In response to our customers requests, we have just released our new and unique seed collections online at Underwood Gardens Heirloom Seed Collections. We have an initial 14 collections that are specially priced and carefully selected to make your growing experiences as easy and rewarding as possible. This makes it easy to explore a new area of gardening that you might be interested in, but aren’t ready to jump in fully. Almost all of our collections have a book with them to guide you through the process and help you make your decisions along the way.
These collections allow you to be extremely creative, not just in gardening but in creating gifts and useful everyday items as well. From crafting the perfect personalized homegrown herbal tea for your tea loving friend, making kitchen helpers out of gourds from your garden to creating a personally designed, grown and arranged dried flower bouquet for that special occasion when nothing else will quite do. These collections help you go far beyond what is available in any store, and in the process learn how to create a new and deeply satisfying gardening extension.
Many people are attracted to heirloom seeds and gardening for the variety and flavor. Once they realize that heirlooms are open pollinated seeds that can be saved and replanted year after year, they often ask how to start saving their own seeds.
This is not hard, but there are some basics to understand first. With a little knowledge you will be able to make the choice to save seeds, or realize it’s not something you want to pursue at this point. Please realize that this is an only in introduction, as there are several excellent seed saving books on the subject if you want to learn more.
Short term storage is the largest concern for most home gardeners and even most market growers, as they are looking for a way to have viable seeds for next year, not 10 years from now.
This is the same concern that humans have had since we started planting seeds some 10,000 – 12,000 years ago. There is some confusion as to how to keep seeds viable for a couple of years, as the news about seed banks and the high tech methods have created a false sense of need.
You don’t need high-tech, expensive equipment! You already have everything in your house that you need.
Temperature and humidity are the two main concerns in any seed storage setup. A place that is consistently cool and low humidity are what’s needed, as temperature fluctuations will shorten the life and viability of your seeds.
Your refrigerator or freezer is ideal; you won’t need a lot of room as seeds are usually small.
Short Term Storage
There are environmental concerns to be aware of such as ambient humidity and temperature. If you live in a high humidity environment you will need to take certain precautions, just as if you live in a high temperature area.
In many areas the refrigerator is fine, as long as you put the seeds towards the back and in an area that isn’t exposed to the temperature fluctuations of the door opening. The freezer answers the temperature fluctuations, as it is opened a lot less than the fridge door.
Freezing seeds does not harm them, and can greatly extend their lifespan if done properly.
All seed banks freeze their seeds intended for long term storage! Humidity is a greater concern with freezing, as a blast of warm humid air on frozen seeds can damage them. If you live in a high humidity area, smaller packets of seeds for one years planting will be ideal, as the packet can be pulled from the larger seed storage without exposing the rest of the seeds to temperature/humidity fluctuations.
If you are saving seeds from a seed packet where you didn’t use all of the seeds, keep the packet and put it into a Ziploc baggie. Date the baggie and put it into a gallon sized Ziploc that has the date on it as well.
If you don’t date everything, you will wonder how long the seed has been in storage…
If you are saving seeds from harvest, put all of the info on the baggie- common name, scientific name, date, and any notes you want to remember next year when you pull it out.
This is the time to start a garden/seed journal as well, to document what you planted, what grew well, what challenges you had, bugs, disease, weather, etc. that you will forget in 3 or 4 years.
As with anything you will need to experiment and learn what works best for you and in your specific, unique situation. Some high humidity areas need to store their seeds in smaller quantities and pull the individual packets out of the storage container that are needed for that years planting, put them into another container in the back of the fridge to thaw out for a couple of days, then finally bring them out into the room to finish warming up.
Most areas aren’t nearly as exacting, with the seeds going from the freezer to a covered container on the counter for a couple of days to thaw and stabilize before being planted. One side note, some seeds will germinate better after freezing/refrigerating, as this imitates the natural winter season in the ground.
Longer Term Storage
Long term storage is similar to short term, but the freezer is almost always used, with chest freezers purchased specifically for seeds acting as miniature seed banks.
Only seeds are stored in the freezer and it is opened only a couple of times a year, so temperature swings are minimized. The freezer is usually run at about -15F. Most seeds will last a minimum of 5 years with certain hardy varieties lasting 20+ years!
This is obviously the domain of the serious seed saver. There are a lot of individuals that fall into this category, which surprises many people, who think that serious seed saving and seed banks are reserved for seed companies or government agencies.
