28 Apr 2017
3 Apr 2017
How To Make Homemade Vanilla Extract
I have a serious crush on vanilla. Not the imitation stuff, which is chemically synthesized from wood pulp, but real-deal vanilla extract made from actual vanilla beans. I covet it in cookies, fancy it in homemade blender ice cream and it’s an absolute must in buttercream frosting. Heck, I add it to pretty much every dessert I bake, not to mention my chia pudding and cold brew.
That said, I’m breaking up with the store-bought stuff. Sure, it can be pricey, ranging from $1-2 per ounce, but that’s not grounds for our conscious uncoupling. The reason isn’t about cost: it's about contentment. I make my own granola and brew my own kombucha, and the value of doing it yourself is infinitely more satisfying than picking it up at the supermarket. And it’s not like vanilla is tough to make; it requires only two ingredients, it’s apparently fool-proof, and it makes the best bottled food gift ever. Time to get my vanilla on!
(Slash your cholesterol, burn stubborn belly fat, solve your insomnia, and more—naturally!—with Rodale's Eat For Extraordinary Health & Healing!)
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Step 1: The beans, bottles, and booze
The first thing you need are vanilla beans. Before buying them, know this: 1) Their taste varies slightly depending on the country of origin (Madagascar and Bourbon vanilla, both from Madagascar, are strong and assertive; Tahitian vanilla has tropical, floral notes; and Mexican vanilla is slightly spicy), and 2) Grade B beans are ideal for extracts (go for Grade A when you're using the whole bean in desserts). I was feeling tropical, so I bought a 25-count of Tahiti Grade B vanilla beans online for $40. Not cheap, I know, but vanilla cultivation is super labor intensive—the beans come from an orchid that has to be pollinated by hand—so you're not going to find a 'budget' bean. Having said that, the beans in homemade extract go a long way and you get bang for your buck.
The only other ingredient you need is vodka, and this is where you can skimp if you like. You could hypothetically bypass the top shelf stuff and grab a budget bottle of Bankers Club 80 proof vodka for $6.) Vodka is the most neutral flavor, but you can also use bourbon, brandy or rum.
You also need bottles. Clear works best for infusing, that way you can see the color change (just store it in a dark cabinet). For this I used flip-top bottles I already had, but any bottle with a top works. For the finished product, bottle in 2- or 4-ounce amber-colored glass to protect from light and sun degradation. I ordered these ones online, 12 bottles for $12. Other than that, a funnel comes in handy, and I already had one.
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Step 2: The right ratio
There’s no magic number when it comes to ratio of beans to booze. Some websites suggest 2 vanilla beans per cup; others say 8 beans. The other debate is to split or not to split the beans; Martha Stewart splits, slicing the vanilla beans lengthwise before covering in vodka, Ina Garten does not. In the name of experimentation, I did one 8-ounce bottle with 4 split beans, another with 5 whole beans and a third with 6 beans plus a splash of brandy. Once my bottles were topped up, I tucked them into a dark cupboard, turned the bottles every so often and waited.
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Step 3: The waiting game
One thing the experts do agree on is that making vanilla can’t be rushed. Like wine, it only gets better with age. The minimum infuse time is 1 month, but even then my batches weren’t as rich-hued as I’d hoped, so I waited another three weeks until they turned a rich brownish color. The split bean was slightly darker than the whole bean and the brandy version darker still, and they all smelled heavenly, so sweetly sublime that I inhaled each over and over again. But how did they taste?
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Step 4: The taste test
First off, I wouldn’t recommend sampling straight-up vanilla, store-bought or homemade. Both have a decidedly alcohol taste. For the real taste-test, I knew there was only one answer: time to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies! So I mixed up the ingredients, added my brew and instantly the entire bowl wafted up with vanilla—and the luscious scent got even more pronounced when they went in the oven. Mmmmm!
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Step 5: The Verdict
I crunched the numbers and it cost about $4.50 per 4-ounce bottle. That’s $2 cheaper than the Trader Joe’s version I usually buy. Since my three batches tasted the same, next time I’ll use 4 split beans per 8-ounces of vodka and let it infuse 3 months or more. I should also note that the glass bottle made the DIY version feel infinitely more upscale than store-bought—plus I now still had all of the spent pods, which can be reused to make more extract or turned into vanilla sugar. Even more vanilla bean bang for my buck!
