"Chaat" Corn Salad with Tomatoes

This is a very simplified version of a popular Indian recipe, but as usual I can't really get half the typical ingredients. For some reason I did have the amchur powder and the black salt, which with the cumin are probably the most distinctive flavours for this dish, and I decided it would have to do. I don't know that this would be recognizable to any person of Indian extraction, but it was eaten quite enthusiastically here.

The presentation in a hollowed-out tomato is nice, but not required. If you don't want to fuss with that, you can replace the whole lot of tomatoes with one medium one, peeled and chopped fine, and everything mixed as a straightforward salad. 

4 servings
45 minutes prep time

Make the Spice Blend:
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon black salt
1 1/2 teaspoons amchur powder
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon hot red chile powder (to taste)

Start the water for the corn before making the spice blend.

Toast the cumin and fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Transfer them to a plate to cool at once, then grind them very fine with the black salt. Mix with the amchur and chile powders.

Make the Salad:
2 cobs of corn
4 to 8 small salad tomatoes
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion
2 to 3 tablespoons finely minced cilantro
1/4 cup finely diced green pepper
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
the juice of 1/2 lime

Put a pot of water on to boil for the corn. Husk it, and boil for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Rinse under cold water until cool enough that it can be handled, then cut the corn from the cobs. Set it aside for the moment.

Wash the tomatoes and cut off the top one-third of each. Use a grapefruit spoon or other small, sharp-edged spoon to remove the flesh, leaving the shells intact, from the bottom two-thirds of each. Salt the interiors and set them aside. Discard the stem scars and green cores (if any) and chop the remaining flesh and tomato tops to a size with the corn kernels. Put them in a mixing bowl.

Peel and finely dice the sweet onion, and add it to the chopped tomato. Wash, dry, and mince the cilantro. Wash, core, and finely dice the green pepper. Add those to the tomatoes and onions.

Peel and grate the ginger, and add it to the bowl of vegetables, along with the juice of 1/2 lime. Mix in the spice blend.

Lightly oil a large skillet - only enough to prevent the corn from sticking - and cook the corn kernels over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until fairly crisp and browned in spots. When it looks done to your liking, add it to the salad.

Rinse and drain the tomato shells well. Arrange them on a serving plate. Fill them with as much of the salad as they will hold, then spoon the rest of it around them.




Last year at this time I made Three Variations on Blackberry Jam (or Syrup).

Peach Flan with Caramelized Peach Sauce

I was sure this was going to be a faaaaabulous success, until I unmolded it, at which point I was sure it was a complete failure. As usual, reality fell somewhere in-between.

The flavour of this was really, really good, and I was quite satisfied with the texture. However, there is no getting around the fact that it is rather tender - that comes of replacing much of the milk in the original recipe with puréed peaches - and it will be tricky to unmold. Butter your baking pan well. Consider baking it in individual dishes and not unmolding it at all, if that's a thing you can do. But do go ahead and make it, because it is delicious.

If you have not caramelized sugar before, this recipe is a good place to start. It's aggravating enough to get that sugar to turn colour; you then normally have about 10 seconds to get it into the bottom of the baking pan and swirled to cover it. This avoids that last-moment terror, but gives you that rich caramel flavour.

You also don't even need to make the flan; you could use this recipe to make a caramelized peach sauce for ice-cream or cake. When you add the peaches to the sugar have a couple tablespoons of butter standing by, and add it too. Carefully, carefully! Caramel burns are nasty. Simmer it until slightly thickened, and voilà, you have your sauce.

6 to 8 servings
30 minutes prep time for caramel and peaches
15 minutes prep time for flan
1 hour to bake, plus time to cool

Prepare the Peaches & Caramel:
6 medium-large ripe peaches
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put a large pot of water on to boil; sufficient to cover the peaches. When it boils, drop them in for 1 minute. Transfer them to a bowl of cold water and peel them. Cut them from the pits, then chop them into dice. Set them aside in another bowl, with any accumulated juices.

