Fruit of 1 kiwano
1/4 sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. flour
1/2 tbp. butter

Cut African Horned Melon in two, lengthwise.  Into a bowl, scoop out pulp, (all seed capsules and juice).  Use a melon baller or spoon to remove any remaining fruit/pulp from kiwano skins.  Set aside. 

Make a roue out the butter and flour.  (Cook in small skillet until bubbly.  Butter and flour are optional, as fruit and syrup will thicken into a syrup, but cook time will be longer.)  Add bowl of fruit, sugar, and lemon juice to pan, and stir well.  Allow syrup to continue to simmer (hot enough to be bubbling), stirring occasionally,  for approximately fifteen minutes.

At this point, you will probably notice the seeds begin to separate from the gelatinous “capsules”.  If you wish the syrup to be seedless, strain syrup through colander.  Fill kiwano “boats” with ice cream or sherbet of your choice. ( I used vanilla ice cream this time, but I imagine a bright lime or raspberry sorbet would be much more visually stunning.)  Top ice cream with cooled syrup and serve.

The syrup does not need to be strained in a colander.  If you want more texture to your syrup, simply omit that step.  I tasted some of the fruit/seeds that remained in the colander after straining, and I think I liked it even better.  If you prefer a super simple dessert, simply top ice cream with freshly scooped kiwano fruit sweetened with a little sugar.

Here are some pictures of the fruit sliced diagonally and vertically.  Although an odd looking fruit, I think it looks especially pretty sliced at the equator.
 

Once scooped out with a spoon, kiwano fruit consists of many gelatinous seed covered capsules, as well as a little juice.  The fruit is rather seedy, but seeds are edible and not difficult to chew. 

I thought the taste of this fruit is a mix of lime, cucumber, and kiwi.  A teaspoon or so of sugar added to the fruit greatly improves the taste.  The taste was much better than I was lead to believe.  It was vastly superior to the Cape Gooseberry I grew this year, in my opinion. 

The fruit can be eaten green as well, without a major difference in taste.  I was glad, as not as many kiwanos ripened fully as I had hoped.  Some ripened halfway for an interesting green/orange spotted fruit.  I think this was largely because of an unseasonably cool summer in our area.  I had lots of fruit fairly early, but not enough really hot days to bring all of them to full maturity.  The only difference I discerned in the taste of the ripened orange melon was an additional hint of banana flavor and touch of added sweetness.  Adding a bit of sugar to green or ripened fruit improves it quite a bit.  There is a hint of tartness, but not as much as I expected.  The seedy texture could be off-putting to some, but isn’t a large concern to me. 

The fruit generates a lot of interest from friends and family who visit our home.  I’ve been told by one person that they “always see something weird they’ve never seen before” each time they come.  I’ll take that as a complement! 

A few weeks ago, I was able to dig these Carolina Black Heirloom peanuts!  (Peanuts are nut a true nut, but rather a legume, and grow under the ground instead of on trees.)  Once the peanut plant foliage begins to yellow a bit, it is time to harvest the peanuts. 

Unfortunately, Japanese beetles absolutely loved the peanut foliage.  The plants seem to have recovered, as the peanuts under the ground fared well. 
You can always test dig one plant to check if the peanuts are sufficiently mature.  (Immature peanuts are shriveled inside the shell.) 

I tasted a few of the raw, fresh peanuts, and thought they were pretty delicious.  They were a little juicy, tasted “green”, and quite unlike a roasted peanut.  The skin of this variety is a pretty purple/black, although the nut itself is the same as any other peanut.

Once peanuts are dug, gently shake off excess dirt, and place plants in a shaded, dry location to “cure” for a couple weeks, until plant’s leaves are dry and brown and peanuts appear fairly dry.

I look forward to boiling and roasting these fresh peanuts in the near future!

Waltham Butternut squash (pictured upper right), a rather old heirloom variety, were a fairly heavy producer.  I can understand why this heirloom is so popular and has stood the test of time.  They are great keepers.  Winter squash, as their name belies, keep well into winter if stored in cool, dry conditions.  I have been very impressed with butternut squash in particular.  The texture is smooth, and the taste is sweet.  I don’t think I’ll ever make a pie or dessert using fresh pumpkin again.  The amount of work involved in cleaning and baking a pumpkin is more extensive time consuming, and messy, and the end product is much stringier than the smooth texture of butternut.  Although butternut seeds are smaller than pumpkin, they are equally delicious roasted.

