Sticky Business

It is the epitome of sweet. In fact, you often hear the somewhat clichéd phrase “As sweet as honey.” 

But, one thing not generally associated with the amber liquid is scandal.

Honey, scandalous? Please.

 On Nov. 7 a report was published by the Food Safety News, a law firm run publication devoted to reporting the latest on food safety concerns, entitled “Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey.”

How is that even possible? I have owned a few plastic squeezable bears in my lifetime, and it was most certainly honey in there. So, what were they talking about?

The difference is in the pollen. According to the report, observing the pollen in honey is the only sure way to track its origins. 

Match the pollen to the plant, and there you go.  But many brands filter the pollen out of the honey.

Why would they do that?

Removing the pollen from honey is not up to snuff for most of the world’s safety standards, but apparently OK for North America?  We have established that pollen allows us to identify the origins of the honey. Why would someone want to hide where the honey is from? Aren’t bees all alike?

Apparently not. 

Food Safety News claims honey from India is banned across Europe because of “Contamination with antibiotics, heavy metals and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.” 

The other popular origin for honey is from China, and the problem here is that this heavily subsidized honey is dirt cheap, and putting North American bee keepers out of business, just so the shelves can be stocked with honey for less. 

But, once again safety is a concern. A shipment of Chinese honey was sent to Canada in 2001 and then to Texas. According to the Food Safety Newsreport, the honey was contaminated with “chloramphenicol and other illegal animal antibiotics which are dangerous, even fatal, to a very small percentage of the population.”

They didn’t find out until after it was produced, and shipped off and consumed. Whoops.

So, while there is nothing wrong with cheap, when we have to worry about contamination … cheap simply will not do.

So back to the pollen. Why should you care about something so small, something microscopic, and whether it is in your honey? Ever heard of anti-oxidants?  Honey also has anti- allergic benefits, vitamins and enzymes. Plus, you just don’t want people messing with your food like that.

Here in Thunder Bay we have a surprising number of Beekeepers.

I spoke to Barry Tabor, president of the Thunder Bay Beekeepers Association about our locally produced honey.  In Thunder Bay there are as many, if not more than 100 amateur beekeepers.

That means there is a good chance that you actually know someone who keeps bees, and in addition to that, there are about five or six farms and families that produce honey for commercial production, and it is not hard to find.

Local producers spin the honey in a centrifuge and filter it through cheesecloth, but that leaves the pollen, antioxidants and vitamins intact, only removing large pieces of bees and wax. 

When commercial honey is cooked and filtered it will stay liquid for a very long time. But raw, unprocessed honey will crystallize.

Don’t worry, this is normal and you can still use it. Store your honey covered and out of the sunlight. If it is exposed to water it can start to ferment and go bad, but if you store it properly, it can last a long time.

Mr. Tabor even told me about some honey found in Egypt that was a couple thousand years old and still edible. Amazing!

I also spoke with beekeeper Rene Larson, and I learned that Thunder Bay carries an important distinction in the bee community, as this is an area free of varroa mites.

These mites latch onto and feed from the bees causing viruses, suppressing their immunity, weakening the bees and shortening the lifespan. The mites are also thought to be responsible for deformities in developing broods of bees.

Thunder Bay is also free of Acarine, or Tracheal mites. A parasite that occupies the bees trachea, essentially choking them. The bee community in our area is working hard to keeping our area free of these parasites that are extremely common in the world. When you consider that mail order is a common way to acquire bees, this is no mean feat.

A scandal behind honey, who would have thought!

This is why it is so important to know where your food comes from. In Thunder Bay we have a number of beekeepers that sell their honey; you can actually go and see the bees, and talk to the people who make it. Who wants to worry about antibiotics and heavy metals in their honey!

Honey is a sweet and delicious, reminiscent of sunny summer days, childhoods savouring a warm biscuit drizzled with honey.

This is a feel good food!  So instead of buying one of those cute little squeezy bears, or hive looking containers from the grocery store, buzz on down to buy from one of our local suppliers and get some. Talk to the beekeeper, and truly know and understand where your food comes from.  People are getting up in arms about hiring out of town artists to create art for the waterfront instead of local people, It is the same with food. I realize that you can’t buy everything locally- it would be ridiculous of me to ask that, but the little bit that you can, certainly helps.

