Nutrient Density Growing: The Declaration of Seeds

Last week I saw a long-time patient, pregnant with her 2nd child, coming in for follow-up of her blood work.  A working mom, socially conscious, and well-educated on eating locally, sustainably and organically, she was perplexed as to how she could be deficient in magnesium.  In addition to having a CSA share and shopping regularly at a Brooklyn food co-op, she thought she had access to the best foods available.  I’m not arguing that she didn’t - many people have different absorption rates for vitamins and minerals and some have greater or lesser biological needs - but this brought up the point that a carrot is not a carrot.  And my explanation of nutrient dense growing, a ongoing topic in past journal entries, came as a complete shock to this young woman.  “You mean if I eat brussels sprouts that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m getting all the nutrients it’s supposed to have?”

In The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, nutrient density growing is briefly addressed.   Pollan outlines the assumption people make when they buy a vegetable - that a carrot is a carrot, but in fact, it just depends.

“Back in the fifties, when the USDA routinely compared the nutritional quality of produce from region to region, it found striking differences: carrots grown in the deep soils of Michigan, for example, commonly had more vitamins than carrots grown in the thin, sandy soils of Florida.  Naturally this information discomforted the carrot growers of Florida, which probably explains why the USDA no longer conducts this sort of research.  Nowadays US agricultural policy, like the Declaration of Independence, is founded on the principle that all carrots are created equal, even though there’s good reason to believe this isn’t really true.  But in an agricultural system dedicated to quantity rather than quality, the fiction that all foods are created equal is essential.”

This is exactly the premise for why and how we grow food here at our micro-farm.  Is it organically grown? Of course it is, but our approach of truly addressing soil fertility is 10 steps ahead of organically certified foods - what people understand as the pinnacle of healthy eating.

Now in the winter season, our efforts are focused towards figuring out what we want to grow this season, crop rotation (a laborious endeavor on a small bio-intensive farm,) and re-evaluation of varieties we liked, disliked and new ones we want to try.  Colorful seed catalogs in hand contrast the white and gray landscape outside bringing back the anticipation of growing again as we’ve physically recovered from the prior year’s strenuous work.  When the day length time in mid February starts to awaken the lettuces and spinach in the high tunnel, we will be in full force again.  For now, it’s all about the seeds.

At our last Nutrient Density lecture, Dan Kittredge focused on the seed as the starting point for producing the most optimally productive and healthiest plant.  The size of the seed can correlate to the best genetic plans for the plant.  This makes a lot of biological sense.  Oftentimes, the runt of the litter, is the sickliest and usually the one the mother rejects by not choosing to feed.  Her Darwinian instincts know that this runt has the least capability of surviving when grown and that this runt, bearing the weakest of her genes,  should not be one to reproduce.  From a human standpoint in infertility treatments, the largest and healthiest looking eggs (or follicles) are selected for intrauterine insemination or in-vitro fertilization.  The male contribution is also important; the sperm that is the healthiest is usually the most motile and the fastest one to the egg wins (how interestingly male!)  Naturally, a combination of the best follicle and sperm will most likely produce the healthiest embryos.  All this logic applies to vegetables seeds as well.  For those that have grown from seed, your packet contains a variety of different seed sizes.  Some are small and some large, some are lighter in weight and some are more dense.  Planting the larger, denser ones will give you better vitality, yield and growth potential.  This is all about getting it right from the beginning.

These are pea seeds. On top, the ones you should plant and below, the ones you should discard

The problem is that seed companies don’t offer you this option.  Mostly because no one is asking for it.  However, Dan Kittredge of The Real Food Campaign, has been interviewing seed companies to try and see if there is a way growers can pay more for the larger size seeds as this will lead to increased yields.  The company that was most open to the idea is one that we often use - High Mowing Seed Company in Vermont.  Johnny’s Seeds and Baker Creek were also open to the idea.  What we all need to do is simply ask for it.  Hopefully en masse.  When there is a demand there will be a supply and if enough of us call and ask, companies will eventually oblige.

