Secondary Fermentation of Chardonnay

There is a room here just for Chardonnay. To access it from inside the winery, you have to sideways-walk between tall stainless steel tanks and then bend over to reach through the little door, watching your step in. When the white grapes come in and we pick out all the wildlife bits, the juice is racked (aka pumped) into these wooden barrels. With patience and precision, the winemaker can time exactly how long it takes to fill a barrel to the right level without overflowing.

The little science experiment turning this juice into wine causes airlock gauges to gurgle, filling the whole wooden room with a curiously calming and soothing sound - it's almost like quietly walking into a room with a baby monitor where you can hear the infant happily burble, babble, and drool in its dreams.

The fermentation lock on top is needed so that oxygen doesn't enter, but the carbon dioxide can escape; the pressure inside is pushing the gas up and out causing the bubbles in the airlock. When the bubbles stop, it is a clear sign to the wine maker that the (here, wild) yeast has eaten all the sugar. 

When you run out of such contraptions however, you can brilliantly use a bag of sand that is still malleable enough to yield to the carbon dioxide pushing it's way out. I'm pretty sure the spilled minor-explosion of juice on the barrel in the picture above is not a very good sign, but the soon-to-be-wine can easily be transferred to less-full barrels and the sticky juice wiped off. 

It's most likely the worst 25 second video you've ever seen. And the noise in the background is probably less of the fascinating fermentation and more of the bird-scarer outside (yes, there is such a noise and unfortunately is not silent to humans like a dog whistle. #birdpeckfree #goodwinesacrifices). But walking into the room full of bubbling barrels turning the grape juice into wine in front of you is really quite impressive. dramatic. miraculous.wonderful.

At least adjective-worthy enough for me to try to capture it with a dinky video. 

"What's brown and sticky? A stick." - 4 yr old Digby.

To determine whether or not grapes are ready to be picked, a few bunches are picked from a couple different locations within the block. Their total weight is divided by the number of bunches and then they are squished by hand into juice. The baume (sugar/density), pH, and acid levels are all tested from this grape juice to evaluate the development of the ripening grapes. 

When the grapes are ripe, depending on the test mentioned above, the variety, and the weather forecast they are ready to be picked! A lot of the vineyard blocks so far have been mechanically picked during the night when the moonlit air is cool and the machine is able to shine light upon the rows of vines. The importance of the quality of the air temperature is to ensure that the grapes are still cool when they are brought into the winery and they are not over-ripened by the heat of the day. Hand-picking is a much slower process that requires sunlight and more people to expedite the work that could take hours. However, light and visibility are not the only variables that factor into the choice between mechanically picked and hand picked. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. As can be seen in the morning-shot photos below, this block is quite close to the winery so the grapes have less distance to travel after being picked and speed of the mechanical pick means they stay out in the heat.

The machine goes through one row while a tractor in the adjacent row follows with a trail of bins for the grapes to be dumped into off an overhanging conveyor belt. 

Maybe "dump" sounds a bit aggressive.

Me standing above the grapes!

The machine gently vibrates the vines as it passes, dropping everything on the vines into it. "Everything" not only includes the bunches of grapes but also fallen leaves, snapped sticks, yanked twigs, doomed mice, pinched spiders, wangled earwigs, nesting birds, more seized spiders, gathered cockroaches, broken branches, and captured moths. This is called MOG: "material other than grapes." 

All of this is passed onto a conveyor belt that goes over the picked-vines and into the bins following the tracker in the other row. It's quite effective in terms of being faster than hand picking, covering many more rows and collecting more grapes (and MOG). It also requires less labour which is cheaper than paying the hourly rate for the manual labor (my ride up and down the row was free.)

The other option, hand picking, has it's own advantages as the picker goes through each row, vine by vine, and snips off the bunches of grapes from the stem with clippers. Usually you work with another person on the other side so that you can both move down the line, removing grapes on both sides rather than trying to reach through the tangled leafy vines. By hand picking, the picker also does not include (or technically, should not include) big vine stems or leaves, no one is adding mice to the little bins and can cut around bad bunches of grapes. It's laborious and requires swift skills to snip quickly as often the bunches have grown around the vines and finding the stem deserves crafty maneuvering. Hand picking can also be the way to go if the vines are young or if there are obstacles like power lines positioned through a row that the machine can not pass through with it's overhanging conveyor belt.

The buckets are filled down the row until they are filled to the top and pushed to one side so that the tractor with the trailing bins drives along with another person following who dumps the grapes into the bins. Ok, maybe "dumps" is more aggressive here because hand picking is definitely more gentle on the grapes rather than being vibrated off the vine by machine, often causing a bit of squishing or skin tear, which could cause oxidation or not work for "whole-bunch" pressings.

It's hard to see when you can't cut the leaves.
Sometimes down on your knees.
 Sometimes getting up under and in the vines to see.
Sometimes the little bits of dried grass against the shin cause frantic thoughts of spiders.
But always a nice little sugary snack to keep you going.

