Miriam Kresh

Rogov, hi, I thought akub was cardoons also, but the vegetable I have doesn't resemble the long, silvery-green, celery-like stalks I've seen in photos. I have also seen those celery-like stalks for sale in the shuk, and they don't look like akub. Akub only takes 10-15 minutes to steam or braise till tender, while I understand that cardoons take much longer. Alosh is something else. I know chicory, it's related to dandelions and has a blue flower. I don't pick it in the wild as it seems rare (indeed I pick very few wild greens anymore except for nettles, chickweed, and purslane, as so many of them are disappearing from our landscape). At any rate, I've finally understood how to post photos to the forum, so here are a couple that may help. And my mistake: the name of the second vegetable is alosh, not aloosh. Chefcrash, those photos are lovely, the first one especially is so evocative. In the second photo, I see that while the bundle on top has its flower heads, the bottom bundles have had them removed. Would you like to tell me how to cook mnzazzali? Actually, can you also give a recipe for akub? Not having the tradition, I've just been making up recipes. Steamed, then under bechamel; a blended soup; braised with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. All tasty, but I'd like to know some traditional ways. First photo is akub, the second alosh. Miriam

On a recent trip to the north of the country, I wandered around the shuk and found akub, tiny artichokes on thin stems. I had cooked these years before, and found them delicious, but never did find out if they're just tiny artichokes or are a separate botanical variety. The flower heads are only as big as a thumbnail, and their stalks are quite spiney. They only take about 10 minutes to cook, and don't taste much of artichoke but have their own good flavor. I remembered them as tasting quite artichoke-like, but that may be a false memory, or maybe I cooked this batch too late (2 days after purchase), and lost the flavor. Another new vegetable was aloosh, a wide, dark-green leaf with a red root. The Beduin lady who sold them told me to chop them coarsely, steam them briefly and squeeze them out, then mix the cooked mass with egg and shape it into patties, to be fried in olive oil. It it quite bitter. I didn't make patties, but rinsed the chopped, cooked leaves in warm water very quickly, then sauteed them in olive oil with some garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Very good! But I wish I knew another name for the leaves, so I could look it up and find out more about them. Can anyone help? Miriam

Marlena, Sometimes I see huevos haminados served in ful ve-houmous eateries. That is also a delicious way to eat them, either chopped or mashed with your fork into the hot, mealy favas and techinah and houmous, well sprinkled with parsley and chopped onion and threads of dense green olive oil. Warm, fresh pitta on the side and a beer - proletarian heaven (count me in). The eggs, although their brown color proves that they were cooked a long time, must be cooked in onion skins or something else, as you say, for those places don't usually serve meat. In some bakeries you can get a large bourekah with a huevo haminado too. I never asked if those eggs have a name of their own in Hebrew; I've only ever heard them called plain eggs. Haminado is Ladino of course. I've heard cholent eggs called heuvos alchamiados, also (Moroccan Jewry). Nowadays I don't hear much Ladino, it has become an old person's language. People pick up modern Spanish from the telenovelas and I think it has infiltrated the minds of younger generations so that Ladino sounds awkward and hard to speak. A pity. But this isn't germaine to the original discussion, sorry... At any rate, an egg simmered in a stew retains its character very well although absorbing some of the meat flavors; it stays tender too. But if you're seeking true white and yellow egginess with a custardy texture, that water bath way sounds right. Miriam

...Am I displaying ignorance here? I sometimes put a few eggs in my Sabbath overnight stew (cholent, to the mavens ). Covered in the stew's liquid and barely simmered for about 20 hours, the shelled eggs are brown, tender, and divine mashed into the meat, barley, beans and potatoes. You need a little chili to make it a really transcendental cholent, though. Miriam

