Maple Berry Syrup—The perfect topping for buckwheat pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)
1 cup water
1/2 cup maple syrup

Method

  • In a small pot, add berries and 1 cup of the water. Crush the berries with a potato masher and bring to a gentle boil. Cook until about half of the liquid evaporates.
  • Add the maple syrup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Strain if you want, but I just pour it all over the pancakes.

Buckwheat Pancakes (gluten free)

It’s maple syrup season and, while thinking if it sends my mind in many directions (maple glazed pork chops, maple bread pudding, maple candy), it always comes back to pancakes.

Usually my husband makes the pancakes in our house. He makes delicious, fluffy ones that really soak up the syrup. This week, I stepped onto his turf to make buckwheat pancakes. Buckwheat pancakes are not fluffy, but they’re flavorful and hearty. While I do love a big pile of buttermilk pancakes, I always want to take a nap after I eat them. Somehow, buckwheat pancakes don’t have the same effect on me.

I’ve started to think of buckwheat as a bit of a wonder plant. I was tempted to write “wonder grain,” but buckwheat isn’t a grain and the only thing it has in common with wheat is its name. Buckwheat is actually classified as s fruit rather than a grain.

According to the Ag Marketing Resource Center (http://www.agmrc.org), buckwheat is one of the best sources for bio-available protein in the plant kingdom. It contains all eight essential amino acids, vitamin E and almost all of the vitamin B complex.

The Ag Marketing Resource Center goes on to list health claims, including it may lower blood glucose levels, help to lower high blood pressure and lower high cholesterol.

They also cite a study about buckwheat honey which states, “Honey collected from bees feeding off of buckwheat contained levels of antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, 20 times higher than that of other honey tested.”

The website World’s Healthiest Foods notes that, “Buckwheat contains almost 86 milligrams of magnesium in a one-cup serving. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels, improving blood flow and nutrient delivery while lowering blood pressure — the perfect combination for a healthy cardiovascular system.”

See what I mean about it being a wonder food?

Buckwheat pancake mixes are pretty easy to find. They are, however, usually mixed with wheat flour. This isn’t a problem unless you want to avoid wheat or want to try a pure, unadulterated buckwheat pancake.

Buckwheat flour isn’t as easy to come by. I usually have to travel to Kingston or Albany to find it. If you aren’t up for the drive, ask your local grocer if he/she can pick some up for you. The Birkett Mills, in the Finger Lake Region, is one of the country’s largest buckwheat producers. You can buy many buckwheat products from them online at http://thebirkettmills.com/.

The Birkett Mills has a page about growing buckwheat. I’m going to find some buckwheat seeds and toss them in our backyard. They say it’s easy to grow, flourishes in poor soil and needs only a 10-week growing season. We’ll see if it can tolerate shade. If so, I’m going to be harvesting buckwheat come August.

Buckwheat Pancakes
This all-buckwheat flour recipe makes delicious, earthy, nutty pancakes.  Adapted from the blog, Wrightfood

Ingredients
1 cup of buckwheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg, separated

Oil or butter for the skillet

Method

  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, powder, salt and cinnamon.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, melted butter and milk.
  • Pour the liquid mix into the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
  • Beat the egg white until it forms soft peaks (an electric hand mixer makes quick work of this). Gently fold the egg white in to the pancake mix. Don’t over mix.
  • Cook on a lightly buttered or oiled griddle or electric skillet at 375 degrees F. Working in batches, pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle. Cook until the pancakes form bubbles and the edges look cooked. Flip the pancakes and cook for 1 or 2 more minutes.
  • Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm. Repeat with remaining mix.

Makes about 10 five-inch pancakes

Carrot-Ginger Soup with Cashew Cream

If you want to waste the better part of an afternoon, the online Carrot Museum isn’t a bad place to do it. It has the history of carrots, fun carrot trivia and some very cool WWII posters featuring carrots. It was all interesting, but I kind of got stuck in the musical instruments wing.

The Carrot Museum is set up in such a way that I wasn’t sure if the whole musical instrument thing was just a spoof or not. I quickly did some fact checking on YouTube. Sure enough, there are many videos on how to make instruments out of carrots. There is even a Vienna All-Vegetable Orchestra. If I was late turning in this column, it wasn’t because I was in the basement drilling out my very own carrot kazoo.

As a kid, I loved raw carrots and watching Captain Kangaroo. Once he said that, in a pinch, eating a carrot could be a substitute for brushing your teeth. I liked to eat carrots more than I liked brushing my teeth, so I hid my toothbrush.

Whether or not that was the intended lesson, it’s what my 5-year-old mind took in. I told my mom that I couldn’t find my toothbrush and that Captain Kangaroo said I could just eat a carrot instead. Her response was that I had best find it. It was worth a try. I’m guessing I still got a carrot, but I don’t remember that part.

While carrots may not be a substitute for a toothbrush, they are still good for you. One cup of raw carrots is jam packed with about 428 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. They are also a very good source of vitamin C, vitamin K and potassium.

If you are lucky, you will have carefully stored last fall’s carrot harvest in your root cellar and you are still enjoying local carrots. While luck may come into play, careful crop planning and proper storage will improve your odds. I am not lucky or prepared. Our carrot crop last year was meager, so I am now buying California carrots. I shouldn’t complain too much since I picked up a two pound bag of organic carrots for $1.99 the other day.

Keep your eye out for multi-colored carrots this summer. Better yet, plant some. The Hudson Valley Seed Library sells packs of Kaleidoscope Carrot  seeds. I plan to be the first one on the block with a purple carrot kazoo!

Carrot-Ginger Soup with Cashew Cream

This recipe is adapted from Rebecca Katz’s recipe in One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and Their Friends. The first time I made it, I started to peel the carrots. Three pounds is a lot of carrots to peel. Being lazy, I stopped about three carrots in and just chopped the rest. The soup was delicious.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
3 pounds carrots, washed (not peeled), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric (or curry powder)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
8 cups water or vegetable, chicken or beef stock (I use a combination of stocks)
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt (to taste)

Method

  • In a large soup pot (6 to 8 quarts), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft. Add the carrots, spices and vinegar.
  • Add water or broth and salt. Cook until the carrots are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Use an immersion blender to puree soup. You can also use a traditional blender. Let the soup cool a bit before transferring it to the blender. Be sure to keep a towel and your hand firmly on the blender lid. Hot soup has a tendency to spew.
  • Ladle into bowls and top with cashew cream.

Serves 6

Cashew Cream

This cream is just plain delicious and would be good on a variety of things, including pasta, sautéed kale or a baked potato.

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Method

  • Soak the cashews in water overnight.
  • Drain and place cashews in a blender. Pulse a few times, then add water, lemon juice, salt and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.