Across the Kitchen Table:

Honey’s Sweet Secret

Lovage, the Sparkplug Herb

We owe the size of the modern strawberry to a Frenchman spying on Spanish installations along the coast of Chile and Peru nearly 300 years ago. Captain Amédé Frézier noticed large-fruited but tough beach strawberries and brought five Fragaria chiloensis plants back to France. The Chileans were crossed with the North American type to produce the berry (Fragaria ananassa) we grow and buy today. During the 19th century, breeders in America and Europe developed many varieties, but somewhere along the line the intense fragrance of the leaves was lost.

Production statistics found on horticulture professor Mark Rieger’s excellent Web site (he teaches at the University of Georgia and puts college-level material on the Web at www.uga.edu/hortcrop/rieger/) reveal that more than 75 percent of U.S. strawberries are grown in California and another 10 percent in Florida, most of which are intended for the fresh market. These berries are bred to be shipped. They are "firm" (i.e., tough). They often look beautiful but have little taste. They are an impulse buy at the grocery store on a cold, gray day. They are usually a disappointment.

They are not the home-grown berries of summer, the berries that you pick in your own dewy garden early in the morning and slice up for breakfast or heap onto shortcake for dessert. To get these juicy, dead-ripe berries, you either have to grow your own, raid your neighbors’ gardens, or patronize a nearby "pick your own" strawberry operation so that you can eat berries the same day they leave the mother plant.

To grow your own, consult The Berry Book by Robert Hendrickson (Doubleday, 1981) or another gardening reference, or ask your County Extension Agent for free information about strawberry culture. For Web sites, a few favorites include www.jamm.com/strawberry, http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/strawberries/index.html, and Cornell’s www.hort.cornell.edu (click on Home Gardeners).

That third option — pick your own — is often the best if you want berries in enough quantity for freezing, jam, salads, and shortcakes. Set aside a whole day: spend the morning picking berries and the rest of the day making jam, preparing berries for freezing (remove caps, slice berries if desired, sprinkle with 1/4-1/2 cup sugar per quart to stop oxidation, and pack into heavy ziplock bags), and eating as many as you can. Flavor deteriorates after 24 hours, and nutrients decline after 48 hours. Next winter, open a jar of jam or take some frozen berries out to thaw, and remember that warm summer day in the strawberry patch.

Strawberry Recipes:

Strawberry Shortcake (Biscuit Style)

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy cream, divided
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 quart (or more to taste) fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 tablespoons sugar together. Stir in 1 cup of cream with a fork until flour is moistened; pat out on a floured surface to make an 8" or 9" round. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden. Place on a rack to cool slightly and brush top with melted butter.

Meanwhile, hull the berries and slice most of them, leaving several perfect specimens for garnish. Stir the 1/2 cup sugar into the sliced berries. Whip the remaining 1 cup cream, adding the vanilla. Using a long bread knife, cut the shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half on a serving plate. Spoon on about half of the whipped cream and two-thirds of the sliced berries. Add top layer of shortcake and spoon on rest of whipped cream and sliced berries. Top with whole berries. Cut into wedges and serve. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

A Word About Strawberry Jam

Since strawberries are low in pectin, which is what makes jams and jellies "gel," you will get best results from adding commercial pectin. I have the most luck with Certo liquid, but powdered Sure-Gel works too. Don’t skimp on the sugar. Follow directions on the package.

Before the days of commercial pectin, home cooks often added finely chopped pieces of apple to their jam to supply pectin. This changes the texture of the jam somewhat, but works. You will need about 4 peeled and chopped apples for 12 cups of berries and 2 cups of sugar. The strawberry taste comes through beautifully because of the relatively low amount of sugar.

If you don’t mind somewhat runny jam, bring 2 quarts crushed strawberries (measure after crushing) to a boil in a nonreactive pot. Stir in 6 cups sugar, stirring to dissolve, and 1/3 cup lemon juice. Boil rapidly until mixture gels when dripped onto a plate. Pour into clean, sterilized canning jars, add lids, and process in a boiling-water bath for 15 minutes. This makes about 4 pints.

