The Ontario Table

Archive for July, 2012

The Trouble with Grocery Stores

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There is a reason why traditional grocery stores are always at the bottom of the list of places I shop.

It was Sunday morning and armed with an eclectic list of ingredients for dinner I ventured out. My shopping had to centre around the bulk food store because I needed a tablespoon of a few different spices that I didn’t have in my cupboard. I was making veggie burgers and baked fries with humus for movie night with the family.

I got what I needed from the bulk store and with only 3 ingredients left, I went into the grocery store in the same plaza. I hardly ever go into this store. It’s nice enough I guess but I always get this sense that people are simply working there, but no one is really interested in the food. I’m sure you know a few of these giant places.

I picked up the one jalapeno pepper I needed and the multi-grain flat bread buns and went searching of tahini paste. Couldn’t find it so I approached 2 ladies who were engaged in what looked like a serious conversation about someone’s brother – not sure but that’s all I got before I decided to interrupt.

I asked for tahini paste and their looks went vacant – I hate food stores where the people who are employed to help you with food purchases, know nothing about food! Ok, maybe tahini paste is a stretch – nawwww. She replied by asking, “what, Tahiti?” She looked at the other girl and asked, “do we have any Tahiti?” The other girl replied, “oh, tzatziki? Yes, it’s over there.” The first girl turned and began walking in the direction of the other girls pointed finger – but I stood my ground.

Why is it that grocery store clerks who have no idea what you’re talking about would rather walk you around a football field-size grocery store in search of what – they don’t even know! Instead of learning about the products they’re paid to help you with? It boggles my mind in so many ways. So you know the drill, they smile, instruct you to follow them, turn and walk away with no idea what the end goal will be! But they’re sure if they show you Tahiti or tzatziki you will somehow be happy! In fact, the girl, who I’m guessing is in her late 20’s didn’t even know Tahiti is an island – and not edible!

So there I was standing my ground, refusing to budge, refusing to be lead one more time through the maze of a small city. Perhaps she thought I needed some exercise. Not sure if that would have been a compliment or insult. But what she didn’t know was that I’d just come from the gym. I didn’t need any more exercise that day.

Then I noticed what looked liked a manager – or shall I say he looked like a better prospect for my question. He was in the produce section. I walked over to him and asked for tahini paste and he tells me they just don’t sell it any longer, “not enough demand” he said. Well I guess not, if the staff thinks it’s Tahiti or tzatziki. Imagine that, those much needed jars of tahini paste just sat on their shelves collecting dust.

“Hey”, the manager goes on in a friendly manner, “someone came in asking for that just yesterday.” Well, that restored my faith in grocery shoppers. People do use tahini paste and they do ask for it. The reason sales were down in this store was because their own staff killed it with ignorance. Shall I tell him? No, I figured his problems were much greater than what could be solved with a simple discussion on geography, and ethnic foods.

So I took my pepper and buns to the cash register and paid. As I was picking up my bag the woman behind me asked the cashier for gladiolas. “I didn’t see any and I know you have them on sale”, she explained. To my surprise, there was that vacant look again. The manager just happened to be close by and he said, “sorry but we won’t have any more until Tuesday”. The cashier, now with a smile of relief laughed, “well I’m glad he was here. I didn’t know what they were. But they sound good. I’ll have to try them”.

Radishes, fresh or roasted – yum!

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Radishes have to be one of the most visually appealing vegetables piled high at farmers’ markets and when I see a mountainfull of multi-coloured radishes at the Atwater Market in Montreal, I just can’t resist.

Not only am I addicted to the crunch and freshness of biting into a crisp radish, but the exciting part of being at a big city market is the huge volume of a good thing. There was a colossal pile of traditional red radishes next to an equally bountiful pile of sexy French radishes, you know the long ones with the white tips. Next to them were Easter radishes; they’re round and in colours of pink, purple and white, the colours we associate with Easter. Last were white radishes piled in a fourth impressive mound, but looking a bit pale and uninspiring.