Tomato seeds. The larger top seeds are the ones that promise to produce the strongest and most vigorous plants

SEED SAVING

This is another way to guarantee you have the best access to the best seeds.  Growing high brix crops, aka nutritionally dense plants in optimum soils will produce the strongest plants and thus the healthiest seeds which you can pick and choose from.  Given that 96 percent of the commercial vegetable varieties grown in 1903 are no longer available, seed saving is important for a variety of other reasons.  A great movie that discusses this is Food of the Future by Deborah Koons Garcia.  [See it HERE for free.]  If you’re just starting to save seed like we are, start simple and small with the easiest vegetables to save seed from.  Peas, beans, tomatoes and lettuce are on the beginners list.

Here, the Vigna Caracalla or Corkscrew Vine, a plant that produces a stunningly gorgeous and fragrant flower obtained from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello produced one seed pod last fall which I saved.  Which seeds do you think I’m going to use to grow my next plants?

Click HERE to tell High Mowing Seed Company that you'll pay more for larger denser seeds.

Click HERE to email Johnny's Seed Company that you'll pay more for larger denser seeds.

Click HERE to email Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds that you'll pay more for larger denser seeds.

Ther are many seed companies out there, you can make a difference by calling or emailing the company and make a request for the option to purchase larger seed szies. 

Update on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 3:47PM by Pam

Real Food Campaign working with the Organic Seed Alliance: an update on seed size and density. Read the latest newsletter HERE.

Winter's Sweet Frosty Kiss: The Transformation of Kale

A few weeks ago I gave a lecture to some physicians and acupuncturists about the integration of food and farming in medicine.  My first slides were pictures of certain vegetables in their entirety (roots, stems and leaves) and I started the talk with a game: Let’s identify that vegetable!  The first was this series of pictures:

No one was able to identify this as kohlrabi.  An under appreciated vegetable here in this country, it is usually sold as a round light green bulb.  Rarely do people see the growing form which looks not dissimilar to a UFO.  I fell in love with this shade-tolerating vegetable after I made my first meal of kohlrabi pancakes with minted yogurt.

The second vegetable in the game:




More easily identifiable, but with a little hesitation.  Everyone knows what broccoli looks like, of course, but I was stunned this summer when my brother stood at the end of a raised bed filled with broccoli and could not identify the vegetable - it was in its growing form that confused him.  The head which we eat is surrounded by multiple big waxy leaves and that’s what threw him off.

My whole point with the above lessons was that we have become so dissociated with what we eat. Such that it is to the point that items like plastic-wrapped yams are conveniently pre-wrapped so they can be easily be put in the microwave and further separate the consumer from the actual vegetable. Another disheartening example is a packaged steak which appears as nothing more than a soft red wet mass of muscle; no thought is paid that it came from anything resembling an animal and even less thought to how it was raised, fed and slaughtered.

I then showed a video of a new product called “Fruit 2 Day” a fruit containing beverage the advertiser touted as a “new way to eat fruit”. The video begins with a young girl looking disgusted at a bunch of moldy strawberries she finds in her fridge. 

The piece de resistance was in the subtle last statement of the commercial: “find it in the produce section.”  Our perceptions of what is healthy, fresh and what is REAL food is persistently and indolently being manipulated by media and advertising.  Sadly, most of us don’t know what real food is anymore and when we’re given it, we’re not sure what to do with it.  Case in point: Kale.

One physician told me that she disliked getting so much kale in her CSA basket.  How many times can you blanch and saute it with garlic and onions?  Not only was it a non-versatile vegetable for her, she couldn’t get her husband to eat it and forget about even presenting it to the kids.  I challenged that assumption and could because I was once in her shoes standing there among the abundant kale in my farm not sure how to make it interesting enough to serve it with any frequency.  But I persevered, scouring through cookbooks, recipe websites and pinning down every vegetarian I knew, asking them - “what is your favorite thing to do with kale?”  Now I am a kale convert and the last recipe I made with kale and quinoa was so simple and the kale so sweet from the frost that my better half emphatically jumped up declaring his new found love of kale.  No, not anything like Tom Cruise on Oprah’s couch, but hey, for a carnivore loving man to express delight over one of the most healthiest things you could possible eat, that made all my kale research and experimentation worthwhile.  Now he can proudly wear his “Eat More Kale” T-shirt with newfound pride. He looks hot in it as well. 

There are advantages to living in colder climates (not many for every type of food grower, I admit) and that is frost’s effects on certain vegetables, not to mention forcing us to experiment with growing cold tolerant vegetables we might otherwise avoid.   Certain things get sweeter when exposed to frost: carrots, turnips, parsnips, brussels sprouts and kale.  In an effort to survive the colder temperatures, the plant begins to convert its starches to sugars because sugar has a lower freezing point.  Carrots become like candy and kale becomes king.  That’s one thing California and Florida can’t top! 

