In of The Road Less Eaten, chef and host Biju Thomas visits Utah鈥檚 Heber Valley, an unassuming corner of the western U.S. that has seen an explosion in its food scene over the course of the last ten years. While in the Heber Valley, Thomas spends the majority of his time in Midway, Utah, a town on the Eastern flank of the Wasatch Mountains, about an hour away from Salt Lake City and a stone鈥檚 throw from Park City.

Thomas tells viewers that local farming and great ingredients have made the Heber Valley a quiet food mecca with a vibrant culinary scene that can hold its own against other, more well-known food destinations. With farms and ranches dotting the landscape, and local bakeries and restaurants that understand the value of locally sourced ingredients, the Heber Valley is filled with dining destinations for visitors to explore after a day hitting the slopes or adventuring in the outdoors.

 

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Hawk and Sparrow Bakery

Thomas starts his journey through the Heber Valley food scene at , which is an organic, artisan bakery located in baker Andrew Berthrong鈥檚 home garage in Midway, Utah, that Thomas says produces some of the best bread in Utah. Hawk and Sparrow is known for its sourdough, which is a staple in Heber Valley restaurants that aim to showcase local ingredients and artisan products. Thomas describes Berthrong, a former academic, as 鈥渙ne of the best bakers in the country.鈥�

Viewers watch as Thomas and Berthrong sample the popular sourdough, which takes a multi-day process to create. As they slather the bread with butter, Thomas remarks on the beauty and simplicity of freshly baked bread that鈥檚 made with just a few ingredients because it really has nothing to get in the way of its flavor.

 

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Lola鈥檚 Street Kitchen

From Hawk and Sparrow, Thomas ventures onto , a former food truck that now has a brick-and-mortar location in Midway, Utah. Owned and operated by David and Mandy Medina, Lola鈥檚 makes all of their own breads, buns, and pitas in addition to using some of the sourdough from Hawk and Sparrow. The Medinas envisioned the restaurant as showcasing the best of American street food, all made from scratch.

One of the highlights of Thomas鈥� visit to Lola鈥檚 includes a rundown of their three most popular items: the fried chicken sandwich on freshly baked potato roll, lamb gyro on handmade pita, and a portobello truffle melt on Hawk and Sparrow鈥檚 sourdough. Thomas describes Lola鈥檚 as approachable and affordable with beautiful dishes but without any fussiness or stuffiness.

Heber Valley Artisan Cheese

After his ride on the local 鈥淗eber Creeper鈥� train, Thomas takes viewers to the fourth-generation family-owned dairy farm and shop. Thomas describes the dairy鈥攁nd its owner and operator Russ Kohler鈥攁s embodying the ethics of the region. At Heber Valley Artisan Cheese, they do it all; they grow the hay that feeds the cows, and they raise the herd that produces the milk that turns into some of the world鈥檚 finest cheese.

And Thomas isn鈥檛 exaggerating. Heber Valley Artisan Cheese won a gold medal at the World Cheese Awards for its Lemon Sage Cheddar, and its Wasatch Back Jack is a National Champion. A highlight for Thomas comes when he gets to taste both prize winners. As he samples the cheddar, Thomas remarks that the cheese is actually 鈥渕ore buttery than cheesy,鈥� which Kohler explains is a result of the cows鈥� diet. Because corn doesn鈥檛 grow at elevation, the Heber Valley Artisan Cheese herd has an alfalfa-based diet. Alfalfa diets create a richer, creamier texture in the cheese.

 

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Midway Mercantile

Chef John Platt then gives Thomas a tour and tasting at his upscale Midway, Utah, eatery . A former teacher and principal, Platt moved to Midway nearly two decades ago, drawn by the Heber Valley鈥檚 beauty.

While at Midway Mercantile, Thomas gets to sample their panko-crusted Alaskan Halibut, which is Midway Mercantile鈥檚 most popular dish. The fish is panko crusted in yellow curry, served with coconut rice and spinach, and topped with apple chutney. Thomas loves the dish鈥攑articularly the apple chutney. Thomas also gets to taste Sandra鈥檚 Classic Salad, a salad named after Platt鈥檚 wife and composed of greens, herbs, lemon vinaigrette, truffle oil, and grilled Juustoleipa cheese. Juustoleipa is a Finnish bread cheese that really has its flavors come out when grilled.

 

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Ritual Chocolate

Thomas finishes his exploration of the Heber Valley at , where Anna Seear has perfected small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate from ethically sourced heirloom cacao. Thomas notes that he and Seear actually both started their careers in the Boulder, Colorado, food scene.

After walking through the artisanal process Seear uses to create Ritual鈥檚 finely crafted chocolate, Thomas enjoys tasting Ritual鈥檚 unique, single-origin drinking chocolates, which are made from half hot water and half chocolate. After drinking both the Madagascar and the Ecuador, Thomas notes the cinnamon-y flavor and richness of the Ecuador, while the Madagascar has a brighter flavor.

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It鈥檚 not that I don鈥檛 like food. I do. I carry frozen cheesecakes on winter expeditions. They鈥檙e caloric and they don鈥檛 freeze hard, so you can bite off chunks without chipping your teeth. I once ate the same dead catfish boiled over a fire for three days. Was it good? Absolutely not. I like cardamom, snap peas, and Asian pears. I eat frozen bean burritos. I hate raw tomatoes, a trait I attribute to growing up near a ketchup factory in California. Tomatoes festered on every street corner and stuck to the soles of my flip-flops. They rolled off trucks en route to the factory, then rotted in the sun.

My husband, on the other hand, was raised by an epicurean grandfather, driving hours one-way for frog legs, bouillabasse, a pastry shaped like a bird鈥檚 nest. We have twin babies now. He wants them to appreciate good food, so he’s learning to cook. In pursuit of this goal, he discovered the , a remote bed and breakfast in Michigan鈥檚 Upper Peninsula where superstar chef Lane Regan (formerly Iliana) cooks foraged ingredients for a handful of guests in exclusive weekends that sell out years in advance. This year, my husband鈥檚 been helping out at the Inn, building a woodshed and tending colonies of bees. He鈥檚 developed a new language, dropping words like 鈥済arum鈥� and fermenting wild plums on the top shelf of our closet. In exchange for his work, Lane offered us a slot on a last-minute November weekend鈥攁nd my husband, excited to share a place he loves, gave the slot to me.

The Inn lies about a mile from two-lane Highway 13 as the crow flies, and 25 miles by unmarked dirt road. Guests caravan. It鈥檚 a log cabin with a central parlor that鈥檚 half kitchen, adorned with Pendleton blankets, paintings of foxes, and Chef鈥檚 three Michelin stars. Tonight鈥檚 dinner is not the star of the weekend鈥攖hat would be Saturday鈥檚 15-course tasting menu鈥攂ut as guests gather around the three small tables, it鈥檚 clearly no less anticipated. I scoot in at the corner table with two couples, dodging a silky lump that reveals itself to be a Shih Tzu named Clemmie. George, a nine-year-old Newfoundland, sprawls like a bear rug by the hearth.

Host Rebecca, a breezy redhead with pigtails and an expression of warm concern, brings dishes of savoy cabbage with pine flower miso and milkweed flower vinegar that have my tablemates gasping. It鈥檚 meaty, complex, and鈥攖o my inexperienced palate鈥攊neffable. I feel like a phony for eating it without the knowledge to name the tastes. Like wild mushrooms, I think, tentative even in my mind鈥攁nd when a neighbor mentions the same, I feel a sprig of confidence. By the bread course, a thick warm sourdough with tangy goat milk butter and honey, I find myself relaxing. The trout in herb gribiche is fleshy and tastes like lake in the best way, and dessert鈥攁 profiterole with spruce ice cream and chaga cookie top that cracks into patches like the spots on an amanita鈥攐ffers an almost musical experience of bliss.

By the time guests sigh and lean back, the woods outside the windows are black. The nearest neighbors are more than a howl鈥檚 reach away. Rebecca did a 12-day silent retreat 鈥渋n order to be able to work here鈥攂ecause one struggles with one鈥檚 mind,鈥� she remarks of the Inn鈥檚 isolation, gliding to the table with postprandial tea. A guest inquires if she has any decaf coffee. 鈥淣o the fuck we do not,鈥� she says.

I sleep outside by choice, full-bellied in two sleeping bags, and wake to daylight in a shell of ice.

