November 22, 2023 • 50 mins
Why toss those vegetable stems and stalks and fruit pulp and peels? Repurpose them into tasty dishes that are good for you and help reduce food waste. Food columnist/author Lindsay-Jean Hard shares tips in her book, "Cooking with Scraps: Turn Your Peels, Cores, Rinds and Stems into Delicious Meals." Virginia is for wine lovers! Melanie tastes wines with Maya Hood White, Lead Winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards in the bucolic Shenandoah Valley. Early Mountain Vineyards is a woman-owned winery.
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Fearless Fabulous You is broadcast live Wednesdays at 12 Noon ET.
Fearless Fabulous You Radio Show is broadcast on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
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(00:00):
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(00:22):
W four WN Radio. Well,Hello, and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You.
(00:43):
I am your host, Melanie Young, and I am so happy you're
joining me today December nineteenth. I'mon a road trip with my husband David
and broadcasting live today from Virginia fromEarly Mountain Vineyards in Virginia and just around
the Shenandoah Valley, and I'm reallyhappy to be sharing today with you.
You're going to love this show.My first guest is going to talk about
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something very near and dear to myheart, which is how to reduce food
waste in your kitchen by making amazingdelicious recipes from bits, scraps and ends
and peals that will appeal to yourwhole family. And in my second segment,
we're going to be talking with thewomen winemaker of Early Mounta Vineyards,
which is also a woman own winery. As you know, my goal is
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to help all women make healthy choices, to live happier lives and to create
the life they dream of. Sothank you for joining me on the Women
for Women Network and of course myshow is always film on iHeart dot com
and the free iHeart app So whydoes the topic of food waste matter?
Well, I'm going to tell youa shocking, shocking statistic. According to
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a twenty fourteen Environmental Protection Agency study, America throws away more than thirty eight
million tons of food every year.That's the weight of one hundred and four
Empire State buildings with a bit tospair. Or to put it another way,
that single years year's worth of foodwaste could be enough to balance a
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scale with all the blue whales leftin the world, multiply by ten.
Food waste is not only wasteful,but there are many people who don't have
enough to eat. And if youare fortunate enough to live in abundance and
have a refrigerator and covered full offood and the ability to buy food good
food, don't waste it, butmany of us toss out bits and pieces
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and scraps and ends and seeds andpulp of fruits and vegetables, especially which
we're going to zero in since I'mvery veggi focused, because we don't only
know what to do with all thesewonderful pieces, and therefore they get dumped
in the garbage. Well, we'regoing to talk today about how to turn
what you think is garbage into amazingfood and great dishes. With me is
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Lindsay gen Hard, who is authorof a book a new book called Cooking
with Scraps Turn your peels, cores, rines, and stems into delicious meals.
If you follow food fifty two,which is just really one of my
favorite sites, We've had one ofthe founders on our other show that Connect
a Table Live. You'll follow herbecause she regularly blogs there and she also
(03:23):
works at a really terrific place calledZingerman's in Michigan, which is really one
of the greatest spellity food stores inthe United States. But this book is
amazing because, as I said,Americans currently produced one hundred and thirty three
billion pounds of food waste every day, forty percent of the food in this
country goes on eating. And accordingto Workmen Publishing's wonderful information they sent me
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because Workman is the publisher, theUSDA has set a nationwide goal to reduce
food waste by fifty percent by theyear twenty thirty. So let's talk about
what we can do to go zerofood waste and eat even better with your
bits and scraps. Lindsey gene Hard, Welcome to Fearless Fabulous. You,
thank you, thank you so muchfor having me on. Well, I
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love your book. First of all, we were reading it in the drive
down and kind of earmarking some ofthe pages since we know we are wasteful.
Sometimes I'm curious, as I alwaysam with it. My I guess
what got you into writing about thistopic. Well, it really started when
I was living in Japan. Myhusband and I moved there for a couple
of years and we joined a CSAfor the first time. So that meant
(04:33):
that we were getting a box ofvegetables grown by local farmers every week.
And you know, not only wasit like an exploration and cooking for me
because I had never seen or cookedwith a lot of these vegetables. But
it was also really a point forme to connect more with my food because
I knew that local farmers were growingthese things and it worked hard to do
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so, so I wanted to beputting all of it to good And then
eventually, once I started working forfood fifty two dot com, I started
a column called Cooking with Scraps,and I was highlighting recipes from the food
fifty two community that were making reallysmart use of all of these under utilized
produce fits and other odds and ends. And I just wanted to share that
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with everyone because I feel like wecould all be doing a lot better than
we are. We all can andit's interesting, you know, for all
of us who had parents or grandparentswho grew up during the Great Wars,
like my mother in law and mygrandparents before, you know, you had
to be thrifty. You had tobe thrifty with your food. People planted
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victory gardens, and people really workedvery hard to utilize every part of the
animal or the vegetable or the fruit. And historically in Europe they do the
same thing. And somewhere along theway, Americans got lazy and decided they
only wanted the best parts and notthe bits. Don't you think that?
