October finds me wandering the back roads south of Collingwood. Apples! Everywhere there are apples. They just grow there, on the side of the road. And wild grapes! Wild grapes hang from vines that hang on the apple trees, and fences, and oak trees and over stumps and along every side road. Harvest time indeed.
Every year we go south to pick enough apples to get us through winter. Most of these from an orchard of our long-time friends. We walk the hedgerows and pick haw berries. We sometimes find mushrooms. Spearmint is in the streams, and sometimes watercress as well.
The squashes in the farmer’s field look like they are growing wild. We stop at the farm gate and fill a box with them. Cash goes in the coffee can on the table. The bounty seems endless. I think next time we should bring a trailer.
Then there are the pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins everywhere. White ones now, as well as the orange. They decorate storefronts and verandas at every home.
The pumpkins made me a little sad. Beautiful they are, but nearly all of them are destined to be tossed away by the middle of November. What a waste. What a shame. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, cake and bread. Pumpkin wine! Chunks of pumpkin on a skewer on the barbecue. Some of the white ghost pumpkins have dark orange flesh, and they are delicious!
Toss chunks of pumpkin with olive oil and herbs and roast in the oven. If you do the whole pumpkin this way, you can freeze the extra and add it to soups, stews and chili.
Don’t throw you pumpkin away, make something! There are thousands of ideas online. And even more in your grandma’s recipe box.
Here is my favourite pumpkin soup:
Sauté a cup of chopped onions in two tablespoons of coconut oil for 20 minutes. Clean and chop one leek and two stalks of celery, add to the onions and stir now and then for another 10 minutes. Add three cups of chicken stock, homemade, of course. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes. During this time, add three cups of pumpkin cubes, two teaspoons of salt, one chopped apple, and two chopped potatoes.
When the veggies are tender, blend everything to make it smooth. Add spices: two teaspoons ground cumin, one teaspoon ground coriander, two teaspoons ground ginger, two teaspoons curry powder.
Add more water if it is too thick. Add salt and pepper and other spices to taste. Add a half cup of chopped fresh parsley just before serving.
Serve very hot with a teaspoon of yogurt or sour cream.
Enjoy!
Viki Mather has been commenting for Northern Life on the natural world and life in Greater Sudbury since the spring of 1984. Got a question or idea for Viki? Send an email to [email protected].
