Things we eat: May 2009 Archives

Thanks to the good example set by Pat over at The Southpaw, I've figured out how to use polls on the ol' blog.

If you don't vote, though, I'll feel silly. So please vote!

Today's poll is in honor of this week's Weekly Record feature on the best recipes for local fruits.

So, pick your favorite, and also feel free to leave me a comment telling me where you buy your local fruit. We often get ours at the Farmers Market, or at either Brown's in Springfield Township or Whitceomb's in West Manchester Township, but I am always open to new places!

This recipe might be a little early, but hang on to it - you might need it come fall!

Do you remember loyal reader Jo's scenes from the Apple Butter Boil last November?

Well, here's a recipe, again from the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group, if you'd like to make your own. It even includes the Dutch name for this treat - Lotwaerick!

Apple butter
4 quarts apples
2 quarts water
1 1/2 quarts cider
1 1/2 pounds sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cloves

Wash and slice apples. Cover with water and boil till soft. Press through sieve to remove skins and seeds. Bring cider to boil, add apple pulp and sugar, cook till it thickens, stirring constantly. Add spices, cook till thick enough to spread. Pour in jars and seal.

Mmm! Of all the recipes I posted this week, that definitely sounds the best to me - I love anything to do with apples. And who knows? Maybe this year, Jo will be so kind as to invite me again and this time, I'll stay healthy and be able to go! (Hint hint!!)

Here's another courtesy of that same newsletter from the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group.

You might remember I brought up rivels when I was talking about the "right" way to make chicken-corn soup.

Well, this recipe goes right to the main event and skips the chicken, except as a flavoring.

Rivel soup
2 cups unsifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 can crushed corn
Chicken or beef broth

Combine the flour, salt and beaten egg and mix together with the fingers until mixture is crumbly. Drop this mixture into the broth, add the corn and simmer about 10 minutes. The rivels will look like boiled rice when cooked. Rivel means lump.

Now, that last part, I didn't know! Rivel means lump? Really? As I can find almost nothing about the origins of the word online, I'm not sure, but I certainly believe the heritage group would know!

This is one I've had in the files for a while but kept forgetting to post! From the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group's newsletter comes this recipe that I know my loyal readers will love.

Pigs Stomach Recipe
1 well-cleaned pig stomach
1 onion, cut fine
1 green pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, cut fine
3 cups diced potatoes
Minced parsley
Black pepper
1 tsp. salt
Smoked sausage and spareribs (cut into serving pieces)

Mix onion, green pepper, celery, potatoes, parsley, pepper and salt before adding cut smoked sausage and spareribs.

Stuff pig stomach with above mixture and close with cooking clips.

Place pig stomach in kettle and add water until stomach is covered. Cook 45 minutes. Remove and place in frying pan, add butter and fry both sides until lightly browned. Cut into slices and serve with contents.

This may also be roased, same as beef roast.

So what do you think? Is that an acceptable hogmaw recipe? If not, what should be changed?

Hubby will tell you that I routinely go on kicks in which I don't want to eat preservatives, artificial colors, etc. in my food.

(Side note: I understand this does not mesh with my hot-dog bent. Yes, it's hypocrisy and I recognize it as such!)

Anyway, I am in one of the "moods" lately and am trying to avoid over-processed foods, so I'm spending more time in the organic aisles of my favorite grocery stores.

Now, I like things natural.

However.

On Thursday night, we came upon organic ice. It's called "Natural Rocks," and it's a bag of ice cubes made from spring water. At the Giant on Loucks Road in West Manchester Township, it sold for $1.69 a bag.

I did not think to get the price of, um, non-organic ice, but it's actually not a ton cheaper; maybe $1.35 a bag the last I saw at a convenience store?

What weirds me out isn't that this is a bad idea, or that it's overpriced, because I don't think it is on either count.

It's that it's really not that different!

Good Time Ice, based in Harrisburg, says this about their ice:

We work extra hard to insure that our ice is of the finest quality available. Although our water is tested daily by the York Water Company, we improve it with additional filtering. The finished product is tested on a regular basis and meets all U.S., state, and local standards. Good Time Ice exceeds military standards for packaged ice and is approved for use by the United States government.

During the freezing process all impurities are removed from our ice. It remains pure because Good Time Ice is untouched until after the ice is in the bag. Our ice is crystal clear so that you can see the purity. This means that you are choosing the best product available. After all, we both want the same things; a consistently reliable product that is top quality.

So, I guess my question is, why pay more and buy something from out of state? This sounds pretty "organic" and natural to me!

Remember back in January, when I was talking about chow-chow?

Well, that sprung from some discussion on The Exchange about this local pickled favorite, sparked by member Strahan.

Well, a while after that, I got a letter from "J. Wolf" in Dallastown, who wrote: "If Strahan is interested in really great chow-chow - go to the Country Table in Mount Joy. A short drive for really delicious chow-chow."

If you want to know more, check out that Exchange topic. Strahan ended up buying five different kinds in Lancaster and York counties and doing a taste-test, and you'll be happy to know that it was a York-made product that won!

Just proving that York County food - despite its tendency toward possibly questionable animal parts, such as stomachs - isn't as, pardon the pun, stomach-turning as you would think at first, check out this site, which lists the weird things people eat around the world.

To be fair, just because some of those things listed sound "gross" to me, I recognize that it's all in what you are raised eating, and in some cases, if you can get past the idea of what you're eating, it isn't half bad.

For example, my friend Blake decided once in college to fry some crickets; he said that if you didn't think too much about them being crickets, they were pretty tasty.

No, I didn't try them. Sorry. I'm a wimp!

And if you liked this post, you should check out the McLocal post, which features McDonald's specialities around the globe..