You know, what do you thinkis? You know, I think it's
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great that people are changing their mindsabout that, But what is your message
to people about that, even morebased on your own experience. Yeah,
like you mentioned, this isn't anew topic. I mean, I think
it's just cyclical and we've just reacheda point where our level of waste is
so alarming that it can't be ignoredanymore. So that's I think it's great
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that we're all realizing that we needto do a better job of this.
And it isn't even necessarily, youknow, that we're all needing the best
bits. It's that somehow we've beentrained to think that that's the case.
But really almost all of the produceparts can be eaten and are just as
delicious as the parts that we're usedto eating. Well, we're going to
have some fun here. I havea copy of Cooking with Scraps, which
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again is published by Workmen in frontof me. I'm going to talk about
I shopped the farmer's market. Thatmany people shop the supermarket. That's okay,
as long as they're being fresh andnot processed food. I'm going to
talk about some vegetables that we cookon the regular basis seasonally. Right now,
I'm in winter and we seem tobe cooking a lot of kale,
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and we use it in soups,We make grapes of kale salad. We
have been making kale chips every whichway to make kale because it's an abundance.
However, we tend to toss thestems because we don't really use them
and don't know how. You havea recipe which I thought was very interesting
about making hummice with kale. Whatare some you know, talk to us
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about you utilizing stems and we're gonnastart with kale and then I want to
move into broccoli. Yeah, SoI think this is one of those that's
becomes sort of an unconscious thing forus. A lot of times recipes will
say like cut off in discard thekalees them, so we don't take the
time to stop and think about it. But they're completely edible. You could
just chop them up really finely andstawkay them before whatever else you're using the
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leaves for. In this case,I like to cook them until their tender
and then can blend right into abatch of hummus and you would never know
that they're there. So it's greatfor a holiday entertaining dish. Like even
people who don't like kale will likethis hummus. Well, what I like
about it. I have the restof frame in front of me. It's
very simple. It's a cup ofdried chickpeas, a teaspoon of baking soda,
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the stems from a bunch of kale, garlic cloves, true thirds cup
to heeni, which I think justmakes everything taste better, a teaspoon fine
grained sea salt. I have atwo thirds cup fresh squeeze lemon juice and
some evoo and you you basically putthis into a food processer processor like we
do when you make gregor hummus,and so the kale stems kind of morph
into what we call the reregar hummus. And I can't wait to make this
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because we eat so much kale andwe are really being wasteful tossing away the
stamps. And I also want tobring out chickpeas because one of the things
I learned and I've written about isus is making aqua faba from chickpea chickpea
water. Let's talk about not tossingout the chickpea jew from the can if
you're using can can or can beansfor example. Yeah, aqua faba is
(09:03):
such a fun ingredient. It canwhip up just like egg whites, and
so you can use it in avariety of different ways. In the book,
I'm using it to make mayonnaise,and then I'm also using it in
a brownie recipe. It's a reallyfun versatile thing to play with. Well,
I actually tried making I wrote aboutthis. It's also great if you're
vegan and you're not eating eggs.The fudgy aqua faba brownies I have not
(09:28):
made yet, but I get totell you. I cannot wait because it's
it's the it's the aqua faba,which it basically is your chickpea juice chickpea
water. Do you have to doanything with the can? If you're using
can you can also make fresh chickpeasand use the water from that. Do
you need to if you're using itfrom a can, do you need to
do anything special with it? No? Not, not anything, Just drain
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it off and use it. Sothis recipe is so great because it's basically
you're using the aqua faba all purposeflour, unsweetened cocoa, fine grain sea
salt. I'm just littering the easy, the easy to source ingredients espresso powder,
granulated sugar, butter, and vanillaextract. These look so these are
like chewy brownies, right, Yesthey are? And if like you mentioned
the vegan you could use a veganbutter replacement there to make them vegan friendly
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too. What would be a goodvegan butter replacement, lindsay, like Earth
Balance six or something similar, right, you know, so you can almost
make any recipe vegan if you giveit a really work hard at it.
I'm a big, big fan ofnutritional yeast flakes for cheese for example.
Now you I want to segue whenI see a recipe I'm gonna bring up
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on your green you talk about espressopowder. I have to tell you one
of the recipes I've been I've beencollecting all of our coffee grounds and I've
been putting him in our yogurt containers. And my husband David open one thinking
he was opening yogurt the other dayand he's like, Melanie, what is
this now you have. I've beenusing coffee grounds and mixing it with coconut
(10:52):
oil to make body scrub. Itmakes the biggest It's great, but it
makes the biggest mess in the inthe shower, imaginable. Just looks like
you've been, you know, inmud. You have a recipe here that
I can't wait to try as soonas we land for ground cashew butter.
