Root Cellars: The answer to eating healthy year round
The Complete Root Cellar Book:
Building Plans, Uses and 100 Recipes
By Steve Maxwell and Jennifer MacKenzie
Root cellars are a natural way of storing fruits, vegetables and preserves for longer shelf life and in these hard economic times, root cellars are making a big comeback.
Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are important for a healthy lifestyle. But how many times do we go to the store or our local farmers’ market and buy beautiful produce only to have it spoil and go uneaten? For generations, root cellars have been used to store fresh fruits and vegetables in a safe environment. Today, root cellars are making a comeback and a new book shows you how to build and utilize one yourself. THE COMPLETE ROOT CELLAR BOOK: Building Plans, Uses and 100 Recipes (Robert Rose; May 2010; Softcover/$24.95; ISBN: 978-0-7788-0243-3) by craftsman Steve Maxwell and home economist Jennifer MacKenzie, takes a fresh look at the art and science of building and stocking your own root cellar and eating healthy all year round.
Root cellars help us make the most of our food budget by allowing us to stock up on fresh produce at low prices during seasonal harvests. A root cellar can create a lifestyle of healthy eating. The seemingly simple act of visiting your cellar, examining your stores, and carrying something delicious up to the kitchen affords simple satisfactions that can’t be sealed in cellophane.
Most people think of root cellars as residing in a home basement or hole in the ground, but THE COMPLETE ROOT CELLAR BOOK changes that perception by providing detailed and illustrated construction guides for making five different and attractive root cellar options, including never before-seen strategies for apartment- and condo-dwellers and homeowners without a basement.
There’s truly no better or more natural a way to store food than in a root cellar. Everything you need to know about this time-honored tradition can be found within the pages of this book. Part 1: Root Cellaring in the 21st Century, provides DIYer’s four root cellar options:
- Making a Standard Cold Room Work
- Building a Walk-In Basement Root Cellar
- The Walk-In, Stand-Alone, Underground Root Cellar
- Outdoor Root Cellaring
- Root Cellars for Condos, Townhouses and Warm Climates
And once you have decided which type of root cellar to build, Steve outlines beautiful and convenience-boosting Finishing Touches for Your Root Cellar.
After you have built your root cellar, the authors provide must-know information on how to choose, store and manage a supply of vegetables, fruits and preserves, as well as 100 recipes that incorporate stored food products into both classic and innovative dishes, with a focus on good nutrition. Recipes cover everything from Soups; Salads and Appetizers; to Side Dishes; Main Courses; and Desserts. There is even a section on condiment recipes. Jennifer’s healthy and delicious recipes include:
Root Cellar Medley Soup Sweet and Tangy Beet and Carrot Salad
Broccoli and Apple Slaw Classic Beef Pot Roast
Chocolate Citrus Trifle Walnut and Orange Baked Apples
Successful root cellaring delivers an opportunity to cultivate skills and hone gourmet insight in a way that is both fulfilling and globally responsible. THE COMPLETE ROOT CELLAR BOOK delivers both the vision and the know-how to empower us to make root cellaring a part of everyday life, and to enjoy richer food experiences because of it. How much a part of everyday life depends on the individual, but Steve warns that “the more you bring food adventures into your home, the more important really good food becomes.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Steve Maxwell is a cabinet-maker, builder and award-winning home improvement author. He is also a photographer, videographer and seminar leader. He has been helping people renovate, build and maintain their homes for more than 20 years. Steve’s magazine and newspaper articles appear in publications across North America and he is a regular contributor to The Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Home Workshop, Cottage Life, and Mother Earth News. His “how-to” DVDs, videos and online books have been the favorite of DIYer’s everywhere. Steve, his wife, and five children, live in a stone and timber home they designed and built on their 90-acre farm on Manitoulin Island.
Jennifer MacKenzie is a professional home economist, food writer, editor and cooking instructor, with over 15 years experience in recipe development and testing. In 1999 she started her own food consulting business, FOODWORX, and shares her passion for delicious, easy-to-make, nutritious food in several national and regional publications. Jennifer has been the official Milk Calendar recipe developer for the past several years, and is a familiar face to consumers on CHEX Television on NewsWatch where she can be seen cooking up tasty and nutritious recipes on-air. Jennifer is the co-author of several best-selling cookbooks including The Complete Curry Cookbook, The Complete Book of Pickling, The Dehydrator Bible and The Complete Trail Food Cookbook. In 2005, Jennifer, along with her husband, Chef Jay Nutt, opened Nuttshell Next Door Café, a friendly, neighborhood gathering place. Jennifer has served as a canning competition judge for several years in Canada and lives in Buckhorn, Ontario.