I guess most observant Jews have gone shopping in the fridge already in order to make room for Pesach ingredients. Many of the stored foods in the freezer were quite elderly already, and I threw them out with the vow not to overstock ever again (ha). Shabbat night was: Whole-wheat bread made from the no-knead recipe. Like Melissa, my husband's health demands certain changes in the diet. No more white bread for him. The no-knead recipe yields a chewy, just-on-the-edge-of-sour ww loaf that's delicious. Not like conventional challah, though! Soup made from turkey wings and the usual vegetables. Just a little different from the usual chicken soup, not enough to raise objections. Skinless chicken, jointed and baked in a green marinade of 1/2-can coconut milk, garlic, tamari, orange juice, basil, cilantro, chives and s&p all blended. It baked till the marinade reduced to a gravy. Some lemon grass would have been nice, pounded and infused in the coconut milk, but the chicken was pretty good anyway. Got rid of that can of coconut milk that's been sitting in the cupboard. Plain garlic rice and spinach/mushroom sauteed with shallots on the side. Trying to eat up all the rice before the holiday... Winter made a brief re-appearance here, so I thought a cholent would be an acceptable way to use up the barley still sitting in the freezer. (I keep all grains in there to keep them from sprouting bugs.) Gefulte fish and Yerushalmi kugel - store bought to expand the menu for guests invited just before Shabbat. Wax bean, cold, in an herby vinaigrette. Fresh strawberries. Tomorrow, kasha, again from the freezer. I still have all these pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds in there...what shall I do with them? Crush them and make a huge loaf of nut bread?! Miriam

Shabbos, Purim...big plumbing work going on in the house, and all my cooking and baking plans are shot. We're simply going to a hotel for Shabbos, and instead of being prepared ahead of time, I'll have to cook on Purim day while DH and the little one are out delivering mishlochei manot. Keeping it simple: arroz con pollo, peas, olives and guacamole. Cold cooked salads provided by my older daughter. If I can bake bread early in the day, I will. At least there will be plenty of wine. Suddenly even boiling water for a cuppa coffee is a big project, but one good thing about the chaos and dirt this plumbing emergency has brought on is that 3/4 of my Pesach work will be done when I've put everything back (sorted and dusted, all the stuff for donating and throwing out done). Pesach! Oy! Don't even want to think about that yet... Miriam

Um, that's an idea. Keep some mother of vinegar in a covered gallon jar, and pour any leftover wine into it. If you have difficulty consuming leftover wine, that is. For me, cooking is done with leftover wine. I agree that risotto doesn't have to include wine to taste good. A flavorful stock will also do the trick...but I like to use both. Miriam

Ah, green peas are in season, a yearly event even shorter than apricot's. When those apricots appear, I fill the kitchen up with preserves, tarts, and most of all, apricot wine. (singing) Apricot wine, mighty fine/gotta run and fetch/ that little bottle of mine... I am reminded of an old song my Dad used to sing: "Michigan water/tastes like cherry wine/I said cherry wine/Mississippi water/tastes like turpentine..." OK, hit me over the head, I'm feeling relaxed and foolish because all my cooking is done and it's still 2 hours before candle-lighting time. Shabbos: Challah. Chicken soup. Garlic/soy sauce/ketchup chicken roasted over sliced red potatoes, onions and string beans which cooked in olive oil, white wine and a little thyme. Ketchup is very low-class, I know...but don't care. Sangiovese. That's it for tonight - we're only 3 people this Shabbos. Now you know why I'm so before-hand. Shabbos day: Challa and Soup Moroccan fish as taught by my consuegra, with onions, whole cloves of garlic, sliced red peppers, and plenty of cilantro (I added some white wine), s&p. Simmer together in a wide, shallow frying pan till a thickish sauce forms; add sliced white fish - Nile perch usually - cover and simmer together for an hour or so, over a very low flame with a flame tamer. Eat hot or cold. We'll have it cold. Shnitzels marinated in soy sauce and hawaj, the dipped in egg, then flour&bread crumbs& sesame seed, and baked. Rice Big mixed salad Roasted peppers, olives, choumous. Don't know which wine. The Merlot rose would be good. They'd better put up with that. Shabbat shalom to all... and Michelle, please tell us how you made the pumpkin gnocchi. Miriam