Individual seed banks were common until the 1920’s, and are on the rise again. It makes a lot of sense to have a local or community seed bank, as the varieties saved are locally adapted and proven producers; poor performers simply aren’t saved. Local knowledge on what grows well is indispensable and is not possible to have at a company or government level except for possibly at the local level, as the time and interest is just not there.
To start saving seeds, they must be clean and dry, free of vegetable matter or mold/mildew.
Most seeds are intuitive to save, just let them dry on the vine/cob/pod and shell or separate the seeds from the husk/cob/pod and you’re done! Some, like tomatoes need a little more work, such as fermenting the gel coat off of the seeds, washing and then drying them.
Start with an easily processed seed to get the feel and see if this is something you want to do. Also, start with saving something that you like and are interested in eating again.
Be warned though, once you start it becomes a bit of an obsession as you realize that you are starting to take control of your food and the future of what you eat! It is a powerful and liberating feeling. You might even become a food rebel!
This is a recipe that Cindy has used for several years and is always devoured at picnics. A lot of people ask for the recipe because the flavor is so outstanding! By freezing instead of boiling the brine a lot of unique flavors come out, as well as the fresh cilantro. It is very easy to do in small or large batches. We have used cucumbers and German Beer radishes, but just about any hard skinned vegetable can be used.
Quick, easy, and absolutely delicious - these pickles will be the hit of your picnic, potluck, or dinner party! Freezing instead of boiling brings out flavors lost to the heat, as well as being the only way we've found of keeping the fresh summer cilantro flavor into the winter.
Course: Appetizer
Keyword: freezer pickles
Servings: 4Pints
Ingredients
2lbs.cucumbersthinly sliced
2cupssweet onionsthinly sliced
3 tbspickling saltKosher salt works and tastes great
1wholered bell pepperchopped
1 tspground cuminfreshly ground has better flavor
1/4cupfresh cilantrochopped - homegrown tastes best
1 1/2 cupssugar
1 1/2cups cider vinegar
Instructions
Wash and thinly slice cucumbers - do not peel, then thinly slice onions. There should be about 7 cups.
Toss cucumbers and onions in a large bowl with salt, mixing well to evenly distribute the salt. Let stand at room temperature for 2 - 3 hours, then drain excess liquid but do not rinse.
Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, mix well and pour over vegetables, stirring well to mix. Refrigerate for 8 - 10 hours or overnight.
Pack the vegetables and brine in freezer-proof rigid containers and freeze. We like to use pint jars - they are the perfect size for a picnic or family BBQ. Make sure to leave about 1 inch of headspace to allow for expansion so the jars don't break.
When packing the vegetables, make sure the brine completely covers them to prevent freezer burn and ensure the best flavors.
Freeze for a minimum of 2 weeks to allow the flavors to mature and mingle.
To serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and enjoy!
Be prepared to make an immediate, larger second batch!
Recipe Notes
Use a Cuisinart or other kitchen appliance to slice the vegetables and reduce your prep time to a few minutes!
We've successfully used this recipe with large radishes, cucumbers of all kinds, and yellow beets. Almost any sturdy vegetable - root or otherwise - will pickle beautifully with this recipe.
Making Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Thinly slice your vegetables – we use a Cuisinart or other type of kitchen slicing appliance – making this a 2-minute process!The photos are of two different recipes we did – one with white onions and the other with red ones.
Sliced Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Once your vegetables are sliced, brine them by adding salt to the vegetables and stirring them thoroughly to mix the salt in well. Let sit for a couple of hours – the exact time isn’t important, so don’t worry if it’s 3 hours, they will taste great! Strain out excess moisture from the vegetables, but don’t rinse – you need the salt for flavor and the pickling process.
Next, start the pickling process by mixing the herbs, sugar, and vinegar in a separate bowl, then pour over the brined vegetables. This starts the pickling process.
Pickling Cilantro Freezer Pickles
After refrigerating them overnight, pack yournewly-pickled vegetables into jars or freezer-proof containers. We use pint-sized Mason jars, which are just enough for a family picnic or supper or a BBQ. If there is a larger crowd, we’ll take two.
Packed Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Leave enough room for the pickles to expand without breaking the jars – about 1 inch, and make sure to cover the vegetables with brine for the best flavor and to prevent freezer burn.
Let the flavors mature and mingle for at least 2 weeks before serving. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and serve cold.
