All that and this is the stuff of a thrifty cook. No tossing these lovely peels to the compost. Making use of them to add oodles of flavor to your holiday cakes. Who knows, it could even lead to drying our peels to add them to tea come winter. Constant Comment did it to very good advantage way back when…and now they’re rich kids–chuckle.

This year I candied one of each critter: lemon, orange, grapefruit, citron, and lime. Lemon and orange were quite good as was the grapefruit. Citron was hard to find but it rewarded with an extra thick pith. Lime with its thin peel was not as plump and enticing, although still brought an intrigue all its own.

You can see how large the citron is and how little fruit it has, making it a shoe-in for candying with its thick rind. This is the etrog variety as opposed to the more readily available fingered citron, also known as Buddha’s hand. The advantage of the fingered citron is that its all rind and thus gives up a goodly amount of candied peel.

Just ask friend, Michael Mock, who experimented with that this year. He ended up with a couple of cups of diced peel, plenty for not only fruitcakes but also Christmas Stollen and my latest use of candied peel: in a beet salad with fresh oranges, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a healthy spike of country mustard.

Back to the matter at hand, though. The gist on candied peel is really just the same as on everything else that’s commercially prepared today. Making it is easy, but it is yet another chore. That said, as people who do their own chores know, there’s nothing like home made for both satisfaction and end product.

How easy? How about 1, 2, 3.

1. Take the peel off the fruit (or in the case of etrog citron, cut the fruit out of the peel) and dice it–or at least get a bite-size cut. No need to fret over removing the pith as you want that for meaty dices and the bitterness goes mostly gonzo during the blanching. (Besides, like Old Fashion drinkers know, a little bitter makes the sweet rock & roll.)

2. Blanch in boiling water a couple times. Draining and rinsing each time to remove the bitterness. (Some recipes call for three and four times of blanching. I did it twice, letting the peels bubble about for a minute or two each time before rinsing.)

3. Simmer with sugar and water (one part sugar to two parts water) until things get syrupy. Use enough water to barely cover your fruits nets about the right amount of syrup.

If you’ll notice in the last image here, some of my jars have less syrup than others–point being there’s no hard and fast rule, just you experimenting.

Just you, the measure free hippie cook, in charge. (How was it that we ever turned into technicians anyhow? Following orders from headquarters in the privacy of our own kitchens? Aren’t our lives ruled and regulated enough already? More chuckle…)

Our cover girl, Celeste, is never far from the kitchen action of course. She is even in the holiday spirit enough to let the latest member of the family–Blue Bird–to share the frame with her.

First I roasted some plums and peaches. Balsamic on the plums, red wine over the peaches and sugar sprinkled over all. Why the same pan? I was lazy.

Then I ate the plums. Scarfed them right up. So the project became the peaches. These got sliced and stirred around in their winey goop. Then I used the leftover polenta like flour and oats for a cobbler crust. All it took was some butter and sugar worked in for a nice spready hit that covered the peaches. Into the oven and then under the broiler at the very end to brown it up a bit more.

Voila! A lovely offering that comes from being thrifty, working in season, and not being afraid to be your own boss in the kitchen.

• The papery star of leaves capping the red fruit might be green, but the California strawberry industry has a way to go. At issue is the ozone-depleting biocide, methyl bromide, that berry growers sterilize coastal soils with prior to setting out young plants. The highly toxic gas is listed for worldwide ban in 2005 under the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement aimed at reducing dependency on ozone-depleting chemicals.

• Senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network North America, Susan Kegley, Ph.D., thinks moves toward organic farming are on target. “One of the things we’re trying to facilitate is for people from the EPA and USDA to talk with sustainable ag people who are farming without fumigants so that we can get research money for viable alternatives that don’t require toxic substances,” Kegley said. “Our government subsidizes so many things. If we’re going to put billions into energy bills, why not help our farmers transition away from chemicals and have subsidies go to those who reduce their use of fumigants.”

Nasty upon nasty methyl bromide is finally being phased out. But, as Kristen Ridley wrote on the Sustainable Food blog March 31, 2010:

“This would be good, except the fumigant that chemical manufacturer Arysta would like to replace it with is methyl iodide. Methyl iodide is used by scientists for the delightful purpose of intentionally inducing cancer in lab animals. Cancer is not just this chemical’s side effect; it’s its job. Astonishingly, the EPA under Bush approved this chemical for use, although California, where the majority of U.S. strawberries are grown, held off on approving the stuff. California is the second largest user of methyl bromide in the country, so now that it’s getting the boot, the pressure is on for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to approve methyl iodide, known commercially as “Midas,” in its place.”

If you’re intrigued and more of the history, here’s my full 2005 E Mag piece:

“Strawberry fields…Are We Doomed to Use Methyl Bromide…Forever” 

The papery star of leaves capping the red fruit might be green, but the California strawberry industry has a way to go. At issue is the ozone-depleting biocide, methyl bromide, that berry growers sterilize coastal soils with prior to setting out young plants. The highly toxic gas is listed for worldwide ban in 2005 under the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement aimed at reducing dependency on ozone-depleting chemicals.

