Cranberries Most Americans associate cranberries with Thanksgiving turkey. They are often classed as New World food. Not entirely true. Botanists and linguists. This is one of those posts where I will come off as a lush, and an opinionated one at that. But these cocktails They are simply research, baby this is all for. I have a wonderful, familyfriendly dinner for you Easy Beef Enchiladas Recipe I learned all about avocados yesterday. I learned that there are thousands of. MyNeChimKi.png.650x0_q70_crop-smart.jpg' alt='Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness And Mootness' title='Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness And Mootness' />Infuse Your Booze A Complete Guide To DIY Flavored Liquors. This is one of those posts where I will come off as a lush, and an opinionated one at that. But these cocktails They are simply research, baby this is all for you. Infuse Your Booze. Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness Law' title='Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness Law' />If you like the creativity of cooking and combining flavors and you drink hard alcohol then booze infusions are a natural place to play around and have fun personalizing your liquor cabinet. Infusions are also a great DIY holiday gift if your crowd is a little more scotch and speakeasy than santa hat and sugar cookie. Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness Of SpaghettiRecently, a new staff member started at Lifehacker. She booted up her brandnew, companyissued MacBook Pro, and went to plug in her EarPods to listen to some tunes. Canning tomatoes is easier than you think Learn how to can tomatoes with this guide from The Old Farmers Almanac. There are 10 easy steps to growing highyield tomatoes Get the right types of tomatoes to grow in your climate. If you need tips, talk to a local expert. My friend, Guy Miller, who is a physician, biochemist and deep thinker about the role of electrochemistry in biological systems, walked into the Bonny Doon Vineyard. Booze infusions are very simple you soak ingredients in a base alcohol until you like the taste. If you can make tea you can make a cucumber gin or a chai tea vodka or a cherry bourbon. Once you have those infusions on hand, youre some ice and a mixer or two from a Cucumber Gin Gimlet very refreshing in late August or a Chai White Russian or a Cherry Manhattan. Thats really all there is to it, so if you learn best by doing, feel free to stop reading now and go play around with whatevers in your liquor and spice cabinet. I wont take it personally. If you want the complete guide to everything Ive learned about making my own infusions, read on. Part One Know Your Base Alcohol. Your base is the booze that youre going to flavor. I recommend a nice mid shelf, mid price alcohol. Top shelf isnt necessary, but no infusion ingredients will make terrible rot gut booze taste like anything other than a drain cleaning solvent, so find a comfortable middle ground of price and quality. With all base liquors, the higher the proof, the more extraction power youre looking at. So an overproof gin or bourbon will pull more flavor from your infusion ingredients than an 8. If you are looking for maximal extraction of volatiles, as for a medicinal or culinary extract, 1. Everclear may be of use. I havent worked with the super overproofs, but if you can speak to their use in infusions, please chime in Vodka. A decent vodka is notable for its lack of flavor, which makes vodka the perfect beginners base for infusions. You can see this at a commercial level in the liquor section, where things like cotton candy vodka, bubblegum vodka, marshmallow vodka and other My Little Pony flavored spirits take perfectly good shelf space away from single malt Scotch. Ignoring the flavor evil thats being done in the name of commercial flavored vodkas, this neutral spirit plays extraordinarily well with most infusion ingredients, and is highly mixable as a spirit. Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness In Law' title='Why Do Tomatoes Crack Before They Ripeness In Law' />For folks who see little point in drinking something basically flavorless, infusions can give vodka life. For all these reasons, if your heart isnt already set on a particular non vodka base creation, I recommend that you start your infusion experiments with vodka. Classic infusion flavors anything and everything. There are no limits to what you can infuse in vodka. Bacon Dill Pickle Oatmeal Bacon Dill Pickle and Oatmeal You name it and someone has done it. Personal favorites I typically infuse Findlandia but recently tried the Kirkland Signature American vodka at Costco. For the price, I think its unbeatable. I particularly like infusions of coffee and vanilla bean, fresh cherry, citrus of all kinds, ginger and dried pear, and many variations of spiced. Gin. The cocktail lovers booze, gin is a mix of herbs and botanicals typically distilled with neutral grain alcohol vodka. To people like me, this makes gin something like vodka with a point because the spirit has a substantial flavor punch all on its own, or in minimalist concoctions like the martini which, unless specified, should be made with gin and vermouth and ice and nothing else. This does make gin slightly trickier to work with from an infusion standpoint. Add in the diversity of flavors in gin that mix of botanicals varies by brand and can range radically in make up and complexity and you have a base that requires a bit more thought to infuse. The good news is, gin was