My mother, who is 85, grew up in Nicaragua, one of eight. It was an upper-class family in a country that was still almost feudal. Chicken, beef, and fish every day; soup as first course, and every day, a big salad that usually included wild greens such as purslane. Rice and beans, of course. Cooked greens, fresh cheese. All of this was "organic"...that is, raised or grown as Nicaraguans had produced their food for generations before. No sea food, no pork. Ice cream was a huge treat, and there were no soft drinks. Everyone drank water that had cooled in a big clay jar. At parties, the grownups drank rum or beer; the kids, lemonade. Plenty of fresh fruit, both whole and squeezed for drinks, a big variety. My mom and her siblings spent much of their free time on horseback, roller skating, playing basketball. They had no air conditioning; international travelers were almost unknown, and those came and went by boat. Mom says that nobody in the family, that she recalls, ever had a cold or flu. She feels that the isolation kept foreign germs away. All of my mother's brothers and sisters are still alive and in good health: the oldest is 90. They have survived revolution and war, earthquakes, personal crises and financial loss, but all have a zest for life and a determination to come out on top that I, as a tired, overweight 52-year old, can only envy. The 90-year-old, by the way, has struggled his entire life with clinical depression, but his business still runs and supports three generations of family members. So what does all that prove? To me, it's simple: fresh, varied food, cooked with care, and plenty of physical activity in clean air equal health and longevity. When my mother was bringing us up in the States, she served the rice and beans she grew up with, but we little Americans also loved our Sarah Lee and McDonalds. We rode our bikes and explored creeks, played outdoors for hours and went for long walks in the rain - but the quality of our food and air was not to be compared to what my mother had growing up. Today, I try to repair the damage done by Coca-Cola and potato chips ( although still addicted, still addicted) by cooking and baking and brewing "from scratch" and from ingredients as close to natural as I can get. Vitamins and supplements, yes; I am convinced that in spite of my efforts, my family's diet still lacks essential nutrients, or at least, lacks enough of them. I do feel better taking vitamin B12 than not; my cholesterol has gone down since I've started taking Omega-3 capsules. My husband's appetite and energy have returned since he gave up sugary drinks. But I live in an apartment, in an industrial city, in a country of enormous stress. My wild greens come from abandoned gardens and empty lots. True, nothing is ever so simple. But I am only contributing what I've grown old enough to see. Miriam

gron1, The dandelion beer recipe is on RecipeGullet. I typed it all out and posted it last week, but neglected to let you know it's there. So read, and enjoy, and I hope you make the beer! Miriam

Michelle, Waddya need me for?! Any leftovers? I'm coming to you! The white mead seems to have been drunk up already, so I substituted a wine I wouldn't identify till everyone had sipped some and said they liked it: pea pod wine. It was clear, sweet, and has a nutty flavor. I made it out of curiosity a year ago and am surprised at how good it is. Then I realized that I hadn't included a pomegranate anywhere, so I brought out a bottle of pomegranate wine I bought in a specialized winery last time I was up north. Didn't like it that much; sweet and sour and probably best to save for cooking. The other wines, my last year's Merlot and its second-run rose, were pretty good, if I say so myself, as shouldn't. We were quite, ah, merry. And ate a lot. Ooof. Now I'm going on a diet. Miriam