After the picking is completed, we meet these compiled bins in the winery and then have to sort through the grapes on another conveyor belt to get rid of any MOG. Not every winery does this next step, but we sort through both mechanically and hand picked grapes. The mechanically picked grapes obviously have many more MOG particles, bits and pieces than the hand picked selection and really makes a difference on the scale of fear-factor nervous-anticipation during work. Our job of sorting through the pickings is not only important to prevent the damage a chunky stick could do to the press and other machinery, but the removal of the MOG makes a substantial difference in the quality of the wine you want to make. Every load is different though. Sometimes there are lots of bugs, sometimes there are just lots of leaves. 

One day, as we were sorting through the clusters of Poison Hill Riesling grapes, (one of our favorites out of the 3 of 4 Rieslings of theirs we have tasted) it was particularly full of large sticks, thick twigs, and entire leaves still attached to the branch, yet remarkably lacking a legion of insects.  Reaching into the grape juice to pull out the MOG for a long amount of time quickly covers your fingers and hand in a sugary syrup. (I had hopefully thought the juice would be full of grape antioxidants and act as an anti-wrinkle-grandma-hand-remedy, but instead the constant wetness and stickiness dries out my fingers, causing them to crack. More band-aides.) We were pulling out abounding sticks and twigs whizzing by on the conveyor belt that we couldn't believe the size or amount of, and as I looked down at my hands covered in viscous grape juice with little bits of crushed green grapes sticking to them, I said to Felix, "This is especially sticky today." He laughed and said, "Yeah, in a double meaning of the word."

pause.

pause.

stare.

Bahahaha 

I get it. 

And I'm even the native English speaker. 

A bit later, in between the sticks, twigs, and branches, we saw only two spiders but both of unbelievable staggering size and astonishing color that I made some sort of squealing noise causing everyone to look at me as I convulsed in absolute sheer horror, waving my soggy hands in disgust as I nearly fell off the box crate. I wanted to puke, then faint, then run away, but could only laugh at myself. 

Two ill-fated birds with their grey feathers drenched and matted also passed by in a heavy-hearted horror. 

Felix goes, "Now you know why Poison Hill tastes so good."

“Harvest is Away!”

This is what 4:30am looks like. 

The beginning of the second week, the last week of February, was the start of Harvest. The fruit was being picked at 3:30 to avoid the heat of the day and we arrived at 5am for it’s arrival. The fruit on this day was mechanically-picked which means there is a truck that drives through a line separating the rows of vines with a contraption that collects the fruit from the vine. The grapes go through this vessel to be somewhat sorted then moved up along a conveyor belt that brings them across the vine row and collects onto a crate that another tractor in the next line of vines is pulling. 

sun rises as work begins

These crates, when full and the row of vines is emptied of it's bounty, are then brought into the winery. A fork lift dispatches the grapes in the crate into a huge container, which releases the grapes, along with the vineyard’s other lively and wild collection, onto a conveyor belt.

  That’s where we have to sort through the collection as it whizzes by.  Sorting means we get rid of any leaves, stems or thick branches the mechanical-picking grabbed along the way and also, as I soon found out, picking out the spiders (dead or alive), mice (only dead that I saw), squiggling earwigs, writhing cockroaches, squished moths, and all sorts of little things found in the wildlife of a vineyard. I literally could not pull out anything except for the leaves and the twigs. Any spider or mouse or creature, I gasped and would have thrown up onto the conveyor belt or fainted off the box crate I was standing on if I had to touch and take out any such thing. Luckily, I was not the last person upon the line before the grapes and “collection” went into the machine so I did not feel so responsible, although I would openly admit my refusal to remove and acceptably knowing that I allowed something to pass by my reach.

The machine would sort out some of the debris, mostly stems, pump the grapes and juice into a chiller, and then into the press. The press would sort out the liquid from the debris (re: “collection) and the debris would settle at the bottom. So all those mice and spiders and insects that the machine-picker collects, are filtered out, but I’m pretty sure they add to the complexity of the wine, to the terroir. Rohan said that when he was working for a winery in Melbourne they would find huge lizards on the line….that, for sure, is part of the terroir – whether the bugs in the vineyard are little lady bugs or reptiles, it's all part of the climate and the land that makes the grapes taste the way they do. 

Our job to go through picking out the bits on the conveyor belt is to help the press by not having big sticks causing a bit of damage nor do they want the leaves and other things spending time with the grape juice by infusing any unwanted flavours. Add that to your list of wine vocabulary: MMMMousey.  