I’ve never liked eggplant. The taste was bitter but past that, remarkably bland with a similar texture. Not that exciting.
So I decided to grow some this year. This is something I recommend against to my customers- “Grow what you like to eat” is what I advise.
My reasons for growing something that I don’t like are simple; I also don’t like supermarket tomatoes, yet love the ones that I grow. I wanted to try one eggplant to see if it was different than what I had tasted before. It’s the supermarket vs. homegrown argument on a different level. Supermarket tomatoes are merely tasteless, whereas eggplant is unpleasant to me.
The first eggplant of the season was ready yesterday. A medium gorgeously purple beauty, surprisingly light in weight. I pulled the cookbooks out to see what made sense to try that would showcase the flavor of the eggplant and didn’t require the oven on for an hour, or at all. Marcella Hazan came to the rescue once again. She is an incredible chef and writer of the lesser known Italian cooking that most of us have never experienced. You get the recipe, and the reasons for the actions taken in the cooking and why to not shortcut the steps. Flavors are described in detail and reasons behind the techniques are given, something I’ve rarely seen. The stories behind each recipe are compelling as well, something I love from the heirloom seeds.
The recipe I tried is Eggplant Sauce with Bell Pepper, Tomato and Basil. I’ll give it to you at the end. The freshly sliced eggplant was not bitter, but had a slightly sweet flavor that compounded the smell of the fresh eggplant. I salted it according to the directions, which made it sweeter. I chose this recipe as it used more fresh ingredients from our garden. I’ve got some wonderfulGenovese Basil that has an incredible aroma and holds up in cooking. I don’t have the bell peppers or tomatoes yet, so will try it again when another eggplant is ripe.
The overall character is complex and slightly spicy with many individual flavors that come through, yet is in harmony as no single flavor overpowers another. Italian flavor at it’s finest! The flavors are not overbearing, as most common American Italian cooking has become, but are lively and pleasing. This is a lighter dish, perfect for summer cooking, and can be done outside on a grill if one is experienced at outdoor cooking, not just barbecuing. This is a dish I would prep ahead of time to do trail side at the end of a long day exploring the backcountry of Arizona or the Southwest. It’s not hard, but attention and patience are needed to bring the flavors out! The small investment of time is well worth it.
Here’s the recipe:
1 1/2 lbs eggplant
Salt
1 ripe bell pepper (yellow is best, but make sure it’s ripe)
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves sliced very thin
1/8 Tsp crushed red pepper or to taste
2 Tbs Italian flat leaf parsley- whole leaves, not chopped
1/3 Cup thinly sliced onion
1 Cup ripe fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped. Canned Italian tomatoes will work.
1/3 Cup dry white wine
6 small basil leaves or 4 large ones, torn not cut into small pieces
6 green olives in brine, quartered
1 1/2 Tbs capers
1 Lb box dry pasta, penne is good choice
Slice eggplant in half. If seeds are dark, or if there a lot of seeds, scoop seeds out. Cut eggplant into 1 inch squares, put into colander rinse in cold water. Salt and let set for 45 minutes. This brings out the bitter liquid if there is any. Rinse again afterwards.
Split bell pepper in half, scoop out seeds and pith, then peel skin with swivel peeler. This removes the bitterness in the skin once cooked. Cut into thin strips.
Warm 3 Tbs olive oil in 10 inch skillet, then add garlic and chili pepper. Increase heat to medium, no more. Stir often just until garlic scent rises, no more.
Add whole parsley leaves. Careful, they will pop and sputter for a couple of seconds. Stir a couple of times, add onion and turn heat to low. Cook slowly until onion is soft. This increases the flavor by cooking slowly, and the garlic flavor is not entirely lost.
Add pepper strips, some salt and cook until pepper starts to be tender. Stir occasionally. You should have some liquid starting to build in the bottom of the pan.
Add eggplant, tomatoes, wine, basil, olives and capers. Stir several times to mix well. Slowly simmer with lid on for 40 minutes, watching liquid level. It should slowly decrease, and have almost no liquid at the end. Add a small amount if it looks dry. Stir occasionally during the simmer. Crack lid if too much liquid is remaining about 15 minutes before the end, or when you put the pasta water on.
Time cooking the pasta so its done just before the sauce, about 7-10 minutes. Toss pasta with sauce, adding 1 more Tbs olive oil and serve hot. Cheese is really not needed, but you can add a small amount of pecorino if you want. Don’t drown the delicate sauce in cheese!
