The Fruits of Summer Recipe: by Dennis Fisher and Joe Fisher
In spite of droughty conditions in Maine, the fruit set has been excellent this year. This has been especially true of stone fruits like plums and peaches. We have two plum trees each yielding at least a bushel of fruit, and a Reliance peach so heavily loaded that we had to prop it up with poles to keep the limbs from breaking.I wish I could claim credit for this sudden abundance, but the phenomenon is apparent everywhere. I've picked from loaded plum trees in Unity and heard of others in Bangor and Thorndike. Trees that have never born fruit before are heavy with it. It makes a nice change from the handful of fruit I usually get. Herb Schartner also told us that his plum trees were covered with fruit this year.
The apple trees are under stress from lack of water, but what fruit has survived seems good. My transparent crop, now almost a month gone, was nice and pretty clean, considering I didn't use any kind of pest controls in my orchard. Transparents seem to come early enough to miss the worst of the pests. Eaten slightly green, they taste better to me than Granny Smiths and are also good for cooking. As biennials they stand barren every other year, but bear so heavily in fruiting years that it makes sense to get a pig just to eat the extras.
Most farmers agree that this would have been an above average growing year if rainfall had been a little closer to normal. Right now we are about a foot below average. Those of us with good irrigation are growing bumper crops. Peacemeal bought an overhead irrigation system this year and the investment has already paid for itself several times over.
Some crops are doing well anyway. This has been a good garlic year, as anyone who has seen Tony Swebilius'giant heads at the Belfast Farmers'Market can attest. Tony, who's farm is called Little Garlic Girl, is a new grower but you wouldn't know it from the quality of his produce. On that note I should mention that this is a good time to lay in some seed garlic for next year's crop and start preparing your beds. Ask Tony or the Spinneys how to go about it.
Southern Exposure is another new farm to the market, though Nancy and Mark Ward are not new farmers. They usually don't irrigate at their farm in Albion, but Nancy told me that this year she put a sprinkler on their late spinach because she couldn't stand to see it wither. Southern Exposure offers a diverse selection of really nice products, and their chicken is especially good.
Getting away from water issues for a moment, we have some very good news to report. Cait Hunter of Appleton Creamery is up for a prestigious international award for her goat cheese. Cait, husband Brad and daughter Fiona are going to Italy later this year for the awards ceremony. We're all hoping she wins big! On the subject of Cait's cheeses, I've discovered that if you gently microwave a container of her hot pepper cheese, it makes a great dip for corn chips.
It's harvest time at the Belfast Farmers'Market and some of our farms have already experienced a touch of frost. Though it is still technically summer, there are a few early fallen leaves on the lawn to remind us of what's ahead.
Here are a few highlights from the market as the summer wanes. Freyenhagen Family Farm is offering some excellent rabbit sausage that it great on the grill. Marcia Gardener, another market newcomer, has a nice honey jelly that she will be happy to let you sample. Bright Berry Farm is offering cherry tomatoes and organic raspberries. Meadowsweet has some very nice cuts of beef . Aqua Terra has goose eggs and hummus. Weeping Duck has organic cider vinegar made from wild apples.
John Spinney is making some small wooden spatulas that belong in every kitchen. They are lightweight, flexible, unbelieveably tough, and attractive. I use mine for everything from scraping out a frypan to lifting the delicate edges of omlets. It's the most used tool in my well used kitchen.
Steamed fresh soybeans are a dish we learned to enjoy at Ichi Ban, a Japanese restaurant at Third and Union in Bangor. They are wonderful.
1-2 pounds fresh green soybean pods (Peacemeal has these)
Put the whole pods and about an inch of cold water in a large saucepan. Simmer until the beans are tender, about twenty minutes. Drain, s alt the pods, and serve. These are finger food. You can pop the pods open or just squeeze them.