meant to be mixed, and if you think about the type of gin mixed drinks you like to drink and what would be appropriate garnishing flavors, youll be led to infusion combinations that make sense. Before him, all that summer of 1929, in the broad window of the warehouse, a man sat at a desk and looked out into the street, in a posture that never changed. Classic infusion flavors cucumber, citrus of all kinds, floral lavender especially, herbal think basil, fennel or lemon verbena apple and pear, and green tea. Personal favorites I infuse Gordans Gin. I love cucumber and star anise this makes a simply lovely drink served neat over ice. Grapefruit and ginger is excellent too. Tequila. Blanco is unaged with a typically straight forward flavor. It is a good choice for infusing with bold and assertive flavors that might overwhelm more subtle, aged tequilas. Gold tequila is Blanco with a little caramel color added, typically. Reposado has been aged less than a year in oak and is a bit smoother than Blanco. Anejo is aged over a year and is more smooth yet. The lighter the tequila the more adaptable it will be to a diversity of flavor infusions. Complex anejos require a more careful hand so that the more subtle flavors of the base are enhanced, not overwhelmed. Classic infusion flavors Chili, citrus, tropical fruit, coconut, ginger, melon, watermelon. The sweet herbs like mint, lemon verbena and cinnamon basil are also good. Personal favorites Im not a big tequila drinker, but Ive done a few infusions that are making me reconsider. I infuse in Sauza typically, or whatever relatively inexpensive tequila we have on hand for other use. Ive done strawberry mint and dried mango and lime and enjoyed them both. Rum. Like tequila, rums vary from clear in color and straightforward in flavor to dark, stronger and more complex tasting. And like tequila, the lighter the rum, the more adaptable it will be to infused flavors, with the more complex and darker rums requiring a bit more thought in flavor pairing. Rums seem to be second only to vodka in flavor bastardizations banana rum, coconut rum, apple rum, etc. However, DIY infusion versions made with real ingredients can be lovely. Soak fresh pineapple in a decent rum for week and tell me if you dont agree. Spiced rum is interesting, in that it is already ostensibly an infusion. While there are a some quality commercial spiced rums out there, most run overly sweet to my taste, a low quality base rum tarted up with artificial flavors. But spiced rum can give the DIY infuser a lot of inspiration. Classic infusion flavors Typical spices that play well with golden or aged rum are vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, pepper and citrus peel the kind of tropical spices that grow in the same latitudes as sugarcane, rums parent plant. For white rum, citrus, particularly lime, is a great pairing, as are tropical fruits like pineapple, mango, lychee, coconut, etc. If you like strawberry daiquiris, consider a fresh strawberry rum infusion. Personal favorites Bacardi Light Rum or Don Q Cristal take infusion flavors very well, but I occasionally play around with darker rums too. Fresh pineapple with a little mint in rum is wonderful, and if you can find dried young coconut typically available sweetened, you can make yourself the kind of coconut rum that even single malt girls like me can support. Vanilla Orange is a personal favorite with a dark rum. Dont let the vanilla bean take over and try it in a Dark and Stormy. HEALTH. PRACTICE GROWING. OWN INGREDIENTS GROWING. OWN FOOD PLANTS GROWING. SPRINGsow in spring, achoccha. Chinese spinach, artichoke, globe artichoke, asparagus pea, arugula, rocket. Italian wild. arugula, perennial rocket. French beans, bush beans, snap. Chinese cabbage, cabbage, cape. Chinese celery, chives,  celtuce. Chinese. stem lettuce, chicory, radicchio, witloof. Belgian endive, endives. Chinese broccoli, Chinese kale, Chinese cabbage, celery cabbage, chayote, choko. Chinese leaves,  wong bok, Chinese leek, collards, coriander. Chinese parsley, Chinese yam,  Cow pea,crowder,black. African horned cucumber. Florence fennel, anise. Italian edible gourd, cucuzzi, New Guinea bean, bottle gourd, jerusalem artichoke, jicama,yam bean. Mexican water chestnut, kohlrabi, komatsuna,leek,lemon grass, lettuce, malabar. Oriental. melons, mesclun, misome, mustard. New Zealand. spinach, okra, pea. Tahitian squash,  spaghetti squash, sweet potato, yam,  kumera, taro. Grow Vegetables amp. Culinary Herbs in Springwww. DIRECTORIES BUY. AIDS    INFORMATION. ON GROWING NATURAL FOOD    HOMEACHOCCHA. Cyclanthera pedata Korila, Caygua. A tendrilled. climbing gourd with handsome maple like leaves, whose pale. They are vaguely cucumberasparagusy, and slightly. This plant needs a long season to produce, and the fruit. Sow the seeds in spring. A long wait for an odd fruit, but. Present, but rare, in some Western countries the. AMARANTH, VEGETABLE Amaranthus gangeticus. A. tricolor Calaloo, Hin Choy, Chinese. Spinach. This quite pretty leafy green needs a long warm. It really only suited to the warm temperate. If it is grown in shorter season or cooler. Tenderest leaves come from growing the plant quickly in a. The advantage is that it thrives in heat. Even so, for maximum. Sow the. tiny seeds shallowly when the soil is warm and moist. Pinch. the tip out to force the plant to branch and make more new and. Pick the leaves individually. There green and. red leafed forms, and the red leafed forms in particular are. Coleus blumei. Dwarf forms, about 