Another dark green leafy vegetable, kale grows well in colder weather and you’ll find it locally both early and late in the season. Kale is a relative of cabbage and you could well think of it as a loose leaf version of its more common “headed” cousin.

For centuries, kale was the most popular green leafy due to its being extremely hardy to soil and pest problems that afflict other crops. These properties lead to recommendations to plant kale during WWII as a great way to supplement nutrition lost due to rationing.

As modern farming techniques and trucking made this hardiness less important for commercial crops, kale lost ground to more delicate lettuces and such. This is a shame because kale provides much more nutrition than many of the crops that have surpassed it. Like spinach, kale is a terrific source of vitamins K, A and C as well as a significant source of manganese.

Recent studies have shown many heath benefits of the phytonutrients found in abundance in kale. Included in these benefits are anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Recent studies link systemic inflammation to many “modern illnesses” and adding kale to your diet is one way to help combat this trend.

Kale can be used in many of the same ways as spinach but adds a special flavor to slow cooked soups and when chopped into a variety of salads.

Of course, the health benefits of kale are best when it is grown locally and picked fresh. One of the best things you can do with Kale is freeze it. Freezing actually enhances the flavor bringing out its natural sweetness. Look for it in your local farmers’ market.

Ken

Say “peaches” and everyone thinks of Georgia (California actually produces far more!). But did you know, you can find delicious fresh, sweet peaches that are grown right here in Northeast Ohio?? I guess I’ve always known this but really never thought much about it. See, when I was growing up, the lots across the street were carved from what used to be a fruit orchard. Half the trees were apple trees that never seemed to make very good apples (of course, we ate them anyway…) but the other half were peach trees and those were pretty tasty. And while many of those orchards have been reborn as subdivisions and shopping plazas, you can still find peaches grown here.

Fresh peaches are one of summer’s most luxurious treats. They taste terrific straight off the tree, but sliced over ice cream…. mixed with cinnamon and baked into a cobbler or simply cooked down into preserves, they bring a delicious unmatched sweetness.

Like most fruits, peaches are very healthful (barring some of the suggestions above, of course) and are a great source of fiber and A, B and C vitamins.

Ken

Editor’s note: The aromatic flavor and juicy sweetness of a tree ripened peach is unparalleled. If you have only had those mealy fruits from California (caused by cold storage) you owe it to yourself to try a local peach this summer. They are available at most farmers’ markets now!

Every year, all of us at fire gear up for the weekend when we make Dr Katz’s Pickles. My dad has made these pickles since I was 7 or 8 and always included me and my family in the process. At times, my mom was not interested in dealing with the mess, but the results were always savored and used.

This year, my dad trusted me and my crew to do it without him. The process begins about 2 months before, when we order all of the jars and lids. As we ran out last year with 600 jars, we decided to up it to 720 this year. Wow, is that a lot of jars.

After we get the jars, we need distilled water, local pickles, local hot peppers including finger hots and Hungarian hots – and the most important ingredient of all- flowering dill. This is where the problems occur, as you never quite know when it will be flowering. We usually find out a week before and have to line up the rest of the local product within that time. We also have to find the staff to help pack the pickles carefully, with passion and scientific exactness. One slight alteration to the recipe and the pickles may become compost.

This year, the hardest part was finding local pickles that were small enough to fit in the jars. We like big pickles, but we have to get at least 5 in a jar. This year, we received 1 delivery that had to be returned and by the second try – got the right size pickles.

It is always a great day for me as I remember packing pickles over the years with my family. I am able to show my crew the importance of teamwork and care with this family recipe. Every employee has tasted the pickles and loves them, so it is fun for them to see the process. We work diligently for 9-10 hours, measuring salt, pickling spice and garlic. We squeeze the pickles in the jars and cut really spicy peppers, occasionally getting heat rashes from our spiced fingers and hands. Even after washing hands and many hours later, the heat is still around, so we don’t forget the daylong process. I smell the peppers until I am fast asleep.

Once the picles are packed, we top the jars with the aromatic dill flowers and seal the jars. They get shaken a few times and then we wait, and wait. In 6 weeks we will get to experience the local harvest, when we open our first of the 720 jars.

Hopefully we will make it through the year with what we have made. We top our burgers with the pickles, we sell sides of pickles, we sell them as gifts and we have some die hard customers that come in every other week – to get their fix.

It is a special ritual that we look forward to all year, and luckily, we are able to speak about almost everyday.

Doug Katz, owner and chef, www.firefoodanddrink.com

More and more farmers’ markets are using social networking to remind customers to shop for what’s in season and support the community of farmers and eaters.  Check out what the Tremont Farmers’ Market manager, Jody Lathwell, is doing to help us get to know farmers:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cleveland-OH/Tremont-Farmers-Market/71372531712

Red Basket Farm in Ashtabula has wonderful products as you can see in the short video.  And the Tremont Farmers’ Market is a lovely new addition to Tuesday evenings in Termont.

Mary

Onions, of course… now coming into season in Northeast Ohio. Onions, like their cousin, garlic, are members of the Allium family. Both members contain strong sulfur compounds that provide the flavor and scent components and bring a basket full of health benefits.

Onions come in all sizes, colors and flavor profiles from pungent to sweet. Most onions grown in Lake County lean toward the pungent side as the sweeter varieties are lovers of warmer weather. But that is actually good news for your health. Pungent onions have vastly superior health benefits to their sweeter brethren.

Yes, onions have respectable amounts of chromium and vitamin C but it’s those sulphur compounds that really make onions a health bonanza. Studies have shown onions to have significant positive impact on the cardiovascular system by lowering the risk of heart disease.

Onions are also very effective combating various forms of cancer including oral, breast, ovarian, esophageal and colon! The clinical results vary from 25%-88% reduced risk depending on the specific form, but the take away here is onions are strong protection from these diseases.

