Ingredient of the Season: Cinnamon

You can find our archive of previous featured ingredients here.

You’ve read that right, after a 2 year hiatus, we’re back with a new featured ingredient. I’m really excited about some of the posts that we have planned for this season, and I can’t believe that we hadn’t highlighted cinnamon in all of its spicy glory sooner.

This is going to be a great season. Cinnamon is a spice that’s used throughout the world in both savory and sweet dishes, and we’re looking forward to exploring all of that variety. Of course, we’ll be sure to step out of the kitchen to use cinnamon in a number of different craft and beauty applications.

Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : Honey!

The story of our lives: there are never enough hours in a day or enough days in a season.

We particularly feel the crunch when it’s time to introduce a new Ingredient of the Season. Here it is, time for summer’s ingredient, and I am definitely no where near finished with eggs.  All that’s to say, expect a spattering of egg posts from now until forever (… when we actually find the time to slow down and write them).

bees13

But on with the show: This summer our focus will be on honey! Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : EGGS!

That’s right, this month and next we’re focusing our attention on the incredible edible egg!

Of course, this is a great ingredient to feature at this time of year, with Easter just around the corner. But beyond that, I’m really excited to feature eggs because they are such a versatile ingredient.
eggs3

I often take our featured ingredients as a challenge to try new recipes and ideas. This month we’ll bring you main dishes and desserts, side dishes and snacks, and cocktails! Yes, we’ll be cracking a raw egg into the cocktail shaker and giving it a go. If that’s not dedication to this little blog side project, then I don’t know what is. Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : Coffee

Every season we like to pick one ingredient and find a variety of ways to love it and use it. You can find our complete ingredient archive here.

I’m sitting here with just a drop left of my morning cuppa joe, and I’m so excited to announce that coffee is our fall 2018 Ingredient of the Season.  We are coffee lovers. We love the ritual of a morning cup of coffee, especially when someone else starts the brew and we wake up to the aroma wafting into our bedrooms. We love the flavor of coffee, and we’re always excited to try new beans, brewing methods, and (of course) ice creams ;-). But above all, we love that it’s a drink shared by many cultures, often bringing people together to over communal moment of rest and conversation.

coffee_titleb

live seasoned blue mountain coffee jamaica-9

Making coffee our Ingredient of the Season encourages us to learn more about the biology, cultural importance, and many uses of this bean, and we’re excited to share those experiences. Throughout the season we’ll talk about a variety of brewing methods. But beyond drinking, I’m also excited to use coffee in my crafting, cooking, baking, and liqueur making!

Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : Potatoes!

Every season we like to feature a single ingredient and use it in a variety of ways throughout the house, from the food to beauty to art. You can see our full archive of featured ingredients here. And you can see some of our previous potato posts here.

Potato, patato. However you pronounce it, we’re excited to call this tuber our ingredient of the season. Ah the potato, always the side-dish, never the main dish.

ingredient_potato

We think this vegetable gets a bad rap as being full of carbs and too bland (without a boatload of salt and butter) to be the centerpiece of a meal. We’re hoping to change that this season with a line-up of simple but delicious meals. Just a little something to bring spuds into the limelight and inspire you to give them a second (or third!) look.  We’re also hoping to entertain you by putting the potato to work in a few unexpected ways…

Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : Ginger

 Every season we like to pick one ingredient and find a variety of ways to love it and use it. You can find our complete ingredient archive here.

Ginger is our ingredient of the season this fall, and we’re already feeling the warm fuzzies. If you’re a ginger fan, then you know what we mean: that warm feeling and bit of spice that hits your tongue, then travels to the back of your throat and makes its way to your stomach when you sip on a hot mug of ginger tea. Can you feel it too? But we’re not biased, we love ginger in all of its forms, whether it’s baked into a cookie, used to spice up a curry, or sipped in a cocktail.

ginger_title_b

Throughout the fall we hope to experiment with new uses for ginger in the kitchen and around the house. Along the way, we’ll use ginger in all of its forms, from raw to candied, and pickled to brewed.

The photos throughout this post were taken by Sarah when she was working closely with ginger farmers in Jamaica.

live seasoned ginger-1

Biology

The ginger plant is an herbaceous perennial, growing 3-4 feet tall with slender green leaves and yellow flowers that bloom from white to pink buds. These characteristics make it a lovely plant that is commonly grown in flower gardens in warm climates. Ginger is a member of the Zingiberaceae family along with turmeric, cardamom, and galangal (popular in Thai cuisine).

Even though we often refer to ginger as “ginger root”, from a biological perspective, we aren’t actually using the root! It’s the rhizome, or underground stem, of the plant that is harvested for consumption. Both roots and shoots grow out from these rhizomes to produce new plants.

live seasoned ginger-3

Ginger History

Ginger dates back over 3,000 years to the Sanskrit srngaveram meaning “horn root” in reference to its appearance. In Greek it was ziggiberis, in Latin, zinziberi, and in Middle English, gingivere, which is why in English we know it as Ginger.