By first breakfast鈥攂anana-walnut bread with salt and butter鈥攖he guests are familiar with each other. They鈥檙e midwestern, foodies, adventurous鈥攖wo retired couples, a pair of restaurant owners, and a data scientist and millennial geriatrician from Madison, Wisconsin. Chef Lane bustles in the kitchen, answering questions and offering guidance on the wood-fired sauna. They鈥檙e slim and soft-spoken, with a teal moth tattooed on their neck, wings filling the open collar of their tucked-in wool flannel. In a minute they stir, scoop, plate, taste, give hiking suggestions, and brush Shih Tzu Clemmie鈥檚 eyebrows up with their hand, securing them with plastic barrettes. Second breakfast is tacos on green tortillas, tinged with weeds picked that week.

The day is food and leisure; some folks wander to the Sturgeon River, descending a trailless slope, while others knit, hike, or read. I sit briefly in the loft, overhearing snippets of conversation. 鈥淥ne time I got stung by a hornet on my butt cheek and [redacted] sucked all the venom out of me,鈥� someone remarks. 鈥淭hat was the most romantic thing he鈥檚 ever done.鈥� Later, thoughtful: 鈥淢y tapeworm鈥檚 the only one who understands me.鈥�

When guests stay too long in the sauna, Lane worries. 鈥淒o you think they passed out?鈥� they murmur. 鈥淢aybe they鈥檙e cooking.鈥�

Lane says that guests at Milkweed fall on a spectrum: on one extreme, foodies who rarely step outdoors, and at the other, outdoorsfolk who鈥攍ike myself鈥斺�渉ave never even had a tasting menu.鈥� It鈥檚 Milkweed that brings them together.

As an adventurer, I鈥檓 often in the position of enticing people outside, and it can be a hard sell. Not because the highs aren鈥檛 great, but because folks fear the lows: bugs, cold, bears, isolation, toilet paper made of leaves. And yet here鈥檚 Milkweed, pulling magic: calling new people into the Northwoods, not in spite of discomfort, but for pursuit of pleasure alone.

Lunch starts with a salad of fennel and carrot two ways (shaved raw, and blanched and marinated in lemon), moose garum and egg white aminos with marinated white beans and garnished with chamomile. The flavor is multisensory, euphoric; I feel it in my arms. Something鈥檚 sweet on my tongue, and tart on the sides of my mouth, and there鈥檚 a tinge of smoke, too, which surprises me.

鈥淲e fed the moose firewood,鈥� says cooking resident Jade. She鈥檚 joking, but she might as well not be, because I swear it鈥檚 all there: the soil, the rain, the antlers, the trees. And when it hits me, I almost laugh from the revelation: foraged food isn鈥檛 just about bringing people into wildness. It鈥檚 about bringing wildness into our very mouths.

We can鈥攚e do鈥攈ave nature inside us, even in the most conservative sense of the word: wilderness as nonhuman, nature as beyond control. What鈥檚 a tapeworm if not a reminder that our bodies are ecosystems, too? But this place, this cooking, this food鈥攊t turns fear into pleasure. Savoring a wild lion鈥檚 mane mushroom is no less an engagement with wildness than spotting one in the woods, and it is鈥攊n a tactile way鈥攎ore accessible to most.

I鈥檓 not proud to realize that my lack of engagement with good food was, in minuscule part, because I thought myself above it. Because, while I savor comfort, I鈥檝e always prided myself on enduring its lack, and I have in me some Puritan sense that suffering for a goal gives you greater pride. I have struggled in my life to let myself be purely content, and maybe food represents that: it turns a need into a gift. I鈥檝e spent decades chasing wilderness, when it could always be right here: on my plate, in my mouth, in the animal body that I am.

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I used to have a recurring dream in which I鈥檓 sitting on my mat awaiting instructions from a panel of my yoga teachers. I鈥檓 at an Iyengar yoga assessment, for which I鈥檓 completely unprepared. And I am terrified. After what seems like an eternity, they tell me my task: I鈥檓 to carve a Thanksgiving turkey right there on my mat using the props in front of me鈥攁 plastic fork and knife.

It鈥檚 possible that I had some anxiety about cooking holiday dinner.

From My Fondest Memory to the Fear of Failure

I can still smell my mother鈥檚 kitchen on Thanksgiving morning. The fragrance of her homemade pies mixed with the aroma of the turkey roasting in the oven created an air of anticipation that could be felt throughout the house. My sister and I would watch the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV in our pajamas and would periodically be called into the kitchen to help my mother stir a pot or lick a bowl. The whole day was spent waiting for the moment we were called to the table. By the time dinner was ready, we were practically giddy as we loaded our plates with my mother鈥檚 delicious food in the most anticipated meal of the year.

Now that the torch of cooking the family鈥檚 holiday dinner has passed to me, my anticipation has morphed into recurring anxiety about living up to my memory of all those Thanksgivings past. One year, the turkey wasn鈥檛 fully cooked, the side dishes were cold, and I sat at the table feeling totally defeated. The pressure to replicate the magic of my childhood memories combined with the fear of failing turns out to be the perfect recipe for a really bad time.

Whether in the kitchen or on the yoga mat, fear is like a big bucket of ice dumped on the spark of adventure. Fear leaves us either too much in our own heads to access our inherent creativity and intuition鈥攐r so paralyzed that we convince ourselves we鈥檙e not even capable of trying. Fear seduces us into a place of complacency, inviting us to avoid what scares us in favor of dwelling in the comfort of our familiar beliefs. Fear prevents us from making mistakes and gaining the kind of wisdom that only comes from taking risks.

How Yoga Transformed My Holiday Stress

Patanjali鈥檚 classic text, the , offers several tools to help manage fear. Foremost among them are the principles of practice and . Practice, as outlined in Sutra 1.14, includes three aspects: We must practice for a long time, without break, and in all earnestness. This last one means we have to believe what we鈥檙e practicing is actually possible.

Sutras 1.15 and 1.16 describe detachment, which essentially means that our identities are not dependent on our successes or failures. This knowledge leads to freedom and a very real connection to the .

Practicing鈥攃ontinuously showing up in the face of real or potential failure鈥攊s trusting that the process is the goal. Ultimately, it鈥檚 the intention behind my cooking, the effort I鈥檝e devoted to the meal, and the heart I鈥檝e poured into each dish that will make the meal a success.

Even a botched attempt at cooking Thanksgiving dinner is an opportunity to practice detachment. One year, my apple pie fell apart and I had no backup plan and a table full of guests awaiting dessert. I had to let go of my original plan and quickly adapt to the new situation. So I decided to scoop out the apple filling and spoon it over some vanilla ice cream. No one knew the difference; in fact, it was a huge hit!

It鈥檚 often when things have fallen apart that I鈥檝e realized just how much I limited myself with my own expectations. 听It鈥檚 often in those moments that you get to know your own resilience and experience a true connection to the moment. Opening myself up to life often results in something greater than I could have imagined. And some of my best memories are of times when nothing went according to plan鈥攚hen I was forced to surrender.

How to Make Thanksgiving Less Stressful

Once I remembered that the truth of who I am does not depend on my producing a flawless meal, I felt more at ease. Now I know how to overcome holiday stress because I鈥檝e realized the ways that being in the kitchen cooking dinner is a lot like showing up on the yoga mat.

1. Connect With Your Inner State

Bring your yoga practice into the kitchen by tuning into how you feel as you create your Thanksgiving menu. Anxiety, doubt, and fear can all be felt in the body and are signs that you need to reevaluate your approach. Focus your attention on the process of executing what you can manage to the best of your abilities.

Taking risks in the kitchen is about listening to the motivations that drive your efforts. If I鈥檓 considering a challenging recipe, such as an apple pie with pastry made from scratch, and I can feel myself getting excited about the process, I go for it. I know that no matter how it turns out, it will have been worth it because it was my commitment to the adventure, not the result, that inspired me to be daring in the first place.

If, on the other hand, I stare at the recipe with a sense of dread or expectation, or if I鈥檓 hoping that the finished product will prove something to myself or to others, then I know that no matter how it turns out, I will not enjoy the fruits of my efforts.

2. Focus on the Journey鈥擭ot the Outcome

When you can鈥檛 do a challenging pose in yoga, the practice is to focus on and appreciate what you can do. Flailing toward an end result will get you nowhere. And if you somehow arrive at the 鈥渆nd goal鈥� by doing so, you will have missed the point because you weren鈥檛 connected to yourself in the process.

It matters how you feel during a yoga practice鈥攏ot what you look like. Cooking is the same: A dish鈥檚 value lies in how it was created.

3. You鈥檙e Allowed to Change Your Mind

Let go of your expectation that you need to whip up elaborate food just because it鈥檚 Thanksgiving. Really. This mindset can free you from the pitfalls of self-inflicted suffering.

It鈥檚 perfectly okay to opt out of a challenging recipe if it doesn鈥檛 feel right. I鈥檝e learned over the years to ease up on myself by swapping out difficult, time-consuming recipes for simple, foolproof ones, such as incredible, crispy roasted brussel sprouts with maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. (They take about five minutes to prepare before I pop them in the oven.)