We were reading this in the caron our drive and salivating. What you
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know with this one? It's it'sraw cashew's sea salt, coffee grounds,
cocoon nibs and neutral oil and youprocess it make this wonderful butter. What
are some other things you can dowith coffee grounds? And do you have
to use certain types as it haveto be like from a certain type of
coffee. No, it doesn't.It's whatever type that you use and have
on hand. And I love usingthem because they still have so much of
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that great coffee flavor in them.On Sune fifty two dot com, I
have another recipe for a fit Frenchsilk pie that uses them a couple of
ways. One to infuse whipped creamfor a topping for the pie, and
then I'm also using them directly inthe crust, along with some crushed chocolate
cookies. So you really get thisgreat coffee chocolate flavor. It just sounds
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so good. And you also talktalk about, you know, you can
repurpose leftover brood coffee. What aresome things you can do with it other
than I don't know, you know, lovey brew coffee. For me,
often it tastes kind of booth aftera while I have I've been using it.
Sometimes I'll put sparkling my club sodawater in it to kind of make
a coffee a kind of a semifizzy coffee water drink. It's kind of
(12:20):
weird, but it works. OhI like that idea. Yeah, yeah,
you know, I like flavored,you know, to flavor water.
Sometimes it helps. It's kind oflike an old timey New yorky thing.
But what would you do with leftoveror spent coffee itself, not the grounds?
I would also use that in bakedgoods instead of to replace some of
the other liquid in there, especiallyif it's like a chocolate cake or chocolate
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cupcake, to help boost the chocolateflavor. That's a great idea, that's
I mean, because you know alot of people just toss out their coffee,
and that's just so wasteful. NowI want to bring I want to
go back to stems before I moveinto some sweet. We've been also making
a lot of braccoe and I've beenmashing it up to death, because if
I don't mash broccoli up, Iget a little bloated, I get broccoli
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blood. And so I've been mashingit up with olive oil and sea salt,
and I mean it's literally a broccolimash and cooking it to death.
So it includes the what is itcalled, not the stems, but you
know, the base of the broccoli. What else can you do with broccoli?
You have a great recipe in herewith it with chickpeas on toast.
Let's talk about that. Yeah,I love broccoli stems. I feel like
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this is one scrap that's maybe finallygetting it to do because I feel like
you would see you used to seebroccoli heads in the grocery stores and the
stem would be totally gone. Andnow more and more often I'm seeing it
with the stem there, which isgreat because it has I love the texture
of broccoli stems, sometimes even morethan the floor us. And they're so
versatile. You can start hay them, you can shred them into slaws.
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In the book, I'm poaching themand using them on top of toast with
chickpeas and ritata. Mm hmm.This it looks so good. Lemony olive
oil poached broccoli stems and chickpeas andricotta tosa. If that's not a cocktail
party dish, you know, handon order, I don't know what is.
It just looks amazing, thank you. Yeah, And it looks impressive,
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but it's really easy, just likeall of the recipes in this book
are. Because I really don't wantcooking with scraps to be overwhelming for anyone.
I want to make it as simpleas possible, exactly, and it's
really about, you know, notbeing wasteful, but also making easy.
I think the main equipment you needfor a lot of this is a food
processor and also some of the someof the scraps stems need to be peeled
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a bit. I tried really hardto cook with asparicus stems and it was
the disaster. I tried to makeasparacus stem soup. It was vile.
What would you do? Not fromyour book? What would you do with
asparicus stems, and what can youdo to soften you know, make it
a little us what sinewy or whateverit was. They were very stalky tasting.
(15:07):
Yeah, well one that's towards theend of the season and they're really
woody and you're snapping off a goodchunk at the bottom. You can do
a couple of things with them.You can either save that and make stock,
and you can even just make itdedicated asparagus flavor stocks. You could
use it for soup or risotto,but I also like to use it for
pesto. So the only trick isyou need to chop it really finally before
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you're processing everything else in the foodprocessor, because otherwise it will be stringy.
M really great point, and youtalk about including mushrooms as well as
asparagus, like you know, kindof taking the harder exterior skin not skin,
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but you know, kind of slicingit and getting to the center part.
In fact, well, there wasone item in here somebody said you
could use like bone marrow. Ithink it was I think it was broccoli.
I have the look, I meanthere was something there. I was
like, you could use this asbone marrow. You not bone marrow,
but it was marrow we inside.I think it was a spiracus, but
(16:10):
I'm going to check. I alsowanted to bring up though, that in
your book you also talk about utilizingbits and pieces for cocktails, so it's
not just cooking. You have somecockta recipes in there. I'd love to
talk about it. And you alsohave a section clean out the Crisper with
Infused alcohol hals, hmmm, let'stalk about some of that. Yeah,
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a lot of scraps can be greatto add flavor to alcohol. I think
one of my favorite ones is thebeat peel margarita. So you're using the
beat peels to infuse tequila first,and it gives a lot of that great
earthy beat flavor, and it alsomakes it a really pretty pink color too,
so it's a really festive drink.Well, my husband hates beats,
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but he was ogling the beat pillmargarita. You know it was. It
really looked good. How would youyou know? Here's the problem with beats.