Enjoy and let me know what you think! Please leave a comment!
Place sausage links onto a sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until done. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut at an angle into 1/2-inch slices.
Place onions and bacon slices in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Remove bacon and crumble. Set aside. Note- You can saute the kale at this step for extra richness in its flavor!
Add garlic to the onions and cook an additional 1 minute. Add chicken soup base, water, and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Note- This is where I prefer to add my kale! Russian kale will take the simmer without losing its texture and flavor.
Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve.
Stir-Fried Kale and Broccoli Florets
Good for an unusual side dish. Can be used for a light fall lunch or dinner starter.
INGREDIENTS
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
7 cloves garlic, sliced
1 chile pepper, chopped (optional)
1 head fresh broccoli, chopped
1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut in thin strips
juice of 2 limes
salt
DIRECTIONS
Heat olive oil in a large wok or skillet over high heat. Stir in garlic and chile pepper; cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broccoli; cook 1 minute. Add kale, and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes. Pour in lime juice, and season with salt to taste. Toss well.
Pork Tenderloin with Steamed Kale
Amazing showcase of pork and kale. For extra flavor, marinate the tenderloin for a couple of hours, up to overnight.
INGREDIENTS
2 limes, juiced
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 (1 1/2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 pound kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl , whisk olive oil with lime juice. Season with cilantro, garlic salt, and peppercorns.
Brush the pork tenderloin with three tablespoons of the lime dressing. Wrap in aluminum foil, and place on in a large baking dish. Roast in preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees. Note- can be slow grilled on indirect heat on a BBQ if the weather is too hot or you want a smoky flavor!
While the tenderloin is cooking, place kale in a steamer. Cook for 20 minutes, or until tender. You can saute the kale now for a more intense flavor.
Slice the pork tenderloin into 1 1/2 inch thick slices. Serve on top of the kale. Whisk the remaining dressing, and drizzle over pork and kale. Make sure to serve the kale under and on the side of the pork, don’t just use it as a garnish! It adds a depth of flavor to the pork.
There is some starters for what to do with kale. There are a lot of great bean/sausage/kale recipes that will keep you warm this fall and winter. Please let me know what you think, and share your experiences.
https://underwoodgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Russian-Kale1.jpg336448Stephen Scotthttps://underwoodgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Survey-Header.jpgStephen Scott2009-07-01 13:47:162024-04-30 17:34:03Heirloom Red Russian Kale Recipes
We get a lot of questions on how to save seeds. Most of them are general seed saving questions, but most boil down to how to save seeds for the next year. Most of the seed packets have more seeds than will be used in one year, and most seeds are good for several years in proper storage conditions.
Please realize that seeds are meant to be planted, not stored!
We get a chuckle from the e-bay seed sellers and survivalist stores that proclaim their seeds are nitrogen flushed, vacuum packed in tin cans or aluminum foil pouches, and are good for 5 or 10 years.
That’s great, but if the seeds are tossed out in the unheated/uncooled garage for 3+ years- guess what?
They’re DEAD!
The temperature/humidity fluctuations shortens the life of the stored seeds drastically. Seeds are the plant’s mechanism for propagation and survival. They have evolved to survive for a short time- e.g. a winter or two- in the ground until the optimum conditions arrive to sprout.
For almost all domesticated varieties that are used for food, the optimum conditions mean next spring. There definitely are seeds that will last longer, but most are non-food plants. Throughout history people would collect and save seeds for the next year or two and have kept plant varieties alive for thousands of years.
Today we have methods to stabilize temperature and humidity; we have advantages in prolonging the life of the stored seed.
The best way to save seeds for future plantings are to keep the seeds in the original seed packets; that way you know where they came from, the name, planting instructions, etc. Then put them in clear Ziplock sandwich baggies with the date on the baggie.
This way you know when you started storing them.
Put all of the baggies in a gallon Ziplock and put it into the freezer.
“But won’t that hurt the seeds?”, people ask. Not at all!
This is why the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia uses liquid nitrogen to freeze seeds for a long time. This is also why the “Doomsday Vault” in Svalbard, Norway is located above the Arctic Circle and dug into the side of a mountain and several hundred feet down, to keep the vault below zero if the cooling system fails.
Your freezer is cold and has low humidity. You probably don’t go into the freezer several times a day like the refrigerator. Each time you open/shut the door, the outside air comes in, raising the temperature and humidity.
