In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
Lavender was the prized harvest this week. I believe it is ‘Provence.’
With these Meyer lemons and more—gifts from a garden friend—I made a quart of lavender lemonade. It’s a warm weather favorite and you can find the recipe I devised here. The lavender is just beginning and I’ve frozen lemon juice so there will be more of this ethereal beverage.
With some of the kumquats featured in last week’s Harvest Monday post I made Snacking Chocolate with Roasted Kumquats and Pepitas. The blogger who devised this recipe describes it this way. “Smooth, dark chocolate, bursts of citrusy kumquat flavor and chewy texture—all balanced out with the unifying powers of salty pumpkins seeds.” That sums it up. Find a link and tips at a recent post, Kumquat Goodness.
The apricots coming from the first tree are small but we think the flavor is more intense. Next week I’ll share more about the apricots. Frequently, flowers and fruit of similar colors end up on our kitchen island as these did last week.
The ‘Victoria’ rhubarb has performed especially well this year and it was time for a rhubarb cobbler. Since most of the stalk is green, I added cubes of strawberry guava puree for color and flavor.
This was the first time for a cobbler as I usually make a rhubarb crisp with various summer berries. The cobbler was amazing and will be part of future rhubarb rotations.
This is the last flush of the strawberry guavas for now. We seem to have about three rounds a year now instead of one very large one in September. Others in our neighborhood have noted that fruit tree production seems somewhat out of sync. I gave half away to a friend who cherishes them as I do. We were headed out for the weekend and the other half awaits me today.
Meetups on the weekend included with our son in LA and my sister in Irvine. We had produce drops of apricots, lettuce, rhubarb, zucchini and carrots.
A miniature bouquet in a test tube hangs by the front door these days. The fragrance of the single rose fills the entry. I marvel at the lacy maidenhair fern like my grandmother grew and used with her roses. And feverfew showed up just in time for my larger bouquets.
You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
To leave a comment, click on “Leave a comment/Show comments,” enter the comment, then insert your name. Finally, click on “Comment as Guest” to post comment.