Mix the water, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture up to a boil and boil, without stirring, until the mixture caramelizes by turning a medium-light brown. Watch it constantly and do not let it get too dark. It will happen very suddenly which is why you must watch. As soon as the mixture is a definite brown, add the peaches and all their juices - carefully! Don't let it splatter. Mix well and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly now, until the peaches are quite soft. Let the mixture cool.

This can be done up to a day ahead.

Finish the Flan:
6 extra-large eggs
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons sherry
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Measure out 1 cup of the caramelized peaches and their liquid (close to half of them) and keep it aside to serve over the finished flan as a sauce.

Put the remaining caramelized peaches and their liquid into a blender or food processor (blender preferred). Break in the eggs, and process on fairly low speed until well blended but not frothy. Add the almond extract, sherry, and milk. Process again.

Use the butter to grease the bottom and sides of a 10" ring pan. Pour in the liquid flan mixture. Place the pan in a shallow tray of water and place it in the heated oven. Bake for 1 hour, until firm. Let cool completely before attempting to unmold.

Serve with the remaining caramelized peaches as a sauce. 




Last year at this time I made Broiled Tomatoes au gratin.

A Fundraising Dinner for EFAO and a Visit to The New Farm

Last Thursday a couple of events coincided. The Ecological Farmers of Ontario (EFAO) held their first-ever fund-raising dinner at the The New Farm, which is just 45 minutes away from us. It was also my birthday, so I strong-armed Mr. Ferdzy into going as a birthday treat. Since we were in a wild and reckless mood, we took my Mom too. At $150 each, that was a bit wild and reckless. Still, I think this is about the second time in 30 years together that I have made Mr. Ferdzy take me out for my birthday so on a pro-rated basis he has not done badly.

We arrived in the late afternoon and enjoyed some drinks and nibbles before dinner, which was to be served in the barn - you can see one of the tables at the far right of the photo. We didn't know too many people so we milled around for a while. People seemed to be pretty friendly, and being the world's dorkiest conversationalist, I tried to break the ice by asking, "So, are you a farmer?" There were some, but mostly people weren't, is my impression. 

Guillermo, one of the chefs from Richmond Station restaurant, passes out appetizers and chats with some of the guests. Guillermo - gosh I hope I have that name right, somebody please correct me if I don't - actually works at the farm, growing vegetables in the large (laaarge) kitchen garden, which then go to the restaurant in Toronto. Except for the ones that are eaten on the spot, of course. The New Farm has a very efficient and attractive cooking and dining set-up and meals and events happen there regularly.

I can tell you who two of these people are; Mr Ferdzy and the famous Mom, both on the right. The man in the violet shirt is Thorsten Arnold, who told me that "his wife is the farmer, he just helps some" and not that he is the Strategic Initiatives and Fundraising Coordinator for EFAO. But I guess it serves me right; I asked him if he was a farmer.

 A couple of the chefs haul vegetable scraps out to the poultry pen. The chickens are plainly prepared for this routine, and mobbed the scraps as soon as they were dumped.

Gillian Flies (left) and Brent Preston (centre) are the farmers behind The New Farm. They introduced themselves and the event, and then we heard a few words from Ali English (right) who is the executive director of EFAO.

Next Gillian and Brent gave a tour of the farm. They talked about their conversion to a no-till system, newly implemented, and the changes they are already seeing. Behind them is one of their fields, recently mown, in which a "cocktail" cover crop had been grown. Sunflowers, radishes, and an assortment of other plants were grown to pull up nutrients from the depths of the soil and provide organic matter. They will compost over the winter then provide improved soil for spring planting.

The New Farm started as a mixed vegetable farm, but has evolved to supply mostly salad greens to mostly restaurants (about 70 of them, between Toronto and Collingwood) and a few markets; about 20 of those. That white streak in the background is another field of greens, being kept under row covers to keep the pests out.

