Harvest Kitchen

Culinary Adventures with Local Dairy Products

by Roberta Bailey

© 2004 by the author. For information on reproducing this article, please contact the author through jenglish@midcoast.com.

In the last few years, I have noticed a significant increase in the number of small dairy operations, many of them organic, in Maine. Transitioning to organic has helped small dairy farms survive. Selling milk wholesale is one option, but I have noted an increasing number of farms marketing their milk and value-added products such as cheese and yogurt to natural food and gourmet shops, and even to Hannaford supermarkets.

Last fall at the Common Ground Country Fair Farmers’ Market, I spoke with Cecil Linscott of White’s Orchard in Frankfort, who was selling his farm’s bottled milk and cider. He said that he gets regular calls from farmers who want to find out where to get glass bottles and how to market their milk locally.

With increased consumer concern about recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), antibiotic use, and questionable feed practices, the time is ripe for the growth of local dairies. I am always excited to see an alternative to the large producers. I go out of my way to check the refrigerated section of health food stores and to stop at local farm stands. I end up trying new products, having little culinary adventures.

In my limited travels, I have found fresh cow’s and goat’s milk, crème fraiche, yogurt, dry curd cheese, butter, mild cheddar cheese, fresh mozzarella, herbed cheese spreads, chevre and the best vanilla custard ice cream I have had in my life (at Town House Farm in Whitefield, Maine). I had given up eating ice cream until I tried theirs. Now I have to be very disciplined.

I’ve also started buying local milk and making yogurt again. It’s very easy to make, and my husband says it’s the best yogurt he’s ever had.

Do you know how far your food has traveled to get to your table? Set a goal for yourself of spending a certain percentage of your weekly food budget on local foods. Seek farmers’ markets, local dairies and specialty markets. You may have to travel a little more, but your food will have traveled much less, and you can talk to the people who produce it and see where your money is going.

Homemade Yogurt

1 quart milk (whole, low-fat or goat)
1 Tbsp. plain yogurt with active cultures

Heat the milk to 180 degrees F., just to the point where bubbles form. Stir to prevent burning. Heating results in a thicker yogurt, but is not critical. Cool the milk to 110 degrees F. Stir in the yogurt, mixing thoroughly, and pour the mixture into a jar. Avoid the temptation to use more starter; that will result in sour, watery yogurt. The cultures need room to live. One tablespoon of yogurt culture creates a smooth, creamy yogurt.

Place the covered jar in a 110-degree F. place. Leave it without jostling for 8 to 12 hours. It will be thick and tangy when done. You can use this yogurt for future batches.

Tuscan Potato Salad

3 pounds peeled potatoes, red, white or purple
2/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. ricotta (9 ounces)
3 to 4 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 red onion, finely diced, or 1/2 c. minced chives
1/2 c. olive oil
6 Tbsp. cider or white balsamic vinegar
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

Steam the potatoes until just tender. While they are still hot, mix in all the ingredients except the parsley. Serve warm or chill. Flavor improves with chilling. Garnish with parsley just before serving.

Chilled Tomato Soup with Basil Cream

1/2 c. lightly packed fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3/4 c. heavy cream
2 c. seeded, peeled, coarsely chopped ripe tomatoes
2 c. vegetable or chicken stock
2 c. milk
1 tsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste
fresh, whole basil leaves for garnish

A few hours ahead of time, place the basil in a bowl. Scald the cream and pour it over the basil. Let the cream and basil steep for 1 hour, then chill.

In a food processor, puree the tomatoes, milk, stock and honey until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and chill deeply. At serving time, whip the basil cream. Serve the soup in chilled bowls with a dollop of cream and top with a fresh basil leaf.

Zucchini-Feta Casserole

3/4 c. bulghur
3/4 c. boiling water
2 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 c. sliced onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 c. thinly sliced zucchini rounds
1/2 tsp. fresh or dried oregano
2 to 3 tsp. fresh basil
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 eggs
1 c. grated feta cheese (5 ounces)
1 c. cottage cheese

***

2/3 c. fresh, chopped parsley
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. tamari soy sauce

***

1 c. (3oz.) grated cheddar cheese
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Place the bulghur in a bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Cover and set aside until soft, when all the water will have been absorbed.

Sauté the onions and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the zucchini, herbs and black pepper and continue to sauté on low heat until the zucchini is just tender.