4. Follow Your Intuition

Cooking, like yoga, is about connecting to yourself in the moment. Pose cues such as 鈥渟tand equally on all four corners of your feet鈥� are useful only when you can feel them in your own body. Similarly, a recipe is only a guideline. Great cooking happens when you listen to your gut, trust your instincts, and make the recipe your own. Follow the instructions as a starting point, but allow yourself to experiment, play, and have fun.

I鈥檓 not nervous anymore because now I know how to make Thanksgiving less stressful. No matter how the meal turns out, the people who matter most in my life will celebrate the love and effort I put into our shared experience. What I鈥檒l remember most is the attitude I chose to bring to the kitchen and the wisdom I鈥檒l gain from letting go.

This article has been updated. Originally published October 2, 2013.

The post Making Thanksgiving Dinner Doesn鈥檛 Have to Be Stressful. Here鈥檚 What You Need to Know. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In the of The Road Less Eaten,听season two, chef, author, and show host, Biju Thomas, visits the south shore of Lake Tahoe, California. He and snowboarder Hannah Teter explore the lake by boat and clear kayak before Thomas tries some of the best food this outdoorsy paradise has to offer.

Here are the highlights of Thomas鈥檚 stops on The Road Less Eaten: Lake Tahoe.

Azul Latin Kitchen

blends South and Central American cuisine with influences from all over the world, including听Thailand and India. The South Tahoe restaurant is also known for its fresh-squeezed margaritas.

In the show, Thomas works with chef and manager Jeff McWilliams to cook up some steak fajitas, complete with vegetables and a secret sauce. The secret sauce, McWilliams shares, is a blend of tamari, Worcester sauce, lime juice, and a mix of spices. Thomas also samples a dish called tacos three ways that features a fish taco made up of battered cod with lemon and pickled red onion. Then, there’s the Thai curry taco, which consists of slow-cooked chicken with red curry, pickled mango, and candied jalape帽os and Fresnos. The dish also comes with a vegetarian option: a sweet potato and black bean taco with chipotle slaw.

Toulouse

Next, Thomas heads to , a Cajun听restaurant also located on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. It was founded by four friends who met on Toulouse Street in New Orleans more than 30 years ago. The friends chose Lake Tahoe because many of them are big skiers and they wanted to be closer to the mountains.

Thomas samples a variety of dishes during his visit, including the house salad, shrimp and grits with mushrooms and tasso ham, and the blackened ahi tuna, which gets a kick from the Japanese seasoning yuzu kosho. Many items on the menu are made from local and sustainable ingredients.

Desolation Hotel, Maggie’s

Named for the nearby Desolation Wilderness, the micro hotel is themed around outdoor exploration. Maggie’s, the connected restaurant, is named after Maggie McPeaks, one of the first women to explore the Sierra mountains. The staff of uses seasonal ingredients, which keeps the menu fresh and ever-evolving.

滨苍听The Road Less Eaten,听Thomas tries the New York strip, which comes with a side of asparagus stuffed with goat cheese and fondant potatoes. Also on the menu: the Sacramento rack of lamb, with crispy, roasted potatoes and roasted baby carrots with an orange glaze. Thomas also samples the Spanish octopus with a cucumber salad and edible orchid.

Elements Eatery and Bar

For breakfast, Thomas visits , a newer restaurant in the area. Elements infuses diner classics with a Latin flavor. Thomas samples the eggs Benedict, with marinated adobo-style pork, house-mashed avocado, and an heirloom tomato on charred English muffins, served with lard-fried tater tots. The entire dish is topped with their hollandaise sauce, which has an acidic base of cut听green salsa.

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At the end of August I get the call. 鈥淭he apricots are ready,鈥� my mom says excitedly. I grab a few buckets, jump in my car, and drive the 100 or so miles from my home in Dillon, Colorado, to her place in Carbondale. We pile into her Subaru and wind a bit higher into the slopes above the Roaring Fork Valley. We wave as we pass our friends鈥� house, then park below their orchard, a century-old stand of apricot trees that sits at 6,500 feet.

The 50 trees here are old, and time has gnarled their branches. A weathered wooden ladder reaches into the canopy; the perfumed air reminds us of the jam making and baking that will (happily) occupy our time in the week ahead.

These days, grocery stores sell firm apricots the size of golf balls, but the soft, ripe fruit in these trees are the diameter of a quarter. It takes a while to fill a bucket, but the intense flavors are worth it. Other scavengers are around鈥攂irds, deer, even bears鈥攁nd we give them plenty of space.

This orchard, which contains several apricot varieties, is believed to date back to 1915, and being here makes me think about the people who planted it, and what the trees have endured. Surely, there have been periods of extended drought and extreme cold, and yet, year after year, they continue to bring forth treasures.

鈥淔ruit trees watch several generations go by,鈥� says Michael Thompson, who, along with Jerome Osentowski, cofounded an organization called the , a nonprofit that maps and catalogs ancient specimens like these all over the valley.

Great old trees are not unique to Colorado or the West, of course. They dot the nation, languishing in plain sight in forgotten corners of cities and towns, and across rolling farmland. But in recent years鈥攕purred by a renewed interest in things with rich stories and heritage behind them鈥攖here鈥檚 been a movement not just to save old trees but to propagate them for the future.

In New York City, Sam Van Aken, an artist turned farmer, planted a permanent heirloom 鈥渆xhibition鈥� on Governors Island called . The public site opened in 2022; the 102 specimens it comprises are grafted from trees鈥攁pricots, apples, pears, persimmons, cherries, and others鈥攖hat once thrived across the city鈥檚 five boroughs. In total, they represent about 400 years of local agriculture.

Although most Americans get by with the fruit they find piled in grocery bins, that represents only the tiniest slice of what once freely bloomed. Take the apple. Our commercial, homogenized food system promotes varieties like the crisp but boring Fuji and Granny Smith because they are easily grown, universally accepted, and hardy enough to transport and store.

鈥淭here were once thousands of cultivated apple varieties, and now we鈥檙e down to hundreds,鈥� says Vanessa Harmony, a tree propagator and the owner of Colorado Edible Forest in Glenwood Springs, which works in tandem with the Heritage Fruit Tree Project. 鈥淭here are so many delicious fruits that could be lost if they鈥檙e not found,鈥� she says.

That鈥檚 the role of organizations like ; Washington State University鈥檚 MyFruitTree, which works only with apples; and regional entities like Thompson鈥檚 Heritage Fruit Tree Project. Indexing each heirloom鈥檚 type, location, approximate age, fruit characteristics, and site history culminates in a written log and map of agricultural diversity. This information helps when experts are grafting clones to ensure that varieties aren鈥檛 lost to time.

Like Open Orchard in New York, Harmony, Thompson, and Osentowski have had a hand in creating a research site filled with fruit trees. The parcel, established in 2020, sits within an old orchard in Emma, Colorado, outside Basalt. It鈥檚 open to the public and will eventually feature informational placards, so visitors know what they鈥檙e looking at. Harmony helps maintain the old trees and the newly planted clones gathered from around the valley. 鈥淚t鈥檚 become a living library for me,鈥� she says.

Observing the trees through the seasons means Harmony can identify desired qualities鈥攚hether it鈥檚 the best-tasting fruit, tree hardiness, or something else. She can also send leaf samples out for genetic testing to determine exactly what kind of tree she鈥檚 dealing with. Sometimes that information yields an entirely new variety鈥攐r, rather, one so old that no one around today knew about it.

Thompson enlisted Harmony鈥檚 help with his favorite: a grand old apple tree he affectionately calls Mo. It was planted in 1910 and produces what Thompson considers the best apple he鈥檚 ever found for pie making. In recent years, this magnificent tree has suffered from blight, and even with thoughtful pruning its future is in question. Harmony has already grafted multiple clones from healthy parts of the tree. Those 鈥淢ini Mos鈥濃�攖wo of which are planted in Thompson鈥檚 daughter鈥檚 backyard in Oregon, and two of which are doing well at Harmony鈥檚 nursery鈥攁re the next generation. 鈥淭he tree will live on,鈥� he says.

As for the apricots that leave my mom鈥檚 and my hands sticky with juice, our friends have largely let nature take its course. In the thirtyish years they have owned the property, Susy Ellison says they鈥檝e had the orchard pruned only a couple of times. The trees, she tells me, seem to like being left alone. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to fuss with them too much,鈥� she explains, adding that they鈥檝e been cataloged by the Heritage Fruit Tree Project.

We gather our buckets and load them into the car. As soon as we close the doors, we鈥檙e enveloped by the thick and heady scent of apricots. We wave again as we pass the house and drive straight to my mom鈥檚. There鈥檚 jam to be made.

