the Friday Feeding; VOL.89

Summer celebrations need food to go with them and we are happy to be the culinary hub for you!  At the Canterbury Fair last week-end we cranked out 100s of sandwiches, salads, pizza & baked treats, and kept you hydrated with our huge selection of liquid refreshment.  Did you know we had this much?  Or that we could do this much?!!!!  Neither did we.

Tried and now proven.

Summer garden bounty is creeping upon us now.  Our store’s organic gardens are really starting to burst forth.  The first green bean salad came out this week and the herbs continue to proliferate so we can keep making our fresh-herb salad dressings. And our neighbors gardens here in town are producing plus our New Hampshire produce supplier is bringing us some pretty good looking (and you tell us “the best!”) berries. 

Too hot to cook. And eat.

Yep, with this last week of heat none of us were doing much cooking (except Dave in the air conditioned store kitchen. Thanks again to our landlords for installing it!!)  It’s cooled a bit, but summer isn’t over yet.

When it gets that hot our appetite diminishes.  There is a reason for that.  Our body produces heat through the process of digestion so we are wired to lose our desire for food in an effort to cool our bodies.  Because body heat can lead to dehydration and the dangerous loss of electrolytes, that added heat from digestion can push us over the edge. Getting too hot?  Appetite goes away.  Our miraculous body is full of checks and balances.

Short of those who have the lifestyle to sit in the river when its hot or spend the bucks on turning down the air conditioners, the intake of cool liquids helps us stay healthy in the heat. But a word of caution; drinking liquids that are diuretics will worsen the problem because they take out more liquid than they add in.  Coffee, black teas and alcohol are all diuretics. 

When we need to eat in the heat, I tend to think of liquid nutrients as a way to sustain us.  Back to our baby food origins and back to the garden analogy, food in liquid already-broken-down form reduces the digestion process and therefore the heat. And if coupled with cool temperatures, you are actually cooling the body when you eat by this simplification.

Here is a recipe for a summer soup that serves as a delicious meal instead of a salad. A bit like gazpacho, it incorporates all the ingredients of a salad but in liquid form for extra hydration and as a way to tickle the tongue with an unexpected slurp.

Summer Green Soup

Cube up and chop the following ingredients:

• 4 cups mixed sturdy greens such as kale or boy chow. Here I used kale and sorrel because that is what is in my garden.
• 1 cup sour dough bread. This is a good way to use left overs. Bread soup is a very European tradition.
• 1 cup thin skinned or peeled cucumbers
• 1 cup tomatoes. I used yellow here to keep the soup bright green. If you use red tomatoes the soup will be dull in color. Red and green are complimentary colors so neutralize each other when blended.
• several leaves of mint to equal about 1 tsp minced. Mint cools the body. We have some free of charge at the store if you need some.
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp or more kosher salt to taste
• 1T sherry wine vinegar; we sell this. Vinegar contains electrolytes so helps with hydration. The drink Hay Makers Switchel is famous for this.
• 2T extra virgin olive oil. This helps satisfy hunger and also keeps the soup green.
• 3/4 cup water

Put all these ingredients into a blender and whirl it until it is smooth. Chill. Serve topped with sprigs of mint, more chopped tomatoes and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. The freshest taste of summer you can get!

I published another recipe for chilled asparagus soup. Find that recipe by clicking here for that post.

More summer happenings around the store…see you next week. The store is open till 8pm these nights.

Have a great week-end,

Jane and Dave