Herbal Garden Project

Sunday, May 18, 2008

A while back I was talking about my bulk shopping and my friend Sangria brought up the home growing suggestion. I know it would be hard to make room to grow produce, and the laws about growing on your terrace would make it difficult to try. I have considered the alternative of growing my own herbs.

The considerations I have for this project are not nearly as complicated as most. I will need to pick herbs that can grow easily in the Mediterranean climate. Preferably ones that have the beneficial qualities of insect repelling. I would want them to be herbs we like to use, and that can be brewed for teas.

The things I will need to avoid are any herbs that attracts wasps and predatory insects or bees past pollination periods. We have both pollen and bee allergies to consider in my household. Our terrace is small and it would be hard to share with wasps. We don't mind the occasional hard working bee though.

With the laws here, i can only grow in pots, I cant make any troff. They have to drain elevated so I cant make any dirt or sand patches on to the ground. It also has to be a moderately low moisture plant that can withstand full or partial sunlight, and hopefully doesn't grow to large. Living on the fourth floor it also should not be a plant that drops any heavy or hard bits such as large fruits or nuts.

I will look in to this more another day, tomorrow is my first dentist visit in Spain. I will most likely not be up to working on anything after that one, but I don't plan to be out of action long.
If you have any tips or information on good things to grow in sunny Madrid, Spain that may help, please let me know.

Food Storage: The Yellow Onion

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Yellow or brown onions are common ingredients in most cooking. Onions are best know for their strong flavor that can even be sweet. These culinary staples are enjoyed both raw and cooked all across the globe.

Onions if selected correctly and stored well, can last a significant amount of time. This makes them prime candidates for bulk purchases. While there are many kinds of onions, we will focus on the yellow and brown for storage and selection in this topic.

Knowing how to select an onion is the first step in insuring you have the finest product available with the longest shelf life. To select a quality onion you should look for the following traits.

What to look for:

• Firm
• Tightly closed
• Paper dry skin
• Heavy for size
• Smooth
• Well formed
• Even colored
• Soft sheen to skin

What to avoid:

• Sprouting
• Dark spots
• Powdery spots
• Green spots
• Softness
• Blemishes
• Mold
• Bruises

After selecting you onions it is important to know how to store them. Though onions can be easily kept in the refrigerator, it is not necessary. Onions can be stored in any cool dark area, it is best to keep them spaced and out of sunlight. We have in the past suggested using the sock method in the past.

Once an onion has been opened, simply wrap tightly and keep refrigerated. If at any point sprouting does occur, trim the sprout and discard the onion. The green stems that grow from onions can be used as a substitute for scallions, as they are edible with a soft onion flavor.

Alternative storages are freezing, pickling, and canning.


resources: fruitandveggieguru.com; produceoasis.com; homecooking.about.com; makethemost.com; melissas.com;

Food Storage: Celery

Friday, May 2, 2008

Celery is a cooking basic. It's an extremely versatile aromatic vegetable that is enjoyed both hot and cold around the world. Celeries ability to be used in almost every dish makes it a good choice to buy in bulk. Here is advice on the selection and storage of celery to help ensure you get the maximum out of your purchase.

Celery Selection
Celery is commonly sold in two forms, in loose bunches normally accompanied by leafy tops and celery hearts. The hearts are a term for celery that has been trimmed of it's leaves and exterior ribs.

Celery that is light green will be more tender and and flavorful. Darker green stalks will be tougher but provide more nutrition. No matter what color your prefer here is what you should know about selection and storage.

What to look for:

• Tight bunches
• Sturdy
• Crisp
• Even Colored
• Healthy Green leaves and stems
• Glossy finish
• Firm

What to avoid:

• Limp
• Brown
• Spotted
• Yellow
• Bruised or broken

Celery Storage:
To store fresh celery simply wrap in loose plastic bag and place in refrigerator crisper. This should hold the celery for two weeks. If it begins to wilt, simply soak it in ice water a few moments before you use it.