 One of the new features of the no-till system is the use of tarps to prepare planting areas, by killing the weeds, and possibly warming the soil. Although as Brent said, that has not exactly been an issue this year. The photo above makes it clear that there are surprising differences between the covered spots and the uncovered spots. Ignore the lettuce on the right and focus on the spinach seedlings in the centre. The ones on the right were planted in the area that had been covered by a tarp. The ones on the left were planted in the area which was not covered. There was a very distinct line between the two!

The tarps they are using are made of a plastic film, actually for use with silage on dairy farms, as it is readily available and affordable. 

 Next we all trooped over to the "kitchen garden" The woman in the front there is Fran McQuail, one of the founders of the EFAO, of Meeting Place Organic Farm. She is looking at the beds of carrots, which are being grown as part of a trial of carrot seeds. EFAO does a lot of farmer-led research, which it turns out is a lot more complex, expensive and generally not done, than you would have thought. Because ecological farmers don't tend to be big consumers of industrial farm products, they don't tend to have much research done on their behalf. This is one of the real benefits of belonging to EFAO.

 Guillermo and Katrina McQuail in the garden.

And then, it was time for dinner. I took a picture of this first plate that was brought out, a delicious sign of things to come, with hummus, quinoa tabbouleh, roasted tomatoes, arugula and amazing little homemade pita breads  - the extra touch that let us know that dinner, by chef Carl Heinrich of Richmond Station, was going to something out of the ordinary.

After that the dishes came fast and furious, and I was too busy eating and talking to our neighbours to take any pictures. There were some really delicious beets with yogurt and mint (yes, there was a definite middle-eastern vibe going on); there was charred eggplant with yogurt and corn; stuffed pattypan squash; and a fairly simply cooked pastured chicken with grilled scallions. It was all so good!

At the very end I remembered to take one more picture of the very impressive peach shortcake which finished the meal, as we listened to a short speech from Tony McQuail. It wasn't quite as dark as the photo makes it out to be; but I did need to use the flash. After that we headed out, as we still had a bit of a drive to get home. It was a very enjoyable evening and I was sorry to see it end.

Deconstructed Pesto Chicken Salad

I admit I am not at all a fan of the fad - now receding, she said hopefully - for deconstructed dishes. They were constructed in the first place for a reason. Are these dishes the work of chefs who were once those annoying little kids who insist that nothing on their plate touch anything else on their plate, and who pick things apart so as to eat the components separately?

Having said that... here it is.

Mind you, it isn't the salad I've deconstructed here, just the pesto. I've made Pesto Chicken Salad before, and very good too. However, if you don't have any pesto made up on hand, this goes together much more quickly and to very similar effect.

We eat a lot of poached chicken in the summer. You can use a little salted water to poach it, but I keep a jar of broth in the fridge for it. It just keeps getting stronger and stronger until you start to think you had better use it for something else (within 10 days, I would think) and then you start again. I believe the current batch started life as the juices drained off a batch of baked chicken thighs. I haven't added any other salt to the salad; I've come to think the Parmesan adds plenty.

2 servings
15 minutes to poach chicken and a later 15 minutes to finish

300 grams (10 ounces) boneless poached chicken
a good handful (1/2 cup loosely packed) basil leaves
2 to 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts OR almonds
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove of garlic
1/3 cup mayonnaise
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 to 6 lettuce leaves

Poach the chicken in a small amount of broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the poaching liquid (which can be reserved for another use) and let it cool completely. Keep refrigerated  until wanted.

Chop the cold chicken and put it in a mixing bowl.

Wash and dry the basil. Strip the leaves from the stems (discard) and chop them quite coarsely. Add them to the chicken.

Grate the Parmesan, as coarsely or finely as you like. Add to the chicken.

Peel and mince the garlic, and sprinkle it over. Add the mayonnaise and pepper, and toss until well blended.

Wash and dry the lettuce leaves and arrange them in a serving dish. Pile the salad on top and garnish with a reserved leaf or two of basil.




Last year at this time I made Argentinian Chicken (hah!) and Corn.

