Canning Tomatoes

When using the "passatutto" tool the job is made easy and the resulting sauce for canning is superior. After the tomatoes have been scalded for a moment in boiling water they are cut up and past through the machine to remove the skins and the seeds. After this step we simmer the sauce until reduced by almost half before we fill the jars and seal them in the water bath canner.

Some of the tomato harvest this year.

Tomato processing station setup in the kitchen. Large pot for scalding, stainless steel for simmering the sauce.

Passatutto at the sink, the sauce and pulp goes into the 8qt bucket and the seeds and skins go into the shallow dish. After pressing the seeds and skins go to the chickens.

The seeds and skins are processed a few times to remove all the "Polpa e succo di frutta" pulp and juice.   

The finished jars ready for storage.

Growing onions

Growing onions in southern California is easy if you start with seeds, just be sure you start with the right varieties and start your seeds at the right time. I don't recommend ever using "sets" those little bulbs that look like pearl onions you find at garden shops in the fall. For those of you growing onions you already started your seeds last September or October and like us are transplanting them out now for harvest this summer.

In southern California make sure your varieties are "short-day" or "intermediate day", if you want to grow a bulbing onion this is important. Keep in mind that you can grow any onion from seed and harvest as spring scallions, we especially like red onions grown this way.

The short-day and intermediate day varieties start the bulbing process when daylight length reaches 10-12 hours. They take about 110 days to mature in the south and just 75 days in the north.  Here at Winnetka Farms we start our seeds sometime in the first 2 weeks of September and harvest about June. We start seed very close in rows, and kept moist through the fall. In December or January they are large enough for transplanting.  After lifting them from the ground select from the best of the lot to be transplanted out in rows spaced 8" apart.

Onions need to be kept evenly moist without being wet during the growing season, I allow the soil to dry a bit between watering when the weather turns hot, this prevents them from rotting in hot wet soil. How many days until harvest? you may ask, well, they're done when they're done, Like all vegetable plants they have a specific cultural requirement and it depends on your soil, location, the weather and the care you give them. When it's time to harvest I let the soil dry out some and then lift them from beneath with a garden fork so I don't inflict any damage by pulling. Lay them out on top of the soil where they grew to cure in the sun for a few days turning over once or twice.  After this process clean them of any remaining soil and store them in a cool dry place. Short day onions are not long storing onions so use them freely so none go to waste.

My favorite onions to grow are,   Cipolla Tropea Rossa Lunga known as the topedo onion, cipolla Tropea Rossa Tonda it's round cousin and Cipolla della Rocca Bruna all Italian heirlooms that have grown beautifully here in Winnetka.

For those of you who want to grow onions but are not able to start your own seeds, Winnetka Farms will have onion starts available for purchase next December. Please keep an eye out for announcements from us about availability.

Update on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 6:39AM by Winnetka Farms

An update to growing onions. This photo shows the progress from Feb 1st to May 24th. well on the way to harvest. And some so-called experts say you can't grow an onion in So. California. What they mean to say is "They" can't grow an onion in So. California.

Medlar Mespilus germanica

Described by the Greek botanist Theophrastrus, over 2000 years ago, the Medlar was once widely cultivated in Tudor, England. Parkinson in 1627 spoke "of the pleasant sweetness of the fruit when mellow". But today they are nowhere available in shops or markets and impossible to find except in a few private gardens. This should change.

The Medlar is a fascinating fruit. Botanically somewhere between a pear and a hawthorn, it blossoms in solitary fashion in May at the end of the shoots of the same year's growth. The spring flowers are large, white fading in pink as they age. The unique dark green brown fruit looks somewhat like a small crabapple which forms without stem at the end of the shoot and becomes the half of a sphere with the petals arranged around the edge of the flattish top.

The decorative fruit is picked after a hard frost. The flesh is then still hard, green and austere and must be kept on a dry cool shelf until the pulp softens and mellows when it turns a light brown. This process is known as "bletting". The pulp has then a distinctive pleasantly acidulous flavor.

It makes a beautiful small tree that fruits early, a 3-year-old tree producing a good crop. It has curious branches forming sharp-angled elbows. The leaves are large luxuriantly green and downy and turn beautifully red in the fall. Easy to grow, hardy, not particular as to soil or culture, it can be grown for its eye-catching ornamental value alone.

But it has long been regarded as a dessert fruit for connoisseurs. Prof. Saintsbury in his classic book on wines, "Notes on a Cellar", declared that "the one fruit which seems to me to go best with all wine, from hock to sherry and from claret to port, is the Medlar - an admirable and distinguished thing in itself, and a worthy mate for the best of liquors".

Francesca Greensack in her fascinating book "Forgotten Fruit" said, "the lingering, slightly sweet, slightly winey flavor makes the Medlar seem like a natural comfit". She also mentioned "roasting them with butter and cloves as a traditional winter dessert" and recommends jelly made from them "as an accompaniment to game".

This "fruit de fantaisie" as the Frenchman Duhamel called it, should be restored to the fruit garden. It is of intriguing interest to the eye and palate alike as it stands unique among the fruits of the world.

reprinted from Southmeadow fruit farm.

Winnetka Farms has exclusive access to an orchard of this rare fruit and will bring the fruit to market this week. We gathered a group of friends and headed for the hills to pick the fruit. The two day adventure was dubbed "Medlar Fest" by the group which included Winnetka Farms, Erik Knudsen and Kelly Coyne of Homegrown Evolution, Artist and cookbook author Joseph Shuldiner and Graham Keegan.

The fruit is as unusual as it is delicious, after the first good frost the fruit begins to blet turning from hard and inedible to a soft pudding like texture of a warm brown color. The group described the taste in various ways, from "apple butter", raisin, "rum" and a hint of spice. However the taste is perceived it is quite delicious and the historic nature of the Medlar makes it all the more special for those lucky enough to eat this wonderful fruit. 



Chicken Forage yard planted...

Taking inspiration from the Weeks chicken colony site plans, we isolated with fencing an area roughly 9x12 within the larger run and planted seed for forage greens. Chickens love to scratch and forage for food, grass and leafy greens are a favorite. After the recent rain the soil was softened so I could lightly till the top 2" to ready it for seeding. Knowing what our birds like I choose from the selection of Italian heirloom seeds Chard, rappini, radish, cicoria, lettuce, endive, cauliflower and spinach. Next I scattered the seeds and lightly covered with soil, kept moist with warm fall weather it won't be long before they have their own source of greens. When the plants are mature to the point that the chickens can eat from them without pulling them out of the ground we will let them in to forage and then as necessary close the area off and give it a chance to recover.  For those of you with chickens, think about planting greens for your flock. If you don't have ground space use pots, a couple of large low tubs will do fine. The hens will thank you.   And look for a post soon about the Weeks chicken colony of Winnetka...

Forage Party at Winnetka Farms

A few photos from our "pot-luck" party for Forage restaurant.  We had about 60 people in attendance with an abundance of great food. Jason grilled rib steaks over an oak fire and from his friend the chef of Stella we had roast pig stuffed with pork belly. Amazing and delicious. More photos can be found in the photo album, please take a look.