The weatherman’s dreaded announcement of frost for tonight
has come and gone.
Covering everything that might freeze in the garden is such a big job. Down to the basement I went to pull out all the old blankets, stored in a trunk and used for this purpose
every fall.
It seems hard to pick vegetables when the weather is good because we hope they might grow a little more.
The first covering is usually challenging. The air is cold and sometimes it is getting dark because we leave it as long as possible, hoping the weatherman will change his mind.
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This year we seem to have a lot of vines in our community Kids-In-The-Garden project on the lot next to ours. I ran out of old blankets and kept going back to the house for more covering material: sheets and blankets from the linen closet; all the door mats; the old jackets from the closet and cardboard boxes. I did leave something for Bill to wear to the farm in the morning.
We still have to pick and bring in most of the harvest, which hasn’t grown any since the first frost hit. Next year I’ll learn to pick sooner.
Relish recipe wanted
Dear TEAM: Would you have a recipe for beet relish? I used to have a good recipe using horseradish but it has gone missing. I also think we must have put the beets through a grinder because Mom and I didn’t have a food processor and I can’t remember chopping all those beets. I remember that cabbage was one of the ingredients. – B.P., Saskatoon, Sask.
Dear B.P.: I found a recipe with the ingredients you listed in the cookbook, Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving, third edition, 2003. This book and other Bernardin books are usually available in stores where preserving supplies are sold.ÂÂ
This recipe and others that I found used finely chopped beets. I also remember my mother grinding the beets in a meat grinder. When making this recipe I chopped the beets and the other vegetables in a food processor and it worked fine. The recipe recommends shredding the beets for a finer textured product.
Beet relish
4 cups prepared beets 1 L
4 cups finely chopped 1 L
cabbage
3 cups white vinegar 750 mL
11/2 cups granulated 375 mL
sugar
1 cup finely chopped 250 mL
onion
1 cup finely chopped 250 mL
red pepper
1 tablespoon prepared 15 mL
horseradish
1 tablespoon pickling 15 mL
salt
Scrub beets, leaving root and two inches (5 cm) of stem intact to prevent bleeding. Cover beets with water; boil until tender. Drain; discard liquid and slip off the skins, removing taproot and stems. Dice beets; measure four cups (1 L).
Combine all the ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil gently for 10 minutes.
Yield: About five 500 mL jars.
Salt and diet
Dear TEAM: I have been wondering if sea salt is healthier for you than regular salt. If you use sea salt does your body get enough iodine? Salt free diets are recommended for high blood pressure patients. Would they be able to use sea salt? – S. N., Eaton, Sask.
Dear S.N.: Salt is salt. Whether the salt crystal is tiny or large, mined from the earth or the sea, it’s all sodium chloride – or at least 97.5 percent. Most table salt is 99 percent sodium chloride.
All salt comes from the oceans that once covered the earth. One kind of salt is not healthier than the other.
By eliminating all table salt, one could risk not getting enough iodine. Seafood provides a considerable amount, but the quantity in natural sources varies, depending upon the iodine content of the soil.
Therefore, iodine intake is highly variable and may be deficient, depending upon geographic location and food supply.
Since moderately excessive iodine is relatively harmless and persons living in endemic goiter regions may be at risk, iodine continues to be added to our table salt as a precaution.
Kinds of salt
- Table salt: Sometimes called iodized salt, it is the common salt used in most households. Shaped like tiny cubes, table salt is finely ground and mixed with calcium silicate to prevent caking or clumping. Table salt’s source is not identified; it can be mined or come from the sea.
- Kosher salt: Coarse, flaky salt used by many food professionals because of its special crunch or taste. It is composed of many cubes of salt stuck together. With its large surface area it can absorb more moisture than a similar sized cubic salt crystal. This makes it ideal for curing meat and fish. Other uses are on pretzels and on the rim of drink glasses.
- Sea salt: Made of evaporated seawater that has been purified. It comes in many forms and can be coarse or fine. It may contain trace elements of the area it is from. Some of these elements may give a different taste or flavour, either pleasant or objectionable.
- Rock salt: Not edible. Used for freezing ice cream.
- Pickling salt: Salt that is additive and iodine free. The iodine in regular table salt can cause pickles to darken. Anticaking agents used
in table salt can cause a cloudy appearance in pickles.
Bread machine book
E.S., Morinville, Alta., sent a note to say that the Rogers Bread Machine Cookbook is the best bread machine recipe book she has ever used. The price is $4.95 and available from Rogers Foods Ltd., 4420 Larkin Road, Armstrong, B.C. V0E 1B0.
Thanks E.S. for the information.
Alma Copeland is a home economist from Elrose, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