It is believed to have originated from the Indian subcontinent since the ginger plants in that region contains the largest degree of genetic diversity. Sharing a history similar to many spice originating in Asia, ginger made its way to Europe via the spice trade being exported to Ancient Rome from India.

Ginger Production

The top ginger producers include China, India, and Nepal. As well as Asia, ginger is quite popular in the Caribbean Islands. Ginger grows easily in these lush tropical climates.

When Sarah visited Jamaica in 2009 & 2010, she worked closely with ginger farmers on education, prevention, and remediation of common root diseases.

live seasoned ginger-2

Uses for Ginger

The use of ginger in cooking varies from one culture to another. Throughout Asia, it is common to see ginger used in a wide variety of savory dishes, whereas in Western cultures, it is much more common to see ginger used in desserts, particularly baked goods. In India ginger is a popular ingredient in Ayurvedic medicine. Then there’s the Jamaicans, who we will be forever thankful to for brewing their ginger into non-alcoholic ginger beers. And you can thank the Japanese for that side of pickled ginger that comes with sushi.

We’re excited to explore this wide range of uses throughout the season, and we hope you’ll enjoy the ride!

Ingredient of the Season : Tea

Every season we like to pick one ingredient and find a variety of ways to love it and use it. You can find our complete ingredient archive here.

live seasoned winter 15 tea-1-3

When Sarah and I were thinking about the long, dark, and cozy winter still ahead, we decided that tea would be the perfect ingredient to carry us through to spring. We’ve always been big tea fans, granted our tea selection can get a bit boring (Sarah has her favorite and I have mine), but we’re hoping that during our “winter of tea” we will learn more about teas, sample new varieties, and even discover new ways to incorporate tea into our lives through baking, cosmetics, and crafts. We’re also excited to use this selection as an excuse to spend more time in our local tea shops, maybe pop into Celestial Seasonings’ factory for another tour, and visit at least one tea house for a ceremony.

live seasoned winter 15 tea-1-5 live seasoned winter 15 tea-3

Continue reading

Ingredient of the Season : Pumpkins

Every season we like to pick one ingredient and find a variety of ways to love it and use it. You can find our complete ingredient archive here.

pumpkin3

When we think of autumn, our minds wander to all our favorite fall activities.  Hayrides, long walks, apple picking, pumpkin carving and of course Halloween.  With pumpkins popping up everywhere during the fall and pumpkin spice flavor exploding in popularity, we thought it would be fun to share all the different ways Katie and I use pumpkins.  We promise it’s a total coincidence that Starbucks launched it’s pumpkin spice latte today and honestly we have to laugh at the insane ways the food industry is using pumpkin spice flavoring these days.  This autumn you can expect to see some delicious pumpkin recipes, hold the cinnamon and nutmeg though, we’re talking breads, curries, soups and other spicy and savory dishes, okay and maybe a pie or two.  Before we head straight down pumpkin street, let’s talk cucurbits.

Pumpkin Harvest Display

History

Cucu who? Pumpkins are a member of the cucurbit or gourd family.  Most cucurbits grow on vines and are believed to be native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Pumpkin seeds dating back to 7000-5500 bc were found in Mexico.  Pumpkins were first cultivated in America before being brought to Europe by early settlers and they remain an important source of food, livestock feed and oils around the world today.  Pumpkins of our ancestors didn’t look like the common big, round and orange varieties of today, but more like long necked squash.

Native Americans utilized pumpkins for food and materials, roasting them over fires and drying long strips to weave into mats.  Pumpkins, along with beans and corn are commonly referred to as the three sisters because of the planting style of Native Americans.  The first pumpkin pie came about when settlers cut off the top of a pumpkin, removed the seeds and added some spices, milk, and honey and baked it over hot coals.

The word pumpkin originates from the Greek word pepon meaning large melon.  The French nasalized pepon transforming it into pompon.  The English morphed pompon to pumpion and American colonists changed it to pumpkin.

Today China leads the world in pumpkin production with India, Russia, U.S.A. and Egypt falling in behind.  In the United Sates, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California are the top pumpkin growers with Illinois producing far more than any other state.  Around 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown on 75,000 acres annually in the United States and that number is growing.  Most pumpkins are processed into canned pumpkin.

liveseasoned fall 15 pumpkin2

Biology

As you know, pumpkins are not just big, round and orange.  Pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes although you may have thought they were other kinds of squash.  There are green, yellow, red, white, blue and even striped pumpkins. If you’ve ever visited a pumpkin patch, you’ve likely seen big, small, round, tall, flat, smooth, ribbed and warty varieties. While some pumpkins are excellent for culinary uses, others are best left for decoration.

