Late summer in Southern Oregon can leave home cooks with a good problem: too much food.
Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. Blackberries are abundant. Figs and elderberries are coming into season. And neighbors with overflowing gardens may be looking for somewhere — anywhere — to unload their zucchini.
Our food lovers say this is one of the best times of year to eat in the Rogue Valley. But the abundance doesn't have to disappear when the weather turns cold.
Food stylist Will Smith, outdoor guide and forager Nicole Larsen, Rogue Valley Food System Network's Sheila Foster and Wild Thyme Productions' Karolina Lavagnino shared what they're eating now and how they stretch the harvest into winter.
Start with tomatoes, peppers and late-summer fruit
Smith's late-summer favorite is straightforward: tomatoes.
Neighbors have been giving him bags of them, he said, so he's been making gazpacho to share with friends and family. Peppers, herbs and the last of the peaches are also among his favorites this time of year.
The abundance means cooks don't necessarily need to do much to what's coming out of gardens and farms.
"You can kind of peel back on a lot of stronger flavors because all the fruits and vegetables are really at their peak," Smith said. "They don't need a whole lot."
That could mean a simple tomato salad with basil and vinaigrette, a caprese salad or fresh fruit added to other dishes. Lavagnino said her family waits all year for figs and peaches, which they use in salads, yogurt and desserts.
Look beyond the garden for blackberries and elderberries
Larsen, an avid forager, starts with what she can glean.
Blackberries are plentiful around the region in late summer, she said, while elderberries have a shorter window.
"It is right now," Larsen said of elderberry season. "If you wait another week, you might miss them."
Larsen keeps a bucket and clippers in her car during the season. Rather than process everything immediately, she freezes elderberries and blackberries and returns to them when she has more time.
That spreads out the work of preserving the harvest instead of turning a day of picking into a marathon in the kitchen.
"I throw them in the freezer along with my blackberries and a lot of other things you can glean," Larsen said.
Fermentation offers another way to preserve the season
Freezing and canning aren't the only ways to extend the harvest. Fermentation has preserved foods across cultures for generations.
Lavagnino, of Wild Thyme Productions, pointed out that fermented foods are probably already familiar to most people: sourdough bread, cheese, hot sauce, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kombucha, beer and wine all rely on fermentation.
For Lavagnino, fermentation also connects food with family and cultural history.
Growing up in Poland, she remembers kefir, sauerkraut and sourdough as ordinary parts of her family's kitchen. Now she sees fermentation events bringing together children, older adults, homesteaders and food producers who can exchange techniques and stories.
"Everyone finds their common language through food," she said.
New to canning? Start small
For Larsen, preserving the season often means canning — but she recommends beginners resist the temptation to tackle an entire harvest at once.
She started canning about 18 years ago after finding herself with more strawberries than she knew what to do with. A chance conversation with her mail carrier, an experienced canner, helped her through the first batch.
Her approach now is small-batch canning.
"I like to start with two pounds of fruit, keep it simple, be done in an hour, and follow the directions," Larsen said. "Don't try to improvise."
Larsen said some basic equipment, including a jar funnel and tools for handling jars, makes the process easier. More important, she said, is following tested instructions rather than improvising.
Oregon State University Extension recommends research-based food preservation methods and offers resources on canning, freezing and drying. Its Food Safety and Preservation Helpline is available at 800-354-7319.
Rogue Flavor Showcase brings local producers together
People looking for more ideas for eating locally can also sample products from Rogue Valley farmers, food makers and beverage producers at the inaugural Rogue Flavor Showcase on Sept. 5 at Bigham Knoll Farm in Jacksonville.
Organizers say the event will include more than 50 vendors, along with chef demonstrations, tastings and educational sessions.
Tickets are $20 and include a commemorative glass. Children 12 and younger are admitted free.
Foster said the Rogue Valley Food System Network created the event in part to introduce people to locally produced foods they might not otherwise encounter and help local producers reach more customers.
Guests
- Nicole Larsen
- Will Smith
- Sheila Foster, development and outreach director, Rogue Valley Food Systems Network
- Karolina Lavagnino, Wild Thyme Productions