Originally Published 11/9/2011 on TBnewswatch.com

Photo from inhabitat.com

Halloween

There isn’t much time left before the ghosts, ghouls and goblins descend on our city with the long awaited arrival of Halloween.  Children and adults alike will don costumes and roam the town in search of candy, or perhaps some witches brew, the phone number of a cute little vampire or maybe even a kiss from a werewolf.  Whatever your poison, Halloween is a time of fun and festivity- a night full of magic!
In addition to trick-or-treating, I have developed other Halloween traditions throughout the years.  I always have to read some Edgar Allan Poe (if Victorian Gothic can’t get you in the mood for Halloween, nothing will).  I will watch as Linus waits in the pumpkin patch, and likely a Tim Burton flick or 2, and I will most certainly make an obscene amount of pumpkin cookies.
Awesome.
I came up with this recipe about 5 years ago and I have been making them every Halloween since. They don’t last very long though. Especially if you have little monsters tall enough the help themselves from the plate.
I call these cookies, but they are more like a half cookie, half scone. They are fluffy and not too sweet, but there is a lovely vanilla cinnamon glaze that gives them just a touch of sweetness, if that is what you desire.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies
½ cup of butter, softened
1 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
A dash of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 ¼ cups of flour
1 ½ cup of quick oats
1 cup of pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl- Add the egg and continue to mix.
In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, nutmeg and baking soda- gradually add to the butter mixture.

Once all of your flour is incorporated, stir in the oats, and then the pumpkin.
(Feel free to add white choc. chips, nuts or dried cranberries as well.)

Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet, flattening the mound a bit.
Bake for 10-12 minutes
Let cool on a rack.
While your cookies are cooling, you can mix up the glaze. It isn’t necessary to glaze them, but it is pretty darn good!

Glaze
1 cup of powdered sugar, sifted.
A capful of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
Milk

Mix the first three ingredients together.  Add milk, teaspoon by teaspoon until all of the sugar is dissolved, and the mixture is smooth.

Drizzle over the cooled cookies and let the glaze set, an hour or 2.

Then it is time to enjoy! Have one (or 4) with a cup of warm cider, or tea. Don’t forget to bring a plate across the street to the neighbors!  I brought a plate of these and some biscotti for a housewarming gift- I am looking forward to hearing what she thought! 

I wish you a safe and fantastic Halloween!
Don’t forget to take pictures of your cool costumes!

* Originally Published 10/25/2011 on TBnewswatch.com

Pumpkin White Chocolate Creme Brulee

When I think back over all of the Thanksgivings I have celebrated, the menu hasn’t changed much. Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy. As a kid with the fragrant smell of roasting turkey wafting through the house, I loved to sneak French fried onions off the top of the casserole, and stick black olives on my fingers popping them one by one into my mouth.

As much as I love tradition, I also like to break the rules. I think that it is completely acceptable to make something fun and new. It’s a holiday, celebrate! Why not!

This is a recipe that I had been monkeying around with for a few years and I am certain it would be a really amazing end to a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, and maybe even a good way to even impress your mother-in-law! 

Pumpkin White Chocolate Crème Brulee

2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
7 egg yolks
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Cinnamon-dash
nutmeg- pinch
cloves-pinch

Heat your oven to 300 degrees F

Heat  the cream, milk and spices in a saucepan over medium heat.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, mix the yolks and the sugar.

When the cream starts making tiny little bubbles around the edges of the pan, remove from the heat and stir in the white chocolate chips. When they are melted pour 1/3 cup of the cream mixture into the eggs and quickly stir to temper the eggs. Then add the rest of the cream and mix well. Add the pumpkin and stir until incorporated.

Pour your mixture into ramekins. Depending on the size of your ramekins this could be anything from 1/2 cup to over a cup. Fill them up and put them in a cake pan. Pour boiling water into the pan until it reaches 1/2 way up the sides of the dishes. Note- your ramekins are in the water, you are NOT putting water into the ramekins.

Put it in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until they are mostly set, just a little wobbly in the middle.

Remove from the oven and chill for a few hours.  

To serve, put 1 teaspoon of sugar on the top of each dessert.  Put the crème brulee under the broiler and let the top start to harden and turn a golden brown colour. You must watch them very closely, because burning happens very quickly under the broiler. Alternately- it you have a cooking torch; you can use that to caramelize the sugar.

Serve with a shaving of white chocolate on top.

Have a lovely holiday and enjoy the long weekend!

