Pauline's Lucky Market Garden

Pauline's Lucky Market Garden: T'is Hibiscus Flower Season Again! : Eye catching hibiscus sabdariffa calyces (often called "hibiscus flowers")  PLEASINGLY TART TASTING...WE HAVE HEAPS OF THEM!!!...

Eye catching hibiscus sabdariffa calyces (often called "hibiscus flowers")  PLEASINGLY TART TASTING...WE HAVE HEAPS OF THEM!!!! These beauties come from the same plant that gave us sour leaves in the summer. You may hear them called Roselles, Rosellas, or Florida Cranberry. In all cases, we are referring to the red crisp and tart tasting calyx, peeled away from the seed pod inside and used in hot and cold teas, jams, jellies, sauces and syrups just to name a few favorite tasty creations. AVAILABLE NOW AT LOVE WHOLE FOODS IN ORMOND BEACH FL AND SOLD AT OUR FARMERS MARKET BOOTH IN ARTISAN ALLEY DELAND FRIDAYS 6-9PM. We highly recommend making jam with them. You can find many recipes on the internet. We used one from an Australian site. No time to make your own jam? You can try ours! Jars available at our farmers market booth.  Other seasonal farm specialties now at the farmers market: Baby Arugula.....Basil plants.....southern peas....squash blossoms. Wouldn't yo...

The subject of this post is the leaf from the edible Hibiscus sabdariffa. Grown on our farm for 3 years, we are expanding our knowledge of this attractive heat loving bushy crop and its many uses. At first we grew this variety of hibiscus solely to harvest the bright red caylces called hibiscus flowers by many. When I offered some to a friend from India, she mentioned how her mom had cooked the tart tasting leaves in Indian cuisine. We couldn't have been more excited to find out there was a plant with edible summer greens already being grown on our farm in the scorching, humid days of July and August.  I will have to ask my friend if she would share her mom's recipe but I have found it rewarding and interesting searching for different ways to cook with it on my own.  As you can see from our photo, our plants have dark red stems and vibrant green leaves. We sell the leaves in bunches. The stems are too fibrous to use but it is easy to tear or cut the leaves off. They have an ...

We have been digging sweet potatoes this week and are bringing them to our  booth at the Artisan Alley Farmers Market in downtown Deland. We have two types: the orange flesh one that most folks are familiar with and another with dark reddish skin and a white flesh that stays firm when cooked (this one is especially good in soups and stews).  Use your sweet potatoes along with your turkey leftovers to make a lovely chowder. Go to our recipes page and scroll down to find our new favorite farm recipe!

HIBISCUS FLOWER CAKE                     It's Hibiscus flower harvest time at our farm, and we are having some more fun with them in our farm kitchen. This time we used them as a cranberry substitute and baked them into this lovely, moist cake. Try it yourself using our recipe. We sell our hibiscus flowers at our farmers market stand at the Artisan Alley Farmers' Market in Deland FL.   It will take a bit over an  hour. Also called "roselle" and  "Florida cranberry" the part we use and call "hibiscus flower" is not truly the flower but actually the seed pod surrounded by tart tasting sepals. These are removed and can be used dried or fresh. We used them fresh in our cake. This delicious cake makes 10 servings INGREDIENTS 4 cups hibiscus flower sepals (start with about 68 whole fresh flowers ~3/4 lb) 1  1/2 cups sugar 2 cups water zest from 1 orange 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground nutme...

Summer on the farm is coming to an end.  That is great news for us at our central Florida tiny farm! As it cools down below 90 degrees it is time to regrow all the great greens, herbs and veggies we had in the spring backwards!  After months of scorching weather here we CAN'T WAIT to have cucumbers, zucchini again and then afterward beans and GREENS!!! But before we seem ungrateful for the veggies that got us through the heat, I have to say how nice it has been to have had a fruitful crop of eggplants that have given us all kinds of good eating! So as we approach the last eggplant harvests we are sharing another yummy recipe. We hope you like it! To make a lovely EGGPLANT SPREAD:  "Baba ghanouj" Ingredients 6 small EGGPLANTS (skin on halved lengthwise) 1/2 cup tahini 3 cloves garlic 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons) fresh minced parsley to garnish optional Salt and pepper to taste Method Preheat oven to 350 ° f. Roast  eggplant halves...

The following recipe has been my favorite for years. It's a curry with a tomato base wonderfully flavored with cumin seeds and raisins. I love this served with rice EGGPLANT SUPREME CURRY From Kathy Cooks 2 tablespoon oil or ghee 1/2 cup diced onions 2 cups eggplant in 1/2 inch cubes 1 green bell pepper thinly sliced 3 tomatoes chopped 1/4 cup raisins 1 tablespoon oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/4 teaspoon chili seeds 2 teaspoons curry powder 1 teaspoon soy sauce Sauté first 3 ingredients together for about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add next 2 ingredients cover pan and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes. In a separate small pot, mix together the next 4 ingredients and cook on high until spices are toasted and aromatic. Uncover the pot with the cooking vegetables and pour in the oil with the toasted spices. Add soy sauce. Mix well and serve. Makes 3-4 servings. Great hot or at room temperature