But like I said, this wasn’t about price, but pride. Making something, nurturing it, and then enjoying the fruits of my labor in cookies was pure satisfaction. Oh, and I know what I’m giving away for Christmas this year.
How to make vanilla extract
12 vanilla beans (Grade B), split lengthwise
1 750ml bottle high-proof vodka
3 8-ounce glass containers with lids
6 4-ounce amber glass containers
1 funnel
Divide the vanilla beans amongst the 8-ounce containers (4 beans each). Pour vodka over beans and secure lid. Place in a cool, dark place for 2-6 months, shaking jar occasionally. Using funnel, pour finished extract into 4-ounce containers.
31 Mar 2017
How To Grow Bok Choy
Bok choy (aka pak choi) is a cabbage-like veggie that’s been selected more for its thick, crunchy, white leaf ribs than its leaves (though those are quite tasty too). It’s high in calcium and iron and is delicious eaten raw in salads, sautéed, stir-fried, or steamed. (Here are 12 crazy good ways to cook bok choy.) Best of all, it’s easy to grow it yourself, and, because it thrives in cool weather, it’s a great __plant to grow in the early spring and fall to extend your fresh veggie supply.
Here’s everything you need to know to grow bok choy in your home garden.
(Whether you're starting your first garden or switching to organic, Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening has all the answers and advice you need—get your copy today!)
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Types Of Bok Choy
While classic bok choy has white ribs and dark green leaves, there are also cultivars that are solid light green, reddish-green, and even golden-yellow. There are also “baby” or “dwarf” cultivars that mature fast at just a few inches tall and are perfect for cooking whole. Bok choy cultivars belong to the species Brassica rapa, which also includes Chinese or Napa cabbage and quite a few other tasty veggies.
Most garden centers and seed catalogs stock just one or two cultivars of bok choy, so to really explore the amazing variety of this versatile crop you will probably have to shop mail order. High Mowing Organic Seeds has a modest selection of organic choys and other Asian green seeds. Two non-organic U.S. seed companies that specialize in Asian veggies are the Kitazawa Seed Company and Evergreen Seeds; you may want to check them out if you catch choy fever!
One cultivar worth looking for is ‘Bopak F1’, the first bok choy to earn the status of All-American Selection for its great performance throughout the U.S. The compact, medium-sized heads are just the right size for smaller families, containers, and small gardens.
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Where To Plant
Bok choy likes loose, well-drained soil. In the spring and fall it will grow in full sun or partial shade. In summer bok choy prefers partial shade, which will help prevent it from bolting (sending up a central flower stalk) prematurely. Smaller and baby varieties do well in containers and you can even grow baby leaf choy in shallow flats on your windowsill in the winter.
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Growing And Harvesting
Plant bok choy seeds or seedlings outside as early as 2-3 weeks before your last average spring frost and as late as few weeks before your first average frost in the fall. There are four basic ways to grow and harvest bok choy.
Baby greens. Ready to harvest in as little as 30 days, baby leaves are the fastest way to grow bok choy. __plant about 60-100 seeds per square foot in the garden. When the plants are 4’’ or 5’’ tall, harvest the leaves by giving the patch a haircut with scissors, cutting about an inch above the bases of the leaves. Plants will continue to grow more leaves, allowing for at least a couple more harvests. Replant bok choy every 4-6 weeks for a continuous supply.
“Baby” bok choy. Ready to harvest in about 45 days. Plant “baby” or “dwarf” bok choy seeds 3-4 inches apart (9-12 per square foot) in all directions. Cut entire mini-heads off at the soil when they are the size you want or as soon as you see the tip of a flower stalk rising out of the center of the leaves. For a continuous supply, plant a few dozen seeds every 2 weeks throughout the spring and again starting in mid-summer for fall harvests.
Whole mature plants. Ready to harvest in 60-80 days. Plant seeds or transplant seedlings 6-8 inches apart (2-4 per square foot) in all directions. You can shorten the time in the garden by starting seeds in pots or flats and transplanting the seedlings into the garden when they are two weeks old. Start transplants as early as 4-6 weeks before your last average spring frost, and plant transplants or seeds outside as early as 3-4 weeks before your last average spring frost. For a continuous supply, plant a few seeds every 2 weeks throughout the spring and again starting in mid-summer for fall harvests.
