July 14, 2009 by Debra.

The season for fresh peas is all too brief and easily missed. It seems fewer farmers are growing them, and their appearance at the farmers’ market is often eclipsed by the increasing variety of other offerings there. Still, a few hold-outs persist (thank-you Meadow’s Mirth and Wild Root), and the welcome change in weather means fresh peas should be available for the next few weeks or so.

When peas do appear locally, I make sure I buy enough to put away for winter. They’re a great entry-level vegetable if you’re just learning to stock up.

Freezing Peas:

1. Blanch shelled peas in boiling water for 1 minute. This fixes their color and sweetness, and they will start to float when ready to remove.
2. Chill immediately in cold water, then drain. Do not let them sit in water too long or texture will be affected.
3. Package and freeze. Peas may be flash-frozen on trays before packaging to keep them from freezing to one another.

After they’re poached and chilled, I reserve enough for a simple dinner of fresh peas and crab. A slaw-like salad made with kohlrabi, and a side dish of roasted beets, both from this week’s CSA share, rounds out another locally-sourced meal. I imagine that native shrimp instead of crab would also work well with these flavors. 

Fresh Pea & Crab Salad:

• 1 1/2 cups shelled peas, poached
• 6 to 8 ounces fresh cooked Maine crabmeat
• 1 scallion, minced
• several sprigs of mint leaves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
•  juice from 1/2 lemon

Combine ingredients, and adjust amounts and seasoning to taste. 

Notes: Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman. Freezing instructions adapted from “Keeping the Harvest” by Nancy Chioffi & Gretchen Mead. Tuttles and Riverside Farm Stand may still have fresh peas, and can be found along with other local sources at Seacoast Harvest.

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June 24, 2009 by Debra.

Not having grown up in New England, many locally-grown foods were unfamiliar to me when I moved here. Rhubarb seemed very exotic, with its fleshy crimson and acid-green stalks, and hint of danger contained within its toxic parasol-like leaves. Commonly known as “pie plant,” I began by dutifully making strawberry-rhubarb pies. Since then, I’ve come to appreciate rhubarb’s ability to stand on its own, as featured in a rustic galette made with a cornmeal crust. This season I look forward to trying rhubarb as a juice, pickled, and in a savory dish combining it with lentils.

Its appearance at the farmers’ markets also marks the beginning of the preserving season. Frozen or as preserves, the tart nature of rhubarb brings a welcome brightness to winter desserts. In its frozen form, rhubarb can be used in many recipes or left to process into preserves at a later date. Rhubarb preserves make for a quick dessert spooned over ice cream, fresh ricotta or yogurt, or swirled with a dollop of creme fraiche and served as a topping for buttermilk biscuits or pound cake.

Frozen Rhubarb: wash, wipe dry, trim ends, cut into ½ to 1-inch pieces, freeze on trays, pack into containers and store in freezer.

Rhubarb Preserves:

1. Wash and trim off both ends of each stalk. Cut into ½ to 1-inch pieces, depending on size of stalk).

2. Add ½ cup sugar to each quart of sliced fruit. Let stand for several hours to draw out the juice.

3. Begin heating the water in canner. Prepare jars and lids.

4. Boil the rhubarb with their juices for 1 minute.

5. Pack into clean hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Cover with hot juice, leaving ½-inch headspace.

6. Process pints and quarts for 10 minutes in boiling water bath canner.

Notes: A quart of trimmed rhubarb is a little over a pound. 1½ quarts of rhubarb makes 2 pints of preserves. I let the preserves settle for at least several weeks before using. Recipe adapted from “The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food”.

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May 10, 2009 by Sara Zoe.

Canned food — an often needed timesaver, a sometimes necessity, and most of the time a complete mystery in terms of where these foods were grown.

The Global Grocer from Food and Water Watch is a tool that aims to help us demystify where those apples for that apple juice were grown before they were packaged at the address listed on the label. The tool also covers frozen foods and fresh. Some of the information is somewhat benign, such as potatoes. But those apples for that apple juice? Grown in China, a country that we know has significantly different agricultural practices that result in more contaminants in our food.

