Turkey Tracks: September 30, 2010
Cider Pressing Potluck
Boy am I bummed!
We were invited to our neighbors’ annual Cider Pressing Potluck, and I did not take my camera.
What a mistake!
Chris Richmond and Susan McBride live just up Howe Hill from us, and it has been really fun to watch how they have added to their family (three children now) and slowly and patiently improved their house, barn, and land. The farmhouse and barn are especially lovely in the way that old New England properties are. The house has pumpkin pine flooring that is at least a foot wide and is the color of…pumpkin. I envy them the barn, and they are just now finishing repairing the lower section–which has been a major project for them. They have laying chickens, geese who are keen watchdogs, and, sometimes meat chickens and turkeys. Susan is expanding the gardens every year and now has two hoop houses. The second one came this summer and is large. Already there are strips of green plants beneath the plastic roof. I will be able to get winter greens from her, and I’m excited about that possibility since she embodies what I hope will happen more and more: small growers will grow beautiful food for their neighbors and friends and enough of them will do it so that we don’t have to eat food shipped here from Florida and California.
There is an apple orchard on the uphill side of the farmhouse, and that’s where the cider pressing and potluck took place. What a fun day they made for us! The people who pressed the cider had made all their own equipment. Truly, this kind of knowledge needs to be preserved, and it was so generous of them to share it with everyone who came to the potluck. Here’s where my camera was sorely missed! There were three buckets where the apples got washed three times, a piece of simple equipment that gobbled up the apples and cut them into small pieces, a straining system with some kid of heavy cloth in a box that let some of the immediate juice come out, and a press where the boxed apples in fabric got…pressed. The cider was delicious!
Yes, the cider was unpasteurized. If you think drinking unpasteurized cider dangerous, here are some of my thoughts. Real cider is a whole food that is filled with enzymes, nutrients, and, best of all, great flavor, especially if several varieties of apples are used. It bears no relationship to the sugary hit you get with commercially made apple juice. Of course, as with all foods, you have to trust that your cider presser is not using bad/rotten apples, has cleaned them properly, is not using anything but organic apples, and so forth. We always try to save freezer space for at least a few quarts, and when I defrost them in the spring, the juice is like a spring tonic for us.
Consider, too, how so-called “safe” juice is made–a process approved by our FDA. Let’s take orange juice as an example. Industry puts the whole oranges into a machine so as to get as much oil as possible out of the skin. But, commercial oranges are a heavily sprayed crop–most often sprayed with cholinesterase inhibitors and organophosphates, which are neurotoxins that cause degeneration of the brain and nervous system. It amazes me that intelligent people can think they can eat/drink food sprayed with neurotoxins and not experience any damage. Or, that the poisons magically go away in time. They do not. Also, there is a fungus in fruit that is resistant to both pressure and heat, so pasteurization does not kill it. Raw fruit juices, as is also true of milk, contain enzymes that can sometimes destroy this kind of contaminant. Some strains of E. coli are also resistant to pasteurization processes. Additionally, treating juice with industrial process involving heat and great pressure can produce intermediate products that are mutagenic and cytotoxic. In other words, treated juice can have cancer-causing compounds. The sugar load of treated juice, without the natural enzymes and nutrients, is hard on teeth. And, industry adds soy protein and pectin to keep juice looking cloudy and to prevent solids from settling.
Commercial orange juice is a highly-processed, adulterated product that you are drinking at your own risk. Better to eat a whole orange. Or, to drink fresh cider from a presser you trust. Here’s a web site with more of this kind of information: “Dirty Secrets of the Food Processing Industry”: http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/567-dirty-secrets-of-the-food-processing-industry.html
Susan and Chris had set up tables outside for the potluck, and soon the yard was filled with running, laughing children, adults drinking cider and eating delicious food–for everyone had brought special dishes. I brought my favorite meatloaf. Here’s a picture (taken by Tami) and my recipe, developed over 45 years of cooking:
Louisa’s Meatloaf
2 pounds of ground meat–if it’s very lean, add several tablespoons of fat (butter, coconut oil). You can use combinations of meat if you like, like a bit of pork with beef or buffalo. I don’t eat veal since I disapprove of how baby calves destined for veal are treated. I also would use meat from organic, pastured animals. Lamb meatloaf is also delicious!
a handful of rolled oats or cubed leftover bread to absorb juices
2 GOOD eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
about 1 1/2 cups of a grated veggie to keep the mixture moist (carrots, zucchini, mushrooms)–or a combo–use what you have around or what is in season
1 cup of grated cheese–whatever you have on hand that needs using or what you especially like
A dash of cream or milk to help bind the ingredients
Seasons: salt, pepper, herbs (chopped fresh herbs are lovely, especially thyme and/or Italian parsley. A dried fresh mixture of Italian herbs or Provencal herbs (with lavender) are also nice.
A topping to be put on after shaping (below): sliced tomatoes with some basil leaves in summer, or slices of zucchini with a good tomato sauce that does not have a lot of ingredients. Meatloaf seems to ask for a tomato sauce of some kind. I really try to stay away from cans because of the lining chemicals (phthalates and BPA), but here is where I might buy a small can of good-quality tomato sauce. You could also use one of the good ketchups–not Heinz, etc. Get one without a lot of “spices” (MSG) and with ingredients you know and understand. Look in the health-store section of the store.
Don’t overmix. With your hands just combine the ingredients. I use something like an open 8X8 pan, or a more rectangular, bigger shape, and form the meatloaf into a football shape. It cooks faster than trying to put it into a loaf pan. Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour. I also don’t worry if it’s a little pink in the middle as overcooking beef takes away many of its enzymes, nutrients, etc.
Let the meat cool for about 5-10 minutes before cutting–letting meat sit and cool a bit allows juices to stay in the meat and not flow out into the pan when you cut into it. Also, the meat continue to cook, so pull it out at the pink stage so it does not overcook.
ENJOY
(Cold meatloaf sandwiches are fabulous!)
Louisa Enright's Blog 