Fruit Forward: Interest in Heritage Fruit Has Blossomed

Although the Heritage Fruit Tree Project is specific to Colorado鈥檚 Roaring Fork Valley, there are other organizations doing similar work around the country.

The biggest among these is the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group of North America. The serves as a national database and registry of historic trees and orchards.

Anyone interested in heirloom fruit, especially apples, should sign up for the University of Idaho Heritage Orchard Conference. The free monthly webinars are packed with info on subjects ranging from cider making to tree propagation.

New Yorkers (and those just visiting) can check out Open Orchard on Governors Island, where approximately 100 trees represent the bounty that once grew in the city鈥檚 five boroughs.

The and the are based in southwestern and western Colorado, respectively, and focus almost exclusively on apples. Both are intent on saving orchard culture as well as legacy genetics.

Apricot Snack Bars

There are a million and one jam-bar recipes out there, and this is mine鈥攅xcept that I use fresh fruit instead of preserves. The recipe works equally well with fresh and frozen apricots; you can also swap in seasonal berries or peaches and plums. What makes the treats so irresistible is the sweet-tart play of crust and fruit.

Makes about 12 bars

For the Filling:

• 3 cups apricots, halved or
  quartered, depending on size
• 录 cup sugar
• 陆 lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp cornstarch

For the Crust:

• 1陆 cups flour
• 陆 cup old-fashioned oats
• 陆 cup sugar
• 陆 tsp baking powder
• 陆 tsp salt
• 陆 cup unsalted butter, chilled
• 鈪� cup full-fat plain yogurt

Prepare the filling by combining apricots, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Set aside and allow to macerate at room temperature. (This step can be done in advance.) If fruit is frozen, allow it to thaw before macerating.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an eight-inch square baking pan.

Prepare the crust by stirring together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Cube butter and add to flour mixture. Use your fingers to smear and incorporate the butter into the flour mixture. Add yogurt and stir. The mixture should be dry.

Add about 1陆 cups of this crust mixture to the prepared pan, or enough to cover the bottom evenly. Press mixture down with fingers or use the base of a measuring cup until firm. Press a square of parchment paper onto the surface of the crust and then add pie weights (you can also use dried beans or rice). Par-bake for 12 minutes, until set but still soft. Carefully remove parchment and weights.

Stir cornstarch into the apricots. Pour apricot mixture over crust. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and fruit is bubbling. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Amanda M. Faison, a writer and editor based in Colorado, is working on her first cookbook.

The post If You鈥檙e Not Picking Heritage Fruit, You Should Be appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

鈥淪carcity fosters creativity,鈥� said chef Aaron Lopez as he placed a small woven basket on my plate. He removed the lid to reveal two amaranth-leaf-topped squares that looked like artisanal chocolates. I lifted one and took a bite. The cr猫me-br没l茅e-like shell shattered, releasing a sweet, fibrous, squash-filled interior laced with subtle heat.

It was late June and Lopez, 38, had invited me to his hometown, the inland Southern California city of El Centro, to preview the menu of his ambitious new restaurant, , which pays homage to the deserts of the American Southwest.

The freshly limewashed walls of the dining room were decorated with tumbleweeds gathered from his mom鈥檚 backyard and lined with cacti growing in clay pots. In the kitchen, his fridge and pantry were stocked with esoteric ingredients: a cactus glaze, cold pickled desert mallow shrub, prickly pear sambal, bee pollen shoyu, mesquite sap.

Lopez is on a mission to reimagine forgotten desert foods and ignite a sense of pride and possibility around a cuisine largely defined by chiles. Those bite-size squash snacks were created by borrowing from the Indigenous technique of nixtamalization. Traditionally, the process involves steeping and cooking corn in an alkaline solution, which makes it easier to grind into masa for tortillas. Lopez applies a similar method to this dish, soaking the mixture in the solution for two days before cooking it in agave syrup. He then shapes it into squares that are lightly fried to create a paper-thin, sugary crust, and then tops the whole thing with a sticky, fudge-like sauce made from fermented Hatch chiles and squash-seed shio koji, a Japanese marinade. The result was a perfect combination of sweet and savory.

鈥淲hat drew me to cooking wasn鈥檛 a desire to nourish people,鈥� Lopez told me over kombucha he ages in Sonoran clay pots. 鈥淚 was fascinated with manipulating ingredients, turning something unexpected or unappetizing into something delicious.鈥�

Before he embarked on a career in the kitchen, he was a sculptor and played bass in a punk band. Perhaps it takes the eyes of an artist to see a landscape of sun-scorched earth, spiky plants, petrified forests, and stinging critters as bountiful.

Since leasing the 43-seat restaurant space in January, Lopez and his wife, June Chee, have been hiking, foraging, and camping across the Southwest, including Joshua Tree National Park, 95 miles north. On his journey, Lopez has learned how Native people thrived in these harsh landscapes, relying on drought- and heat-tolerant crops such as chia, with its fiber-rich seeds, and tepary beans, small brown legumes with a chestnut flavor. 鈥淚 bring foraging guides on what the Pueblo ate and a point-and-shoot camera, and we pull into secluded areas, pluck some ingredients to taste, and scribble field notes,鈥� he said.

The desert is often a punishing place to harvest from. 鈥淚t can feel like you鈥檙e foraging on the sun,鈥� said Lopez. In summer, it鈥檚 not unusual for the couple to head out as early as 3:30 in the morning to beat the heat. They bring along their dogs, Lola and Jupiter, to warn of rattlesnakes and chase away tarantulas. Thick gloves are essential; Lopez estimates that he owns two dozen pairs. 鈥淚鈥檓 constantly shopping for ones that won鈥檛 puncture when I鈥檓 de-thorning things like prickly pear,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e almost become immune to the cuts and stab wounds.鈥�

Lopez never imagined he鈥檇 return home. As a teenager, he didn鈥檛 see a future in El Centro, a gritty city just over two hours east of San Diego in California鈥檚 Imperial Valley and 15 miles north of the Mexican border town of Mexicali. 鈥淚 ran away from the desert as soon as I could,鈥� he said. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Los Angeles in 2012, he spent four years cutting his teeth at some of the city鈥檚 top restaurants, notably the Michelin-starred Orsa and Winston, where he helped craft the 25-course tasting menu nightly. He then decamped to Honolulu for six years and made a name for himself pushing flavor boundaries at the now shuttered Heiho House, a high-end gastropub.

But it was during his time in the tropics that Lopez started to feel the tug of the desert. 鈥淚鈥檇 come back to visit and look at the landscape with a different perspective,鈥� he said. On these trips, he鈥檇 speak with foragers and members of local Indigenous communities, and those conversations turned him in a new direction. 鈥淚 realized my heart was in the desert. I want to show the culinary community that our products can compete with those grown in a more hospitable climate.鈥�

Lopez isn鈥檛 the only one exploring the potential of resilient desert flora as ingredients. Scientists think that wild desert plants, such as nitrogen-fixing tree legumes and water-efficient succulents, could be critical to sustainable farming in a hotter, more arid world. Ahead of my trip to Ursa, I called Erin Riordan, a conservation research scientist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson. She told me that many crops grown in the nation鈥檚 deserts鈥攚heat and barley, to name two鈥攁ren鈥檛 naturally designed to survive in xeric climates, because they didn鈥檛 originate there. As weather becomes more extreme, such crops will require more water, chemicals, and electricity to grow.

This is of particular concern in Imperial County, which is the state鈥檚 driest and only receives two to three inches of rain each year. The county is allocated the single largest share of water from the Colorado River. But that waterway continues to dry up, forcing the valley鈥檚 400-some farmers to drastically reduce their usage for crops like broccoli, lettuce, and wheat.

In 2020, Riordan coauthored a University of Arizona study that evaluated plants traditionally eaten by the Sonoran Desert鈥檚 Indigenous cultures, such as cacti and agaves. 鈥淭hese species are already adapted to arid weather, require less water and energy, and produce more reliable yields,鈥� she told me. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e also rich in nutrients and antioxidants.鈥�

Like Lopez, Riordan sees deserts not as wastelands but as laboratories for food. She鈥檚 involved in a three-year project funded by the USDA that鈥檚 working with Arizona farmers to identify hardy, desert-adapted crops, promote climate-smart farming practices, and raise consumer awareness. She believes that chefs like Lopez can help influence the appeal of these foods. 鈥淔armers are wary of switching to desert crops, because they don鈥檛 know if they鈥檒l be able to move the product,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have to expand the palate of the general public to build a market.鈥�

Back at Ursa, named for the constellation, Lopez excitedly showed me a space he鈥檚 building as a kind of lab dedicated to exploring the terroir of the Great Basin and the Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Sonoran Deserts. His inspirations: star Nordic chef Ren茅 Redzepi鈥檚 forthcoming Copenhagen food lab and acclaimed Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez鈥檚 research center in Lima, which employs a team of sociologists, botanists, and anthropologists to study native ingredients.

