants they encounterd. With modern transportation and refrigeration, things grown around the world are now found much closer to home. The next time you are in a large grocery store and find something new that you are not familiar with ask the produce manager. Sometimes there are recipes attached. Who would know better that the company growing it?

     Here is a simple way to roast various root vegetables: Start with 2 lbs. of assorted root vegetables, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets or rutabagas. Peel vegetables, if desired, and cut into one inch pieces. Peel and cut a medium onion and cut into 1/3-inch wedges. Take one whole pod of garlic, peel and separate into cloves. Prepare a baking sheet pan with a foil liner (for easy clean-up). Toss the cut up vegetables in a bowl with olive oil and lift by hand into the prepared pan. This allows any extra oil to drain through your fingers. Now put the onion and garlic in the remaining oil, and hold for later.

Spread the vegetables on the baking sheet and arrange in a single layer. This allows for more even browning. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. Stir vegetables and add the onion and garlic. (I like to add the onion at this point because they tend to burn if cooked the whole time.) Toss again and bake 15 minutes longer. Test vegetables and continue to toss and bake till tender and brown. Remove from the oven and immediately re-season with salt and some fresh chopped herbs, such as rosemary. For extra flavor, sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately.

     If you would like to share a food or household tip I can be reached at PatsChat @livingston.net. 

Apples For You Table

From the time the first woman said “honey, take a bite of this” the love of apples was born. The apple is another one of those very versatile foods that can go from breakfast to dessert. It comes in its own wrapper and does not need to be refrigerated.

It’s long been said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I am not sure about that, but I am willing to try.

We are blessed with many varieties of apples. At last count 7,500 varieties are grown worldwide, but only 2,500 grow in the U.S. A mere 100 varieties are grown commercially. Apples are grown in 36 states, but only six are major producers of orchard or table apples: Washington, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Apples are divided into two categories, those for cooking and those for eating raw. They are pretty much interchangeable. Cooking apples just hold up better to being cooked or used in certain dishes. Apples recommended for cooking include the Cortland a tart crisp, Granny Smith, Rome Beauty and Jonagold, a tangy-sweet apple with a yellow top and red bottom. The most common apples for eating raw are Delicious, Empire, Jonathan, McIntosh and Winesap. I recently enjoyed a Jazz apple that was wonderful. These are a little harder to find so look in some of the specialty grocery stores.

Start with breakfast. Think about apple pancakes, apple muffins and, best of all, apple strudel. Of course, there is also apple juice. I have recently discovered apple syrup. What a way to start the day!

For lunch we find apples in everything from salads to mixed fruit cups to a few slices on the side. Or, as a stand-alone entrée in our lunch box.

At dinner or supper (depending on which part of the country you come from), you find apples again as a side dish or cooked with meat. They especially go well with pork or poultry. Dessert is where apples get to shine the most. Apple pie is probably the most famous of all apple dishes. We dress it up from time to time with ice cream, cheese (my mother’s favorite, a holdover from her childhood in West Virginia) or with a caramel topping. But most of all we love apple pie warm from the oven.

Fall is the time of the year when apples are at their best. I had the privilege of driving through upstate New York one year during apples season and you could smell apples in the air. The roadside stands were everywhere. It was a real treat to see apples on the tree. I have heard about some apple production in Texas, but I don’t know of a single person who owns a producing tree.

Apples give us Vitamin A and C, Calcium and Iron and, of course that all important fiber everyone talks about. You don’t have to peel, just wash it before eating. When buying apples, examine each one for bruises and bad spots. Remember you can choose the very best available for your family if you will only take the time. When you get home, wash them and put them in a bowl for a nice touch-of-fall arrangement until ready to use. Add a few nuts for an added accent.

A great way to enjoy apples as a snack is just sliced on a small tray with a few pieces of sharp cheese and a glass of wine if you choose. There are no rules for red or white wine, just select the freshest apples to add to your tray. Mix red and green apples for color appeal.

There are lots of recipes for apple pie out there. I am going to give you one favorite go-to desserts. This is a quickie, mostly homemade one. Buy a frozen crust (I never thought I would say that), use a can of your favorite pie apples and season to your personal taste. Pour into the unbaked crust and cover with the following topping. I call this the Half Cup Crust. Blend together 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/2 C oats, 1/2 C soften butter, 1/2 C chopped pecans (optional), and 2 tsp. Cinnamon. Mix together with your fingers and sprinkle evenly over pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until brown and bubbly.

Apple Notes: Apples float because 25percent of their volume is air. Delicious apples are the mostly widely grown variety grown in the United States. Sir Isaac Newton was said to have recognized the law of gravity after an apple fell from a tree he was sitting under and hit him on his head.

If you have cooking or household tips you would like to share, I can be reached at PatsChat@livingston.net  

Second Chance Gardening

It’s September, yes it is finally here. This is called the second season for gardening in our area. Many fall vegetables have better flavor.  Now is the time to get your planting area ready. Clean up your garden plot or containers and get ready so when plants become available all you have to do is pop them in the ground. Don’t fight Mother Nature. Go for the traditional fall or cooler weather plants. 

     If you are short on gardening space think about vertical gardening. A trellis or poles can carry a small load of vines. If you have access to bamboo, these poles tied together in tee-pee fashion work wonderfully.  Hope you remember some of those Scout knots that come in handy for a project like this.

     If you use containers for a small kitchen garden add compost, if you have it.Continuous watering leaches out nutrients and containers need replenishment. Of course all garden plots need enrichment on a regular basis for best results. For larger areas cover the ground with layers of wet newspaper to retard weed growth until planting time. Keep paper wet.

     As soon as plants are available buy what you want and transplant then out of the small nursery containers into 1-3 gallon containers. Use potting soil and a slow release fertilizer, and then set in a sunny spot. Every time you water use a water-soluble fertilizer solution. You will soon have nice healthy plants to set out. 

     Tomatoes are always a big thing around my area.  The recommended ones for fall are Merced, Bingo, Celebrity, Whirlaway and Carnival. I have had good luck with leafy lettuce and vegetables. Try Swiss Chard, Collards, Kale, Mustard and Spinach. Also, Parsley does well in the cooler weather. I am going to try English peas this year. 

     Spinach, Turnips Collards and other strong-leaf greens benefit from a frost and can be grown from seed. Small bush beans and snap pole beans also can be planted from seed, but need to be put in the ground soon. If you plant in containers or raised beds make a “V” indention in the soil, water good in the trough and lay in seeds. Cover with soil and lay a wet feed sack or burlap bag over it until the seeds germinate. This will keep the soil from crusting over and preventing the young seedlings from pushing through.

     Herbs took a real hit this summer, as did everything else. Look over what survived and as plants become available fill in on what you like to keep close at hand. All nursery people are short in stock now, but will soon be getting fresh plants from their suppliers.

From time to time, I have tried to pass on tips I hope some of you will find useful. This tip came from one of my readers:

Bananas have always been a problem for the household cook. They just get ripe too quick. How many bananas have you thrown away because you left them on the cabinet a day or two too long. The next time you buy bananas, choose them as green as possible. When you get home, wrap them in a dishcloth and put them into the refrigerator immediately. I know you have always been told not to put bananas in the refrigerator. Yes, it will turn the pealing brown, but the banana will remain firm for about ten to twelve days. Thank you, J.O.

     If you have a cooking or household tip you would like to share please let me know. I can be reached at PatsChat@livingston.net.