A Perfect Red Grapefruit

Over the last couple of years I have gone on about how apples are the only fruit I eat during the Winter as they are the only local fruit you can get all winter long from the farmers market. My thinking on this has changed a bit. First I noticed just this week that there are some very sweet firm and delicious pears still being sold and the Pear Mincemeat has been a big hit.

Around Thanksgiving Breezy Hill Orchard was selling heirloom cranberries so I bought huge amount and came home and froze them. My freezer has never been so full, because in addition to the cranberries are 2 five pound boxes of frozen organic blueberries from my friend Jane's daughters family farm Intervale.

Then in the last couple of weeks I've been seeing organic citrus from Texas and Florida. I have a weakness for Ruby Red Grapefruits and marmalade. My feelings about citrus are that as along as they are in season on this side of the country and are trucked or trained in they are fine. Which as best as I can tell gives you citrus for a couple of months a year. Lemons and limes are a totally other story as they have become so integral to cooking so many dishes. Still if I can find them I try to always buy citrus from Florida or Texas as it is less of a distance then California.

Marmalade has been much on my mind these days so it was with great pleasure that I opened up my Grist email today to see a wonderful article by April McGreger on Citrus and yes indeed Marmalade! The last time I made marmalade it just would not get thick so I was keeping an eye out to see if I could find a recipe that used pectin, but April's recipe doesn't so I'm feeling embolden to give it another pectin free try.

The most exciting t hing in the article (besides the Marmalade recipe) is her mention of L'Host Organic Citrus farm in Louisiana. I immediately like them because when you go to there shipping page they announce they are no longer shipping because of the bad weather, that they will resume in October, then they go on to say:

"Why are we no longer using e-commerce and credit cards?"
Well to be honest, shipping is a service we do for our loyal customer base... it is a very small part of our business that we just aren't interested in expanding. Our passion is for producing high quality fruit and passing that fruit on to those that really care about quality, taste, the environment, and organic farming. We strive to ensure our product remains true to these characteristics. So we've scaled the shipping business back to better serve those of you that have supported us for so many years.

Makes me want to go to Louisiana just to visit and pick up some satsumas!

Apple Season

Last year I pretty much succeed in not eating any fruit other than local apples (I think I broke down and had some in season in Florida organic pink Grapefruit in February - maybe 2) all winter long and I am going to try and repeat myself this year.

It actually wasn't a problem for me, I like apples and the thought of eating a sub par out of season Cantaloupe from Chile or some overpriced raspberries from New Zealand somehow never crossed my mind.

A couple of weeks ago the Sunday New York Times Magazine did an exhaustive article on this study being done on reduced calorie diets. The thing that caught my eye (well initially Neil's as he was the one who sent me the article) was how apples apparently are a particularly satisfying snack:

By building a diet around foods with a low-energy density, especially vegetables, fruits and soups, participants can conceivably ingest the same weight of food as they might on a regular diet while taking in fewer calories.Apples are superb in this regard. At the medical centers running Calerie, you see a lot of people walking around eating apples. Even subjects who disliked apples have discovered that calorie restriction, which generally has the effect of making food taste better, has given them a surprising desire for the fruit.

Then today I see on Treehugger that Australian scientists have come up with an apple that takes a long time to rot, er, or as they would rather spin it, stays fresher longer (sounds like the tag line for a room deodorizer) 4 months to be exact. It's no surprise I agree with the conclusion the author of the article Colin Dunn comes to:

Food is supposed to rot, and while way too much food is wasted around the world, the solution is not to engineer perishables to last longer; the solution is to create stronger local food systems that emphasize sustainable production and seasonal cycles. So, with all due respect to the RS103-130, we'll be sticking with the good old-fashioned Macintosh, Fuji, and other nature-designed apples. Meanwhile, the Queensland government is seeking a commercial supply partner to distribute the fruit and hopes to begin selling it next year.

This past spring a farmer told me not to buy a Macintosh because they are a softer apple and don't winter as well as say the Mutsu, the best time to eat Macintosh is now. They also make kick ass apple sauce because they melt down so well when cooked and have a wonderful sweet tart balance (try using maple syrup to sweeten your sauce,it tastes great and if you live in NYC it's a local product).

So go out and get yourself some apples, the selection available at the green market is vast - enough to keep you busy all winter long!