I’m going to use this tool to help me focus my shopping when I need to rely on non-local foods, and as inspiration to do more of my own canning and freezing at home!  Visit the Global Grocer >

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September 11, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Wake Robin Farm poblanos at the Durham Farmers’ Market

If you’ve run into me of late, I’ve probably been talking about poblanos. In fact, I can’t shut up about them, and since everyone I know in real life is getting pretty sick of the subject, I’ve turned to inflicting my poblano mania on blog readers.

Oh poblanos - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: you are meaty, and warm, with just the right spice, not too much - I eat you not as a condiment but as a major ingredient. Your roasty flavor is perfect for a tacos, or nachos, or with rice and beans and cheese, or for Santa Fe style chile cheeseburgers (though true Santa Fe style chile cheeseburgers require New Mexican chiles, but, beloved poblanos, you are perfect for me. Sante Fe style chile cheeseburgers are simply burgers topped with chiles, yellow mustard, and american cheese, and they are way more than the sum of their parts).

The rainy summer was horrible for tomatoes. It was horrible for trying to plant fall crops. It was horrible for a lot of things, but the peppers loved it. And every farmers’ market I go to, I am buying loads and loads and loads of poblanos.

I am eating them - but I am also saving them for winter.

If you just want dinner, and aren’t grilling anyway, put a dry cast iron skillet on your stove and blacken them to death there. But if you are freezing them for winter, the grill is the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to do them in batches. And then your grill is ready for your burgers when your poblanos are done.

Roast your poblanos until they are pretty black. A few brown spots are fine. Put them all in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Walk away and make the rest of your dinner. By now they will be cool and their skins will easily peel off in your hands. The chiles themselves will be soft and cooked through. For chile rellenos, you’ll have to carefully slit them to remove the seeds and stuff them with cheese. For all other uses, simply slice them open, discard the seeds, and eat. When I’m freezing them, I pack them really really really tightly into little deli containers and freeze. You can also roast one day, and let them sit in the plastic wrapped bowl in the fridge and finish peeling/processing for the freezer another day - the skins come off even easier once they are really cool.

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August 29, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Looking to freeze/can/make sauce?

You can pick-your-own tomatoes at Warren Farm in Barrington. On their website today:

The PYO tomato patch is open and loaded with tomatoes, red or green, and priced at $1/lb. We have 15 varieties and most of them are ready. The romas are ripe in the center clusters. We have two varieties of them this year, Viva italiana, roma and big mamma.   Lots of customers make sauce using the heirloom Mortgage Lifter also, as it is so meaty, and combine it with the other varieties. Sometime in September we have a frost, however we cover our tomatoes and continue to pick them. Last year we picked tomatoes until October 28th!  We have late plantings of cukes, summer squash, zucchini, lettuce and kale also. We cover up any crops that are not frost tolerant and keep them going as long as possible.

Heather Warren updates the site daily, and you can always call ahead to check picking conditions -

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August 12, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Cooperative Extension Agents who are experts in canning and other methods of food preservation will be on hand at the Dover, Exeter, and Portsmouth Markets this week to demonstrate canning!

Yesterday Extension Agent Alice Mullen came to the Durham Market, and was answering people’s questions such as, “What exactly is blanching?” “Do I really need to sterilize the jars?” “Should I wash my blueberries before I freeze them?” and more. She had a whole water bath canning set up with her, so everyone could see the equipment they would need, recipes and fact-sheets, including my favorite fact sheet which was about how to store the fresh produce you buy for the short term - fridge or counter? Wash now or later? in plastic or in a drawer or chopped up?

You can watch the demonstration and ask questions of the Extension Agents:

Wednesday August 13, 2:15-6pm at the Dover Farmers’ Market, McIntosh Culinary Academy, 181 Silver St (Exit 8e off the Spaulding Turnpike)

Thursday August 14, 2:15-6pm at the Exeter Farmers’ Market, Swazey Parkway in Exeter

Saturday August 16, 8am-1pm at the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market, City Hall Parking Lot on Junkins Avenue, Portsmouth.