Looking back, the mouse is almost bearable after seeing a twitching poisonous redback spider on top of the line. The striking red line against it’s black body just stared at me daringly as I wide-eyed watched it go by in absolute horror. I doubt I will ever get that image out of my head. But, that is the difference between hand-picking and mechanically-picking. Hand-picking would not include big twigs or mice – maybe some earwigs and spiders and definitely some leaves, but whoever is cutting big branches off the vine and grabbing mice is an idiot picker.

the grape juice after it goes through the press to be pumped into tanks

It's a different kind of hard work. My body wasn't in physical pain like from bottling, but it includes long hours of standing, getting your hands wet and sticky from the grape juice, and it is pretty chilly in the dark early hours of the morning. It’s definitely a dizzying job watching the bunches of light green grapes go by with your hands ready to grab whatever is different – a sunburned crinkled brown leaf, a dark green leaf still attached to a clustered bunch of grapes, a brown stick or curly vine twig - but then there are different colours that stick out from the light green grapes such as the gnarled spiders that have drowned, the multitudes of earwigs swimming in the clear grape juice, the spiders that are still alive crawling the opposite way on the line away from their doomed death to be squeezed in the press, the huge  at least 2 inches long light brown cockroaches wriggling on their back….Anything that is not a grape, instinct tells your hands to reach out and remove it. I’ve gotten pretty good as the belt goes by, grabbing what I can in a wave of blurred-green dizziness, but my instinctive reflex to not grab something particularly nasty are even better. I need to work on my peripheral vision to anticipate what’s coming next and improve my recognition skills to process what I am about to grab before I really do squeal and pass out from some unwanted interaction with vineyard wildlife.

We all agree we should insist on handpicked grapes. 

Australian Difference #5

You know you're in the middle of nowhere when you don't have to lock your doors at night. You know you don't have to lock your doors at night when the owner of the property laughs at you when you ask if there is a password for the wi fi. 

This is What SNOW in OCTOBER Looks Like.

 Downtown Portsmouth

Apparently our building is connected to Memorial Bridge's power source which is why we never (knockonwood) lose power, but so many people did, and are still without power. 

Large chunks of snow in my hair!

 Portsmouth from the Down Town Portsmouth Building

St John's Church

 Following footsteps.

That's right, snow in October is SCARY!

What's in Season: Apples

Buying: Look for firm apples without bruising or soft spots. Preference on which variety to choose depends on personal taste for sweet, tart, or mild and what will be done with the apples - eaten raw, made into apple sauce, or cooked with which tart apples are best for retaining their shape and texture.  


Storing: 

Apples should be stored in a plastic bag, or uncovered, in the refrigerator or in a cool, dark place where they can retain their nutritional value for up to 3 months. Warm temperatures will make them lose their crispness. Like all refrigerated fruit, remove them from the refrigerator a couple hours before planning on eating them to restore their flavor. Bruised apples will release ethylene gas and cause other apples in the pack to exponentially ripen, so keep cut and bruised apples separate.  If freezing cut apples, toss with powdered vitamin  to reduce the browning and place on a baking sheet until hard, then store the frozen pieces in a tightly-sealed plastic bag. If not using the frozen apples within a few weeks, blanch them first.

Do not store apples with pears, onions, garlic or potatoes.

Medical: A medium apple is about 70 calories. It aids digestion and prevents fluid retention. High Vitamin C. Eating apple seeds is ok in small amounts, but in large amounts is dangerous as they contain a small amount of cyanide! The inflammatory and antioxidant nutrients in apples are good for decreasing asthma....where's my puffer?

Cooking: To prevent cut apples from browning when they are exposed to air, soak them in 2 tbsp lemon juice with 1/2 cup water. Browning just affects the appearance, not the taste. 

Apples pair excellently with sharp cheddar cheeses and peanut butter.

The best apples to cook with that hold their shape well include Cortland, Empire, Jonagold, Northern Spy, and Rome. McIntosh will become fragile. As they are an early variety, Paula Red and Jersey Red are best for eating fresh off the tree, uncooked.

Thoroughly wash apples before use. 

All About Apple Varieties
Braeburn – Originally from New Zealand, introduced in 1950′s. Spicy and tart with a juicy, crisp texture. Holds well in cooking as well as being a great eating apple.

Cortland – large sized apples with mostly red skin and red strips appearing on the lighter areas. They have a mild, tender flavor. Ideal for snacks, salads, and fruit platters because the flesh will remain white even after being cut. They are also good for baking with.

Empire – Native to New York, it is grown almost entirely on the East Coast.  It is a cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious. Medium sized. Distinctive strips. They are great eaten raw, especially right from the orchard. They are good for baking and for making applesauce. The flavor is sweet and the creamy flesh is semi-firm.


Fuji – originally from Japan, it was introduced to the US in the 1980’s and it is now the fourth most widely grown in the US. Large sized. Sweet and crisp. Varies from golden to blushed pink. Holds its shape and texture well when cooked and also stores well.


Gala – originally from New Zealand, it was introduced to the US in 11965 but didn’t become popular until the 1980’s.  It is now the third most widely grown in the US. Golden with pinky stripes. It is aromatic and tart. It holds its shape when cooked and great in applesauce. As one of the first harvested apples, it doesn’t keep very well, so don’t buy after early spring.

