For Thanksgiving Pies, Skip the Can

Traveling along I-81 last week, I spied a field of bright orange globes, rowed and ready for final harvest.  Destined for a cannery, these pumpkins will star in pies, muffins and other delectable creations.  Although they are clearly locally grown, these winter squash lack the visceral connection I have to my own garden pumpkins.  For Thanksgiving pie, there is no substitute for my paternal grandmother's heirloom pumpkins and this year's crop is extra-special, produced from seed Maw Hamby saved from one of her last harvests, circa 1993.

2015 Crop of Maw Hamby's Pumpkins

Winter Squash Make Beautiful Decorations 

Heirloom gardeners know successful crop production depends upon plant diversity.  This year, for example, was a dismal okra and corn year at Heart & Sole, but tomatoes and peppers produced abundantly.  Last year, pumpkins vines failed to yield a single mature squash, but this year proved to be one of my most successful pumpkin crops and to know these hefty orbs, with their unique shapes and pale orange colors, are the same fruit that grew in my grandmother's Happy Valley garden, gives me pause to appreciate the connectivity of heirloom seeds and family.  

My paternal grandmother, Ethel Bolick Hamby, better known as Maw to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, loved traveling, reading and watching baseball.  She did not love housecleaning, which she called "Idiot Work," or everyday cooking; however, she was locally famous for a couple of dishes, namely her cast-iron skillet upside-down pineapple cake and a chess-type pumpkin pie, made from her own harvest.  For Maw's pumpkin pie recipe, read Pumpkin Is Personal.

 

Recently, as I waited my turn in line at a grocery store check-out, I noticed cans of pumpkin a young woman loaded onto the conveyor belt.  "Are you making pie for Thanksgiving?" I asked.  She frowned and replied, "I'm not sure what I will do with that.  Maybe muffins?  Some kind of sweet bread?"  I pictured the brown goo inside the can and restrained myself from offering to deliver a real pumpkin to her home.  Just like the flavor of heirloom tomatoes trump industrially grown fruits, there is no comparison between a real, heirloom pumpkin, roasted to perfection, and what comes from a grocery store canned product.  

Large pumpkins can be daunting for home cooks, but are relatively easy to process and yield an impressive amount of product.  For my Thanksgiving pies, I chose a 25 pound pumpkin and used a large chef's knife to cut it into sections.  After scooping out seeds to save for next year's planting, I placed the pieces in two large baking dishes with about a half-inch of water.  Popped into a hot (425 degree) oven for about an hour, the sections began to collapse and I let them cool before scooping the flesh from the shells.  Borrowing a tip from my friend, Angie Rash, I placed the pumpkin in a large salad spinner to allow moisture to drain from the fruit.  

Fresh, roasted heirloom pumpkin is delicious and almost impossible to resist tasting as one processes it.  The flesh is bright orange and pleasantly sweet.  I freeze 2-cup increments in plastic bags and enjoy it throughout the winter in soups, stews, pies, muffins, etc.  After tasting heirloom pumpkin, supermarket products have no appeal.  

While preparing a pumpkin for processing, I noticed there was a good bit of usable product under the stem and cut a thin slice to taste.  Raw pumpkin?  Delicious.  That baby kale I just picked?  Pumpkin seeds?  Sounds like a fall salad to me. . . Look for an heirloom pumpkin for your next culinary adventure.  The possibilities are endless and the flavor is extraordinary.  That canned stuff?  Leave it on the shelf.

Heirloom Pumpkin and Kale Salad

1 cup diced raw pumpkin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 grinds black pepper
Dash sea salt
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar

Blend ingredients and refrigerate for up to one hour

Fry 2 strips thick bacon, rendering fat, in a large skillet
Remove bacon and add 4 cups shredded fresh kale to hot grease

Briefly saute kale until wilted, but still bright green

Combine kale, pumpkin, 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles in a large bowl.  Serve immediately or refrigerate for cold serving.  Crumble bacon on top before serving.
*For vegetarian dish, omit bacon and use olive oil to saute kale.

 

 

Heirloom Seeds Make Thanksgiving Centerpiece a Conversation Piece

Sandwiched between Halloween's sugar highs and frantic Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving is a holiday that offers quiet reflection as family and friends gather to share food and gratitude.  Bare tree branches indicate Winter's arrival and gardeners and farmers breathe a sigh of relief as they proudly take inventory of preserved harvests.  Canned tomatoes, beans, squash, peas, pickles, jams, peppers and more line my pantry shelves and many of these ingredients will grace our family's Thanksgiving table, but this year, I decided to include some decorative harvests that will, fingers crossed, produce crops next summer.
 

String peppers to dry for culinary purposes or to save seeds for next year's planting

Saving heirloom seeds requires time and space.  During the height of summer, my dining room table holds as many plates of drying seeds as I can fit on it, corn hangs from the curtain rods, mature squash (summer and winter) fill the garage and basement and an odd assortment of glasses hold water and seeds atop kitchen counters.  No doubt about it, my summer home could easily be mistaken for a Weird Science exhibit.  
 

Dried Okra Pods Inspire Centerpiece

Some plants, like okra, dry in the fields and when I cut stalks of okra pods recently, I was inspired by their curled beauty and decided to attempt a centerpiece for the dining room table that would include several varieties of heirloom seeds. 

Cracks and Chips Testify to the Age of This Family Dough Bowl

For the Thanksgiving table centerpiece, I chose an old wooden dough bowl, its cracks and chips testament to the years it produced homemade biscuits.  A block of florist's foam in the center of the bowl proved to be the perfect tool for anchoring okra limbs. 

Next, I added ears of dried Cherokee Long Ear popcorn and Hopi corn, and used the attached shucks to fill in space.  I placed summer squash around the edge and tucked in strings of dried peppers.