Sometimes I think I'm crazy...been cooking since yesterday for this Shabbat Tu B'Shvat. Menu for tonight: Challah Moroccan fish, courtesy of my married daughter Chicken soup all kinds of dried fruit on a platter 3 kinds of olives Warm, salted almonds and cashews - the almonds because of the connection with Tu B'Shvat, which is when almond trees in Israel are said to start flowering - and cashews just because I had them. Pomelo, for Shechechiyanu Turkey tajine with apricots and chestnuts (another Shechechiyanu) Barley pilaf with sauteed mushrooms and onions Steamed green beans Strawberry/tangerine swirl sorbet Wines: white mead, a merlot rose I made last year, plain merlot, a wine based on dried fruit I made last year at this time. Small cups - or we'll have to get someone to come and scrape us all off the floor with a spatula. For tomorrow: Challah Choumous, za'atar, matbucha "Red chicken" - chicken baked in a thick sweet-and-sour sauce with tomato paste and red wine, plenty of garlic and ginger, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, bay leaf, soy sauce, cumin, s&p. Majadra Plain white rice for those who prefer Stuffed mallow leaves, following the thread on springtime party food This week's tossed green salad will feature sprigs of chickweed among the pedestrian lettuce, tomato and sliced cucumber. Any leftover green beans get a vinaigrette and toasted almonds. Sorbet and oatmeal cookies Wine, for anyone who still wants.

Wild greens. Chickweed has a delicately salty taste that goes well as part of salads. All you need to do is cut off the leafy tops, rinse them, pat them dry. Another nice addition to the salad bowl is the "cheeses" of the mallow, and small, young mallow leaves. Around here, the saucer-like older leaves are stuffed with rice and/or meat, like grape leaves. They are soft and flexible and don't need to be brined like vine leaves. That is, it used to be a traditional dish. Since the War of Independence, when people were starving and ate wild greens to survive, many can't bear to eat them anymore for they are potent reminders of a very hard time. I dont have those associations, so once a year I stuff mallow leaves cook them in a lemony tomato sauce. Too much work to do more often. If any of your herbs are flowering by the time you're ready to make your feast, all the flowers of culinary herbs taste good in salads, and add a touch of fantasy. Garlic/chive/onion flowers most of all, but basil, mint, thyme and sage flowers are good. To scent the drinking water, a slice of lemon and a few flowers of sweet geranium. I've also made cupcakes with young leaves of sweet geranium, placing one on the bottom of each cupcake mold and filling it with a lemon cake batter. Nettles have a stronger, more seaweed-ish taste. Pick the young tops, wash and dry them. Chop and sautee them with onions/garlic, in olive oil or butter, and eat them plain or swirled into prepared rice or pasta. The trick to picking nettles is to use scissors, just flipping the stems over into a bag or basket. At home, put on gloves to handle them. They lose their sting when cooked, but a sting or two while preparing them is inevitable. Dandelions: a dish of blanched, cooked dandelion greens is a traditional springtime dish. Pick them young, for older, tougher leaves are very bitter and need to be blanched twice or three times. Pluck out any stems, for they have a bitter, latex sap and are inedible. The whole crown, close to the root, can be well washed, dipped into beer batter, and fried. That used to be a favorite with my little one, when we lived in dandelion country (none around where I now live). If you feel ambitious, a few gallons of dandelion beer is easy to make, doesn't take much time, and is surprisingly beery and good. Dandelion beer is made from the roots and leaves of the plant, unlike the wine, which demands a gallon of the blooms. If you're interested, I will post the dandy beer recipe. These young wild greens, especially bitter ones, are relished in climates where people have gone through long months of cold, almost vegetable-less winter. Even here in Israel, where good veg is available year-round, I find myself longing for a dish of nettles, come springtime. Just pick from an area that is not a haunt of dogs and cats. Miriam