Filling:

1 small butternut squash (fresh pumpkin or 16 oz. can of pumpkin can be used instead)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick melted butter
1 (8 oz.) package softened cream cheese
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin spice
1 (16 oz.) box powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. flour

Crust:

2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 stick melted unsalted butter

Grease 9 X 13 pan.  Mix all “Crust” ingredients (will be crumbly), and press firmly onto bottom and partially up sides of pan.

Cut a small butternut squash in half and scoop out pulp and seeds.  You can bake the squash in the oven for approx an hour at 350 degrees or cook squash in the microwave for around 5-8 minutes or until the flesh is tender when pierced with a knife.  Scoop out flesh, and puree in food processor.  Once smooth, you can add the rest of the filling mixture into the food processor and blend.  Pour filling into crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  Top with freshly whipped cream, if desired.

This year I am growing Thai Bottle gourds ‘Lagenaria siceraria’.  I wanted to grow one variety of gourd, but since my garden space is limited, I also wanted a variety that can be eaten and is not purely decorative.  Only a few varieties of gourds are edible, so do your research.  Also, gourds should be eaten when they are small and tender.  When they are large, the skin is hard and the flavor is no longer mild. 

Gourds are great because they grow later in the season when most squash varieties have slowed down or puttered out completely.  Also, from the perspective of seed saving, you needn’t worry about gourds crossing with squash.  (There are some varieties of Cucurbita pepo squash that are labeled as gourds, but in fact are squash.  You need to check the botanical name to make sure it’s a “true” gourd.)  In my experience, gourds are also hardier against disease and less susceptible to damage from insects.  Another fun thing about gourds is letting them cure and crafting with them.  I left some cucuzzi gourds I grew last year to cure, which means I simply left them outside through the whole winter to wait for the shells to brown and harden.  This fall I am hoping to experiment with the gourds I cured over the winter.  I’m not very crafty, so who knows if this will end up being a disaster or success.  I hope to cure some of my Thai Bottle Gourds I grew this year to cure over the winter for use next year.  Their shape should lend themselves well to birdhouses.

3 eggs
3/4 cup milk, plus 1/4 heavy cream
1/4 tsp. lemon extract or lemon zest
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
1/4 cup butter

Preheat an oven-safe skillet (10-12 inch skillet) in oven at 450 degrees for ten minutes.

Beat eggs on high speed until frothy.  Add warmed milk and cream, sugar, salt, lemon extract and vanilla, and beat a minute or two more.  Add bread flour, and beat until flour is thoroughly mixed.

Carefully place 1/4 butter into hot skillet, making sure bottom and side of skillet are coated in butter.  (You can use a pastry brush if you wish.)  Pour pancake batter into hot skillet.  Bake for around 15 minutes until puffy and golden brown.  Take out of oven, and dust with powdered sugar.

Gooseberry Compote

1 overflowing cup of cape gooseberries (Physalis peruviana)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

While my initial taste test of a raw cape gooseberry left much to be desired, I must say the cooked berries are far superior in taste and texture.  My kids and husband enjoyed eating this, so I will count it a success.  If you intend on serving this with the above pancake recipe, start the syrup first.  It can be made a day ahead as well.

Remove papery husks, wash cape gooseberries, and cut into quarters.  Put all ingredients (berries, water, sugar, and lemon juice) in small saucepan on medium high heat until boiling (stirring periodically).

Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until the mixture is thick and syrupy.  This doesn’t make a large amount of compote (serves 4 a small quantity), so if you’re serving a large group, you will want to double, triple, or quadruple this recipe.

Top dutch baby with cape gooseberry compote, and some freshly whipped cream, if you desire.

No Knead Tomato Basil Bread

3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato powder (optional)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup fresh basil or 1/4 cup dried basil

Stir together bread flour, yeast, salt, and tomato powder.  (Tomato powder can be made by processing dried tomatoes in food processor or blender:  http://www.seedgirl.com/go/blog/full/making/)  The tomato powder is optional, as I’ve made this bread with just the basil and cheese, and it is terrific as well.  It is important to use dried tomatoes as opposed to fresh tomatoes, however.  Fresh tomatoes would alter the water balance too much, making a sticky bread.  Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir briefly.  Dough will be sticky and the flour will not be fully incorporated, but this is okay.  Don’t worry ... it’s gonna turn out great.  Cover bowl with towel or saran wrap.  Let dough rest for 12-18 hours.  This is the only difficult part.  Making this bread doesn’t require much work, but you do have to plan ahead.