This isn’t good for your seeds if they are in the fridge. The freezer is more stable. Please understand the fridge is better than the garage or basement, but the freezer is even better, and you probably have space!
When time comes for planting next spring, take out the packets you will use, take out the seeds you will plant if there are a lot left, and put the bag back into the Ziplock and into the freezer. Let the seed to be planted come to room temperature before planting into the soil.
Most varieties will keep for 3+ years with no loss of germination.
There are exceptions, of course. Onion seeds are good for 1 year, no more, no matter the method of keeping. Garlic only grows from the bulb or clove, freezing kills it.
There are some other varieties that have a short life in storage, but don’t get too caught up in that. If you plant each year, you will be fine.
When you start to save your own seed, the same procedure applies- just be sure the seed is DRY, or else the freeze will expand any moisture in the seed and destroy it.
Label the bag with the name, date harvested, date stored and freeze it.
If you get into seed saving, or want a lot more information on the methods and details for each variety of vegetable, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth is a wonderful book. It is not light reading, but if treated like a reference book or text book, you’ll do just fine.
https://underwoodgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DSC_0155.jpg333500Stephen Scotthttps://underwoodgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Survey-Header.jpgStephen Scott2009-06-08 16:52:182024-04-30 17:34:03How to Store Your Seeds for Next Year
New and unique heirloom seed collections available online now.
In response to our customers requests, we have just released our new and unique seed collections online at Underwood Gardens Heirloom Seed Collections. We have an initial 14 collections that are specially priced and carefully selected to make your growing experiences as easy and rewarding as possible. This makes it easy to explore a new area of gardening that you might be interested in, but aren’t ready to jump in fully. Almost all of our collections have a book with them to guide you through the process and help you make your decisions along the way.
These collections allow you to be extremely creative, not just in gardening but in creating gifts and useful everyday items as well. From crafting the perfect personalized homegrown herbal tea for your tea loving friend, making kitchen helpers out of gourds from your garden to creating a personally designed, grown and arranged dried flower bouquet for that special occasion when nothing else will quite do. These collections help you go far beyond what is available in any store, and in the process learn how to create a new and deeply satisfying gardening extension.
Home Seed Saving and Storage
Many people are attracted to heirloom seeds and gardening for the variety and flavor. Once they realize that heirlooms are open pollinated seeds that can be saved and replanted year after year, they often ask how to start saving their own seeds.
This is not hard, but there are some basics to understand first. With a little knowledge you will be able to make the choice to save seeds, or realize it’s not something you want to pursue at this point. Please realize that this is an only in introduction, as there are several excellent seed saving books on the subject if you want to learn more.
This is the same concern that humans have had since we started planting seeds some 10,000 – 12,000 years ago. There is some confusion as to how to keep seeds viable for a couple of years, as the news about seed banks and the high tech methods have created a false sense of need.
Temperature and humidity are the two main concerns in any seed storage setup. A place that is consistently cool and low humidity are what’s needed, as temperature fluctuations will shorten the life and viability of your seeds.
Your refrigerator or freezer is ideal; you won’t need a lot of room as seeds are usually small.
Short Term Storage
There are environmental concerns to be aware of such as ambient humidity and temperature. If you live in a high humidity environment you will need to take certain precautions, just as if you live in a high temperature area.
In many areas the refrigerator is fine, as long as you put the seeds towards the back and in an area that isn’t exposed to the temperature fluctuations of the door opening. The freezer answers the temperature fluctuations, as it is opened a lot less than the fridge door.
All seed banks freeze their seeds intended for long term storage! Humidity is a greater concern with freezing, as a blast of warm humid air on frozen seeds can damage them. If you live in a high humidity area, smaller packets of seeds for one years planting will be ideal, as the packet can be pulled from the larger seed storage without exposing the rest of the seeds to temperature/humidity fluctuations.
If you are saving seeds from a seed packet where you didn’t use all of the seeds, keep the packet and put it into a Ziploc baggie. Date the baggie and put it into a gallon sized Ziploc that has the date on it as well.
If you are saving seeds from harvest, put all of the info on the baggie- common name, scientific name, date, and any notes you want to remember next year when you pull it out.
This is the time to start a garden/seed journal as well, to document what you planted, what grew well, what challenges you had, bugs, disease, weather, etc. that you will forget in 3 or 4 years.