FlavorsGal, Barley is one of the Biblical seven species, so I would like to include a barley dish for the Seder. Barley tends to be stodgy, though. I'd use pearl barley and cook it in broth till just barely tender. Sauteed oyster mushrooms and carmelized onions...sounds good. I don't know if you can even get farro here; Michelle (Swisskaese) and I were talking about it, and neither of us has seen it in Israel. For a turkey tajine, I would use boned thigh, as you do. I'm beginning to lean towards that tajine, I see. Yellow raisins, dried apricots, a few slices of red bell pepper....maybe a little saffron...bay leaves, onions, white pepper...it's starting to take shape in my mind. Sorbet sounds excellent, nice and light. Tangerines are abundant now, that would make a good sorbet. Maybe small sand cookies to go with it. The folks won't want espresso last thing at night, and although I have limoncello, we're going to be pretty woozy with wine by dessert time. Four cups! If we can keep it down to that. Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to use them! Pam, Ow, your event sounds impressive! I did think of doing both chicken and turkey (there are health issues with red meat in the family). Now reading your description of last year's TBS seder, I'm getting jealous of the variety. Lemons. My building's garden has a Lovely Lemon Tree, and while the other neighbors (and foragers) have stripped the lower branches, large yellow fruit is still dangling off the top. Last year I just took a ladder outside and filled up a bag. It would be beautiful to include some of those lemons in our TBS seder; would a sorbet work? Miriam

This year, the Jewish New Year of the Trees falls on Shabbat. The festival marks a cutoff point from which tree fruit may be classified as belonging to the previous year, or the new, which in Jewish law determines if it should be tithed. It's a flexible sort of holiday; school children go out in groups to plant trees (grownups too), hiking, especially to see if the almond trees are in bloom, is popular, and at home it's nice to observe it by eating fruits of the land and having a little celebration. Here is the Wikipedia article on the holiday, and here is another Tu B'Shvat link. Tu B'Shvat is a holiday especially dear to the Jewish vegetarian; at least, here in Israel. Recently, people have connected the New Year of the Trees to raising consciousness about ecology. Sephardic tradition has it that one should hold a "seder Tu B'Shvat" celebrating aspects of our connection with nature both mystical and mundane. If you read through the second link, you can see the sort of things that most often come up for discussion, and that although there are established traditions, people are free to fill in the framework with their own interpretations. One should many kinds of fruit, and at least one "new" one, a fruit you haven't eaten yet this year. (Star fruit and quince for us, I think.) I myself have not held a seder Tu B'Shvat, but once attended a pretty hilarious one in Safed at the Chabad-run Ascent institute: lots of wine! This year, my daughter and my Tunisian son-in-law will be with us, and I am working out a menu that jives with the holiday and with Shabbat. This is it so far: Challah Dips and nibbles: za'atar, choumous, stuffed olives, salted almonds, plates of dried and fresh fruit. Moroccan fish, contributed by my daughter Chicken soup - inevitably Sauteed chicken in pomegranate sauce OR tajine turkey with dried apricots Barley pilaf tossed with...something. Walnuts and chives? The Usual Green Salad Something light for dessert. We'll have eaten plenty of fruit. But what?... Wines: The light red and pink we'll have with dinner will be of my own brewing. I'll have to buy the white. For dessert, I have a dark wine I made last Tu B'Shvat with dried fruit of all kinds: not too sweet and very strong, with an aroma of slivovitz. Shabbat day: no fruit. I hate to think what all that fruit is going to do to my little grandson's stomaches. Just an easy-going meal with mashed potatoes or white rice in it somewhere. So...any suggestions for the blank spots on my menu? And who else is celebrating? Miriam

I'm intrigued by this, because I bake this loaf uncovered and free-form on a preheated clay saucer. It spreads out more than I'd ideally like, but it has excellent flavor, holey crumb, and crisp, reddish crust. My oven, though, has no back vent; when the bread is baked through and you open the door, a cloud of vapor escapes. So I guess the ventless oven substitutes for the closed pot...? Miriam

Great, Anna! I posted the recipe to RecipeGullet just now, as well, minus the whispered confession. Miriam

