In This Month's Issue:
Bean Hummus with Bircher-Benner
Potatoes
(Source: Another one of Rose Elliot's recipes,
as demonstrated at the Living Without Cruelty Exhibition earlier this year.)
Ingredients:
- 2 (15 oz) cans of white beans
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp of olive oil
- 4 medium-sized potatoes
Method
- Scrub the potatoes clean and
cut them in half. Place them, cut-side down, on an oiled baking
tray and brush the tops with oil. Sprinkle with sprigs of
thyme or rosemary if desired, then bake the potatoes for about
half an hour at Gas 6 (200C/400F) until soft.
- Meanwhile blend the bean sauce ingredients
together in a food processor or blender, adding a little
extra water to thin the sauce.
- Heat the bean puree gently in a pan until
well heated (about 5-10 minutes).
- To Serve: When heated through, place the
bean dip in a dish and arrange the cooked potato pieces around
the edge.
Recipe Serves 2-3
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June Product Review
Licorice Yogi Tea
![[Picture of Product]](yogi.jpg)
Produced by Golden Temple, Licorice Yogi Tea is made from licorice,
ginger, chicory root, orange peel and various spices, such as cloves, cardamom
and cinnamon. This is a delicious, warming, sweet tea, to which you are
supposed to add soya milk, although I prefer mine black. Nearly all of
this tea's ingredients are certified organic. The organic licorice is produced
in Spain and the cassia cinnamon is produced in the volcanic rainforest
mountains of Sumatra, Indonesia by small-scale farmers. By purchasing this
tea you can help to support organic agriculture in Indonesia, help to save
the rainforest and also provide economic opportunities to small-scale farmers.
Fifteen unbleached teabags cost £1.89. This
product was available in Holland & Barratts in February 2009.
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Using Seaweed in
The Veganic Garden
Containing levels of nitrogen, phosphate
and potassium similar to those present in farmyard manure, seaweed also
supplies many other essential plant nutrients including trace elements,
minerals, vitamins, amino acids, plant hormones and carbohydrates. Farmers
and gardeners have long since appreciated its virtues, applying it directly
to their land where it makes an excellent fertiliser and soil conditioner.
Traditionally seaweed is dug into the soil in late autumn and winter. Here
it decomposes slowly over the winter and is taken down by earthworms, conditioning
the soil and providing a good supply of nutrients for Spring crops. However,
you don't necessarily need to dig your seaweed in. Seaweed also makes an
excellent mulch, if you prefer to use no-dig methods in your garden. And
if placed in a layer about 4-6 inches deep, a mulch of seaweed helps to control
weeds as well as supplying valuable nutrients to your plants.
So, if you live near to the sea, then by
all means make use of this free resource. However, you should only collect
seaweed that has been freshly washed up, such as after high tides or storms.
Avoid old weed which has been lying around on the shore for a long time
as it will be very high in salt. And NEVER under any circumstances remove
live weed from rocks, or take it from the shore. Live weed is
the home of many small sea creatures who feed on it, or use it to shelter
from the force of the waves, or from the drying action of the sun and wind.
If live seaweed is taken from the shore, then many of these small creatures
will be removed too, or else die of exposure. Periwinkles and other molluscs,
small crustaceans (e.g. amphipods and isopods), mites, hydroids, sponges,
polyzoans, tube worms such as Spirorbis borealis and insect
larvae, are just some of the creatures that live on seaweed. These creatures
are found not just on the fronds of the weed, but are particularly abundant
in the holdfasts that attach the seaweed to rocks. So if you do collect
seaweed please be careful to follow these instructions and only collect washed
up weed. And even then, it may be a good idea to quickly check it for small
creatures before removing it from the shore!
Alternatively, if you wish to use seaweed
in your garden but are unable to obtain a supply of your own, you may
be interested to know that the Organic Gardening Catalogue
offers several useful animal-free seaweed products, all obtainable by mail
order.
I find their seaweed meal to be particularly
useful in the veganic garden. Rich in trace elements, it helps to build
up the humus structure of the soil and it's also long-lasting and can thus
be applied up to three months before planting. Try some. I am sure you will
soon notice how wonderfully green all your plants look. Potatoes, peas
and beans seem to benefit particularly and it is also supposed to be very
good for lawns, although I've never used it in this way as my lawn seems
to grow quickly enough without it! (A 2.5kg packet costs £7.25,
but it's also available in larger amounts.) (Product information updated
in February 2009)
SM3 seaweed extract is another very useful
seaweed product, available from this catalogue. Again it is rich in trace
elements and contains natural plant growth stimulants. In addition, trials
have shown that when it is used on plants they become less susceptible
to disease. However, you do need to be careful to dilute it properly, otherwise
it can have a rather unfortunate effect on your plants! I usually just
add a capful to my large watering can, rather than spraying it directly
onto plants. I find that it's particularly good on tomatoes and brassicas
seem to like it too. A small 125ml bottle lasts me all season and costs
only £2.95, but again this product is also available
in larger amounts, with 1 litre costing £7.25. (Product
information updated in February 2009)
Alternatively, if you suspect iron deficiency
(pale leaves with brown edges on margins) which is something that often
occurs on chalky soils, then you might find the Organic Gardening Catalogue's
'Seaweed Plus Iron' useful (£5.95 for 500ml, Order
Code: SMPL).
