• Created on 2/16/10 by hbrody

When Shakespeare summoned up “remembrance of things past,” he no doubt had loftier visions in mind than a bowl of applesauce. Well, that was his loss, but not mine. My younger days, when time seemed to proceed at a more measured pace, fall meant a heaping bowl full of just that- applesauce – freshly made steaming and fragrant.The scent of apples as they simmered on the stove, later to be complemented with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon peel, spread through the house beckoning my three brothers and I  to the kitchen faster than a freshly baked pizza would today. The... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by jwickes

 History / GeographyGrapes are the oldest fruit known to man. The Spanish are credited with the introduction of grapes to America over 300 years ago. Grapes are grown in the temperate zones around the world including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. California is the United States' major grape producer. ScienceGrapes are really berries. VarietiesThere are over 8000 varieties of grapes all of which are smooth-skinned and juicy. Some of these have seeds, others are seedless. Some have a "slip-skin", a skin which can easily be... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by mvogel

Will the Real Strawberry Please Stand UpSaint Hildegard was a 12th century German abbess, (the nun in charge of a convent), who supposedly had prophetic and apocalyptic visions.  The theological authorities at the time confirmed her visions as authentic.  In addition to her prophesies about God and the end of the world, Saint Hildegard believed strawberries were unfit for human consumption.  Because they grew close to the ground, she reasoned that snakes and toads contaminated them.  Clearly her "vision" was shortsighted.  According to the Food and Agriculture... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by JackBlack

Imagine this: it's the middle of winter and something as sun drenched and vibrant as citrus fruits are in peak season. In a time when everything always seems to be in season, this may not sound that strange but it's true. Even foods that are as perpetually present in supermarkets as oranges indeed have an optimum period. Though as I write this column it's 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside and hard to imagine anything is actually in season. Oranges are a near-perfect food. One medium sized navel orange has just 80 calories, is cholesterol and sodium free and contains more... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by nnellies

Uncultivated taste and manners. That's what you can expect from a wild Maine blueberry. The tiny wild, blueberries native to Maine and Eastern Canada have a sharper, more distinct sweet and tart flavor when compared with cultivated blueberries grown in other parts of the country. And they are wild: grown and nourished with whatever sun and rain nature dishes out that season. The lowbush, wild blueberry (vaccinium augustifolium) thrives in the glacial soils and northern climate of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Called blueberry barrens, these "fields" look like... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by hbrody

For the many who insist that beauty is only skin deep, I ask those good souls to consider the lemon; with that citrus wonder, a most worthy part is the skin. More specifically, it is the skin's very outer most colored layer where the good cook looks for the supreme element; it's called the "zest" and what an appropriate title it is. Too often shoppers fail to heed what they are passing over as they forage for the plumpest juice lemon in the neighborhood market. While squeezing and massaging each piece of fruit, the uninitiated are ignoring a vital area of the lemon. As... read more

• Created on 2/16/10 by JackBlack

Sinfully DeliciousThe famed Greek writer, Homer, gave mention of apples growing in his father's garden prior to the 8th century BC. When Eve entered the Garden of Eden she found a fruit so perfect and enticing that she was in awe, and also, she was tempted. Though various historians have claimed this succulent and tempting fruit to be everything from an apricot, banana, or even a pomegranate, it is most often written that it was an apple. The Latin word for apple is pomum, which is also the Latin word for fruit, implying that the apple is the "fruit of fruits", or at... read more