Posted by wilde on November 14th, 2008 — Posted in Vegetable
Witch Hazel is one of my favorite trees. It has really unique blossoms and fruit, a pretty structure to its limbs, and it can be used medicinally. Due to it’s short stature some will refer to Witch Hazel as a shrub.
Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is a small understory tree that reaches 15 to 20 feet tall. Its branches spread out in a zig-zag manner so the limbs appear crooked. Several trunks are usually present, so each trunk is at most a few inches across.
In Autumn Witch Hazel is the last tree to bloom in North America. In the middle of October you can find it blooming in Central Pennsylvania.
Witch Hazel’s spider-like yellow flowers have four thin, ribbon-like, inch-long petals and usually occur in groups of three.
Witch Hazel flowers with long, thin, yellow petals. Photos taken 19OCT08.
The fruit is a woody capsule that contains seeds. A young fruit starts out green and then turns brown as it matures. When ripe, the fruit capsule splits open at the top and two shiny black seeds are ejected some distance from the tree. Empty capsules may persist on the small branches for years.
Woody fruit capsules from a prior year.
Leaves are alternate and oval-shaped with a characteristic unevenness at the base. Leaf edges are scalloped and not exactly toothed.
Witch Hazel leaf shape is oval with scalloped edges.
I didn’t know what witch hazel was when I saw it in the drug store for the first time. Right next to the rubbing alcohol there was a bottle of another clear liquid who’s label promised it was an astringent. Witch hazel was slightly more expensive than the familiar alcohol, so I purchased the latter. We always had rubbing alcohol in the bathroom cupboard for cleaning and sterilizing whatever was needed to be clean and sterile.
Witch Hazel has been used medicinally for a long time, especially in the treatment of skin sores, acne, insect bites, and hemorrhoids. Medicinal use takes advantage of antioxidant, astringent, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.
Witch hazel is used in poultice form when the leaves and bark are available, otherwise extracts or hydrosols are available in over-the-counter preparations.
Tea can be made from the leaves and bark and taken internally to stop internal bleeding. Since it does have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, I wonder if Witch Hazel tea can be used effectively by those suffering from Metabolic Syndrome X?
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Posted by wilde on November 12th, 2008 — Posted in Vegetable
The more time one spends outside observing the wilde things around oneself, the more one can learn about their environment. And themselves. A curious mind will travel to many places during a simple walk outdoors, won’t it?
Some people find solace in nature – a closer walk with their thoughts and beliefs. Some find excitement in the wonder of how it all works together and of the beauty of it all.
A couple weeks ago I found a new colony of Small Whorled Pogonia. Near some colorful Sassafras that I was appreciating and photographing, I saw the whorl of leaves of first one, then another and another. I was excited as here was yet another small grouping of a plant that is endangered with extinction.
Clearing of the forests for wood and wood products is the primary cause of the loss of pogonias, at least here in Pennsylvania. Clearing of woodlands for pasture and farmland took its toll on all members of the orchid family that are found in these woods. It’s plain and simple – without the forest habitat the orchids will not survive.
I presume there is some association between the orchids and fungi that is intimately associated with the trees of the mixed hardwood forest. Without that ’something special’ found in the woods where the pogonias naturally occur, they just won’t grow.
Whether it’s really the Small Whorled Pogonia, Isotria medeoloides, or the more common Whorled Pogonia, I. verticillata, isn’t clear until the little guys can be observed flowering.
In the fall foliage it was easy to spot the pogonias – at least after I noticed the first one. Little cartwheels of faded, brown straw-colored leaves were found hiding among the more colorful Sassafras leaves.
A yellow pogonia hiding among the more colorful Sassafras. Photos taken 16OCT08.
Whorled Pogonia in the Autumn.
Seven pogonia plants were counted near the base of a Northern Red Oak tree. That makes three separate pogonia colonies in the woods that edge our front and back yards.
Five Small Whorled Pogonias are marked with red rings. The left-most ring contains two pogonias.
