Agriculture
California’s Disappearing Apple Orchards
In Sonoma County, apple growers battle against the wine industry and cheap Chinese imports
November 02, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Five Ways to Cook With Pumpkin
It's time to think outside the pie crust and consider other ways you can put pumpkin on your table
October 04, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
The Sweet Sound of… Vegetables?
Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra makes music by thunking on pumpkins and making carrot recorders and cucumberphones
September 29, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Vogue Vittles: The Cross Between Food and Fashion
Before Lady Gaga's beef dress, there were Wonder Bread raincoats, waffle pants and Marilyn Monroe in a potato sack
September 27, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Farming Like the Incas
The Incas were masters of their harsh climate, archaeologists are finding—and the ancient civilization has a lot to teach us today
September 07, 2011 |
By Cynthia Graber
The Sweet and Sour of Pickling
There is a reason, I discovered, that households of yore required at least one full-time homemaker to keep things running smoothly
August 24, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Fresh Corn
Eating it only buttered and salted would be like limiting Ben Franklin to a single pursuit of inquiry. Why squelch such potential greatness?
August 17, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
What Ever Happened to Homemade Ketchup?
By the mid-1800s, some cookbooks listed as many as 20 recipes. Today the homogenized condiment is due for a paradigm shift
August 16, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Founding Fathers, Great Gardeners
In her new book, Andrea Wulf argues that the founding fathers' love of gardening shaped their vision of America
August 2011 |
By Erin Wayman
Five Ways to Eat Green Beans
To prove their versatility, here are five out-of-the-ordinary ideas for cooking with green beans, each from a different world culture
July 26, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
Taming the Wild Banana
When and where did people learn to cultivate one of our favorite snacks?
July 21, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Sweet Garden Success
Meal planning has become like triage; we eat whatever is most urgently ripe
July 15, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Rhubarb
Summer and rhubarb go hand in hand. So do strawberries and rhubarb—in pie. But what else can you cook up with the vegetable?
July 12, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
Five Ways to Eat Watermelon
The best way to eat watermelon? By the wedge, bare feet dangling into a pool or lake. But here are five other pretty good ideas
June 08, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum
With more than 2400 variations of barbed wire, this La Crosse, Kansas, museum has a lot to teach the non-farmers out there
June 2011 |
By James M. Cornelius
Beyond Grapes: It’s Wine, But Not From the Vine
The first thing that comes to mind at the mention of wine is "yes, please." The second is "grapes." And the last thing might have been pumpkins—until this week, when I tasted pumpkin wine
May 18, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
Inviting Writing: Aunt Molly’s Mysterious Greens
Today's memory about cardoons comes from Susie Petitti Tilton, who works at Williams-Sonoma and has a small business baking decorated sugar cookies
May 16, 2011 |
By Smithsonian Staff
Five Ways to Eat Artichokes
Butter or mayonnaise are simple, traditional and perfectly acceptable accompaniments, but why stop there? Here are five other ideas
May 11, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
Eau d'Asparagus (or What's Behind That Asparagus Effect?)
In Swann's Way, French novelist Marcel Proust penned something of a breathless love letter to asparagus, offering the following reflection as he ponders a decked-out dinner table:
"hat fascinated me would be the asparagus, tinged with ultramarine and rosy pink which ran from their heads, finely sti...
April 28, 2011 |
By Jesse Rhodes
It's a Tomato! The Miracle of Life, Plant Edition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTZih16DUB4"Great news, Mom and Dad—Matt and I are having a cucumber plant! And some peas, and tomatoes, and beets, too. I know we should wait to tell people until we're certain they've germinated, and there's a long way to go before they actually fruit, but we just p...
April 27, 2011 |
By Lisa Bramen