Beans & Cherry Tomatoes in Mint Vinaigrette

Beans marinated in a mint vinaigrette is a classic Italian dish; I've added cherry tomatoes because they go so well, and also we have an awful lot of cherry tomatoes at the moment. 

Blue Lake beans seem to need about 6 minutes of cooking to be perfect (by my definition) but some of the more modern bean varieties have less heft to them, and cook faster.

4 to 6 servings
30 minutes - 15 minutes prep time

300 grams (10 ounces) green beans
1/4 cup finely minced fresh mint
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh oregano
OR 1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
300 grams (10 ounces) cherry tomatoes

Put a pot of water on to boil for the beans. Wash and trim them, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. When the water boils, cook them for 4 to 6 minutes, depending on variety of bean and desired tenderness.

Meanwhile, wash and mince the mint and oregano, discarding any tough stems. Put them in a salad bowl with the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Wash and de-stem the tomatoes, and cut them in halves or quarters. Keep them separate from the rest of the salad until just before serving.

When the beans are cooked, drain them very well and mix them into the dressing in the salad bowl while they are still hot. Once they have cooled to room temperature, mix in the tomatoes and serve. 

Melon, Parsley, & Sweet Onion Salad

This is a simple little salad, very pleasant and easy, and inspired by the classic starter of melon and prosciutto. I used both orange and green melon, as one of the melons planted in the "orange melon patch" turned out to be green. Such are the hazards of open pollination and home-saved seeds. Both were very tasty though, so no problem. It's nice to use both if you can, just for the subtle difference in flavour and texture, but just one will certainly do.

Mint is a notorious weed, so it is frustrating that we have had a hard time growing it. I had some growing by the tap for the garden hose for a while, but it seems to have been crowded out. However, a bit we planted in a low spot in the garden and which sat and did nothing for at least 5 years finally seems to have taken off. I am enjoying using it. I can see using basil instead, though, if mint is hard to get.

4 servings
30 minutes prep time

1 small (1 cup chopped) sweet onion
1 cup finely chopped parsley
2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
2 to 3 cups diced, peeled orange or green melon
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste
the juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
125 grams very thinly sliced prosciutto or similar dry ham (optional)

Peel the onion and chop, a little coarsely. Sprinkle it with salt, and leave it in a strainer to drain for 15 or 20 minutes. Rinse them and drain them well.

Wash and dry the parsley and mint, and chop them finely, discarding any tough stems.

Peel, de-seed, and dice the melon. Toss the melon, herbs, well-drained onion together. Season with Aleppo pepper, pepper, and salt. Drizzle over the lemon juice and olive oil. Toss gently.

If you like, serve garnished with the prosciutto or ham.




Last year at this time I made Green Bean Greek Salad.

Meatball Pilaf with Green Beans & Peppers

This certainly isn't a dish for a weeknight, given the times involved. I could also only consider it because we are finally getting a few cooler days interspersed with the really hot ones. However as usual with me, the actual work was neither difficult nor time consuming, making this a fine thing to make on a weekend. Also good for entertaining; you just have to pull it out of the oven and serve it with no last minute fussing required. A good crisp salad would finish the menu nicely, this one seems appropriate.

While this was lovely with fresh vegetables from the garden, it would actually do very well made in the winter, with frozen beans, greenhouse or dried peppers, and canned tomatoes. About 3 cups of diced or crushed tomato in that case, I would think. If I had had any celery I would have put in a stalk or two with the onion. Garlic is a bit betwixt and between at the moment. The old stuff is, well, old; and the new stuff is pulled from the garden,but hanging in the garage to cure for a couple of weeks. Still, I made a Turkish garlic sauce for the leftovers (you know the routine; a fat clove of garlic and a pinch of salt to about a cup of thick yogurt) and it went very well. This isn't a traditional Turkish dish, but it's definitely Turkish inspired.

