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DOROTHY
FLESHMAN
DORY’S DIARY
Loading the
larder for winter
This is the time of year that we
check our larder to be sure things
are ready for the holidays and into
winter.
The shelves are lined with our
Atlas, Mason, Ball, and Kerr jars of
fruit and pickles.
Foods like beans have been
canned either at the local cannery
or in our own pressure cooker to be
sure they will be safe to eat when
the jar is opened. Cabbages have
gone into the crock for sauerkraut,
salted and weighted down with
a heavy rock on a plate, a cloth
beneath.
Apples, pears, prunes, apricots,
and cherries are from our own trees
in the backyard and handy on can-
ning day, but peaches have been
purchased out-of-state by an aunt
whose daughter drives her shop-
ping each fall in order to bring
back produce for any family mem-
bers who have so ordered.
This includes strawberries from
Western Oregon, but not raspber-
ries that grow in our own gardens
and will be eaten fresh, frozen, or
made into jam. Our apples go into
pies and applesauce, the bulk into
storage.
It makes my mouth water at
those days when so much of our
food came right from our own gar-
dening toil, shared or traded so that
everyone had opportunity to eat
well in the long, cold, icy winter
days.
Phone calls came and went
as families were assured of table
meals well-planned for day-to-day
fare — full tummies and healthy
bodies.
When basics were cared-for
in pats of home-churned butter,
meats from hunting the wilds,
chickens from coops and rabbits
from hutches, pigs for lard and pork
chops, and vegetables stored and
home-baked breads, cakes, pies and
cookies ready to be tabled, then
and only then, were homemakers
satisfi ed to face the winter ahead.
Preparing for winter when the
produce was ready reminds me
of our cellar on the hill where
we stored apples, potatoes and
vegetables.
What we called a cellar wasn’t
underground but was on the ground
fl oor of our chalet home behind the
living room that stretched across
the front of the building set on a
concrete slab. The cellar and milk-
room were behind closed doors for
their individual uses, but the cellar
was backed by the earth of the hill
against which it was set where it
kept everything at naturally cold
but not freezing temperatures.
Along each side of the room were
deep bins separated by wood-built
sides for the various vegetables,
and a hanging shelf above each for
smaller items, a pathway down the
middle for workers.
It isn’t easy to explain just how
it was done by my Swiss grandfa-
ther who had built the two-story
home, but it worked very well in
that when we wanted an apple or
to cook a meal in the small kitchen
off the living room, the fresh pro-
duce was right at hand behind the
stairway that led to the parlor and
bedrooms on the upper fl oor.
It was later that canned jars
of fruit and vegetables fi lled the
shelves in the milk-house out by the
barn after the dairy closed.
I remember how it was when I
was a child and the disagreeable
task in the spring of cleaning out
the near-empty bins and hauling it
out to the compost pile, but it was
all gone by the time I was in my
teens.
We all earned the food we ate by
planting, watering, hoeing weeds,
picking and preparing food for
storage or eating, and helping with
all chores. It was good that we had
space in which to grow our food,
wells, springs, and streams with
which to water and clean, family
and friends with whom to share or
trade, and homes in which to enjoy
each other in groups large or small.
We all worked hard to make
eating possible. BUT, we ate well!
I remember those days as the
best days of life because of those
with whom they were shared.
Living
B
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
How to make
tahini at
home
Kristen Mendiola/The Daily Meal-TNS
Sesame cashew tahini blondies.
By JEANMARIE BROWNSON
The Daily Meal
Tahini, a staple in my condiment collec-
tion, is best known for homemade hummus,
baba ganoush and as a key ingredient in
sauces to pair with falafel and other Middle
Eastern bites. But tahini is the gift that
keeps on giving and has uses far beyond the
expected.
Tahini is simply a puree of sesame seeds.
Nothing else. Think of it as an alternative to
peanut and other nut butters.
Bottled tahini takes the work (and the
mess) out of grinding sesame seeds. Make
sure to read the labels to ensure that nothing
else is added.
Soom, made from Ethiopian white humera
sesame, is the preferred brand of chefs for its
silken texture and rich sesame fl avor. How-
ever, this brand can be a bit hard to track
down in stores, For easy shopping, consider
the roasted sesame seed fl avor in tahini from
the Whole Foods 365 brand or the milder
organic tahini from Trader Joe’s.
Note that vigorous stirring is required for
nearly all tahini brands; the mixture sepa-
rates out oil, much like natural peanut but-
ters. While it’s best used at room tem-
perature, you should store tahini in the
refrigerator to prevent the oils from turning
rancid.