Lopez is in the process of hiring a director to research recipes and techniques used by Indigenous communities. When the lab is completed early next year, the two of them will meet with the restaurant鈥檚 network of foragers, then test ingredients and develop recipes that address culinary questions like: What happens when you dehydrate lamb鈥檚-quarters (an edible weed)? Can you age, brine, and lightly cold-smoke barrel cactus seeds to emulate caviar?

Lopez has also sought out wisdom from Indigenous communities. On a series of R&D trips, he met with members of Arizona鈥檚 Tohono O鈥檕dham Nation, who introduced him to the prized buds of the cholla cactus, which bloom each spring. Lopez cooks the buds sous vide in a mushroom brine, dries them, and then shaves them like truffles to add an earthy punch to dishes.

Ramona Button, the proprietor of Ramona Farms on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, has become Lopez鈥檚 fixer for a finely stone-ground, cob-roasted Pima corn known as 驳补鈥檌惫蝉补, a dying ingredient he hopes to revitalize. For my meal, he turned it into comforting, nutty grits, topped with sour corn, corn pudding, and fall-off-your-fork corned antelope, his twist on corned beef.

Lopez has adopted the zero-waste mentality long embraced by Native communities, too. He steeps the pods of the ironwood tree, for example, to make tea, and he turns scraps of wild boar into an umami-rich fermented garum, a riff on fish sauce. My favorite example of whole-ingredient cooking was a flan-like dessert crafted from all four parts of mesquite, a food so important to the Tohono O鈥檕dham that they once had a lunar-calendar month dedicated to it.

My meal complete, we walked outside to Main Street, where the temperature had soared to a withering 114 degrees. Lopez wanted to show me downtown, although, he admitted, 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 much to see.鈥� (The man at the rental-car counter in San Diego concurred. When I told him I was driving to El Centro, he incredulously asked, 鈥淲hy?鈥�)

I asked Lopez if he thought his hometown鈥攚here one-fifth of the population lives in poverty鈥攊s ready for a fine-dining concept. He scratched his scraggly brown beard as his pale blue eyes gazed toward a dilapidated storefront. 鈥淲e have to be accessible for the locals to trust us,鈥� he replied, and acknowledged that he鈥檚 abandoned his original tasting-menu concept. Instead, the restaurant offers a menu of 15 sharable items priced between $6 and $22 per dish, served to a funky soundtrack of disco, hip-hop, and soul.

鈥淒o I have dreams of Michelin coming to our town one day? Sure,鈥� he admitted. 鈥淏ut I care more about making our community鈥攁nd all desert people鈥攑roud of the foods that shape our identity. That鈥檚 how I define success. And like most things in the desert, you just need to work a little harder for it.鈥�

The post Would You Like to Look at the Desert Menu? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The second season of The Road Less Eaten, , premiered this month. In the first episode, chef, author, and show host,听Biju Thomas,听visits Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama. This coastal town right on the Gulf of Mexico is in line with the show’s mission to visit destinations people don’t typically classify as outdoorsy and peel back the layers of culture, food, and outdoor adventure in each place.

Here are the highlights of Thomas鈥檚 stops on The Road Less Eaten’s听first episode of the second season.

Zeke鈥檚 Landing and Marina

Like much of Gulf Shores, Zeke’s landing and Marina was rebuilt after 2020 Hurricane Sally destroyed many homes and establishments in the area. Now both a new marina and restaurant, is a favorite stop for locals and tourists alike. Being right on the water, Zeke’s Restaurant puts the spotlight on simply prepared, incredibly fresh fish.

滨苍听The Road Less Eaten,听Thomas goes out fishing on a boat called the Extreme Chaos听to catch his own meal. Within minutes, he reels in a classic: a red snapper.

“Red snapper are known for their firm texture and sweet and mild flavor,”听Thomas says on the show. “These fish are a Gulf Coast delicacy, and are incredibly versatile: grilled or fried.”

After Thomas finishes his fresh catch, Chef听Ricky Brenlow prepares another popular item: pan-seared scallops with white wine over cheesy grits. Thomas enjoys the simple preparation of the seared scallops with the southern nod of the cheesy grits, commenting on how well the flavors all blend together.

Hog Wild Beach and BBQ

The next stop on Thomas’s听Gulf Shores visit is to , a classic southern barbecue restaurant owned by Caitlin and TJ Allen. Hog Wild, housed in a historic building鈥攐ne of the oldest in the area鈥攕pecializes in good old southern smoked barbecue.

During his visit, the Allens serve Thomas their staple, the Nasty G. The Nasty G is a slider stacked high with a mix of ingredients: pulled-pork, pulled chicken, chopped ribs, local hand-battered buffalo shrimp, and coleslaw with Alabama white barbecue sauce on top. For those who haven’t heard of white barbecue sauce (Thomas hadn’t either), it’s a mayonnaise-based dressing that often packs a bit of heat from horseradish or cayenne pepper, sometimes a mix of both.

Thomas鈥檚听verdict on the Nasty G? “It was perfectly balanced,” he says. “And the bread is perfect for this.”

And even though we don鈥檛 see the dish on the episode, Thomas makes sure to advise听viewers to leave room from Hog Wild’s banana pudding.

Gulf State Park

Located right on the water, features 6,500 acres of protected land. The area was hit hard when the Deepwater Horizon disaster sent 3.19 million barrels of oil into the Gulf in 2010. A mix of private and public funding, some of it from the settlement that followed the disaster, led to the restoration of the park.

Gulf State Park features a total of 24 miles of trail for hikers, runners, and cyclists. It also offers access to free bikes within the park that you can rent for a ride. There’s also something called the learning campus, where park employees offer tours and various classes to educate visitors on different creatures and water systems within the park.

, located in the middle of the park, is known as Gulf Shore’s hidden gem. Chef Mike Jorke’s goal, says Thomas, is for Woodside to “move away from the standard beach town fair and embrace fresh, local ingredients, prepared in light and surprising ways.”

In line with this lighter, fresh approach, on听The Road Less Eaten,听Thomas samples chili-rubbed mahi on top of crispy Brussels sprouts and quinoa. Woodside even has a neighboring chef’s garden to allow for a true farm-to-table experience.

Along with an elevated menu, Woodside offers live music and a plethora of games, including Jenga, table tennis, and corn hole.

Yoho Rum and Tacos

For his last stop, Thomas visits a casual and friendly taco bar, in Orange Beach, where he samples a series of cocktails and tacos. The cocktail master stirls up the classic Yoho rum punch, a rum cocktail with a mix of pineapple, mango, strawberry flavors, for Thomas. Thomas then samples a flight of tacos, including a ginger peanut, firecracker shrimp, Chimichurri steak, and fried chicken taco.

For the grand finale, Yoho’s staff brings out its famous Mexican Pizza, fried flour tortillas piled high with salsa, cheese, sour cream, peppers, chicken or beef, and black olives. After Thomas tries a bite, he says with a smile, “that tastes like every taco you had in grade school.”

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Is your backyard littered with dead plants and forgotten dreams? Do you couch rot while scrolling videos from Ballerina Farm? Are you a millennial grappling with the inevitable transition from van-life dirtbag to homeowner in the 鈥檅urbs? You need a little low-key, lazy gardening in your life.

USDA Zones 101

A quick education on your local growing conditions is the backbone of lazy gardening. First, you need to figure out what zone you live in鈥攁s in . This map calculates each region鈥檚 average annual extreme low winter temperatures and sets the baseline for understanding what types of plants grow best in your area.

Identifying your hardiness zone is as easy as entering your zip code, and it鈥檚 the most important guiding information for gardening. After you know your zone, check plant tags at your local nursery or big-box store to make sure what you buy has a good shot at growing where you live. If you know any gardeners, ask them for their best crop recommendations. Every region has different sun, soil, water, and growing conditions, so your community can offer invaluable guidance. Where I live on a听homestead in Salt Lake City, Utah, blackberries and raspberries grow like weeds, but due to the low acidity in our dirt, blueberries don’t stand a chance unless you become a hardcore soil chemistry hobbyist. So, as a fellow lazy gardener, I grow blackberries and raspberries.

Seeds Versus Seedlings

Forget starting seeds, buy the seedlings. Listen, you don鈥檛 need to grow your tomato from seed in order to boast the joys of homegrown tomatoes鈥攜ou can buy already thriving plants and just stick them right in the ground.