6 servings  
2 hours and 30 minutes - 45 minutes prep time
not including resting time for meatballs (up to 2 hours)

Make the Meatballs:
1 medium fresh onion, with green top
500 grams (1 pound) lean ground beef
400 grams (1 pound) lean ground lamb
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons rubbed savory or thyme
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil, if needed

Trim the onion; set the green top aside to go into the rice. Peel and chop the bulb of the onion finely. Put it in a mixing bowl with the 2 meats.

Add the seasonings to the meat, including the parsley and mint once they have been washed, dried, and finely chopped. Mix very thoroughly. Form the mixture into 18 to 24 patties, keeping them about 3/4" thick. If possible, cover and let them rest (refrigerated) for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Heat a large skillet over high heat, and cook the patties in batches until browned; just a minute or two on each side. Put them into a large shallow roasting pan (such as a 9" x 13" lasagne pan) as they are cooked. Use the oil if it is required to prevent sticking. Don't wash the pan once you are done - you will want to sauté some veggies still.

Finish the Pilaf:
300 grams (10 ounces) green beans
3 or 4 medium-large (450 grams; 1 pound) tomatoes
1 or 2 medium sweet banana peppers or similar
the green top from 1 fresh onion
2 cups medium grain white rice
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon salt

Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil. Wash and trim the beans, and cut them into thirds or quarters. When the water boils, blanch them for 1 minute then remove them and drain them well. In the same water, blanch the tomatoes for 1 minute, then remove them and rinse them in cold water. Remove the skins.

Wash, trim, and de-seed the pepper(s). Chop them, not too finely. Wash, trim and chop the green onion top.

Using the pan the meatball patties were browned in, cook the pepper pieces until soft and slightly browned in spots. Add the green onions and beans, and cook for another minute or two, until the onion greens are wilted. Sprinkle the vegetables over the meatballs. Sprinkle the rice over the meatballs, and finish with the chopped tomatoes. Stir gently until evenly combined, trying not to break the meatballs.

Heat the water to boiling with the salt. (Or if your blanching water is clean, you can use some of that.) Pour it gently over the pilaf. Make sure all the rice is below the water line. Cover the pan, with foil if it does not have its own lid. Bake at 350°F for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the rice is cooked. It is a good idea to stir gently once or twice as it cooks. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Bruschetta Margherita

In January we start planning the garden, and select our tomato varieties to grow. In March we start them inside, in little pots. By late April and through early May we haul those pots in and out according to weather, and water them daily, and watch them anxiously for aphids or other problems. We heave a sigh of relief when they can be planted outside, but they must still be covered if we've pushed the timing and we probably have, watered, and weeded, and tied to supports. And then finally in August it all comes to fruition - literally - and the wait is worth every moment.

These were so good I practically leaned back, drummed my heels, and let out a shriek.

And yes, the 2 of us ate it all. This recipe is about the equivalent of 2 sturdy cheese and tomato sandwiches, so not too unreasonable. If you wanted to share them and serve them as a starter, it might stretch to 6 servings. I'm not sure I would count on it, though. SO GOOD.

I've seen this described as Bruschetta Margherita, Bruschetta Caprese, or Bruschetta Pizzaiola.  Whatever you want to call it, it's just lovely.

2 to 6 servings (12 slices)
30 minutes prep time

350 grams (12 ounces) firm, ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 small (275 grams) day-old ciabatta or baguette
2 tablespoon olive oil
100 grams (4 ounces) mozzerella di bufala OR fior di latte

Put the broiler on to heat. 

Wash the tomatoes and cut out the cores. Slice them in half from top to bottom then into wedges. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of very good olive oil then season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle them with the minced garlic. Broil the tomatoes for 8 to 12 minutes, until very soft and juicy.

Meanwhile, slice the baguette into 12 angled slices about 3/4" of an inch thick. Drizzle both sides with some more of the olive oil, and arrange them on a baking tray to go under the broiler. When the tomatoes are done, swap them out and toast the bread lightly on both sides.

While the bread toasts, slice the cheese into 12 fairly even portions, and wash and dry the basil.

