Most fruits and vegetables are best harvested in the morning

Silicon Valley Community Newspapers

Posted:?07/25/2011 07:31:02 PM PDTUpdated:?07/25/2011 07:31:03 PM PDT
My colleagues and I are rather proficient in communicating with the plants in the garden. Plants let us know when they want a particular nutrient or are getting hassled by a particular pest. Those that produce fruit and vegetables also tell us when it is time to harvest. The only problem is that some horticulturists are not quite as receptive to information about ripening produce as we are to problems.

As my tomatoes ripen, I eat them whenever I want to, even if they are warm from hanging out in the sun. Any fruits or vegetables are fair game as soon as they are ready to get eaten. Although I will grow just about anything in my garden, I never bothered to learn how cook or even handle fruits and vegetables properly. For me, the best time to harvest is when I am hungry.

Those of us with more discriminating taste eventually become acquainted with the produce that we grow, so that we know when and how to harvest it to achieve the best quality. We learn how to translate the fragrance of a ripening melon, and to tap to determine density and consistency. Maturity of corn can be determined by their drying tassels, and confirmed by puncturing a few kernels. Color and texture of pea pods let us know when the peas within have achieved their optimum plumpness.

Renee of Renee's Garden, which is perhaps my favorite supplier of vegetable and flower seed, describes some less obvious recommendations for harvesting produce at the

website www.reneesgarden.com. While the weather is so pleasant through summer, it is best to harvest vegetables in the morning, while it is still cool in the garden. If harvested later in the day, vegetables can wilt because of evaporation of moisture and absorption of warmth. If harvesting in the morning is not possible, harvesting in the evening is the next best option.

Leafy vegetables such as lettuce, chard, collard, basil and parsley, as well as pea, are particularly sensitive to getting harvested during warm weather. Green beans grow like weeds during warm days, but are slightly crisper if picked while cool. Vegetables in the cabbage family that are grown later in the year or early in the following year, such as cauliflower and broccoli, can likewise get limp.

Root vegetables such as carrot, radish and turnip are not nearly as sensitive to warmth because they are so well insulated underground. They should be brought in out of the warmth and refrigerated (if preferred) quickly nonetheless. However, turnip greens and any other greens that are grown as root vegetables are just as likely to wilt as other leafy vegetables are.

Eggplant, pepper and zucchini are more resilient, but can potentially get limp if harvested a few days before getting eaten and left to linger in a warm and dry (minimal humidity) kitchen. Many varieties of tomato are best directly out of the garden; but many others actually get better flavor if harvested a bit early and left to finish off the vine. In autumn, when tomato plants stop producing, the last but nearly mature green tomatoes that run out of warm weather can finish ripening on the kitchen windowsill.

Flower of the Week: Passion Vine

My niece knows the weird flowers of passion vine as "flying saucers" because they look like something from another planet. The most common species, Passiflora X alatocaerulea, has fragrant, 4-inch-wide flowers with slightly pinkish or lavender shaded white outer petals and sepals around deep blue or purple halos that surround the alien-looking central flower parts. The 3-inch-long leaves have three blunt lobes and can sometimes be rather yellowish. The rampant vines can climb more than 20 feet, and become shabby and invasive, but may die to the ground when winter gets cold. Other specie have different flower colors. Some produce interesting fruit. Passiflora edule is actually grown more for its small but richly sweet fruit than for flowers.

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574 or lghorticulture@aol.com. Other gardening articles can be found at www.examiner.com/x-54419-

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Ukraine not to ban imports of EU vegetables over E. coli outbreak

Ukraine will not impose a ban on imports of EU vegetables because the country is taking measures to prevent contamination of E. coli bacteria, the head of the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service said on Monday.

"Today we cope with the situation, so a complete ban on imports of agricultural products of animal and plant origin for our state is premature and inappropriate," Anatoly Ponomarenko told a press conference.

Earlier Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Ukraine will strengthen border control on the imports of vegetables from the European Union.

Europeans began to abandon the mass consumption of vegetables in June following the E. coli outbreak, which has so far killed 38 people, mostly in Germany, and sickened over 3,000 others.

Scientists believed the possible source of contamination were tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Later it turned out that the deadly outbreak was triggered by vegetable sprouts grown in northern Germany.