Dough after resting

Turn dough onto floured surface.  When making the original bread, you pull the edges of the dough in toward the center, forming a ball.  I do the same thing with this bread except I add the basil, parmesan and mozzarella a bit at a time as I continue to pull the edges in toward the surface.  Once you’ve formed a rough ball ... it really doesn’t have to be pretty, place it upside down in a floured bowl.  This tomato-basil loaf will look less smooth and a bit lumpier than a typical no knead loaf because of the texture of the shredded cheese.  Perhaps a more finely grated mozzarella would make for a smoother look, but I don’t mind it a bit “rustic” looking.  The dough will need to rise for two hours at this point.  Thirty minutes before the dough is finished, (I usually put on a timer for 1 hr. and 30 minutes), place an oven safe pot with lid in the oven and preheat it to 450 degrees for 30 minutes.  The original recipe recommends a “6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic)“.  Make sure it’s oven safe to 450 degrees.  Once the final thirty minutes has elapsed, carefully take the hot pot out of the oven.  (You can put a light layer of corn meal on the bottom of the hot pan at this time, is desired.)  Plop the dough from the bowl, upside-down, into hot pot. 

Again, it doesn’t need to look pretty or perfectly formed.  I’ve had loaves that got stuck to the bowl, and I had to get quite rough with the dough to get it out, and they still turned out well.
Carefully place hot lid on top, and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove lid, and bake for another 15 minutes until loaf is nicely browned.

The loaf might need a little help getting out of the pan, by running a knife along the edges, since this bread contains cheese.  It’s not terribly difficult, but if you’d rather, you can omit the cheese and the bread should come out of the pan a little easier.

This bread is great for making paninis and croutons as well.  To make croutons with left over bread, cut bread in to cubes, stir with melted butter or olive oil until lightly coated, and bake until crispy.

I have also been drying some herbs before summer gets away from me and the ground is hard and cold.  (Pictured:  lemon grass, basil, and sage.)
If you don’t have a food dehydrator, dry tomatoes and herbs on the lowest possible oven setting until dry.  Herbs are more sensitive to heat than tomatoes, so if your oven is really hot, you may want to dry them in the oven using only the oven light.  This takes much longer, but the gentle heat won’t burn the delicate herbs.

First, I put the tomatoes a few at a time into boiling water, and then plunged them into a bowl of ice water. The skins came off surprisingly easily.  Here’s a pic of a few of the tomatoes I peeled that day:

Then I sliced open the tomatoes and tried to get as much of the liquid and seeds out as possible.  I let the tomatoes rest in a strainer to let any excess liquid drain. I let the sauce cook for hours until it was nice and thick.

I started up my pressure canner, and processed my one, lonely quart jar filled with tomato sauce.  I learned my lesson, and with my second canning experiment, I chose pint jars, so at least I’d have more than one jar to can at a time, lol.  From my research, I found out only tested recipes should be used when canning.  If you change ingredients around or create your own recipes, it’s hard to know if the “acid balance” is correct and whether your food is safe.  I chose this salsa recipe for my subsequent attempt:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4961968_can-prizewinning-salsa.html

From the bite I sampled, it tastes great.  This recipe is for pressure canner only, but there are many great salsa recipes for water bath canning as well.  The great thing about this recipe is I could add onions and peppers, which increased the volume of my recipe, allowing me to can a whole five pint jars at once! 

Next year, I plan on growing more determinate tomatoes.  Indeterminates, which have a vining growth habit, are great, as they keep growing and producing for a long period of time, supplying the family with a steady supply of tomatoes.  Determinate tomato plants are bush-like in growth habit, and produce for a shorter season.  However, they produce their crops in large amounts all at once, making them the perfect canning candidates.

Overall, I’m happy with my canning experiment.  I may not have enough stocked up to last all year, but it’s a great first step.  I am exploring other preservation methods, like freezing and dehydrating, and will hopefully be posting about that soon.

The family and I enjoyed tender young edamame earlier in the season, but I wanted to keep some seeds to grow soybeans next year.  Harvesting soybeans is easy.  Leave green pods on the plant until the pods turn brown and dry.  Open collected mature pods to collect seeds.