When the bread is toasted, arrange it so the less toasted sides are up. (You know there always is one!) Spoon slices of broiled tomato and their juices evenly over the pieces of toast. Intersperse them with the cheese, broken up a little to fit and to be spread out over the slices, and with the leaves of basil, 2 or 3 per toast.

Return the toasts to under the broiler, and broil for another few minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve at once.

Black Bean, Corn, & Tomato Salad with Avocado

This delicious summery salad is adapted from one by the California Avocado marketing board, but apart from the avocado and the lime juice, it contains mostly things that are local to here right now. If you want to cook the beans from scratch, I always think 2/3 to 3/4 of a cup of dry beans are the equivalent of a can of beans. At this time of year, though, I am inclined to ignore all the jars of dried beans in the basement and just buy a can. It's far too hot to be boiling beans for hours.

I would have been tempted to put another avocado in - I love avocados - but there were only 2 in the bin when I was shopping, and the other one was hard as a brick. Oh well; I was lucky to find one ripe enough to use right away. They are generally better bought a couple of days in advance but I have trouble being that organized. One was fine, and it's a salad after all; the exact proportions of things to each other can vary according to how much you like or have of each.

I used some Aleppo pepper for my hot chile powder, mostly because I still have well over a cup of the stuff in the cupboard from growing it a few years back, but something more Mexican would be entirely appropriate, if you have it.

As ever, the 2 of us ate it all and called it dinner, but if you were serving it with other things it would go further.

2 to 6 servings
30 minutes prep time

Make the Dressing:
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon (or to taste) hot red chile powder
the juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil

Grind the cumin seeds and mix them with the remaining spices in a small bowl or jam jar. Add the lime juice and olive oil, and stir or shake well.

Make the Salad:
2 cobs of corn
1 large tomato
1 540 ml (19 ounce) can black beans
1 small banana pepper OR 1/4 bell pepper
1 medium-small sweet onion
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 large ripe avocado OR 2 medium avocados

Put a large pot of water on to boil the corn. Husk the corn and boil for 5 to 8 minutes, until done to your liking. Plunge the cobs into cold water and let them cool. While the corn is cooking, drop the tomato into the boiling water for 1 minute. Rinse it in cold water and peel it and chop it.

Cut the corn from the cold cobs and put it in a salad bowl with the chopped tomato. Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Wash, trim and chop the pepper fairly finely. Peel and chop the onion, also fairly finely. Wash, dry, and mince the cilantro. Add these to the salad along with the dressing and toss together.

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. I find it easiest to use a large, flattish, and rather thin spoon to cut and remove small slices from the halves, but it could be peeled and chopped fairly coarsely. Sprinkle the avocado pieces over the salad and toss it very gently to incorporate them. I add them last to avoid smooshing them too much.




Last year at this time I made Cherry Tomato & Shallot Clafoutis. 

Some Bean Crosses

Here is a post about some beans that are not available to anyone. They only exist in my garden.

Last fall I finally found something I had been looking for for a while. A plant with black-coated seeds showed up in the Blue Lake beans. Given the beans I've been growing, that means it was a Blue Lake - Cherokee Trail of Tears cross. I was looking for such a cross because ever since the summer of 2013 we have been struggling with anthracnose in the beans.

Blue Lake appears to have moderately good resistance to anthracnose, not succumbing until we have managed about half a crop, but Cherokee Trail of Tears has better resistance, not succumbing until near the end of the season. The flavour of Cherokee Trail of Tears is quite similar to Blue Lake, although it is a much more variable bean. At any rate, I was quite excited and carefully saved all the black crossed beans to plant this year.

Cherokee Trail of Tears beans are green, but often have a purple flush to them. I was not too surprised therefore when about three-quarters of the f2 beans turned out to be actually purple. I was a bit more surprised that three-quarters of the beans turned out to be flat. I'm looking for beans as much like Blue Lake as possible, but with better anthracnose resistance. That means that right off the bat, I am eliminating fifteen-sixteenths of them on the grounds of looks alone, although on re-examination of Blue Lake beans they seem to have some variability in shape. I think of them as round, but they go from round to flattish.