Strawberry Rhubarb Grunt

1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved
1 pound rhubarb (3-5 large stalks), cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, whipped (optional)

In a 10" skillet, bring strawberries, rhubarb pieces, sugar, water, cinnamon, and lemon juice to a boil over medium heat; cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until rhubarb is tender. Meanwhile, mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; cut in butter with a fork and toss mixture with milk to make a crumbly dough. Drop dough by spoonfuls on top of simmering fruit to make 8 dumplings. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes longer, until dumplings are set. Spoon dumplings and berries into individual bowls. Serve with whipped cream if desired. Makes 8 servings.

Strawberry Summer Soup

Place sugar and fresh mint sprigs in a food processor and process until blended. Add berries and honey and pulse until berries are pureed. Pour into a large bowl and add yogurt, stirring until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh mint and whole berries. Makes 8 servings.

Strawberry-Stuffed French Toast

Cut 4 double-thick slices from the loaf. Cut a pocket into each, slicing horizontally into the center of the bread and leaving edges attached on three sides. Whip the cream cheese with the cinnamon and sugar and carefully spread some into each bread pocket. Put some strawberries inside each pocket and press lightly. Whisk the eggs and cream until smooth; add vanilla and nutmeg. Dip each stuffed pocket in the egg mixture and cook on a greased griddle until golden brown. Serve with warm maple syrup and any remaining strawberries.

Colonial Strawberry Bread

Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in the shortening until crumbly. Combine maple syrup, milk, and egg and add to dry ingredients, mixing until just blended. Fold in strawberries. Place batter in a greased 9" pie pan or baking dish and bake at 375°F for about 30 minutes, until bread pulls away from sides of pan. Makes 1 loaf.

Honey’s Sweet Secret

Although Native Americans were skilled beekeepers, the introduction of the more-productive European honey bee, Apis mellifera, in 1638 meant that colonial beekeepers could count on their bees producing much more honey than the hive could consume. The delicious surplus was put to good use in food and beverages, in preserving fruit, as an ingredient in furniture polish, and for medicinal purposes.

The National Honey Board (www.nhb.org; also www.honey.com) has links to many producers of honey all over the country. Each brand of honey has its own unique flavor depending upon the flowers that the bees visited. In our household, we admit freely to our addiction to the crystallized honey produced at Champlain Valley Apiaries in Vermont, www.champlainvalleyhoney.com. Beekeeper Charles Mraz started the business in 1931. The business is now New England’s largest apiary, with more than 1000 hives in northern and central Vermont. These well-tended bees feed on clover, alfalfa, and basswood flowers. Their crystallized honey is never heated or filtered. It is, simply put, delicious. We spread it on buttered toast, add it to peanut butter sandwiches, plop it into shakes and frappes, and use it almost daily in cooking and baking.

King Solomon wrote that honey "is sweet to the taste and health to the bones." Another sage with the right idea was Winnie the Pooh, who said, "The only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey . . . and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it."

Take a Spoonful of Honey: Medical Cures and Claims

More certain is honey’s ability to soothe sore throats and ease the tickle of a cough. Homemade cough me

dicine made from equal parts of honey and fresh lemon juice, taken a spoonful at a time, can be as helpful as a bottle of Robutussin. Hot peppermint tea laced with honey and lemon helps unclog blocked sinuses. Honey and garlic is another popular combination for beating back cold germs.

Honey also has certain antibiotic properties that have been widely documented. It is used successfully to treat bedsores, skin diseases, wounds, and mastitis. In fact, nearly every substance found in the hive — honey, beeswax, pollen, venom, royal jelly, propolis — is valued and studied by herbalists. Just type in "apitherapy" in the www.digitalhearth.com search engine to see the range of medicinal uses of honey.

Honey Spice Cookies

Cream butter and sugar; add honey, egg, and orange extract and mix well. Stir dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, allowing 2" space between cookies. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. While still warm, frost with a glaze made by combining 1 cup confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 2 teaspoons grated orange peel. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Honey Pecan Tarts

Filling:
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecan halves or pieces

Combine all filling ingredients and divide among the 24 little tarts. Bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes. Cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then carefully move to wire racks. Makes 24.

Honey Graham Bread

Soften yeast in warm water in a large bowl. After about 5 minutes, stir in milk, honey, salt, butter, and whole wheat flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in bread flour a cup at a time to make a smooth dough. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until dough is elastic and smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn dough so greased side is up, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each portion into a loaf and place in a greased 9x5" loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes; cover loaves with foil and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer, until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Makes 2 loaves.

