Nicky and Dave Schauder are passionate about helping families grow their food, and medicine and find God in the garden
Make Your Harvest Last (Chef’s Tips Inside)
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Hey, Reader!
“Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them.” – Genesis 41:29–31 As the height of the growing season winds down, now is the time to ask: how do we extend the harvest well into winter? Chefs who Preserve the HarvestSome chefs leave such a lasting impression on my husband Dave and me. Much like a good theater show, it takes several days of relishing an exemplar fine dining experience to truly absorb the impact of what superb hospitality and amazing food can do for the soul, the community, and your outlook on work and life. That’s exactly how we felt when we dined at The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm (sadly now closed). This week, we’re learning from Chef Colby Janowitz, who once led the kitchen at The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm and now, with his wife Meagan, continues to champion farm-to-table fine dining across Virginia. One of the coolest things about Chef Colby? He and his sous chefs would often pick the harvest the very same morning they prepared for dinner service. Talk about fresh! Here’s what he has to share with us about making the harvest last:
During my time at Patowmack Farm, I was always trying to solve this puzzle: how do I make sure each and every dish is farm or locally inspired? This puzzle was most challenging during the winter months, when most things aren’t growing in our area.
So I typically labeled this part of the year the “preservation season.” This was because we would use things we preserved from past “abundance seasons” which ran from late spring to mid autumn.
Preservation is ancient, dating way before refrigeration ever existed. Historically, we have been very intelligent and creative when storing food for times it was not abundant.
Preservation Methods Chef Uses🥫 CanningIf you, have an abundance of fruit, tomatoes, beans, remember that you can preserve your harvest in an acid bath and seal it in a mason jar. Mellissa K. Norris, queen of mason jars shows us exactly how to do that in a short course we are offering this month! Fermenting & PicklingOne of my favorite methods is of course pickling. Most fruits and vegetables can be pickled, and all dishes need a balance of acidity added to it.
That can be fun because a pickled vegetable thats one day old and a pickled vegetable thats a year old, can be vastly different.
Here's what I think one of Chef's signature dishes is: a pickled radish salad! And you can pickle squashes too, apparently! Whis is apropo for the fall season we are currently in. 🍄 DryingChef Colby regularly dries anything that he has an abundance of. When mushrooms are in season or when I give him a glut of peas, he dries and powders them into seasonings, rubs that are out-of-the ordinary blends of different spices. "Herbs tend to dry well to be used for tea, powders, or some other crunchy condiment," Chef says. ❄️ FreezingRight now, Dave and I still have a large amount of basil coming from the herb garden. One tip I've had is to make the basil into pesto and then freeze them into ice cubes. Whenever you need some fresh basil flavor, you pop that frozen pesto into your winter stew! Chef Colby says:
During tomato season, I have no problem, blending them up at their peak and freezing them for sauce to be made in the winter. The list and ways to preserve are endless. Overall, I encourage knowledge of preservation methods. It lowers waste and can often be very easy to do. And lastly, it can bring a different season into a current one. Why Preservation MattersPreserving the harvest isn’t just about food. It’s about:
If you’d like to dive deeper, we put together a short course with expert homesteader Melissa K. Norris and friends that walks you through canning, freezing, fermenting, and even gardening... 🎓 Check out “Preserve Your Harvest” here» And if you're local, be sure to follow Chef Colby's and Meagan's work at @myceliarestaurant on Instagram and if you're local and looking for an amazing date-night experience, click here for tickets to their event on October 19th! Grow abundantly, |
Dave & Nicky Schauder
Nicky and Dave Schauder are passionate about helping families grow their food, and medicine and find God in the garden
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