Sorry for the delayed answer, Anna. Here at any event is the challah recipe (only 2 eggs, guys...) Potato Water Challas 2 medium-sized loaves 1 1/2 cups of cooking water from boiling potatoes, warm. It won't hurt if some potato residue from cooking slips into the water; just make sure there are no big chunks. Of if there are, mash them up well with a fork. 1 cube of fresh yeast 1/4 cup olive oil 2 eggs, beaten 1/4 cup sugar. You may increase this to 1/2 cup if you like your challah sweet; we like ours just off-sweet. 1 Tblsp. salt 5-6 cups of flour (The amount will vary, as American vs. Israeli flours absorb water differently.) 1 egg for gilding the loaves poppy or sesame seeds, about 1 1/2 Tblsp. 1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm potato water. 2. Mix in the olive oil and the eggs. 3. Add the sugar. 4. Mix in some flour, about 2 cups. 5. Add the salt. 6. Slowly add the rest of the flour as you mix and knead, till a slightly sticky dough is obtained. I don't want the traditional flexible dough, I want it just a little tacky. Knead 10 minutes. 7. Dust your work surface with flour and sit your dough on it for 10 minutes or so, while you wash and dry the mixing bowl and do something else. 8. After the dough has rested the 10 or 15 minutes, knead it again for a few minutes, covering your hands with flour if necessary, to keep it manageable. 9. Drop some olive oil into your washed and dried mixing bowl; place your dough into it and turn it over a few times to coat it with oil. 10. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour. 11. I've started folding and stretching the dough rather than re-kneading at this point; it works well. So either knock the dough back and re-knead briefly, or fold and stretch it as I do. 12. Cut the dough into 2 parts. Make your two braided loaves, handling the dough as lightly as possible. (See *Confession, below.) 13. Allow the loaves to rise 1/2 hour. Meantime, have the oven pre-heating to 350 F, 180 C. 14. Beat up the 3rd egg and gild the loaves with it. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or both. 15. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the baking tray around in the oven and bake a further 15 minutes. Turn the loaves upside down and continue baking for 10 minutes - if the bottoms are underbaked. The timing, again, will vary, with your oven and your particular circs. The main thing of course is to have the loaves baked through, rich and golden brown, all over. So keep your eye on the bread as it bakes and take notes for the next time. Remove from the oven immediately and cook the loaves on a rack. This potato-based bread stays has excellent flavor and a just-moist-enough, fine crumb that stays fresh for days. *Confession: I find that making 3 boule-shaped loaves instead of 2 medium-sized challas results in less wasted bread at the end of Shabbat. And making 3 round loaves will make lechem mishneh for the two main Shabbat meals. When we have seudat shlishit, we supplement with a pitta for that purpose. But then we have become a small family. If we have guests, I make a recipe-and-a-half or double it. Sometimes I triple it and freeze the extra. I would rather have a smallish boule than a smallish challah: small slices of braided challah look stingy to me, while with a round loaf, the slices still look handsome. Miriam edited while I drool over Melissa's pictures...

Potato Water Challah Serves 10 as Side. 2 medium-sized loaves This potato-based bread stays has excellent flavor and a just-moist-enough, fine crumb that stays fresh for days. 1-1/2 c warm cooking water from boiling potatoes 1 pkg fresh yeast 1/4 c olive oil 2 eggs, beaten 1/4 c sugar 1 T salt 5 c AP flour 1 egg for gilding the loaves 1 T poppy or sesame seeds 1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm potato water. It won't hurt if some potato residue from cooking slips into the water; just make sure there are no big chunks. Of if there are, mash them up well with a fork. 2. Mix in the olive oil and the eggs. 3. Add the sugar. Use the smaller amount for an off-sweet challah; the greater if you like yours sweet. 4. Mix in some flour, about 2 cups. 5. Add the salt. 6. Slowly add the rest of the flour as you mix and knead, till a slightly sticky dough is obtained. I don't want the traditional flexible dough, I want it just a little tacky. Knead 10 minutes. 7. Dust your work surface with flour and sit your dough on it for 10 minutes or so, while you wash and dry the mixing bowl and do something else. 8. After the dough has rested the 10 or 15 minutes, knead it again for a few minutes, covering your hands with flour if necessary, to keep it manageable. 9. Drop some olive oil into your washed and dried mixing bowl; place your dough into it and turn it over a few times to coat it with oil. 10. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour. 11. I've started folding and stretching the dough rather than re-kneading at this point; it works well. So either knock the dough back and re-knead briefly, or fold and stretch it as I do. 12. Cut the dough into 2 parts. Make your two braided loaves, handling the dough as lightly as possible. 13. Allow the loaves to rise 1/2 hour. Meantime, have the oven pre-heating to 350 F, 180 C. 14. Beat up the 3rd egg and gild the loaves with it. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or both. 15. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the baking tray around in the oven and bake a further 15 minutes. Turn the loaves upside down and continue baking for 10 minutes - if the bottoms are underbaked. The timing will vary, with your oven and your particular circs. The main thing of course is to have the loaves baked through, rich and golden brown, all over. So keep your eye on the bread as it bakes and take notes for the next time. Remove from the oven immediately and cook the loaves on a rack. Keywords: Kosher, Intermediate, Bread, Jewish ( RG1930 )

