Food Archives - Page 17 of 20

Foraging For Food in Winter

Oh, the longing to forage some fresh food. Perhaps something from the garden. Maybe the woods or the herb bed.

But it is February and our ancestors chose to settle in Central Illinois. Foraging in mid-winter is restricted by snow, low temperatures and a season of rest.

But we still want to eat fresh foods.

Local foods.

Whole food.

Food that has not been treated with chemicals or grown from some frankinseed that Grandma wouldn’t recognize. Food that is not processed from some combination of ingredients with five syllable names.

Forage In The Freezer

The freezer is full of seasoned tomato sauce, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic bulbils and chive blossoms.

Forage In The Pantry

The pantry holds rows of tomato juice, pickles, jellies, jams, pie fillings, hot pepper sauce and relishes. A basement grow station is providing fresh lettuce, basil and cilantro.

The vegetable part of our diet is now primarily home grown. Then there is the meat issue. We made a conscious decision not to grow, harvest or butcher our own meat, but have no desire to embrace vegetarianism.

Forage Down The Road

Winter foraging also includes checking out local sources for meat and staples. Somewhat like a scavenger hunt but delicious rewards.

Since this kitchen produces a significant quantity of baked goods, flour is a very important staple. We are now sourcing this locally from Hodgson Mill in Effingham, IL. Their grain is purchased as locally as possible, much of it is organic and all flour is milled in Effingham. Thirty miles down the road definitely qualifies as local.

Beef, pork and chicken are the next foods we are looking for locally. But we want more than just local. Pastured, free-range, no hormones and allowed to naturally graze are important features.

Each of these decisions brings us closer to a more healthful way of eating. That is the goal.

Are you making any changes in your approach to food? Post a reply and let us know what you are doing.

While you are thinking about food, check out Hodgson Mill.

And, if you haven’t already downloaded your free copy of The Wisdom of the Bees, it only takes an email address. Just visit our website: Five Feline Farm

Toasted Almond Honey Ice Cream

Five Feline Farm is a blend of old and new. We maintain a respect for history and the skills of our ancestors, but definitely appreciate the new approaches.

For example, ice cream.

People have been making ice cream since 200 B.C. with fruit, cream, nuts and various sweeteners frozen together. There is ice cream, sorbet, gelato, frozen yogurt and sherbet just to name a few. No matter the name, all required some method of freezing ingredients into a refreshing dessert treat.

Most families recall hot summer days with a hand cranked churn, layers of salt and ice around the center urn of sweet flavored cream. People took turns cranking the handle until the mixture was frozen stiff and could no longer be moved. A few hours packed in a fresh bed of salted ice, then out came the spoons.

Eventually someone invented an electric ice cream churn to eliminate the hard work of turning the crank.

Even better came the invention of a counter top, electric compressor small batch ice cream maker. In just about an hour, with minimal preparation, a quart of ice cream is ready to eat.

We’ve come a long way.

Now here on the Farm we experiment with flavors. An hour and a quart is a perfect match to try out new flavor combinations. The latest favorite is Toasted Almond Honey. Simple straightforward ingredients. Cream, milk, honey, sliced almonds, a pinch of salt. No preservatives. Nothing included that can’t be pronounced.

Toasted Almond Honey Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup raw honey
pinch salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Stir together cream, milk, honey and salt until thoroughly blended. Add to 1 quart tabletop ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer directions. Toast almonds in small skillet over low heat, stirring frequently until lightly browned and fragrant. Add almonds during the last 15 minutes of freezing or when machine indicates additional ingredients can be added.

Yes this is a high fat dessert. It is a treat to be enjoyed in moderation and well worth the calories.

If this type of experimenting in the kitchen suits you, stay tuned. There is more to come from the Five Feline Farm kitchen.

Sugar Cane in Illinois?

Do you remember the old commercial for C&H sugar?

C&H. Pure cane sugar. From Hawaii. Growing in the sun.

Did you know you can grow sugar cane in Illinois too?

Ok, maybe not as a cash crop or in the quantities needed to process granulated sugar. But you can grow it.

This past summer, on Five Feline Farm, Tohono O’odham “Sugar Cane” was one of the experimental crops. Tall slender canes topped with a red seed head. The cane looks similar to bamboo although not as fast growing and not quite as tough.

Sugar cane is different from sorghum which is a much more common plant in this area. Sorghum looks like its cousin sugar cane, but the sap of the sorghum plant boils down into a thick dark syrup with a distinctly different flavor. Sorghum molasses is an acquired taste, but full of healthy minerals. Sugar cane is filled with a sweet juice that when grown commercially is processed and refined into granulated sugar.

Shaving off the hard outer layer without cutting into the sweet heart of the cane is an art. Most of the time I had a nice section skinned and the next cut went completely through the sweet center. There was enough though to sample. Chewing on the middle of the cane gives a burst of sweetness and a desire for more. It was more than just that short experience. It was a rocket ride down memory lane to Hawaii. Roadside vendors in Hawaii sell short sections of peeled sugar cane ready to chew. Warm sweet cane juice washes through your mouth as you watch tropical waves spill over the beach. There’s a reason the place is referred to as paradise.

Back to Illinois.

Sugar cane will never be a commercial crop in Illinois but it is a fun plant to grow. After chewing a sweet sample, the extra canes will be used like bamboo and seeds saved for next year.

A renewable source of fun.

Three Sisters Update

As our regular followers know, the premier area this year is the Three Sisters Garden. Like most things around Five Feline Farm, a simple idea grows and expands into much more. This garden feature started with a vision of a simple garden plot in a Native American style. Corn supporting climbing beans, surrounded by yellow squash to double as a weed blocking mulch. The garden expanded to include an area for gourds, buckwheat, lavender, mammoth sunflowers and additional dent corns.

A recent discovery is the Google Earth view. The design was to reflect a honeycomb and without a doubt it does. The outline is less visible now that the plants are filling in, but the base is still there.

Already these plants are nourishing us. Yellow crookneck squash abounds. It is a goal to find as many delicious ways to cook this new vegetable as possible.

Perhaps we are picking them smaller but this variety seems to have a different flavor than standard yellow squash. When picked small the squash is tender yet firm enough to hold up and not become slimy. So far we have had it grilled, roasted, sautéed, added to a foil packet of green beans, dehydrated into chips, fried and in stir fry. It feels a bit like Bubba in Forrest Gump naming all the ways to cook shrimp. “Ya got ‘yer fried squash, roasted squash, squash casserole…..”

The next anticipated produce from Three Sisters will be pinto beans. These will be picked when the pods dry, then shelled and vacuum sealed. Surely pintos will produce in a more manageable quantity than yellow crookneck squash.

As always, the Farm blesses us with bounty from vegetables to a gorgeous vista.

Leave us a comment if you have a novel way to prepare yellow squash. If you are in our neighborhood and need some, let us know that too.