I’ll visit each area next year to see how many plants come up and monitor them to see if any bloom.
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Posted by wilde on November 7th, 2008 — Posted in Food, Vegetable
A fun couple days in the outdoor kitchen this summer happened when we made a batch of ketchup. Homemade ketchup! Ever hear of it? Me neither.
Although we call it ketchup, it’s nothing like the store bought sugary sweet condiment that we’ve all had on a burger or dipped our fries into. Our Country Ketchup is more like a really flavorful tomato paste, but in a pourable consistency. It’s really good on a sandwich, on pasta or potatoes, or as the tomato base for many a recipe.
We started with a bushel of tomatoes and laid those on a table outdoors to let them fully ripen. A couple pounds of Hungarian peppers and a couple of pounds of red bell peppers were laid on the table also. After 4 or 5 days of sun-ripening the two-day cooking of the ketchup could commence.
In the outdoor kitchen we had a propane burner with a 30 pound tank providing all the fuel we needed for all the canning and preserving for the whole summer.
A large granite pot was used to cook down the vegetables. Each tomato was sliced in half, or in quarters if it was a large one, and dropped into a blender. We didn’t take any pains to remove the tomato skin or the seeds. Everything went into the pot. When the blender was about half full it was poured into the big pot.
Peppers were treated the same way, except the inner parts and seeds of the peppers were thrown out and not put in the pot.
I found out about not touching your face or rubbing your eyes after handling Hungarian peppers. Even after I had washed my hands there was still significant “hot stuff” on my hands to cause essential blindness for about 15 minutes. I had rubbed my eyes after washing my hands and wow! The burning was so intense and my eyes watered so badly that I couldn’t see! I just kept them closed because opening them wasn’t possible. The air seemed to make them burn even more. After splashing water on my face, and getting it everywhere, I could still feel the burning but it was diminishing. When I could finally keep my eyes open I saw my face was beet red. A glass of green tea made me feel better, but I learned a good lesson about handling super hot peppers.
We used the Hungarian peppers, red bell peppers, banana peppers and sweet frying peppers in the ketchup. Our tomato selection included a couple varieties of the big slicing type and a lot of Roma tomatoes. Vidalia onions were added to the mix near the end of the cooking, on the second day.
For added flavor we put pickling spices and about 10 green sassafras leaves in a cheesecloth bag that was allowed to hang in the pot during cooking. I tied a piece of twine around the cheesecloth to make a sort of bag. A long length of twine was left so that it could hang over the side of the pot.
A couple cups of sugar and vinegar were added after the soup cooked down for a whole day. We still sliced veggies, blended and poured the veggie juice into the pot and the pot was stirred. Cooking down a bushel of tomatoes and a peck of peppers took a while to say the least. When we got into doing this little project I wasn’t aware that it was a two-day process to make homemade ketchup!
Since the pot was cooking for a day before we added the sugar I’m not sure how far into the recipe we got before we added the sugar. Let’s just say that we were 3/4 done with adding the veggies. Once the sugar was added, we had to be careful to keep stirring the pot or else the sticky sauce would burn on the bottom of the pot.
Taste-testing commenced after the sugar and vinegar were added and allowed to simmer for a while. Too sweet? Add more vinegar.
We bottled the homemade ketchup in Grölsch beer bottles that had been run through a light cycle in the dishwasher. The ceramic cap provides a great seal that can be opened and resealed. The ketchup bottles can be stored at room temperature until they’re opened.
The guy at the wine store sold us a case of the empty Grölsch bottles at a dollar each. If purchased individually, they would have been $1.25 each. I say go buy the beer and enjoy drinking it first. Ah…memories of Amsterdam!
A ladle and funnel were put to good use filling each beer bottle with our delicious ketchup. After each bottle was filled while the ketchup was still hot, the cap was pushed on to seal each bottle.
Doubt the case of ketchup will last a year as it’s so versatile – it goes with everything!
Have you made homemade ketchup? Or is it catsup? Leave a comment and tell us about your outdoor cooking adventures!
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