The Great Pumpkin

Fall is here at long last. I don’t know of anyone who is immune to the charms of autumn. The crisp cool air, the riot of colour in the trees, and the embrace of a cozy sweater.

With the onset of fall also comes many traditions. Going back to school of course, but also a trip to the pumpkin patch. Even though it is not yet October, the feeling in the air is ripe for pumpkin picking.

On Saturday I took my 2 boys to Pumpkinfest at Gammondale Farm.  They frolicked in the hay, enjoyed a pumpkin shaped cookie, and watched in amazement as gourds flew through the air at the Pumpkin catapult, culminating with a satisfying splat as each airborne pumpkin eventually met its messy fate.

After decorating a mini pumpkin with festive ribbons and feathers, we set out to find our lovely Halloween pumpkins. The boys each picked one to bring home and eventually carve and I chose a few of the edible squashes.

First- I picked  up a blue Hubbard Squash- I actually picked it because it was so ugly I felt bad for it. Leave it to me to get emotional about a gourd.  It looks like a pachyderm squash.

Secondly- I chose the festively whimsical Rouge vif d’Etampes, also known as the Cinderella pumpkin, due to its resemblance to the pumpkin which ferried Cinderella to the ball. This heirloom variety of pumpkin was allegedly served at the second American thanksgiving- so the variety has been around for a while. It is this beauty that I decided to cook first.  My one pumpkin yielded a ton of flesh and I had not only enough to make a monster batch of Pumpkin gnocchi, but also a huge pot of delectable pumpkin soup.  This soup is truly the taste of fall. It is warm, satisfying, and even good for you!  Ready to go?

Ok.

Pumpkin Soup

1 pumpkin

2 apples or pears

1 cup apple juice

Sage

Cinnamon

S and P

Maple syrup

Cream

 Heat your oven to 400 degrees. While it is heating prepare your pumpkin.

VERY CAREFULLY Cut the pumpkin into quarters. Scoop out the seeds and discard or save for toasting.

Place the pumpkin pieces on a cookie sheet and coat with a tablespoon of olive oil- use your hands to rub it in. Put the apples or pears on the sheet as well, and put into the preheated oven.

Roast 30 minutes to an hour. You will know that the pumpkin is cooked through when a knife slides easily through the hard outer shell and through the flesh. When this happens remove from the oven and let cool.

Once cooled- spoon the soft squash away from the shell and into a large pot. Cut the apples into quarters, and remove the skin and seeds.  Put that into the pot as well. 

Add your apple juice, and then enough water to cover the pumpkin.

Bring to a simmer and let the pieces of squash really fall apart.

Remove from heat and process with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender.

Return to heat, and begin to add seasonings. Add some salt and pepper, a few pinches of cinnamon or clove, and a few sage leaves.

Let the soup simmer until it is at the desired consistency.

Check your seasonings, and adjust if needed.

To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and add a drizzle of maple syrup and splash of cream if desired. Find a really sexy sage leaf, and add as a garnish.

Such a lovely way to celebrate the season!

(originally published 9/26/2011 on TBnweswatch.com)

Oktoberfest

It was the keg tap that was heard all over the world. This past weekend was the official opening of Germanys’s most famous festival- Oktoberfest; Held in the beautiful Bavarian city of Munich, or München.


I had some folks over this weekend for a little Oktoberfest celebration. I put a bouquet of flowers into my 1L Hofbräuhaus Bierstein and got to cooking. We had Schnitzel, spätzle and rotkohl (try saying that3 times fast or even once for that matter).
Before we proceed, I must let you in on a little secret.
Schnitzel is Austrian- the delicious word “Wienerschnitzel,” comes from the word Wien, or as we say, Vienna.
But, Hey- it’s my party and I’ll make schnitzel if I want to.

Wienerschnitzel 
1 pork tenderloin
1 cup flour, in a shallow bowl
2 eggs, beaten in a shallow bowl
1 cup of bread crumbs in a shallow bowl
Oil for frying

Get rid of the fat and stringy bits on the outside of the tenderloin.
Cut the tenderloin into slices, about an inch thick at an angle.
This is the fun part.  Get a meat mallet and pound the pieces of pork- you want them about ¼ inch thick.  Repeat with each slice of meat. If you don’t have a mallet you can put the meat between plastic wrap and use a rolling pin, or the bottom of a heavy pot to flatten.
Heat ½ inch of oil in a pan.
Take a piece of pork, and dredge it in the flour, dip into the egg and then press into the breadcrumbs.
Repeat with all.
Check if your oil is hot. To do this- take a wooden spoon and gently stick the handle into the oil- if little bubbles come out of the spoon, it is hot enough.