I absolutely find whenever I try toprepare beats, I just become a
giant red mess. What are sometips to not just completely stain yourself?
Yeah, I think it's hard toavoid that entirely. I oftentimes like to
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just roast them without peeling them,in like a foil packet with some olive
oil and salt, and then peelafterwards. It can go a little bit
faster when they're already cooked. Andsometimes if it's not like if it's a
fairly fresh beat, like I've juststarted cutting them up and roasting them without
even bothering to peel them, andyou don't get any of that kind of
(17:44):
harsh, scally not scalely but stringystuff from them. On the x CIA,
you don't get that skinny taste,skinny in the negative sense. It
depends on the age of your beat, So if it's you know, been
overwintered, you might not want tothat. You might want to feel it
first. But most of the timeI find it's just a little added texture
and it doesn't really detract much fromit. And of course, let's don't
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neglect the beat tops you talk aboutall, but let's talk about tops,
radish tops, beat tops, carrottops, you know, let's talk about
what you can do with the topsof everything you throw out. Yeah,
those are such great leafy greens thatcan be used in a really wide variety
of ways. Beat greens can reallybe treated just like spinach. I like
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to wilt them and then use themin warm salads or put them on top
of pizza. Ratish greens have agreat peppery bite for salads. Carrot greens
I love turning into pesto. They'reincredibly flavorful and a lot of things you
can do. You can make intoit a frittata. I notice, so
fratata to me just simply means fryup everything in eggs. It's over in
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your refrigerator, right, Yes,it's such a great way to clean out
your fridge but still make an impressivedish at the same time. Yeah,
it is. It's funny. Inever loved for Tana's because it reminds me
of bad winds at restaurants, butit's a great idea. Another way that
I like to use a bit ofmy husband is we will make soups.
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We will just boil everything and cookit and add an olive oil and kind
of make We've been experimenting with ribbelitas, which is the tuscan you know,
vegetable soup basically slow cook tusk andsoup. But you can almost put any
kind of scrap into a soup,right, Oh, yeah, absolutely.
And if you're going to make stockwith stuff, I like to just keep
a freezer bag going in the freezerat all times. You can just keep
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adding to it until you have enoughto work with. Yeah, I mean
you talk about I love to talkabout using ice cube trays to keep things.
What are some things you can storein ice cube trays? Well,
you could be putting that leftover coffeeand can portion out for later. I
like to put tomato paste in thembecause I use like a tablespoon and then
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I have a hard time getting tothe rest of the can before it goes
bad. Well, I love thatidea because we cut up a lot of
fresh Farmer's Market seasonal Farmer's market foodand put it in baggies right now,
and I'm trying to figure out,Lindsay, I'm scratching we had because I'm
trying to go less plastic next year, how to not use bags to do
(20:23):
it now, I have to makesure we've got a little time to recipes
we've been doing making tomato jam.Actually, Justin Chappell has a great recipe
in his cookbook Just Cook It.It's like awesome whenever we make it,
people just like pounce on this.We're trying to forigure out turning into a
business. You have a recipe forbacony tomato jama, tell us about that,
(20:45):
because that's a great way to useup kind of tomatoes. Right.
Well, yeah, and like theselittle odds and end pieces of bacon too.
Maye is modeled after a favorite tomatojam recipe that I have from Food
fifty two. And then one timeI was shopping at Zingerman Stelly and my
(21:06):
husband saw bacon ends for sale.So it's just literally the ends that don't
quite make it into a full sliceof bacon. And he was like,
surely you can come up with somegreat use for these. I was like,
of course, let's buy them.And it was a great way to
add this bacon flavor into tomato jam, which just becomes delicious on a sandwich.
It just sounds really good. NowI want to talk about two other
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things that we toss out too much. Just when kind of was an AHA
for eyes. Corn cobs. Yeah, grilled corn cob YACKI on a geary
grilled rice balls that kind of blewus away. I love those because corn
cobs, you know, especially ifyou're slicing off the kernels, there's still
little bits of those kernels and alot of that corn flavor left. So
(21:52):
you can, again, like theasparagus, you can make a dedicated corn
stock with them to use for things. Or I like to put those corn
cobs in with rice when I'm cookingthe rice, and then the rice will
take on all of that corn flavorand then I'm turning them into little rice
balls and grilling them with some butterand soy sauce. Well, I just
think that sounds really really amazing.And something we talked about was using the
(22:18):
corn juice right the corn liquid todo a seafood boil, so that you're
kind of cooking your seafood in thecorn liquid and then you're cooking the corn.