Golden Delicious – Medium to large sized. Golden yellow in appearance with a elongated shape and a five point bump at its base. The sweet flesh is yellowish-white and crisp. It is good for both eating and cooking.


Honey Crisp – Native to the US. Red skin with a golden background. Crisp and sweet. Good for eating fresh but also holds well during cooking.

Ida Red – Native to the US. Good for eating fresh. Great for pies and their texture holds well in baked apple desserts. Sweet and tart flavor.


Jerseymac – a month-early variety of McIntosh. Medium to large size. Uniform shape. The skin is red with green slashes. Good for eating, but not great for baking.


Jonagold – native to New York. It is tangy. It is a bit soft to eat out of the hand, but it is creamy when cooked.


Macoun - from New York. Bright red with purple blush. Firm and juicy with a sweet white flesh. Great for eating fresh in salads or with cheese.


McIntosh – From North America. Medium to large sized. White flesh is sometimes lined with red veins. Skin is greenish with bright red blush.  Slightly tart flavor. They bruise easily as they are tender, but can be stored for 2-3 months in cold storage. They are good to eat or baked in pies and sauces.

Milton – From the US. Medium sized. Yellow/green with red blush. Firm and Tart. Good for cooking apple sauce and baking pies.

Mutsu – also called Crispin. From Japan. Large and green, it looks almost like a Golden Delicious. Sweet and sharp. Good for eating fresh, holds its shape well for cooking, especially baked apples.


Paula Red – From the US. Bright red. Early season variety. Small to medium sized. Mild taste. Good for eating fresh. Flesh becomes soft when cooked so it’s better for applesauce.

Pink Lady – A trademark name, the variety is actually Cripps Pink. One of the first apples marketed as its brand name rather then variety. From Australia. As the name suggests, the skin is delicate pink. Sweet, honeyed and tart. Best for eating fresh.


Red Delicious – Used to make up almost half of the American apple harvest, but now is only a little more than a quarter. Medium to large sized. Bright red, sometimes with stripes, and have distinctive bottom bumps. Crisp and sweet. Best eaten raw straight from your hand, and is not recommended for cooking.

Fruit Tips.

Fruits are generally harvested and sold under-ripe so that the firmness protects from damages. Even at a farm, the farmer knows that you probably won't be eating all the fruit right away and don't want you to have mush the next day.

Plant-ripening fruits, like citrus fruits, most berries, grapes, cherries, melons, pineapple, and plums don't develop more flavor after being harvested. Apricots, avocados, bananas, kiwis, mangoes, pears, peaches, nectarines, persimmons, and tomatoes ripen and soften and have their flavors peak after a couple of days. Apples will soften and sweeten also, but most people prefer them crisp.

The ripening enzyme in fruit is a gas called ethylene, so trapping the gas will expedite the ripening process. Place fruits in a brown paper bag. Adding an already ripe piece of fruit will double the amount of ethylene.

Many fruits found in the supermarket are picked under-ripe, stored in a distribution center and sprayed with ethylene gas when the supermarket demands them to be ripe and ready.

To get fruits with the best flavor and quality, figure out what's in season. Otherwise, the produce is being shipped hundreds and thousands of miles away - great for the environment - or even if it's locally grown, if it's out of season it's grown in a greenhouse emitting lots of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to keep the ideal temperatures - also great for the environment.

The best way to store fruit, like raspberries for example, is to take them out of the basket and lay them in a single layer on a flat plate lined with paper towel to absorb moisture. This way the fruit is not piled on top of each other, causing dents and trapping moisture - both which encourage spoiling.

Refrigerate fruit only after they have ripened. The cold will slow the loss of moisture, but if refrigerated too soon, the cold will cause the fruit to become mealy.

For refrigerated fruit, take them out a couple hours before using them to rejuvenate the flavor that was suspended in the cold.

Always keep tomatoes at room temperature. Wrap cut tomatoes in plastic wrap.

To blanch or not to blanch before freezing? Blanch if you are not going to use the fruit within a few weeks. The blanching stops the ripening enzymes that create off-flavors and consume the fruit's nutrients. If you use the fruit within a few weeks, wash and cut and rob with powdered vitamin C which will diminish browning. Put them on a baking sheet, stick in the freezer and when they are hard and frozen, transfer to a plastic freezer bag or container.

Fruits that brown when exposed to air include apples, bananas, peaches, and pears.

What's in Season: Peaches & Nectarines

Peaches. There is nothing that tastes like summer than biting into a recently picked, perfectly ripe peach that when you bite into it, juice just oozes down your chin and drips down your arm. Pure pleasure.

I am allergic to peaches - they are related to the almond family - so I generally stay away from them. Plus I always thought they weren't that great, a little tasteless and not sweet enough. I thought that I was less allergic when they were a bit hard and under-ripe. However, my interest peaked as everyone at the farmers market started asking about the arrival of the peaches and how they were their favorite part of summer. So when they finally came in season, I couldn't resist to biting into one. Minus the incredibly itchy fuzz which makes me maniacally scratch, they definitely are delicious when juicy and ripe with the juice running down your chin and all over your arms as you try to wipe it off.

