PALM PLATE REVIEW

Not an Adaka Palm, but one I fell in love with off the coast of South Carolina.

As most of you know I detest using paper or Styrofoam plates and for years have kept a supply of off-white dishes stashed away for large gatherings… but every once in awhile we all break our rules and yes I have been known to use recycled paper products, but now I’ve found something even better… Palm Plates.

When I saw that Marx Foods was offering a free sample I jumped at the chance to try them out and do a review as I love new kitchen products especially natural and eco-friendly ones. And of course being a lover of palm trees, tropical locals and anything to do with the beach… I jumped at the chance. Not since I saw my nephew carve a totem pole from one of the old palms from our grandfathers property have I seen such a wonderful product made from palm…

We loved them here at the Black house; I rushed to open the box when it arrived and we all stood around oohing and ahhing at the way they looked and even felt. To be honest they were so pretty that I did not want to use them and throw them away! But we did.


First I served lunch on them, nothing fancy. Homemade chicken salad sandwiches and potato salad, then after supper we tried out hot Peach Cobbler on them… finally today I gave them a real work out and allowed my two granddaughters to use them as finger-paint palettes.

No cracking, breaking apart or sagging occurred even after several hours of sitting with paint in them they still are holding up although the middle is getting a little soggy where it is wet… what a wonderful product, one I hope you all try out and recommend to friends.

Made from the leaves of the Adaka palm tree, they are not only eco friendly but elegant as well.
The leaves are gathered as they naturally fall from the trees and never pulled or cut. After they are gathered they are washed and then allowed to air dry and then stretched, flattened and cut into various size plates.
No harsh chemicals, dyes or toxic anything is used it the processing of these plates, just water, turmeric, the sun and air. How much greener could you get?

DARK FRUITCAKE WITH GRAND MARNIER

Don't let the name scare you, we've all heard the horror stories of fruitcake, but believe me this cake is dense, moist and chock full of goodies. I dare anyone to try it and not like it!

It took me years to get my fruitcake recipe as I wanted it. I began with an old recipe in my grandmothers Amy Vanderbilt cookbook, added this, took out that and finally we ended up with this recipe.

Last Chrismtas I decided to change and use Grand Marnier and a Peach Wine I bought in Tennessee instead of the usualy Rum and people loved it. I have in the past used various liquours included Rum, 50 year old Jack Daniels and Peach Wine from Habersham Farms.

The orignial recipe called for Dates and Currants which I left out as I don't like dates and have never seen Currants for sale here in our area.
7 cups of candied fruit as follows:
2 cups of cherries
2 cups of pineapple
1 cup of mixed fruit
1 cup white raisins

Cover and soak fruit for at least 24 hours in equal parts of Grand Marnier and Peach Wine. Drain fruit well before using.

Have all ingredients at room temp, preheat oven to 300 and grease and line bottom and sides of pans with paper bag and Crisco.

Sift together

3 cups all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground mace
1/2 t ground cloves
In a large bowl beat until creamy about 30 seconds:
2 sticks unsalted butter
Gradually add and beat on high speed until light in color:
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with 3/4 cup of brandy or wine (Grand Marnier)

Beat on low speed or stir with rubber spatula until just blended.

Drain fruit, add 2 cups chopped nuts (I used a mixture of walnuts and pecans toss this with flour and shake off excess, add to cake batter.

Scrape into pan and bake for 3 1/2 hours, if cake is getting too dark, place foil on it for the last 30 – 60 minutes.

Let cool in pan on rack for 1 hour, invert on rack and remove paper to finish cooling.

I then poured Grand Marnier onto a linen towel and wrapped it around cake and drizzled more on top…

Grand Marnier

ALABAMA CAVIAR -- TEXAS CAVIAR - BLACK-EYED PEA SALSA

Black-eyed Pea Salsa on Salad

No matter what you call it, this is a great treat. I though my momma had lost her mind when she first told me about black-eyed pea salad… it took me years to try it but when I did I fell in love with it.


2 cups black-eyed peas, cooked
3 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup purple onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 chopped yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup cider, red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup water
Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Combine black-eyed peas, onion, peppers, tomatoes, parsley, vinegar, oil and sugar
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Marinate for 12 to 24 hours before serving.
4. Serve with tortilla chips or use as a side salad.

FIELD PEAS: BLACK-EYED, CREAM, CROWDER & PURPLE HULL

Field Peas or Cow Peas can be found all over the world; from Africa, Asia & Europe to South, Central and North America. There are hundreds of varieties in four different groups and everyone has a favorite. They can be cooked fresh or bought dried and cooked.

Here in the South; peas are usually cooked with some sort of pork; bacon, fatback, ham hocks, or leftover ham were added to the pot of peas. I gave up the pork in my peas some time back but if you must go ahead and add some as it does lend a nice flavor.
My mother always added cut up or whole Okra to her peas during the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking. Although I love fried Okra, I have never developed a liking for the texture if its cooked too long as it becomes slimy. I prefer mine to have a bit of firmness to it.

