When the garden finally yield ripe vegetables, we will need to preserve some of it to keep it from spoiling. Some veggies can actually be frozen, but much of our food will be pickled. Not just for storing purposes, but finding creative and tasty preparations.
Right now we are experimenting with food purchased from the local produce market.
Difference between tomate, tomatillo and jitomate:
Here is a little background information I obtained from various websites.
The tomatillo is also known as the husk tomato, jamberry, husk cherry, or Mexican tomato, but the latter is more appropriately used to describe the relative of which bears smaller fruit. In Spanish, it is called tomate de cáscara, tomate de fresadilla, tomate milpero, tomate verde (green tomato), tomatillo (Mexico; this term means “little tomato” elsewhere), miltomate (Mexico, Guatemala), or simply tomate (in which case the tomato is called jitomate).
The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate. When Aztecs started to cultivate the Andean fruit, bigger and red, they called the new species xitomatl (or jitomates), (‘plump thing with navel’ or ‘fat water with navel’). After their conquest of Tenochtitlan, Spaniards exported tomatoes (jitomates) to the rest of the world with the name tomate, so numerous languages use forms of the word “tomato” (tomate) to refer to the red tomato instead of the green tomatillo. Only in the center of Mexico do people still use the word “tomate” to refer to a tomatillo.
The Mexican husk tomato was a prominent staple in Aztec and Mayan economy. The plant abounds in Mexico and the highlands of Guatemala and the fruits are commonly seen in native markets.
Salsa Verde in the making…
8 ounces (5 to 6 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
Fresh hot green chiles, to taste (roughly 2 serranos or 1 jalapeno), stemmed
5 or 6 sprigs fresh cilantro (thick stems removed), roughly chopped
Scant 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
Salt
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/salsa-verde-green-tomatillo-salsa-recipe.html?oc=linkback
As we looked at the progress in our garden this past weekend, I just realized how a wonderful hobby gardening can be. You don’t need the largest back yard or the fancy tools. It’s the desire to see things grow. Gardening is fun because you can be creative and take all the advice from YouTube videos, articles, neighbors and family. And yes, I should have listen to my mother about those cucumbers and waited for the cold weather to be over, but it will be ok with our one cucumber plant that is still standing strong.
The peppers and tomatoes are coming in nicely.
Swiss chard is sprouting through the ground.
If anyone ever tells you gardening is easy, please review Exhibit A and Exhibit B:
Exhibit A
Angie and Sophie getting ready to garden.
Exhibit B
Angie and Sophie after gardening.
After planting seeds of 10 different vegetables, we still couldn’t help but go to the Hyde Park Garden Fair to find more. Angie and I picked up chocolate and orange mint leaves, and a few tomatillo plants. Now our window ledges are full to accomodate the new mint leaves and the different herbs we have been growing. The tomatillos that we had no space for in the garden, required us to find space in the garden.
Now I think we are finally finished planting new vegetables and herbs for the season…well maybe.
The new tomatillos we planted are on the bottom left of the photo.
When we decided to grow basil on our window ledge, the only thing I thought I knew about it was of how good pasta taste in a tomato and basil sauce. Growing up, my mom always mentioned chewing Albahaca for anxiety relief, which is one of the many ancient Aztecs remedies. And as a Sanchez, we sometimes need to …let’s say relax. I never saw the connection between basil and albahaca. And you probably guessed correctly because they’re the same thing. So sometime soon we will be making tomato and basil sauce.
As we rearrange the herbs on our window ledge, we added cilantro. I mean how would salsa taste without it. And by salsa, I don’t mean the dance, but the homemade salsa made from tomatoes or tomatillos, jalapeños, onions and cilantro. So for now, we’re looking forward to making some delicious salsa and tacos with our home grown cilantro…
Shoveling more compost around the tomatoes.
We have been working hard to get to this point, inserting the metal cages for our tomatoes and cucumbers. The purpose of the cages is to help grow the vegetables vertically, instead of spreading out all over the garden. The cucumbers will need to be trained to grow around the cages.
After getting the tomatoes and peppers in, it’s now time to get the seeds in for the rest of the vegetables.
If you look at the bottom right photo, the all grass plot is what our garden looked like before we started working on it. Last week, it took us the entire weekend to get the garden prepared for planting.