And it was like, that justsounds really really delicious. And then
another interesting one you talk about isusing it to use corn husks to wrap
to Molli's because I'm like, whatdo you do with the corn, But
(22:41):
that's like what they do with Tomali'sright, right, yeah, And you
could be adding those in with thecobs for stock too, mm hmm.
So that's something really practical that alot of people, don't you know,
always toss is their corn husts,and yet in Mexico you use them all
the time. The other thing weeat every morning with our yogurt is a
sliced banana. Let's talk about theone. I can't wait to try your
(23:07):
banana peel cake. Yeah, Ithink that was probably the most surprising recipe
in the book for folks. Butthen once they try it, they're a
maize. So banana peels are completelyedible for this recipe. I'm cooking them
just to soften them a little bitand then blending them up into a pure
and it gives the cake this nice, light, bouncy, fluffy texture.
(23:32):
And it does carry some of thatbanana flavor with two and you don't like
it. So it's a banana cakebasically, but with very righte bananas,
unsalted, butter, grain, sugar, eggs. So it's a banana cake
or banana bread, more cake thanbread because you serve it with So do
you get any kind of banana peeltexture in the cake or is it just
kind of morphed together? Yeah,you don't get any of the banana pult
(23:57):
texture in it at all. It'scompletely smooth and fluffy. Yeah. I
saw that site recipe also on thefood fifty two site when I was scrolling
through. It just looks so good. Is there anything else that you would
do? And these are like reallyand you say, use the brown freckled
ones versus very right du you know, like black bananas. I always figure
that they're great for smoothies. Duh, you know, making smoothies or banana
(24:21):
mash. I'll tell you something Ialso like to do, lindsay. I
like to take peanut butter, goodold fashioned peanut butter or homemade right and
I like to just whip up thatold, you know, mushy banana that
I don't want my yogurt because youmushy. I'll mush it up into the
peanut butter and it's automatically peanut butterand banana mash. It's really good.
(24:41):
And then I had to put thatout and then I just spread that on
toast or if I want to,you know, add it with a little
yogurt to cream it up. ButI don't like the sweetness of an overly
righte banana. But when you mixit in with the almond butter or the
peanut but whatever, butter you use. You kind of got your peanut but
and butter banana already done. Thatsounds delicious. Yeah, yeah, I
(25:02):
mean it's it's good because, likeI said, I really can't stand waste.
And in doing this book and kindof doing your own zero waste odyssey,
what were some of the most surprisingthings you've discovered that you didn't think
you could ever find a way torepurpose. Banana pills and coffee grounds were
definitely two of the most surprising.I would say artichoke leaves are up there
(25:23):
too. I mean, I loveseeing a whole artichoke and dipping the leaves
and butter and biting off the ends. But if you're peeling the artichoke right
from the get go, just toget at the heart, a lot of
times those leaves are then discarded.And I actually had a dream about treating
them like nachos and woke up andtried them and was really pleasantly surprised by
(25:45):
how well that worked, and howit's a really easily customizable recipe. You
can put whatever toppings you like onthose leaves. Well, I see the
recipe here artichoke leave nachos with fetaand black olives and cheaters. I oel
of that cheater. I'm fascina aboutthat because artichoke lees are so tough.
And we were in Rome in Octoberand I was waxing poetic about Roman artichokes,
(26:08):
you know the kind you get inTrustovy and they're very traditional, and
I dragged my husband to a recipeand we had two different artichoke dishes,
and I mean we were like outof like candid camera or some joke.
I felt like Lucy because I waschewing and chewing and chewing, and they
were just the toughest damn artichokes.And I was like, I give up.
I give up on art of choke, but you're kind of giving me
(26:30):
hope. I'm curious about that onebecause I am very cynical but trying to
eat a whole art of choke.Mail after my artochoke experience in Rome,
Oh, I hope you gave themanother shot. Well, we definitely will,
because again I always felt that Ifeel like eating an artichoke is one
of the most wasteful ways. Ilove artichoke, but you know, you
don't eat half the half, thehalf the yea vegetable. It's kind of
(26:53):
silly. Now, your book mainlyfocuses on vegetables, but I also want
to underscore, as you will,that you can also do this with animal
products like bones, right, Oh, absolutely, Yeah, there's a section
on stocks that talked about using thosefor stock and other it's in leftover parts
(27:15):
that you might have. Yeah,and you know, I I'm the person
I don't eat meat anymore, butthe carcass always it was just out the
door. But when my mother inlaw comes comes up for Thanksgiving, you
know, you just look in thisgiant plot and you go, who died?
