Category — History

The common cucumber. They’re so ubiquitous nowadays that the cucumber has become boring to most diners. The flavor is far from common however. Sweet, bitter, subtle, and aromatic, cucumbers have a rich history and hold importance to cultures around the world.

The cultivation of cucumbers began some 3,000 years ago in India and spread westward into the Mediterranean, where the Greeks in particular liked the cucumber for it’s refreshing bitterness. Tzatziki, a sauce of cucumber and yogurt, is probably the most easily identified Greek-American food item in the today’s multicultural dining lexicon. Cucumbers were a popular crop in the middle ages because the creeping vines grew easily and produced a lot of fruit with little maintenance. Cucumbers found their way to America during the age of exploration and a few hundred years of cultural transformation placed them on top of our hamburgers as our sweet and tangy pickles.

Because they’re used in more savory applications, we often consider cucumbers a vegetable. However, cucumbers are actually a fruit, along with tomatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers, among other plants, because they’re produced from the ovary of a flowering plant. They belong to the gourd family, along with the sweet melons we’re familiar with: watermelon, musk melon, and honeydew. Next time you eat a melon, concentrate on the cucumber-like bitterness in the refreshing background flavor. Although hundreds of cucumber varieties exist, the most commonly encountered in America are the waxy cucumber (which contains a heavy center of seeds), the seedless or English cucumber, and small pickling cucumbers.

Keep reading Garrett’s Table in the coming days for a dish that proves that cucumbers can be both sweet and savory at the same time.

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Who doesn’t like pretzels? Whether soft or crunchy, large or small, smothered in mustard or chocolate, pretzels are rich in history and important to cultures around the world.

According to legend, the pretzel was invented in the 7th century AD by an Italian monk. He created a small knot of bread in the shape of praying arms to reward children for learning their prayers. He called his creation “pretiola,” which means “little rewards.”

As pretzels spread throughout Europe they kept a religious connotation. Pretzels contain no eggs or dairy which, since these things were forbidden during Lent in the Middle Ages, made them a perfect food for the Holy season. In some countries, Germany for example, large pretzels were hidden along with dyed eggs on Easter for children to find.

Pretzels were extremely successful in Germanic cultures, becoming a staple of any complete meal. Germanic immigrants came to the United States and many of them settled in Pennslyvania. The Pennsylvania Dutch introduced the soft pretzel to the States and it became a popular street food in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York because it was cheap and perfectly portable. It was also in Pennsylvania where the first hard pretzel was baked. Usually smaller and in a variety of shapes, including rings, sticks, and rods, hard pretzels quickly became the most popular and highly consumed pretzel for the American palette.

Pretzels are nothing new to Garrett’s Table. We’ve made Mustard Stuffed Pretzel Nuggets (aka Gourmet Combos) and even Pretzel Shaped Mustard Chips. This time around we’re not making pretzels but rather using pretzels as an ingredient to make a fantastic dessert. What’s the other major ingredient? Think about what beverage pairs exceedingly well with pretzels and keep reading Garrett’s Table in the coming days to find out!

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“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

This ubiquitous idiom is certainly wise advice but contains a fatal flaw: it presumes that lemons are bad

Sure, lemons are sour and not very pleasant eaten on their own. But few other fruits have the versatility of the lemon. It can be made into a drink and used as a seasoning. It can be featured as a major flavoring in both savory and sweet dishes. Lemons can be zested, juiced, puréed, candied, preserved, frozen, roasted, grilled, dried, and caramelized.

Like all citrus fruits, lemons are indigenous to Asia. The lemon is thought to come from India or Southeast Asia, where it was, and still is, commonly used as an antiseptic in addition to a food item. Lemons reached Europe in the first century AD and were very successful, botanically and culturally, in Italy and Spain. Lemon seeds traveled with Colombus to the Americas in the late 15th century and by the early 19th century lemon trees were commonplace in Florida and California.

Lemons are good sources of Vitamin C, calcium, and potassium. They come in many shapes and sizes, the best tasting of which is probably the Meyer lemon. These lemons (thought to be a hybrid of a lemon and an orange) have a thin, golden yellow skin. Meyer lemons are noticeably sweeter, making them great for sorbets and desserts.

