Baked Yukon Gold Potatoes

This recipe for crunchy baked Yukon Gold potatoes will awaken your taste buds and soon become a family favourite . 
It involves a great Canadian Potato eh, oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and a bit of science. Yukon Gold variety was developed in 1960 at the University of Guelph Department of Agriculture. 
Its characteristics make it great for baking, boiled, mashed or french fries. In this recipe, we are going to bake them in the oven or on the BBQ. 

Start with about 1 pound of potatoes per person. This recipe calls for about 4 lbs of potatoes to serve 4 adults. Clean potatoes, cutting them into larger pieces and rinse them. Rinse them twice to remove the cloudy starch water. Don't cut them too small because they will fall apart in the cooking process. Let the potatoes sit in clear cold water for at least 1 hour. Rinse again, add fresh water, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of salt and boil for 10 minutes. 

The baking soda is the science part! It modifies the pH level of the water, making it more alkaline. This will break down the protein that holds the potato together - specifically the outer edges where the crispy crunch will appear!

While the potatoes cool, prepare 5 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic and freshly chopped rosemary or thyme. Cook and stir until the garlic starts to turn brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic otherwise you will need to start again. Separate the oil from the garlic and spice and pour it over the potatoes in a large bowl. Using two spoons, mix the potatoes and oil in a rough fashion. You will notice the edges of the potatoes are mushy and that's exactly what we want! Spread potatoes on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes at 450 °F or 400 °F convection.

Oil, garlic, rosemary leaves

Yukon Gold Potatoes Covered with garlic oil

Garlic and Rosemary bits

Rotate potatoes and return them to oven for additional 35-40 minutes until they are golden brown. They should be brown and crunchy on the outside and soft inside. Return them to the mixing bowl and add the remaining brown garlic bits and spice, mixing again. Yummy!

They are ready to be served or cover with foil and place in your oven warming drawer to mellow.

Crunchy on the outside and soft inside

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How to grow Strawberries

Everyone loves strawberries! This coming month of June, families will gather at the local strawberry patch to pick baskets of fresh strawberries. Besides tasting great, strawberries contain a vast amount of vitamin C and fibre for our health conscious public. They can be eaten fresh, in shakes, pies, salads and a multitude of desserts. As you know, we always pick more strawberries that we can eat, so it's important to note that you can freeze strawberries for future use. Don't wash the strawberries. Spread them out on a tray and put them into the freezer. Once frozen, remove them and store in ziplock bags up to 6 months. You should rinse them when you take them out of the freezer before use.

Would you like to have fresh strawberries all year long?

The following video explains the difference between June strawberries and strawberries used for hanging baskets and raised garden beds that will extend the harvest of fresh strawberries all year long. Learn how to plant strawberries in a raised garden bed and get a head start on the gardening season. Strawberry fields forever, my friend.

What's in peat moss?

With spring coming around the corner, bags of Canadian Sphagnum peat moss are starting to arrive at big box stores and garden nurseries in anticipation of the growing season. Everyone is loading up a bag or two for their planter and hanging flower baskets so it must be great stuff! However, with so many different peat moss products and vendors, I tended to purchase by price point and the colour of the bag until I started to look at the ingredients in the bag.

The following video will explain "what's in the bag".

It will also reveal where peat moss comes from and how it is harvested. If you live in Canada, you will be very surprised to know that we are one of the largest producers of peat moss in the world!  The importance of the NPK fertilizer numbers printed on the bag will also be explained along with the pH levels required to grow your tomato plants 6-7 feet.  The video will also show you the results of using this wonderful growing medium to grow massive flowers for your deck. This is very exciting, so let's get started, my friend.

DIY Organic Fertilizer - Egg Shells and Banana Peels

Winter is a great time for gardeners to order new seeds and search the internet for new tips and ideas on organic growing. 
Since outdoor composting is not ideal for the winter months, why not create a free DIY organic fertilizer, indoors, that will save you money and produce big juicy tomatoes and vegetables! Egg shells and banana peels contain calcium, potassium, and trace elements of potassium, phosphorous and magnesium and can be ground up and applied to your plants. It's a natural organic fertilizer so you don't have to worry about burning your plants. So start saving your shells and peels and get ready to produce one of the best organic fertilizers and it's free my friend!

So sit back and enjoy the DIY video.

Hybrid v.s. GMO (Genetically Modified Organisim) Tomatoes

Last week while shopping at Farm Boy I noticed a non-GMO disclaimer on a bottle of preserves. That got me thinking about the differences between GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) and Hybrid tomato plants and how they might be perceived by the average gardener like myself.

A non-hybrid tomato plant is a seed/plant that has been passed down through many generations without any alterations or subsequent breeding. We call them open pollinated varieties and the seed can be saved year to year to produce tomatoes with similar characteristics. One example is the "Brandywine" Heirloom variety.  Open pollinated varieties were sold by seed companies for 70+ years until 1949 when Burpee's Seeds introduced the first Hybrid tomato plant.

Hybrid tomato plants are created by human intervention in a controlled greenhouse environment. This breeding technique results in a new generation of tomato plant that will have a greater resistance to disease with increased production and quality.  A hybrid is created when the pollen from one plant's flower is physically applied to the pistil of another plant which results in a new tomato variety from the two parents. Plants bred this way tend to be stronger, are less susceptible to disease, produce tomatoes of similar size, good tasting and look great. Yummy! The process takes 5-10 years of consistent breeding by professional breeders until optimum and reliable results are achieved. The hybrid tomato is then re-named and generally, it's sold through a proprietary seed company to gardeners. That's why we have so many hybrid variations. That's a hybrid.

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) a.k.a. Genetically Engineered food is created in a scientific laboratory. It involves splitting the plant genes and the selecting of favorable portions of the DNA characteristics to create a new plant. In 1994 the USA Federal Department of Agriculture approved the first commercially grown GMO food (the tomato) to be approved for sale to the public.

1994 Flavr Savr GMO Tomato

Named the "Flavr Savr " tomato, it could be ripened on the vine and with it's extended shelf-life endure the long road trips to other parts of the US and Canada and still arrive in good condition. This would result in a better tasting tomato for consumers.  It was well received by the general public and sold out regardless of the high price tag. However, the California company Calgene who developed the product could not sustain a profit and sold the rights to the world's largest seed company the Monsanto Company - and for lack of a better word "canned" the GMO Flavr Savr tomato 3 years later.

1994 California canned tomato puree

As of today, we do NOT have any GMO tomatoes in our marketplace. However, genetically engineered corn, canola, and sugar beets have become common in Canada and 85% of the commercial corn produced in the USA comes from a  GMO variety. According to Canadian Scientist and environmentalist  David Suzuki, "we can expect apples and potatoes to become GMO product in the near future".  

GMO v.s. non-GMO Potato

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced March 2016 it approved GMO potatoes in Canada. They will resist browning when cut but they keep the same overall taste and texture qualities. Apparently, potato growers are not required to indicate whether they are GMO or not on the packaging.

Although it's not legally required for growers to indicate non-GMO product content if applicable, but there appears to be a growing trend to do so because many consumers don't want GMO products.

So, next time you are in the grocery store, check the label and you make the decision if GMO is for you! One more reason to grow your own vegetables in your backyard, my friend.