Cases of E. coli infection, which causes bloody stools and serious kidney damage, were reported in 14 European countries, the United States and Canada. Virtually all the victims either live in Germany or traveled there recently.

Source: Xinhua

 

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7 Golden Rules of Healthy ways of eating!

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Healthy ways of eating: Variety is the spice of life

There are five food groups; Grains, Vegetables, Milk, Fruits, Meat & Beans. If you include food from each of these five groups, not only will you get all the required proteins and vitamins, your plate will automatically contain a wide variety of foods and colors. This makes eating a healthy diet a pleasurable experience.

Food portion sizes: Include good Fats

There are fats and then there are good fats. Good fats are called non-saturated fats and include oil from vegetable sources. Fats are required because it dissolves and transports vitamins A, D, E and K throughout the body. Fat not only cushions and protects internal organs, fatty acids are good for your heart, metabolism your body?s immune system. Finally, over 70% of your brain is made up of fat.

Healthy ways of eating: Spicy does not mean salty

Without doubt salt is required for our body. However, your average intake of salt from all sources should not exceed quarter teaspoon. Excess of salt intake will lead to abnormal blood pressures and other related medical complications. Junk foods are prime sources of salt so severely limit your intake of junk food and reduce the amount of salt used in seasoning your healthy eating tips.

Weight loss programs: Sweets are good but once in a blue moon

Confectionery manufacturers combine sugars with saturated fats to create stick sweets, such as candy, bonbons and pralines, etc. These are not only harmful for our teeth but are also our body because sweets contain calories without the nutrients. But because we all love sweets, an occasional sweet won?t cause much damage. By occasional we mean once-a-month. Chocolate made from real coco is better than hard boiled or gummy sweets but only just. So limit your chocolates to no more than twice a month. If you feel the urge, you might find that dried fruits are a good substitute.

Healthy eating food: Select whole grain products

Anything made from whole grain has more fiber, minerals and vitamins all of which are good for your healthy eating guide. Whole grain is essentially unpolished grain. Polishing removes the outer layer of the grain and unfortunately with it goes the nutrients because in grains, the nutrients are located in the outer layers.

Healthy dressing recipes: Go green and fruity

Fruit and vegetables are loaded with healthy carbohydrates and not only supply more than half of our energy requirement it also supplies half of our fiber, minerals, and vitamins requirement.

Here?s the secret of why we keep stressing on fruits and vegetables: Fruits and healthy vegetarian recipes have a high water and fiber content which means they provide more nutrients per calorie than any other food you can think of.

Weight management program: Vary your protein source

In most American homes, our proteins come mainly from eggs, beef, pork and cheese. We need to introduce other protein sources into our healthy eating worksheets. Other good sources of protein include fish, milk, chicken, Soy, Tofu, Legumes, whole grains and yes, fruits.

Check out more for Healthy eating facts and Portion control plates

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Italian veggie cooking the old-fashioned way

Italians seldom stray from their tradition of growing and consuming fresh vegetables seasonally.

So it is with great excitement among proponents of consuming locally grown produce that a cookbook which first surfaced in 1950 in Italy has been resurrected for a new generation of home cooks.

Vegetables From An Italian Garden was first published by that country’s famed Silver Spoon Kitchen.

“The original book was so popular that every bride was given a copy by her mother,” says Emilia Terragni, editorial director for the New York-based Phaidon Press, a subsidiary of Phaidon Press Ltd., London.

The native of northern Italy is now based in London and arranged for Phaidon to purchase the entire archives of the Silver Spoon in Italy.

The English version was published in 2005, and has since sold more than 1.5 million copies throughout the world.

“We are constantly updating from the original and keep adding new recipes from all over Italy,” said Terragni in a recent telephone interview from London.

She says that Italian meals traditionally use a variety of vegetables throughout the entire meal.

“So you can have an antipasta, a pasta, a main course and a side all containing vegetables,” Terragni explains.

“And the recipes in the book are very simple to prepare.” This is particularly important for today’s time-pressed cooks who prefer to cook delicious and locally seasonally grown produce.

Terragni boasts that she never eats out of season.

“Mainly because the vegetables taste so much better,” she says.

The book is organized with recipes containing vegetables from spring, summer, fall and winter. Within those chapters are tips on selecting, growing and buying each season’s vegetables.

As far as growing your own, Terragni says “it is very easy, even if you don’t have a large garden or any garden.

