Winter Vegetables
Cherries In Winter
I am so bored with the winter my eyeballs hurt! It feels like it has been endless this year, I have to keep telling myself, it is almost over – hang in there. I am officially cooking the dregs of the local winter vegetables eagerly anticipating the fresh tender greens of spring and longing for the warm evenings that afford me the opportunity to take my gear out to the BBQ and start to cook outdoors.
Over the next few weeks I find myself still needing to find inspiration in that squash, the potatoes and beets left on the shelves at my green grocers. I have to keep promising myself the pea shoots, fresh halibut and peak of the season fruit are not far away. I really try to eat local seasonal food as much as I can and while I indulge in some basics like lemons & oranges, olive oil, salt and imported cheese I do make a conscious decision every time I shop for food to think about where it comes from. A few weeks ago, there were cherries for sale in one of our local supermarkets and for some reason this completely shocked me. Cherries in February? I just couldn’t get my head around why any of us needs to eat fresh cherries in February. Don’t they just taste so much better in July when the local ones are actually in season? Do we really need to scratch that itch in February and is it even worth it? People were snapping them up like they were clamshells full of gold thinking they were going to indulge in one of the signature tastes of summer, almost looking for instant gratification in a piece of fruit. I imagined that they taste like cardboard, they were heinously expensive and it was easy for me to walk away.
On my way home, parsnips in hand I started to think about the 100 mile diet and how it evolved…perhaps cherries in February were an inspiration. Growing up in Alberta during the early 70′s, it wasn’t exactly a culinary hotbed – if you wanted to eat something other than what was available on the grocer’s shelves in the winter your only option was to plan ahead. People froze or canned food, they pickled and preserved just about everything. If we had cherries in February they were a real treat but they were canned. My family made jam and fruit butters – they actually cut corn off the cob and froze it so we could eat it all year long. So if you feel like you might need to scratch that itch next February start planning now. You can spend sometime this summer and fall creating your own preserves so you don’t spend a fortune on cardboard fruit next February.
About the Author
Angie Quaale is the owner of Well Seasoned gourmet food store and cooking school in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Well Sesaoned is been the destination location for all things gourmet. Angie travels the world sourcing the best gourmet foods and recipes and is an advocate of local farmers and food producers.
Angie’s column, “Food for Thought” appears twice a month in the Langley Times. She’s also regularly featured in print articles, television and radio programs throughout Canada.
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