There are a number of good books available on the subject of essential oils and their use: an easy read is Shirley Price's Aromatherapy for Common Ailments. A more comprehensive book is Victoria H. Edward's The Aromatherapy Companion. Both are available at Amazon.com (- sorry, it may be simple, but I haven't found the way to insert a hyperlink here). Although I don't know Mandy Aftel's book, it does sound more germaine to the discussions on food here. About the shelf life of flavored oils vs. essential oils, I can say this: e.o.s are produced by steam distillation, or, depending on the part of the plant where the oil glands are, by manual or mechanical expression (squeezing) - as in citrus peels. The fragrance of resins is extracted by an alcohol/water solution. An ancient way of preserving flower fragrances in oil is maceration, which calls for layering fresh flowers with a neutral-smelling oil. Then there are various modern chemical means, which leave chemical residues in the product. There are new methods, calling for specialized equipment, which capture delicate notes which have been elusive up till now, and yet leave a pure, residue-free product. A simple home still will produce a small amount of essential oil of rose, honeysuckle, lilac, or what have you. (I won't get into synthetic fragrances and flavors, except to say that I don't trust them myself.) You can see that our attempts to capture flavor and aroma in the kitchen are most closely related to maceration, whether in oil, vinegar, wine, water, sugars, salt, or vodka. You can call this method infusion, too, and I usually do. To illustrate, at this moment, just as I sit here typing, I have lemon peels infusing in vodka for limoncello; quartered lemons infusing in a brine of their own juice and salt; rosemary infused in vinegar for a sharp salad dressing; orange blooms macerating in honey to flavor a mead; garlic and basil ground together in olive oil for pesto, a method which I suppose you can describe as expression of the essential oils of the herbs by the blender, which are then macerated in the olive oil. Hmm. Never thought about how much maceration goes on in my kitchen when I'm not around . How much is going on in yours? Bet you'll be surprised. Macerating into oil is, I think, the weakest method of extracting flavor and aroma; most vulnerable to evaporaton of the essential oils, and to spoilage. That would be why the shelf life of macerated products is shorter. Alcohol and other solvents, not to mention steam distillation, do it much better. So - we just keep making small quantities, every so often. Miriam

It's worth finding out which essential oils are edible, and in what quantities, as they are most concentrated and many are toxic. Aromatherapists (at least, the ones I know here) become very wary when the talk turns to essential oils in food, even good-quality ones. Good e.os are not cheap, they come in opaque bottles, and their labels bear their botanical names. They should come with a Material Safety Data Sheet, obtainable from the supplier. The cheaper ones are often made by chemical extraction and are dangerous to ingest. When e.o.s are used in food, they are meted out drop by drop: for example, 1 drop of mint e.o. will freshen and flavor 3 liters of water. Apart from that, e.os. should never be applied directly to the skin, but diluted in oil, water, or milk, as they may a) sensitize a person to the point where all of its chemical compounds become allergens; b) cause a burn. Aromatherapists have many stories about essential oil toxicity or burns caused by over-enthusiastic people. When I was making soap in quantity, my sense of smell pretty much died because of the constant exposure to the essential oils I was using for the soap's fragrance. It took about six months to regain it after I stopped working with soap. I do love essential oils, though, and now that I can smell them again, sometimes perfume or deodorize the house with a combination of several in a water burner. I include them in the moisturizers and salves I make, and will use up to 6 drops in a bath, or in the almond oil for a full massage. But I would not venture to put any in food, except on the advice of an aromatherapist. Just my two cents. Miriam

