A Cider Pressing Party

Last Sunday, we participated in a truly lovely fall tradition -- a cider pressing party hosted by family friends  in Willow. It was a glorious day - brilliant blue skies, sunny, and that unique autumn mix of warm and brisk. 

The party was fun, yummy, and wonderfully photogenic. It was also perfectly suited to our little Will since it featured both apples AND tractors, two of his current passions. You'll see that he's holding either one or two apples in every picture. And we left with a gallon of fresh cider which is DELICIOUS!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here goes. I've also included a few great recipes that feature apple cider after the photos if you feel inspired.

A basket of apples, bound for the press

Will weighs his options

Vintage Ford tractor used to haul a wagon-load of apples up to the press

A picturesque wagon-load of apples calmly await their fate

Two girls filling a bucket with apples to press

The apples get a bath before pressing

Will's new friend, Jasper, puts all four teeth to work

Gears whirring above the mash bucket

Feeding apples to the hungry American Cider Mill

Our wonderful hostess, Oona in front of classic American apples poster

A line of bottles & jugs snake up to the press, waiting to be filled

Cranking down the press

Will walking around a tree, holding a "bib" apple and a "lille" apple

Cider, fresh off the press!

Apple mash from the pressing headed for the compost pile

Apple Cider Recipes

• Cider-Glazed Delicata Squash with Rosemary and Sage
• Gingered Winter Squash

And here are a few other tasty-sounding recipes from other blogs and sites that have caught my eye.

• Apple Cider Doughnuts from Deb at Smitten Kitchen
• Cider Braised Pork Shoulder With Caramelized Onions from Epicurious
• Pork Medallions With Cider Sauce from Cathy at Noble Pig
• Cider-Glazed Salmon from Elise at Simply Recipes

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Meyer Lemon Sorbet -- Dessert Don't Get More Local Than This

A quick glance at the original date of this post confirms that I began writing about this scrumptiously fresh citrus dessert nearly two years ago, in July of 2008. I guess it's true that good things come to those who wait...

I think of this delightful sorbet as a uniquely Californian dessert, mostly because I had never heard of or seen a Meyer lemon before we moved here.  But here in Berkeley, they are practically ubiquitous. (For those of you who are interested in the fruit's actual provenance, this type of lemon is originally from China.)

Our yard is graced by an outrageously abundant Meyer lemon tree. We're thoroughly mystified by its fecundity -- we never water it (which is significant since it does not rain for 6 months out of the year here), nor have we ever fertilized it, yet it churns out Meyer lemons like they were going out of style.

The tree has such a prolific presence in our yard that "memon" is one of our son, Will's first words. As soon as we take him outside, he toddles over to the tree saying "memon" over and over in a soft, delighted, little voice that he reserves for the lemons, alone. Then he picks one (there is some parental assistance involved in that process) and walks around sucking on it and biting off small pieces of the soft peel with his three little teeth. 

But back to the sorbet. While the subtle, floral flavor of the Meyer lemons is uniquely lovely, you can easily substitute regular lemons or another citrus fruit if you can't find Meyers.

It turns out that sorbet is surprisingly easy to make, especially if you have an ice cream maker (or have a friend who has one - thanks again, Ben!)

I've included the instructions for what to do if you do not have one, though. Thanks to Elise at Simply Recipes for providing the recipe below.

Meyer Lemon Sorbet

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

* 1 cup sugar

* 1 cup water

* 1 cup freshly squeezed juice from meyer lemons (about 4-5 lemons)

* 2 teaspoons fine lemon zest

* Mint leaves (for garnish)

Directions

1. Freeze your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions (it's probably easiest just to keep the freezer container in your freezer so that you can be ready to go whenever the urge to make sorbet or ice cream strikes you.)

2. In a small saucepan on medium high heat, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in the lemon juice and zest. Chill in the refrigerator.

3. Once the mixture has thoroughly chilled, pour it into the ice cream maker and process per the instructions for sorbet (most likely you will need to run it for 20-30 minutes.) If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pour the mixture into a shallow pan and freeze in your freezer until semi-solid. Then take a fork and fluff it up, returning it the the freezer to freeze firm. Then put in a food-processor or blender to process until smooth.

4. Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. A melon-baller works well to scoop this out when you're ready to serve. Garnish with the mint leaves.

