Kilner's Pectin and Acid Chart

(via Kilner Jar)

I teach Jam and Chutney making courses and workshops and when explaining the different pectin and acid levels amongst fruits and vegetables this is the chart that I share with my students. I have found it's informative and graphically easy to understand.

Milwaukee Art Museum - Catalogue of Food in Catalogue

Recently I was reading Molly Snyder's article on the Milwaukee Art Museum for OnMilwaukee.com and the items it holds which relate to food and I wanted to see all the artworks mentioned in the piece and have shared them here to accompany the article.

Still Life with Fruit, 1852 - Severin Roesen 

 

Apple Family, 1921 - Georgia O'Keeffe

 
Laid Table, 2007 - Beth Lipman
(via Third Coast Daily)

Still Life With Crab, 1657 - Pieter Claesz

The Meal of Oysters, 1902 - Lovis Corinth

Still life with Fish, 1710 - Gaetano Casati

Refrigerator Pies, 1962 - Wayne Thiebaud


 Nathan's Coney Island, 1971 - Vestie Davis

 

 Crowded Market, 1972 - Laurent Casimir

Musical Fruit & Veg by j.viewz

I prefer it when a YouTube weekend wandering take me to interesting videos like these rather than New World Order videos that always seem about three clicks away. 

Here's j.viewz (musician Jonathan Dagan) cover Massive Attack's Teardrop hooking up some fruit & veg to his Novation:

Brilliant.

Mortar & Pestle

I was trying to capture a bit of grinding action while making some Smy Chutney apple and pepper chutney at my cousins house for an upcoming tutorial. Here's a minute-long sneak peak featuring her stunning antique mortar and pestle.  I love the differing depths of imprints left from thousands of times when the pestle has met its mortar.  I am quite happy with my own mortar and pestle which is not an antique but solid, sturdy and large enough to hold rather a lot of herbs, spices and more and keep them in place as I pummel them to pieces.  I am so used to the rhythm of grinding pink peppercorns in my own m & p that when using my cousin's I felt as if it was gently laughing at me for trying to rely on  brute strength rather than the finesse needed when using hers. It has a basin worn smooth through use and I found I needed to alter my technique to get them to break apart.  The pink peppercorns were a perfect contrast to the creamy mortar and their intense aroma would form the basis of a fantastic perfume.

I also love imagining who has used these tools and for what purposes, what is its history, what time is its place?  That last phrase is a slight amendment to the phrase that one of my historic preservation professors, W Brown Morton III, used to ask us when studying old buildings, sites and items, "What time is this place?"  It has stuck with me and while the people below aren't using the same exact type of mortar and pestle as my cousin's the images capture the differing uses from inside to outside, for food, science, art and more.

Source: harvardartmuseums.org via Smy Chutney on Pinterest  

Joseph Janney Steinmetz - photographer

Untitled (man with large mortar and pestle), c. 1940

Source: arcadja.com via Smy Chutney on Pinterest

A Vanitas still life with an adder in a pestle and mortar, a sculpted head,
an astrolobe, an anatomical sculpture, a musical pipe, a skull,
a violin, a globe, musical scores, manuscripts, a paint pale.
Antonio Cioci, Italian, 1722—1792

 

Source: unf.edu via Smy Chutney on Pinterest

Woman pounding rice using a wooden pounding tool and a hollowed out log 
on a British East Florida plantation. 

Source: bbc.co.uk via Smy Chutney on Pinterest

Old woman with pestle and mortar  
Caravaggio 1571 -1610

Source: old-picture.com via Smy Chutney on Pinterest

Tlakluit woman seated with mortar and pestle. 

Source: Uploaded by user via Lucinda Brant on Pinterest

Italian apothecary. 18th-century 
National Historic Museum of the Medical Arts, Rome, Italy.

Atelier Food

Swedish project Atelier Food seeks new solutions and innovation through food.  International chef Stefan Eriksson began the new project in Stockholm which aims to explore the relationship between food and society.  Fellow chefs, artists, designers, business leaders and more gather to examine the future of food and its symbiotic relationships with culture, sustainability, transportation and development through workshops, food labs and discussions.