So you’re still waiting for those kale recipes, I know.  Some of my favorites are the above-mentioned “One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf” on my new favorite foodie blog Food 52.  Trust me, you can force down a lot of kale this way and people won’t even know it.  Then there’s the now ubiquitous kale chips with its infinite variations. I give credit to the first person who fed these to me, Dan Barber, in this recipe.  Kids won’t know the difference between their other starchy crunchies and these healthy bad boys.  My nephew Max, pickiest eater in the universe, can attest to that.  After Thanksgiving, using the turkey carcass, I made Alice Water’s Turkey Soup with Kale (and doubled the amount of kale).  Kale can be thrown in with many other brothy soups as well to give it a  balancing vegetable component.  But the most interesting recent recipe was recently published by the New York Times: Grilled Coconut Kale by Vij’s in Vancouver, British Columbia - one of the best Indian food meals I’ve ever had.  I served it along side curried chickpeas and basmati rice.  Heavenly. 

My hopes to you for the holiday season: find a way to get this important vegetable on your table and enjoy the way nature has changed it for you, just in time when most of our produce is no longer locally grown, so you can continue fresh local greens throughout the chill and support our local food movement.


RECIPE: GRILLED COCONUT KALE

3 bunches kale
3 cans coconut milk
1 Tbs kosher salt
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp mild paprika
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Wash the kale thoroughly and cut out the stalks. Cut the wide leaves into strips the width of the small leaves.
2. In a large pot set over a low flame, heat the coconut milk until it is thoroughly mixed and just lukewarm. Transfer to a large, nonreactive bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir in the kale, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

I used a large roasting pan to accommodate all the kale

3. Preheat a grill or a cast-iron grill pan over high heat. Remove the kale from the refrigerator and stir to make sure the leaves are well covered in marinade. Using metal tongs, place the kale on the grill in a single layer. Cook for 45 to 60 seconds, or until the leaves are sizzling, then turn over and grill the other side for another 45 to 60 seconds, or until the leaves have visibly softened. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Adapted from Vij’s Restaurant, Vancouver, British Columbia.

The slightly burned edges made the dish

Cheers to the one thing we can’t live without: Good Health

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from HOOK MOUNTAIN GROWERS!




Farm to Table: HMG get's their review on! Destination: DC/Baltimore

View from inside VOLTIf you could magically have one job in the world, what would it be?  For me, it would be food critic.  Getting paid to eat - what could be better?  With the source of food, especially animal meats, becoming more and more a question on people’s minds, I decided to start an on-going series on farm-to-table restaurant reviews fulfilling my need to constantly find places I feel food is safe to eat and where the local farmer has an important role with what’s on the menu.   And, of course, to also fulfill my fantasy of having Frank Bruni’s job.  This won’t be a hard core critical look at food, but my humble opinions on what’s cooking.

The motivation for this series started when I planned a trip to the Washington DC/Baltimore and Charlottesville, Virginia area.  I know my local haunts and going into uncharted territory I wasn’t sure where to plan our meals.  How does one find a restaurant that strongly believes in supporting small local farms?  Surely, this is where I want to spend my tourist dollars and to experience the terroir of the region in the food and wine.  I found, like many other things, that if you just google "farm to table" and the city in question, you’ll find a smattering of suggestions.  More specifically, the website Local Harvest, can locate farms, restaurants, and Farmers’ markets by zip code and is an invaluable website when doing your research.


FOUNDING FARMERS

Located minutes from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, Founding Farmers, a play on the rich “founding fathers” history of the area was our first destination.  This is farm-inspired eatery serves “scratch-made traditional American classics inspired by the heartland” all in a certified eco-friendly Green Restaurant.  From the energy efficient and reycled building elements to the use of filtered water and low-fume paints, this dynamic space was obviously the hotspot of DC.  The mission of the restaurant  is to buy from family farmers whenever possible, some local, some not. From their menu:

“The difference between institutional/corporate farming vs. family farming affects everyone: our health, our land, and our lives.”

