In our last post Organic Fruit – Orange Juice and Diabetes I promised to give you some recipes for alternative drinks. I should really make this part of a series called ‘things your granny knew’ as a lot of my recipes come straight from one or other of my Nanas. These were country women who knew how to feed and look after their children on a tight budget. It should also be noted that both of them had been exposed to the work of Adelle Davis in the 1930s (I know, I’m sooo old!) so they were keen to provide their charges with good vitamin rich food.

Later I made these drinks for my family & numerous other children over the years and they were very popular. Orange and Lemon Barely Water is first on the list as it was always my favourite.

Dilute it by at least 50% in the glass and add ice.

Nana’s Orange & Lemon Barley Water

Nothing like the stuff you buy in the shops from that well known brand. This is refreshing and nutritious. Even so, it’s not for every day, but perfect for hot summer days and holidays. It brings back memories of tents in the garden, long summer days and grown ups having something in their drink that wasn’t in mine!

This is a messy job. Clean hands, clean surfaces and an apron are all important. (See it even gives you an excuse to buy a pretty apron and play Domestic Goddess!)

The big old fashioned mixing bowls are great for this job. You can use either a glass or wooden lemon squeezer. Don’t use metal stuff for fruit as it can make it taste funny.

BTW – child labour is perfect for squeezing oranges & lemons. Older children can also be taught to remove the rind.

We’re using elegant tea cups here as a measure. Nana’s was good china but had a broken handle. You could use a mug, I suppose, but a cup is better. Nana didn’t like scales – too much washing up!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of organic pot barley
• 10 cups of water
• 2 organic, unwaxed lemons
• 6 organic unwaxed oranges
• A small amount of organic honey to taste

Method

1. Simmer the barley in the water for about an hour.
2. While it simmers cut the fruit into halves and juice it. This is easily done with an old fashioned lemon squeezer. Give each one a roll on a wooden board first to loosen the juice & start to break it down. Don’t follow any fancy tips about microwaving it first to get more juice. You’ll destroy all that lovely vitamin C!
3. Peel the rinds from the fruit. You can use a potato peeler but make sure you just get the rind not the white.
4. Add the rinds to the simmering water
5. Leave to cool
6. Strain the cooled water into a large bowl. Throw away the barley (ouch – if you have any good ideas what to do with it leave a comment! I put out for the birds. Then throw it away!)
7. Add the fruit juice
8. Taste and add a little (as little as you can) honey
9. Pour it in a covered jug
10. Keep it in the fridge

Serving Suggestions

A tall cold glass, ice & a slice of lemon.

If serving it in a glass jug you could add slices of fruit or a sprig of fresh tarragon.

Also tastes great from tin mugs if glamping! Decant into screw top bottle and take it on picnics with you but don’t keep it for more than a day without a fridge.

Oh, and if it’s for a special garden party,  those grown ups might try it with a dash of gin or vodka (personally I’d add it to a little Ricard!) but then grown-ups are very naughty like that

[Photo Credit CC Brandon C Warren]

My Nana in her best hat

Now this is not a recipe like those you get in books. This is my ancient Scots Nana’s receipt (yes, she would have called it that). She’d be 115 if she was still around and she baked these scones for her large family where ever she found herself from Dumfries to Detriot and back again by way of Vancouver and all before the First War!
My Nana never weighed anything. She used her hand, her eye and her judgment. So that’s how I make them too.
Don’t be scared. Trust yourself. “It a eats” as my Nana used to say.You mustn’t be too precious about the results. How ever they turn out they will be good to eat. If they are a wee bit burnt just scrape it off.
You will need:
You are going to use your hands for this so extra clean please!

• Heat a heavy based frying pan or ideally a girdle (griddle if you are English) or even a bakestone if you are Welsh!
• A floured wooden board – just use your work surface if not.
• A rolling pin. I use a wooden one.

1. About 1/2 a pound, 2 tea cups, or 3 large potatoes worth, fairly moist left-over mashed potatoes (ideally mashed with a little butter & milk but I’ve done this with soya milk before and it works fine!)
2. Start with a handful of flour (organic white but you can use spelt, wholemeal or even buckwheat). You might need a little more.
3. Optional – a teaspoon of baking powder. It will make them lighter but it’s not easy to get organic.
4. 2 tablespoons melted butter or organic sunflower marg. DO NOT USE REDUCED FAT Sorry to shout but it has too high a water content for baking and even it it claims to be organic is full of things you really don’t want to eat.