Buying: Peaches are either clingstone or free-stone. Clingstone are ones where the flesh is pretty securely attached to the flesh and are usually sent to the canning industry whereas free-stone peaches have pits that hang about the flesh pretty freely. There are a lot of different varieties of peaches and nectarines but realistically, they can be interchangeable. Pay attention to the smell of the fruit as well as the background color. Red, although appealing, doesn't not equate with ripeness or maturity, but with with variety of the fruit.  You can tell the type of peach by looking at the ribbed shoulder on the top of the peach - the little strip will be yellow-orange for a yellow fleshed peach and a lighter yellow for a white flesh skin. Look for pieces of fruit that have an orange or golden, not green, hue to their background. Like tomatoes, always trust your nose and smell your fruit - should be peachy keen!

Storing: If you want to keep peaches for longer, keep them in the refrigerator after they have begun to ripen (do not put under-ripe fruit in the fridge as it will dry out the flesh and turn mealy). If you're looking to eat them sooner, leave them out at room temperature. If you want to eat it even sooner, place it in a brown paper bag with a banana (or any fruit that exudes ethylene) and it will expedite the ripening process. They are very fragile and delicate, any damage or bruising will cause them to start decomposing which is why farmers markets may have boxes of "canning" peaches and nectarines. The juices will cause the other fruits to start to rot prematurely as well so they are separated. These are often ready to eat, fallen, bruised, split-pit, even ugly fruits that are perfect for canning, obviously, or making jams, pies, and tarts. Peaches and nectarines, like tomatoes, are climacteric, which means they will continue to ripen after they are picked. So, if you buy a peach or nectarine from the farmers market that is pretty hard, it is because the farmer knows that you might not eat it right away, so leave it on the counter and it will be excellent to eat in a couple days. I'm not quite sure what to answer when people ask me if the fruit will ripen and become softer....what do you think? It will stay hard or just get harder? Of course it will ripen. However, if you go pick your own peaches and nectarines, follow your nose to find the fruit picked off the tree that is just bursting with liquid sugary syrup that will drip down your arm as you take that first bite......

Split Pits

"she obviously has a lot of respect for you. none of our friends know what a split pit is, let alone be able to talk about it for hours."

What's the difference between a peach and a nectarine? Not too much. 
Fact: peaches and nectarines are so closely related that sometimes a peach seed will germinate a nectarine tree and a nectarine seed with grow a peach tree! There is just one differentiating gene. Because peaches have hair on their surface - which causes all sorts of uncomfortable itching for me - they are considered to be "pubescent" whereas nectarines have no fuzz, just a smooth surface. Although preferred by some, nectarines are firmer than peaches so they don't have that melt-in-your-mouth effect and therefore don't really fall apart messily all over your hand, half in your mouth like a ripe peach often does.

Medical: Lots of Vitamin A & C and potassium. They are virtually fat-free (less than 1 gram), very low in calories (about 40) and the skin is a good source of fiber!

I AM ITCHINIGLY INCREDIBLY ALLERGIC TO PEACH FUZZ! 

....hours of itching at work....

Cooking: When cooking peaches, peel the skin as they will easily peel away throughout the cooking process, however, nectarines do not need to be peeled. To easily peel a peach, put an X with a sharp knife at the bottom of the peach and pop in boiling water to blanch for a couple seconds and then quickly put into a bowl of ice water. The ice water will stop the peach from continuing to cook and the skin will easily peel away. If the fruit is incredibly ripe, blanching is probably not necessary.

If you are using cut fruit, sprinkle some sugar over it to stop it from browning as the exposure to air will cause enzymatic browning.

Recipes:

Peach Bellini
The Bellini is a popular drink in Italy made famous from Harry's Bar in Venice, owned by Giuseppi Cipriani. I always wanted to meet a Giuseppi while I was living in Italy. Anyways, a Bellini is a long drink cocktail served without ice. It is two parts (100mL) prosecco, one part (50mL) white peach puree. The peach puree can be made by blanching a peach to remove the skins, then blending it with a dash of prosecco (a lot of recipes will call for water and lemon juice, but why not prosecco?!). The puree is then added to the glass and topped off with prosecco. A virgin version can be made also by using club soda instead (with the water and lemon juice in the blender).


Tomato Peach and Basil Salad
4 Tomatoes (or to match the amount of peaches, depending on the size)
4 Peaches (2 yellow, 2 white)
Basil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 teaspoons dark brown sugar, optional
2 cloves chopped garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup quality extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Roughly cut the tomatoes and peaches into bite size pieces. Tear basil into the salad. Whisk together the remaining ingredients to make the vinaigrette. Gently toss and fold into the salad.


