Apple Picking Fall 2012 With Slow Food Tufts

Our apple picking adventure for The Food Project got off to a bit of a rocky start, or perhaps muddy is a better word (refer to picture below).  Once I realized that my roommate's car had 4 wheel drive, we were golden.  Yes, I'm not too proud to admit it.  Perils of several years of riding a bike.  

Look what you missed by staying inside on this rainy morning!

Once we got unstuck from the mud, we had a grand time picking apples...with some intermittent drizzle, but it didn't cramp our style.  

We ended up picking 400 lbs of apples for The Food Project to sell, which helps them support their wonderful youth empowerment programs through farming and leadership development.  

We even got to stay and pick up any apples that had fallen on the ground to take home.  Two weekends of canning later, Franciel and I have finally emptied our apple stores.  

Fresh Pasta Night!

We were all inspired to speak Italian last Thursday night while making homemade sun dried tomato pasta, spinach linguine, mushroom sage pasta and just plain old spaghetti. Okay, so maybe the Italian part is an exaggeration, but to say the food was out of this world is right on! A group of Friedman students and friends got together to learn how absurdly easy it is to make your own pasta. It's just egg and flour, people!

We used a food processor to bring the dough together,

and to get creative we added finely diced sun dried tomatos, fresh spinach (you have to add a lot more flour if you do this.), fresh mushrooms and dried sage and ros

emary. We used a Kitchen Aid pasta making attachment to flatten the pasta, but for the batches with sun dried tomatoes in them we opted to lay the flat sheets out and cut them with a pizza cutter. This particular kind would have jammed the pasta making attachment, and the thick strips we made turned into beautiful, thick strips of artisan-looking pasta. I guess it was in fact artisan...a la Friedman. Dinner was divine... a little carb heavy perhaps, but wonderful. It was an ideal way to kick off Spring Break.

A wonderful evening was had by all!

Yogurt Making Skill Share

Our evening of yogurt making was a smashing success. Joan VanWassenhove and her boyfriend, Dean Paetzold welcomed us skill-sharers with delicious hors d'oeuvres and wine while we all chatted and got acquainted with their cats.

Soon the much-anticipated time came for the yogurt-making, so we all followed Dean into the kitchen where he went through the whole process for us from start to finish. He had even made three batches the night before so we could taste the different kinds. He made one with goat yogurt because there was a request for that from our group. It tasted great, but turned out a little bit thin, so he is going to tweak the recipe. The other two kinds of yogurt were made with cow's milk and were major crowd pleasers. He showed us how to sterilize the pot

you use, how to heat and cool down the milk, add the yogurt and then put it in a warm place to incubate and let the bacterial cultures do their work.

To incubate they wrap the pot in a heating blanket and set it in a laundry basket overnight.

The temperature is easily controlled that way. He then showed us how you strain it through cheese cloth to make it different thicknesses. We were all brainstorming what to make with the leftover whey and one of our members mentioned she had seen a limoncello recipe that called for whey...possibly a future skill share in the making.

The whole process was surprisingly simple, but you may have to do a little bit of trial and error experimenting. However Dean has done a lot of that for us, so if you follow the directions he has provided below, you should make a successful batch of yogurt. Joan and Dean had also prepared a batch of delicious homemade granola, also which they kindly included below. The yogurt was great plain, or with a little spoonful of honey...or my personal favorite, with a little bit of fresh-ground peanut butter. I know that sounds weird. It did to me too at first, but try it. You just might like it.

Enjoy!

Skill Share: Basic Yogurt Making

Ingredients:

½ gal. - 1 gal. milk (the best to use in my experience is whole milk from Jersey cows. The

higher percentage if protein results in thicker yogurt without straining)

2 Tablespoons plain yogurt with live active cultures

Utensils:

Pot, Whisk, Kitchen thermometer, Cheesecloth, Colander, Bowl

Steps

1) Sterilize

Sterilize all vessels and utensils. Boil a few cups of water in such a way that the steam

comes in contact with everything the milk will come in contact with. That is, put the whisk in

the pot and let the boiling water steam the whisk for a few minutes.

Empty the water from the pot and put the whisk on clean surface (such as the sterilized lid

from the pot).

2) Heat Milk

Pour the milk into the pot and heat the milk to 180 degrees F. Stirring will help keep the milk

from burning on the bottom.