We bought a bag full. My husband Jon loves the peppery bite of traditional radishes and I like the milder crunch of a French radish, so we split the bag half and half.

Radishes are a root vegetable related to the turnip and horseradish family. Traditional radishes are almost hot with a mean bite that puts me off. But if you’re like me and you love the flavour of radishes without the fierceness of its bite, you’ll love the crisp texture and a mild to delicately sweet flavor of a French radish.

French radishes, often called French Breakfast radish have an elongated shape that can grow to approximately three inches in length with a bright red outer skin that turns white at the root base.

I’m told by the market vendor that there are two main categories of radishes, spring and fall radishes and this is based on the time they’re harvested. Spring radishes are harvested early in the growing season resulting in a smaller radish. Fall radishes are harvested right now and they’re larger. Radishes have a relatively short growing season so they can be planted in the spring and fall, but they don’t like the summer heat. When they’re grown and harvested in temperatures that are hot, they become bitter.

We’ve all eaten radishes raw when they’re sliced in salads, served as hors d’oeuvres or added to a sandwich. They’re also great roasted, sautéed and braised, served as their own vegetable dish – try them as a new dish to accompany your barbecued meats.

Radishes are also great added to soups and stews, in fact, the greens make a wonderful soup all on their own.

My favourite way to eat radishes are on a large slice of rye bread, slathered with lots of sweet, creamy butter. I sprinkle coarse sea salt on the butter and place layers of thinly sliced radishes on top. It’s both crunchy and creamy, refreshing and soothing – guess what I had for dinner that night?

When you’re buying radishes at a traditional grocery store, choose the ones that are firm, crisp, and without blemishes. Remove the radish greens and place in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic to keep fresh for several days.

Whether your barbecue dinner includes radishes or not, have a delicious summer with family and friends sharing the best food from the farmers’ markets.

 

Roasted Radishes with Candied Garlic

 

2 bunches small radishes

12 cloves of candied garlic or 1 head of fresh garlic, cloves peeled

2 tablespoons (30 mL) soy oil

pinch of salt

 

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Wash the radishes and place them in a baking tray. Add the candied garlic or the peeled cloves of garlic.

Drizzle the radishes and garlic in the soy oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Stir well to make sure they are coated in the oil and seasonings. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Half way through, stir to make sure they are evenly cooked. Serve hot.

 

From Farm to Jar – what foodies learned

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Maureen McSween of Quiet Acres Farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake couldn’t have planned a better day for a group of food writers and bloggers to visit her farm. The sun was soft, peaking from behind the light cloud cover ever so often while a cool breeze rustled the leaves of the orchard and kept us all cool and comfortable on a warm July day.

Quiet Acres is a 300-acre tender fruit farm with a market stand on Lakeshore Road. For the market, they grow a variety of vegetables from peppers and eggplant to garlic and zucchini. From the vegetables Maureen offers up garlic scapes and zucchini flowers for her foodie customers.

Today, food writers from Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara came together because the farmers advocate organization, Farmers Feed Cities (www.farmersfeedcities.com) wanted to let everyone know that while the harvest is in full swing, it’s the perfect time to think about preserving the seductive flavours of summer for an entire year of enjoyment. So they invited a group of 8 food writers and bloggers who’s job it now is to spread the tasty word.

As we walked through the peach orchard laden with peaches, the aroma was intoxicating and immediately converted them to the cause of local food – no grocery store peach display ever smelled this good. The cherry orchard was barren, the empty trees a reminder of a season coming to an end and then we rounded the end of the orchard to find ourselves face to face with Lake Ontario.

We all stood in stunned silence for a moment, listening as the waves lapping the shoreline 8 feet below. It was a beautiful sight that captured our spirits in the most incredible farm and country tranquility. Maureen cautioned about getting too close to the edge of the cliff. Each winter eats away at their land, the icy waves crash against the fertile, sandy soil and it caves in. Each spring the McSweens remove one more row of fruit trees to keep the orchard and their workers safely away from the edge of the land.