Grilled Peach Salad
Dressing:
2 1/2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and Pepper
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1 lemon
1 oz Parmesean, freshly grated

2 large peaches, halved, pits removed
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 frisee or endive leaves, washed and dried
small bunch of fresh mint leaves

Put the goat cheese in a pestle and mortar with sea salt and pepper - easy on the salt because the cheese will already be salty. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix. Add the parmesean and mix again, but not for too long. 

What's in Season: Cabbage

Buying: Look for cabbages that have tight heads - even if the outer leaves are a bit floppy, they can be discarded. Leaves should not be discolored, damaged or dried out. If buying from a store, avoid those that look like they have been overly tidied up. 


Storing: Cabbage should be kept cold to retain it’s Vitamin C amount. Savoy cabbage will keep for about a week in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. A cut, unused part of the cabbage should be wrapped tightly in plastic and placed in the fridge. It should be used quickly as cut cabage will continue to lose its beneficial vitamins.


Fact: The world record for the largest cabbage is ranked at 124 lbs from Wales.


Medical: Cabbage retains the most nutrition when eaten raw. It is said to reduce colonic cancer risk, perk up the immune system, and eradicate bacteria. Cabbage juice is apparently good for preventing and curing ulcers.


Cooking: Remove any tough, fiberous outer leaves. Quarter the cabbage, remove the core, and then cut into the desired size slice, either shredded in a food processor or cut with a stainless steel knife (certain phytonutrients react with carbon, so stainless steel will prevent the leaves from turning black). Only cut and wash cabbage right before using it. After cutting the cabbage, it is possible to soak the leaves in cold water to not only keep it crisp, but to draw out some of those sulfurous chemicals that put many people off cabbage.


Cabbage can be steamed or blanched for 6-8 minutes. After washing, shredding and blanching for 1 minute, cabbage can be frozen in plastic bags. Cabbage can be stir-fried, baked, braised, the thick, waxy leaves of cabbage are great for acting as carb-free sandwich wraps, salad cupping, or for stuffing. Add thin cuts of cabbage to soups to sweeten and thicken the broth.


-------
Cabbage-Not-Iceberg Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing, Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and Torn Croutons

I was looking through my Ad Hoc at Home cookbook and saw a recipe for the classic Iceberg Lettuce Salad. The quartered lettuce in the picture reminded me of quartered cabbage and decided to make it using cabbage instead. A lot of people from the CSA program choose to swap out their cabbage - either out of distaste, fed up with making coleslaw or just don't know what to do with it so I thought everyone loves Iceberg Salad, there's some reason why it's always on menu's so why not include cabbage as an interesting twist. And what a HIT!


Ok, it looks like a lot of work. And it was. Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home look like easy recipes, but for every ingredient, it's another recipe on another page. I've tried to lay it out below in an easy order.  I love the reward and the therapy of an all-day cook-fest. The remaining aioli can be used for sandwich spreads (I was a little too thrilled with myself at the success of homemade aioli), the garlic confit and oil can be used in other recipes. The blue cheese dressing can be used in salads or for dipping veggies throughout the week.  It might not be the healthiest, but it's a good way to incorporate cabbage into an interesting twist - cabbage is very low in calories - and I left out the bacon. 


Garlic Confit and Oil
2 bulbs garlic, peeled - about one cup
about 2 cups canola oil


cut off the root ends of the garlic cloves. Put in a small sauce pan and add enough oil to cover them by about 1 inch - none should be poking through. POKE. Put the saucepan over med-low heat and cook gently - little bubbles should come up but they shouldn't break the surface - remove from the heat if this happens/adjust heat. Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so until the cloves are completely tender when pierced with a knife tip. Remove from the heat and allow garlic to cool in the oil. Can be refrigerated in a covered container for 1 week. 


Oven Roasted Tomatoes

8 cherry tomatoes, halved (I used a mix of purple cherry and yellow blush tomatoes)

extra virgin olive oil or garlic oil from above

thyme

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F. Put the tomato halves on a baking sheet and drizzle with the remaining ingredients. Roast for about 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes have softened and look like they are about to burst. Remove and let come to room temperature. 

Aioli
4 large egg yolks
2 cups Garlic Oil (above)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon kosher salt


To easily remove the yolks from the whites, crack in half and slowly dip the yolks into a bowl. You can gently put the yolk into your hand and the whites will run through your fingers. Put the egg yolks in a food processor and process to combine. With the motor running, VERY slowly add the oil through the whole in the center, blending until it is emulsified and thick. Add the lemon juice and salt. Stop the motor as soon as the last drop of oil is added - overworking it will cause it to break. Can be refrigerated covered for up to 1 week. 

*Substitute regular canola oil to make plain mayonnaise*

Blue Cheese Dressing
1 cup Aioli (above)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup creme fraiche 
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon dill
salt
1 1/2 cups crumbled blue cheese (suggested: Pt. Reyes)
(recipe also calls for 1 teaspoon of both minced chives and mint which I did not have so I added dill which worked great)


Put the aioli in a large bowl then whisk in the buttermilk and remaining ingredients. Additional buttermilk can be used to make it less thick, if desired. Can be refrigerated in a covered container for up to 1 week. 
*Buttermilk can be made by putting 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a 1-cup measuring cup and filling the rest with milk, stir, then let sit for 2 minutes. 

