Summer means pickling and canning. Or it used to for me. When I lived in the US I made 3 or 4 different kinds of pickles, tomato juice, brandied peaches and cherries and canned lots and lots of tomatoes. When I lived in the Vendée, with all of our fruit trees, I added jams, jellies and fruit butters to my repertoire and switched to freezing for all the tomatoes and … Continue reading →
You laid it out carefully, planted, hoed, fertilized with your very own organic compost, watered, and now you get to the fun part: harvesting! Wait a second…. I forgot a few things…. First, watering. Your plants need water and lots of it. They also need to learn to fend for themselves. You don't want them so dependent on you that you can't leave them alone. If you water every day … Continue reading →
Refrigerator Pickles If you are lucky enough to have your own garden you may be experiencing garden glut about now. I have no garden this year, and am forced to live vicariously through all of you that do. In my imaginary garden it's time to make pickles. Here are two of my favorites, tried and true, handed down for generations (with modifications, of course) recipes for pickles: One to eat … Continue reading →
One of the hardships those of us who live 'abroad' are assumed to endure is the lack of certain foods. What those foods are and their relative importance depends on the person. The most common 'missing' food is sour cream. It's true that we cannot get sour cream in this primitive backwater but we can get creme fraiche, fromage blanc, fromage frais, quark and Greek yogurt; any and all of … Continue reading →
