Sourcing – Page 5 – UrbanMonique

Killer Vaniller

Our good friend Dennis sent us this hot tip on seriously good vanilla:

Eben, I just talked to you about these guys. This is the best vanilla I’ve ever tasted. The “Traditional” from this company is only 10% alcohol, instead of the usual 35% (that is required to call it “pure vanilla extract”.) So, you get more vanilla flavor for the money.

I note that the 15% off is only for orders of $40 and up. Two of the big (glass) bottles (16.7 oz) would get you there. Or 20% off on a half gallon or gallon.

First sale I have seen from them, ever.

Give it a try and let us know what ya think!

You’ll need the coupon codes:
15% OFF Traditional Bottles – Coupon: TRADITIONAL15
20% OFF Traditional Gallons & Half Gallons – Coupon: BULK20
This is a five day sale – four days left as of today, 5/6/13

Find it here!

C.S.A. Yerselves!

So, you’ve just been to the store, looking for some really fresh veggies ’cause you’ve got a major salad jones and…. It’s just not a great veggie day at Bobs Market. Whataya gonna do?

Could be you’re one of the increasing many who just don’t like the direction corporate food is going, and you’d like to explore reasonable but effective ways to assure that what you and yours are eating is genuinely good for you.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to garden, but your space or time just won’t allow; whataya do?

Perhaps it’s canning that’s caught your fancy; you’re dreaming of neat rows of Mason jars filled with natures bounty, ready to carry you through the dark days of winter. Where are you gonna find produce worthy of such an endeavor?

If any or all of the above strike a chord, you need to get in touch with a local C.S.A. Operation. That’s Community Supported Agriculture, and it’s your ticket to what’s good for you.

C.S.A. Began in the ’60s, in parts of Europe and Japan, in response to concerns very much in keeping with what I wrote above. Today, the need is that much greater, from both sides of the equation. We need and want good, fresh produce and small farmers need people to sell to; it’s a perfect marriage.

So, ready to hook up? Just go here, to LocalHarvest.org. There you’ll find search options based on location, or the type of goodies they produce. In addition to C.S.A.s, you can find Farmer’s Markets and produce stands as well. LocalHarvest is a great organization primarily supported by donations from the outfits you’ll find there.

And let me tell y’all, now is the time to get onboard, because this is more popular than you might realize, and sometimes the C.S.A.s get booked quite early in the season. Some are so popular that they have waiting lists for new clients. In essence, having a pre-paid and guaranteed clientele is what allows C.S.A. farms the security to produce year after year. When you sign up, you’re not just getting great food, you’re actually helping these small, usually family run operations stay in business providing the kind of high-quality produce and fruit we all love.

In most instances, you’ll choose a size and a frequency for what you’re after; many farms offer the choice of full or half baskets, (or an equivalent measure), and a weekly, bi-weekly, or once-a-month frequency of delivery. Some C.S.A.s will actually deliver produce to you, while others have a set location you’ll head for to pick up your bounty. And again, if the C.S.A. Concept seems daunting right off the bat, you can find markets and stands through LocalHarvest as well.

Generally, what you’ll get is what’s ready to harvest that week; depending on the size and specialty of the farm, you may get a bunch of different things or a lot of a few, (You’re always welcome to ask about more of something or another, of course.)

Let me assure you from first hand experience, what you get is glorious. Many C.S.A.s are organic, or employ ecologically sound practices at the least. Quite a few offer heirloom and unusual varieties of fairly common crops, meaning you may well see tomatoes, chiles, lettuces, onions and a myriad of other crops that you’ve never seen, tasted or smelled before. The difference between a fresh heirloom, hand-grown tomato and what you get from the store is profoundly night and day.

What you’ll pay for all this varies, of course, but generally you’ll find it quite competitive with store bought, and again, the quality is far superior.

If you don’t practice any preservation techniques, you probably will after hooking up with a C.S.A. Dried, pickled, canned, or frozen, this stuff is so good you’ll do everything you can to make sure it’s available year ’round. There are quite a few operations dovetailing that desire to preserve with what they offer, making available special mixes for canning or even winter root crops that store well. And of course, right here at UrbanMonique you’ll find a full quiver of how-to’s for preserving.

If all this sounds to good to be true, it’s not; it is truly that good! So get onboard. And if you’re in the area of Hackensack, Minnesota, your search is done; just hook up with Neighborhood Gardens and Kings Gardens, and you’ll be well served indeed. Say hi to Grant, Christy, Lissa and John for us too, OK?

E & M

Shroomin’

Okey dokey, let’s get this outta the way right off the bat; yes, some folks of a certain age, often those raised in the ’60s, (AKA Me and M), may well have some, ahhh… knowledge of certain kinds of mushrooms… Yes, those mushrooms, the psychotropic variety: There, I’ve said it…

I josh about magic mushrooms, sorta but sorta not; fact is, several varieties of psychoactive mushrooms are very closely related to deadly ones. Amanita Muscaria is arguably the most famous of the ‘magic’ mushrooms, lauded in song and story; it’s also closely related to Amanita Phalloids, the Death Cap, and they even kinda look alike: One gets you stoned, the other kills you…

Pretty dark start to a piece about edible mushrooms, huh? Is all this scary talk necessary?

In a word, yup; at a casual glance, the green-spored Lepiota, (Chlorophyllum molybdites), looks damn near identical to the white button mushrooms you see in stores and reportedly tastes pretty good; eating one will earn you a trip to the ER at best.

So, how does one try new mushrooms safely?