Getting back to that chromium, studies now indicate that several of the compounds found in onions can improve blood sugar levels, both by preserving insulin levels and by increasing cell sugar receptivity.

Onions are also documented to be anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial. And one last thing…

One of the health benefits that seems to surprise people the most is onions’ ability to slow the bone loss of osteoporosis! As opposed to foods like milk that provide calcium, onions attack the problem by inhibiting osteoclasts, cells that destroy bone. Wow!

So now that you know how good onions are for you, how do you eat them? Pungent, raw onions are not for everyone but those of you who love them know who you are. They can be added to a salad or top that chili dog at a Tribe game. But onions are even more versatile slow cooked or sautéed, added to stews, casseroles and soups. Recipes from all cultures use onions, which have been cultivated for over 5000 years. The cooking process tends to lower the extreme flavor edges which allow many more people to enjoy these gems.

Chilling onions before cutting them can reduce the tearful effects, so don’t use the common advice to cut them under running water as this will wash away those wonderful sulphur compounds.

As with most all fruits and vegetable, the healthy nutrients found in onions deteriorate rapidly with time. Finding fresh, locally grown onions at your local farmers’ market will let you get the greatest benefits from this powerhouse family.

Ken

Tomatoes are here! Farmers’ Markets are starting to have locally grown tomatoes. Bright red, shiny and firm these were not picked green and stuck on a rail car for two weeks. These beauties are sweet and red BEFORE they are picked. The formation of flavor and nutrition is vastly enhanced when the fruits or vegetables are allowed to ripen on the vine, and tomatoes are a great example of this.

There are many different varieties of tomatoes, each grown with specific uses in mind. There are Heirloom varieties that have been rediscovered for their unique qualities and Romas which make a great sauce; small cherry and grape tomatoes for salads or huge Beefsteak to top your burger.

Like peppers, with which tomatoes are often combined in dishes, tomatoes are a good source of vitamins A and C; and like red peppers, tomatoes are also a terrific source of lycopene. Lycopene has been extensively studied and continues to exhibit protective properties against a wide variety of cancers. More recent studies have shown it to have benefits to your heart health as well. An interesting note, while organically grown fruits and vegetable tend to be more nutritious than their more conventionally grown counterparts, lycopene levels in organic tomatoes can be 300% higher than those of non-organic. So while any tomatoes you find grown locally will be tastier and more nutritious than the trucked in variety, to get the maximum, look for those grown organically.

Tomatoes are delicious eaten raw or added to a salad. Cooked down, they are the basis of pasta sauce and a main ingredient of Italian dishes. A simple salad we enjoy is to dice a couple firm fresh tomatoes, add a cup of chopped basil and mix in 3/4 cup of diced Mozzarella cheese. Drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and you have a fast and healthful meal.

Stop by your local farmers’ market and see what varieties they have today.

Ken

Editor’s note: even though our cool nights have slowed the ripening of tomatoes, the taste of locally grown, vine ripened tomatoes cannot be beat. And to make that salad especially delicious, try some goat cheese feta or other great cheeses sold at farmers’ markets as well.

It’s such a simple idea.  We know the chefs around Cleveland who use local products have the best tasting food and most interesting menus.  So why not seek out the locavore chefs when you travel?  It is, by default, what we do when we travel abroad, because “national” or “regional” foods are, in fact, local foods or at least based on local ingredients.  This may be the most exciting opportunity in the “travel close to home” trend that has yet to be recognized.  The enthusiasm for local foods that has been fueled by the explosion of farmers’ markets across the county makes it easier than even to find restaurants that offer the taste of the place.

Last summer I went with my sister-in-law to the open farm tour at Polyface Farm in Virginia.  The lunch served that day was so local it had been alive or in the ground on the farm just days before!  But for dinner the next night we decided to find a restaurant Staunton, where we were staying, that featured farmers on the menu.  The Staunton Grocery was just what we were looking for–everything was fresh, seasonal, and prepared with skill and affection.  Our next time together we were in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and the local food passion took us to the Route 7 Grill–another farm to table success.

It has become my guiding principle when I travel.  Find the restaurant that features farmers on the menu and you are certain to have a delicious and memorable meal.  I was recently in Washington D.C., where I met Dean Zimmerman of Dino’s whose enthusiam for local farm products is so intense that he regularly sends email blasts to his customers about what he bought at the farmers’ market or from local farms that will be on the menu this week.  My three course fixed prix ($35) dinner started with white peaches from Heyser’s Farm wrapped in procuitto!  As we were leaving, he collared us to talk about the wild blackberries that were ripening in the backyards of a Maryland housing development, where foragers go each summer to pick and resell the sweet bounty.  He could hardly wait for the flats of berries they would bring him.

Cleveland is extraordinarily blessed with chefs who are sourcing as much as they can from local farmers.  For years, Parker Bosley was the lone champion of local foods and his efforts consistently put Cleveland on the Gourmet Magazine list of top 50 restaurants in the U.S.  But now, for a number of reasons, Northeast Ohio has an ever growing number of chefs who are connecting with local farmers to create some of the tastiest meals anywhere. 

Parker, of course, trained many of these new chefs.  Others, thanks to the Northern Ohio chapter of Slow Food, have experienced Terra Madre (see the link) and sampled “local” foods from around the world at the Salone del Gusto.  Some grew up with families that raised fruits and vegetables, canned, jammed, baked, and otherwise consumed the local harvest.  And many more are learning from farmers and producers as farmers’ markets spring up across the region.

I have invited these chefs to tell their own stories in this category.  Come back and visit often to learn more about what these folks are cooking up for us from the bounty of the western reserve!

Mary