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Mix in the feta and cottage cheese.

Add the chopped parsley, tomato paste and soy sauce to the bulghur and mix well.

In an oiled 9- x 9-inch casserole dish, layer the bulghur mix, then zucchini, then cheese mixture. Top the casserole with the tomato slices, then cheddar cheese, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake covered for 45 minutes at 350 F. For a crusty top, uncover for the final 15 minutes of baking. Let the casserole sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

For the Love of Lovage

by Jean Ann Pollard

© 2004 by the author. For information on reproducing this article, please contact the author through jenglish@midcoast.com.

"This herbe for hys sweete savoure is used in bathe."

--Thomas Hyll, The Gardener's Labyrinth, 1577

It's not too late to love lovage. That mostly unknown, old-fashioned herb (Levisticum officinale) looks and tastes a lot like celery, although it's stronger in both growth and aroma. In fact, a little goes a long way no matter how it's used.

A native of southern Europe, lovage was introduced to Great Britain by the Romans, and welcomed in English herb gardens until the middle of the 1800s, one writer remarking that it "joyeth to growe by wayes and under the eaves of a house, it prospers in shadowy places and loves running water."

This very large, umbelliferous perennial with thick, hollow stems, looking something like a vast celery plant with greenish-yellow flowers, can soar to 5 to 7 feet tall and spread 2 to 3 feet wide. It grows very well in almost any soil, whether or not it's close by "running water."(1)

Like so many other plants, lovage was brought to New England by colonists. According to Herbs for Use and for Delight, an anthology of writings from The Herbarist (a publication of The Herb Society of America), "In New England the root used to be candied in sugar syrup...as a candy and a breath purifier, and was called Smallage by our grandmothers. It was very largely grown for sale at the Shaker colonies."

In fact, Dee Herbrandson's compilation of Shaker Herbs and Their Medicinal Uses says that Levisticum officinale was "exported both plain and sugared for female complaints and nervousness."

Parkinson, writing in 1640, says of it: "The whole plant and every part of it smelleth strongly and aromatically and of a hot, sharpe, biting taste. The Germans and other Nations in times past used both the roote and seede instead of Pepper to season their meates and brothes and found them as comfortable and warming."(2)

Germans, of course, had learned from the Romans. Lovage is mentioned in the nearest thing to a Roman cookbook surviving today. Bearing the name of the first-century gourmet, Apicius, the cookbook was compiled at least three centuries after him; and not all of the recipes can be attributed to the man himself. "Some," says Reay Tannahill in Food in History, "were certainly later, and a few of these were extracted from manuals of dietetics--fortunately, since writers on diet sometimes specified quantities (a practice not adopted by food writers until the fifteenth century)."

One incredible sauce recipe meant to accompany roast meat "lists a quarter of an ounce each of pepper, lovage, parsley, celery seed, dill, asfetida root, hazelwort, cyperus, caraway, cumin and ginger, plus a little pyrethrum, l Imperial or 1 1/4 American pints of liquamen [best described as a fish sauce] and 2 1/2 fluid ounces of oil." (3)

One can only marvel.

Again according to Herbs for Use and for Delight, lovage grew in the Herbularius or medicinal herb garden of the famous Abbey of St. Gall in England, taking its history back to the 8th century. And the Reader's Digest Home Handbook, Herbs(4) reports that its leaves "used to be laid in shoes to revive the weary traveler." At inns it was served in a popular cordial, which was flavored with tansy and a variety of yarrow known as Achillea ligustica. A modern form of this cordial, the book adds, "is made by steeping fresh lovage seed in brandy, sweetening it with sugar and then drinking it to settle an upset stomach."

According to the Rombauers' latest Joy of Cooking, "The leaves of this bold herb whose stems can be candied like Angelica...or blanched and eaten like celery, are often used as a celery substitute with stews.... The seeds are sometimes pickled like capers."(5) Seeds can also be crushed and added to bread and pastries, sprinkled over salads, rice or mashed potatoes. Blanched leaves and stems can be served with a white sauce. Leaves can also be rubbed on chicken before cooking, or around salad bowls for subtle flavor, or even drunk as tea. Roots can be thinly peeled and cooked. It might be called the ultima herb.

Love and soups are wonderful partners. The following recipe is a favorite with folks who have received vegetables-- and lovage-- from the Simply Grande Gardens in Winslow.

