Fruit of the Vine

by Chewy

You planted the garden, composted responsibly and spread that fertile gold around the sprouting plants. Now that they have pushed above ground they are open season for squirrels, chipmunks and slugs. Trapping slugs is fun. All you have to do is finish off most of a can of beer and place in the garden. Trapping the rodentia  is pointless. If you don’t take them far enough they find their way home (why they didn‘t use them during the war instead of homing pigeons, I‘ll never know). If you do manage to get visas for them and send them to Canada, their relatives  take advantage of the abandoned quarters. I suggest standing guard with a pea sling shot. It doesn’t kill them, it just reinforces the negative consequences of crossing the line. Kind of like a dog and a rolled up newspaper.

Pest problem solved, you devoutly water and weed, and soon little blossoms and produce appear. Then one day, as you proudly peruse plot, you realize things have gotten out of hand and you are facing massive amounts of ripened yield. Torpedo zucchinis, vines of cucumbers,  bushes of tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalapenos and eggplants. What is a gardener to do?  Make dessert of course!

What, you say? These are vegetables! Oh, contraire mi amour, these are FRIUTS.  Being the helpful person that I am, I am sharing the "fruits" of my research to lighten your garden burden.

The first comes from my own kitchen, Zucchini Crisp. This is particularly appropriate for those zucchinis that “get away from you” and attain lethal weapon status. I have never served this dessert and had anyone correctly guess it’s main ingredient. You and your guests will swear you are eating an apple crisp.


The next on the list are cucumbers. When I think of summer cucumbers, my mind wanders to that delicious and refreshing cold cucumber and yogurt soup.  So it comes as no surprise that they make a delicious and refreshing sorbet as well (see Cucumber Sorbet). Yet another opportunity to use my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker (Tired of me fawning over this appliance yet?).

Tomato crops seem to fall into two groups. Those partially eaten by vermin resulting in compost fodder, and those that reproduce like rabbits resulting in bags of them being left anonymously on neighbors doorsteps ( along with that zuke with a glandular problem). What’s needed is a recipe for Sweet Baked Tomatoes. Dried fruits, nuts, spices and honey are used to enhance this red berry (botanically speaking).

When ever I have cultivated jalapenos, they all seem to arrive at once and reproduce immediately after harvesting. The interesting thing about hot peppers is that adding sugar tempers the heat and you end up with an interesting flavor combination with just a little warmth at the end.  I managed to find a recipe that combines a couple of traditional  favorites. Dubbed Jalapeno Happiness Dessert, it’s a jalapeno pepper, stuffed with peanut butter and covered in chocolate. I can not wait to try this!

 Not to be left out are the sweet peppers. Sweet Pepper Upside Down Cake uses the attributes of butter, spices, sugars and cornmeal to make a dense dessert. No heat here, it’s sweet all the way.

Finally, we come to eggplant. It’s purple, my favorite color, so it had to get a mention. A far cry from the parmesan rendition, the Spicy Eggplant Cake delights with nuts, honey, sugar, spices, white and whole wheat flours. Topping it all off is a light cream cheese frosting.

All these recipes can be found on the website under recipes. My hope it that some of these will make it to your table and be enjoyed. I would love to hear any of your experiences and opinions and I promise to get back to you on that Jalapeno Happiness Dessert!

The Ice Cream Cometh

photo by pietrgiord

by Chewy

Well, my thoughts of ice cream arrived in March and then quickly retracted in April to all things warm and comfy. Drat this mercurial weather pattern! It has my dessert lineups completely disheveled. However, just today I heard reported that we will have above average temps in May and June, so NOW is the time to contemplate our frozen confections.

I know there are people who enjoy ice cream all year round, but I just can’t wrap myself around a cold dessert while I’m wearing a coat, earmuffs and mittens. This may have to do with my northern Minnesota up-bringing. During the winter, the Dairy Queen closed until the “great thaw“. Every year we looked forward with anticipation to once again seeing the lawn, temps above freezing, the return of the birds, longer sunny days and a crème de menthe sundae at the reopening of DQ. Opening day at DQ was not unlike that of the Cardinals with traffic jams, crowded parking, and joyous faces standing in LONG lines (walk up out door windows only in those days). I’m not sure if parades and fireworks accompanied this event, but they could have.

Today, we have many more options to choose from when it comes to ice cream. Besides the frozen dessert aisle in the grocery store, specialty establishments have sprung up all over town. From Oberweis to the renowned Ted Drewes, from gelato to shaved ice, our choices break down into two groups, those that have a dairy base and those that don’t. So that you are prepared to make an informed decision, we’ll discuss a  short synopsis of each variety. While this is not a comprehensive listing, it does cover the basics.

Starting with the dairy based we have the following:

Ice cream: (Properly ice-cream, derived from iced cream or cream ice) . This is a dairy based product, usually made from milk or cream and often combined with fruits, nuts and additional flavors (artificial and natural). The mixture of desired ingredients is stirred slowly while cooling, in order to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming. The result is a smoothly textured, semi solid, foam that can be scooped. Interestingly, the higher the fat content, the harder the product and of course, bigger yum factor.

Ice Milk: Similar in production and ingredients to ice cream, it differs in that it contains less than 10 percent milk fat. This results in typically lower pricing. In 1994, the  U.S. FDA rules allowed ice milk to be labeled as low-fat ice cream.

 

Frozen Yogurt:  A frozen dessert containing yogurt, it is slightly tarter than ice cream, not to mention, lower in fat. It differs from ice milk in that it includes yogurt as an ingredient. Consists of milk solids, some kind of sweetener, milk fat, yogurt culture, coloring and flavoring.

Frozen Custard: Similar to ice cream, it is made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. U.S. FDA standards require frozen custard to contain at least 10 percent milk fat and 1.4 percent egg yolk solids (any less and it is considered ice cream) True frozen custard is very dense. The soft serve variety is composed of 50 percent air allowing for easy mixture of additional ingredients (custom fruits, nuts and syrups) and facile dispensing.

photo by raatcc36

Gelato: Italian for ice cream, it differs in the butterfat content (4-8% , gelato vs. 14%, ice cream)  and sugar content (16-24%, gelato vs. 12-16%, ice cream). On a personal note, I have never found a gelato here in the states that equals what I experienced in Italy. It has totally ruined me for any other frozen dessert. With airfare the way it, awfully expensive to obtain.

Sherbet: A fruity flavored frozen dessert product with a butter fat content between 1-2 percent. In the United States it must contain  dairy, either milk or cream.

Now on to our non-dairy based items:

Sorbet: A frozen dessert made from sweetened water with fruit, wine or liqueur flavoring. Sometimes served between meal courses as a way to cleanse the palate before the main course. The addition of alcohol lowers the freezing temperature resulting in a softer texture. The lack of dairy and no whipped in air makes for a dense and extremely flavorful product.

Italian Ice: Also known as water ice, it is often confused with sorbet. Sweetened and  made with fruit, it is not shaved ice, but rather processed in the same way that ice cream is without dairy or egg ingredients.

Snow Cone: Shaved ice dessert, served in a paper cone or Styrofoam container, then topped with a flavored sugar syrup. May also be referred to as a snowball.