You can also freeze celery if needed. Cut in to pieces and then blanch for three minutes before freezing.

Resources: makethemost.com; fruitandveggieguru.com; tonytantillo.com; fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov

Food Storage: The Carrot

Friday, April 25, 2008

The carrot is a healthy favorite for many people of all ages. It is an essential part of cooking and can even be a substitute to sugar in some recipes. This sweet, brightly colored veggie has even teethed many of our children.

Adding to value of the common carrot, is the fact it stores easy, and there for is a good choice to buy in bulk. This article is to help your carrots last to the maximum limits at the best possible quality. I have below information on selection and storage of the carrot, I hope you find it useful.

Selecting a Carrot
When selecting carrots you need to consider what you will use them for. Young carrots, especially carrots with greens still attached, tend to be sweeter. The extra sweetness will come at the cost of storage life though. Baby carrots are rarely young carrots, most often they are regular carrots cut up in to "baby" size portions. Larger carrots are often more then sufficient for your cooking and snacking needs. They also come in bulk sizes more regularly and are available year round.

Here are some tips in selecting carrots of all kinds.

Signs of a Healthy Carrot:

• well shaped
  
• smooth
• firm
• free of blemishes

Signs of a Healthy Carrot:

• cracked
• moldy
• discolored or green ends
• Holes
• bristly appearance
• blistering
• darkened and water-soaked skin
• soft or flabby

Storage of carrots:

Remove any green tops, the longer you store them with the leaves the more moisture and nutritional value they will loose.

Store in perforated plastic bags, and place in refrigerator. The crisper is preferred as carrots like moist cool storage to stay fresh.

Do not store neat fruit as ethylene, a gas produced by ripening fruit, will cause the carrots to become bitter.

Alternative Storage:

Canning- Canned carrots must be processed in a pressure canner.

Freezing - To Freeze Carrots they must be blanched.

Resources Links: urbanext.uiuc.edu; extension.umn.edu; ohioline.osu.edu

Food Storage: The Tomato

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Tomato is yet another produce I would love to buy in bulk to save money, but fear letting to many go to waist. Here are the use and storage solutions I have recovered for this months tomato purchase. After all how can we justify our bulk store memberships if we don't use them to the full potential.

When selecting your tomatoes there are some factors you should look for.

• Sniff them, the stronger the aroma the better.
• They should be heavy for their size.
• Look for them plump with tight and smooth skin
• Make sure they are free from bruises, cracks, or blemishes
• Ripe tomato will be completely red or reddish-orange

Vine ripened tomatoes are the best tasting, but go bad faster. Most package bought tomatoes will not be vine ripened. You can store tomatoes in a cool and dark place, they will continue to ripen until they go bad or are brought below 12.5 �C (54.5 �F).

Once a tomato is fully ripe you can store them in your refrigerator for a week. Tomatoes stored in the refrigerator will loose taste, so it's best to use them as fast as you can.

Always store shallow and out of sunlight. Wood or bamboo is the best containers, if you use other materials line it with cloth.

Alternate Storage and Use for Tomatoes

Freezing Tomatoes
Here is a suggestion for freezing them. Apparently you can do this as an alternative to canning. All you need to do before freezing is wash and dry, then place in a plastic baggies. They note there is no need to peel them as the skin will slip off when thawed. This use would be for storing tomatoes for cooking.

Sun-drying
Here is yet another fairly simple way to keep tomatoes from going to waist. All you need to do is wash, dry, slice open, remove seeds and place in the sun single layered and not touching.

Easy Oven-drying
To use this method just slice in half, or in slices, place in the oven at 140 to 145 F and watch them carefully. Oven-drying takes 6 to 12 hours, depending on the tomato it self.

Dehydrating
If you have a dehydrator, you can easily use it on your tomatoes.

Canning and Cooking
You can always can tomatoes, or make your favorite sauce or puree in bulk then freeze.

For more on tomato picking, storage and usage please visit the links provided below.