Grilled Cabbage Wedges 

1 cabbage, quartered

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F (should be set, from the tomatoes) or light up the grill - which we did. Rub the cut sides of the cabbage with the oil. Put the cabbage quarters on to a large sheet of tin foil, cut side down and drizzle with a little oil and season. Wrap and cover with the foil tightly to seal it.  Bake or grill for about 20 minutes, until the cabbage is tender. Open the foil to let cool. 

Meanwhile...

Torn Croutons

Tear day-old sourdough bread into bite-size pieces. Pour enough Garlic Oil into the bottom of a large pan to cover the bottom. Heat until hot and then add the bread in a single layer. Reduce the heat. Stir the bread in the oil so that it is coated. If you hear sizzling, the heat is too high and the croutons will become too dry - the key is to slow cook them for about 20 minutes so that the croutons absorb the garlicky oil and become crsip and golden brown on all sides. Set aside. 

Arrange the cabbage onto 4 plates or onto a serving dish. Tuck the tomatoes in and around the lettuce (4 haves per person). Sprinkle with the croutons. Spoon some of the dressing over the salad and serve the remaining dressing on the side. 

PHEW!

What's in Season: Melon

Buying: A melon in general should be heavy for it’s size and without bruises. The undertones of the melon should be more yellow than green. Cantaloupe are considered to be netted melons as their surface skin is covered in a web of netted veins. The veins should be pronounced and golden, not green. The inside cavity also contains seeds that are enclosed in a netted web. Knocking on the melon is one way of seeing if it is ripe enough to eat – the cavity inside should sound hollow whereas a honeydew’s seeds will rattle inside when ripe. Like most fruit, trust your nose and smell the fruit, the aroma should be incredibly fragrant. Watermelons are part of the melon family that have smooth skins. They should have a deep, rich skin color and a waxy surface. “Sugar spots” are a good indicator of a good smooth-skinned melon; they are brown flecks that supermarkets usually wash off as imperfections. Crenshaw melons, long and oval in shape, are the most aromatic when ripe and should have a bright yellow skin covering a golden pink flesh. Honeydew should have a smooth, pale yellow-green surface. The blossom end should be rather soft with a slight fragrant aroma. French melons are small and have a grayish yellow-green skin. With its flowery aroma, it is easy to tell when it is ripe as it look as though it is about to burst open.

Storage: An whole, unripe melon should be left at room temperature. Cut melon should not be left out at room temperature for more than 2 or at most 4 hours and for a chilled melon, refrigerate it only overnight. After being picked, a melon will continue to soften, but it will not get any sweeter. Do not put melon in the fridge with strong smelling foods as they will easily absorb those other flavors.

Medical: Watermelon and cantaloupe have a low calorie count (one cup of cantaloupe = 56 calories, watermelon 48 calories). With its orange flesh, cantaloupe is very high in beta-carotene, which is good for your eye sight, so it is very high in Vitamin A, which is good for lung health. It also contains a high amount of Vitamin C which not only acts as an antioxidant, but it protects the immune system by encouraging white blood cells to fight against infections, kill bacteria and viruses, and rejuvenates inactive Vitamin E within the body. Cantaloupe is also high in potassium and dietary fiber. The B Vitamins cantaloupe contains help process carbohydrates and along with the amount of fiber, regulates the flow of sugar into the bloodstream. Watermelon is filled with lycophene which is very strongly preventive of cancer.

Fact: Melons are related to squash, pumpkins, and plants that grow off vines on the ground. What we call cantaloupe in America is actually a muskmelon. The true variety of cantaloupe is found mostly in France. Cantaloupe  were first cultivated in 1700 A.D. in Italy in a town called Cantalup, where its name derives from.

Cooking:

Melon has so much more to offer than just in a fruit salad. I made a refreshing chilled melon soup the other day with half a crenshaw and half a french melon I had pureed with half a cucumber, lime juice, basil, a jalapeno, and water to smooth out the consistency. Juicy melon is great wrapped in salty serrano ham or prosciutto. Melon Salsa. Great for parties: cut a hole in a watermelon and carve out some of the flesh. Stick in a funnel and slowly pour in vodka, it will take time to absorb so do ahead...or cut the melon up, stick it in a bowl and pour the vodka over. 

Melon Salad
About 5 lbs assorted melons, room temperature, cut into any free-form desired shape, slice, cube or ball.
1 head frisee, washed and dried
12 small French breakfast radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt
3 oz feta cheese, drained, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, quartered lengthwise
small mint leaves (optional)


Pour the oil and vinegar in a bowl and swirl to make a vinaigrette.  Toss the frisee and radishes in a medium bowl and drizzle about half of the vinaigrette around the sides of the bowl. Toss to coat and season to taste. Arrange some of the melon on a serving platter, drizzle with some vinaigrette and repeat with more melon and vinaigrette, layering as you build the salad. Loosely place the lettuce on top of the melon then scatter with feta cheese and olives. Garnish with mint leaves.