We first started with a few cocktails with the most memorable one called “Bone” - a combination of Knob Creek whiskey, lime juice and tabasco garnished with a sweet bacon lollipop!  A stiff drink, the bacon made for an interesting pairing that took the edge off the hard liquor element.  I enjoyed it for the novelty but wouldn’t go back for seconds.

For appetizers, we had the popcorn of the day - Rosemary-butter, which was shockingly addictive.  There were raw oysters from Maryland that were absolutely perfect and skillet roasted Mussles with Chorizo in a white wine pesto broth that was so good we drank the broth after wolfing down the mussels.  For dinner, we had the Southern Fried Chicken Salad which was buttermilk-marinated fried chicken on top of iceberg lettuce, bacon, avocado and cheddar.  Not usually a fan of iceberg lettuce, this came together to feel both satisfying and somehow light at the same time.  The piece de resistance was the Fresh-ground Cheeseburger.  The meat, tender, tasty, perfectly cooked had a sauce reminiscent of the secret sauce in a Big Mac.  This burger made our top 5 hamburgers of all-time.  Don’t miss this one.

This was our first experience with a farm-to table restaurant with a comfort-driven food feel.  Expecting to feel our energy plummet after eating the heavier comfort foods, we surprisingly felt fine.  A reflection, I’m sure, of the high quality sourced ingredients.

Very good




VOLT

Located about 50 miles north of DC in Frederick, Maryland, VOLT was our second night’s dinner adventure.  Being a huge fan of Top Chef and the Voltaggio brothers, I was excited to see Bryan Voltaggio’s menu.  The restaurant is located in a 19th century restored brownstone mansion.  The decor was an interesting mix of natural elements with a strong undercurrent of the 1980’s from the abstract artwork and the white seating with black accents to the Converse sneakers worn by all the waitstaff.  A fun theatrical element was a wide-screen TV at the bar showcasing the kitchen in action so that all patrons could partake in the culinary spectacle.

The close proximity of VOLT to the area’s numerous artisanal farmers and ranchers drives the menu.  Meats were sourced from nearby Shenendoah Valley specifically the heritage breed Red Wattle Pork and Border Springs Lamb.


Artic Char - don't miss this masterpiece.
Overall, we were pleased with the service, and the food was excellent with a few extraordinary dishes that were highly memorable:   Cherry Glen Farm Goat cheese ravioli with butternut squash, maitake mushrooms, toasted pumpkin seeds and celeriac .  Artic char with carnival squash, pumpkin leaves, black forbidden rice, matsutake mushrooms in brown butter. Both of these dishes were second courses.



Very Good

Sadly, Bryan Voltaggio was not cooking that night

Maine Avenue Fish Market

Don't let the looks of this place scare you away. Best crabs and raw oysters!There is nothing more local and seasonal than crabs in Washington DC.  I always follow the simple rule: If the month ends in the letter “r” i.e. October through December - that’s when crabs are in season.  One of the last remaining open seafood markets on the east coast, the Maine Avenue Fish Market has been in operation since 1805 - older than the Fulton Fish Market in NYC.  DO NOT MISS this destination if you are ever in the area.  Freshly shucked oysters and clams were almost for the taking but my main mission was to get messy with some steamed Maryland crabs seasoned with Old Bay spices. 

Right before your eyes, crabs were selected, brought back to the kitchen and presented to you in a brown paper bag.  It’s advisable to bring some towelettes since there are no washrooms available and your fingers are the only utensils needed for good crab eating.  Standing looking out over the water I made a bib out of a bunch of napkins and chowed down until my hands hurt.  Crabs were sold by the size and were a bargainous $20 for a dozen.  The meat was plentiful, succulent, and as flavorful as can be.  When crabs are in season the eggs located in the head of the crab are sublime.  I sucked them all dry and dream of them as I write this blog wishing I could teleport back for just another taste.


Excellent.

Don't talk to me, I'm eating...

Weekly Musings: Quince for Kale

Imagine everyone on your street using their land, however big or small, to grow food, whether perennial or annual, and using the food to feed each other?  “Food miles”, a term which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer, would be whittled down to “food feet.”  One of the hopes of our micro-farm was to set up a model of growing to encourage others to follow our example, no matter how small their growing space or how much growing experience they had.  Our neighbors, Bob and Enid, who we met at various functions promoting the sustainable food movement, recently gave us 5 lbs of quince fruit from their tree.  We happily gave Bob and Enid a share of our abundant kale and end of season tomatoes.