There are four main species of pumpkins that we eat: Pepo, Maxima, Moschata, and Mixta. Traditionally, carving pumpkins and baking pumpkins are of the Pepo species.  When you think of Pepos, think deep, bright orange with a hard woody stem. Maximas on the other hand have a spongy, cork-like stem and can grow to be very large just like Pepos.  Maximas keep fairly well, while Moschatas keep extremely well.  Moschata stems are smooth with deep ridges and they usually have orange skin.  Moschatas are sweet and work well in most recipes.  Mixtas are usually cream colored or pale yellow.  Mixtas aren’t as sweet as Moschatas and Maximas and thus are usually baked with maple syrup or brown sugar to compliment their flavor.  While there are only four main species of pumpkins, there are over thirty (and that’s being conservative) varieties of pumpkins!  Side note: the guest house I’m staying at in Nepal is called Harvest Moon and guess what? That’s a common pumpkin variety!

pumpkin_illustration

 

Upon flowering, pumpkin vines initially produce only male flowers, but eventually grow both male and female flowers and are completely dependent on bee pollination for proper fruit production.  Similar to day lilies, the vine’s flowers only last for one day.  If the female flowers aren’t properly pollinated, they’ll begin growing, but usually stop within a few days.  Upon proper pollination, the ovary will grow rapidly and after a few weeks the fruit will mature.   Most plants tend to grow faster at night than during the day, and the same is true for pumpkins.  This video shows the dramatic difference in growth during the day and night of one pumpkin, check it out! While we may tend to associate pumpkins with vegetables, we al know they’re technically fruits because of the seeds, oh those glorious seeds.

There is actually a bee known as the eastern cucurbit bee that is common wherever cucurbits grow.  These bees, Peponapis pruinosa, are found throughout northern Mexico and most of the continental United States.  These pollinators specialize in squash, pumpkins and other cucurbits and have a competitive advantage over honey bees.  The eastern cucurbit bees begin collecting pollen earlier in the day and are slightly larger and faster.  Curiously enough, most pumpkin growers are unaware that these bees exist and have an advantage over the honey bees that farmers rent annually to pollinate their crops!

pumpkin_loc

Uses

Unfortunately in the United States, it seems like the only uses are carving and canned pumpkin, but we’re about to change that, right?  Most of the world tends to eat their pumpkins and we can’t blame them.  We’re excited to test out and share some ideas for main dishes, deserts and pumpkin seed snacks with you.  Katie is a pro when it comes to making apple butter so we can only hope (hint hint) that she tries her hand at pumpkin butter.  We may even try to make a pumpkin stock with the guts, who knows it’s a new season, things could get interesting!  We’ll also take full advantage of some pumpkin products and bring you a few new fall cocktails.

Beyond the kitchen, pumpkins can be turned into useful decorations like bowls and utensils.  Have you ever seen an African Calabash? They’re beautiful! I can guarantee we will not reach that level of mastery this season, but we’ll definitely carve, paint and otherwise decorate some pumpkins.  Pumpkins are also a hit in the beauty department. With a little more research, we may be ready to try our hand at pumpkin face masks, exfoliants and body butters.

As Americans, we must admit we love a good jack-o-lantern and a nice display of pumpkins next to our haybale, I mean, who doesn’t?  When those pumpkins are past their prime though we make certain to throw them into the woods where wild creatures can munch on them or on the compost pile where they’ll help enrich the soil.  Birds are fond of the seeds too and if you live in the city, zoos often collect old pumpkins to feed to their critters!  If you have a surplus of pumpkins, they truly do make great animal feed.  Apparently feeding pumpkin to chickens in the cooler months will help stimulate and prolong egg production, if we had a roost we would totally try this out.  If you do, let us know if you witness a difference.

pumpkin2

Nutrition

The bottom line? Pumpkins will keep you feeling full while also providing some essential vitamins and nutrients.  Pumpkins have three grams of fiber per cup, which is one of the reasons they fill you up and keep you feeling full long after lunch.  One cup of pumpkin has two and half times your daily recommended serving of Vitamin A, which aides in low light vision.  Pumpkin is low in cholesterol, saturated fat and sodium.  Pumpkin is a good source of Vitamin E, B6, and C. It’s also a good source of iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper and thiamin.  You can see the role those vitamins and minerals have in our daily life here.

And let’s end with a bit of fun.

Facts:

  • Pumpkin is the name of a movie starring Christina Ricci and it got a horrible review on IMDB.
  • Peter and Cindi Galsier take the prize for the largest pumpkin grown in America weighing in at 2058 pounds.
  • Beni Meier holds the Guinness World Record for his 2096 pound pumpkin grown in Switzerland.
  • Apparently there is a whole world of punkin chunkin that I didn’t even know existed. There are different machine classes, but maybe you were already aware of that?

1/2/3/4/5/6/