I mean, it's just boone bitsand whatnot. And then I've but
I created a whole level of appreciationbecause the stock that you get out of
(27:37):
it is so amazing, and thenyou freeze it right, and then when
you make stock, you unthaw itand you've got this really fresh stock with
no sodium and it's not store boughtand it's just such a better way to
eat. Yeah. Yes, it'sreally really great. And just you know,
in the last minute or so wehave left, what are some other
tips for anyone that's still still skeptical, or say, what do I need
(28:03):
to have on hand equipment wise?Or you know, how can I store
stuff? What are some just practicaltips? Well, I would think making
use of your freezer is definitely agreat way to start, because you know,
like you mentioned with the stock,if you're doing a few things ahead
of time, you're really setting yourselfup for great meals in the future.
And I really want to encourage peoplenot to be skeptical, because these are
(28:27):
just ingredients like anything else, andthey're delicious and should be put to good
use. And it's really it's goodfor the planet, but it's also good
for your pocketbook too. You know, throwing these things out is wasting money.
Well, and I'm weird. Alot of the reason we're doing it
at our end is one, I'mtrying to eat healthy, but two we
(28:47):
are trying to save money. Eatingout is expensive and food is expensive right
now if anyone goes grocery shopping,and so you really want to maximize whether
you're cooking for one or cooking foran entire family. These are great recipes
to be practical but also tastes good. So you're not only saving the planet,
but you're saving money. As yousaid, and I want to echo,
you know, get to know you'rea freezer and label everything because we
(29:08):
seem to have a lot of yogurtcontainers that don't have labels on us.
You're to open yes, labeling thiskey. Well, Lindsay, thank you
so much for joining me again.We've been speaking with Lindsay gene Hard.
The book is cooking with scraps.Turn your peels, cores, rines,
and stems into delicious meals. AndI promise you they work. And as
Lindsay said, always know that youcan play around with recipes. Don't don't
(29:32):
you know, try to be perfect, just try to make it work.
So it's good for you. Thankyou so much for joining me. I'm
fearless fabulous you. Thank you somuch for having me my pleasure. We
are going to take a short breakand then we're going to talk about Virginia
wines here at Early Mountain Vineyards andtaste a few with a woman wine maker.
You're listening to fearless fabulous. Youhas to give you broggy snag pemple
(30:03):
me follow the punch bad how salmonthe I'm tramping on me? Hello,
possible a fellow. I'm thank youjoin him angels jealous you know you could
(30:41):
be now I thank you, Johags, Jealous, Charn't Know. We're bringing
people love Rangel Sure and we're back. You're listening to Fearless Fabulous you on
(31:04):
the Women for Women Network, Andof course all my shows are podcasts permanently
on Iheartradioiheart dot com and the freeiHeart app, as well as iTunes and
speaker and other outlets. And ofcourse do follow me on Melanieong dot com.
I have a blog and a Twitteraccount Mighty Melanie and Instagram at Melanie
Fabulous because my goal is to helpyou enjoy life and live it to the
(31:27):
fullest, happy, healthy and onyour terms. So, as I said
at the top of our show,I am broadcast sitting from a winery in
Virginia called Early Mountain Vineyards, andit's surrounded by mountains in the most beautiful
area, a rural area of Virginia. Really, I think this is one
of my favorite states. David,my husband, who will co hosts my
(31:47):
other show, The Connected Table,live with me. We're on a road
trip because we like to get onthe ground and really get to know people
when we travel. I'm really excitedto be here because Early Mountain is a
woman owned winery So we're going tolearn about a woman owned winery in Virginia,
and I'm speaking with a woman winemaker. Maya hood White is the
(32:08):
associate winemaker and viticulturist at Early MountainVineyards. Maya welcome, Thank you so
much for having me. Well,I'm really excited to be here. We
are going to be tasting a fewwines on air. Don't be jealous,
listeners. Maya tell us a littlebit about your background, because you originally
were not planning to be a winemaker. No, it was definitely never
something I set out to be.So I prior to starting in the wine
(32:32):
industry, I worked a bit indefense and I had this epiphany one day
that I didn't particularly love sitting ina cubicle, but I enjoyed wine.
And I had never put too muchthought into who makes wine. It's just
not something I ever thought of onedrinking the wine, sadly, So what
I decided to do is make apretty significant career change at that point for
me, and I thought I wouldwork a couple vintages at a local winery.
(32:54):
So I was in Virginia at thetime, and I figured I really
should see what the job would entailand if it's something that would be right
for me. So, after workinga couple vintages and taking some prerequisites for
graduate school, I eventually went backto California. I did my master's degree
at UC Davis and then came backto Virginia because it's a state that's doing
(33:14):
some pretty interesting things and here youare here. Yeah, well, I
just want to underscore why that's significant. I'm a big believer in second acts.