Here there was a table dressed in white linen with drinks and orchard fruit to feast on before we collected our peaches and headed off to Southbrook Winery for a vineyard patio lunch and a session on canning summer produce.

Local food expert and amazing chef, Stephen Treadwell served up some casual salads and amazing pizzas mostly made from the grape skin powder that Southbrook makes from the remaining grape skins after harvest. This amazing product has a high concentration of Reversatrol, the anti oxidant celebrated in the CBC documentary, The French Paradox. The anti oxidant comes from the skins of red grapes. When the grapes are pressed in the production of red wine, the remaining skins, traditionally used as vineyard compost, are instead dried, pulverized and made into a powder that can be added to any baked goods from pizza crust to bread, and pastries to donuts. Chef Treadwell not only makes amazing pizzas from it, but there are always a few loaves of bread on the counter that eager customers are happy to scoop up.

Next it was time to preserve our peaches and we walked through the winery into the private culinary studio that overlooked the vineyard. There was a big bowl of peaches on the counter covered in their fuzzy bloom, still warm from the sun. Everyone gathered around as I, The Ontario Table author, put on my apron and began washing peaches in cool water. I shared my stories of canning as a young girl growing up and about the joys of opening a jar of peaches on a cold winters day. For me, each bite fills my psyche with the warmth of a hot summers day and fills my mind with memories of the day the jars were filled with fresh peaches.

Mom Who Runs blogger, Vicki at Quiet Acres packing barnWe dunked the peaches in a pot of boiling water and let them sit for a minute before scooping them out and rubbing off the peels. For some of the more stubborn peaches (unripe) I peeled them with a knife. The peaches were sliced and jars filled. When the light simple syrup boiled on the stove, it was removed and poured into the jars of peaches. Hot lids were attached and the jars were plopped into a large pot of boiling water wrapped in kitchen towels.

Traditionally, canning pots come with racks to fit the jars into, but this pot was just a bit too small for the canning racks. The purpose of the rack is to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot where they most certainly would crack and break. To replace the rack, I wrapped each jar in a clean kitchen towel and lowered it into the boiling water to process for 10 to 15 minutes. When the jars were removed from the water they were placed on a clean kitchen towel again and within minutes, the jars began to pop.

The canning pop Pokies is the last step in the canning process. It is a sign that the jar have sealed themselves and will be safe to eat throughout the year. The lid concaved inward from the vacuum created from the cooling liquid inside and will stay that way until it is opened later in the year.

As the lady bloggers and writers climbed back into the Farmers Feed Cities limousine to head back to their respective towns, their bags were laden with glistening jars of peaches, crimson jars of rose soaked cherries and clear jars of candied garlic cloves. They had books and wine, canning recipes and an excited energy they intended to spend canning the seasons remaining produce – or at least to eat it and write about it. Thank you Farmers Feed Cities on behalf of those of us who love to discover the best food in this glorious province.

 

Watch for stories from the following food writers and bloggers:

Becca Lemire, Urban Blogger, www.shedoesthecity.com

Victoria Weiss, Blogger, www.momwhoruns.com

Sandy Avvari, food blogger, www.milkandeggs.wordpress.com

Alex Ward, food blogger, www.freshjuice.ca

Sara Graham, blogger, www.thetravelpresse.com

Jennifer Lee, blogger, www.fillermagazine.com

Liz Campbell, food & travel writer, Fork on the Move, www.lizcampbell.ca

Barbara Ramsay Orr, food & travel writer, @orracle

Daniela Payne, Canadian Living web editor, www.canadianliving.com

For more recipes or ideas on how to use those canning jars once you’ve eaten the delicious contents, click here.

 

Peaches in Simple Syrup – Simply Devine!

