2014, a Year in Comments: Plant Thievery, Loquats, Breakfast Cerial and the Apocalypse

...t of researching the issue was discovering the Garden Professor’s Facebook page, wherein brainy horticulture types engage in a dialog on newfangled ideas. Use the search function on that page to find the subject you’re interested in. Who would have guessed that Facebook is useful for more than sharing cat photos and speculating about caftans? 5. Non-GMO Versions of Grape Nuts and Cheerios Less Nutritious Than GMO Versions. This may seem to be a po...

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Bread Camp at the Greystone Mansion

...h-baked loaves, whole grain breads, pretzels, parchment crackers, tortilla-making and pizza dough 101. What’s more, many of our recipes will be baked in MOMO a wood-fired mobile bread oven! Don’t worry, home oven baking instructions will be included in your class handouts along with places to source the best flour, grain, equipment and tips. Highlights include: Assembling your own take-home wild yeast starter Grinding fresh flour on the spot from...

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Solar Oven Triumph: Fluffy Egg Strata

...is gives you a sense of what it is like to work with a solar oven. 9:30 AM- 10:30AM: Preheated the oven to 300. Pro-tip: preheating solar ovens is not absolutely necessary, but really helps speed things up. Meanwhile, the strata soaked in the fridge, which is very good for it. 10:30 AM: Strata in. Temperature dropped to 250 from opening door. The strata is in a black enamel pan with a lid. It is chilled. Reflectors and clips are on. Nothing else i...

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Mandrake!

...chapter, “Psychotropic and Highly Inebriating Beers” contains a number of recipes, including one making use of the mysterious mandrake plant, a member of the nightshade family and popularized lately in a certain series of books about a wizard school (Homegrown Revolution suffered through the first film based on these kid’s books on a transatlantic flight a few years ago, finally falling asleep during an endless video game inspired broom chase sce...

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George Rector: M.F.K. Fisher’s Dirty Old Uncle

...ver a double boiler (“that’s the dingus Junior’s cereal is cooked in…”) to making “that noble experiment known as Rum-Tum Ditty” for the boys when they come over for cards. Rum-Tum-Ditty, I have to say, defies explanation. Let’s just say the ingredients include whipped egg whites, a pound of cheese and a can of tomato soup. Speaking of befuddled menfolk, Erik is quite fond of this passage about making Hollandaise sauce (from the chapter titled “A...

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