And what you showed here, Mayais that you started in a career,
a really well paying, successful career, but it really didn't sing your
song. You didn't want to workin a compubicle, and you decided to
go learn another industry. You gotyour hands dirty to really see if it
(33:37):
was for you. So if youwere thinking about doing that and you want
to make changes, go do yourresearch and go do the work, even
intern yourself out to learn, andthen if it really does sing do you
then go get professional training and education. And what's important about that in the
wine business is it's not about sittingaround and tasting wine like we're getting ready
to do. It's a really hardwork. What are some things you can
(33:59):
need to think about it? Ifyou want to get into the wine business
as a winemaker, maya. Well, I think with any job or with
any industry, you usually kind ofstart at the bottom, and that's the
same with wine. You you wouldstart interning places, and typically internships involve
a lot of grunt work. Soit is very physical and quite a demanding
demanding job at times, especially becausewe have a fairly narrow range that we
(34:21):
are able to pick grapes in throughoutthe year, so we have one harvest
annually, so you have to getit all in and you don't have many
options to, oh, well,we'll just wait till a little bit later
when it's more convenient to grab it. So there are times when you're here
a little bit longer, a littlebit you know, tough for days,
a little bit more strenuous days.So if you if you're happy with that,
and most people in this industry reallyare. You know, it's it's
something we're excited to do. Soyou have to kind of have a perspective
(34:43):
as to what's what you'd like todo. And you need to learn how
to drive a forklift. We talkedabout that before we went on. It's
it's this is manual labor. It'sall. It's not about just you know,
blendy, beautiful wines. It's alsoyou know, you get your hands
dirty and you need to be goingopen, you know, eyed about it.
Let's talk about where Early Mountain Vineyardis in Virginia and also about the
(35:04):
owner, Jene Case, who wasa woman. When when when did the
Cases? This is an older winery, but the Cases took it over when
it was in twenty eleven, sosince then it was a previous it was
another winery before that, and theydid take ownership, I believe it was
in twenty eleven and in twenty twelveit's when they started producing winees under the
Early Mountain label. And I actuallycame in twenty fourteen, so it was
(35:29):
purchased when I was still on theWest Coast, and I remember hearing about
Early Mountain but not conceptualizing where itwhere it was located within Virginia. So
I was always curious when I movedback to Virginia and I ended up coming
here and learning more about it.And what drew me to Early Mountain was
how excited everybody who works here isfor our industry, and this includes our
owner, who is you know,could could put a winery wherever she would
(35:52):
like, but she has chose thisarea because it is doing new things and
it's just it's very different too.Well, let's talk about you know,
it is a beautiful area. Forthose of you who are not familiar with
the state of the Commonwealth of Virginia, where are we located in Virginia and
is this a specific appalation or arewe outside of an Appalachian Are we in
north South? Where are we inVirginia? So we're kind of what we
(36:12):
can fill central Virginia when we're notin an appalation, So we fall immediately
outside of the Monticello Avia. Butif you're coming from Washington, DC,
you drive about two hours or justshrive two hours south. And if you're
coming if you know where Charlottesville isthe University of Virginia, we're about thirty
to forty minutes north of Charlottesville.So we're kind of a little bit between
those two of those two points ofinterest. And just to underscore, there
(36:34):
is quite a Virginia wine trail.I was surprised at how many different wine
making regions there are in Virginia.And it's actually got a long history as
we all know Thomas Jefferson made winein Virginia. And actually this property dates
back to the Revolutionary War. Iread right, I think I think somebody
who was in one of George Washington'stroops. I think the slept here,
(36:58):
Yeah, slept here, slept herehere and David are sleeping here tonight.
We're really excited because we're going tobe tasting a lot of wines. What
are some of the Early Mountain producesa number of different wines. What are
the major grapes that you grow here? And why, I mean, why
is this climate conducive to certain stylesof grapes and what's it more like.
So we have two vineyard sites.We have the Early Mountain Site that we're
(37:22):
currently at, and then we haveanother vineyard site. It's called Quaker On
Vineyards. It's probably about as thecrow flies, eight to ten miles from
us, or as they say insouth, just up the road, just
up the road. It usually takesabout twenty minutes, you know, not
even if trailer with you to Yonder. Yeah, but that is our mountain
side site. So at the EarlyMountain Site, we have quite a bit
(37:43):
of marlow. We have a littlechardonnay, some pino and greet that we'll
be tasting some later sauvignon blanc petitmonsingh as well, and some Cabernet fronc
and Cabernet sauvignon. And at QuakerRun we have primarily read, so that
is what we would call our morered centric site. The only white there
is some shardon, and we dohave We recently planted some cabernet sauvignon petit
(38:05):
for doeau Ton and a little bitof melback as well. But on that
site it was actually an older vineyardwhen we took ownership or we started leasing
it, and there was a greatdeal of merlou on there, and that
is some of our are exciting,very concentrated muleau and their older vines that
are very self regulating. So it'svery different compared to the early Mountain site.
