Topics
Special Series
Growing Food
-
Spring Beauty—A Woodland Wildflower With Tasty Tubers
One of our prettiest and earliest-blooming wildflowers—spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)—is also a delicious vegetable.
By Scott D. Appell -
A Houseplant Harvest—Tropical Trees That Really Do Fruit Indoors
I've been collecting and propagating fruiting tropical shrubs and small trees on my four-acre property in Vieques, Puerto Rico, like a man with a mission. My ultimate goal is to supply my own table with a diverse mix of fresh produce year-round, grow enough surplus fruit to be able to vend to local restaurateurs, and establish a modest nursery and display garden.
By Scott D. Appell -
Elements of a Perfect Apple Pie
The prize-winning apple pie marries an exemplary crust with tree-ripened apples that contribute acid, tannin, sugar, and flavor.
By Tom Burford -
The Makings of a Good Cider
For at least 2,000 years, humans have been making apple cider wherever they could grow the fruit.
By Ian A. Merwin -
Antique Apples: A Guide for Eaters and Growers
Most antique or heirloom apples are distant cousins to the commercial varieties available on supermarket shelves today. While modern varieties such as 'Red Delicious' have been selected for their consistent appearance, cosmetic appeal, and tolerance of long shipping and repeated handling, antique varieties were often selected for their cider-making quality ('Golden Russet'), their retention of flavor and firmness without refrigeration ('Winesap' and 'Baldwin'), or their intense and unusual flavor—without regard to external appearance.
By Ian A. Merwin -
Rose Water—An Age-Old Flavoring for Dinner and Dessert
Rose water has left an indelible mark on human history. This clear, sweet-tasting, aromatic liquid has been used in perfumery, cosmetics, and medicine for many centuries. In Middle Eastern and West Asian countries, it has long been used as a flavoring in cooking.
By Elizabeth Manus -
Mexican Oregano—A Tasty Twist on an Age-Old Flavor
After a lifetime of growing edible plants, I've come to the conclusion that "oregano" should be a botanical category of aroma and taste rather than the common name for any one herb.
By Scott D. Appell -
An Herb Garden for Tea Time
In our frenetically paced modern lives, making time for growing herbs and savoring herbal infusions may seem like an anachronism, a quaint throwback to a more unhurried age. But we need such time-tested tonics, places to slow down and enjoy nature's bounty, seemingly more than ever.
By Tina Marie Wilcox and Susan Belsinger -
A Short History of Herb Garden Design
Whatever their design or intent, herb gardens are defined not by their organization but by the plants grown in them. If an herb is a plant with a use as a seasoning, fragrance, dye, fiber, or medicine, then an herb garden is a garden of useful plants. But don't be surprised to find species that have never had any practical application alongside the useful plants in today's ornamental herb gardens—some plants are simply too appealing to be excluded on purely technical grounds.
By Deirdre Larkin -
Garlic Mustard: A Palatable Pest
Native to Europe, this cool-season biennial is wreaking havoc on deciduous forests from New England west to Wisconsin and south to Tennessee.
By Niall Dunne