Honey Roasted Nuts

Place nuts in a bowl. Melt honey and butter together and stir in cinnamon and salt. Pour over nuts and mix, tossing well so nuts are coated evenly. Spread mixture on a cookie sheet and bake at 350°f for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring several times. Nuts will be golden brown. Spread on waxed paper in a single layer and cool completely. Break apart and store in airtight containers. Makes 4 cups.

Avocado-Citrus Salad with Honey Dressing

The honey and poppy seed dressing is also good as a dip for carrot sticks, celery, and other raw vegetables.

Salad:
4 oranges
2 ruby-red grapefruit
2 ripe avocados
1 head Boston or red-leaf lettuce

Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. Let sit at room temperature to blend flavors.

Peel and section the oranges and grapefruit, removing membranes if desired. Peel the avocados and slice thinly. Toss citrus and avocados gently in a bowl and set the avocado pits in with the fruit. Refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

To serve, remove avocado pits from fruit and add enough Honey Dressing to moisten the ingredients. Line serving plates with lettuce and mound fruit on top. Makes about 8 servings.

Honey and Strawberry Salsa

Combine all ingredients in a large glass or plastic container and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to blend flavors. Serve with grilled meat. Makes about 2 cups.

Lovage, the Sparkplug Herb

It tastes like celery with pizzazz. It looks like a celery plant on steroids. It loves potatoes, chicken, carrots, and rice. The ancient Greeks and Romans appreciated its ability to aid digestion; in the Middle Ages, travelers laid the fresh-smelling herb in their shoes, like Medieval odor-eaters. It has even been recommended as an aphrodisiac (thus its name and its nickname, "love parsley").

I’ve never seen lovage in a grocery store, but I have bushels of it in my garden. In fact, the only mistake I ever made with lovage was when I got six tiny seedlings and planted them all, not realizing that mature plants are at least 2 feet wide and up to 8 feet tall. I’ve since given away many pots of the stuff each spring, but I still have a large lovage hedge and enough of the herb to supply a small town.

Lovage, Levisticum officinale, is a perennial herb native to the Mediterranean; it is naturalized in many temperate regions and is hardy to Zone 3. The seeds, stems, and leaves of lovage have a salty, spicy celery taste. Even the roots are edible once you remove the bitter skin. Lovage flowers attract butterflies by the score, and the dried seeds can be harvested and used as you would use celery seeds, in soups, pickles, cheese spreads, and potato salads. Young shoots are delicious eaten fresh like celery sticks or blanched and served as a side dish.

By now you have grabbed the car keys and some money and are heading out the door to the nearest nursery to buy a lovage plant. (Believe me, one is enough.) Before you go, here are a few tips for growing and cooking with lovage:

• Plant lovage in a sunny spot in fertile, well-drained soil. Since it will be up to 8 feet tall at maturity, choose the spot carefully.

• Lovage may be divided in the spring; it is deep-rooted, so take a good bite of soil with the seedlings. It does not need winter protection.

• Harvest fresh shoots in spring starting when the plant is about a foot high. To freeze for later use in soup stocks and other recipes, chop up the leaves and pile them into an ice cube tray. Add water to cover and freeze. Pop out the lovage cubes and store in the freezer in a plastic bag. (This also works for parsley and other herbs.)

• Stuff a roasting chicken with chopped lovage leaves and stems and a few slices of lemon for delicious fragrance and taste.

• Chop about a cupful of lovage leaves and stems and add to your favorite potato salad in place of celery.

• Stir-fry lovage with other vegetables (red bell pepper and yellow summer squash, for example), add some diced chicken if desired, and serve over pasta or rice.

• Add chopped lovage leaves and stems to any vegetable soup, or try this recipe for a cream soup that can be eaten cold or hot.

Cream of Lovage Soup

Melt the butter and gently sauté the onions, potatoes, and carrots in a soup pot for 5 minutes. Add the lovage and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the stock, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer gently until the potatoes and carrots are soft, about 15 minutes. Puree in a blender or push through a sieve and return to the pot. Add a grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste and reheat. Stir in milk or cream but do not allow to boil. Adjust seasonings. Serve hot or cold garnished with chopped lovage leaves. Makes 4 servings.

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