Individual mature ribs and leaves. Ready to harvest in 45-60 days. Grow as you would for whole, mature plants (above), but start harvesting as soon as the first outer leaves have fat crisp ribs. Snap off individual leaves by bending them out and away from the plant and gently pressing down on the base of the rib to separate it from the central stem. This extends the harvest and is a good plan for small families. When a central stalk starts to peek above the leaves, harvest the whole plant: it’s all edible, stem, flowers, and all. For a continuous supply plant a few seeds every 4 weeks throughout the spring and again starting in mid-summer for fall harvests.
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Caring For Your Plants
If you don’t get regular rain, you will need to water the soil every few days to keep it moist around your choy’s roots. Allowing the soil to dry out will lead to less juicy ribs and may lead to premature bolting. Bok choy can be quite attractive to flea beetles in early spring. A few holes won’t hurt your harvest, but if there is a lot of damage, consider covering your next plantings with floating row cover. Using floating row covers can also extend your growing season by a few weeks at each end of the season.
3 Feb 2017
26 Plants You Should Always Grow Side-By-Side
Organic gardeners know that a diverse mix of plants makes for a healthy and beautiful garden. Many believe that certain __plant combinations have extraordinary (even mysterious) powers to help each other grow. Scientific study of the process, called companion planting, has confirmed that some combinations have real benefits unique to those combinations—and practical experience has demonstrated to many gardeners how to mate certain plants for their mutual benefit. (Check out our handy Gardening For Beginners Guide if you're just starting out.)
Companions help each other grow—tall plants, for example, provide shade for sun-sensitive shorter plants. And the technique uses garden space efficiently. Vining plants cover the ground, upright plants grow up, allowing for two plants in the same patch. Companions also prevent pest problems. Plants like onions repel pests and other plants can lure pests away from more delicate plants; or one __plant may even attract the predators of another plant's pests.
Here, 26 plants that are way better together.
(Whether you're starting your first garden or switching to organic, Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening has all the answers and advice you need—get your copy today!)
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Roses + Garlic
Gardeners have been planting garlic with roses for eons. since garlic can help to repel rose pests. Garlic chives probably are just as repellent, and their small purple or white flowers in late spring looks great with rose flowers and foliage.
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Marigolds + Melons
Certain marigold varieties control nematodes in the roots of melon as effectively as chemical treatments.
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Tomatoes + Cabbage
Tomatoes are repellent to diamondback moth larvae, which are caterpillars that chew large holes in cabbage leaves.
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Cucumbers + Nasturtiums
The nasturtium's vining stems make them a great companion rambling among your growing cucumbers and squash plants, suggests Sally Jean Cunningham, master gardener and author of Great Garden Companions. Nasturtiums "are reputed to repel cucumber beetles, but I depend on them more as habitat for predatory insects," such as spiders and ground beetles.
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Peppers + Pigweed
Leafminers preferred both pigweed and ragweed to pepper plants in a study at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia. Just be careful to remove the flowers before the weeds set seed.
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Cabbage + Dill
"Dill is a great companion for cabbage family plants, such as broccoli and brussels sprouts," Cunningham says. "The cabbages support the floppy dill," while the dill attracts the tiny beneficial wasps that control imported cabbageworms and other cabbage pests. (But, you should absolutely never grow carrots and dill side-by-side.)
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Corn + Beans
The beans attract beneficial insects that prey on corn pests such as leafhoppers, fall armyworms and leaf beetles. And bean vines climb up the corn stalks. (In addition to leafhoppers, here are 10 insects you should actually want around your plants.)
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Lettuce + Tall Flowers
Nicotiana (flowering tobacco) and cleome (spider flower) give lettuce the light shade it grows best in.
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Radishes + Spinach
Planting radishes among yor spinach will draw leafminers away from the spinach. The damage the leafminers do to radish leaves doesn't prevent the radishes from growing nicely underground. (Here are 3 easy ways to eat radishes.)
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Potatoes + Sweet Alyssum
The sweet alyssum, which is one of these 81 border plants that are better than a fence, has tiny flowers that attract delicate beneficial insects, such as predatory wasps. plant sweet alyssum alongside bushy crops like potatoes, or let it spread to form a living ground cover under arching plants like broccoli. Bonus: The alyssum's sweet fragrance will scent your garden all summer.
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Cauliflower + Dwarf Zinnias
The nectar from the dwarf zinnias lures ladybugs and otherpredators that help protect cauliflower.