Simple Lovage Soup

(for 2)

In a 2-quart porcelainized pot, heat:

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Gently sauté in the oil for 5 minutes or until translucent:

2 medium onions, finely chopped
OR 2 cups bunching onions, including tender bottoms and tops, chopped

Add:

4 Tbsp. finely chopped, fresh lovage leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced

Stir in and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly:

1/4 cup white flour

Gradually add:

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
OR 1 3/4 cups water and 1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Then add, being careful not to boil:

1 cup milk
freshly ground black or white pepper

To serve, reheat your soup slowly and serve immediately, or chill and serve later.

Note: If your soup isn't thick enough to please, whisk 1 heaping tablespoon of cornstarch into some cold milk and add the mixture to the pot. Be sure to bring it to a near boil for 1 minute to cook the cornstarch.

When tomatoes finally ripen in Maine come midsummer (or later!), the following recipe will delight palates if lovage has been kept short and new leaves have appeared.

Summertime Tomato Soup

(for 4, maybe more)

Peel, seed and chop to equal 6 cups:

4 pounds very ripe red or yellow tomatoes

In a large porcelainized saucepan heat:

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Sauté in it till wilted:

2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped leeks

Add:

2 cups of the chopped tomatoes
1 cup finely sliced carrots
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. brown sugar

Cook together, stirring, until moisture evaporates and mixture is thick, about 20 minutes.

Whisk in and cook about 2 minutes, stirring:

1 Tbsp. unbleached white flour

When smooth, add:

1/4 cup finely-chopped parsley
3 inches of finely-chopped, fresh, young lovage leaf
the remaining tomatoes
8 cups of nicely seasoned chicken or vegetable stock

If necessary, add:

some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt

Simmer about 15 minutes. Then blend lightly and serve immediately.

Note: Winter in Maine causes lovage to die back, but it's often the first perennial herb out of the ground come spring. The best plan, if one grows it, is to clip it back every so often during the summer, thus ensuring a steady supply of fresh, young leaves.

Because it dries poorly, chopped lovage leaves frozen in ice cubes are fine when added to winter soups.

Bibliography:

(1) Another species, Ligusticum scoticum, grows wild in the north of Britain and northern Atlantic coasts of America, according to Tom Stobart in Herbs, Spices and Flavourings, Penguin Books, 1979. In Scotland it was much used cooked or raw in the past. The Scots called it shunis.

(2) Rohde, Eleanour Sinclair, A Garden of Herbs, Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1936, p. 92 (in the Dover edition of 1969). Parkinson refers to John Parkinson's Theatrum Botanicum, 1640.

(3) Tannahill, Reay, Food in History, Stein and Day, N.Y., 1973, p. 95.

(4) Bremness, Lesley. Ed. Herbs, Reader's Digest Home Handbook, N.Y. 1990, p. 55.

(5) Rombauer, Irma S. and Marion Becker Rombauer, Joy of Cooking, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, IN.,1967, p. 532.

Grow Your Own Elderberries

by Roberta Bailey

© 2004 by the author. For information on reproducing this article, please contact the author through jenglish@midcoast.com.

My first memory of elder bushes was in my best friend’s yard. Her father had a neat row of the plants, mulched with peanut hulls. He made wine with the berries. We were forbidden to pick any of the fruit, and upon tasting the raw berries, the ban suited me fine. My friend and I spent hours sifting through the mulch looking for a whole peanut. We never found one.

As an adult, I have gained a greater appreciation for the plant and her fruit. Canadian or American elder (***Sambucus canadensis***) is considered by some to be the Great Mother, all powerful and all healing, every part of her, from root to bark, leaf, flower and berry, having healing properties. The berries make a heavy wine, fine juice, jelly, jam and syrup. The flowers can be made into delicious fritters.

Though burning edler wood was considered a grave wrong, the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘aeld,’ meaning fire. The pithy-centered branches are easily hollowed into pipes for blowing an ember or fire to full flame. The white, fine grained wood polishes easily and has been used to make needles for net weaving, combs, scientific and musical instruments, skewers, pegs and parts of fishing rods. Its branches make garden posts that "last longer in the ground than an iron rod." All parts of the plant can be used as dye material.