We are in the process of planning and planting various perennial trees and shrubs to provide us with fruit, berries and nuts on the section of our property we fondly refer to as our future edible forest garden.  Many of these will take years to grow and produce and we were thankful for a local supply of fruit - one we had not really cooked with before.  We had purchased and eaten quince paste, also known as Membrillo, a few years ago, which we served with a plate of pungent cheese. We found the quince paste to be an outstanding sweet accompaniment.


QUINCE
Cydonia Oblonga

The quince fruit is highly fragrant and smells of apples and pears with the presence of floral notes as well.  When I first took notice of it, I immediately wanted to eat it raw.  Well, it was inedible.  Quince is usually not enjoyed fresh because it is highly tart and astringent.  It needs to be cooked.  The fruit is typically harvested in the fall and a mature tree can yield 75 lbs of fruit.  Though the country of Turkey ranks highest in the  production of quince fruit, it is a pretty hardy tree and can be grown in zones 5-9 in this country.  According to Lee Reich, the Hudson Valley guru of edible landscaping, in the spring “branches are festooned with large white or pinkish blossoms, each resembling a “single” rose blossom...in the late summer and autumn, the show is quite dramatic from the large yellow fruits, which can be left dangling on the stems for many weeks.” 

GROWING QUINCEQuince tree at the Bonnefont Herb garden at The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park

Quince is a relatively compact tree growing rarely more than 10 feet high and two-thirds that width.  It can have multiple trunks but if you train it to have one trunk, it can take on a gnarled, twisted and picturesque appearance.  The best example can be seen in NYC at The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park where four famous quince trees grow at the periphery of four beds that make up the Bonnefont Cloisters Herb Garden containing over 250 species of medieval medicinal herbs.

Plant quince trees in full sun and well drained soil.  Decide whether you want to have it grown as a shrub or with 1 to 3 trunks during its first growing season and prune accordingly.  If you are in the Hudson Valley, Micosta Nursery in Hudson, New York sells 6 different varieties.  You need only one tree as quince is self-fruitful.  Raintree nursery is also a good source for the west coast. 

RECIPE: QUINCE PASTE

Quince paste is a wonderful homemade gift for your foodie friends and family.  It is time consuming and should be given to those who appreciate the effort.  Since it stores well in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, it’s a great idea to make several batches to eat through the winter months and to give out as holiday gifts.  When cooking, enjoy the aromas of banana, flowers, apples and almonds that waft from the stove.  The essential tools to make this recipe are a food mill, food processor, rubber spatula, wax paper and a 9x12 roasting pan.


4-5 lbs of quince, scrubbed clean
sugar
water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pan with wax paper

Place whole quince in pan, cover with foil and bake for 2 hours.  When quince is cool enough to handle, remove as much of the flesh as possible into a large food processor taking care not to put in seeds, core or any hardened, brown areas.  This is the time consuming and messy part.

Add enough water, 1/4 cup at a time to make a puree the consistency of a thin pudding.  Use the smallest disk on your food mill and process the entire batch.

Measure out how much puree you’ve made and multiple by 2/3.  Measure out that amount of sugar.  Put puree in a heavy saucepan on med-low heat and add sugar.  For example, I made 6 cups of puree and added 4 cups of sugar.  Stir constantly for 25 minutes.  Puree will darken in color.  Be careful not to burn your puree.

Pour into your wax-lined pan, cool then cover with plastic and chill overnight.  With a knife and spatula section off slices of your paste.  It should have a jelly and gum drop consistence.  Wrap in wax paper store and plastic and store in an airtight contained in the refrigerator.

Serve with pungent cheeses like Manchego or use as a substitute for your usual jam.


Stirring quince and sugar mixture constantlyQuince paste should have the consistency between jelly and gum dropsYeah, I had a little Martha Stewart in me when I did this.

