Lifestyle

On the last day of November my first 2020 seed catalog arrived. The timing could not have been better. Thanksgiving sticks a fork into the growing season, marking the end of harvest and ushering in a quiet time of rest and contemplation. Winter is the time to cozy up with a cup of tea and some reading material.

The power of an onion is compounded by its dual personality. While a well-cooked onion gives its flavor selflessly, bringing harmony to a dish, raw onion is about contrast. Its presence is more of a fiery assault by an army of white lightsabers.

Winter came early this year, but the Belarusian cucumber farmers at my local market didn’t care. Their cucumber plants were long gone, their fruits having been turned into pickles, but they did have beets.

As holiday talk builds to a festive pitch, and the cold darkness moves to embrace you, don’t sleep on pomegranate season. It’s on.

Detroit’s D-Town Farm is a food oasis. Its seven acres produce not only food but a pathway to make the surrounding desert bloom. The farm’s parent organization, the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, has been making change happen since 2006, helping to put thousands of Detroit residents to work in their own neighborhoods, turning vacant lots into gardens, while lobbying the city to allow, if not encourage, urban agriculture.

Today we dive deep into another example of a happy marriage between chile and cheese: the jalapeño popper.

When the wrapper is made out of lettuce, there are no empty calories.

Verde sauce is green. If we are speaking in general terms, that’s about all we can say, because the source of that color varies.

If I could get across one point today, it would be that people should be putting lemons in blenders.

A radish sends mixed messages. It can look like something designed by Willy Wonka but taste like mustard gas. In perhaps the ultimate bait-and-switch of the vegetable world, eating a radish can feel like leaning in for a kiss and getting slapped. Which I’m not saying is a bad thing. The key is to get as much mileage out of that slap as you can.

Where there are chile peppers, there are sauces made from chile. And where there is chile sauce there is a choice between green and red. Red chile are fully ripened and pack a distinct sweetness along with their heat. Green chile are picked before they ripen and have a slightly bitter, pungent and more complex flavor.