3) Cool Milk

Cool the milk to 110 degrees F. This can be done rapidly by having a sink half full of cold

water at hand. Place the pot in the cold water and stir the milk while slowly pushing the pot

back and forth to agitate the water.

4) Add Yogurt culture and Incubate

Once the milk is at 110 degrees use the same whisk to deliver the inoculation. A couple

tablespoons of any plain yogurt with "live active cultures" will do the trick.

Cover the pot and maintain a minimum of 105 degrees and a maximum of 120 degrees for at

least 6 hours and not more than 12 hours. The ideal temperature is 110 degrees. An 8-hour

culture seems best. Swaddling the pot in a heating blanket and extra blankets works well.

An oven with just the pilot burning may be warm enough. Do not disturb the yogurt.

After this period of time the yogurt should be ready. It can then go into containers and into

the fridge.

5) Strain to thicken

Pour a little boiling water over cheesecloth, colander, and bowl to be used.

To drain: place a colander in a bowl, line the colander with cheese cloth that has been

double or triple folded, pour yogurt into cloth, and fold excess cloth over the yogurt. Placing

a light plate or bowl over directly on the cloth will help facilitate more thorough draining of the

whey.

Draining 40% to 50% of the whey from the yogurt will result in a thickness similar to what you

find in many store bought yogurts. This may take 1 to 2 hours. To achieve thicker, greekstyle

yogurt drain about 75% out.

Example: For normal thickness, drain 1.5 to 2 quarts of whey from 1 gal. of yogurt, leaving 2

to 2.5 quarts yogurt.

Fully thickened "greek" yogurt may need 3 to 4 hours of draining, or overnight in fridge. If

you let it drain for 2+ days you will achieve something akin to cream cheese.

Pour off clear/yellow whey to allow for more drainage if your bowl is not deep enough.

Clean Up

When done, wash cheesecloth by hand in several changes of warm, soapy water. Air dry.

Store in ziplock bag to reuse.

Homemade Granola

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Prepare 2 very lightly oiled baking/cooking sheets.

In saucepan over high heat, reduce 1 cup apple cider down to ½ cup.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients:

4 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts

¼ to ½ cup each any seeds or grain flakes to taste. Ground flax and wheat germ

works well.

In a separate, small bowl mix wet ingredients:

3 tablespoons canola oil

½ cup reduced apple cider (see above)

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Spread evenly on greased baking sheets. Bake for a total of

40 minutes, rotating pans and stirring granola every 10 minutes to ensure even browning.

Add any desired dried fruit after baking.

Melt Cheese Like the Swiss Skillshare

by Elaine Siew

A couple weeks ago, I invited Slow Foodies over to my house to explore the decadent world of fondue and raclette. I spent a year in Switzerland as an exchange student in 2005-2006, and was very fortunate to learn about the sweet melty-cheese-magic of fondue (not just for chic 70’s parties anymore) and raclette (stinky cheese heaven). For the first time two weeks ago, I ate BOTH in one night with my fellow Slow Food cheese-lovers!

So Swiss cheese fondue (French for “melted”) is a delicious combination of Gruyere cheese, Emmental cheese (what we would commonly know as just Swiss cheese – with the holes in it), white wine, and lemon juice, with a couple subtle spices. I cooked this on the stove and then poured it into a garlic-rubbed fondue pot over a flame, but traditionally you would cook this in a heavy stoneware or cast iron “caquelon” and eat right out of it. Also, in Switzerland, you would normally just eat this with bread cubes – oh yes, carbs and cheese all night long – but at the skillshare we added grapes (and you can really dip anything that you like covered in cheese!). And we drank wine with the fondue of course, because many a Swiss person will tell you that you can only drink wine or hot tea with fondue – or you will die (seriously).

To double-dose on cheese, we also prepared raclette – my FAVORITE Swiss meal. It is basically melted raclette – a pungent-smelling, soft cheese abundant in Switzerland – over boiled potatoes and cured meats, sprinkled with cracked pepper and garnished with cornichon pickles. Traditionally, the Swiss would take a massive half-wheel of raclette and prop it over an open flame, then take a big knife and scrape off the melted layers onto the accoutrements on your plate (it’s amazing to find a raclette hut mid-mountain when you’re skiing the Swiss slopes). Today, you can buy special raclette grills – with mine, you can grill veggies on top (to also get covered in cheese, of course) while you melt slabs of raclette on little paddles in cubbies under the grill.

