Old recipes and new tastes
Dear TEAM: A friend of mine has been looking all over for a recipe for a Johnny Cake made with buttermilk. I cannot find one. Can you help? – J.B., White Rock, B.C.
Dear J.B.: This Johnny Cake recipe uses buttermilk or sour milk. One can be used for the other in recipes. To sour fresh milk, measure 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) lemon juice OR vinegar into a 250 mL (one cup) container. Add milk to fill the container to the 250 mL line.
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Johnny Cake
11Ú4 cups pastry flour 300 mL
or
1 cup plus 1 1Ú2 tbsp. 275 mL
all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal 250 mL
1Ú2 tsp. baking soda 2 mL
11Ú2 tsp. baking powder 7 mL
1Ú2 cup sugar 125 mL
1Ú2 tsp. salt 2 mL
1 cup buttermilk 250 mL
or sour milk
1Ú3 cup melted butter 75 mL
or margarine
2 eggs, well beaten 2
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in combined liquids, including eggs. Mix quickly but do not beat. Pour batter into a greased 20 centimetre (eight inch) square baking pan and bake at 190 C
(375 F) for 30 to 40 minutes or until done. Serve warm, drizzled with syrup.
Source: The Chatelaine Cookbook, by Elaine Collett, published by Maclean-Hunter Ltd., 1965.
The cake and history
The Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook tells us “Johnny Cake is thought to be a corruption of Journey Cake. Whatever the origin of the name, this delicious cornmeal cake served hot with New Brunswick maple syrup makes an excellent dessert.”
Most recipes call for maple syrup. If you are fortunate enough to have some, great. If not, other syrups are also delicious served with a square or slice of Johnny cake.
Testing the above recipe gave me the opportunity to make Johnny cake for the first time. The fellows out seeding in the field and our family enjoyed it for supper. I will certainly make it again.
Touching memory
A Saskatchewan homesteader recollects:
“After we ate the last of the cornmeal for breakfast there was no flour, no meal, no butter – nothing to make dinner with. As usual, Father said prayers and I remember my parents rising from their knees and looking at each other. Mother said, ‘We have done our best, there will be something for dinner.’
“Almost immediately there was a knock at the door. A man had come from about 14 miles away, moving a house, and got stuck. He had heard that my father was good at such work and said he would pay $10 if he would come and help him out. So Father got into the wagon and went to Pense and helped to move the house. He was paid on the spot and brought home a fresh supply of groceries. I’ll always remember that day – we had Johnny Cake for supper.”
Source: Canadian Prairie Homesteaders by B.M. Barss and Sheila Kerr 1979.
Apple cider pleasant
Dear Team: For the past several years fruit-flavored hot apple cider concentrates have been most popular. We find them to be a pleasant substitute for caffeine beverages, and I am interested in making some of the concentrate with our locally grown fruits.
I note the label includes ingredients for preservation, but I see no reason that it could not be canned and sealed in small containers, then refrigerated after opening.
Would you be able to find a recipe that I could use? – J.K., Melfort, Sask.
Dear J.K.: Making apple cider involves getting apple juice from the apples and then fermenting the juice. Stores that sell wine-making equipment have a variety of recipes for making apple cider, plus equipment and ingredients that you may need.
Stocking Up, How To Preserve the Foods You Grow Naturally, written by the staff of Organic Gardening and Farming and edited by Carol Stoner, Rodale Press Inc., has a chapter on making apple cider and also for going the extra step of turning it into apple cider vinegar. I found this book at the library. The instructions do not look overwhelming. It would be fun to try. For preserving, they give instructions on freezing the cider or processing it in mason jars in a boiling water bath.
Either of these sources will give you the details or recipes that the space of this column does not allow.
Edible flowers
For many of us, seeing a pretty flower petal garnishing our food, even if arranged very attractively, takes us by surprise. What always comes to mind is, is it safe to eat?
I have lots of flowers in my garden but have never dared to serve them to the fellows here at the farm, partly because I don’t know which ones are edible. Until now that is. The book Farm Folk/City Folk lists the following flowers that if not sprayed with chemicals are edible in salads, baked goods and drinks. I’m going to keep this list close at hand. Then when the spirit moves me I can run out to the garden to add that special addition to a salad or garnish on an otherwise ho-hum plate.
Edible are flowers of anise hyssop, bachelor’s buttons, brassicas (kale, broccoli, mustards), borage, calendula, carnations, pinks, chervil, chives, comfrey, elderflowers, flowering currants, forget-me-nots, johnny jump-ups, lilac, lungwort, mallow, marigold, money plant, nasturtiums, peas (vegetable, not sweet peas), pineapple sage, primrose, roses, sweet cicely, sweet rocket, viola/pansy.
Source: Farm Folk/City Folk by Herb Barbolet, Andela Murrills and Heather Pritchard. Published by Douglas & McIntyre 1998. Available at bookstores for $24.95.
Team mate Barb Sanderson adds some information about this book. It is rooted in a Vancouver-based organization, whose goal is the creation of a just and sustainable food system.
Three concepts are central to its way of seeing the world: permaculture, biodiversity and the ecological footprint.
Permaculture is a holistic means for planning gardens, farms of entire communities, both philosophically and practically. The organization believes biodiversity means everything from a human appendix to a cockroach plays an essential role in the world.
The ecological footprint is a tool that can help us visualize human impact on the earth and help measure how much land is required to provide for the material needs of an individual or a country.
It also believes a close connection between the land, the food preparer and the consumer creates healthier and happier people.
The book is broken into six sections: growing, harvesting, cooking, creating, marketing and celebrating.
Farm Folk, City Folk celebrates the importance of food in our lives and communities. Throughout the book, chefs contribute original recipes using local ingredients. Although it is not a cookbook, there are a variety of recipes, as well as colorful pictures and interesting reading.