Another Day in Foodie Paradise: Hudson Valley Garlic Festival 2010

Fog and Thistle Farm in Germantown, New YorkWhen pondering what you should grow in the fall, there is one clear answer: Garlic.  Easy to grow and rewarding, this allium is a powerful player in achieving optimum health.  There are many websites with great instructions on growing, maintaining, harvesting and storing garlic.  Take 1 clove of garlic and place in the ground in October (in Zone 6 New York), pointy side up, 2” deep and 6” apart.  Cover with seed free mulch and wait patiently until the spring.  You’ll first enjoy eating the garlic scapes in June and then finally the bulbs in mid-summer and on.    You do NOT want to use garlic for planting from your regular grocery since it is likely sprayed with a substance to prevent sprouting, according to Witchcat Farms in Vermont.  Buy directly from the farmer.  We met the nice people at Witchcat Farm at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, New York.  This was the 22nd year of the festival and runs at the end of the month every September.  We loaded up on 2 organic varieties from Witchcat Farm: German Porcelain Music, 4-5 large cloves per head and mild in taste and the more unusual Hungarian Purple, with 6-8 cloves and more spicy and pungent in flavor.

Possible posters for the next garlic festival in 2011
The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival is one of over 50 garlic festivals in the country.  There is everything garlic you can imagine.  Garlic Hamburgers, Garlic Ice Cream, and Garlic Chocolate Chip cookies that we snatched up from Mountaindale Farm.

Soft, gooey and so right after a garlic heavy meal

Over 45 garlic farms, mostly from New York State, set up gorgeous booths selling their incredible bounty.  The other varieties we purchased were Spanish Rojas from Free Bird Farm, German Reds from Six Circles Farm, and Riesig from Cedarville Farm.  We were especially excited about a rare variety called MarJean from The Garlic Devas in Lewis County New York.  This garlic, with no official name, has been grown for generations in New York by Marty and Jean, neighbors of The Garlic Devas, thus the name, MarJean garlic.  Marty and Jean are now in their mid 80’s and happy to see their garlic live on with The Garlic Devas.  We are definitely planting lots of this variety and will continue Marty and Jean’s work.

We already harvested 200 garlic heads this July on our farm but we have to find the balance between how much we personally consume and how much we sell to become sustainable i.e. not having to buy more garlic to seed every season.  This season we plan on upping the ante and planting at least 400 cloves.


In addition to garlic, there was honey which  we bought from Swarmbustin Honey, Maple Syrup from Mapleland Farms, Garlic Vinegar from Rolling Hills.  This garlic vinegar is indispensible in our salad dressingsGorgeous yellow oyster mushrooms from Wiltbank Farm in the Catskills, venison and buffalo products from Highland Deer Farm (the Buffalo steak was divine!).  Why deer need to be farmed in this area is an enigma!

Yellow and brown oyster and shiitake mushrooms are Wiltbank Farm's specialty
We stopped and spoke with David Stern current Director, writer, lecturer, horticulturist and cofounder of the Garlic Seed Foundation, an educational not-for-profit organization that promotes ecological production and hearty consumption of garlic.  I asked him why, in New York State when we have a plethora of garlic farms, does grocery store garlic come from China or Argentina (even Whole Foods).  His simple answer, as a farmer himself was, “Why would I sell my garlic cheap when I can make a better wage selling garlic locally at farmers markets and at garlic festivals like this one?”  Good answer.  Whole Foods and other grocers want to pay the lowest price for a product so as to maximize profits.  Garlic farmers are smart and know where their markets are.  We should all consider this when purchasing garlic for ourselves and our families. By paying a bit more for local garlic we support the farmers who work hard to grow the garlic, we ensure a local source of organic garlic and most importantly we keep the farms of our local garlic growers economically viable and able to stay in business.  For more information on garlic, visit the Garlic Seed Foundation website and become a member.  Once you do you have access to the garlic hotline - someone will answer all your questions on garlic!  We joined and are looking forward to our first issue of The Garlic Press.

In honoring garlic in a recipe, something I love to do in so many ways, I decided to feature a Purple Basil Pesto.  I grow a basil that tastes like a Genovese Italian Basil but with deep hues of purple.  The resulting pesto turns out to be more black than purple but can be a gorgeous counterpoint in pasta or bread if topped with a chiffonade of green basil.  Out of the various pesto recipes I've tried, this is the one I go back to everytime.  It's so good, you could even leave out the cheese making this dairy-free and won't feel deprived.

RECIPE: BASIL PESTO

2 garlic cloves
Salt
3 Tbs toasted pine nuts
3 cups basil leaves, stems removed
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor, process garlic, salt and pine nuts first.  Then add basil and olive oil.  When smooth add parmesan just to combine.  If freezing, do not add parmesan until you defrost and use it in the future.

Adapted from Deborah Madison