For dessert, we enjoyed Swiss “carac” tarts – which are tartlet shells filled with chocolate ganache and fondant, as well as bars of Cailler chocolate – the most amazing chocolate in Switzerland that they sadly do not export (but were shipped to me by a very sweet friend in Geneva).

All in all, a beautiful evening celebrating everything that is good and right about Swiss cheese, and proving yet again that you can never, never have too much cheese.

Mobile Poultry Processing with Pete and Jen

By Elliot Hohn 
 

This Fall I was lucky enough to be able to join Peter Lowy and Jennifer Hashley, founders of Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, on their beautiful farm in Concord, MA to help with the harvesting of their flock of chickens.  Jen and Pete regularly invite volunteers to come out and get their hands dirty (or rather, bloody), and to get an up-close look at our food system in action. 

Jen and Pete started raising chickens in 2003, and the farm is now home to over 600 hens, as well as pigs, rabbits, and sheep. All of the animals on the farm are pasture-raised, with humane and sustainable practices being essential aspects of Jen and Pete’s farming philosophy. Additionally, Jen and Pete are state licensed to slaughter their birds using something called a Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU), which is a custom-built trailer outfitted with a killing-room, a feather-plucker, and set of processing and cleaning stations.

The long day of chicken harvesting starts early, with volunteers arriving before 7am for coffee, home-baked bread, and a quick briefing from Jen on evisceration techniques and hygienic practices during the handling of freshly killed birds. Joining me for the day were a handful of other Tufts students, a half-dozen students from the Cambridge Culinary Institute, and a random assortment of folks from the Concord community and from around Boston. 

For the next six hours, we worked hard to process around 375 birds, including capons, Freedom Rangers, Cornish Rocks, and even one large (and handsome, I might add) turkey. Surrounded by good company and the feeling of being a part of what is, in my opinion, one of the more impressive and respectable operations that exists within our food system, we enjoyed a long day helping put tasty, humanely-raised  chickens on the tables of Jen and Pete’s loyal customers.

To anyone who is interesting in getting gaining a deeper understanding of where the food they eat (or don’t eat) comes from, I would highly recommend making a trip out to Jen and Pete’s place. They are a wealth of knowledge, and the experience just might change the way you look at the food on your plate.

For more info, visit their website at http://peteandjensbackyardbirds.com/.

 

 

Formaggio Kitchen Cheese Cave Tour & Tasting

by Tina Galante
Last week, 12 Tufts Slow Foodies visited Formaggio Kitchen, an artisanal cheese and specialty foods store in Cambridge, for a private tour and tasting event. The event started off with a tour of the store’s “cheese caves,” which are small underground rooms kept at the precise temperature and humidity ideal for aging young cheeses and maintaining moisture in older cheeses. Our cheese-monger, Julia (a Tufts alumn!), told us all about the store’s process of buying and importing cheese and went into great detail about the special relationships Formaggio builds with its small-scale producers.

After the tour, it was tasting time! We each got to sample a sizable hunk of 6 different cheeses, each carefully paired with a unique and delicious condiment. Arguably the biggest hit was a local raw cow’s milk Landaff cheese with an out-of-this-world tomato jam (I was hesitant at first, but I think this is my new favorite jam!). Another amazing combination was “Inspiration,” a washed rind, raw milk cheese from Vermont, paired with a piece of local dark chocolate (produced by a man who roasts his cacao beans in a toaster oven in Western Mass!)

Each cheese and condiment came with a story that gave us an even greater appreciation for the craftsmanship and care that went into each of these delicious products. It was truly the epitome of a Slow Food experience, and given that most of the group went home with at least one purchase from the store…I’d say the event was a success. :)

Thanks to Julia Hallman and Erin Weber of Formaggio Kitchen for making this event possible!

(And thanks to Rachael Kirk for the great photos!)

If any of you are interested, I’d highly recommend attending one of the upcoming events and/or classes hosted by Formaggio. Click here to check them out!

Last week, the nation celebrated its first Food Day. October 24th marked a day to bring awareness to our food system and Tufts was not exempt from the festivities. Mayor Menino delivered a talk at the Sackler School about nutrition in Boston and the Friedman School screened the documentary Forks Over Knives.