Before we answer that, let’s clarify one other important point: If your only exposure to mushrooms has been the bland, boring White Button variety or the dinner plate sized Portobello’s sold in most groceries, no one can blame you for not liking mushrooms. What we’ll explore a bit here are the real McCoy, great local, wild ‘shrooms well worth your time and energy and kitchen.

If you’re not excited about hunting them yourself, go to your local farmers market, co-op, or organic grocery and find you some. Get to know the seasons for the varieties you like, and shop when they’re available. Anything you buy here is as safe as anything else they sell, so shop with confidence. Wild mushrooms have a relatively short shelf life, so you want to buy product that is no more than a day or two old at most; ask before you buy and plan meals accordingly. Gently rinse and immediately pat mushrooms dry; soaking and/or leaving them wet will cause them to deteriorate faster. Store ‘shrooms inside a paper bag in your veggie or crisper drawer; they’ll appreciate the cold, dry conditions.

If you’d like to preserve them longer than that, they can be dried or frozen successfully.

If you’re drying, you’ll really want a decent dehydrator for the job. If you don’t have one, then slice your ‘shrooms to about 1/4″ thick and place them in your oven on the lowest temp you have, in a single layer on a cookie sheet until thoroughly dried. Reconstitute dried mushrooms in water for use and don’t toss out the water; it’ll make an excellent adjunct to soup, stew, and sauces.

You can freeze mushrooms fresh and whole, or parboiled if you prefer. To parboil, submerge them for a minute or two in water at a rolling boil, then shock them in an ice bath, (50% ice, 50% water), pat dry with paper towels, and allow to dry fully on a rack.

Whether you choose to dry or freeze, place your bounty in airtight containers.

If you’re interested in hunting the elusive local mushroom, Google Your Town and Mycological or Mushroom Club/Society and I’ll bet you’ll find one. Get in touch and I’ll guarantee you they have some sort of program for rookies. Join, learn and gain a lifelong passion.

Just in case your area doesn’t cover all the bases of learning to forage, then please read and abide by all these points.

1. The Golden Rule of Mushroom Hunting: If you’re not 100% positive of the identification of what you have, do not eat it, period, end of story.

2. Do not believe any of the tall tales about identifying poisonous mushrooms; they ain’t gonna tarnish a silver spoon or turn blue when ya bruise ’em, and it matters not at all that other forest critters will or won’t eat of them. The only way to be safe is to be 100% certain of your identification.

3. A quality, well-recognized Field Guide is a necessity. They’re an excellent resource that will cover most, (And sometimes all), of the attributes necessary for positive identification, but shared experience with other knowledgeable folk is absolutely necessary to learning safe hunting practices.

4. Always keep what you find separated by variety; poisonous mushrooms can and will contaminate safe ones.

5. Don’t ever collect from less than desirable surroundings; close to civilization means a much greater likelihood for the presence of pollutants, insecticides, and weedicides, which are certainly not what you want your ‘shrooms seasoned with. Even parks and golf courses should be out of bounds, frankly.

6. Get to know the species you’re interested in from A to Z; some popular eating varieties will change widely in appearance from youth through maturity.

As I hope you’ve gathered, while buying and eating wild mushrooms is a snap, gaining the knowledge needed to safely forage on one’s own takes some dedication, time, and energy.

Just so ya know, it is well worth the effort; there’s a reasonable, delicious handful of wild varieties that are easy to spot and hard to screw up the identification of; with any luck, one of them will be a favorite for you.

Now, before we go, perhaps a recipe? Simple, literally. Unlike those nasty store varieties, these babies really do have flavor and texture. In a sauté pan over medium heat, add a little good quality extra virgin olive oil and bring it to temperature. Toss in your mushrooms, add sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste, then sauté until heated through. Rub a few pieces of fresh baguette with a clove of fresh, peeled garlic and crack a nice bottle of wine. Enjoy; it’s all you’ll need.

Hey, Cheese Cloth, Here!

Cheesecloth is indispensable in the kitchen; it’ll drain house-made cheese or yoghurt, strain stock, hold a bouquet garni of fresh herbs, or steep hops in beer. If you don’t have a generous supply of good quality stuff, you need to get some.

If you’ve bought cheese cloth only from the grocery store or a craft supply place, you’ve likely never been exposed to good cheese cloth. That slack stuff is good for little; it’s far too loosely woven to do good duty straining, holding house made cheese, or draining yoghurt.

What you need is real cheese cloth!

The genuine article is woven from clean, in-dyed cotton thread. The weave is relatively light, of course, as it must be to do what it does best. These basics are where the similarities between the crappy stuff one usually finds and the real meal deal end.

Cheesecloth is graded by weight, determined by the thread count and weight. The are five common grades, from #10, which is what you usually find, through grades 40, 50, 60, and 90. The bottom line is that #90 cloth has more than double the vertical and three times the horizontal threads per inch that #10 cloth does; a whole different animal completely. While the crappy stuff is gonzo after one use when it does little well, #90 cloth is robust, reusable, very pleasant to work with and does a fantastic job with everything from stock to cheese.

Finding the real deal at decent cost and as notable options for quantity can be a bit of a chore, so let me spare you the mundane.

The eBay seller Ladygal0_3 sells multiple grades, will cut them to size for you, and often offers very useful quantities a with free shipping. Their prices are excellent, the service top notch and the shipping is fast.

So go get you some!

Great American Meatout Day!

Now, if you’re around here at all, you know we’re as omnivorous as they come, so, when we post a Meatout ref, it must be good!

The Great American Meatout has been around since 1985, encouraging us to explore good nutrition without the M word.

You can pledge a day, a day a week, or a full swing life change, and you’ll find plenty of resources to help you along your journey.

It just so happens that March 20 is GAMO Day, so embrace your inner veggie and go take a look!

E & M