“You can grow a lot of things in pots on small terraces and we suggest the best time to start so you get the idea of the growing cycles of the various vegetables.”

Asparagus is now in season and whether you have grown your own or buy this wonderful vegetable at your local market, here is an Italian recipe from the book.

Asparagus Parmesan

Makes 4 servings

2 lb (900 g) asparagus, spears trimmed

1 cup (250 mL) grated Parmesan cheese

30 mL (2 tbsp) butter

Salt

Cook asparagus in salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and gently pat dry. Arrange on a warm serving dish with the tips pointing inwards. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Melt butter, season with a little salt and pour over asparagus. Serve immediately.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 240 calories, 16 g fat, 13 g protein, 9 g carbohydrates, 5 g fibre

The Canadian Press

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Vegetables are culinary stars in Aspen

By Carolyn O'Neil

For the AJC

What happened to the foie gras and caviar?

It appears top chefs are excited about vegetables. Three days of cooking seminars and wine tastings at the 29th annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen -- one of the world’s most exclusive and star chef-studded culinary events in the world --? embraced the beauty and benefits of Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, zucchini and kale.

Jose Andres, chef, cookbook author and owner of celebrated restaurants in Washington, including Jaleo and Zaytinya, put his passion for cooking produce right up front with a seminar titled “Sexy Vegetables.” Andres, known for his love of Spanish cuisine, addressed a packed ballroom of food fans at the St. Regis Hotel in the Colorado resort town and expertly prepared eight vegetable dishes in less than an hour, including a radish and grapefruit salad with shrimp, watermelon and tomato skewers with a sherry vinaigrette, cucumber and tomato gazpacho with Spanish sherry, and Brussels sprouts tapas with green apples and grapes.

“Most people cook Brussels sprouts too long for 20 to 30 minutes,” Andres said. “Are we nuts? It should be two to three to four minutes! Don’t over cook them; it releases the sulfur smell and that is not sexy!”

Sustainability expert and Connecticut chef Michel Nischan, who is a culinary consultant to Atlanta’s Terrace Restaurant in the Ellis Hotel, presented four risotto recipes -- one for each season’s harvest of vegetables -- featuring ancient grains called faro and spelt. Nischan, whose? restaurant Dressing Room is known for local and organic menu items,?centered his seminar on the health and taste advantages of eating with the seasons. He shared his definition of sustainability, by saying, “It means you give as much back to the earth as you take. For instance, composting leftover vegetable peelings creates more soil to plant more vegetables.”

Andres, who was named this year's James Beard Award Outstanding?Chef, knows about quality but he credits his recent 25-pound weight loss to focusing on quantity. “It’s really about the calories, learning how much you personally should be eating,” he said. Filling half a plate with vegetables and fruit is the latest diet advice from nutrition experts as illustrated by the USDA’s new My Plate icon. Filling a glass works, too. Andres said this about his gazpacho recipe, “You don’t eat the salad, you drink the salad!”

Aspen’s summertime vibe is lively with folks headed out hiking, biking, river rafting and fly fishing. The beauty of the wild flowers and Aspen trees spills over into the local cuisine. At The Little Nell Hotel, an epicenter for those devoted to dining, Montagna’s menu features great steaks and fabulous fresh fish but vegetables seem to rank just as high in the kitchen. A salad of greens, sliced radishes, fava beans and thin asparagus was so fresh it nearly leapt off the plate.

Wine with Vegetables

“Times they are a changing,” remarked registered dietitian Ashley Koff, who noted that one of?Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs, Joshua Skenes of Saison in San Francisco, chose to feature a vegetarian dish of cauliflower and sea lettuce. “It was clear that the days of all animal all day are a thing of the past. As for what wines go best with your veggies, wine writer Mark Oldman helped me choose a delicious Spanish Rueda -- the new ‘it' wine he said."

More than 5,000 food and wine lovers converge to sample the best vintages and victuals each June in Aspen. It’s a weekend where the majestic scenery of the Colorado Rockies is closely matched by culinary icon sightings: Jacques Pepin, having lunch at Ajax Tavern with Richard Blais, Atlanta chef and recent Bravo Top Chef winner; and The French Laundry’s chef, Thomas Keller, having dinner at Aspen’s chic Cache Cache restaurant with chef Daniel Boulud of New York.