The herbal uses seem endless, making elder practically a universal remedy. Every plant part has multiple and diverse uses. I was surprised to note that the leaves, when decocted, make a natural insecticide that repels aphids and caterpillars, while an infusion is said to repel mosquitoes if rubbed on the skin. (I plan to test this. Let me know of your trial results as well.) I have had excellent results suppressing a cough with elder flower tea and syrup.

Elder is an extremely hardy (zone 2-3), quick growing, deciduous shrub with 6-inch-long, compound leaves made up of leaflets. As a wild plant it can be tall and rangy, but the newer, hybridized, named varieties form 6- to 10-foot, fountain shaped shrubs. Elder blooms in spring, bearing fragrant, flat-topped, 6- to 10-inch clusters of small, white blossoms. The loosely formed shrub makes a good screen, informal hedge or border.

Fruits and flowers are edible, with fruit ripening in late summer. The berries ripen to blackish purple and are high in vitamin C. Birds love the berries raw, while we humans prefer them cooked into pies and preserves.

In the right location, elder grows quickly. Mature plants can spread to 8 to 12 feet. They prefer full sun but tolerate partial shade. Elder grows naturally on stream and pond banks. It prefers a rich loam or moist clay with a pH of 6 to 8. To fruit well, elder requires a moist, fertile soil. Wet locations are tolerated only if they have good drainage (e.g., the rich bank of a pond or a well-drained area that is wet in spring but moist the remainder of the year).

Plants usually come as bare-root or potted cuttings, looking like a branch with a lot of hairy roots. Plant them in a hole the size of a bushel basket. Return some of the topsoil to the bottom layers of the hole first, then mix some compost in and water as you fill the rest of the hole. Form a rimmed bowl at the top to hold water. Mulch around the plant to protect the shallow roots. Avoid hoeing deeply near the plants.

Fruit is borne on one- to three-year-old wood. Each branch attains its full height in its first year, and in the second year fruits and sends out laterals that will fruit in the third year. After its third year, the branch should be removed, as future fruit will be small. Cut out winter-killed wood in spring. Established shrubs can be cut back by one-half to encourage fruiting wood and to control overall size. Some varieties sucker at the base. These suckers can be cut back to control spreading or can be severed and dug out to start new plants. Plants also root easily from dormant cuttings taken in early spring before the plant breaks bud.

Elder thrives on fertile ground. In spring, dress your plants liberally with compost, under the shrub and out to its drip line. Annual mulching helps ensure a healthy plant that produces lots of new shoots. Plants produce 12 to 15 pounds of fruit per year. A well-maintained elder can bear for 30 to 40 years.

Two varieties are needed for cross-pollination, so plant more than one variety unless wild plants are nearby. The hybrid varieties do exceptionally well in the Northeast’s cold winters.

Varieties

Adams-- an early fruiting variety with large clusters of exceptionally large berries; good for early frost areas

York-- a very large bush with large berries; ripens mid to late season. Its fruit is larger than that of Adams.

Johns-- 5- to 6-foot-tall plant with large berries and clusters; ripens earlier than Adams; extremely vigorous

Nova-- a large bush and heavy bearer of sweet, uniform, early ripening fruit; extremely vigorous

Kent-- 5- to 6-foot-tall plants with heavy crops of 1/4-inch fruit

Berries are ripe when they are deeply colored and slightly soft. They also get a less shiny, dusky look. The flavor is somewhat like a blackberry but more complex and richer. The berries can be canned, frozen, dried, made into jams, jellies, juice and wine. Elder juice mixed with cider is a delicious, vitamin C-rich, winter treat. I make a syrup and freeze small cubes of it to mix with juices.

Elder has few insect or disease problems. Birds, the main predator, can strip a bush overnight. If you want fully ripe berries, consider covering the bushes with a net or stringing flash tape. Late varieties seem to have less bird pressure.

Bibliography

Creasy, Rosalind, The Gardener’s Handbook of Edible Plants, Sierra Club Books, 1986.

Hill, Lewis, Fruits and Berries for the Home Garden, Storey Communications, Inc., 1992.

Hopman, Ellen Evert, Tree Medicine, Tree Magic, Phoenix Publishing, Inc.. 1991.

Rodale, J.I., and staff, editors, How to Grow Vegetables and Fruits by the Organic Method, 1961 and 1999.

Saint Lawrence Nurseries Planting Guide, St. Lawrence Nurseries, 325 State Highway 345, Potsdam, NY 13676, 315-265-6739; trees@sln.potsdam.ny.us.