Food and Field

Fabulous Featured Foods from the Field

By Anne Patterson, Good Earth Food Alliance farmer, director & registered dietitian

“I learned….that a man may use as simple a diet as the animals, and yet retain health and strength. I have made a satisfactory dinner off a dish of purslane (portulaca oleraces) which I gathered in my corn field,” Henry David Thoreau in Walden (1854) “yet men have come to such a pass that they frequently starve, not for want of necessaries, but for want of luxuries.” 

It’s hard to imagine what Thoreau would think of a present day purslane dish on a fine dining menu fetching fifteen dollars. Purslane has too often been considered nothing more than a weed in one’s garden, cast aside with little thought. It is been reintroduced into the American culinary world.  The purslane some of you received this week was harvested from Kate Potter’s market garden. It is wild purslane, not cultivated purslane.  I enjoy the crisp and succulent mild flavor.  Some think it has a more peppery tart flavor; however, I have not picked up on that in the crop picked yesterday.

Purslane was harvested by Ancestral Puebloans and was considered one of their most important wild plant foods. It has a culinary history worldwide in places like India – thought to be its birthplace - Africa, Australia, China, Europe, and Central America.  Although others have continued to use purslane over the centuries, we may need an introduction.

The plump stems are edible as are the fleshy leaves. There is minimal to no waste in this food crop.

STORAGE AND PREPARATION: Spread in a basket and refrigerate. It will last for a week. Be sure and cut off any roots, if any. Snip branchlets from the heavy main stems. Rinse gently, pat dry and cut into bite size springs for use in raw preparations. 

Be sure and try out the purslane recipes posted on the web site. It is especially good with a crisp cucumber (these are coming on at Lawrence Meyer’s farm), diced bell pepper and a little sweet onion. We are hoping Lyndon’s beets are coming along in the field because the crisp purslane pairs well with sweet-earthy beets roasted, cooled, peeled and quartered. Why not try an early Sunday morning purslane frittata? Gently cook a couple of chopped green onions in butter. Add chopped purslane sprigs and toss to barely wilt. Add beaten eggs and bake in oven until not quite set.

Anise Hyssop, A Little Known Herb

This is not a common herb grown in gardens; however, it is one of my favorites. It is one of the best herbs for the teapot and honey bees love it. It is often called licorice-mint for its distinctively licorice flavor and scent. Rinse and throw a handful of leaves into a teapot of hot water, steep for 10 minutes and enjoy.

The following recipe is from the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Fluffy Anise Hyssop Marscapone Frosting for 4^th of July White Cake

• 1 pound Mascarpone cheese
• Anise Hyssop infusion/syrup (recipe below)
• Slowly stream in 1 cup of Anise Hyssop infusion/syrup until smooth and fluffy (like whipped cream).

Beat mascarpone until smooth.

Anise Hyssop Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 10 fresh sprigs organic anise hyssop, leaves and flowers removed (this should be about 2 cups loose stack of a mix of young and mature leaves and purple flower clusters)

To make anise hyssop infusion/syrup bring water and sugar to a boil and add anise hyssop leaves and flowers. Stir to coat. Remove from heat and let cool stirring occasionally. Strain out leaves and squeeze to get all remaining liquid out. Makes about 1-1/3 cups.

Save the candied pulp and gently tease the leaves and flowers apart. Spread on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Air-dry for several days or in a convection oven set at lowest temperature (130 degrees) until crispy dry.

Chop the dried candied anise hyssop leaves in an electric food chopper until they resemble medium ground pepper. These have a lot of flavor and can be used to decorate the frosted cake or for other recipes.

Any leftover syrup can be refrigerated for up to 3 months. It’s really good as a flavored sweetener for hot or cold drinks.  

FROM THE FIELDS

For most of us the past ten days have been an opportunity to do some heavy duty weeding split by another heavy rain for some of us. All the rains and inability to get into planting beds and fields provided more opportunity for weeds to grow like crazy last week when it turned so warm. This means every thing from tractors and field cultivators, wheel hoes, hand hoes and just about anything to rid weeds from choking out crops is being used round the clock. You saw the first signs of summer crops yesterday with limited cucumbers, zucchini, and a very few of our first tomatoes. If ever there was a season for one to be patient and work with Mother Nature it is this one.

On the Good Earth Food Alliance website:

• Recipes for Garlicky Greens and Purslane and Parsley Salad.

• Smooth Carrot Soup With Ginger from Basil's Harvest, "This soup is beautiful served cold or warm.  Add a dollop of crème fresh or sour cream to top it off. This could also be used as a sauce for white fish."

• and Vegetable Lasagna "This is a twist on the classic.  We have joined organic swiss chard, organic carrots,  local asparagus, with a classic Béchamel sauce.  This mixture will be in between layers of our homemade lasagna pasta."
• available as ala carte for July 7th.