Where was Slow Food among the day's events? Serving up delicious snacks! Slow Food popped New Jersey-grown organic popcorn for movie-goers to munch on. Because what's a movie without popcorn? And what's Slow Food without healthy, environmentally conscious food?

Food Day was certainly a success. People from different fields gathered to find solutions to important nutrition and agricultural problems. And Slow Food was there to fuel people's brains with delicious popcorn. Thank you to all those who attended events throughout the day, we hope you enjoyed!

Tour of Shaw Dairy: Dracut, MA

Written by Glennon Beresin

This Monday, we had a GREAT time visiting Shaw Farm, a 103-year-old, fully operational Dairy Farm located in Dracut, MA. When we first arrived, we pulled into the parking lot of their pasteurizing facility that doubles as a beautiful retail space/ice cream stand. The building, we later learned, was newly constructed to incorporate epoxy flooring for pasteurizing that deters bacterial growth and is heated and cooled geothermally! While we waited for our tour leader to arrive, we excitedly scanned the ice cream coolers for post-tour purchasing. I was happy to see they carried seasonal flavors like pumpkin and apple strudel, AND had coffee Oreo, an all-time personal favorite.




Our tour leader, Warren, is the owner and manager and represents the fourth consecutive generation of their family on the farm. With his son following his footsteps, he lends the farm’s success and longevity to planned self-sufficiency and innovation. When many of his friends in the dairy business chose to opt in to cooperatives to sell milk to industrial processing, the Shaw family made the decision to remain autonomous. Like the fancy farm stand, their barn was also recently renovated with state-of-the-art ventilation to keep herd healthy. They are also always looking to expand business ventures in and around Boston, have a souped-up milk delivery truck and even a facebook page!

As we walked across the street to see the cows, we passed two gigantic trailers for raw milk storage. One tanks is for conventional milk and the other is for organic milk. Yet another reason the Farm is doing so well is that they have the ability to manage both kinds of herds successfully. By keeping the organic herd very small and in-line with the minimal demand in Dracut, they are able to fill stores in wealthier areas with their organic product (We were happy to know that even in for the conventional cows, he doesn’t use rBGH or regular antibiotics.).



Our tour ended, of course, back at the stand, where we all bought a bunch of delicious ice cream to take home! If you want to learn more about the Shaw Farm, look them up on Facebook! Bailey, their pet donkey, who we all befriended during the tour, regularly updates the site. Aside from all the great info, meeting him (he is a real donkey, very loving) was one of my highlights, along with being licked by a dairy cow.

Visit to the Cranberry Station

By Katrina Brink

A small group of 5 of us Friedman students, plus one intrepid medical student, drove down to the UMass Cranberry Station in East Wareham, MA. We were soon to find out it is the only one of its kind in the world.

We were welcomed by the Integrated Pest Management Specialist, Hilary Sandler, who taught us that there are only about 55,000 acres of cranberry production worldwide, with about 14,000 acres in Massachusetts. Our guide taught us about the typical pest management and harvesting techniques used for cranberries. We also learned about some of the difficulties organic growers face in the humid climate of New England and the competition they encounter from newly minted organic cranberry growers in Quebec.

Hilary informed us that the average cranberry farmer is about 58 years old, but that fortunately there has been a recent resurgence of interest from young people getting into growing cranberries. The Director of the station, Carolyn DeMoranville, explained to us how the Ocean Spray Cooperative works and which berries get packaged fresh in bags, which get dried, and which ones are used in concentrate.

After we learned all we could about cranberries we followed Hilary out to a bog to get a first-hand look. The growers had already left for the day, but we got to enjoy the results of their work, knocking all the berries loose from the vines, so they float on the surface of the water.  It was a beautiful scene of a field of floating red berries. The growers will return another day to harvest the berries by gathering them with a large boom to contain them and scoop them up so they can be packaged and/or processed. 

Ms. Sandler suggested we come back next year over Columbus Day Weekend for the Cranberry Harvest Festival, so we can enjoy all the fun festivities associated with this delicious, tart fruit that is native to New England!