Links
Drying Tomato Links: doityourself.com; about.com
Tomato Selection and Storage and Freezing: about.com; wikipedia.org; indiaagronet.com; foodreference.com;
recipezaar.com; essortment.com; missourifamilies.org

Food Storage: The Strawberry

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Now that the warmer weather has come around, nice fresh fruits are becoming plentiful and much less expensive. This is a particularity good time for strawberries, from May to June is the US strawberry season. I am using this time to stock up, after all they freeze and preserve so well. I am looking particularly froward to enjoying my cool strawberry snacks on my terrace this summer.

In order to best enjoy the fruit I save, I took time this week to do my homework. After all I am trying to budget money, and one of the best way is to manage my food budget wisely. The less waist the better, and that means picking good fruit and storing it right.

So here are the notes and instructions I have complied from my personal knowledge and the information I have found across the web. There will be a bundled link source at the end of this post for any one who want's to delve any deeper in to the strawberry world of knowledge.

Signs of a good strawberry:

• Firm
• Deep and shiny red skin
• Green tops
• Plump
• Dry

Signs of a bad berry:

• Green, yellow, or dark dull spots
• A lot of white at the top
• Moist
• Moldy
• Dull in color or very dark red
• Sunburn
• Holes or breaks in skin

Storage:
Keep berries in shallow containers no more then 5 inches deep. If your pack them in tightly or stack them to high they will crush and bruise. Strawberries must stay dry until they are ready yo use or they will spoil quickly. I place mine on a tray lined with paper towels, and cover lightly in plastic. Store them in the refrigerator and use or freeze them with in a few days, prune them often. Once one berry goes bad it will quickly travel to the rest.

Washing Fresh berries for use:
This was a topic that varied, but the overall out come was organic berries rinse briskly under cool water. Where as for non organic some sights suggested soaking in slightly warm water then rinsing. The reason is that strawberries are one of the fruit more known for pesticides. the problem is if you soak strawberries they can loose some of their value and flavor. Personally, may family never have soaked them and no one ever grew and extra arm.

When you rinse strawberries, regardless of how you choose, leave the green on the top. Never use soaps or brushes on strawberries, the skins are much to fragile. Remove the green tops just before slicing, and remember not to wash berried until you are ready to use them.

Freezing:
Freezing Strawberries is extremely easy, all you need to do is wash them and remove the tops. Then freeze them in a single layer, do not let them touch or they will stick together. After they are fully frozen (about 14 hours) transfer them to a baggy or container for longer storage.

Of course there are other ways to freeze strawberries Some people prefer Dry-Sugar Pack, Syrup Pack, or to freeze sliced or crushed. You can find more information in the links package provided below.

Reference Pack- The Strawberry:

1. strawberry-recipes.com
2. howtodothings.com
3. associatedcontent.com
4. seedsofknowledge.com
5. wikihow.com
6. ehow.com
7. pickyourown.org
8. aces.uiuc.edu
9. whatscookingamerica.net
10. whfoods.com

Food Storage: The Onion

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Many people like to buy in bulk, but we shy away from produce. After all produce goes bad fast and we cant always use it in a weeks time. Luckily there are some things you can do to extend the life of your produce.

Today I'm going to share with you a storage technique for onions that not only makes them last for moths at a time, but helps leave valuable storage room for other items. My simple onion storage technique is a modification of the classic onion sock.

All you need is a hook or nail, a clips, and a stocking or pantyhose.
You can recycle clean used nylons, or go out and buy a pair for this project.

To use the onion sock, simply load the onions in to the nylon, try to keep them in single file. Then put a knot in the toe part, and a clip on the open end to hold it shut.

Attach the nylon to a wall, pole, or ceiling out of the sun and away from moisture, by the knotted toe section.

You now have a reusable onion storage sock that will keep your tasty onions fresh for up to two months.

Just a few notes:

• If you have pantyhose, cut the legs off you don't need the rest.
• You can use old clothing pins, twist ties, rope or any thing else, to space each onion if you cant get them to stay in a single row.
• Spacing onions will also help them stay even longer