Growing from seeds may seem like a cheaper path, but when you factor in soil and supplies, the meticulous daily watering schedule, and figuring out supplemental lighting and a dedicated space, and managing the timing of it all, it might be easier and more affordable to just bypass straight to baby plants.听For perspective, I begin my seed starting in early March, and my plants don鈥檛 go into the ground until mid-May, after nearly three months of daily care for hundreds of little needy seedlings听living in my basement. That is the antithesis of lazy gardening.

Plus, let’s do some quick math: a packet of honey drop cherry tomato seeds might run you $2.99 (just seeds, not including lights, water, soil, container), while a single honey drop cherry tomato seedling from the Wasatch Community Gardens plant sale cost me $4.00.

Spare yourself the seasonal part-time job and check out local seedling sales in the spring, or visit local garden centers any time of the season. My go-to in Salt Lake City is the annual Wasatch Community Gardens (WGC) plant sale. WCG Executive Director Georgina Griffith-Yates recommends seedlings over seed starting for new or low-key gardeners.

鈥淥ur Plant Sale sees anywhere from 3,500 to 5,000 community members who want to support local programming and enjoy low cost, USDA-certified organic plant babies鈥攁s we lovingly call them,鈥� said Griffith-Yates when I asked her to explain why the plant sale is so important. 鈥淲CG鈥檚 Job Training Program offers women facing homelessness the opportunity to work a paid position on WCG鈥檚 beautiful urban farm in Salt Lake while working toward stable housing and employment. Each spring these women, along with staff and volunteers, grow over 40,000 veggie, fruit, and herb seedlings that we sell at our annual Spring Plant Sale, so you can skip seed starting and dive straight into garden season.鈥�

But even if you don’t live in the Salt Lake area, there’s likely a great place to buy seedlings in your area. As a starting point, check with your local nursery or farmer’s market.

Easy Plants for Beginners and Lazy Gardeners

No matter what you鈥檙e growing, healthy soil is the key to happy, low maintenance plants. Grab a few bags of gardening soil to add to your plant鈥檚 new home, and for bonus points you can bury your seedlings with a handful of earthworm castings tossed in for extra nutrients. If you add mulch around your garden, it will help retain moisture.

Here are my favorite easy-to-grow plants that I always keep in my garden.

Annuals

Annuals are seasonal plants that you start from scratch every spring. They die every winter after the first frost. One handy trick I use with annuals is planting ones that will reseed themselves. I have many patches of my property that are technically annuals, but reappear every year without additional work from me. My favorites include calendula, poppies, nasturtium, chard, and delphinium flowers. How do I do it? I simply leave the plants alone to reseed themselves, letting them fully mature and then die, resulting in less garden clean-up.

Tomatoes

Every gardener needs a tomato plant, and cherry varieties are the best for lazy gardeners. They鈥檙e easy to grow, and they produce prolifically. For maximum tomato with minimum effort, check out Supersweet 100, Sungolds, and Gold Nugget varieties. Avoid heirloom tomatoes鈥攖hey鈥檙e needier.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six to eight hours per day

Pro tip: Tomatoes do not like wet leaves, so be sure to only water at the base of the plant.

Summer Squash

Squash (think: zucchini) vines can grow huge and produce more vegetables than you鈥檒l know what to do with, which definitely results in a satisfying grow for lackadaisical gardeners.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six to eight hours per day

Green Beans

There are two types of green beans: push and pole beans. Both are easy to grow, though pole beans prefer a trellis, stake, or cage to vine up. If you鈥檙e on a budget and don鈥檛 want to buy more garden supplies, any tall sturdy object will do. (I鈥檝e used old broom sticks as trellises!) Green beans germinate and mature very quickly, making them an excellent choice to experiment with direct seed starting outside.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six to eight hours per day

Cucumbers

You should always grow food you like to eat, and there are few things more pleasant on a hot summer day than a crisp cucumber. Like green beans, members of the cucurbit family (related to squash) love a trellis, stake, or something to crawl up.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six to eight hours per day

Pro tip: Harvest cucumber when they鈥檙e mature but small and tender. Overgrown cucumbers can taste very bitter.

Radish

Few edibles mature as quickly as radishes, and a faster turnaround lessens the time lazy gardeners have to mess things up and accidentally murder a plant.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six to eight hours per day

Garlic

Plant bulbs in autumn, and forget about them. Harvest your haul in early summer, and hang the garlic in your garage for two weeks. Just like that, you鈥檝e got cured garlic to store and eat for months. This year I was eating my own garlic from July until May.

Water: One inch per week

Sun: Full sun, at least six hours per day

Pro tip: In the spring, garlic plants produce a flowering mechanism called a scape. To ensure the biggest garlic head possible, clip the scapes before they fully develop so the plant sends all its energy downward. Bonus: there are tons of out there to try.

Chard and Other Greens

Much like radishes, chard and other greens tend to reach harvest time quickly due to fast maturity. I find growing lettuce greens to be tricky in the heat of Utah, but swiss chard is a hardy green I use in nearly every dish. It tolerates heat better than tender lettuces, and during winter I just throw a frost cloth over the bed and continue to harvest all year long.

Water: One to two inches per week

Sun: Six to eight hours of sun per day (but too much direct sun and heat will burn it)

Perennials

As the opposite of annuals, plants classified as perennials do not die in the winter, making them a great choice for lazy gardening. Plant once, enjoy forever. Perennials need good watering initially to get established, but can be quite hardy against drought conditions鈥攁nd a little neglect鈥攐nce settled they’re into the soil. My favorite easy perennials include some of the following.

• Black-eyed Susan: You鈥檒l recognize this classic perennial for its cheerful yellow flowers.
• Lavender: I love a useful perennial. I incorporate lavender into simple syrup and baked goods. Plus, pollinators love it.
• Hummingbird mint: This whimsical flower smells delicious and is a favorite of its namesake, hummingbirds.
• Yarrow: Revered for its medicinal properties, yarrow also has brightly colored flowers that make for excellent dried arrangements.
• Coneflower or echinacea: These big, gorgeous flowers are long lasting and have ancient medicinal uses.
• Blanket flowers: Blanket flowers come in a variety of colors and hue combinations. Plant a few different types to add visual interest to your landscaping.

Always read the tags when you buy a new plant, but the general rule of thumb for perennials is consistent: after planting, water deeply two to three times per week to a depth of one inch for a few weeks until established. Then reduce your watering to once a week to a depth of one inch once the plant is happy in its new home.

Sun matters, too. Before committing to planting, keep an eye on your yard throughout the day to note the sunlight. Similar to many annuals, full-sun is a common requirement for perennials. Make sure you鈥檙e selecting the right seedlings and the right place to plant them. The perfect combination of water and sunlight is vital for happy plants.

When shopping for perennials, it is key to keep your hardiness zone in mind, as well as what plants are native to your area. Choosing plants that are naturally found where you live will set you up for success. Plus, the perennials on the list above are all excellent pollinator plants that will support bees, butterflies, birds, and beneficial bugs.

A Word of Caution About Extremely Hardy Plants

There are a few plants that I would classify as radically abundant; they鈥檒l grow great, sometime to the point of getting out of control. Proceed wisely. For example, Russian sage is a perennial with big purple flowering stems reminiscent of lavender, and it makes a great landscaping option for lazy gardeners who want to fill a big space. They鈥檙e also easy to prune, because they鈥檒l take a sloppy whacking and bounce right back. My garden is also exploding with oregano, mint, catnip and wild garlic鈥攏one of which I planted or specifically watered. Especially if you plant mint, I would suggest keeping it in a container so it doesn鈥檛 take over.

Easy Tips on Basic Upkeep

Drip irrigation is worth the cost. If you have the resources, drip irrigation will change everything for a lazy gardener. My main garden is rarely watered by me; I have a multi-zone automatic watering system that does it for me. It is not only scheduled to regularly water based on each zone鈥檚 needs, but it also integrates with the local forecast to reduce watering when there鈥檚 a lot of rain. It鈥檚 more efficient (both for the planet and your wallet), and it eliminates one more barrier to make growing your own food as easy as possible. Drip irrigation is an upfront investment and a bit of hands-on labor, or you can just hire someone to install a simple system for you.

Plant what you’ll use. An important consideration for any gardener, but especially those of us with unmedicated ADHD, is to focus on planting food you鈥檒l actually eat. I spent too many seasons trying to grow flashy and cool ground cherries, only to realize I don鈥檛 really eat those often. And when you鈥檙e not excited to eat something in your garden, you鈥檙e not going to be motivated to keep it alive.

Don’t freak out if plants die. If you kill a plant or two or ten, it isn鈥檛 totally your fault. It’s all a learning process, sometimes things are out of your control, and hey, the plant should have tried harder. Plus, who doesn鈥檛 love an excuse to go get a little iced coffee and back to the garden store?