Biovatrix, torture me some more I'm plotzing over those beans...I'll just have to cough up the gelt and import them, if possible. Regarding keeping challah fresh, I've found that water left over from cooking potatoes (with the salt in it and all) keeps the challah moist and fresh right up to the next Friday. I use either bread flour, which seems to require more water, or AP flour, or a combination; it doesn't make a difference. Challah should be on the sweet side, rich with eggs, with a close crumb and a soft crust: all the opposite of the holey, crisp-crust breads we enjoy so much during the week. At least, that's my theory. Rebeccah, I'm happy to know that your community is being so supportive. A refuah shlema to you, my dear, and very soon. You guys are making such delicious food for Shabbat...I'm still copping out with easy recipes. Well, nobody at home is complaining at least. But I'm shy to post my rough-and-ready methods here any more . Vat can I say: Friday is a tough day around here. But I did find new peas in the shuk on Thursday, and on Shabbat night, we feasted on them, simply steamed and drizzled with olive oil. Very good! Er, we did have the usual chicken soup, and psuedo-Chinese marinated, stir-fried chicken cubes, and rice with young nettles in it, and tossed salad and carrot salad, too. But those peas, they stole the limelight. Ah! And strawberries are in season again. I like them best plain with just a little sugar, but the little one wants strawberry shortcake sometime this week. I'm happy to indulge her. Miriam

I had to smile when I saw this thread...the lemon tree in the yard of my Israeli apartment building yields such big, fragrant, juicy fruit, and each winter I have to think up ways to use them. Limocello is a good suggestion: make the liqueur with the zest, and freeze the juice. A good Purim gift. Last year I made a lot of hard lemonade and lemon wine too. I'm printing out the chicken recipe Shellfishfiend posted - looks excellent. And I'm going to knock down a few more lemons and put the zest in sugar for baking or whatever comes up. This year's big lemon experience was preserving them in salt. I preserved five big lemons going by Elizabeth David's Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen. The recipe goes like this, with my comments: Take four large lemons; wash them and put them in a jar big enough to contain them whole. Cover with water*; change the water every day for 3 days. On the 4th day, quarter the lemons and put the pieces in a clean, dry, wide-mouth jar. Add 1 Tblsp. coarse salt per lemon. Put a double thickness of baking paper or other greaseproof paper right on top of the fruit; weigh this down with a 2-lb. weight. I used a full bottle of water, which fit into the opening of the jar. E.D. suggests a clean, smooth stone as an option. Leave alone in a cool place for 1 week. The juice and salt will combine to make a preservative brine. In hot weather or a hot kitchen, keep the jar in the fridge. Cover and keep in the fridge another 2-3 weeks to allow the lemons to mature. Use thin slices of the zest and pith in savory cooking. E.D. says that slivers of the whole fruit are good in salads as well. *re water: Some of the essential oils leach out from the skins of the lemons at the first soaking, making a refreshing skin splash or tonic. If you plan to do this, use good-quality water (mineral or filtered). The water from the next two soakings isn't as strong or fragrant. Miriam

Lovebenton, And how did it turn out? Did the onion vapor rise up in a lethal cloud, as it did for me? I'm sure the flavor was very good. I haven't done Dan's deli bread yet; the plan is to start it next week, when I'll have a free morning to work with the risen dough, and bake. How much starter do you use for your no-knead loaf? I've done that twice, using I think 'way too much starter (1/2 cup). Miriam

Dan, what a gift, thank you. The photo looks luscious. I'm going to try this tonight! Miriam