THE VEGAN NEWS
THE VEGAN NEWS
JULY/AUGUST
1997
In This Month's Issue:
- Recipes - Sugar-free Jam Making and Mediterranean-Style Lentil Salad
- Vegan Product Review
- Recycling Tips
- In The Veganic Garden - Making a Wildlife Pond.
- Queries
- Vegan Websites
- Book Review
- The Wildlife Database
Recipe of the Month
Sugar-Free Jam Making
Jam making is an ideal way of using up excess summer fruit. And, jam doesn't need to be made with sugar either - sugar-free jam tastes just as good and it is far better for you!The Gooseberry Jam recipe below, is taken from a leaflet called Sugar Free Jam Making, produced by The Wholefood Cookery School. It tastes particularly nice with wholemeal scones. Concentrated fruit juices (such as the apple concentrate used in the recipe below) can be purchased from most health food shops. Remember to store sugar-free jam in the fridge as this will prevent moulds from forming in the jam.
Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
- 1lb/400g gooseberries fresh or frozen
- 3 sprigs of sweet cicely (It is possible to leave out this ingredient)
- 1/2 pt concentrated apple juice
- Clean sterilised jam jars
Method
- Wash and cook the gooseberries slowly, in their own juice, with the sweet cicely
- When the skins are soft liquidise or mash the gooseberries and add the concentrated apple juice.
- Boil until there is a set using the *plate test method.
- Place in jam jars and leave to cool.
* To test to see if your jam is at setting point use a small plate. Place a little jam on the plate and leave it to cool. Slide your finger into the jam. If the space left by your finger does not cover again, then the jam is at setting point. You can also use a sugar thermometer. - setting point is at 104 degrees C or 220 degrees F.
To sterilise jam jars: Remove the labels from the jars. Then boil the cleaned jars in a stainless steel or glass pan. Dry the sterilised jars in a low oven before use.
Pauline's Mediterranean-Style Lentil Salad
Ingredients
- 85g of cooked, cold, green lentils
- 1" piece of cucumber, chopped into small cubes
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
- Chopped parsley and dried mixed herbs (to taste)
- 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar and 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil - mixed together
Method
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl
Serve the lentil salad inside warmed pitta breads. It can also be placed on top of lettuce leaves and eaten as a side salad. Serves 1-2.
In this month's bumper summer issue, I am going to review two products, made using seeds from the hemp plant and which are produced by New Earth.
Summer Issue Product Review
Hemp has many uses. Throughout history it has been used to make clothes, ropes, paper, painting canvas, horsebedding, cosmetics and in building materials. There are now quite a few websites like this one that sell hemp products.
The seeds of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa) are in fact very good for your health and can be eaten or made into drinks. They are high in fibre and the minerals calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sulphur. They are also contain a high proportion of Gamma Linolenic Acid or GLA and the essential fatty acids (EFA's) - Linoleic and Linolenic acids. As the body can not make its own essential fatty acids, it is important to consume a supply of them regularly. Essential fatty acids are used by the body to maintain skin and hair health and they are also very good for your heart.
9 Bar Hemp
This high energy, chocolate-flavoured bar (approx 200 kcals/bar) is made from organically grown ingredients. Produced by New Earth, 9 Bar Hemp is dairy-free and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Sugar-free and made without using any hydrogenated fat, ingredients include: chocolate, oats, apricots, hemp seed, flax seed and cocoa butter. Each 45g bar contains approximately 14% hemp seed. Nine bar Hemp has a nice crunchy texture and a delicious chocolate flavour. Very good to take on walking and backpacking holidays! I found mine in a health food shop.
Pow!
This is a low-fat, fruit, energy bar which is also suitable for vegans. Again made with hemp seeds, it is rich in essential fatty acids, has no added sugar or hydrogenated fat and is high in vitamins A, C , E and B. Entirely gluten and nut-free. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find one to test it yet! Wildlife gardeners will be pleased to know that swallows and finches both adore hemp seeds. So, in the unlikely event of you having any crumbs leftover, don't waste them - put them on the bird table!