Consistency is key. Basic gardening doesn鈥檛 require constant hands-on work, but it does rely on consistency. If you, like me, struggle with time management, I suggest setting up a dedicated calendar just for garden tasks. I set recurring events for things like fertilizing, pruning, deep watering, even harvesting. Spending ten minutes in the garden every other morning will become an easy habit. In fact, 鈥淚鈥檓 going down to work in the garden!鈥� has become my secret lazy-girl battlecry. Nothing sounds more productive to my husband than 鈥淚鈥檝e been out in the garden for four hours.鈥� What he doesn鈥檛 need to know is I spent about ten minutes pulling weeds and three hours sitting in the lavender bush watching the bees.

Katie Bou茅 spends most of her time tending to her half-acre homestead in Salt Lake City, Utah. When she’s not in her garden or chicken coop, she’s exploring outdoors with her dog Spaghetti or working on local advocacy projects. She became a certified Master Gardener in 2023 and believes growing your own tomatoes is the ultimate gateway to get folks involved with advocating for the world around us. Her debut book, , is available anywhere books are sold.

The post The Lazy Gardener鈥檚 Definitive Guide to Growing Plants appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Have you noticed that the butcher counter听at your local grocery store has been taken over by something called 鈥淎merican wagyu?鈥� Mine certainly has. So, I set out to find out what exactly it is, how to best cook it, and whether or not American wagyu is worth the higher price听over plain old prime-grade beef.

Wagyu beef is known globally for its soft texture and rich, fatty taste, and restaurants and butcher shops often charge much higher prices for steaks compared to beef from other types of cattle.

America wagyu is kind of a confusing name to start with, since wagyu translates to English as 鈥淛apanese cattle.鈥� Are producers trying to sell us American-Japanese cattle?

Erik Sun, one of the chefs involved with the award-winning restaurants Bestia and Bavel in Los Angeles, and the soon-to-open Oxblood in San Francisco, says that鈥檚 exactly the case. Sun also imports rare Japanese meats and raises American wagyu

鈥淢ost American wagyu is 50-50,鈥� he explains. 鈥淎 wagyu bull bred with an Angus cow produces a calf that is still able to be called wagyu.鈥�

What Makes Wagyu Different?

Importing Japanese beef products was banned by the United States in the 2000s after an outbreak of highly infectious foot and mouth disease in that country. Around the same time, interest in supposed 鈥淜obe beef,鈥� began to boom, perhaps due to its unobtainable nature.

听at the time in Forbes, Kobe is the capital of the Hyogo prefecture in Japan. Just like only sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France can be called champagne, only beef from Hyogo can be called Kobe.

But, those naming restrictions only apply in France or Japan, respectively. There鈥檚 no law preventing a restaurant or other business in America from selling you a bottle of Korbel and calling it champagne, or a piece of select-grade chuck and calling it Kobe. Only consumer awareness can achieve that here.

Olmsted鈥檚 advocacy for accurate food labeling seems to have stuck with consumers of high-end beef products. There鈥檚 now much more awareness of the full breadth of varieties beyond that initial demand for supposed Kobe, which was only ever a variety of wagyu in the first place.

Import restrictions began to ease in the 2010s, and all varieties of the stuff found its way into high-end restaurants and specialty food retailers. But high prices鈥擲un sells authentic Kobe striploins for $375-a-pound from his online retailer, 鈥攁nd the incredibly rich, fatty nature of high-grade Japanese beef don鈥檛 necessarily translate to American palettes.

鈥淚n America we eat big steaks鈥攂ig center-of-the-plate options鈥攁nd we prize beefy flavor or beefiness as one of our top criteria for good beef,鈥� explains Sun. 鈥淏ut wagyu, true Japanese wagyu is just as much about the fat quality and soft texture as it is about the meat. It’s a much more delicate thing often eaten with an Asian barbecue sauce filled with sake, mirin and soy. It鈥檚 sliced thin, cooked over high heat, not rested, and eaten with the fat dripping on top of warm rice.鈥�

Beef Grades, Explained

Beef is graded on the amount of useable meat a carcass will yield, and on the amount of marbling present in that meat. Here in America, the Department of Agriculture ranks cuts of beef sold in grocery stores for human consumption as select, choice, or prime.

Select grade beef, according to the USDA, 鈥渋s fairly tender, but because it has less marbling, it may not have as much juiciness or flavor.鈥� Choice, 鈥渨ill be very juicy and tender.鈥� And prime, 鈥渉as slightly abundant to abundant marbling and is generally sold in hotels and restaurants.鈥�

Japanese beef grades go much further. The Japanese Meat Grading Association scores yields as A, B or C (A yielding the most meat), then ranks marbling on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest.

There鈥檚 also the international Beef Marbling Score, which grades marbling on a scale of one to 12. And while BMS is not a government certification, it does provide us with the ability to compare American and Japanese or other international grades on a single scale. USDA Prime cuts max out with a BMS score of five, while wagyu can go all the way up to 12.

Marbling is what we call the intramuscular fat spread throughout a cut of beef. The more marbling, the juicier and richer that cut of meat will be.

Why Wagyu Tastes Different

There are two further factors in that fat content: melting point and flavor. Sun says that the fat in Japanese wagyu cows begins to liquify at much lower temperatures than that of breeds we鈥檝e historically raised in America, but that animals producing fat with lower melting points take longer to grow.

The American beef industry typically slaughters cows when they鈥檙e 18 to 24 months old. In Japan, the cows with that tender fat take 30 to 36 months to mature.

Diet is another major factor in flavor, as is the care and health of the animal being consumed. The extra time, feed, and care it takes to bring a cow to maturity in Japan accounts for Wagyu鈥檚 high prices, along with its scarcity.

That explains the widely-held mystique around Kobe. Americans tend to associate the Kobe label with the finest quality beef, but in reality, it鈥檚 just a breed of Japanese cow (the Japanese black cow, which is actually the most common breed of wagyu) that is fed a carefully cultivated diet unique to Hyogo Prefecture, and allowed to mature a little longer than is typical in this country.

Other, lesser known varieties of wagyu may offer different taste profiles. Sun imports steaks from cows raised exclusively on olives, for instance, or the elusive 鈥渟now beef鈥� from wagyu raised in the colder climate of Hokkaido.

What Makes American Wagyu Unique

Alright, we鈥檝e got our American-Japanese cattle, cuts from which can land anywhere on the USDA or BMS scales. Is this just a shortcut to con you and me into paying more for our steaks?

鈥淎 lot of the difference has to do with the American palette, and the style of cooking larger steaks where we don’t want a ball of fat, but we want texture and chew while still benefiting from the increased marbling that comes with wagyu,鈥� says Sun.

He goes on to say that quality breeders have been able to take things much further than the simple Angus-wagyu cross breeds, and are producing results that, while different from those achieved by Japanese farmers, should be considered as their own unique breeds, rather than simply an imitation.

Sun says that by starting with one of the four breeds of Japanese cow that are considered wagyu, crossing them with one of the heartier, faster-growing American breeds, then 鈥渂reeding back鈥� to a high percentage of wagyu, American farmers are creating animals that demonstrate the 鈥渢rue beauty of wagyu,鈥� along with the meatier textures and flavors preferred by American consumers.

Another advantage of breeding wagyu crosses in the United States? Importing bone-in cuts of Japanese beef is still banned. So, if you want a bone-in wagyu steak , buying American is your only option.

But, without laws mandating clear labeling, finding a product that鈥檚 going to match your expectations can be a challenge. You need to find a supplier that provides as much transparency and information as possible about what you鈥檙e actually buying.

USDA Prime Versus American Wagyu Versus Japanese A5

To determine whether or not American Wagyu can be worth a premium over a regular old steak, and if it can hold its own against the finest quality meat produced in Japan, I set up a simple taste test.

For the American wagyu, . They provide good information about the breed, along with a digital analysis of the percent of marbling present in the specific cut. This ribeye came from an F1, or 50-50 Angus-Japanese Black wagyu cross, and contains 30 to 39 percent marbling. Booth Creek feeds its American wagyu a grass-fed, grain-finished diet and slaughters them between 28 and 36 months. To my admittedly untrained eye, that sits somewhere between a BMS score of seven or eight, well beyond anything you鈥檇 find behind glass at a local grocery store.

As a control, I visited my local food co-op here in Bozeman, Montana, and picked up a grass-fed, grain-finished prime-grade ribeye from a local ranch. Still an indulgence at $27-a-pound, but hopefully representative of the best a traditional American steak is able to offer.

