Chelsea Green Blog
Food & Drink
Drying Prune Plums (Plus Figs, Apricots, Peaches and Nectarines)
Learn the ropes on drying prune plums! Whether you’re a pro at preserving or you’ve never tried it out before, anyone can make these delicious snacks.
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Natural Cheesemaking: A Love Letter to Milk
Cheese is milk’s destiny. Be inspired by the celebration of milk-in all its forms-especially the transformation of milk into cheese through natural cheesemaking
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Preserving Veggies: Tips for Freezing Vegetables
Try your hand at preserving veggies by freezing them! Freezing vegetables is a quick, simple way to preserve them for winter meals.
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A Guide to Making Jams and Syrups With Wild Ingredients
The possibilities are pretty much endless with wild ingredients — use almost any fresh fruit or juice and a sweetener to create your own custom jam or syrup!
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The Whole Sunflower: Delicious Down to the Stem
Did you know that more than just the seeds of a sunflower are edible? Almost every part of a sunflower are completely safe and delicious when cooked correctly.
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Fruit-Infused Vinegar: How to Make Vinegar With Blueberries and Blackberries
Looking for something to do with the berries you’ve been growing all season? These recipes for infused vinegars allow you to get creative with unique flavors.
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Dilly Beans: Voted The “Best Snack Ever”
For those who love fermented foods, we now welcome you into the wonderful world of dilly beans. There’s nothing quite like a dilly bean. Whether they’re next to a plate of cheese and crackers, on a sandwich, or taken straight from the jar in the middle of winter when you’re sick of potatoes and pasta,…
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How to Make Whole Fruit Jam
This tried-and-true jam recipe relies on the natural sugars in fruit to provide a balanced flavor and sweetness that can’t be beat.
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5 Creative Summer Drinks to Help You Cool Off
With the “dog days” of summer underway, the heat can feel a little unrelenting. On hot days, there’s no better way to cool off than with a refreshing, cold beverage. Here’s a list of some perfect cool-down summer drinks made with organic ingredients sourced right from your garden or local wild places. The following excerpts have…
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Perennial Veggies: The Benefits of Perennial Vegetables
Think about how much work your perennial flower beds take compared to your annual vegetable garden. In a busy year, your perennial garden largely sails through despite neglect. Once your perennials are established, and if they are suited to your climate and site conditions, they can be virtually indestructible. An annual vegetable garden, as we…
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Daylily Dangers and Delights
Got some daylilies taking over your garden? Instead of weeding them out, try eating them instead! A common vegetable in China and Japan, the daylily is more than a pretty flower. These wild plants are easy to forage and packed with flavor that will serve as a perfect addition to seasonal recipes. Before trying them,…
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Reaping the Harvest: Tips for Harvesting and Preserving
Tending to your garden is fulfilling in its own way, but the real reward is when everything is ready to be harvested! See below for some tips for harvesting and preserving that’ll keep you nourished for months to come. The following is an excerpt form The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments by Nigel Palmer. It…
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Summer Vegetable Tian: Simple and Elegant
The term tian simply refers to a dish of thinly sliced vegetables that have been cooked in fat of your choice and baked au gratin. This crispy and colorful Summer Vegetable Tian is the perfect side to showcase the medley of mouthwatering veggies that the season has to offer! The following excerpt is from The Heal Your…
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Mull it Over: Mulberries, Memories, and Muffins
Mulberries have a special power of unlocking memories. Catching a whiff of a pie in the oven or taking that first delicious bite will transport you back to not only the first time you had mulberries, but each and every time. These sweet berries very well might be in your own backyard, your neighbor’s yard,…
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How To Make Homemade Fresh Mozzarella
There is something so fun and rewarding about pulling out a gallon or two of milk and deciding to make some homemade mozzarella. It is super delicious: creamy, salty, all the best things when it comes to cheese. Have faith that with a little practice, you can enter into the world of cheesemaking and make…
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Drill, Plug, Wax, Wait: 6 Simple Steps to Growing Mushrooms Outdoors
Mushrooms: they’re versatile, they’re delicious, and they’re extremely simple to grow in your yard or garden. We have a mushroom growing method that’s so simple, you have no excuse not to try it out. All you need is a log or tree stump, some mushroom starter, and a couple of basic tools. And you will…
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How to Brew Mead at Home: Ginger-Apricot Mead Recipe
When Jereme was in North Carolina for the 2016 Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville, he picked up a local honey made from summer wildflowers. Why? He was inspired after visiting Fox Hill and sampling their Special Reserve Mead, which has hints of ginger and a unique blend of buckwheat honey and some lighter varietals.…
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Plant Spotlight: The Joyful Juneberry
All hail the joyful juneberry! While these rich and sweet berries taste wonderful when they’re fresh, you can also preserve them, use them as a substitute for blueberries in dessert recipes, and used to make wine, beer or cider. To create these delicious dishes, you first need to find and harvest juneberries. Get ready to set…
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The Hunt for Wild Huckleberries and Buckwheat Huckleberry Buckle Cake
Huckleberries are a true prize for fruit foragers. Describing them as “intense, juicy, and addictive,” author Sara Bir has the lowdown on where and how to harvest them. And if you’re one of the lucky ones who brings home a bountiful harvest, the recipe below for Buckwheat Huckleberry Buckle is a MUST-make. Trust us. It’s…
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Summer Rainbow Pickled Vegetable Plate: A Taste of Summer
Few things scream “summer” more than a fresh, colorful plate of seasonal veggies. With this recipe for a rainbow pickled veg plate, you’ll transform simple vegetables into a delectable dish that your guests will be craving all season long. The following is an excerpt from Salt and the Art of Seasoning by James Strawbridge. It…
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The Case for Beef
The narrative on beef is constantly changing. From paleo to veganism, we are continually told conflicting information about the healthiness of beef and whether or not it should be in our diets. Former vegetarian and environmental lawyer turned rancher, Nicolette Hahn Niman, makes the following case for beef: “I also firmly believe a person should…
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Kvass: A Nourishing, Fermented Beverage
Looking to add another recipe to your fermenting repertoire? Try your hand at kvass! This nourishing beverage calls for just a few simple ingredients and only takes a couple of days to ferment. Use beets or get creative with various fruit combinations like Blueberry Lemon Mint or Ginger Apple Lime. The following recipes are from The Heal…
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Make Rice Koji in 12 Easy Steps
Looking for a new cooking project? Try your hand at rice koji! Follow these steps by two renowned chefs to make delicious rice koji at home. The following is an excerpt from Koji Alchemy by Jeremy Umansky and Rich Shih. It has been adapted for the web. Making Basic Rice Koji the Traditional Way Let’s walk…
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From Seed to Table: Buckwheat Pancakes
According to a column in Agricultural Research from September 1974, “buckwheat has an amino acid composition nutritionally superior to all cereals, including oats,” due to its high content of lysine. Not only that, but hearty buckwheat pancakes are just as tasty, if not tastier, than those made from wheat. So what are you waiting for?…
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Foraging For Wild Strawberries
Have you ever stumbled across wild strawberries? Growing along the sunny banks and around a forest edge, along roadsides, hillsides or even in your own back yard, wild strawberries are delicious. Wild strawberries are much smaller than those hollow, crunchy, off-season truck farm monstrosities most of us allow to pass for strawberries. Cultivated in-season berries, the…
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