My favorite food memory of the weekend: enjoying a grilled vegetable salad of marinated artichokes, butternut squash, Portobello mushrooms with arugula and chards of Parmesan cheese at Campo de Fiori with Atlanta friends, including winemaker Rob Mondavi and his wife, Lydia, of 29 Cosmetics. It was taste, health, beauty and good fun; all that and plenty of vegetables getting served and eaten in Aspen this summer.

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Eat Your Vegetables for June 23, 2011

Most of us never outgrow our love for corn on the cob. Fresh sweet corn with plump and milky kernels smeared with butter brings out the kid in all of us.

Try to use fresh corn as soon as you buy it. The sugars in the kernels start turning to starch after it’s picked, so the sooner it’s cooked the better it will taste. This recipe is a twist on the usual boiled corn. After the corn is cooked and buttered, it’s sprinkled with a spicy mix of salt, garlic powder, pepper, basil, thyme and oregano.

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Drink your vegetables

To cure a hangover, nutritionist Sarah Lockenmeyer suggests having a shot. But the drink she recommends isn't made from alcohol. It?s made from wheat grass juice, a superfood typically sold as a one-ounce ?shot? because of its strong taste.

?Wheat grass is packed with B-12 vitamins, which help the body recover after a night of drinking,? says Lockenmeyer, who works at Basin Bar, a juice bar in Asbury Park.

Basin Bar owner Regine Flimlin says customers call her establishment ?the day-after bar? because they rely on the vitamin-rich wheat grass shots and other organic vegetable and fruit juices to revitalize their systems after overindulging in alcohol.

You don?t have to suffer from a hangover to reap the benefits of juiced fruits and vegetables. The nutritious beverages can be made at home using a juicer or purchased at places such as Basin Bar, Bodhi in Somerset, Tico?s Eatery & Juice Bar in Princeton, Asana House Juice Bar and Lounge in Montclair, The Health Shoppe in Morristown, Namaste Cafe Organic Juice Bar in New Brunswick and Dean's Natural Food Market in Ocean and Shrewsbury. They can be a healthful everyday addition to the diet, according to Tina Marinaccio, a registered dietitian.

Turning fruits and vegetables into a juice instead of eating them whole makes it easier to reach the recommended five-to-nine daily servings of produce, says Marinaccio, who owns Health Dynamic, a nutrition counseling center in Morristown.

?Juicing is not any healthier than eating fruits and vegetables raw, but it can be very healthful for people who aren?t getting enough fruits and veggies in their diet,? Marinaccio says.

A lack of produce in his diet is what drove John Leary of Metuchen to try juicing.

?There is no way I would be willing to eat five whole carrots and two apples in one serving, but all of that is in my juice,? says Leary, who makes his own carrot-apple juice at home as well as purchases juices at Namaste Cafe Organic Juice Bar. ?I try to have juice once a day.?

Marinaccio says juicing is also beneficial for people who aren?t getting enough variety in their diet. Kim Shah, of Piscataway, began making her own juice so she could include more beets, which are high in iron, and ginger, a natural antioxidant, into her daily diet. She combines the two with carrots and apples to make a juice. ?It tastes really yummy,? says Shah, who works as a health coach. ?I wouldn't eat ginger on a daily basis, but if I put it in a juice I eat it every day.?'

Juicing vegetables also makes it easier to consume their most beneficial parts, Lockenmeyer says. Many people only eat the leafy portion of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and kale, leaving the stems, which often contain the most vitamins, behind. At Basin Bar, the entire vegetable, stems and roots included, goes into the beverage, she says.

While there are many benefits to drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juices, there are also issues to consider before adding large amounts of it to the diet, Marinaccio says.

Juices made at home or at a juice bar usually have not been pasteurized, which means they have been heated to a certain temperature and then cooled. This process slows bacteria growth, so juice made at home or purchased at a juice bar should be consumed right away, before bacteria has a chance to grow, according to Marinaccio.

?Only make as much as you can drink at once,?' she says.

When produce is juiced instead of eaten whole, most of the fiber is removed. That is why it is important to use juice as a supplement to whole fruits and vegetables and not as a replacement, Marinaccio says. Fruit juices can be high in sugar, so they should be consumed in moderation, especially by people with diabetes. When consuming a product from a juice bar, Marinaccio recommends asking to see calorie information.