Recycling Tips
Before you throw anything away think! Can it be reused? Here are some suggestions:
This Month - Some Uses for Old Carpet.
The following suggestions are for natural carpets which do not have a foam backing:
- Use old carpet as a mulch to clear land. See January Issue
- Use it as a cushioning layer under a pond liner. See Pond Making in this month's issue.
- Small pieces of carpet can be placed on top of compost in a composter. This helps to keep the heat in the composter.
- Use small pieces of carpet under a washing machine. This will prevent a washing machine jumping about on the floor and will reduce the noise. (Foam-backed carpet can also be used here.)
- Use old carpet to wrap tree logs after they have been innoculated with mushroom spawn.
What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Summer?
The Veganic Garden in July
Watering
Most crops have now been planted and they should all be growing well. In recent years, in the South of England, July has been a very dry month. Be prepared for drought again this year. Mulch plants whenever possible to keep in the moisture and water well, using water butt or recycled water, whenever possible.
Crop Picking
Pick your crops regularly in order to encourage them to keep producing. Crops which are available in July include: cucumbers, other salad crops - spring onions and lettuces, peas, radishes, spinach, broad beans and marrows.
Other Garden Tasks This Month
Stop the runner beans when they reach the top of the poles by pinching out their growing points. This will encourage them to form pods. They can also be mulched with old grass cuttings to help to keep them moist. Tomatoes should be tied regularly as they grow. Perpetual spinach can be sown in July to provide pickings in the autumn and winter and a late sowing of parsley will give you a good supply of fresh parsley for the winter. Plant out kale, sprouting broccoli and winter cabbage plants this month. Remove any early pea plants if they have finished and either use the plants as green manure or put them on the compost heap.
Drying Herbs
The best time to dry herbs is just as they come into flower as this is when they have the most flavour. (This usually occurs sometime between June and August.) The herbs should be dry when picked and it is better to pick them early in the morning. Tie the stalks into bundles and hang them up in a dry, dark place, indoors. They should be left to dry until they can be crumbled in the fingers. Pack the crumbled herbs into coloured jars for storage. I usually dry sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil. Parsley and chives are not really suitable for drying.
Fruit
July and August are both good months for seasonal fruit. If you do not have any in your garden, it may be worth going to a fruit farm to pick some of your own. Black currants, gooseberries, raspberries, red currants and strawberries are just some of the fruits which are available in July. In August you will also get cherries, loganberries, pears and plums. Of course many commercial growers spray their fruit, so it may be worth sending off for some catalogues and considering planting some of your own fruit bushes or fruit trees this autumn.
The Veganic Garden in August
You will be pleased to know that August is a good month for sitting in a nice shady spot with a cool drink and watching everything grow; most of the hard work has already been done! Runner beans, onions, sweetcorn and tomatoes should all be growing nicely now and your herbs should be hanging up to dry for the winter. And, there should still be plenty of nice green salad leaves available, if you don't feel like cooking in the heat.
Watering and Feeding
The main garden task in August is again to keep everything well-watered. Don't forget to keep all the water that you use to wash your salad, fruit and vegetables in throughout the day, as it can all be re-used to water the vegetable patch in the evening. Runner beans especially need to be watered frequently when they are flowering and making pods. (The flowers can also be sprayed with water from a plant spray, to help the beans set.) Tomatoes need a good supply of water when the fruits are swelling up. Feed them frequently with comfrey solution this month.
