New Fruit

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (so technically I shouldn't even be blogging, but we each negotiate our own relationship with the ancient traditions.)

I learned yesterday that it is traditional to eat a "new fruit" on Rosh Hashanah. The person who told me this said that one should eat a fruit that one has never eaten before, but as I investigated further I learned that actually one should eat a fruit that one hasn't tasted in a long time. One source said that this ritual can be "an excuse for scouting out the 'exotic fruit' section of the supermarket, while another said that it was traditional to eat a seasonal fruit that one has not yet tasted this season.

Because this tradition evolved before the existence of supermarkets (let alone their exotic fruit sections), the second explanation made more sense to me. I'm always excited to find links to agricultural traditions, and Rosh Hashanah does take place during harvest time. This also got me thinking about the significance of having a calendar that starts during harvest, rather than during planting season, but I'm hardly qualified to start exploring that fascinating question.

Every source I checked agreed that the "new fruit" tradition evolved as a way to justify the traditional use of a particular blessing, usually reserved for new things, on the second day of a holiday that had been expanded to a second day. Still, I find it rich and suggestive, and I'm going to go find some local plums, because I haven't eaten a plum in a while.

Baby Artichokes

My latest culinary infatuation: baby artichokes. They grow on the same plants as the big ones, but they just don't grow as big. I've prepared them in the past by just cutting them in quarters and pan frying them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then eating them by just scraping out the tasty middle. But I finally figured out how to make a fresh version of the canned artichoke hearts that have always been one of my favorite foods.

Because baby artichokes have no "choke", or gristle on the inside, all you have to do is trim the tops and bottoms, and peel off the outer leaves. I found that the leaves come off more easily if you trim the tops and bottoms first, and as the leaves in the center become more difficult to remove they also become more tender, so that's the time to stop peeling them.

Once they're trimmed, they need to be boiled for twenty minutes or so in water along with some lemon or vinegar: I use about 2 tablespoons vinegar in a quart of water. Once they're ready I've been cooking them in olive oil along with garlic, salt, basil, and halved cherry tomatoes. Then I eat them with pasta...or by themselves. I do love this season.

Ballard Sustainability Festival

This weekend I've been vending at the 5th annual Sustainable Ballard Festival, at Ballard Commons Park on NW 57th St and 22nd Ave. NE, right across from the Ballard Library.

I'd never done this event before so I had no idea what to expect. I stopped by last year to check it out, but it was pouring so hardly anyone was there.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and it's supposed to be even nicer today. It wasn't crazy busy, but it was certainly worth doing, although they really should have put the food booths over by the music, where people hang out. All in all, it felt like a work in progress, with some great ideas, some quixotic nonsense, and plenty of good energy.

First Last Markets

Three of the farmers' markets where I vend are ending this week: Wallingford on Wednesday, Queen Anne on Thursday, and Madrona on Friday. The crowds are thinning out considerably, although the customers who do show up are mostly sad about the close of the season.

I understand how they feel but, personally, I'm thrilled. I'm going to cook more for myself, read more, write more, rest more, and get out and visit some farms. And when spring rolls around, I'll be just as excited to start all over again.

An Unruly Crowd

Here's a gem from my archives. There's a Hmong farmers who works a few stalls away from me at the Columbia City Market. A few years ago there was a situation where word seemed to be getting around in his community that he had the best stuff, so folks would line up outside his booth as he was setting up. He started hanging barricade tape along the entrance to his stall to keep people out until sales officially began.When the market managers rang the bell announcing that it was time to start shopping, everyone would rush in at once.

The market hires a rent-a-cop to deter theft. They started posting him by this farmer's booth at the beginning of the market. As you can see, he was about two feet taller than most of the people he was disciplining, but often when I looked over, he had his hands full.

Certified Naturally Grown

I love the idea of alternative organic certification programs for farmers who opt out the government's program. Many of the farmers who choose these options use practices that exceed state and federal standards, but they have better things to do with their money than paying the certification fees, and better things to do with their time than filling out reams of paperwork.

Organic farming isn't just about growing crops without industrial chemicals. It's a whole way of thinking about caring for the land and building the health of the soil, and every organic farmer I know approaches it differently. My friends who farm organically say that most inspectors who oversee their compliance with the government's standards have virtually no understanding of the complexity and nuances involved in this kind of agriculure.

I see this same kind of oversimplification sometimes with my own customers, especially when they ask me, "Is everything organic?" Sometimes they say, "I assume that everything is organic." I don't know of any restaurant or food conccession that uses 100% certified organic ingredients, even the ones that claim to be all organic. There are always asterisks and qualifications and, given the current regulatory situation, that's the way it should be. We need to think beyond government labels and standards because these programs were also designed to meet the needs of big companies who want to make the claim "certified organic" on their cereal boxes.

Local Roots Farm uses a program called Certified Naturally Grown. The organization is based in upstate New York, they ask for a free-will donation, and for the most part they take a farmer's word about the integrity of their practices. Farmers are asked to schedule an inspection within six months of the time they sign up for the program, and these inspections are usually performed by other participating farmers in the region.

You may prefer to have your food grown by an operation that is inspected more regularly, but I think that any farm that's thinking deeply enough about the situation to seek out this kind of alternative is all right with me. Besides, that's the beauty of the farmers' market. If you have concerns about their growing practices you can ask them directly.

Fresh Beans

This is the best time of year for local food. There are still plenty of tomatoes, corn, and chiles around, and we're starting to see some of the great fall stuff, like winter squash and--most exciting--fresh beans.

Fresh beans are not unlike dried beans, but they're fresher and sweeter and they cook in about 20 minutes. Cranberry beans are the most commonly available variety, as well as my favorite. They come in lovely speckled pods which you can shell without too much effort, or you can get them already shelled and save some time.

I got a big bag of cranberry beans from Alm Hill Farm a couple of weeks ago. I ate them in mixed vegetable dishes, with pasta, and in one very tasty pot of chili. Last week I went searching for more, but nobody had any at Columbia City on Wednesday, or Queen Anne on Thursday, or Madrona on Friday. One farmer told me that they were growing some, but they were keeping them for themselves because they were so special.

Alm Hill did have a number of varieties of shelled beans, so I picked up some that were speckled black and tan. Nobody knew their name, in fact, the guy at the Alm Hill booth at Ballard on Sunday said he didn't think they even had a name, just something like B-17. I'm hoping to pick up some of those B-17's this week as well.