?Try and keep it to under 300 per drink,? she says. People trying to maintain their weight should stick to vegetable-based juices instead of fruit, Marinaccio adds.

Many people are skeptical of vegetable juices at first, but most learn to love them over time, according to Flimlin.

?Most people start out with a mix of fruits and vegetable, and then as their body starts to heal ? they amp it up and try just veggie juices,?? Flimlin says. ?Your taste buds start to change, and you start craving healthier foods.??

Carrot juice is a good start for those looking to drink more vegtable juice, says Leary, president of the board at George Street Food Co-op in New Brunswick. ?Carrot is the bridge between the vegetable world and the fruit world,?? he says. ?Start with that and then start branching out from there.?

Those new to juice shouldn?t be afraid to step outside of their comfort zone. Leary says juice bars are a great place to expand the palate.

?That's the real joy about going to a juice bar; they combine flavors you would never think to combine at home,? says Leary, who always hated beets until he tried them mixed into a juice.

Drinking juices may change more than just what vegetables and fruits are consumed. Lockenmeyer says regular juice drinking can change the taste buds entirely.

?You put a plate of fries in front of someone after they have started juicing and they don't want it. They notice the salt, the grease ? your taste is almost heightened,? she says. ?When you are healthier, you are less likely to put bad things into your body.??

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Got squash? Donate your extra vegetables

United Way Pantry Partners is working to increase access to fresh vegetables to area families in need and encourages local gardeners to consider donating homegrown produce to the following four nonprofit agencies.

First Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Montclair Pantry, 15 Elmwood Ave.: second and fourth Sundays of the month, 10 a.m. to noon, in the church basement.

Human Needs Food Pantry, 9 Label St.: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 to 10 a.m.

The Salvation Army, 13 Trinity Place: Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to noon. Use the side entrance adjacent to the parking lot.

Toni's Kitchen, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 73 South Fullerton Ave.: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Beginning July 6, Toni's Kitchen will pick up produce from your front door in Montclair only on Wednesdays from 9 to 10 a.m. Bags must be labeled for Toni's Kitchen. Contact Toni's Kitchen at soup@toniskitchen.org or 973-932-0768 to schedule a pickup.

For more information, email eileen.sweeny@unitedwaynnj.org or call 973-746-4040, ext. 204.

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Dole Fresh Vegetables Announces Precautionary Recall of Limited Number of Italian Blend Salads

Press Release Source: Dole Fresh Vegetables On Wednesday June 22, 2011, 7:45 pm EDT

MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling 2,880 cases of DOLER Italian Blend salad with Use-by Date of June 19, 2011, UPC code 7143000819 and Product Codes 0049A157201A, 0049A157201B, 0049A157202A, 0049A157202B, 0686A157202A, 0686A157202B and 442 cases of Kroger Fresh Selections Italian Style Blend salad with Use-by-Date of June 19, 2011, UPC code 1111091045 and Product Codes A157201A & A157201B, due to a possible health risk from Listeria monocytogenes. Dole Fresh Vegetables is coordinating closely with regulatory officials. No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall.

The Product Code and Use-by Date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package; the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode. The salads were distributed in twelve U.S. states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin) and three Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec).

No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall. This precautionary recall notification is being issued due to an isolated instance in which one package of Dole Italian Blend salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test collected and conducted by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

No other Dole or Kroger salads are included in the recall. Only the specific Product Codes, UPC codes and June 19, 2011 Use-by-Date of Italian Blend salads identified above are included in the recall. Consumers who have any remaining product with these Product Codes should not consume it, but rather discard it. Retailers and consumers with questions may call the Dole Food Company Consumer Response Center at (800) 356-3111, which is open 8:00 am to 3:00 pm (PDT) Monday - Friday.

Retailers should check their inventories and store shelves to confirm that none of the product is mistakenly present or available for purchase by consumers or in warehouse inventories. Dole Fresh Vegetables customer service representatives are already contacting retailers and are in the process of confirming that the recalled product is not in the stream of commerce.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it. Symptoms of infection may include fever, muscle aches, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. If it spreads to the nervous system symptoms may include headache, stiff neck or confusion. The illness primarily impacts pregnant women and adults with weakened immune systems. Most healthy adults and children rarely become seriously ill.