 

9 peaches

1 cup sugar

3 cups water

6-250 mL canning jars complete with lids

 

To ripen your peaches, lay a piece of cardboard or newspaper on the floor of a garage or any enclosed space that is warm. Lay the peaches in a single layer and leave for a few days. When the peaches are very soft, bring them inside and wash them gently, making sure you remove as much of the peach fuzz as possible. This will eliminate much of the itchiness when working with peaches.

On the stove you’ll need a small pot with 2-inches of water, a medium pot for the simple syrup and a large canning pot with approximately 8-inches of water. Bring the canning pot to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, add the sugar and water to the medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat. Put the canning lids in the small pot and bring to a boil. When the water boils, turn off the heat and leave the lids in to soften.

Lay a clean kitchen towel on a work surface and place the clean, empty jars on top. When the water in the canning pot is boiling, turn the heat off and carefully drop the peaches into the hot water. Leave for 1 to 2 minutes depending on how ripe your peaches are. If they are really ripe they will need less time.

Carefully remove the peaches and immediately put them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and make them easier to handle. Remove a peach from the ice water and with a knife, make a slit in the top of the peach. With your fingers, slide the skin off. If there are spots that are difficult, use a knife and peel it. The skin of ripe peaches will fall off very easily; the more unripe peaches are, the less likely they are to let go of their skins.

Once peeled, put the peach back into the ice water and continue until all peaches are peeled. The water will keep them from oxidizing. Now pit and slice the peaches. Put the slices into the clean empty jars. You may want to maneuver them around to eliminate any empty spaces in the jars. Leave about ½-inch space on the top. Continue filling jars.

When all of the jars are full of peaches, fill with simple syrup, leaving about ½-inch or slightly less of headspace. Do not fill to the top. Carefully wipe the top of the canning jars with a clean paper towel. Using a magnet, lift the lids from the hot water and place on top of each jar of peaches. Secure a ring over the lid and don’t tighten too firmly.

Place jars in a canning rack and put in the pot of hot water and turn the heat to high. If you don’t have a canning rack, put a tea towel in the bottom of the canning pot so the jars don’t touch the bottom of the pot, wrap each in another kitchen towel and proceed. When the water begins to boil, boil for 10 – 15 minutes more.

Remove the jars with canning tongs and lay each one on a clean kitchen towel on the counter. Within minutes the lids will begin to pop as the jars seal themselves. Now you can store your beautiful jars of peaches in the cantina or cupboard until you’re ready to enjoy them. Makes 6-250 mL jars.

 

Yellow Plums, the lemon substitute

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It Niagara's alternative to lemonsI was sitting in the Glenlake Orchards farmhouse kitchen when owner Kevin Buis walked in with a basket full of yellow plums. “Make something good with them”, he said. So I took them home and put them on the counter. I had a pound cake in the refrigerator so I set out to make a sauce.

I put a little bit of honey and chopped up yellow plums in a saucepan thinking they would caramelize, but they just got soft and the honey didn’t change the incredibly sour flavour so I added a bit of sugar – they still made me pucker.

I took another look at the pile of yellow plums on my counter and wondered what the heck I was going to do with a fruit that cooks up like lemons.

Of course! I ran to my cookbooks and pulled out every recipe I could find for lemons and I began to cook. I started with lemon sorbet. Even though it had no milk or cream in it at all, once it turned in the ice cream maker, it came out creamy. I scooped it into some icewine glasses with a sprig of mint and used it as a palate cleanser between courses. It was really delicious.

I thought maybe adding a bit of creaminess to it would make a difference. So I cooked up a sauce with chopped up yellow plums, a handful of mint leaves, sugar and a bit of icewine. It cooked up beautifully tart but full and luscious at the same time. To add creaminess to it I whipped up some cream and when it was done, I added a bit of sugar and a few spoonfuls of ricotta cheese.