Harvesting or Purchasing Produce
To stay fresh as long as possible, the produce you harvest or purchase must be in top condition. Damaged specimens won’t last long, no matter how good your cellar is. Root crops keep the longest of any produce in a root cellar, but they’re also the most likely to get damaged during harvest. While unblemished skin is the most important quality
to look for when you’re choosing produce for storage, there are other criteria that will affect storage life, such as variety,
degree of ripeness and how much of the plant is harvested. In addition, some produce benefits from certain preparations, such as curing or salting, before it is stored.
• Bananas: Choose green, firm, unripe fruit.
• Broccoli: Store only those with buds that are still tight.
• Cabbage: Harvest heads with the roots attached for longest storage life. Light frost improves flavor. Cabbage heads should be firm and compact and feel heavy for their size.
• Cauliflower: Harvest before frost. For optimal storage, leave roots attached. If you’re purchasing heads without roots, cut stems just below the head. Store only fully firm heads.
• Eggplant: Harvest at first sign of glossy skin. Choose firm, plump eggplants that feel heavy for their size. The skin should be shiny and the leaves fresh and green.
• Figs: Choose firm fresh figs with no bruising or signs of mold.
• Oranges: Choose firm fruit that feels heavy for its size.
• Parsnips: Choose firm roots that feel heavy for their size. Leave the entire taproot and about 1 inch (25 mm) of the stem intact.
• Peaches: Select firm fruit that yields slightly to finger pressure and that feels heavy for its size. Avoid very green peaches or any that show signs of shriveling.
• Quinces: Choose pale green fruit that is firm and shows no signs of shriveling. Leave any fuzz on the skin until just before use.
Spinach Salad with Apples, Celery and Coriander Seed Vinaigrette
Serves 8
Spinach has a taste and texture that pair well with fruit. Here, crispy apples and celery are featured with a zippy vinaigrette that Jennifer’s husband, Jay, created for the menu at their café, Nuttshell Next Door.
1?2 cup vegetable oil 125 mL
2 tablespoons cider vinegar 30 mL
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce 30 mL
1-1?2 teaspoon coriander seeds 7 mL
1?2 teaspoon granulated sugar 2 mL
1?2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 mL
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bag (10 oz/300 g) baby spinach (about 10 cups/2.5 L)
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 apples, thinly sliced
1. In a blender or in a tall measuring cup using an immersion blender, combine oil, vinegar, applesauce,
coriander seeds, sugar and mustard; blend until well combined and seeds are cracked. Season to taste with
salt and pepper.
2. In a large bowl, toss spinach with just enough of the dressing to coat the leaves lightly. Divide among individual
serving plates or transfer to a large serving bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine celery, apples and about 1?4 cup (60 mL) of the remaining dressing. Arrange on top of spinach and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve extra dressing to drizzle over top, if desired, or reserve for another use.
Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake
Serves 8 to 10
If you’ve grown rhubarb in your root cellar, dazzle guests with this moist cake topped with a crispy streusel, long before their garden rhubarb is ready.
• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)
• 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan, bottom lined with parchment paper
Streusel
1?3 cup all-purpose flour 75 mL
1?3 cup packed brown sugar 75 mL
1?3 cup quick-cooking rolled oats 75 mL
1?2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or ginger 2 mL
1?4 cup butter, melted 60 mL
Cake
1 1?2 cups all-purpose flour 375 mL
1 teaspoon baking powder 5 mL
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or ginger 5 mL
1?2 teaspoon baking soda 2 mL
1?4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
2?3 cup packed brown sugar 150 mL
1?2 cup butter, softened 125 mL
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 10 mL
3?4 cup plain yogurt (not fat-free) 175 mL
2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb, divided 500 mL
1. For the streusel: In a bowl, mash together flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and butter until crumbly. Set aside.
2. For the cake: In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until
blended. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture alternately with yogurt, making three additions of flour and two of yogurt. Gently stir in half the rhubarb. Spread into prepared pan, smoothing top.
4. Sprinkle the remaining rhubarb over batter in pan, then sprinkle with streusel. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and remove ring. Serve warm or let cool completely.
These recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:
Recipes from THE COMPLETE ROOT CELLAR BOOK: Building Plans, Uses and 100 Recipes
by Steve Maxwell and Jennifer MacKenzie
(Robert Rose; May 2010 Softcover/$24.95)