When I grow out these beans next year I will be eliminating a bunch on different grounds. I see many of the green beans, but not all, have pink flowers. Blue Lake flowers are white, but I think I will eliminate white flowers from the crossed group. I want them to be very like Blue Lake but it will be helpful to have a way to differentiate them! None of these beans seem to have strings, but it will be something to watch for as well. Also, I want white seeded or at least very pale seeded beans.

There are two skinny little beans in the photo above which have the look of Blue Lake. Unfortunately, I don't think either of them quite have the flavour of Blue Lake either. One of them comes close, I think. They are from 2 different plants. They are so small because these 2 green, round-podded plants also seem to have started producing one to two days later than most of the others. The beans in the picture are all I picked on the first day there were enough of them ready to pick.

So it looks like I have exactly one bean plant that looks and tastes like what I want, which is certainly a big step up from having zero. The next question is, does it have improved anthracnose resistance? I don't know yet, as the anthracnose has yet to get going. The very hot dry weather we have had this year seems to be slowing it down at least.

I did not plant all the beans from last years crossed plant; I will plant the rest next year and see if I can get another plant of the type I am looking for. Also I should watch the purple and flat plants to see how they do with anthracnose, and how they are for flavour. Just because they aren't exactly what I am looking for doesn't mean they couldn't be good, desirable beans.

The other bean I was quite excited about last year was one that I grew out from an Annelino Yellow - Cherokee Trail of Tears cross. (Yes, Cherokee Trail of Tears is a stud. If I wasn't growing it, I would think beans hardly ever cross; but since I am, I think they cross all the time.) It was a long, dark green bean with a purple haze over it, and it was delicious. It was also productive and had good anthracnose resistance. I saved most of the beans for seed and planted them again this year.

The first group of beans I picked from the resulting plants were disappointing. They were much stubbier, didn't have the purple haze, and didn't have the delicious flavour. I'm starting to see some slightly later producing plants with longer, purple hazed beans on them so I am still hopeful that I can get the style of bean I am looking for out of this batch, but it isn't going to be a doddle. I had Mom try some and she thought they were really tasty but noted that some of them had strings. That will be a trait we will want to weed out.

One quality they seem to have retained from last year (when they were f1) is that they develop quite slowly. This means they are not the earliest of beans, but they only started a few days after the Blue Lake, and they seem to actually hold quite well, both on and off the plant - an excellent trait. Finally, they do seem to have maintained one other very desirable quality; they are extremely productive, right up there with the Blue Lake. I'm not quite as excited about these as I was last year, but I think they are worth continuing to grow out and select.

Flakkee Carrots

This is another one that I'm a little surprised to realize I have never written about. On the other hand, carrots are one of the world's most popular vegetables and Flakkee is one of the most common older types of orange carrots out there - in a funny sort of way it is so ubiquitous as to be easily overlooked.

Actually, most of the carrots bought at the grocery store these days are much more likely to be F1 hybrids of some sort. Flakkee is one of the last widely-available open-pollinated carrots, although I have seen some F1 hybrids described as Flakkee types. Beware of carrot hybrids if you want to save your own seed. Carrots were one of the earliest vegetables to be converted by the seed industry to Cytoplasmic Male Sterility and just about every hybrid now has it (meaning no seed can be produced).

Flakkee straddles the line between being a named variety and simply a type of carrot. Their shape is also somewhat intermediate between a Danvers type, and an Imperator type. They are fairly long, longer than most Danvers, but they do end in a blunt tip (unlike the true Imperators). They can get quite large and in fact when the discussion turns to growing giant vegetables, their name tends to turn up. I can find very little about their history. I see a surprising number of seed-sellers claiming they are Italian. They may be popular in Italy, but they are plainly Dutch. The name is a reference to the Dutch island of Goeree-Overflakkee; one has to assume a centre of Dutch carrot culture. Orange carrots did develop in Holland, after all.

