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Tuesday, April 26, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Gardening is
healthy for
mind, body
ANN
BLOOM
NUTRITION: IT’S ALL GOOD
t has been a long, cold, dark winter in more
ways than just the weather. With the spring
months, though, comes the hope of warmer
days and sunshine. All which spells seed cat-
alogs in mailboxes, and garden implements in
the hardware stores. April is National Garden
Month, and there are many health benefits asso-
ciated with gardening.
Gardening is an easy thing to learn how to
do. One can start out simply by finding a suit-
able piece of ground that receives at least six
hours of sunlight per day, waiting until danger
of frost has passed and the ground has warmed
before planting the selected seeds. Once you
have prepared your garden earth by turning it
over and incorporating some compost into it to
provide nutrients to your plants, you can plant
the seeds, following the instructions on the
packet. Most nurseries also have seedlings of
vegetables and herbs that are available for home
gardeners. The staff at the nurseries are also
knowledgeable and willing to answer questions
for beginning gardeners.
For beginning gardeners, green beans,
chives, sunflowers, lettuce mixes, spinach and
zucchini are all good choices as they tend to
grow well with minimal effort. As you build
on your experience and successes, you will
find what works for you and what you like,
and you can begin branching out to try dif-
ferent seeds and plants. Container gardening is
also an option if you are short on space. Patios
and decks lend themselves well to containers
of cherry tomatoes or other types of tomatoes,
herbs and flowers.
Along with the satisfaction of seeing the
fruits of your labors, is knowing you are devel-
oping a lifelong skill. There are also several
health benefits to gardening. One is growing
fresh food that you can eat. Your food is steps
away from your kitchen to your table, rather
than traveling hundreds or even thousands of
miles from farm to store to your house. There-
fore, gardening promotes healthy eating.
Gardening also encourages children to try
different fruits and vegetables. Studies have
shown that children who grow their own food
are more likely to eat what they have a hand
in growing.
Robert Hutchins, MD, writes in an article for
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s
website “UNC Health Talk,” that gardening can
also build self-esteem.
“Maybe you don’t think you were born with
a green thumb, but after tilling, planting, nur-
turing and harvesting plants, you might see a
slightly different person in the mirror: a person
who can grow things and is a little more in tune
with the earth,” Hutchins writes.
Since gardening is a physical activity it is
good for your heart, builds muscle mass and is a
weight-bearing activity which helps build bone
strength. It also burns calories and can help you
lose or maintain weight. It also helps reduce
stress, which can help with depression and anx-
iety and may help you sleep better; with so much
negativity the last few months and years, it is
important to see things growing and thriving.
Being outside in the sun also helps you get a
good dose of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is important
for bone health, too. Vitamin D is also called the
“sunshine vitamin” because it takes sunlight on
our bare skin for our bodies to produce Vitamin
D. It is important to remember to apply sun-
screen before going outside, even on days that
are overcast. The period with the strongest sun-
light is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
With the onset of COVID-19, and fam-
ilies becoming overwhelmed with “screen
fatigue,” gardening provides an outlet. The
physical activity of putting a shovel in the soil,
weeding and planting helps release natural
mood-boosting chemicals in the brain, helping
to reduce stress. Gardening is an activity the
whole family can enjoy.
The website Alliance for a Healthier Gen-
eration points out that gardening offers oppor-
tunities for experiential learning saying that
gardening can provide teachers with a way
to integrate different subjects with nutrition
including math and social studies. In addition,
gardening also fosters social and emotional
skills. The website’s article, “Health Bene-
fits of Gardening,” states that gardening helps
children develop skills such as sharing and
taking turns. Gardening helps children develop
self-confidence, learn how to work as a team,
and take responsibility. It also encourages chil-
dren to learn about the environment and take
care of nature.
So, as mailboxes start filling up with seed
catalogs and the gardening sections of stores
start stocking all those rakes and hoes, we can
all start dreaming of sunnier days and what we
can plant in our own gardens. Spring will be
here before we know it….
I
█
Ann Bloom has worked for the OSU Extension Service for 15
years as a nutrition educator. She studied journalism and
education at Washington State University. She lives in Enterprise.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Rachel Swan pours the just whipped meringue batter into a pan.
A slice of heaven
Angel pie turns lemon meringue on its head
By SHARYN JACKSON
Minneapolis Star Tribune
INNEAPOLIS
— It took years
for Rachel Swan to
come around to her
grandmother’s angel pie.