* Adapted from Thomas Kellar’s Ad Hoc at Home. The sweet melon goes fabulously with the salty cheese and olives and the slight bitterness of the frisee.  I made this salad with only a Crenshaw melon and it was delicious, although a variety of melons would add more color, an array of texture and a medley of flavor. He also included toasted pine nuts and 1 English cucumber which I did not have. I used some pickled radishes I had made rather than small wedges like his recipe called for (boil 2 parts vinegar to 1 part sugar, 1 part water and let cool, add radishes – or any veg – into a canning jar and pour the room-temp pickling liquid over them, let stand for 30 minutes, cover, refrigerate up to 1 month)




Watermelon, cut into cubes, goes fantastically with some feta cheese, red onion, pine nuts, and fresh basil. Drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.The juicy sweetness of melon pairs incredibly well with salty foods – like feta – so wrapped slices of melon with prosciutto is delicious and easy. Try it grilled!

The Pesky Corn Parts

Just found this article on gilttaste.com....pretty amazing, I must say. I don't know who ingeniously thinks about creating these things but good for them.

Corny Ingenuity: Make Tasty Stuff from Husks, Cobs and Silk

Kernels all gone? Don’t snooze on husk butter, cob-smoking, and... just look at that fried corn silk nest

by Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot  August 9, 2011

As corn obsessives, the year’s first ears at the market—good or bad—always come home with us. But what begins as a trickle soon swells, and after our fiendish cravings are sated, we can start to get choosy—searching for heavy weights, smooth green husks, and shiny kernels; signs of the freshest ears. And then, too, we get a little more inquisitive and creative with the ears in the kitchen. Lately, we’ve been tinkering with the big piles of compost our obsession gives us: The stacks of cobs, piles of husks, and tangles of silk. While the kernels may still be best for eating, it turns out all the other parts have something delicious to offer, too. Here are some of our favorite ways to get sweet flavor and fascinating textures out of them. Finally, you can be as corny as you wanna be!

• Let’s start with the least obviously appealing part of all: The corn silk. For most people, these threads just kind of stick around annoyingly while you try to shuck. But it turns out that frying the corn silk produces a wonderful tangle of light crispness. Gather the light, clean corn silk from your shucking (cut off any brown ends). The trick is drying the strands completely in a dehydrator or a 175-200⁰F oven and then flash frying them at 400°F. If your oil isn’t hot enough the silks will be stringy and tough, but at high heat they are crisp, delicate and delicious. We love using them to make nests, garnished with a variety of fresh herb leaves and cradling a soft-cooked egg. You could also use fried corn silk as a crunchy garnish to eat out of hand or over creamed corn. Or wrap them around shrimp as a seasonal twist on the cruise-ship classic, coconut shrimp.

• Taking a cue from tamales, where dried corn husks add a mysterious sweet, aromatic flavor to the filling, we like to shred the husks from several ears of corn and make a thick bed in the roasting pan for chicken, fish and vegetables, which perfumes the oven with a clean, grassy note. Be sure to discard the outermost layers as they tend to be dirty and just use the tender, inner leaves. Or try stuffing the cavity of fish with shredded corn husks before roasting or grilling.

• Another great, unexpected product is husk butter. We julienne fresh husks and cook them over medium-low heat in butter until lightly caramelized and the flavors infuse the butter. (Use 2 ears-worth for each ¼ pound of butter.) The mild sugar of the husks lends a warm toasty sweetness to the butter, and gives a grassy, corn-y note to the finish. We strain out the husks and use the butter to gently stew freshly scraped corn kernels for fresh polenta. Or we make a corn husk hollandaise and slather it on freshly grilled ears of corn. It also works beautifully in corn bread and—our favorite—blueberry corn muffins, both in the batter and slathered on top.

• In a similar vein, we also love roasted husk-infused cream. Lay the husks out on a sheet pan, in a layer 2-3 leaves thick, and roast them at 300°F for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until they turn a rich golden brown. Then take those roasted husks and steep them, covered, in barely-simmering sweet cream; we like to use 2 cups of roasted husks for every pint of cream for a delicate corn flavor that doesn’t overwhelm. This cream can be used on its own or blended with sweet corn kernels for a more complex, layered flavor. We like it as the base for seafood and vegetarian chowders or as the base for corn puddings and ice creams.

• While you’ve got the oven on, you may want to make roasted corn stock. Roast corncobs—they take about 45 minutes at 350°F—and simmer them in water to cover for 20-30 minutes. To bump up the flavor, add roasted husks and the sweet corn silk and you will have a stock like none you’ve ever tasted before.

• Or you can use corn cobs like wood chips for smoking. Dry the cobs in a low oven (175-200°F) overnight or in a dehydrator for a few hours and use them in your smoker for a light, sweet smoke that’s just awesome.