 

Summer squash hold seeds for next year

Some flowering mums from the yard, kept fresh with stems held in place with plastic florist vials of water, completed the project.

Next Year's Heirloom Crops

Although I love beautiful flower arrangements, I admit I am not talented when it comes to creating centerpieces; however, along with favorite foods, our Thanksgiving feast will include what may be more of a conversation piece than most table decorations.  At the very least, it will offer a glimpse of what will (hopefully) grow in next year's garden.

Heirloom Seeds Make Thanksgiving Table Conversation Piece

Pop! Goes the Heirloom Corn

There are probably people who do not enjoy the ritual of popping popcorn.  Choosing the right pot, large enough to accommodate popped corn, adding just the right amount of oil and heating it on a stovetop, pouring in the kernels and listening to that satisfying sizzle, covering the pot with a lid and shaking the mixture over a hot eye until the kernels begin to explode, zinging the pot's interior with pings that sound like ricocheting bullets, can be a daunting task for those who relish the convenience of microwave popcorn.  But, in my opinion, nothing compares to the flavor of stovetop popcorn, with its unique aroma and salty crunch of hot-from-the-pot kernels.

Cherokee Long Ear Popcorn, Beautiful & Delicious

As a child, I looked forward to Sunday evenings.  After the busyness of morning church activities, a large midday meal, which our family called dinner, visits with relatives and a light supper, usually comprised of sandwiches my mother prepared from dinner leftovers, my brother and I would settle in front of our black-and-white television.  I am not sure how old he was when he became the official family popcorn popper, but for years, Dale served us big bowls of delicious crunchiness, the perfect accompaniment to The Wonderful World of Disney and The Ed Sullivan Show.  

Productive Popcorn

Occasionally, Dale scorched the popcorn and my parents complained about the smell, but I secretly loved the taste of burned popcorn.  Long before our favorite television shows ended, the popcorn disappeared, leaving only old maids, those kernels that resisted popping, in the bowls.   

Dale Hamby Holds His Special Popcorn Pot

When my brother and his wife welcomed sons to their family, my mother presented Dale with her aluminum popcorn pot, the same device he used to make our favorite Sunday evening treat all those years ago.  Although he finds it useful for cooking scout camp meals, Dale also pops corn in that pot for his own family.  Recently we talked about our shared love of popcorn and I wondered why, rather than purchase supermarket popcorn, I did not try to grow my own. 

Checking for Germination & Maturity

An heirloom seed catalog enticed me to purchase Cherokee Long Ear popcorn seeds in 2009, but I stored the seeds in my freezer until this year.  Farmers do not grow popcorn and sweet corn in close proximity because wind and pollinators will carry pollen from one crop to the other, resulting in corn that is not sweet, as it should be.  Ideally, growers plant popcorn a great distance from sweet corn or delay planting one of the varieties until the other has bloomed.  On July 1st, when it was obvious my Hopi corn did not produce successfully, I planted colorful Cherokee Long Ear popcorn.

After Several Years, Cherokee Long Ear Seeds Germinated Well

Since the seeds were several years old, I planted them thickly, but
almost every seed germinated and a few weeks later, I thinned seedlings to allow ample growing room.  On September 24th, I pulled a few ears to check maturity and found the popcorn to be nicely germinated with rows of beautifully colored kernels.  Since popcorn dries on the ear before shelling, I left the majority of the crop standing in the field until early October, when I harvested 74 ears.

Colorful Popcorn Cobs Make Great Fire Starters

After the popcorn dried for a few weeks in well-ventilated space, I tested a small amount to be sure the kernels would pop and then shelled the ears.  Impressed by the 4 1/2 pound yield and the delicious flavor, I vowed to grow Cherokee Long Ear every year.  Now that I have plenty of seeds to plant next year and enough to share, I wonder if I can entice my brother to pull out his special popcorn pot?  If he scorches the Cherokee Long Ear, I will not complain.  Heck, I'll even rent a couple of old Disney movies to sweeten the deal.

If you love popcorn and want to enjoy a special treat, seek out heirloom varieties at local farmer's markets or plan to grow your own next year.  I use the following ingredients to add flavor to popped corn, but the instructions for popping are Dale's recipe.

Dale's Sunday Evening Popcorn

In a large pot with a long handle and covered lid, add about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil.  Heat over medium high heat until oil coats bottom of pot.  Add 2 ounces popcorn kernels and shake pot to combine kernels and oil.  Place lid on pot.  Shake vigorously over heat until kernels begin to pop.  Continue shaking pop to allow unpopped kernels to settle to bottom.  To avoid scorching, do not allow popcorn to sit idle while popping.  (Unless you like it that way!)  Occasionally, slightly move the lid to one side to allow a bit of air to enter the pot.  This helps more kernels to pop successfully, but take care to prevent popping kernels from escaping the pot.  When popping slows, remove the pot from heat and pour popcorn into serving bowls.  Add a light sprinkling of salt and enjoy.

Fresh Herbs Add Flavor and Nutritional Punch

Fresh Herb Topping
Snip a combination of fresh herbs you enjoy.  I use basil, thyme, rosemary, borage, oregano, parsley, chives and sage.  Strip the leaves from woody stems like thyme and rosemary.  Using a large chef's knife, chop herbs until they are finely chopped and combined.  Yield should be about 2 tablespoons.  
In a small bowl, combine herbs with about 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil.
Toss hot popcorn with herb mixture and serve immediately.

Cheesy Pepper Topping
Toss hot popcorn with about 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese to combine.  Top with a light sprinkling of red pepper flakes.  Serve and enjoy.

Herb topping on left, Cheesy Pepper on Right