I took a tall champagne flute and put a spoonful of the ricotta cream and then a layer of minted yellow plum sauce. It was missing something so I took out some shortbread cookies and crumbled them up. I added a layer of shortbread cookies on top of the minted yellow plum sauce. Then I repeated the layering and the glasses looked beautiful. I topped it off with an extra spoonful of sauce, sliced yellow plums and a sprig of mint. It was a hit for dessert with layers of creamy sweet ricotta, crunchy, buttery cookies and rich, tart sauce. It’s a quick version of cheesecake!

But the last two recipes were really spectacular. I’ve always liked lemon squares but haven’t made them in years because I have too much local fruit to work with. So I whizzed up a yellow plum puree in the blender and used it in place of lemon juice in the recipe – it was spectacular! Not even my friends could believe they were not lemon squares!

But when I substituted the yellow plum puree for lemon juice in a lemon soufflé recipe it was to die for! Wow! I jumped in the car and took it over my friends. We sat around the kitchen table laughing with excitement and eating from the bowl until it was all gone – pure bliss this one was!

I’ve discovered another secret to yellow plums. That is they fall off the tree as soon as their ripe. Because of this, farmers tend to pick them green. The greener plums are perfect for squares and the soufflé, but if you leave them to ripen on the counter, they’ll soften and sweeten. Now they’re perfect for the ricotta cheesecake and sorbet.

Yellow Plum Squares

 

1 3/4 cups (430 mL) sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) cornstarch

2/3 cup (160 mL) icing sugar

1 cup (250 mL) cold butter, cubed

4 farm fresh eggs

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) sugar

1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking powder

1/4 cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour

1 cup (250 mL) yellow plum puree

icing sugar for dusting

 

Preheat oven to 350F (175 C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornstarch and icing sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Whisk together the sugar, baking powder and flour. Whisk the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the plum puree. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar. Cut into bars and enjoy. Makes 24 squares.

Yellow Plum Soufflé

 

2/3 cup (160 mL) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons (30 mL) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs, separated

3 tablespoons (45 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow plum puree

1 cup (250 mL) whole milk

dash salt

1/8 teaspoon (.7 mL) cream of tartar

 

Preheat oven to 350F (160C). In a mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Gradually stir in flour, alternating with the yellow plum puree and milk; stir until well blended. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until the form soft peaks.

Fold egg whites gently into the plum mixture, just until incorporated throughout the batter. Pour into a 1 1/2-quart souffle dish. Set souffle dish in a larger pan with about 1-inch of hot water. Bake until top is set, about 35 to 45 minutes. Serve pudding hot with sauce. Serves 8.

Yellow Plum Curd

 

 

3/4 cup yellow plum puree

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

 

In a 2 quart saucepan, combine yellow plum puree, sugar, eggs, and butter. Cook over medium-low heat until thick enough to hold marks from the whisk, and the first bubble appears on the surface, about 6 minutes.

 

Plum Puree

 

6 yellow plums, pitted and quartered

¼ cup (60 mL) sugar

2 tablespoons (30 mL) honey

 

Add plums, sugar and honey to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until plums are soft. Set aside to cool. Puree in a blender. Makes 1 cup of puree.

Capturing Summer’s Sunshine

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My grandmothers cantina was most beautiful every fall. The room was approximately 10-feet by 10-feet and three walls were lined with short, narrow shelves, the perfect size for large canning jars. In the centre was a concrete wine press, the favoured cork screw kind of Italian home winemakers.

The large cantina was in the basement of the house with a few small vents that let in the outside air covered with mesh that my grandfather replaced each year to keep out the rodents who were eager to feast on our delicious work.

To feed a family of 13 over the winter the walls would hold well over a hundred jars of vegetables and fruit, sauces and jam. Sometimes the neighbours would collect in the garage with my grandmother and my aunts to help turn the bushels of roma tomatoes into tomato sauce for our all-time favourite meal, spaghetti and meat sauce. I was lucky enough to be part of these communal canning events. Some would can while others would cook. Perhaps it would be some fresh tomato sauce used to make cabbage rolls, lasagna or a meat sauce that was spooned over a board of polenta.

