Hello October…
October 1st, 2009This October morning, it is cold enough for a sweater. I think Bella the goat was even kind of cold this morning. She was being unruly in the milk stand and Adam had to stand in front of her and rub her ears so she wouldn’t kick the milk bucket. The high for the day will still reach ninety, but this morning Adam and I looked at each other and said, “Wow, it really is Fall!” Adam is a desert rat, but the heat is a little harder for me (Debbie) to take–I’m from Ohio and, even after four years in the desert, I still can’t get used to 110 degree temperatures and unrelenting sunshine for days and days on end. When the summer is over, I feel like I can breathe deeply again. Fall in Tucson is absolutely the best.
Here on the farm, cold-weather crops are going into the ground- we’ve been through a few weeks of radishes already and beet and turnip greens. I am simply salivating over the prospect of kale and chard. Beets are my favorite. I found a recipe for beet wine that I am dying to try this Fall. I’ll leave it for you as your own special Fall tease…
BEET WINE RECIPE
Ingredients:
5 pounds [2.3 kg] beets
1 gallon [4.5 L] water
8 cups [2 L] sugar
1 cup [250 ml] rice
2 cups [500 ml raisins
1 pack [1 tablespoon / 15 ml] active dry yeast
Preparation:
Wash beets; remove stems and cut unpeeled beets into thin pieces.
Cover with water; cook until tender.
Drain and measure cooking liquid; add enough water to get 1 gallon [4.5 L] liquid.
Pour into a stoneware jar.
Finely chop raisins; add raisins, sugar, rice and yeast into jar.
Leave to ferment for 30 days; stir every day.
Filter twice; leave to rest for 3 days.
Siphon into sterilized bottles.
Seal.
Age before drinking.
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