6. There is quite a bit of. Amaranthus. tropics. Duo Therm Heat Strip Installation here. JJJ A. nice page on growing amaranthus in a typically dry and wet. Sierra Leone. A page. West African Vegetable site. Amaranth. htm. ARTICHOKE, GLOBE Cynara scolymus. The. globe shaped flower buds are ready to harvest in spring. The. fleshy base of the petals and the meaty centre cone heart. Buds are cut when 6cm to 1. The plants are vigorous. The plants will produce the first year. The plants are heat tolerant, but if they are cut. Sow the. seed in spring or early summer, preferably in pots for later. Seedlings are somewhat variable in bud size. Superior plants. can be propogated by transplanting suckers when they appear. Green Globe Improved is the standard mainstream cultivar, with. Purple de Jesi The. Purple de Jesi was developed to produce the small. Globe. artichoke. JJJJ A. very extensive sheet on globe artichoke culture, written for. NW Oregon by Oregon State University. College of Agricultural Science, but mentally scaled down, it. DeptNWRECartichgl. ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM Helianthus tuberosus. Jerusalem artichokes produce knobbly tuberous rhizomes that. The advantage is that they. Why arent they an. The taste. They store their. Many people find they have a slight. Those who like them well. The most common variety produces stems about 2. M6. feet approx high, and never flowers. There are improved. Dwarf Sunray is one such. It also has shorter stems. Worth trying to see if you like them, but once you grow them. ASPARAGUS PEA  Tetragonolobus. A fast growing plant that looks a bit like. Soon after flowering. These are steamed and served with a. Sow. seeds about 1. They form a low mat about 5. Harvest the pods while they are still tender, at approximately. ARUGULA Eruca sativa Rocket. Rocquette, Rocket lettuce. This is a very undemanding plant. It grows rapidly in most any soil, privided there is adequate. It is at its best in the cool of spring. Harvest. leaves, or the entire plant, until the flower stem start to. After this time, the leaves are too. Its oily peanutbuttery. You can let the. plant flower very attractive to bees and seed for a never. Arugula. JJJ A sheet on. NW. Oregon, USA, by Oregon State University College of Agricultural. Science, but mentally scaled down, it provides detailed. DeptNWRECarug. html. ARUGULA ITALIAN WILD Eruca. Perennial Rocket. A perrenial species of. It has very finely cut dark green leaves. The small. yellow flowers are spicy and edible and so are useful for for. BASIL. Ocimum basilicum a totally indispensable herb for. If you want a lot of plants for. Plants are the best bet for normal fresh picking, as. This is a warm weather annual. Once established. There are. many varieties of basil, and flavor wise, they are not too. EXCEPT for varieties bred to have a particular. These. last taste of what their name suggest, and dont have the. There are several different foliage. For ordinary garden use, the mainstream. Genovese. Larger leafed forms are not as easy. There are also very decorative purple leaved mainstream. Dark Opal. The small basil varieties form. The best known. varieties are Greek and Spicy Globe. You will not get vast. Grow a plant of each. BEANS, DWARF Phaseolus vulgaris. Green Bean, French Bean, Bush Bean, Snap bean, Wax bean. Filet bean, Haricots Verts. Dwarf beans are simply a compact. USA bean. They may. French Beans, but originate in South. America. New varieties have been developed which may be. These tend to carry the flowers. Dwarf beans are. usually green, but may be yellow often then known as wax. Most dry beans, such as the haricots used in. Mexican cooking are all Phaseolus. Whether dwarf or climbing, dry beans. FILET BEAN a class of dwarf bean whose pods. The pods are picked. The most expensive grade is extra. This is achieved. If the beans are. Taste wise, they are not really different from any other green. Grow these for visual. Otherwise, grow standard green. About two months from seed to harvest. GROWING DWARF. BEANS Any garden soil that is well drained and not acid p. H6. or above is best will be OK. Sow the seed when the soil is. C remember, these are basically. In colder areas, sow in pots for later. Gemination can be poor if the seed is. But the most. frequent cause of poor germination is cool soil. Damaged seed. may germinate but produce only two cotyledon leaves, due to. Space the seed about 5. In theory, a general garden fertiliser is dug in a few weeks. In practise, most of us are not that well. The idea is to avoid. Particularly on light. Picked regularly, the plants will produce for about 6 weeks. It takes 2 to 3 months from sowing to picking, depending on. Varieties a bean is a bean. But I believe that the variety Jacko is the. Purple. Knight. Purple knight is not as straight as Jacko, but. The tall. dwarfs, such as Top Crop and Top Treasure are very good. Of the yellow wax beans, my favorite, on grounds of flavor. Cherokee Sun. BEAN, CLIMBING Pole Bean. This is the. original green bean, from which dwarf green beans are derived. The advantage of climbing beans is that they take up less. In addition, they are easy to pick. Sow 2 or 3 seeds at the base of each pole. It is important to pick. Once seed pods start to mature the plants. Climbers are about a week later. Varieties again, a bean is a bean. Blue Lake is excellent eating, highly productive, and. Mangere Pole is. Kentucky Wonder produces over a long season, and Goldstar. BEAN, YARD LONGVigna unguiculata var.