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Russia lifts ban on EU vegetables

Russia signed an agreement with the European Union on Wednesday to resume the import of?EU vegetables, possibly by the end of this week.

Russia blocked imports of fresh European vegetables after they were blamed for a deadly E.coli outbreak which struck Germany last month.

"Following today's agreement, I now expect a swift resumption of the EU's exports to Russia," EU Health Commissioner John Dalli said in a statement.

"Both sides have shown good will to make sure that this incident is now behind us," he added.

The European Commission announced that a deal to end the ban had been signed in Moscow during a visit by a high-level Brussels delegation.? The agreement does, however, include a number of stipulations.

Safety provisions

For a limited time, all European vegetables exported to Russia must be accompanied by certificates stating the origin of the product and an assurance that it doesn't carry the E.coli bacteria strain.

Bildunterschrift: Grosansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: ?Earlier this month, President Medvedev promised to lift the ban if his demands were met Brussels must also provide Moscow with a list of official bodies and laboratories authorized to issue the food safety certificates.

"Everything depends on them," Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's state consumer protection watchdog, told Reuters.

It was agreed, however, that these conditions would be lifted once ten days had passsed without any new reports of human cases linked to the E.coli strain.

The Netherlands, Poland and Belgium already have these systems in place and are expected to resume exports by the end of the week.

Trading accusations

The source of the E.coli outbreak, which claimed the lives of more than three dozen people, initially puzzled German authorities.

The uncertainty prompted Moscow to issue a blanket ban on all vegetables.??This angered the EU which accused Russia of taking too long to resume imports, arguing that such a ban was not scientifically justifiable.

In return, Moscow criticized the EU for failing to locate the source of the infection.

The outbreak has since been traced to contaminated German bean sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony.

Last year, the EU exported about 600 million euros ($862

million) worth of vegetables to Russia.

Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (Reuters, dpa)

Editor: Susan Houlton

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Avondale's community garden grows vegetables, friendship

by David Madrid - Jun. 20, 2011 07:12 AM
The Arizona Republic

Avondale's community garden grows vegetables and friendship.

Avondale City Councilwoman Stephanie Karlin planted the seeds of the idea at a City Council meeting in November 2009.

Avondale community garden

Her vision was that a garden could be used to make an empty lot greener, that it would provide healthful food and that residents would be drawn to the spot and would become friends through their shared love of gardening.

Mission accomplished.

Today, the Garden Patch grows on a third of a 2-acre lot, and about 30 people have joined to either garden communally or they have their own plots. Add to those members their family and friends and the volunteers who come to the garden to work, and Karlin, 57, said the garden has grown to exceed her dreams.

"Nobody knew each other beforehand," Karlin said. "And sometimes they (members) bring their neighbors, and the neighbors say, 'Oh, we want to be a part of this.' So, it's just gotten bigger and bigger. At first, I have to say, it was a struggle, because we've been working on this for a while. . . . We weren't getting a lot of responses. Then, all of a sudden, it just went boom, boom, boom with people (joining)."

Among the gardeners are developmentally-disabled students, children, adults and people who don't live in Avondale.

The garden is northeast of the Avondale Civic Center Library, 11350 W. Civic Center Drive. The plants, most of which are in full bloom or heavy with vegetables, are part of the first of three phases of Garden Patch membership.

There is a membership fee to join the Garden Patch. It is $60 a year to share in the communal garden and $90 a year to garden your own plot of ground. Each plot is 10 feet by 20 feet.

Membership, both individual and communal, entitles each person in the member's household or group to participate as a gardener, to use gardening tools owned by the Garden Patch, and to use the composting facilities.

The annual membership fee covers the plot, insurance and water to irrigate. Each garden plot has its own water spigot.

The garden was planted March 26. An executive board of seven runs the Garden Patch, which is working to have its non-profit status approved.

The garden grows a wide assortment of vegetables and flowers, including peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, mint, sunflowers, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Michelle Buvala, 46, is secretary of the executive board and coordinates many of the details necessary to running a community garden. She is a communal member.

"We (communal gardeners) get together. We decide what we want. We plant it. We make the decisions together. We pool our finances to buy what we need. We work it together," Buvala said of the communal plot. "We have a schedule: who comes out when and who does watering, picking the weeds and whatnot. And then we harvest together."