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Collards + Catnip
Studies have found that planting catnip (one of 8 plants that repel mosquitos naturally) alongside collards reduces flea-beetle damage on the collards.
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Strawberries + Love-In-A-Mist
Tall, blue-flowered love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) "looks wonderful planted in the center of a wide row of strawberries," Cunningham says.
31 Jan 2017
5 Reasons You Should Start Your Own Seeds Instead Of Buying Seedlings
Sure, it’s easy to pick up a few “six packs” of tomatoes and marigolds at the garden center. But why do that when you can have a greater selection of veggies (and fruits), huge yields for way less money, and plants that have never been treated with chemical fertilizers or herbicides? Seems like a no-brainer to us.
Here, we cover the 5 most compelling reasons to start your own seeds this growing season.
(On just a quarter-acre of land, you can produce fresh, organic food for a family of four—year-round. Rodale's The Backyard Homestead shows you how; get your copy today!)
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Bigger Yields For Less Money
Even after you figure the cost of seed-starting supplies, growing your own transplants is still cheap. At the garden center, a flat of 36 petunias, for instance, will cost you about $12, but a packet of 100 seeds costs only about $2. (Petunias are one of these 13 annual flowers you can easily grow from seeds.)
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Organic Is Guaranteed
No need to worry about chemical fertilizers and herbicides ever coming into contact with your plants. You can make sure your garden is organic from seed to fruit and flower by purchasing organic seeds. Reputable online companies that offer organic seeds and growing supplies include Burpee and Eden Brothers.
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The Huge Selection
Nurseries tend to stock only tried-and-true varieties such as cucumbers, tomatoes, string beans, and lettuce. If you start your own seeds, on the other hand, you can get a little crazy, opting for less conventional options such as rainbow carrots to heirloom tomatoes to kohlrabi.
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Seed-Swapping With Friends
Seed packets often come with more seeds than you need, so instead of letting them go to waste, consider swapping some with a friend. You'll both expand the variety of your gardens' offerings, so everybody wins. Better yet, plan this from the start by buying seeds that you both like, then splitting them up so you save some money.
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Strong Healthy Plants
Who knows how long those store-bought seedlings languished in the greenhouse? By growing your starting your own seeds and making sure they are appropriately watered, getting enough light, and are kept in a warm or cool enough environment, you control quality, and ensure that you have strong, healthy transplants for your garden.
28 Jan 2017
27 Dec 2016
6 Ways To Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Wait! Do not haul your tree to the curb. You can recycle your Christmas tree and keep it from going to overflowing landfills. Here's how:
(Start your year off on the right foot with healthy recipes, inspiring imagery, and gardening—all inside the Rodale’s Organic Life 2017 Calendar!)
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Make Mulch
Cut off the boughs and place them on the ground like a blanket to protect plants that are susceptible to windburn, plants that are marginally hardy in your area, and plants that might come up early and be nipped by a late spring frost, such as fall-planted pansies or early emerging perennials. (Keep reading for ideas on what to do with the trunk.)
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Give It To The Birds
Move the tree in its stand outdoors for the winter, where it can provide food and shelter for wild birds. Even better, put the tree near a bird feeder or hang bird treats from the tree—like bags of suet (animal fat you can get at most grocery stores) or a small piece of wood or thick cardboard smeared with a mix of birdseed and peanut butter—and it will not only attract birds but feed them, too. (Just avoid these 6 things to never feed backyard birds.)
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Give It To The Fish
Sink your tree in a pond (with permission, of course). In deep water, old trees become habitats for fish and aquatic insects. In shallow wetlands, trees can act as barriers to sand and soil erosion—though currently only the State of Louisiana has a tree-based restoration project in place. For more information, go to savelawetlands.org.
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Compost Or Chip It
Call your municipality's administrative office to find out if your town has a special day for picking up Christmas trees or a place where you can take them after the holidays where they will be ground into wood chips and/or composted. Often you can go to the municipal compost site in spring and get free compost and/or wood chip mulch for your garden. Of course, you won't recognize the chips/compost from your tree, but you can feel good knowing that it's helping other gardeners have healthier landscapes and that you've kept perfectly good organic matter from clogging a landfill.
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Turn It Into A Trellis
Move the tree to a corner of your yard, and in the spring set it up in your garden as a trellis for peas or beans.
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Plan To Plant For Next Christmas
Think balled-and-burlapped when you purchase next year's tree, and you'll be able to __plant the tree after the holidays.
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