Peaches would be another great neighbourhood event of laughter, sharing food together and canning. We lived in an agricultural community where the Italian women worked on farms in the summer. After a hard day on the farm, they would bring us bushels and baskets of seconds. We would go into the house, put out a bowl of the best specimens and put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the rest. We would can them all. My favourite was the crimson jars of sweet cherries in a sticky syrup.

From our own garden we would harvest and eat what we wanted and then put the rest away. There would be green beans that stood proud and tall in the jars or a mix of vegetables, chopped and pickled. Braids of garlic and onions hung from nails pounded into door frames and wooden crates of potatoes and turnips lined a concrete step built to keep heavy items off the damp floor. Each day during the summer and fall a few more jars of delicious food would find their way into the cantina. Even when it looked full and the shelves bulged from the weight of the food, my grandmother would always find more room to store a few more jars of gooseberries soaked in white wine or burnt red peppers (that were a favourite on pizza).

Then in the winter when we opened a jar and sat down to eat, I would remember the summer days with my grandmother in the kitchen and feel like my world was right-side-up when Buy Ativan I tasted the bright flavours of summer.

For those of us who grew up setting summer food aside for a cold winter day we are blessed with family traditions and the most delicious of memories not to mention good food to eat. But the world moves too fast for most people to indulge in canning any longer – pity.

But lately there has been a resurgence in the activity of canning as a new generation of consumers concerned about food are collaborating with market farmers or growing their own food. This makes eating locally a year-round experience.

If you are one of those who hunger for the satisfaction of putting your favourite foods away, I’m sharing some great recipes with you. Won’t you please share with me?

 

Pictures of the canning.

 

 

Quiet Acres Sweet Cherries in Southbrook 2011 Triomph Cabernet Franc Rose, VQA

 

2 cups (500 mL)rose wine

½ cup (125 mL) sugar

3 cups (750 mL) whole sweet cherries

 

Add the wine to a large saucepan and add the sugar. Heat the wine to almost boiling, reduce heat to maintain temperature and stir to dissolve sugar. Add cherries and cook gently for 5 minutes. Remove cherries with a slotted spoon into 4, 250 mL canning jars. Increase the heat and boil the liquid for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly syrupy. Pour over the cherries in the jars. Wipe the top of the jars clean and attach lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from water and place on kitchen towel. The lids will ‘pop’ soon after.

Quiet Acres Sweet Cherries in Southbrook Rose Syrup

 

3 cups )750 mL) sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

1 cup (250 mL) sugar

2 cups (500 mL) rose wine

2 teaspoons (10 mL) cornstarch

2 tablespoons (30 mL) red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) icewine (optional)

 

Heat a large, wide saucepan over medium high heat and add the pitted cherries and sugar. Mix a few tablespoons of red wine with the cornstarch in a very small bowl until it’s dissolved and set aside. Pour the remaining wine and the red wine vinegar over the cherries. Bring the heat up to a boil, then reduce the heat so it’s at a low boil and cook, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Add the cornstarch and let the mixture boil an additional minute or so to thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in the icewine (if using). Spoon into 6, 125 mL canning jars. Wipe the top of the jars clean and attach lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from water and place on kitchen towel. The lids will ‘pop’ soon after.

Purple Daze Farm

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A former tobacco farmer, Robert Koprich now grows 17-acres of French Provencal lavender and English lavender on his 150-acre farm in Delhi in Norfolk County.  From the beginning of July to mid August the field is a beautiful blanket of billowy purple. Robert planted a large section of sunflowers in the middle of the purple to give his farm that “Monet look” as he calls it. I say it’s simply beautiful.

Like many other agricultural crops, there is good news and bad for this years harvest. The winter was very warm and the bushes didn’t get the blanket of snow they needed so there was some winter kill. The summer has been dry and windy resulting in only half the bloom of a traditional year, yet the colour is more intense. Like many farmers, Robert harvested early this year, which means he’s anticipating a second harvest from his crop. While this sounds like good news, the reality is that it will double his labour costs. Not good news for Roberts bottom line.

