consciouseating
says Gettle. “The Amish and Germans use them in pies. Their high pectin content makes them good for preserves. Heirlooms send people in search of old recipes and they end up creating their own variations. It’s food as history.”
Edible Heirlooms
Old-Fashioned Fruits and Veggies Return to the Table by Avery Mack
O
f the 7,500 varieties of apples in the world, 2,500 are grown in the U.S., but only 100 com-
mercially. As of the 1990s, 70 percent were Red Delicious; more recently they’re being replaced with Gala, Granny Smith and Fuji types from taller, thinner trees that can be planted more compactly for easier harvesting, yet are more sensitive to disease and require trellis supports.
Mass-produced fruits and vegeta-
bles have been modified over the years to make them look appealing and ship well, while sacrificing taste. Consum- ers in search of health-enhancing nutrients and robust flavor can find them by instead connecting with the past through food and flowers. “Heirloom seeds have remained intact and unexposed to commercial pesticides,” says Jere Gettle, owner of Baker Creek Seed Company, in Mans- field, missouri. “They’re reliable—plants
38 Long Island Edition
grown now will be the same next year; not so with hybrids.” This cleaner, tastier alternative to the status quo is typically packed with more good vitamins than good looks. Heirloom produce often also delivers a unique regional flavor, such as vidalia onions or Hatch chile peppers.
Exemplary Fruits Fine restaurants like to feature Yellow Wonder wild strawberries because they taste like cream. The fragrant Baron von Solemacher strawberry, an antique German Alpine variety, is small and sweet, red and full of flavor; it’s been around since the Stone Age. For pies and preserves, pair them with Victorian rhubarb, which dates back to 1856. Eat only the rhubarb stalks; the leaves contain poisonous oxalic acid. Aunt Molly’s ground cherry (husk tomato) hails from Poland. “It’s sweet, with a hint of tart, like pineapple-apricot,”
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Valuable Vegetables Trending this year are purple veggies like the brilliantly colored Pusa Jamuni radish. Pair it with bright pink Pusa Gulabi radishes, high in carotenoids and anthocyanins, atop a stunning salad with Amsterdam prickly-seeded spinach’s arrow-shaped leaves, a variety once grown by Thomas Jefferson. Add a fennel- like flavor with Pink Plume celery. Brighten salsas using the Buena Mulata hot pepper, a deep violet that ripens to a sweet red. Serve with pink pleated Mushroom Basket tomatoes or Lucid Gems, with their black/orange peel and striking yellow/orange flesh. Purple tomatillos are sweeter than green varieties and can be eaten right off the plant. “Purple sweet potatoes are found
in Hawaii, but aren’t common on the mainland,” explains Gettle. “Molokai Purple sweet potatoes keep their deep purple color even when cooked, and are much higher in antioxidants than the orange variety.” To be novel, serve the Albino beet. Baker Creek’s custom- ers use it raw in salads, roasted or fried and don’t let the greens go to waste. Monique Prince, a clinical social
worker in Chester, New Hampshire, grows heirloom organic radishes, greens, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins in eight raised beds. She received Ganisisikuk pole
Heirlooms extend to trees and bushes. The
drought-resistant Fourwing Saltbush has a deep root
system and provides cover for songbirds in the West.
~BBB Seed
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