As with anything you will need to experiment and learn what works best for you and in your specific, unique situation. Some high humidity areas need to store their seeds in smaller quantities and pull the individual packets out of the storage container that are needed for that years planting, put them into another container in the back of the fridge to thaw out for a couple of days, then finally bring them out into the room to finish warming up.
Most areas aren’t nearly as exacting, with the seeds going from the freezer to a covered container on the counter for a couple of days to thaw and stabilize before being planted. One side note, some seeds will germinate better after freezing/refrigerating, as this imitates the natural winter season in the ground.
Longer Term Storage
Long term storage is similar to short term, but the freezer is almost always used, with chest freezers purchased specifically for seeds acting as miniature seed banks.
Only seeds are stored in the freezer and it is opened only a couple of times a year, so temperature swings are minimized. The freezer is usually run at about -15F. Most seeds will last a minimum of 5 years with certain hardy varieties lasting 20+ years!
This is obviously the domain of the serious seed saver. There are a lot of individuals that fall into this category, which surprises many people, who think that serious seed saving and seed banks are reserved for seed companies or government agencies.
Individual seed banks were common until the 1920’s, and are on the rise again. It makes a lot of sense to have a local or community seed bank, as the varieties saved are locally adapted and proven producers; poor performers simply aren’t saved. Local knowledge on what grows well is indispensable and is not possible to have at a company or government level except for possibly at the local level, as the time and interest is just not there.
Most seeds are intuitive to save, just let them dry on the vine/cob/pod and shell or separate the seeds from the husk/cob/pod and you’re done! Some, like tomatoes need a little more work, such as fermenting the gel coat off of the seeds, washing and then drying them.
Start with an easily processed seed to get the feel and see if this is something you want to do. Also, start with saving something that you like and are interested in eating again.
Be warned though, once you start it becomes a bit of an obsession as you realize that you are starting to take control of your food and the future of what you eat! It is a powerful and liberating feeling. You might even become a food rebel!
Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Freezer Pickles – Easy, Simple, yet Delicious
This is a recipe that Cindy has used for several years and is always devoured at picnics. A lot of people ask for the recipe because the flavor is so outstanding! By freezing instead of boiling the brine a lot of unique flavors come out, as well as the fresh cilantro. It is very easy to do in small or large batches. We have used cucumbers and German Beer radishes, but just about any hard skinned vegetable can be used.
Quick, easy, and absolutely delicious - these pickles will be the hit of your picnic, potluck, or dinner party! Freezing instead of boiling brings out flavors lost to the heat, as well as being the only way we've found of keeping the fresh summer cilantro flavor into the winter.
Wash and thinly slice cucumbers - do not peel, then thinly slice onions. There should be about 7 cups.
Toss cucumbers and onions in a large bowl with salt, mixing well to evenly distribute the salt. Let stand at room temperature for 2 - 3 hours, then drain excess liquid but do not rinse.
Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, mix well and pour over vegetables, stirring well to mix. Refrigerate for 8 - 10 hours or overnight.
Pack the vegetables and brine in freezer-proof rigid containers and freeze. We like to use pint jars - they are the perfect size for a picnic or family BBQ. Make sure to leave about 1 inch of headspace to allow for expansion so the jars don't break.
When packing the vegetables, make sure the brine completely covers them to prevent freezer burn and ensure the best flavors.
Freeze for a minimum of 2 weeks to allow the flavors to mature and mingle.
To serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and enjoy!
Be prepared to make an immediate, larger second batch!
Use a Cuisinart or other kitchen appliance to slice the vegetables and reduce your prep time to a few minutes!
We've successfully used this recipe with large radishes, cucumbers of all kinds, and yellow beets. Almost any sturdy vegetable - root or otherwise - will pickle beautifully with this recipe.
Making Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Thinly slice your vegetables – we use a Cuisinart or other type of kitchen slicing appliance – making this a 2-minute process!The photos are of two different recipes we did – one with white onions and the other with red ones.
Sliced Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Once your vegetables are sliced, brine them by adding salt to the vegetables and stirring them thoroughly to mix the salt in well. Let sit for a couple of hours – the exact time isn’t important, so don’t worry if it’s 3 hours, they will taste great! Strain out excess moisture from the vegetables, but don’t rinse – you need the salt for flavor and the pickling process.
Next, start the pickling process by mixing the herbs, sugar, and vinegar in a separate bowl, then pour over the brined vegetables. This starts the pickling process.