An Afternoon on Hutchins Farm

Curly Red Russian Kale

By Kyle Foley

Hutchins Farm is a family-owned and –operated organic produce farm less than 30 miles west of Boston in Concord, MA. Two brothers, Gordon and John Bemis, have been running the farm since 1973, and are now joined in the farm’s operations by Gordon’s daughter, Liza, and John’s son and daughter-in-law, Taylor and Andrea. When a Slow Food group drove out to visit the farm recently, we were given a tour by the farm manager, Brian Cramer, and Liza Bemis (also a Friedman student!) joined us, too. Hutchins grows a wide variety of certified organic vegetables, as well as a handful of fruit crops. They are particularly known for their greens (lettuce, kale, chard, arugula, escarole, collards, etc), but (full disclosure: I also work for the farm once a week, but no bias, I swear!) everything they grow is delicious. Currently, it’s apple season on the farm, and root crop season, and more greens as the weather cools. Apples (as well as some other crops that Hutchins grows, like sweet corn) are particularly tricky to grow organically in New England because of pest pressure and the humid climate here (which is ripe for fungus). Because of this (not to mention because of how crunchy and tasty they are), Hutchins apples are in high demand.

Hoeing the lettuce planting

Brian showed us around several of the fields, talking as we went about the different challenges and benefits of growing organically. We learned a lot about the incredible variety of bugs that like to make their homes in the fields of different crops, and were able to see up close some potato bugs and Mexican bean beetles, in addition to the beneficial insects that roam the fields. Weeding takes up a good portion of the farm crew’s time and energy, and we saw a handful of crew members at work hoeing a fresh lettuce planting. Brian also showed us some fallow fields planted in cover crops, and talked about the importance of good soil quality as a key component to the farm’s success. And on our way back to the farmstand, we were able to get a good look at some tractors and cool farm implements that make the work of planting, weeding, irrigating, and harvesting easier.

Farmstand produce

Walking through the fields was a perfect way to spend part of a beautiful fall afternoon, and I don’t think any of us left without picking up some vegetables (and apples) to bring home!

If you’re interested in purchasing Hutchins Farm produce, you can find them at the Central Square farmers’ market in Cambridge on Monday afternoons, the Belmont farmers’ market on Thursday afternoons, and the Union Square farmers’ market in Somerville on Saturday mornings. And if you get the chance, head out to Concord to visit the farmstand at 754 Monument Street!

First Potluck of the Year!

Members of Slow Food got together for our first potluck of the year. In the vein of Slow Food International's $5 meal challenge, all dishes brought had a budget limit of $5/4 people. Some recipes from our wonderful feast are attached!


Tri-Color Pasta with Kale and Sun-dried Tomatoes by Tina Galante

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup sundried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 bunch kale, thick stems removed and leaves chopped
8 ounces tri-color pasta
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Fresh basil to taste
Salt & pepper
Directions
Soak sundried tomatoes in hot water to cover for 15 minutes to soften them, then drain and thinly slice.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. In a separate large skillet, sauté the onions and garlic. Stir in kale and reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until tender.
Add pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions. Drain pasta and add kale, tomatoes, and remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.


Vegan Truffles by Geeta Bhasin

This was taught to me in India by Micah Stanek who used to work in a raw-vegan café. We managed to get the ingredients together and made these truffles in the kitchen at Navdanya farm!
I think it works for a $5 recipe because of the 4 ingredients, 3 can be purchased at CVS for low cost. Coconut oil is a low-cost import, readily available at ethnic grocery stores.
I already had oats and sugar at home. I went to Shaw’s and picked up a $4 container of cocoa powder and bought a large bottle of coconut oil from Patel Brothers for $7.99. I will be able to make these many times over with the ingredients that I now have in my pantry.
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup oats
½ cup coconut oil
Thaw the coconut oil ahead of time so that it is easy to work with. Between solid and liquid is the easiest state for this recipe.
Mix dry ingredients. Add coconut oil and combine thoroughly. Roll into balls and place on floured baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour or until serving time. Best if removed shortly before serving. Makes 16 bite size truffles.
Note: If mixture is too liquidy to roll into balls, add more oats or put it all in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.


Curried Cauliflower and Carrots by Kyle Foley

Ingredients
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for topping
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 red onion, cut into eighths
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Whisk together the curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil in a medium bowl.
Spread the cauliflower, carrots, and onion in a single layer on a large baking sheet-lined with tin foil. Drizzle with the
dressing and toss so it is thoroughly coated.
Roast the vegetables in the oven until tender and browned, about 40 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Remove to
a serving bowl and sprinkle with parsley and a drizzle of olive oil on top. Serve hot or at room temperature.