When a communal member comes out on watering day and a vegetable is ripe for the picking, the member picks it, she said. On Saturday mornings, most of the communal gardeners come out and each walks away with a basket full of vegetables, Buvala said.

Rusty Van Leuven, 42, treasurer of the board, has an individual garden plot. Among his crops are corn, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and okra.

There are an amazing variety of plants packed into each garden plot.

"I've never had anything to do with gardening," Van Lueven said. "That's one reason why I did it. I wanted to learn how to do it."

And learn Van Lueven has. He said there is a vast reservoir of gardening knowledge among the gardeners. Everybody shares what they know.

"The first day, I picked and took zucchini home; we had a party," he said. "It's really satisfying when you pick what you've grown."

And one of the better aspects of the community garden for Van Lueven is that he didn't know any of the gardeners, but now, he is friends with his fellow gardeners.

Esmie Avila, Avondale's water conservation specialist, is a master gardener and she also has her own plot.

Despite her expertise, she said she learns things from other gardeners.

"You never stop learning," Avila said.

Although the Garden Patch is planting loofahs and ornamental gourds to raise money, it accepts donations. It could also use a shed to hold its gardening implements and some canopies.

For more information on the Garden Patch, go to www.avondalegardenpatch.com or e-mail garden.patch@yahoo.com.

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L.A. Times Test Kitchen Tips: The art of blanching

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L.A. Times Test Kitchen Tips: The art of blanchingComments (0) June 22, 2011?|? 6:00am

In the kitchen, blanching -- submerging meats, vegetables or fruits briefly in boiling water -- is used for many reasons. Blanching can bring out the vivid colors in vegetables, taking a dull green or lackluster orange and bringing out a vibrant shade. It can help loosen the skins of tomatoes and peaches so they're easier to peel. And a quick dunk in boiling water can cook delicate meats and fish.

When blanching, use a large pot of water so the temperature doesn't drop dramatically when the food is added. Too small a pot (or too little water) and the added ingredients can reduce the temperature of the water below a boil.

Also be sure to have an ice bath (a large bowl or pot of water with plenty of ice) handy to "shock" the ingredients after they are blanched, lowering their temperature quickly so blanched ingredients do not continue to cook. (One last tip: When shocking an ingredient in an ice bath, be sure to remove it as soon as it is cool -- leaving an item in an ice bath for too long can cause it to become waterlogged.)

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

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EU, Russia settle fight over vegetables exports

On Wednesday June 22, 2011, 7:14 am EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union will be able to resume vegetable exports to Russia after the two sides settled their dispute over the handling of the deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany.

Russia banned imports of EU vegetables early this month to try to stop the outbreak spreading east, a move the EU called disproportionate and unnecessary.

Wednesday's decision will allow EU member states to immediately resume exports if they can show their produce is free from the deadly bacteria that caused a major health scare in Germany.

Ten days after no new cases are reported in EU member states, full exports can resume without special certification.

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New “dirty dozen” produce list

The annual “dirty dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues is out from the Environmental Working Group, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that protects the public health and environment.

What tops the list this year? Apples. They were number four last year on the group’s list.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat apples. But it means you need to be weary of them if they are conventionally grown using pesticides. The group ranks produce based on food contamination data compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

?The rest of the dirty dozen (in order): celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines (imported), grapes (imported), sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries (domestic), lettuce and kale/collard greens. Cherries dropped off the list this year and lettuce came on.

?This is added incentive to buy these fruits and vegetables at local farmer’s markets or from local farmers, so you can ask about pesticide use. Many use organic practices, which involve growing without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

?But many conventional farmers use pesticides to protect against insects, bacteria and rodents. Washing and peeling the produce lowers pesticide residues, but not completely.

?The environmental group’s “clean fifteen” list includes the fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides. It says there’s less need to buy organic versions of these products.

?The clean list, in order, includes: Onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mangos, eggplants, cantaloupe (domestic), kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit and mushrooms.

?The environmental group says if consumers choose their daily recommended five servings of vegetables and fruit from the least contaminated list, rather than the dirty dozen list, they could reduce the amount of pesticides ingested by 92 percent. But I’d have a hard time giving up blueberries, sweet peppers, grapes, lettuce and strawberries. Time to buy local or wash produce well.

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EU says Russia signs deal to end vegetable trade ban

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