The peak of jardin crop were put to use this week.
The last of the jardin parsley and chives were picked.
One neighbour dropped off her jardin pride eggplant (see how perfect it is).
The other neighbour dropped off tomatoes.
One more crop, fresh mint, was added to the equation.
The output: A perfect bowl of Tabouleh and deep fried fresh eggplant.
Still another neighbour added some cooked food to the mix - what a pleasant vegetarian night this was.
Last summer, the jardin grapevine provided leaves for stuffing, sour grapes for pickling and delicious ripe grapes for juicing (Read full grapevine adventures HERE).
What was left of them, I put in a jar.
You see, I have vague memories of family members throwing all left over grapes in big glass jars and one way or another they turned into vinegar.
At least that is the idea.
Few months later, I attempted vinegar production.
I squeezed all the juice out and ended up with this murky material.
It looks beautiful and theoretically this is vinegar, but I am petrified to try it.
Any advice on next steps to make my own home made vinegar?
A picture is worth thousand words - the pride of my jardin.
It met up with those excellent local chili peppers I am finding at Buy Low these days.
And a simple stir fry was produced.
Those local red chili peppers are really hot; why did I add more hot chili, I don't know.
But all balanced itself out with the sweetness of the pride of my jardin pepper.
And a beautiful meal was served.
You already read The Story of a Grape Vine Part A & Part B (if not, click and read).
Today, and one night before the racoons invaded the grape vine, all the almost fully ripe grapes were harvested.
They are seedless and sour sweet.
But the skin is a bit on the thick side, not to mention the volume of grapes harvested. What to do with all those grapes?
Hmmm, freshly squeezed Grape Juice!
The most efficient way to do it was the old-fashioned way.
Grapes on the stems went into a colander; grapes got squeezed by hand; squeezed grapes produced a big mess.
But squeezed grapes produced an abundance of beautifully coloured, fresh grape juice.
Now prior to filling up jugs, a taste test was in order.
The average score was, well average, even though it was a very fresh and not-tasted before experience.
And the next day there was the never previously seen grape juice separation.
The juice left in the fridge separated into different colours and textures. I wonder if this is the way grape juice should be made and only the clear part is drunk.
But who cares, I just shook the jar, mixed it all together and continued my indulgence in jardin fresh grape juice.
Yesterday you read about the story of the grape vine leaves.
But there remains the dilemma of what to do with the grapes.
You leave them on the vine to rip and the racoons will get them before me no matter what I do.
I remembered what a wise Iranian man once told me - pickle them young and sour like you pickle anything else.
And the experiment begun.
All the grapes from the grape vine chop chop, still not riped, were ready for pickling.
I followed mom's recipe for pickling cucumbers.
I filled up the jars with sour grapes, covered them with salted water.
Three days later, I took out a third of the water and replaced with white vinegar.
Voila!
How do they taste?
I don't know yet, I have not tried them, but I promise you readers two things:
1. I will let you know how they turn out once I try them.
2. I have many of those small jars of pickled sour grape to barter - just ask.
The jardin grape vine is loving our summer weather this year and taking over the jardin.
It was time for some chop chop.
But nothing goes to waste at somerville kitchen.
At the same time, rolling all those leaves to make Mehshi Warak will take all week and not enough neighbours to feed.
Well, mother's advice came in handy - freeze them.
And the production begun. All the leaves were separated from the vines, washed and were ready for storage.
Last year I experimented with freezing grape vine leaves. I froze a batch fresh and another one blanched.
Kitchen Tip 1: Never freeze grape vine leaves fresh.
Kitchen Tip 2: How to blanch grape vine leaves.
Easy. Boil water in a pot.
Add a batch of leaves. Let them blanch for 30 seconds, flip over and blanch for another 30 seconds. Take out and let dry.
Amazing how quickly the colour turns (and then turns dark green again once you cook them).
Pack in freezer bags and I am now fully stocked up with frozen fresh grape vine leaves. Anyone wants to join for Mehshi Warak soon?
Two weeks ago I wrote about the Wacky Jardin Berries.
At that time, readers identified the wacky non-raspberry berry as boysenberry (with some suggesting it may be tayberry).
All this berry talk got Replacement Chef excited over making a wacky dessert.
It was called Gluten Free berry flan. If you follow the layers, you too can make Gluten Free berry flans.
Layer 1 - The Raspberries
Layer 2 - The plain Greek Style yogurt
Layer 3 - Honey and chopped hazelnuts
Layer 4 - A boysenberry and a gooseberry (yes, jardin produces those too).
Thank you Replacement Chef.
For Wacky Thursday, I toured the jardin looking for wacky plants.
No idea what this is. It started as a prickly looking weed, it expanded and then started flowering.
Other than claiming it a Martian species, it does remind me of a wild plant in Lebanon where we used to peel the skin off the stem and eat it. Dare I try?
Not necessarily weird, but definitely wacky is how lettuce is spurting out in pots everywhere compost soil was used.
One cutting of lovage is now a lovage forset.
Those are the flowering ones to the right of the picture. They are already 2 meters high. Guess the seeds will produce an even bigger lovage forest next year.
On the left hand side you see what was allowed of the Jerusalem Artichoke forest to come up. Those are going to be taller than the lovage plants very soon with a bounty of edible roots underneath.
Then there are my favourite 'spreadies'. I just love how you plant one inch of it and it spreads everywhere. Adorable.
Nothing wacky about an astilbe in le jardin except the size of this one.
The flower cluster is over 2 feet high, which is the highest those flowers are supposed to get. More interestingly that its sisters growing in the moister shadier areas (where they are supposed to grow) are nowhere near as healthy as those growing in the drier sunny side.
The confederate (or star) jasmine's wackiness is its size. Standing underneath this cluster of perfumed flowers can reduce your stress more than yoga, exercise, bath and anxiety medications combined.
But my favourite is the wonderful mini red rose plant that came in a 3 inch pot and in one year turned into a lovely bush that keeps on giving its beauty and love.
Last year I wrote about the jardin raspberries on July 23 (Read Raspberry Forest).
This year, raspberries are out earlier and I am already enjoying some fresh off the bush before bed or first thing in the morning.
In addition to those beautiful raspberries, there is an invasion of a new wacky berry.
I call it Bro Berry since it was a small plant I picked up from my brother's garden in Toronto last year and transport it in a wet paper towel to le jardin in Vancouver.
It produces those berries that look like black berries but are lighter in colour, maturing earlier than black berries and have a slight raspberry sourness to them.
Whatever it is, I love it and goes well with other jardin crop, particularly toppping rice pudding.
And is very handy when one is serving a very little dessert portion (which is a common practice at somerville kitchen this summer).
But the wackiest is a raspberry and sweet tofu dessert - yum!