You may also like:

• Candied Bergamot, Meyer Lemon & Blood Orange Peels
• Fresh Peach Cobbler With Biscuit Topping
• Rustic Plum Tart
• Wild Blackberry Sorbet With Lavender & Garden Mint

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Ketchup and Catch-Up

I wanted to start today's posting with the photo I took in the National Mustard Museum, which I wrote about 3 weeks ago, of a sign which read, "Eating Ketchup is believed to cause childhood stupidity (be safe, eat more mustard)" But I evidently sent it to the trash. So just imagine it here. Today's posting is catch-up (or ketchup, if you want), several things I would have posted this week had we not been getting ready for the MEGA GARAGE Sale. We filled one 14 ft. U-Haul truck, plus 3 stuffed full pick-ups and drove it via caravan, to our friends, Neil  and Sarah's house in Forsyth, MO. They have good traffic past their house, while we have maybe 2 cars a day. The sale went well and the living room and storage building are basically empty. (What I wanted for my birthday, coming up next weekend, was a garage sale, or you can read it another way, I wanted some new furniture and the garage sale was the means to get it). So, on to the catching-up.

I met Brian Paffin at the Carmel-Indianapolis "Dilly of a Day" herb day and was immediately impressed by his candles he had for sale. Candles are candles, right? Not exactly. His are made of soy oil, so no smoke, but the better aspect, is the fragrances he uses. You can read more about his tantalizing candles on his website, Herbal Art website. I bought a candle with the scent of Dirt (really - it smells like fresh plowed garden), and 2 Peach Sangria candles. They're so good I wonder if people try to eat them. His products include soaps, body products, wedding gifts, fund raising products and a lot more. You'll be pleasantly surprised at his very creative, unusual, high quality products.

We had a wonderful visitor in the garden guesthouse last week. Pat Crocker, of Riversong Herbals in Ontario, who's best known for her books, The Juicing Bible and the The Smoothies Bible, stopped by for a visit. She was on her way back home in Canada from having been the keynote speaker at the Ozark Folk Center's annual Spring Herb Extravaganza. We know Pat through the International Herb Association and Garden Writers of America and always look forward to getting to spend time with her. Her book, The Juicing Bible won 'Best in the World' in the nutrition category in Perigueux, France, in 2000! We talked about the International Herb Assoc.'s annual conference in Collinsville, IL, in July, where she and I will be 2 of the 4 hosts for what's called, "hosted dinners." It's a great way for conference attendees to get to visit over dinner about a specific  subject, sort of like a mini-workshop, with food, in small groups. 

And next on my list of catch-up, is this wonderful book from Jennifer Vasich, The Lavender Gourmet, from Moose Run Publications. I didn't count the recipes, but there are 325 pages of them. Here are some examples of the taste-tempting recipes Jennifer has: Lavender Mint Brownies,  Vanilla Lavender Hot Chocolate, Raspberry Lavender Sorbet, Lavender Chicken with Lemon Butter Sauce, Southwest Chicken Lavender Enchiladas, Basil & Lavender  Pesto, Hibiscus Lavender Lemonade. I could go on, but the best compliment I can give this book, is, I wish I had written it. Jennifer created a book that will likely change the way you think about lavender.

My lavender isn't blooming yet, but the garden looks better every day. Even with nearly 5 inches of rain this week (including during the garage sale), the garden is coming alive. Adam, who I've written about several times, is here for another couple of weeks, and has done wonders in the garden. Nearly all the beds are fully planted, most are mulched and now we're working on expanding the garden to the south to make room for a row of grapes. Yes, I know, the garden is already more than we can take care of without help, but, it's grapes and I found some 3 year old plants in 5 gallon buckets, blooming and ready to give us grapes. 

Our irises have been beaten hard by the pounding rains, but still manage to bloom vigorously. This one is 'Betty Wold,' simply because the late Betty Wold is the one who gave it to me 20 years ago. Many of the plants in my non-edible garden are named for who they came from, rather than a distant Latin name. So when the Betty Wolds are in bloom, I stop and smell them every day, trying to memorize the fragrance for later. Much like the way different colored tulips have different smells, so do iris. These deep purple Betty Wolds are the most fragrant of all, so delicious you want to spread some on buttered bread (IF they were edible). Or stuff a pillow with the flowers and take a nap. Thank you, Betty, I think of our friendship every spring.

And because it's Sunday and the rhubarb is ready, I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie. I think it turned out pretty well, although the taste will be the real test. This is a recipe a friend gave me many years ago, simple, quick, and my favorite. It's 4 cups of cut up rhubarb (or 3 cups rhubarb, 1 cup sliced strawberries), 1 1/3 cups of sugar (I used part non-sugar sweetener), 6 tablespoons flour and a few dots of butter. Mixed together, poured into a pie shell and topped with another pie crust, it's baked at 400 degrees F. for 10 minutes, then baked for another 40-45 minutes at 375 degrees F. It will be the top-off to one of our favorite Sunday dinners tonight: meatloaf, baked beans, spring salad, and....rhubarb pie. It is the best reason for growing rhubarb!


Happy gardening.

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