Of course, pretty, creamy white sesame
seeds can entice you to make your own
tahini. The small bottles sold in the spice sec-
tion of most supermarkets are pricey so look
for bulk sesame seeds instead. In general,
hulled sesame seeds, which have a creamy
white hue, taste less bitter than beige or
grayish sesame seeds which have their hull
still intact.
To make your own tahini, toast 1 cup
of sesame seeds in a skillet over low heat,
stirring constantly, until some of the seeds
are just a little bit golden in color, but not
browned. Transfer to a plate and cool com-
pletely. Then, process the seeds in a food pro-
cessor or blender — you’ll get the smoothest
results with a high-speed blender — until
the seeds are the texture of fi ne sand. With
the machine running, drizzle in untoasted
sesame oil, grapeseed oil or saffl ower oil
until smooth and mixture has the consistency
of very thin peanut butter. Transfer to a jar
and refrigerate covered for a week or more.
For breakfast, spread homemade tahini
on toast with a drizzle of honey and a sliced
banana with a dollop of yogurt. It’s also a
great addition to smoothies.
Kristen Mendiola/The Daily Meal-TNS
Tahini is a puree of sesame seeds. Think of it as an alternative to peanut and other nut butters.
Consider the lovely sesame paste for
baking. It adds great fl avor to cookies,
brownies and homemade ice cream. Or, of
course, you can use tahini for these recipes.
CREAMY LEMON
HUMMUS
Prep: 10 minutes
Makes 1 3/4 cups
Tahini and garbanzo beans, aka chickpeas, make
classic hummus. Replacing some of the garbanzo
beans with white beans yields a lighter, creamier
version that’s a delicious, satisfying dip for raw
vegetables and crackers. A garnish of tangy ground
sumac underscores the lemon fl avors. This recipe
doubles nicely and keeps for about a week in the
refrigerator.
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans
1 (15-ounce) can white beans
1/4 cup tahini, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Grated rind from 1 small lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, for serving
Optional toppings: crushed red pepper fl akes;
ground sumac; chopped fresh herbs (such
as dill, cilantro, parsley or chives)
1. Strain garbanzo beans and white beans over
a bowl to catch the juices. Reserve the juices. Put 4
ounces of garbanzo beans and 4 ounces of white beans
into a blender or food processor. Save remaining beans
for another use.
2. Add 1/4 cup tahini, 2 tablespoons each oil and
lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
and 1/4 cup of the reserved bean liquid. Process until
very smooth. Taste and add remaining oil and lemon
juice as desired. Puree. Add more bean liquid (or cold
water) to reach desired thickness. Scrape into a bowl.
3. Stir in grated lemon rind. Taste and adjust salt.
Refrigerate covered up to several days.
4. Serve with a pool of extra virgin olive oil poured
over the hummus. Top with one or more of the options,
as desired.
GREEN CHILE TAHINI
SAUCE
Prep: 20 minutes
Makes 1 1/2 cups
Note: You can substitute 1 can (4 ounces) roasted green
chiles, drained, for the fresh chile here. This sauce goes
well with grilled lamb chops, salmon or halibut.
1 fresh hatch chile or small poblano
chile, roasted, peeled, seeded
1/2 of a 15-ounce can cannellini or
other white beans, drained
See, Tahini/Page B3
Spooky cocktails made with ‘boos’
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
The Zombie.
I’m just going to be honest here: I’ve never
actually been frightened by a drink. Have
you?
Nevertheless, this is the time of year when
food writers — ordinarily a wise and saga-
cious bunch — write about cocktails that are
frightening or scary or spooky.
But when they say “frightening” or
“scary” or “spooky,” what they mean is “kind
of fun for Halloween.”
In anticipation of the annual celebration
of costumes and candy, I made a six-fi ngered
handful of cocktails that are kind of fun for
the season around Halloween. They won’t
scare you or make your heart pound faster in
terror, but they come in unusual colors that
some people fi nd scary (blood red, black, bil-
ious green) or are simply made from ingredi-
ents that are appropriate for the season (apple
cider, pomegranates).
Most have been given names that are sup-
posed to imply some amount of fear. Do not
be fooled by them. These are just excellent
cocktails that are delightful for Halloween or
any other day of the year.
Take, for example, the Zombie, a classic
that has been around since 1934; it was
invented at the famous Don the Beachcomber
restaurant in Hollywood. It’s only consid-
ered frightening because of its name, and it
only got the name because it is so potent that
drinking too many of them could turn you
into the walking dead.
But it’s a great cocktail if you like rum,
or even if you don’t (but it’s better if you do).
Three types of rum go into it: white rum,
golden rum and the surreptitiously lethal 151
rum, which is 151 proof. These are mixed
with orange juice, pineapple juice and a
splash of lime juice, to give it that tiki-bar
tropical feel.
See, Cocktails/Page B3