Meyer lemons are typified by a thin, golden skin and sweeter juice

To experience the sweeter side of lemons, try this candied lemon zest. Use it as a breakfast condiment, or on top of yogurt or chocolate pudding. The uses are only limited by your imagination.

Candied Lemon Zest:

• 5 lemons
• Granulated sugar, as needed
• Pinch salt

Carefully peel the zest from the lemons in long strips. Be careful to only remove the yellow zest and not any white pith. Trim the strips of any remaining pith. Slice the strips of zest into fine julienne.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the zest for 30 seconds. Drain, then repeat the process twice more with fresh, boiling water.

Juice the lemons then weigh the juice. Add an equal weight of sugar and a pinch of salt. Heat the juice mixture over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the blanched zest then simmer for up to 1 hour. Cool and hold the candied zest in the lemon syrup. This candied zest will hold indefinitely in the refrigerator.

Keep reading Garrett’s Table this week as we will explore a classic Italian lemon apertif.

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Mustard seeds come from a variety of mustard plants in the family Brassicaceae. Mustard seeds have appeared in Indian cuisine for thousands of years. Mustard seed was a very valuable and sought-after seed when the spice trade ruled the world. The seed is mentioned in the Bible, the Torah, and the Q’oran. The Jewish texts compare the knowable universe to the size of a mustard seed, putting in perspective our insignificance and teaching humility.

Mustard plants grow extremely well in temperate regions, and a great amount of the world’s mustard seeds are grown in Cananda and the United States. Along with rapeseed, mustard seeds have some of the highest oil content (almost 50%) and are often used to process and extract vegetable oil.

We Americans are most familiar with process condiment mustard. The most popular and commonly purchased mustard are the neon yellow varieties. These lack true mustard flavor and are dyed with large amounts of turmeric, which gives the mustard a bitter and flat flavor. Dijon mustards combine the intense, horseradish-like bite of mustard with (usually) white wine. German style mustards tend to be a little more rustic, and the seeds are often partially ground or not ground at all. These wholegrain mustards are my personal favorite.

Mustard made at home is delightfully intense, with a “sinus-cleansing” effect like that of wasabi. Here’s a recipe for homemade mustard:

Fresh Mustard:

• 1/4 c. mustard seeds
• Lukewarm water, as needed
• 2 Tb. white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tb. honey

Cover the dry mustard seeds in lukewarm water. Soak for one hour then drain well. Place the mustard seeds in a small bowl and add lukewarm water to the top level of the mustard seeds. Add the vinegar (the acid will prevent the mustard seeds from becoming increasingly hotter). Soak for 1 hour longer.

Transfer the soaked seeds, with soaking liquid, to a food processor or blender. Add the salt and honey. The honey will help to diminish the natural bitterness of mustard seeds while adding a nice bit of sweetness. Grind the mustard to a rough paste. You may add more water or vinegar to achieve your preferred mustard consistency. Store well covered in the refrigerator.

Keep reading Garrett’s Table in the coming days for a recipe that combines both mustard seeds and mustard greens.

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Celery, or Apium graveolens, is an enlarged version of a bitter Eurasian herb called smallage. The modern form of celery began it’s cultivation in 15th century Italy, and it remained a rare delicacy until the 19th century. According to Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, celery “has a distinctive but subtle aroma due to unusual compounds called phthalides that it shares with walnuts…and terpenes that provide light pine and citrus notes.”

Because of it’s aromatic qualities, celery has been used in the flavoring bases of many regional cuisines, including the French mirepoix and the Cajun trinity. Celery stalks are extremely healthy because they contain very few calories and an immense amount of dietary fiber. Celery seeds contain a high proportion of calcium, and it may not surprise you that they’ve been administered as medicine for hundreds of years. The seeds are very aromatic as well and, here in Chicago, we know them best ground with salt and sprinkled on top of our hot dogs. Celery seed and celery juice adds extra dimension of savory-ness to the classic bloody mary.

Celery is one of my personal favorite foods. When I’m in need of something fresh, I’ll peel a stalk and eat it either plain or with peanut butter and raisins. I often slice the peeled stalk, blanch it in water seasoned with sugar and celery salt, and toss the celery in a bit of melted butter to make a flavorful but healthy side dish. Celery is not limited to the savory kitchen. It’s subtle but persistent aromatic qualities work incredibly well when sweetened. Keep reading Garrett’s Table in the coming days to see celery’s sweet side.

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