Brownies Recipe by Ryan Kring

½ lb (2 sticks) sweet butter, 4 eggs, 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, 2 cups sugar, ¾ cups all-purpose flower, 1 tsp vanilla, 2/3 cup walnuts



Melt chocolate & butter together, cool to room temp. Mix sugar, eggs, & vanilla together. Add chocolate mixture to egg mixture in thin stream while beating. Add flower. Mix well. Add nuts. Bake in greased pan for 30 min at 350.

Bean Salad by Meghan Johnson


Ingredients

* 1 (15 ounce) can green beans
* 1 pound wax beans
* 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 onion, sliced into thin rings
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 2/3 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Directions

1. Mix together green beans, wax beans, kidney beans, onion, sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Let set in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Hello Slow Food Tufts!

Its a brand new academic year and we would like to welcome new and returning Tufts Slow Foodies. Your Slow Food Tufts board has a bunch of exciting events lined up to celebrate local, fair, and delicious food. Get excited for visits to a cranberry bog and local farm, potlucks and skill shares, and an end of the semester bake-off featuring Friedman's sweetest.

We will be holding our first meeting on Tuesday September 13 2:30-3:30, Location TBA

Join us for our first pot-luck of the semester where we reclaim the value meal. Bring a dish that costs under $5 to make and the recipe for the dish. Your Slow Food board will compile the recipes into a cookbook of cheap, delicious meals! This event is part of Slow Food USA's challenge to take back the value meal. More information can be found at https://secure3.convio.net/sfusa/site/SPageServer?pagename=5Challenge_Home

Welcome to Slow Food Tufts- we're excited you joined us!

Sharpening Up on Knife Skills

by Jessica McGovern

About a month ago Tufts University Slow Foods Student Organization approached me to host a skillshare at my apartment to discuss knives, I gladly obliged. The evening began with some basics that included an overview of knives and knife skills and ended by using all of those meticulously cut vegetables in a tasty vegetable and herb soup. Here are some of the topics that we discussed:

Overview of Knives
You don't have to be a trained chef to produce a great meal. Knife skills are one of the fundamental components to becoming an exceptional cook. Knives come in many shapes and sizes, each having its own specific purpose. Many people become discouraged by all of the different options that are available, but it really is not necessary to have more than the four basic types of knives.

* Chef's Knife
- The most versatile of all knives, with a wide blade that is 8" to 10" long. It is best to choose a knife that feels good and balanced in your hand. The knife should have a full tang (this means that the blade should go all the way through the handle for the best wear and stability).
* Paring Knife
- Paring knives are generally 2-1/2-4" in length. It is ideal for peeling and coring fruits and vegetables, cutting small objects, slicing, and other hand tasks.
* Boning Knife- 
This type of knife has a more flexible blade to curve around meat and bone. Generally 4-5" long.
* Bread Knife
- Bread knives are usually serrated (having teeth like a saw). Most experts recommend a serrated knife that has pointed serrations instead of wavy serrations for better control and longer knife life. You must use a sawing motion when using a serrated knife.

Knife Cuts
The main point I stressed when discussing knife cuts was uniformity. If all of the pieces are about the same size the vegetables will cook evenly. One of the best ways to learn, besides doing, is by seeing. Check out this video by Bobby Flay to see how to cut red peppers and garlic (his favorite).

Knife Safety Tips

1. Chop slowly and carefully.
2. Always cut away from your body.
3. Make sure your hands are dry.
4. Make sure that you curl your fingers under on the hand holding the food. This takes a while to get used to, but will become second nature with practice. If your fingers are curled under, the chances are good you will never cut yourself.
5. Watch what you're doing at all times.
6. Using your dominant hand, hold the knife firmly and using a rocking motion, cut through the food. The knife should not leave the surface you're working on. Move your hand (with the curled under fingers) along as the knife cuts the food.
7. Always make sure that your cutting board is secured and will not move while you are cutting. Try placing a wet paper towel or dishrag underneath your board.

