Cherry pitting followup

I recently acquired this super neat little cherry pitter. No maker’s marking, cast aluminum with a red plastic base. probably 1950’s.

Cherry Pitter!

 

Cherry pitting Record

A few weeks ago I set a record for most cherries pitted in a minute: 35!
watch it here: http://r.urdb.org/Iq

 

On Saving and Savoring

I was recently blessed with a super secret CSA share containing some Children-of-Man tomatoes and the most wondrous food on earth: ground cherries. These little mini-tomatillo looking things taste like creamy cantelopes, and pop in your mouth with a subtle delicious flavor.

photo from our friends at brooklynfarmhouse.com

These bring up a consistent problem in my life. Whenever I am lucky enough to have something unique and special, I tend to protect it to a fault. I am afraid to indulge in too many of the ground cherries at one time, I would rather save them to have more at a later date.

The first time I canned tomatoes, it took a big bagful to make a quart of sauce. This sauce sat in the basement, unopened, until June of the following year. It was only when I was promised with the imminent harvest of new tomatoes was I free to open the jar. And once it was opened? I made a delicious meal with some homemade orecchiette, using maybe 8 ounces of the quart. But then, I got busy, and didn’t have a chance to make more hand-rolled pasta. And my sauce, my precious sauce, wasn’t worthy of just dumping on box noodles. Before too long, I had to revisit the harrowing question of whether it is safe to scrape off the mold and eat the rest (which it is not). Because of my inaction, I had to flush over half a quart of dense, rich homemade tomato sauce, which had been too good to eat.

I remember the horror I tried to conceal on my face when a friend dumped an ice cube into a glass of wine that I had opened, almost a year after bringing it home from the maker’s villa in Italy. She saw right through me. “It’s just wine, dude. You can get another bottle.” And yet, I don’t remember the name of the villa, or even the town. I do remember the ice cube, and the laugh that we shared when I was busted oversentimentalizing fermented grape juice.

I’m probably going to finish the ground cherries tonight, or maybe tomorrow. It’s not worth the trouble of canning the few I have left, and if I did the jar would become an heirloom, and not something to be enjoyed. I could always preserve them in amber. Delicious.

 

Food is Science

August is food science month here at The Brooklyn Kitchen! And in the grand tradition of discussing science on fridays (maintained by our favorite station, WNYC, through the syndicated show Science Fridays), we’d like to introduce:

FOOD SCIENCE FRIDAYS AT THE BROOKLYN KITCHEN!

Everyone’s a scientist when it comes to food! Baking is chemistry, fermentation is biology, choosing a pot is a question of physics.

Fridays in August, we’ll be conducting some fun food-oriented experiments. Come by after 4pm to hang out and talk science. Or watch this space for updates and results!

Food Science Friday Schedule:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theeerin/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 at 4PM: COOKING WITH THE SUN!

We’ll be baking cookies on a car dashboard, and if it feels hot enough, we’ll see if we can actually fry an egg on the sidewalk.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 – FRIDAY, AUGUST 14: CAPTURING WILD YEAST!

Yeast is everywhere! Strains of yeast exist right in the air around us, and we are going to catch some and force it to leaven our bread! On the 7th, we’ll set the trap, and we’ll visit it throughout the week to see what we catch.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14 at 4PM: GRAMMAR SCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR FUN TIMES!

Capillary Action: Why do we water the soil instead of the top of the plants? Doesn’t gravity pull the water down? Well, no. We’ll be replicating your classic celery stalk capillary action demo.

Punk Rock Candy: Geology isn’t a science we routinely associate with food, (though of course soil and its health is everything about food) but here we go! We’ll be making rock candy, forming salt crystals and seeing if we can combine the two flavors for a sweet and salty rock food!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21 at 4PM: IT’S ELECTRIC!

Tuber Town: We’re going to see what kind of kitchen electronics we can run with potatoes and citrus fruits!

Sparks!: Not the malt liquor! We’re going to see what sort of minty things we can get to spark in the dark recesses of our mouths.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28 at 4PM: UP, DOWN AND OVER

How Do You Get An Egg In A Bottle?: We’ll demonstrate how temperature and air pressure interact to pull a hardboiled egg into a narrow mouthed bottle. The real question will probably end up: How do we get the egg out?!

Chemical Propulsion: We’re going to build a rocket to the moon. Well, maybe not the moon, but we are going to propel things short distances into the air using baking soda and vinegar.

Dry Ice Cream: Making ice cream always feels a bit scientific, especially the old fashioned rocksalt and ice way. But today we’re going to go nerdtastic and make ice cream using dry ice.

 

The Brooklyn Kitchen Labs ca. 1940

 

At Long Last the Travel Mug you’ve been waiting for…

We’ve been searching for this travel mug for years! It’s finally here in the 12oz version (the 16oz is coming soon it was backordered with the supplier)

Stainless Travel Mug with Carabiner 12oz, $13.99

And this awesome Glass Salt Cellar:

Glass Salt Cellar w/Lid $12.99

These are so new to us that they’re not on our website yet, but if you live far away and want one, give us a call.

 

We’ve got Moxie!

We’d like to welcome our newest addition to the Brooklyn Kitchen.

Moxie Ann, born 7/24/09 7lbs 12oz