Fresh peas are simple to cook. All it takes is some peas, a little seasoning, water, a pot and a watchful eye! Peas can burn in seconds if you allow the water to cook out. My family almost gave up on me ever cooking them without burning them; in fact my husband’s cousin used to cook them and hand them over so he could have some.
Leftover peas are wonderful just to eat but they may also be used to make fritters, salsas or added to salad. The Black-eyed pea Salsa is wonderful change, give it a try and surprise your family and friends at the next party and make what some call Alabama or Texas Caviar!


FRESH PEAS

4 cups fresh field peas (Crowder, Purple Hull, etc)
6 cups water
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 strips cooked bacon (reserve 1 tablespoon of drippings)
5 or 6 cups whole Okra

Put peas in saucepan and add water to cover.
Bring to boil.
Reduce heat and add salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon bacon drippings.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Add Okra and cook another 10 or 15 minutes.
Serve as a side dish, over rice or cornbread.

FRESH PURPLE HULL PEAS

4 cups purple hull peas
1 – Medium smoked ham hocks or chunk of leftover ham bone
1 med. onion chopped
3 or 4 tablespoons of bacon drippings or oil to cover bottom of pan

Put oil in a pot and on a medium heat saute the onions until slightly brown.
Add ham and cover with water.
Boil ham hocks about an hour, remove and cut meat away. (if using ham bone about 15 minutes)
Discard any fat and return meat and bone to the pot.
Add peas and enough water to cover the peas.
Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook peas until they are almost tender.
Add water as needed and stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
Add salt as needed. You will need to taste as you cook.

Farms, Farmers & Roadside Stands Photos

Emment & Dot Black's

Hwy 70, Barnwell SC

Fresh Peas

Okra

Black eyed Susans in a hanging basket

 Watermelons in a wagon

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Herb n Berries U-Pick

Montomernci SC

Blueberries on the bush

and in a bowl.

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Chappell Farms

Kline, SC

Elberta Peaches

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Neighbors, Friends & Family

Green Beans from Cala & Eddie Myers

VANILLA PEACH JAM

Chappell Farm Peaches

From the roadside stand in Kline, SC

To Camella's kitchen

Snelling, SC

3 pounds of fresh peaches

Juice of1 lemon

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 tsp Fruit Fresh

1 box Sure Jell

5 ½ cups Vanilla Sugar*

½ teaspoon butter

*Prepare vanilla sugar at least 3 days in advance (best if allowed to sit 1 week) or purchase store bought

Vanilla Sugar:

Bury 1 vanilla bean pod (scraped or not) in an airtight container with 4 pounds of sugar

Remove pod before using sugar

Measure exact amount of sugar into a separate bowl

Before beginning jam, place canning pot (with rack) half way with water and bring to a boil

Also have another small pot of water simmering in case you need it to cover jars

Peel, pit and dice peaches
Place into a 6 to 8 quart saucepan

Add Fruit Fresh

Stir in lemon juice

Stir 1 box SURE-JELL into fruit

Add ½ teaspoon butter

(to reduce foaming)

Add vanilla

Bring mixture to full rolling boil

Stir in sugar quickly

Return to full rolling boil

Boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly

Remove from heat

Skim off any foam

Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch tops

Wipe jar rims and threads

Cover with two-piece lids

Screw bands tightly

Place jars on elevated canner rack

Lower rack into canner

Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches

Add boiling water if needed

Cover; bring to gentle boil
Process 10 minutes

DORIE'S BLUEBERRY PIE

Blueberries waiting to be picked.

Herb n Berries U-Pick

148 Keeper Lane Montmorenci, SC

Blueberry Pie, well what Dorie usually asks for – Dorie gets… so when we were out picking Blueberries in the near 100 degree weather this morning and she said she wanted a Blueberry pie I went home and made one (after resting several hours and waiting until the sun went down to turn on the oven).

Althea and her empty bucket...

The girls taking a rest and laughing at us adults!

Never having made this type of pie I was a little afraid it would be runny, but it didn’t do too bad (of course if we adults had allowed it to cool it may have been set up better). I told Dorie not to burn her “goozel” (more on that one day) we tore into it… all except Dorie who took a little bite and then another; and then she shuddered. As we kept on eating, she tried it again, this time with a big shudder like she had a chill and making a sound (not exactly a gag but close).

Seems as if she had never eaten Blueberry pie and really didn’t know if she liked it (she didn’t) but she so wanted someone to make one (which I did).

Needless to say we girls still had a good time, picking blueberries in the hot Carolina sun, sipping water and heading off to eat lunch together afterwards.

Bowl of berries...

Not the best looking pie (we ate half before I thought about a picture) but it sure tasted wonderful!

Dorie’s Blueberry Pie

5 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of butter cut into small pieces
2 pie crusts (I cheated and used refrigerated pie crust)
Water
Pie pan
Cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, mix berries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon zest and juice in a bowl allowing it to sit for 20 minutes.

Place 1 pie crust in pie pan and then pour berry mixture into crust, top with butter pieces and then brush top edge of crust with water before placing second crust on top. Pinch to seal crusts together and then pinch or crimp with fork.

Cut several small slits in top of pie crust and place in oven, cook for 30 minutes. Carefully place cookie sheet under pie, reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes.

Pie will be still be a little runny; allow it to cool before slicing or better yet grab a spoon and go for it!


Dorie's Blueberry Pie