Sharpening and Truing
A chef once told me "a sharp knife is a happy knife." It's a little sentimental for my taste. I prefer the saying "a sharp knife is a safe and efficient knife." Having a sharp knife ensures that you have even cuts. Dull knives can become dangerous when you apply extra pressure while pressing down on the knife, the extra pressure leads to less control. There are several ways to sharpen your knife such as using a wet stone, a handheld sharpener and an electric sharpener. Personally, I prefer the handheld sharpener because it is cheap, effective, light and safe to use.


Another tool used to keep your knife sharp, but it does not actually sharpen your knife, is called a truing steel. This long, round object keeps knives sharper by straightening out the edge. To use a steel hold the knife in your dominant hand and the steel in the other, with the steel point pressed into a solid waist-high surface. Hold the knife base at the top of the steel at a 20 degree angle. Slowly draw the knife down the length of the steel, pulling the knife back so the entire blade, from base to tip, moves against the steel, as if you were slicing off pieces of the steel. Repeat on the other side. Do this five or six times.

Simple Vegetable Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
5 medium red potatoes- cut into medium cubes
2 red onions- cut into a large dice
4 carrots- peeled and cut into a large dice
1 cup mushrooms- cleaned and roughly chopped
Slow Foods members cutting up vegetables.
1 large yellow squash- cut into a large dice
1 head of garlic- peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cups vegetable stock
5 sprigs fresh thyme
3 fresh sage leaves
4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Directions:
1. In a large saute pan heat the olive oil and add the onions, carrots, mushrooms and yellow squash.
2. Cook the vegetables on medium-high heat for 4 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
3. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a large sauce pan. Add the potatoes and cover with the vegetable stock.
4. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add the thyme, rosemary and sage and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
6. Season with salt and pepper if necessary and serve hot.

Check out Jessica's blog: Great Eat-spectations!

Brew-off and “Beer Luck”: What More Could You Ask For?

by Nicole Tichenor





As a devoted beer drinker, I can safely say that yesterday’s Brew off and Beer Luck was my favorite SFT event of the year. A lot of other people probably agree, because those two rooms full of homebrewed beer were packed with people (over 100 members of the Tufts graduate community attended!) Here’s how the night went: everyone brought a glass, and we were able to choose 6 -7 beers of the 19 (!) to try, just to make sure everyone got enough tastes. Meanwhile, there was an esteemed panel of judges tasting each beer and scoring them. From Cambridge Brewing Company we had Will Meyers, Brewmaster and Megan Parisi, Head Brewer. The other judges were Dave Lytton, who works at the Modern Homebrew Emporium and James Nicholson, who runs Mystic Brewery.



The homebrewers were from several schools at Tufts: the medical, dental, urban and environmental policy and planning program, Fletcher school, and nutrition schools. The diversity of backgrounds matched the diversity of beers entered in the competition – everything from Black Saison and India Pale Ales to American Style Black Ale. It was really interesting to hear the brewers (fellow students) describe their beers like seasoned professionals. One of the pairs of brewers told me that their Oatmeal Stout was made with a real bowl of oatmeal with all the fixins in it. It’s my new favorite breakfast!




At the end of the night, the winners were announced. The students picked Kristin Irvin and Greg Saia’s Pale Ale as the 2nd place winner and gave the gold to Melissa Page’s “Vitamin Apri-Hop.” The judges’ pick was the Gluten Free Pale Ale brewed by Friedman student Alyssa Koomas. The judges also picked favorites in the different beer categories. For Classic Styles, 2nd place went to Sam Barber’s IBU-tiful, and 1st went to Scott Recksiedler for his California Common lager. Scott also took 2nd place in the specialty category for his Pumpkin Ale, which was like fall in a glass. 1st place specialty beer went to Alyssa’s Gluten Free Pale Ale. For darks/lagers, 1st place went to Kate Abowd Johnson, who brewed a powerful wood-aged beer, called Bourbon Trail Stout. 2nd place in that category went to Sarah Kasten’s American Style Black Ale, which was one of my favorites of the night.



Many thanks to our judges, donors, brewers and participants. Thanks also to our sponsors who donated wonderful prizes: Modern Homebrew Emporium, Redbones BBQ in Davis Square, Christopher's Restaurant, Cambridge Common, Mystic Brewery, and Cambridge Brewing Co.





We’re looking forward to Brew-off 2012 already!