With tongs gently place the pork into the pan- making sure not to crowd.  They will cook quickly since they are so thin. When the bottoms are browned, flip and cook the other side.
Drain them on a cooking rack, placed over a cookie sheet- don’t drain on paper towels- that makes your food mushy!
Keep the cooked schnitzel warming in the oven at 170 or so, while you cook the other batch/batches.
Serve with a wedge of lemon, and some parsley and a side of Rotkohl . Rotkohl is braised red cabbage. I know that might not sound good, but it is ridiculous how delicious it is! The first ingredient is even bacon!

Rotkohl   
3 slices of bacon, chopped
½ onion, diced
Head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup of red wine
1 cup of apple juice
5 cloves
¼ cup of cider vinegar

On a giant pot, cook the bacon for about 3 minutes.
 Add the onions, cook until the onions are softened.
Add the cabbage and stir.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Cook over low heat for 3-4 hours- stirring occasionally.
There you go!
You have a wonderful and festive German meal!
Guten Appetit!

The first time I had German food, I was 16 years old and taking part on an exchange program.  (I had never had beer before either, so the trip was quite enlightening!)

My host mom worked at a bakery, and she would bring me amazing little brötchen, studded with sunflower seeds; I would bring them to school for lunch. After school we would walk through the town, and usually stop for an ice cream.  I just couldn’t get enough of the Himbeerbecher (raspberry ice cream bowl .) There was even ice cream that looked like spaghetti- Spaghettieis!
When school was out for the summer, we ventured out to explore the country. We dined on pork medallions and wurst in outdoor biergartens under fairy lights. I was also introduced to a brand new love- schnitzel …more specifically jaegerschnitzel.   We toured the famous Schloß Neuschwanstein (the big Sleeping Beauty looking castle) and afterwards we stopped at a rustic little restaurant, where I ordered venison medallions and spätzle. It was a revelation- I still remember it all these years later. As we travelled out of Germany and to Austria and Switzerland I tried many more foods.  I was blown away by Raclette in Switzerland, it was a plate full of melted cheese. How wonderful! Though, I will be happy if I never have to eat Leberkase again. Translated, it means liver cheese- it looked like a 1cm thick slab of hot dog on the plate, and it was as BIG as the plate.
After my exchange and touring, the rest of my classmates returned home, but, I had extended my visit so that I could go visit German relatives- It was here that I really saw what excellent German cooking could be.  My Tante Christa is one of the best cooks I have ever met- hands down. In my eyes, she is one of the best cooks in the world.  There is the passion that goes into her food, but you can tell that she has the innate skill to create meals that are works of art, and create flavours that you remember your whole life.  She would make these amazing lunches every day for us , and I don’t know if she knew how much I appreciated her cooking, but watching her cook and enjoying her meals was a revelation.
I have always loved to cook, but my first (and subsequent) trips to Germany really opened my eyes to the possibilities.  I don’t know if I feel such affection for the food because German is a heritage that I feel very proud of or if I just fell in love with the place- regardless- German food is awesome- and to make some delicious dishes all you need is a little time, and some great folks to share it with.

Prosit!

( Originally Posted 9/20.2011 on TB newswatch.com)

Fruit Pizza

This past weekend I was walking through the market buying my favourites and looking at all of the amazing produce, wondering what I was going to write about this week. The beginning of the potatoes or the end of the zucchini, those sweet little cherry tomatoes that my kids can’t seem to get enough of, or perhaps the most enormous golden beet that I have ever seen. I was having a really hard time figuring it out though, because there was something else on my mind.
It is completely nuts.
This week there are five birthdays in my family. Yes, five.
That is a whole lot of parties, presents and cake.  It sort of feels like Mardi Gras. Now- Birthday cake is awesome, right? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that most people really enjoy it. A thick slab loaded with sweet frosting. It’s a nice thing to have every once in a while, but what do you do when there are 5 parties? Can you actually get bored of birthday cake? The solution- change it up!  There is no rule that says a birthday cake has to be this or that. A cousin of mine actually served Rice Krispie squares at her wedding- how cool is that!
Yesterday was the first of the parties; it was my nieces 2^nd B-day Bash. A pizza party- So, for the party I made a fruit pizza!
This is something of a go-to recipe for me- It is easy, delicious, and a very pretty dessert. Usually I’ll buy the dough in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, but finding a roll of plain cookie dough is becoming increasingly difficult- all I could find were the little trays of dough with bats and pumpkins, so I made my own. If you can find a roll of it great. If not, just use your favourite sugar cookie recipe (a recipe for about 5-6 dozen cookies is the perfect size.)