Pickling Cilantro Freezer Pickles
After refrigerating them overnight, pack yournewly-pickled vegetables into jars or freezer-proof containers. We use pint-sized Mason jars, which are just enough for a family picnic or supper or a BBQ. If there is a larger crowd, we’ll take two.
Packed Cilantro Freezer Pickles
Leave enough room for the pickles to expand without breaking the jars – about 1 inch, and make sure to cover the vegetables with brine for the best flavor and to prevent freezer burn.
Let the flavors mature and mingle for at least 2 weeks before serving. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and serve cold.
About Eggplant…
I’ve never liked eggplant. The taste was bitter but past that, remarkably bland with a similar texture. Not that exciting.
So I decided to grow some this year. This is something I recommend against to my customers- “Grow what you like to eat” is what I advise.
My reasons for growing something that I don’t like are simple; I also don’t like supermarket tomatoes, yet love the ones that I grow. I wanted to try one eggplant to see if it was different than what I had tasted before. It’s the supermarket vs. homegrown argument on a different level. Supermarket tomatoes are merely tasteless, whereas eggplant is unpleasant to me.
The first eggplant of the season was ready yesterday. A medium gorgeously purple beauty, surprisingly light in weight. I pulled the cookbooks out to see what made sense to try that would showcase the flavor of the eggplant and didn’t require the oven on for an hour, or at all. Marcella Hazan came to the rescue once again. She is an incredible chef and writer of the lesser known Italian cooking that most of us have never experienced. You get the recipe, and the reasons for the actions taken in the cooking and why to not shortcut the steps. Flavors are described in detail and reasons behind the techniques are given, something I’ve rarely seen. The stories behind each recipe are compelling as well, something I love from the heirloom seeds.
The recipe I tried is Eggplant Sauce with Bell Pepper, Tomato and Basil. I’ll give it to you at the end. The freshly sliced eggplant was not bitter, but had a slightly sweet flavor that compounded the smell of the fresh eggplant. I salted it according to the directions, which made it sweeter. I chose this recipe as it used more fresh ingredients from our garden. I’ve got some wonderfulGenovese Basil that has an incredible aroma and holds up in cooking. I don’t have the bell peppers or tomatoes yet, so will try it again when another eggplant is ripe.
The overall character is complex and slightly spicy with many individual flavors that come through, yet is in harmony as no single flavor overpowers another. Italian flavor at it’s finest! The flavors are not overbearing, as most common American Italian cooking has become, but are lively and pleasing. This is a lighter dish, perfect for summer cooking, and can be done outside on a grill if one is experienced at outdoor cooking, not just barbecuing. This is a dish I would prep ahead of time to do trail side at the end of a long day exploring the backcountry of Arizona or the Southwest. It’s not hard, but attention and patience are needed to bring the flavors out! The small investment of time is well worth it.
Here’s the recipe:
1 1/2 lbs eggplant
Salt
1 ripe bell pepper (yellow is best, but make sure it’s ripe)
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves sliced very thin
1/8 Tsp crushed red pepper or to taste
2 Tbs Italian flat leaf parsley- whole leaves, not chopped
1/3 Cup thinly sliced onion
1 Cup ripe fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped. Canned Italian tomatoes will work.
1/3 Cup dry white wine
6 small basil leaves or 4 large ones, torn not cut into small pieces
6 green olives in brine, quartered
1 1/2 Tbs capers
1 Lb box dry pasta, penne is good choice
Slice eggplant in half. If seeds are dark, or if there a lot of seeds, scoop seeds out. Cut eggplant into 1 inch squares, put into colander rinse in cold water. Salt and let set for 45 minutes. This brings out the bitter liquid if there is any. Rinse again afterwards.
Split bell pepper in half, scoop out seeds and pith, then peel skin with swivel peeler. This removes the bitterness in the skin once cooked. Cut into thin strips.
Warm 3 Tbs olive oil in 10 inch skillet, then add garlic and chili pepper. Increase heat to medium, no more. Stir often just until garlic scent rises, no more.
Add whole parsley leaves. Careful, they will pop and sputter for a couple of seconds. Stir a couple of times, add onion and turn heat to low. Cook slowly until onion is soft. This increases the flavor by cooking slowly, and the garlic flavor is not entirely lost.
Add pepper strips, some salt and cook until pepper starts to be tender. Stir occasionally. You should have some liquid starting to build in the bottom of the pan.