Avoid purchasing calcified seaweed from
this catalogue, or from elsewhere. Although calcified seaweed is an excellent
fertiliser and soil conditioner, the Vegan Organic Network (VON) does not
recommend its use because it is obtained from the temperate ocean equivalent
of coral reefs and is being harvested in an unsustainable way.
Finally, if you consume seaweed products
in your vegan diet, then you will probably sometimes have odd scraps of
left-over seaweed. The ribs of wakame perhaps - or even the odd half packet
of dried seaweed that migrated to the back of your food cupboard and went
well past its sell by date! Don't waste any of it. If you can't eat it,
then compost it. Dried seaweed makes a wonderful compost activator and incidently
fresh seaweed can also be used in this way too. Fresh seaweed is sometimes
stacked in a heap, but Grow Organic (formerly HDRA) does not recommend
doing this as the seaweed can turn slimy and smelly when treated in this
way. So seaweed is best chopped up and mixed in with other ingredients in
the compost heap.
Further Information:
Seaweed Products by Mail Order:
Seaweed Meal, SM3 and Seaweed Plus Iron
are all available from: The
Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene Business Park, Molesey Road,
Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG. (Tel: 01932 252707.) (Information updated
in February 2009)
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What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?
-
Sowing and Planting Outside
Once all danger of frost has past, young tomato
plants can be planted outside, sometime towards the end of May or
beginning of June. Tomatoes like a sunny, sheltered
position and should be planted about eighteen inches apart. Stake
and water the plants soon after planting and after about 2-3 weeks,
once the plants are well established, apply a mulch of compost
and/or leaf-mould to the surface of your tomato bed. Incidently,
if you have the room, then it's well worth sowing a row of the
companion herb, basil, somewhere nearby.
Indoor-raised runner bean plants can also
go outside now. Or you can still sow the bean seeds directly into
the ground, if you forgot to plant them in trays earlier! Early
June is a good time to sow pumpkin and sunflower seeds too. Sunflowers
are very easy to grow and their seed heads make excellent bird
food. You can even harvest the seed heads yourself in the autumn.
Sow the individual seeds in trays of potting compost indoors
and they will provide a good supply of sunflower greens throughout
the winter months. (See Sprouting
article for more information.)
Continue to make sowings of French beans,
lettuce, beetroot, salad onions, swedes and carrots this month.
And I always make another sowing of 'Little Marvel' peas in June,
to give an autumn crop. Leeks can be planted outside up until mid-July.
This month start to make sowings of Chinese kale and endives
for autumn use.
-
Other Jobs To Do In the Garden
Protect soft fruit from birds this month,
strawberries and raspberries particularly need protection. Look
in your local DIY shop for special bird netting, or use old net curtains.
I even had some success with draping small onions net bags over clusters
of fruit last year! You will also need to keep the weeds down in
your beds by hoeing between crops regularly. Water flowering
crops such as peas, early potatoes and beans well. Watch out for
black fly on your broad beans. And if they do become infested, then
use a soft soap solution or squash the flies between your fingers.
-
Indoor Sowings:
Make indoor sowings of 'Nine Star Perennial
Broccoli' and winter cabbages such as 'January King' and 'Ormskirk'.
-
Crops Available This Month:
Asparagus, peas, broad beans, lettuce, spring
onions, spinach, radish, broccoli, spring cabbage, potatoes, turnips,
gooseberries, strawberries and rhubarb.
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Other Interesting Websites
An excellent site and a particularly good
starting point for obtaining information for the new or intending vegan.
You can now visit their online Shop.
The
Raw Gourmet
You can still order a copy of the Raw
Gourmet online at this site. Don't forget to check out the
recipes and the links!
Section updated in February 2009 - Some
links have been removed because they were no longer available.
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June
Book Review
The Raw Gourmet
by Nomi Shannon
This beautifully illustrated book contains well over
200 delicious raw food recipes, all of which are easily prepared and are
based on healthy, unrefined ingredients, such as fruit, vegetables, nuts,
seeds, grains and beans.
In the Raw Gourmet you will find
out how to create breakfasts from soaked and sprouted grains and how to
prepare juices, nut milks and smoothies. In addition there are plenty of
recipes for salads and a good selection of dressings, soups, dips and sauces
which can be used to add extra flavour and interest to your raw meals. Entrees
is a particularly interesting chapter, containing plenty of denser nut,
seed and grain-based foods. (Incidently, the basic pate is delicious and
amazingly verstatile!) This section also contains recipes for raw burgers,
mousses, pizzas and loaves. The book finally ends with a selection of
mouth-watering desserts. A useful appendix provides information on choosing
equipment and also has menu suggestions, a three week menu plan, a sprouting
chart and details of suppliers.
The Raw Gourmet is an
excellent guide to the living foods diet and also contains some information
on the Hippocrates Health Institute's program. Although it's possible to
make many of the salads and salad dressings with just a blender and a grater,
to get the most out of this book you really need to own some of the following
equipment:- blender, food processor, juicer, dehydrator and coffee grinder.
It's a Canadian book, so ingredients are measured in cups.
It can also still be purchased at Nomi's
website (see website section). (Information updated
in February 2009)
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THE VEGAN NEWS