That is all. Simples

What you do
I learned to make these by sitting in a corner of the kitchen with a book! My Nana had 10 children and she couldn’t stand them under her feet when she was baking. I’m not sure how many of them learned her secrets but she’d mellowed a bit by the time I, the youngest female grandchild, came along. So long as I was quiet she’d let me stay. One too many daft questions and I was chased out to play.
Make sure your girdle is hot and throw a small amount of flour over it. Spread it round with a wad of kitchen paper or a pastry brush. (Use an old one as it might singe!) The girdle is ready when the flour turns golden brown. Turn the heat down to keep it at the right temperature.
Take the left over potato and place in a china mixing bowl. Squash and squeeze it gently through your fingers to make sure it is totally smooth. Don’t be too rough with it. It should feel quite moist and a little sticky.

In another bowl sieve the flour with the baking powder, if used. Sieve it anyway to add air. My Nana hadn’t the patience to hold it high and bash the side of the sieve with her hand so often shed get a metal tablespoon and whizz it around the sieve.

Once you add liquids the baking powder starts to act so move fairly quickly now.
Take a small amount of flour and mix into the potato along with a dribble of butter. Use you hand to mix it round. Now keep adding flour and butter a little at a time and mixing. You will find that the dough stops being sticky and starts to become smooth and pliable. Catch it at this point. Don’t over handle it or be tempted to knead it. It’s not bread.

Flour your board, rolling pin and your hands. Pop the dough onto the floured wooden board and roll it out to a circle. Not too much rolling, and don’t lean on it, keep it about as thick as your pinkie (little finger). I cheat and use a round board. It helps me to get the shape right.
This dough is fragile but it shouldn’t be too crumbly. If it is you might have added too much flour. Use less next time. You should still be able to pat it into rough triangles.
If the dough seems too sticky use your hands to gradually work in a bit more flour.
I usually use a flat bladed knife to gently cut it into quarters and a fish slice to lift them onto the waiting girdle.

Watch them and turn them once they’ve browned. This will involve a bit of guess work and gently lifting the edge with your flat bladed knife or fish slice.

They smell good and in my Nana’s house they were often buttered and devoured by hungry grandchildren almost at once. She’d fight us off and threaten to ‘pin yer lugs tae the merket cross’ for being theives and scoundrals.

Lift them off the girdle onto a metal cooling grid and leave to go cold.

I liked mine rolled up cold with butter and homemade rhubarb and ginger jam She made much larger quantities than we have here and there were always enough kept back to have fried the next day with a cooked breakfast.

They don’t keep so use the same day or fry them up for breakfast.

You might be put off the idea of organic boxes because you are not sure what exactly to do with some of the lovely vegetables, beyond the obvious. Let’s be honest, there’s a limit to how often any family wants to eat corn on the cob. So, what to do when the sweet-corn builds up in the veg rack? Easy, just get creative! There are lots of great recipes for sweet-corn on line – this is just one of them.

Sweet-corn Fritters

These are seriously yummy – serve them on top of a green salad (half a bag of salad leaves, cucumber, and chopped green pepper.) or hide a bit of grilled bacon between 2 of them for a great brunch. You can add some chopped green or red pepper to the mix as well if you like. See below for a more grown-up suggestion!

I’m going into cups now but you don’t need to be too precise. These are tea cups not big mugs.

• 1 cup of plain flour.
• 2 cups of organic sweet-corn kernels (4-6 cobs)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of milk, soya milk is a possible alternative.
• 1 tablespoon baking powder.
• A pinch of paprika (enough to cover the handle end of a teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup of sliced spring onions or shallots.
• Parsley or your choice of mild herbs chopped,
• vegetable frying oil.

Method:

1. Cook the organic sweetcorn cobs gently in boiling water for 10 mins. Allow to cool. Now strip the kernels off by running a knife down the cob. Turn and repeat all the way round. Put to one side.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and seasonings into large bowl
3. Make a well in the centre.
4. Beat together the eggs and milk in a medium sized bowl
5. Gradually add to the dry ingredients and mix well to make a lump free batter which can be quite stiff
6. Add the corn, onion, and chopped herbs and mix. Don’t hang about at this stage.
7. Heat a couple of tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking.
8. Drop a tablespoon of batter into the pan. You should get about four blobs into the pan at a time.
9. Cook until you see bubbles appearing and popping on the surface.
10. Turn and cook for another couple of minutes till both sides are golden brown.
11. Do the same with the rest of the mixture – keep the ones you’ve done warm under a low grill or in a low oven.

Serve on a yummy green salad or on top of wilted spinach or other greens.

OK – that’s the family friendly version

I prefer to add a couple of chopped green chillies to the batter and serve it with a spicy tomato salsa, and maybe some cucumber raita to cool things down. Serve with some good bread and more of the salad leaves.

Problem Items in Organic Boxes

So what’s your problem veg? What builds up in your vegetable boxes? Leave a comment and we’ll try to come up with some enticing recipes to make sure you use and enjoy every last leaf of your organic vegetable boxes!