Add eggplant, tomatoes, wine, basil, olives and capers. Stir several times to mix well. Slowly simmer with lid on for 40 minutes, watching liquid level. It should slowly decrease, and have almost no liquid at the end. Add a small amount if it looks dry. Stir occasionally during the simmer. Crack lid if too much liquid is remaining about 15 minutes before the end, or when you put the pasta water on.
Time cooking the pasta so its done just before the sauce, about 7-10 minutes. Toss pasta with sauce, adding 1 more Tbs olive oil and serve hot. Cheese is really not needed, but you can add a small amount of pecorino if you want. Don’t drown the delicate sauce in cheese!
Enjoy and let me know what you think! Please leave a comment!
Heirloom Red Russian Kale Recipes
Restaurant-Style Zuppa Toscana
Based on a popular restaurant starter soup.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
done. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut at an angle into 1/2-inch
slices.
heat until onions are almost clear. Remove bacon and crumble. Set
aside. Note- You can saute the kale at this step for extra richness in its flavor!
soup base, water, and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Note- This is where I prefer to add my kale! Russian kale will take the simmer without losing its texture and flavor.
Stir-Fried Kale and Broccoli Florets
Good for an unusual side dish. Can be used for a light fall lunch or dinner starter.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Pork Tenderloin with Steamed Kale
Amazing showcase of pork and kale. For extra flavor, marinate the tenderloin for a couple of hours, up to overnight.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
There is some starters for what to do with kale. There are a lot of great bean/sausage/kale recipes that will keep you warm this fall and winter. Please let me know what you think, and share your experiences.
Happy eating!
How to Store Your Seeds for Next Year
We get a lot of questions on how to save seeds. Most of them are general seed saving questions, but most boil down to how to save seeds for the next year. Most of the seed packets have more seeds than will be used in one year, and most seeds are good for several years in proper storage conditions.
We get a chuckle from the e-bay seed sellers and survivalist stores that proclaim their seeds are nitrogen flushed, vacuum packed in tin cans or aluminum foil pouches, and are good for 5 or 10 years.
That’s great, but if the seeds are tossed out in the unheated/uncooled garage for 3+ years- guess what?
They’re DEAD!
The temperature/humidity fluctuations shortens the life of the stored seeds drastically. Seeds are the plant’s mechanism for propagation and survival. They have evolved to survive for a short time- e.g. a winter or two- in the ground until the optimum conditions arrive to sprout.
For almost all domesticated varieties that are used for food, the optimum conditions mean next spring. There definitely are seeds that will last longer, but most are non-food plants. Throughout history people would collect and save seeds for the next year or two and have kept plant varieties alive for thousands of years.
The best way to save seeds for future plantings are to keep the seeds in the original seed packets; that way you know where they came from, the name, planting instructions, etc. Then put them in clear Ziplock sandwich baggies with the date on the baggie.
This way you know when you started storing them.
Put all of the baggies in a gallon Ziplock and put it into the freezer.
“But won’t that hurt the seeds?”, people ask. Not at all!
This is why the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia uses liquid nitrogen to freeze seeds for a long time. This is also why the “Doomsday Vault” in Svalbard, Norway is located above the Arctic Circle and dug into the side of a mountain and several hundred feet down, to keep the vault below zero if the cooling system fails.
Your freezer is cold and has low humidity. You probably don’t go into the freezer several times a day like the refrigerator. Each time you open/shut the door, the outside air comes in, raising the temperature and humidity.
This isn’t good for your seeds if they are in the fridge. The freezer is more stable. Please understand the fridge is better than the garage or basement, but the freezer is even better, and you probably have space!
When time comes for planting next spring, take out the packets you will use, take out the seeds you will plant if there are a lot left, and put the bag back into the Ziplock and into the freezer. Let the seed to be planted come to room temperature before planting into the soil.
There are exceptions, of course. Onion seeds are good for 1 year, no more, no matter the method of keeping. Garlic only grows from the bulb or clove, freezing kills it.
There are some other varieties that have a short life in storage, but don’t get too caught up in that. If you plant each year, you will be fine.
When you start to save your own seed, the same procedure applies- just be sure the seed is DRY, or else the freeze will expand any moisture in the seed and destroy it.
Label the bag with the name, date harvested, date stored and freeze it.
If you get into seed saving, or want a lot more information on the methods and details for each variety of vegetable, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth is a wonderful book. It is not light reading, but if treated like a reference book or text book, you’ll do just fine.