Dear Helen: In a recent discussion with a friend about our gardens’ apples, and apples in general, she recalled an Italian apple cake recipe in one of your columns. She did clip the recipe, which has since disappeared. It’s a long shot, but do you still have it?
L.E.
I have kept that recipe. I like its simplicity. In summer the slices can be garnished with fruit and berries from the garden. Toasted nuts and coconut flakes, and apple slices, are good winter garnishes.
Italian Apple Cake
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups grated apple
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Garnishes
Cream butter, ricotta and sugar until light. Beat in egg. Whisk together dry ingredients, then add the ricotta mixture and stir until just combined. Mix grated apple with lemon juice and fold into the batter. Bake in a buttered 25-cm round pan at 350 F for 40 minutes or until golden brown and tested for done in the centre. This cake does not rise much.
Dear Helen: For the past two years I’ve tried to grow the fennel with the swollen, bulb-like stem bases. I have failed. The plants form only tall, skinny stalks with no bulbs at the base. All the online articles I’ve found say that fennel is easy to grow. Any hints?
D.H.
I’m wondering which kind of fennel the articles were about. Common fennel (sweet fennel, Foeniculum vulgare) is a perennial with masses of ferny, anise-scented foliage and yellow flowers. It is so easy to grow that it is classed as an aggressive spreader. I’ve found it most recently on a B.C. government list of “Invasive Terrestrial Plants” under “sweet fennel.”
Florence fennel (finocchio, bulb fennel) is not at all easy to grow. It is an annual plant, shorter than common fennel. I’ve not grown it in recent years but I do remember that success in bulb formation depended to a significant degree on the variety. The last time I grew Florence fennel, Zefa Fino was my most successful variety. I cannot find Zefa Fino listed with any of the seed sources I currently use, but West Coast Seeds lists Selma Fino, described as a variety “that will bulb reliably.”
Spring sowing is recommended in regions with cool summers. This used to apply to us, but obviously conditions have been changing in recent years. Florence Fennel grows best in cool, moist conditions, in a rich, well drained soil that is not too light-textured, meaning it should have some “heft.”
In really good growing conditions, including a sunny site, spring sowing could still work, even if we have another pronounced heat wave, if the soil is kept amply and consistently moist and heat-deflecting, soil-cooling mulches are used around the plants during hot weather. Chopped straw is good for this purpose.
Florence fennel is sensitive to root disturbance. For that reason some gardeners elect to sow directly into a prepared soil in a garden plot. If you choose to start the seeds indoors, transplant with care to disturb the seedling roots as little as possible. As the leaf bases begin to swell, pull soil up around them and firm the soil down well.
Dear Helen: I’ve lost the directions you have given in previous columns for ripening kiwis. Mine are stored in a cold room, where they are staying hard.
G.F.
Store kiwis in the fridge or in refrigerator temperatures. Bring out the ones you want to ripen and place them in a plastic bag with a ripe apple. Keep at room temperature. I put them on the kitchen counter, where they serve as a reminder to open the bag occasionally to admit fresh air. This is to avoid a buildup of the ethylene gas given off by the apple.
I begin peeling and tasting kiwis as soon as they no longer feel rock-hard when pressed with a thumb. I like them still a bit on the hard side, the flesh fully opaque. Once it has turned translucent, they are past eating quality in my opinion.
For beautiful green slices of kiwi, cut off the base (blossom end) of the fruit, then peel the skin away from the base toward the stem end. Then slice the peeled kiwi.