Yet, after a decade of success in rolling back global levels of consumption, the California strawberry industry that uses 40 percent of the nation’s production convinced the Bush administration to back pedal. While in 2003, U.S. consumption of the gas was down to 7446 tons, the Environmental Protection Agency received ‘critical use exemptions’ from parties to the Montreal Protocol to raise the bar to 10,472 tons for 2005.

“The phase-out was actually working quite well and along comes 2005, and the US asked for an exemption to both continue production and allow use at 39% of the 1991 levels upon which the cutbacks over the past 10 years have been based,” said David Doniger, senior attorney and director of climate center policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “But the EPA’s own data showed a total usage of only 31 percent of the baseline in 2003. So we’ve sued the agency on the basis that the exemptions for 2005 don’t conform to the Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol requirements.”

Doniger underscores problems with the EPA’s calculations. “We’re saying that there’s so much puffing that’s gone into figures that things aren’t adding up. Also in our suit is that the EPA has allowed the big bromide companies to keep producing even though we found that the United States already has at least 10 tons of the chemical stockpiled which is more than the alleged need.”

“Methyl bromide is one of the major chemicals still allowed that degrade the ozone,” said Ray Chavira, scientist in the EPA’s San Francisco pesticide office. “Byy the end of summer the re-registration process listing about 6 alternatives, though, should be complete. Then the EPA will focus on getting commodity groups to transition over to those chemicals, a process that will probably take 1 to 3 years. So what we’re trying to do is pace ourselves in moving away from methyl bromide.”

Rodger Wasson, president of the California Strawberry Commission said, “We in the strawberry industry have been in full cooperation on the Montreal Protocol process and our growers have funded research to find alternatives. I’m not sure who if anyone has done more to find alternatives to methyl bromide. But it’s difficult, complicated, and expensive experimenting with these other chemicals and conducting field trials. You can have farmers right next door to each other have different outcomes, so you have to feel your way along. It’s both a science and an art—not a slam dunk.”

Another point that underlies the debate is competition in the global market. While parties to the Montreal Protocol established on a 2005 ban for developed nations, they agreed that 2015 was appropriate for developing countries. In a congressional report, Wayne Morrisey wrote that “of particular concern were consumption allowances for developing countries some of which compete directly with U.S. produce markets.” A Sacramento Bee editorial that pointed to Mexico as an emerging competitor echoed that the lack of a level playing field amounts to “the equivalent of unilateral disarmament for the California strawberry farmer.”

Although the USDA spent over $172 million from 1993 to 2004 researching alternatives to methyl bromide, the agency says it needs more time to come up fumigants that are as effective. “We have reduced the use of methyl bromide in this country by 65 percent from 1991 levels and I think that’s quite notable,” said Vicks. “Telone is one of the more promising alternatives, but a known carcinogen and under severe restrictions, so short of quitting growing strawberries, we may not get to a complete phase out for some time.”

That said, Wasson estimates that farmers grew 30 percent of the 2003 berry crop without relying on methyl bromide and that once the data from 2004 is compiled the figure should reach 40 percent. In addition to other toxic chemicals and new application techniques switches to organic growing are responsible for declining dependency.

Senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network North America, Susan Kegley, Ph.D., thinks moves toward organic farming are on target. “One of the things we’re trying to facilitate is for people from the EPA and USDA to talk with sustainable ag people who are farming without fumigants so that we can get research money for viable alternatives that don’t require toxic substances,” Kegley said. “Our government subsidizes so many things. If we’re going to put billions into energy bills, why not help our farmers transition away from chemicals and have subsidies go to those who reduce their use of fumigants.”

Owner of Pacific Gold, Larry Eddings, who leases 1000 acres for farming berries and currently has a tenth of that in organic production says it’s not that easy. “The truth in the berry business is that on the conventional side, we’re making very little money. It struck me 8 years ago that there was a lot of talk in the organic world, so I’ve been turning some of my production that way. It’s turned out pretty well and I like it a lot. We grow lovely berries, not gnarly little things with worm holes it them like I thought organics were before we got into this.”

“Still, in my opinion, methyl bromide is a whipping boy,” Eddings added. “The amount from commercial agriculture that goes into the atmosphere is a very small percentage of the overall amounts, some of which come from natural sources. Also there’s very little science that says our practices are doing damage,” Eddings said. “Having said all that, I know I’m on the wrong side of the politically correct spectrum and methyl bromide will eventually go away. It’s going to be really hard on the strawberry industry, though.”

Sacramento Bee editorial agrees with Eddings, but underscores the need to move in a more earth-friendly direction. “Absent a technological breakthrough, strawberry farming without methyl bromide would mean higher costs for farms, which means higher costs for consumers….If every farmer in every country has to live by these rules, however, it ought to be a price consumers should be willing to live with. Earth can’t live without its ozone layer.”

Historically, of course, my affair with blended things began with smoothies in the Sixties–the old faithful banana-yogurt-honey-wheat germ routine. Given such a sagacious history, it hasn’t been too much a leap to start riffing around on Cucumber Melon Soup.