Lavender harvest takes place in the early morning hours before the sun evaporates the oils off the bushes. Robert removes about a foot off the top of the bushes that grow approximately 2-feet tall (English lavender) to 3-feet (Provencal Lavender). This year’s harvest is of super quality because the plants have an excess of oil, which means the dried lavender will have a much higher level of aromatics than in previous years – great news for lavender lovers.

Purple Daze (www.purpledazelavender.com) as Robert’s farm is now called, produces dried lavender buds, lavender honey, herbs d’provence, and lavender oil along with a variety of lavender bath products. There is an on-site retail store or you can find the Koprichs at the Simcoe Farmers’ Markets on Thursday, and the Port Dover and Brantford Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Lavender is a relatively new crop for Ontario. It loves dry, sandy, well drained soils, the same kind of conditions tobacco thrives on. So far there is approximately 100-acres of lavender beautifying Ontario’s agricultural landscape and it’s growing.

With the assistance of the University of Guelph, Ontario lavender growers are experimenting with the over 100 different varieties of lavenders in Ontario growing conditions. Currently, there are about 12 varieties that show promise.

Robert grows four of them; French Provencal, English, Melissa (white lavender, heavier in oil) and Purple Hidcote (super deep purple colour). An average lavender plant grows to 3-feet tall and English being the shorter variety at about 2-feet.

Second weekend in July Robert hosts the Purple Daze Festival that includes everything lavender, a community of artisans, yoga classes and belly dancing classes. “The colourful costumes of the bell dancers in the lavender field is just beautiful,” says Robert.

 

Purple Daze

2985 Rhineland Rd, Delhi

www.purpledazelavender.com

Retail store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lavender Coffee Cake

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

2 1/4 cups (560 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (125 mL) lavender scented sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons (12.5 mL) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt

3 tablespoons (45 mL) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lavender flowers (or 1 teaspoon (5 mL) dried)

1/2 cup (125 mL) whole milk

1 farm fresh egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (125 mL) apricot jam

4 tablespoons (60 mL) dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup (125 mL) hazelnuts, chopped

Cooking oil

1 1/2 teaspoon (7.5 mL) sugar

 

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in lavender flowers. Add milk and egg, stirring just until moist. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 times. Roll into a 9 x 7-inch rectangle. Mix dried apricots and hazelnuts into preserves. Spread apricot preserve mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Beginning with long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Form roll into a circle and cut roll into nine 1-inch slices. Twist each slice, cut sides up, in an 8-inch non stick round baking pan lightly coated with oil. Sprinkle the slices with sugar. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.  When ready to serve, drizzle with sugar glaze and sprinkle with dried lavender buds. Makes 1 ring.

Lavender Créme Brulée

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

4 cups (1 L) heavy cream

1 tablespoon (15 mL) dried lavender flowers

8 farm fresh egg yolks

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

4 tablespoons (45 mL) sugar

Preheat oven to 300F (150 mL). Butter 8 ramekins or custard cups and set them into a glass baking dish. In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, put cream and the lavender flowers; heat the cream until tiny bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan. Remove from heat and allow lavender flowers to infuse with the cream for 30 minutes. Strain cream mixture through to remove lavender flowers. Reheat cream over low heat. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Slowly add the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Divide custard among the ramekins. Pour hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake 1 hour or until set around the edges but still loose in the centre. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small hand-held torch and hold the torch 4 to 5 inches from the sugar, maintaining a slow and even motion. Stop torching just before the desired degree of doneness is reached, as the sugar will continue to cook for a few seconds after flame has been removed. If you don’t have a torch, place custards 6 inches below the broiler for 4 to 6 minutes or until sugar bubbles and turns golden brown. Refrigerate créme brulée at least 10 minutes before serving.

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