(via Wired)

Still Life by Petter Johansson Art Direction And Design

I am currently thinking, researching and writing about food to an extent that my conscious and unconscious are wandering a plan much like the one in Petter Johansson's beautiful images above.  I am unable to read Swedish to fully understand everything on the website but the interviews in English are fantastically eclectic and the ethos of the project makes me want to march to Atelier Food Lab and get involved.  I look forward to following their work closely. 

Classification Charts - Mushrooms

 Source: sandmarg.tumblr.com via Treacle on Pinterest

I have been fascinated with all manner of classification charts since I was a small girl and spent what felt like hours, but was probably twenty minutes, in a doctors waiting room. There was a poster on the wall of edible and poisonous mushrooms and I got lost in a small world of colourful mushrooms; some edible, some dangerous.  Neither of these are the psychadaelic 70s one I saw many years ago but they have the same effect...making me want to eat the correct one in order to shrink and play amongst them with fairies. 

Source: sandmarg.tumblr.com via Ale on Pinterest

                                         Source: whereapy.com via Chris on Pinterest

Big Hair Competition 18th century-style

 

 1776. Matthew Darly. The Extravaganza or the Mountain Head Dress of 1776. London.

(via It's About Time)

If it were the 1760s I would be the height of fashion as big, extravagant hair was all the rage, the latest trend to hit London from France.  By the 1770s the trend was satirized by the caricaturists. I particularly love the two following styles which feature whole fruit and veg stalls within the hair of each lady.

 

1777. Matthew Darly. The Fruit Stall (Market Fruits Ready to be Eaten). London.

 (via It's About Time)

1777. Matthew Darly. The Green Stall (a Hairdo fit for Market Day). London.

(via It's About Time) 

1777. Matthew Darly. The Flower Garden. London.

 (via It's About Time) 

This one has either a figurine or pocket-sized man perusing the orchards in her hair.

Becca Rothwell's NYE Duck Breast with Plum Gumbo

via Becca Rothwell's Instagram aka
@howtomakeamess aka 

How To Make a Mess

Thank you so much to Becca for sharing her photo of the New Year's Eve meal she made.  Using one of my all-time favourite combinations of duck and Smy Chutney Plum Gumbo she explains:

"I pan-fried the duck with a squashed garlic clove and some sprigs of thyme, deglazed the pan with red wine and stirred in a good teaspoon of your plum gumbo, let it bubble for a few mins to reduce down a bit then poured over sliced duck for a NYE meal."

It looks amazing!  All I want now is duck, chips and kale!

Check out How To Make a Mess for all sorts of fun regarding eating, cooking, crafting and baking...basically the creative quadrality of fun!!!

Mika Tsutai Plates

(source Asahi Shimbun)

These managa-inspired plates from Mika Tsutai of Kyoto are amazing and would be so much fun to plan a meal with! More can be found and purchased at  Comicalu.

Brains

When someone says they’ll tell you what’s on your plate after you’ve eaten it, most people will instinctively feel either excited or apprehensive about what has been set before them.  The statement in itself lets you know that something unusual is there.  I had already deeply inhaled the Testa in Cassette di Ligure presented before me and noticed a strong oily aroma and managed to simultaneously state and exhale, “Well it’s offal isn’t it?”  “It’s brain....and heart, tongue and other offal,” came the response.  I’ve tried tongue and find it rather tasty, however the bite that I took was admittedly smaller than the one I would have taken after the word ‘brain’ caused an involuntary image of 1950s black and white zombies to flash before my eyes.  The Testa had a matte sheen, a strong aroma and the flavour was a bit briny (this is a 100% unintentional pun, I swear). The slices had a firm texture despite being wafer thin and were lacking the rich salt and meat flavours that I look forward to from salumi.  

While in San Remo, Italy a pink, white and red salumi caught my eye at a deli and reminded me of a marble that I photographed at the Pantheon in September:

"That one looks nice," I said and we took several slices of Testa in Cassette di Ligure, a salami typically found in Liguria made of pig’s head, tongue, muscle and heart.  Known as headcheese in English it translates as ‘head in box’ and the components are encased in strips of beef and cooked until cured.  I enjoyed the Testa’s cellular beauty that comes from the traditional culinary techniques that endeavors to use all of the animal more than the flavour itself and luckily there are countless cured meats to be discovered.