I’ve got a recipe for Mango Mint Ice coming out in Hippie Kitchenand at the moment I’m playing with a Strawberry Mint Ice that most likely will make the pages of the third in the measurefree trilogy, Grow Your Own: From the Garden to the Table But Grow Your Own won’t be out until next year, and it’s strawberry season right now. So here’s the skinny.

That’s it except for the Spicy Watermelon Ices I’ll be sampling out for Fourth of July down at Whole Foods in The Pearl. I could spell out my approach to this number as well, but I’m thinking that if it gets hot and you’re in the mood, you’ll come up with something pretty cool on your ownsome. Yes?

I’ve been out and about at natural food markets doing book signings–and offering samples from Beyond Measure. The last few days I’ve been on a roll with my stuffed dates recipe. You can’t get a more innocent and easier holiday treat than stuffed dates.

Thanksgiving Breakfast complete with Cottage Cream and KBJ’s Cranberries is such gorgeous food–as delicious as it is healthy and affordable.

Indeed, that’s what measure free cooking is all about. But a cookbook without measurements and prescriptive rote directions is so unprecedented that people tend can get wrapped up in the novelty, forgetting the point.

That Thanksgiving Breakfast is delicious, is clear from the photo. So let’s talk health and wealth. The yam that I shined with oil, baked and sliced into rounds didn’t lose any nutrients by being boiled and packed into cans. It also costs pennies–since there’s no extra 10 to 50 percent added to cover processing and packaging.

Ditto for KBJ’s Cranberries, an uncooked compote of fresh crans, sweet oranges, and pomegranate seeds. Not only do we get all the nutrition that fresh seasonal produce offers, the lovely flavors tantalize so much that we didn’t even consider inviting sugar to the party. Oranges are affordable right now, and we’ve already saved by not buying canned yams or cranberry sauce, so we can splurge a little on the small amount of cranberries needed and a pomegranate that will have all who enjoy it feeling very festive indeed.

Cottage Cream, as well, which is just a carton of cottage whizzed up in the blender, is high-protein, yummy, and easy on the food bill. No need to pay a premium for those spendy little cottage cheese and fruit thingies that have appeared in the stores the last few years. It’s easy, gratifying, and fast to make your own.

So, rock and roll during the holidays. There’s no need to break the bank–or eat food that’s not good for us. Just cling to the perimeter of the store, spend extra time fingering the seasonal produce, and then get ready to be enticed in the privacy of your own kitchen.

The beauty and feel of fresh food: the leathery pomegranates, the solid tubers. The sounds and smells of things when they’re freshly chopped–cranberries that pop, zesty fragrant oranges. The empowerment that comes leaving off following rote instructions and taking command. The secret joy & knowledge that you are practicing thrift even as you are offering high quality food to those gathered together.

Americans! We Can Eat Well & Tighten Our Belts! There was a time when only the rich could afford expensive spices. Ah, yes. We all remember the famed Spice Route to Asia. Just Google it, and you’ll find maps, mystery, and intrigue. You’ll find references to cardamom, turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon. Those wonderfully exotic sticks and pods and blossoms and powders.

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So, what better way to eat well while tightening our belts than to make full use of the riches in our cupboards. Of the full range of spices that are there just waiting for us to pop the lids–or even better, do them up fresh in our coffee grinders.

Spices really do make Plain Jane food sing–plain food as humble as beans & rice.

Here’s to dipping pears in butter and allspice, lacing quinoa with cardamom, and putting pinches of coriander, cumin, and cayenne in a pot of pintos. Totally amazing how a little spice can make food rock.

After my comments on pesticides and apples in The Measure Free Weekly last time, I was especially pleased to have a box of apples in the basement from friend and gardener, Laura Berg.

Laura is also, if you’ll remember from her comment on last week’s blogpost, the care taker of HH. Clearly more will be revealed on that subject as time goes by.

In any event, on the apples. This kind isn’t especially a good keeper, so I quartered them and put them in a slow oven with some water. Now they’re ready for the freezer–and then, of course, to pull out come winter for warming with cinnamon and nutmeg and spooning onto cereal, stirring into quick breads, and brewing down into sauces and syrups.

Fabulous. Fall apples. This year’s crop. Not a chemical in their genes. Or those that consume them. No wonder Celeste has given HH’s overture more than passing notice. She apparently understands that he’s part of a family that is clear on its priorities.

Celeste has turned into a camera hound since she heard HH, a male frog in our town, spotted her on the back cover of Beyond Measure. She sniffs that she’s not too interested, but the truth is, she invited him over once harvest is on the wane.

So you can see, she has me hard at it. Trays full of whatever bounty comes through the door, roasting in the oven. Then it’s just a matter of bagging them up in ziplocks. Or even freezing first on the trays and then bagging so come winter we can pull out just what we need.

Plums, peppers, and tomatoes roast beautifully–and it’s so much easier that stirring a pot on the stove and worrying about burning. I also did some peaches and oh, the smells in the kitchen. Even Celeste was distracted from her romantic interest momentarily. Then there are apples. Roasted apples. Talk about having your kitchen smell homey and good. And getting harvest’s bounty put up easily and quickly.

Yes, basking in the aroma of roasted food. Earthy. Elemental. Something that strikes a chord in creatures of all kinds.