For more information about the farmers’ markets, visit www.seacoastgrowers.org

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August 7, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Canning Classes at McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, NH

Monday, August 18th & 25th 6 - 9 p.m. - $45 each
August 18th:  Canning safety techniques with High Acid Fruits.  In this class each person will have hands on experience of how to freeze and can High Acid Fruits and vegetables.  Each Person will leave the class with a high acid vegetable frozen and canned, a fruit frozen and canned, and a chutney plus a Ball Blue Book on Canning Techniques and Recipes.

August 25th: Canning safety techniques with Low Acid, Vegetables, Pickling and Fruits. In this class each person will have hands on experience of how to freeze and can Low Acid Vegetables, Pickling techniques and freezing Whole Berries. Each Person will leave the class with a low acid
vegetable frozen and canned, a fruit frozen and canned, and a jar of pickles, frozen fruit plus a Ball Blue Book on Canning Techniques and Recipes.

Classes are limited to 25 attendees and must be pre paid. Please register at WBERRY@LLFARM.net and send enrollment fee to: Lasting Legacy Farm, 148 Second Crown Point Road, Barrington, NH 03825. Questions please call 332-6328.

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February 13, 2008 by Jeff.

If you want to try eating preserved food this winter but didn’t get any pickling done this summer, today’s Boston Globe has a fun article on restaurants and shops near Boston that offer pickled foods and charcuterie. There’s even a recipe for pickled red onions. Here’s the list:

• The Butcher Shop, 552 Tremont St., Boston, 617-423-4800, thebutchershopboston.com.
• Craigie Street Bistrot, 5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, 617-497-5511, craigiestreetbistrot.com.
• Rocca, 500 Harrison Ave., Boston, 617-451-5151, roccaboston.com.
• Sel de la Terre, 255 State St., Boston, 617-720-1300, seldelaterre.com.
• T.W. Food, 377 Walden St.,Cambridge, 617- 864-4745, twfoodrestaurant.com.
• WuChon House, 290 Somerville Ave., Somerville, 617-623-3313, wuchonhouse.com.

And here’s the link:

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2008/02/13/preserving_a_tradition/

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July 24, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

Blueberries are here! I am back on my feast and freeze plan, with the added bonuses that a) blueberry season lasts a whole lot longer than strawberry season and b) they are wicked easy to freeze, just pop ‘em in quart bags and into the freezer they go.

We’ve been to pick-our-own multiple times now, and there is no sign of a let-up. This year’s blueberry crop is amazing.

There are lots of blueberry farms listed in the Seacoast Local Foods Resource Guide, as well as plenty of pick-your-owns. Lots of growers are also bringing blueberries to our area farmers’ markets.

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July 5, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

We’re almost done with strawberry season here; last week’s heat just about put an end to a glorious and abundant season. While it lasted, we feasted. There have been several batches of strawberry ice cream, made with Brookford Farm milk and cream. There has been strawberry shortcake, and there was an afternoon where three quarts disappeared directly into our mouths. But the last of our berries will be headed for the freezer, lying in wait both for the September Eat Local Challenge and the upcoming winter, when local fruit is unavailable unless you plan ahead.
If your freezer is big enough, the best method is to wash and dry the berries, lay them out on a sheet pan, and freeze them whole. When they are frozen, put them into freezer bags (labeled well, of course) for future use.

Our freezer is not very big, so I washed and quartered the berries, and packed them pretty tightly into these deli containers. Frozen berries work perfectly for most every strawberry need - smoothies, pies, crumbles, ice cream, waffle and pancake toppings, and on and on.

The only thing they aren’t great for is eating fresh out of hand. Since there is no substitute, we feast while we can.

To try to catch the last of this year’s strawberries visit a Seacoast area farmers’ market, pick-your-own farm, or farm stand.

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