M
The dessert that flips lemon
meringue pie on its head, literally,
was Swan’s father’s favorite. But
not hers. “I only have a memory of
putting it in my mouth and spitting
it out,” she said on a recent morning
in her south Minneapolis shop, Pie
& Mighty. It was a textural thing
— the airy crunch of meringue isn’t
for every kid. “But my dad loved
it and it was like this special bond
that he had with his mom.”
After her dad died in 2010, Swan
inherited a copy of her Grandma
Lu’s recipe, and after years of
testing variations, she has managed
to perfect — and fall in love with
— angel pie. It’s become one of her
bakery’s signature items.
Angel pie, which has a meringue
base in place of a traditional crust,
is a throwback recipe for a spring
gathering, with the bonus that it’s
gluten-free and features undulating
waves of whipped egg whites along
the edges.
And the best part? It’s not dif-
ficult. It takes only a short list of
ingredients and a strong mixer.
The hardest part is waiting for the
meringue to harden in a closed oven
(Day 1), and then for the assembled
pie to set in the refrigerator (Day
2). However, deftness with a piping
bag or a steady hand with an offset
spatula are advantages, as sticky
uncooked meringue can be a chal-
lenge, for some, to spread prettily
on a pie plate.
Angel pies are usually filled with
a custard or fruit curd, which solidi-
fies in the fridge and allows the del-
icate meringue to retain its crunch-
iness beneath. But you could just as
easily fill the pie with a big pile of
homemade whipped cream streaked
with jam and topped with macer-
ated fruit. Or try butterscotch pud-
ding, or chocolate ganache.
The closest culinary compar-
ison is an upside-down lemon
meringue pie, and lemon is prob-
ably the best place to start when
making angel pie.
“It’s light, it’s ethereal, it’s tart,
but it’s also sweet — it’s like all
of my favorite things in one dish,”
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Rachel Swan fills in the rest of the pie with lemon “goop.”
said Zoë François, the Minneapo-
lis-based cookbook author, who fea-
tured Swan’s lemon angel pie on her
television show, “Zoë Bakes.”
Though its origin isn’t totally
clear, angel pie’s popularity peaked
in the United States in the ‘50s and
‘60s, just as other somewhat fussy
and finicky dishes that involved
piping, braiding, layering and other
adornments were standards in mid-
century kitchens.
A recipe for angel pie appeared
in the first publication of “Betty
Crocker’s Picture Cook Book” in
1950 as a variation on a “schaum
torte,” which is a traditional Aus-
trian dessert that translates to
“foam cake.”
It also shares roots with the pav-
lova, a dessert that, according to
legend, was created for Russian bal-
lerina Anna Pavlova in the 1920s
during one of her tours to Australia
or New Zealand. The crunchy-
on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-in-
side free-form pile of meringue is
usually topped with berries and
whipped cream. It’s known for its
poise and beauty, like its namesake.
Let loose and smash the whole thing
up, and you’ll have the traditional
English dessert Eton Mess.
Up North, you’ll find more rela-
tives of angel pie at a pair of famed
pie shops along Hwy. 61. The five-
layer chocolate pie at both Betty’s
Pies and Rustic Inn retain a pastry
crust, but fill it with cinnamon
meringue underneath a layer of
chocolate mousse. (Rustic Inn has
three flavors of meringue-crusted
angel pies on its menu, too.)
With so many versions of
meringue-and-cream desserts out
there, it’s a wonder to some fans
why angel pie remains such an
obscure slice of heaven.
“I put it in the category of baked
Alaska and icebox cakes, and all
of these desserts that are just abso-
lutely delicious and beautiful,”
François said. “I don’t know why
they left our kitchen repertoires.
But they’re coming back.”
At Pie & Mighty, Swan can’t
make enough of her Grandma Lu’s
Lemon Angel Pie. When she puts
it into her shop’s weekly rotation, it
sells out fast. But since it takes sev-
eral hours for the meringue to set at
a super-low heat, a batch of 30 pies
ties up her ovens for an entire day.
Portioning them out to get more
pie to more people isn’t an option,
because — as beautiful as an angel
pie is — slicing it can get messy.
“I think the reason why this pie
fell off the radar is that it takes time
and practice, and we don’t have that
anymore,” Swan said.
Fortunately for home bakers,
active baking time is minimal, and
angel pies are easy to reproduce
at home.
And it might just be time for a
comeback, with a little help from
Swan’s Grandma Lu.
See, Angel/Page B3