Mont D’Or

Q: Do you want to eat something really fattening?
A: Yes, why yes I do.

Mont D'Or is an unpastuerised French cheese available from September to April only.  Every last bit of this rich, creamy,  ever-so-slightly nutty delight was warmed and eaten with bread and washed down with wine.

Carciofi

The Ligurian variety of artichokes (carciofi) are one of the many exquisite local land offerings.  The diversity of foods from the Ligurian region in Northern Italy are owed to it's borders of Piedmont, France, the Alps and the Mediterranean.  What's found here provides a plethora of foodstuffs such as olive oil, basil, pesto, focaccia, seafood, chestnuts, game, mushrooms and artichokes.  I first grew to love artichokes in New Orleans where I often ate them stuffed, fried or in oyster and artichoke soup.  In Liguria I enjoyed them by simply peeling and dipping them in delicious Ligurian olive oil and the best balsamic vinegar I have ever tasted.  The waxy, spiny thorn at the end of each petal is plucked and held while the pulpy end of the petal is dipped and eaten, using the teeth to scrape the tender flesh.  The further you go into the body or choke of the artichoke the more tender the leaf becomes.  I love the taste of artichoke paired with crispy and creamy but eating them in their pure form was a revelation - clean, with a texture of newborn vegetables, a bit like a fresh chestnut that has been spread upon a leaf, bit of celery.  It was like eating them for the first time but without all the pomp and circumstance.

Smy Chutney Goes Abroad: Colosseo, Roma

 

Check out these jars of Smy Chutney, lounging on a sunny terrace in Rome, marvelling at the Colosseum, having an aperitivo and thinking about the important things like - where has the best pizza in Rome? The best tiramisu? Is there a city in the world as beautiful as Rome?

(grazie Nina e Zappa per le foto! x)

Cakewich by Fred & Friends

 Is it a massive sandwich? Is it a cake? No it's another brilliant product from Fred & Friends...the Cakewich!

Using this mold to make a sponge cake then get creative with your icing, jelly or jam and you can make your own cakewich.

and remember...

it's not your chutney...

it's Smy Chutney.

please follow us on facebook and twitter

De Beauvoir Flower and Produce Show 2012

I unfortunately did not get a chance to go to the Orford Flower Show this year...but on my runs along the canal I kept seeing the sign for the De Beauvoir Flower and Produce Show so I knew that I would attend as I tend to cycle past there most days anyway.  When I say "there" I mean St Peter's Church, De Beauvoir Square and the bit in between where the event was held on Sunday 9th September 2012.

De Beauvoir bunting on the ramp to the crypt.

 

I was involved in the Christmas Market that was held here last year and it is a great space.  I went in the morning, after my run, to deliver anonymous preserves to be judged in the show.  I entered some newer flavours that I've been working on...greengage jam, gooseberry and green tea jam and a greengage chutney. I went back several hours later and here are some photos of the different classes of entries:

I love this delicious looking cake...complete with bunting!

 

Local young artists.

 

A cake that looks delicious, beautiful and is probably soothing all at the same time...genius.

 

Diorama flower power.

Fruit...

 

and veg.

 

Second prize for my greengage jam.

 

Second prize for my greengage chutney.

The preserves table...sadly my gooseberry and green tea jam didn't garner a ribbon but I was informed by a lovely gentleman outside that this year was highly competitive so I was very pleased with my two seconds from my three entries.  I donated my jars to be auctioned for charity at the end of the event.

Outside the De Beauvoir Gardners had loads of beautiful indoor and outdoor plants for sale.

 

There were the much talked about 2012 Rodent Racing events...

...as well as the Snail Games.

 

There were very excited creatures of the two and four legged variety gearing up for the Dog Show.

 

After the dog show I started to make my way back to my bicycle and learnt a fair bit about the tasty local De Beauvoir honey bees and resulting honey.

 

I won three prizes from my four tombola tickets! A faberge-esque egg which I will use for egg and soldiers, a necklace and an Ikea mystery...I'm not sure what the use is for item 610 but it was still very exciting to win it.

Just before left I treated myself to a delicious strawberry ice cream cone from the Rosemary Branch mobile ice cream cart.  Overall it was just a lovely way to spend a Sunday at a well-organised local event.