Other Tasks This Month
Stop tomatoes when they have formed four or five trusses. Pick any ripe fruit and eat it! Onions should also be ripening well this month. Stop watering them about a week before lifting and loosen the roots with a fork. They should be lifted by the end of this month and hung up to dry in an airy place.Make sowings of spring cabbage in early August. Sow turnips and winter radishes towards the end of August. Black Spanish Round and Summer Cross F1-(Mouli) are good winter radishes, both available from The Organic Gardening Catalogue
Crop Picking
Beetroot, onions, tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn, garlic and cucumbers should all be available in August. As you pick your crops, think of the money that you have saved and be proud of all the pesticide-free crops that you have produced! If you have been very successful then you may even have some left over to store for the winter.
If you are interested in creating your own Wildlife Pond, then this month's Vegan News has some information on how to do this!
Any Queries?
Sent in by D.H. James. Hull
I am trying to grow some vegetables in my garden without using any animal products or chemicals. However, cats keep going to the toilet in my vegetable patch. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this?
It is very difficult to prevent cats from doing this unfortunately. Certain measures can be taken to discourage cats from coming into the garden. For example a high fence could be erected and barbed wire (or another similar prickly material) could be placed on top of it. You can also keep a bucket of water (or a plant spray) handy, to use if you see a cat in the garden. However, this method tends to make the cats rather nervous of you and they simply hang on until you have gone out! A good way of keeping cats off your vegetable patch, is to cover the beds with netting or wire netting. This doesn't look very nice, but has proved quite successful in my garden. Cats usually prefer to use bare soil, so unplanted ground or ground with young plants in, is most at risk. To deter cats, keep any beds which have bare soil covered with a mulch, such as carpet or cardboard, until you are ready to plant in them. Beds, which contain young plants can be protected with netting until the plants are well established. Try to keep the amount of bare soil left between rows of plants to the minimum and perhaps interplant your main crop rows with a fast growing crop which will be finished by the time the main crop plants need more space. The RSPB sells a rather expensive cat deterrent and if all else fails, I would suggest that you contact them to see if it is suitable. And, if any reader has managed to completely solve this problem, then please could they e-mail me!
Other Interesting Vegan Websites.
New Earth Main Site
A very interesting site. Find out more about these bars or order a hemp T-shirt here.The Vegan Society UK
The Vegan Society Site has now moved to this new site.
Summer Issue Book Review
The Caring Cook. By Janet Hunt. Published by The Vegan Society.
The Caring Cook is a guide to cruelty-free cooking for the complete beginner. The book contains advice on kitchen equipment and vegan store cupboard ingredients.
Tasty breakfast recipes include home-made muesili and scrambled tofu. At least half-a-dozen interesting soup recipes are followed by a selection of salad dressings made from olive oil, tahini, peanut butter and tofu. The packed lunch section offers a selection of recipes for home-made spreads and a list of tasty sandwich filling ideas, as well as a recipe for fat-free, wholemeal bread.
Cooker-Top meals include several adventurous, foreign-sounding recipes including Hawaiian Rice, Spaghetti Napoletana, and a Dhal made from bananas and peppers. Oven-Baked meals include, of course, the Nut Roast and an interesting quiche made using tofu. Finally, desserts and teatime treats complete the book.
A small but useful book. Good value for the money.
Mediterranean Vegetarian Cookery. Edited by Janet Swarbrick. Apple.
This cookery book is divided into five sections: Appetizers/soups/salads; dips/salsas/relishes; main dishes; side dishes and desserts. Most of the recipes in the book are vegan, or could be made vegan by substituting vegan cheese or yogurt in the recipes. Be careful in the dessert section as quite a few of the recipes contain eggs or honey. The book opens with a mouth-watering photograph of different coloured peppers. I have tried out the Greek potato salad on p 20 - very nice and the oven cooked spaghetti with tomatoes on p 74 which is an unusual, but very pleasant way of cooking spaghetti.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is feeling adventurous. Well illustrated with many coloured photos. If you want to live a longer and healthier life then try some of these Mediterranean recipes and don't forget to read this month's article on Mediterranean Cuisine! I think I will try out the spinach, fig and pine nut salad on p 24, next...