Fruit Pizza
Sugar cookie dough, 1 roll or 1 batch.
1 package of cream cheese, room temperature.
½ cup of powdered sugar
Assorted fruit

Preheat the oven to 375
Press the dough into a pizza pan, or a jelly roll pan- building it up a little at the edges.
Bake in the oven until it is cooked through and the edges have started to brown. About 8-12 minutes- set aside and let cool.
Mix the cream cheese and the powdered sugar together, and spread over the cooled cookie crust.


Decorate your pizza with the cut fruit- making festive patterns and designs!
The Birthday Girl seemed to like it! 

Sweet on Corn

The end of summer is bittersweet.  The days are getting shorter, and a sweater is no longer optional.  But in these last warm days we are treated to a delicious and delectable harbinger of Autumn- Sweet Corn.  It is a vegetable that straddles the seasons. Both a summertime barbeque staple and a symbol of the harvest.

Regardless of thoughts sweet corn might evoke, there is one thing that most of us can agree on. It is delicious…And guess what- It is in season right now!

The other day I was in the supermarket (Yes- I do shop places other than the farmers market,) to grab some bananas for the kids. I happened to take a peek at the corn. I actually made an audible “ugh” sound. It looked so sad.

The husks were discolored and limp- the kernels peeking out from the sorry wrapping were over ripe. I didn’t buy it- despite actually feeling sorry for it.

Lucky for us, the gardens and fields are yielding ripe corn…the money corn so to speak.

If you are a cornstalk owner or a resident of Thunder Bay in the vicinity of a farm or a farmers market- you are fortunate to have access to it.  The taste of fresh corn in unmatched by anything frozen, in a can or a sad display at the store! I remember driving out to a market with my mom when I was young, just to get corn.

I hated driving “All the way out there” just to get corn. Well- it was actually only a 5 minute drive, but it felt to me like a waste a time just to get “dumb ol’ corn.”  The thing is- it is not a waste of time- that delicious, sweet taste is worth driving a lot more than 5 minutes for!

Now, as a kid we only had corn prepared husked and boiled until the colour brightened, served with a pat of butter, and a sprinkle of salt. Definitely one of the best ways to eat it - But, I am going to share a few of my other favorites with you as well. Grilled!

…but there are 2 schools of thought when it comes to this- Husks on or off?

The first way to cook corn on the grill is to carefully pull back the husk- remove the corn silk, fold the husk back over the corn, and soak it for 20 minutes in water- then remove a long thin strip of husk and tie the end  to keep it closed. Put this on the grill and let the corn steam inside of the husk.

Lately, I have been removing the husks- applying the thinnest layer of olive oil and throwing them directly over high heat- this way you get those beautiful grill marks, and the nice smoky flavour from the grill. The high heat really works some magic on the sugar in the corn- It will start to caramelize, and add amazing depth to the flavor of the corn.

Now, if you are looking to do something different than eating corn off of the cob, this is a wonderful recipe to try out.

CORN CAKES!

I have made them with yams in the mix, and even pickerel for half corn/half fish cakes. They are quick, easy and most everyone will love them- they’re fried for goodness sake!

Corn Cakes

2 ears of corn/ de-eared
1 small yam peeled, grated, and cooked.
2 eggs
1/3 cup of milk
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar
S and P

Mix it all up in a bowl!

Heat 2/3 cup of olive oil in a pan.

When the oil is hot, drop 1/4 cup of the batter into the oil.  Do a few of these, depending on your pan size, but don’t overcrowd.

When they are nice and browned on the bottom, flip and cook the other side until cooked through- Put the fritters on a cooling rack on a cooking sheet to drain, and then into a warm oven, while you cook the rest of the cakes.

You can add some cooked fish to the mix for lovely fish/corn cakes- you imagination is the limit- You can serve these as a side dish, with dipping sauce as an appetizer, or on their own. I like to make them with a saffron sauce.

What is your favourite way to eat corn?

(originally published 9/2/2011 on TB Newswatch)