And, to compare American wagyu to the finest possible Japanese beef, I also scrounged around my deep freeze and found an that Sun sent me as part of care package a year or two ago. A zabuton is a cut from the neck or shoulder of a cow, and is typically considered chuck-grade when sourced from an American cow, but which is tender and densely marbled when pulled from a well-raised wagyu. This steak probably weighs only four ounces or so, but is sold at prices exceeding $200-a-pound.

How to Grill American Wagyu

One of the unique selling points of American wagyu is that it can be cooked using conventional grilling methods that will be familiar to most Americans.

My go-to method for grilling streaks is to first sear the meat at as high a temperature as possible, for 30 to 60 seconds on each side, rest it for 20 minutes, then cook it through in a 200 to 250-degree oven or closed grill until it reaches your desired temperature. The sear delivers a satisfying crust through on the outside of the steak, while melted fat has time to distribute through the inside as the muscle relaxes from the intense heat. Employing a pellet grill or smoker for the cook-through also delivers the flavor of wood smoke to the meat.

This is also one reason why I grabbed the little zabuton. Sun recommends cooking Japanese A5 quickly on high heat, to medium rather than medium rare for an enhanced texture. I was worried employing my generalist steak method might not make the most of A5, and didn鈥檛 want to waste a multi-hundred-dollar ribeye.

I cooked all three steaks using this method on the same grill, using the same wood pellets, at the same time. I pulled each when they reached an individually monitored 130 degrees internal, then rested them for 10 minutes before slicing.

What Does American Wagyu Taste Like?

The first piece of steak I cut into was the A5. It melted on my tongue like butter, and I tasted听the overwhelming richness for which it’s famous. And while not as quite as crispy around the edges of the melted fat as searing it to 145 degrees internal would have delivered, it still had exceptional flavor. The fat tasted sweet, almost like meat candy, as it dissolved in my mouth. Incredibly rich, this zabuton could easily have been an entire, very filling meal all on its own.

Next, I tried the plain-old ribeye. While it required actual chewing rather than just melting on my tongue, it was still extremely tender, and delivered all that meaty taste you want in a steak, complete with a welcome touch of smokiness thanks to the hickory pellets burning so cleanly in the Yoder鈥檚 fire pot. I serve steaks just like this at dinner parties all the time, and they never fail to please.

Then there鈥檚 the American wagyu ribeye from Booth Creek. I鈥檝e purchased American wagyu from my local meat counter before, with mixed, mostly disappointing results. So I was coming into this with low expectations. And man, I was wrong to do that. With a mouth feel and chew similar to that of the Prime-grade ribeye, the fat in the Booth Creek steak was much more present, and delivered a totally unique taste. Versus the sweetness of the Japanese A5, this stuff tasted nutty, with layers of complexity not found in the other two cuts. It wasn鈥檛 overwhelming either. Had it been dinner time instead of late morning, I could happily have finished the entire 16 ounce steak myself, maybe alongside some sweet potatoes and asparagus. But, instead, I鈥檓 saving it to turn into an epic sandwich I鈥檒l carry up a mountain this weekend.

American wagyu may not be the same thing as Japanese wagyu. But even in Japan, there鈥檚 a huge variety of flavors, textures and qualities across the high-end beef market, influenced by variables like breed, weather, diet, and care. Those same variables are at play in America, additionally influenced by our own preferences. Take the time to source your American wagyu from a quality source that gives you transparency around what you鈥檙e actually buying, because听fancy domestic beef absolutely deserves to stand alongside the imported original.

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The sound of shaving ice is unmistakable. The rasp, first pressed into the ice block, tense as a spring, suddenly surfs across the berg, scraping up a spume of glittering white snow as stray flecks flutter into the air. For some it may ring harsh, but under a blistering sun it signals imminent relief.

Shikashika鈥攖hat鈥檚 how Quechua communities near the Andes describe it. It鈥檚 a sound so recognizable that street vendors use it as an onomatopoeic term for their shaved-ice desserts. Elsewhere, similar treats go by other monikers. In the Hawaiian Islands, descendents of Japanese plantation workers have sold their version鈥攕have ice鈥攄rizzled with neon syrups and condensed milk, since the 1940s. Turkish bici bici, Italian grattachecca, Filipino halo halo鈥攖he list goes on.

Long before modern refrigeration, shaved-ice desserts emerged in various places around the world, especially in warm climes with access to ice from nearby mountains. On the U.S. mainland, however, they鈥檝e never been more popular than they are now. As T: The New York Times Style Magazine recently put it: shaved ice has taken over the dessert menu.

So what counts as shaved ice? Take the snow cone. With small shards of ice doused in colorful syrup, it鈥檚 not that different from shikashika or bici bici, but snow-cone ice is more crushed (i.e., crunchy) than shaved. In contrast, Hawaiian shave ice is made with fine, snowlike flakes, placing it squarely in its namesake territory. And unlike granitas and Italian ices, it鈥檚 made from pure, unflavored water.

One of the first documented forms of shaved ice is kakigori, which can be traced back to Japan鈥檚 Heian period, from 794 to 1185 AD. An early mention of kakigori occurs in , a book of musings written by Sei Shonagon in the 990s, which describes it as ice 鈥渕ixed with liana syrup and put in a new silver bowl.鈥� It earned a spot on Shonagon鈥檚 list of 鈥渆legant things.鈥�

Nowadays you don鈥檛 need to be in Japan to enjoy kakigori. In Orlando, Florida, couple Hiep Nguyen and Tammy Truong run , a year-old pop-up business that since October has resided in a 150-square-foot shop next to the Filipino restaurant . While Kaya made recent headlines as a James Beard Award finalist for best new restaurant, Koko Kakigori鈥檚 diminutive space has kept it a humbler affair. But make no mistake, Nguyen and Truong are masters of their craft.

Before becoming culinarians, the two co-owners made art. 鈥淎ll the skills we鈥檝e been using as artists we transferred to the shop,鈥� Nguyen says. Truong, for instance, makes many of the colorful ceramic bowls in the business鈥檚 mismatched collection of dishware. The menu, usually a handful of regular and seasonal flavors and a small selection of drinks, is written out by hand and adorned in watercolor.

The kakigori itself is also a work of art. Nguyen and Truong are both of Vietnamese descent, and they grew up in Orlando eating 肠丑猫, a sort of dessert soup often served with ice. But the two were drawn to the aesthetic qualities of kakigori鈥攗sually a mountain of shaved ice, where the nearly toppling-over pile is delicately dressed with syrups, milks, mochi, and fruit. Koko combines Vietnamese ingredients with the texture and look of kakigori. 鈥淚t鈥檚 technically 肠丑猫,鈥� Nguyen says, 鈥渂ut we鈥檙e repackaging it. We get to share Southeast Asian flavors with people who wouldn鈥檛 have tried it otherwise.鈥�

The couple鈥檚 wide-ranging inspiration is perhaps most evident in the ube coconut kakigori, partly an homage to the shop鈥檚 Filipino neighbor. The treat incorporates, among many house-made components, a cream made from the ube, or purple yam; pandan-infused Vietnamese jelly noodles called banh lot; and black sesame corn flakes, a Japanese-tinged nod to the cereal鈥檚 frequent appearance in halo halo.

Nguyen and Truong鈥檚 eclectic approach mimics 办补办颈驳辞谤颈鈥�s impact beyond its native country. In fact, both Hawaiian shave ice and Filipino halo halo originated as renditions of kakigori made by Japanese immigrants. Over time the three desserts evolved to look and taste completely different.

Shaved ice has and always will be an experiment. At first it was designed for cooling off; for Nguyen and Truong, the pursuit is as much about form and flavor. And while modern conveniences have made the dessert less rarified, with the sound of every scrape by hand or machine, the ice maintains its magic.

Shave Your Own

1. Source your shaver. The key to great shaved ice is texture. The achieves a fluffy, snowlike consistency with ease, although snow-cone makers or high-powered blenders work, too.
2. Pick a liquid. Homemade syrups are how you customize your dessert. Cook sugar and water in a one-to-one ratio with your favorite fruit or herb until the sugar dissolves, then strain and let cool before use. Or go the Filipino route with evaporated milk or coconut milk.
3. Experiment with toppings. Fresh fruit brings a pop of sweetness and color to your shaved ice, while toppings such as breakfast cereal or toasted coconut provide texture and crunch. Add a scoop of ice cream or drizzle with sweetened condensed milk for a more luxurious experience.
4. Assemble with gusto. Fill a glass or bowl with the ice, then apply your syrup. How much? 鈥淵ou kind of go on feeling, but I鈥檇 say safely about three ounces,鈥� Nguyen says. Then arrange your toppings to taste. If you鈥檝e got a crowd, set out bowls and squeeze bottles for a shaved-ice bar.

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