Fruit Loopy

Earlier this week, two of my newest friends and I made the trip to Hood River to tour the farms and orchards known as the Fruit Loop.  The three of us are recent graduates of the master food preserver program, so the plan was to get some fresh produce to bring home and can.

It was a beautiful drive (as usual), and we had some spectacular views.  Once there, the fruit was amazing.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of red cherries?

We stopped at The Gorge White House, and while we passed on the wine-tasting (I know, I know - who are you and what have you done with Carolyn?), their U-Pick flower area was amazing.

Hood River itself was a charming place, and I'd like to go again someday  - but this trip was all about the fruit.  Oh, and the lavender farm....

Mt. Hood

It's also possible to see Mt. Adams, for which our street is named, from the Fruit Loop, which was kind of cool.

The various fruit stands were wonderful, and the people friendly and helpful (except the cherry man, who shall remain nameless because I can't remember his name, but who had the best price on cherries in the valley) which made the trip even more worthwhile.

Grandma Mary's Fruit and Produce Stand historical pic.  Grandma wasn't at the stand that day, alas.

We found some wonderful peaches here.

Draper Girls garden area

I wish I had taken pictures of the fruit before I started processing it.  Suffice to say I turned ten pounds of blueberries into this:

...and then some.

and this:

Three overflowing pints of marionberries into several of these:

as well as some sugar-free puree, and five pounds of cherries into even more like this:

And check out this incredible cherry pitter!

My grandkid is going to have fun with this some day

and apple peeler/corer:

Regrettably, this did not work for picking cucumbers.  Poop.

So I'm worn out from canning (not even thinking about the peaches yet), but I believe standing up for six and seven hours at a time burns more calories, right?  Many thanks to my newest buddies - I hope we do make it a monthly event during growing season.

These ladies rock.

And here I am rocking week 5 day one of the Couch to 5K program:

Ten pounds from goal.

I do have to say, though - the next time I want to buy ten pounds of blueberries - somebody please stop me!

Alice in Corvallis

Yesterday, I was privileged to be part of a Campus Food Scientist field trip to OSU's campus in Corvallis put together for master food preservers (such as moi) and nutrition education volunteers by our great extension faculty, Glenda.

Land of hope and glory....

Now before you get all sanctimonious (how exciting that must have been, right?), or self-righteous (a degree in cheese?), keep in mind that food science majors pretty much have to minor in chemistry in order to matriculate with their food science degrees.  This isn't quite the Cooking Channel.  Check out our itinerary:

First up was Jeff Corwin who walked us through the foods lab, food preservation lab, and fermentation (that's right - beer) lab.  A university with a fully licensed brewery?  How convenient!

The brewery

Jeff explains this rather complicated pressure device, which is used to test canning recipes (among other things)

...and this impressive "Blue Monster" which can also measure internal temperatures of containers for safety

Yesterday, the lab was testing Oregon blueberries - look at the size of some of these!

Jeff, you're probably a "Doctor" and if so, I'm sorry to have left off your honorific.  You were very informative and interesting (the two don't always go together), and again, thanks so much.

Next, Glenda took us to a great little bakery downtown where we had  light lunch.  Corvallis, like most Oregon towns, is just lovely.

The charming post office.  Our downtown post office in Vegas was charming, too, until Mayor Goodman the First turned it into a Mob Museum :-(

The garbage cans/planters

Next up was a session with Dr. Lisbeth Goddick, who is in charge of the dairy/cheese lab at OSU.  That's right - a fully licensed dairy operation (sans cows) right there on campus.

The specialty a la maison.

Cleaning a press

A queso fresco recipe, just because

Again, a wonderful experience highlighted by some interesting information on pasteurization and how raw milk can kill you or your children (look it up - renal failure), but some raw milk cheeses are okay.  In blind taste testings, however, most people can't tell the difference between raw milk cheese, and pasteurized milk cheese.

What goes well with a little Beaver Classic cheese?  Why a glass of wine from the Wine Lab, of course.  Professor James Osborne gave us a tour of his lab, and a taste of his wine.

Love these, but I think you have to be a booster to get a set

Spanish:  One word.
French:  One word.
English:  Two words.
German:  One really long, unpronounceable word.

Last but not least was a classroom session with Dr. Mark Daeschel on food safety.  Having just finished my food safety courses at extension, I thought I was pretty up to date, but I still managed to learn quite a bit, especially about the history of food regulation.  For instance, until the 1906 publication of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," there was no FDA, and our food supply was subject to a pretty much "anything goes" philosophy on the part of the suppliers and distributors (read it - you'll be shocked our forebears lived long enough to have us).  Things have been getting better right up through the Food Modernization Act signed by President Obama, requiring suppliers and others to actually have a written food safety plan, delineating hazard critical control points.

It was a wonderful day, and I want to thank everyone who made it possible, including my fellow travelers.  I especially loved all of us in hairnets, but please note I didn't post any identifiable pictures of us thus clad.  You're welcome.

UNLV, eat your heart out.