Just to make things more confusing, they are known by a number of other names. Autumn King is one you will see often; this is a particular selection of Flakkee. They may also be known as Flak. Flakkese 2 is described as a selection of Autumn King.

We have consistently found them one of our easiest and most productive carrots to grow. As an older type of carrot, they have lush, leafy tops, which perhaps means they can't be quite as crowded as the newer hybrids and varieties bred for minimal foliage. I think this gives them resiliency in the garden though, and in general I associate good foliage with good flavour. They need a relatively long season to fully develop. William Dam (where we get our seeds) says 75 days to maturity. I think that's a bit low. In good growing conditions, you can start harvesting them around then, but for full development and good winter storage you can expect them to need longer. The ones in the photo are probably not much past the 75 day mark, but I also wouldn't consider them particularly impressive specimens.

We often leave half of our carrots in the ground over winter for spring consumption; they keep as well there as anywhere for the home grower. My one caution is that the largest and most impressive carrots don't hold in the ground well. Perhaps water sits on the tops, and rots out the crown. You might as well pick your biggest and best in the fall, in other words. I save my carrots selected to go to seed next spring in our basement fridge, after having lost too many left in the ground. I can supplement them with the best of the spring-dug carrots, but this way I know I will have some, although a few always seem to rot in the fridge too, so check them occasionally through the winter. As for eating the spring-dug carrots, once they are ready to go to seed they will get tough and woody, so don't leave them too long. For fall digging on the other hand, we leave the main harvest as late as we can, which means just before it snows to stay or it looks like the ground will freeze.

So far as growing them goes, the same as for any other carrot. Don't plant them too early; the soil should be at least 10°C - in other words, wait until the dandelions bloom. Don't plant them too deeply, but in good stone-free and well-worked soil. Once they are in the ground they must be watered-watered-watered-watered-watered until they germinate, and after that regular waterings are important, but you can leave off watering twice a day. It is helpful to keep them covered during this time; people use things from row-cover cloth to plywood. Everyone says not to put compost on carrots, and it's true that too much compost will cause luxurious leafy tops but spindly, hairy, and forked roots. On the other hand it is my observation that carrots actually love compost - provided it was applied three years ago.

Gravedigger Peas

I seem to have missed the opportunity to photograph these peas close up, as I was too busy shelling them and eating them. There they are a little earlier in the season, setting pods like crazy, along with one lone and solitary Sugar Magnolia which seems to have gotten slightly lost. They are over and done long since, of course.

We grew them last year for the first time. I have wanted to try them ever since I read about them on Rebsie Fairholm's blog, so I was quite excited to see them listed by Annapolis Seeds. We planted a nice little patch last spring, and when we picked the first couple of pods to try, Mr. Ferdzy and I looked at each other in amazement and promptly agreed to eat no more - because we wanted to grow them out for seed, so we could grow masses of them this year.

Their history is not much known. They are English, and probably date back to the 19th century; no earlier. They were donated to the Heritage Seed Library who named them, as is their custom, for the furthest grower back to whom they can be traced; in this case a man who was a gravedigger by trade and pea grower by vocation. Rebsie says pretty much all that is known about them. 

We planted them a bit late this year and so they were not particularly early to produce. I think at any rate they are a mid-to-late-season pea, of a middle height. They are extremely bushy and dense, and produce heavily but somewhat slowly - a nice pea for the home gardener, since they should produce for a few weeks. I think ours were cut a bit short by the very hot dry weather this year but they still went longer than most peas. We will want to grow them in our trellised beds, I think, even though they are not the tallest. Their substance does mean they should get good support.

The pods are fat, and full. I don't think most will have more than 6 peas, but the peas are quite large. They are a lighter green than modern peas tend to be but they are so tender and flavourful. The peas tend to be a bit more ovoid than round. They are really quite distinctive and a little different than any of the other peas we have grown.

These are very obscure and rare, and I am so happy that Annapolis seeds was able to get hold of them. I can see already that these are going to be one of our must-grow favourite varieties.