It's so interesting when you think aboutwine. You could be fourteen,
(38:30):
fifteen, twenty minutes drive away,you could be across the street. I've
actually been in some wineries in Spain. We're across the street. The soil
is different, so that really makesa big difference based on elevation in soil
and sun exposure, right, verymuch so. And even between the two
sites, like, we see incrediblydifferent rain patterns. So even when we
(38:52):
may see a little bit more rainat Quaker Run, it's a very rocky,
well drained soil, so it doesa very little water colding capacity compared
to Early Mountains, So and shud, Early Mountain is more significant to us
than you know, a quarter inchat Quicker Run. And I've even been
out there during harvest and I'll textsomebody back at the winery because I go,
I see clouds. Are we expectingrain? We weren't expecting rain,
and all of a sudden a stormjust comes out of nowhere or you know,
(39:15):
usually it's not a significant storm,thankfully, but you know, we'll
we'll see these very different weather patterns. Wow, it's amazing. And you've
got one are the mountains in thebackground here, so we're kind of flanked
by like Blue Ridge Mountains. Yeah, the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are
quite stunning. And I'm sure thatalso affects breezes around here, right so
very much. So. We havesome wines, so I'm going to ask
you about them before we taste merrilawa lot of people go, I just
(39:37):
read this article about Pino Gricio,people like, I hate Pino Gricio.
Let me peopay, I hate Marlow. The murlow is Merlow is a beautiful
grape. But for all of thoseof you who go, I hate Merlow,
I want to tell you it isone of the noble grapes that goes
into making Bordeaux, which everybody,I don't know anyone who doesn't like Bordeaux.
What makes them merlaw here in Virginia? So why is it a great
grape to grow here in what yourMerlau's style. So for me, Merlow
(40:00):
is something that is very indicative ofthe site that you have it on.
So at Early Mountain, it's veryfresh, fruit driven red red berries.
It's very light and approachable, Idon't say life, but just it's more
elegant. You know, it doesn'thave quite the concentration that we Quaker run.
At Quaker Run, we also havethese very old vines of Merlow.
So at this point they are fairlyself regulating, and I should I should
(40:22):
say old for us is you know, about eighteen years We're not talking,
but not like seventy or something,right, So in context you know,
we do consider it older. ButI to me, they are quite a
bit smaller berries, very thick skins, and they're on these we have cord
untrained spur prune vines, so prettythick, and they're they're fairly self regulating.
(40:44):
So we see these clusters that ifthe vine doesn't want to push a
cluster, it doesn't, So wehave these open a lot of air flow,
and so coupled with the airflow ofthe site, we have small berries.
So a much higher color tannin ratioand very elegant wines is a result.
Yeah, they're also they have avery distinctive concentration and density to them
as well. So not no fruitbombs here. So I'm salivating because I
(41:06):
have not had a glass of winein twenty four hours for me, and
here I am at your vineyard atEarly Mount Vineyards, and in front of
us we have two wines we're gonnataste on air. We are tasting wine
on air. I get to dothat, it's my job. This first
one is a pino gree Now pinogree is also for those who is like
a pino grigio. But explain forthose who don't understand the difference in mano
(41:29):
like Pino gresio. We're gonna lovepino growth. Give us a little difference
in the in the in the stylisticallyabout grapes pinogreevy pinogrisio. So we typically
we do actually in the in thepast we have produced two pino gree We
call one the more pino Grecia style. It's very light, it's fresh,
a little bit more acid driven andjust kind of fruit forward, citrusy,
whereas this we do a little bit. We do we put this in akesha
(41:52):
barrels and it has a much moreextended, extended leaves contact to it.
So we have a lot we're leavesmanagement that goes in. And this is
from a very small block. It'sabout one and a half acres at Early
Mountain and it's the accidental block thatwe always say. We found out that
when the previous ownership had this site, they were just sent some peanugreen vines
they did not expect to receive,and they happened to see a space right
(42:15):
next to the production building on thislovely little hill and they threw them in
there and they just didn't think,I mean, you just keep going and
you start harvesting Peinagree, but wefound compared to our other pinogree blocks at
Early Mountain, it has a verydifferent ripening pattern so it can hang through
weather. So Peinugree is a verytight cluster. You don't have a lot
of air flow through that, andusually that it can be a sign of,
you know, if you have hireddisease pressure, that's a problem,
(42:37):
whereas we typically don't see this withour pinogree, and we also in the
block nine rather and we also seethat it's fairly self regulating. So maybe
we have like a little bit greaterof growth of vegetative growth, green growth
that we have to hedge off andmanage throughout the season, whereas this block,
you know, maybe we hedge itonce instead of three times depending.
Let's talk about the taste, becauseit's got some great acidity to it,
(42:58):
which makes it very food friendly.When you talk about it being on Lee's
longer, that adds more complexity andsoftness. So this is not an astringent
wine, which some pino grisios canbe. But when you it's on Lee's
it's softer and rounder, which isvery appealing to anyone who says I don't
like Pino grisio traditional. This isnot a traditional, this is pino Gree.
It's to say gree greedy. It'sall the same, but very food
(43:22):
friendly. So you're a vegetarian,I'm a vegetarian. What would you have
with this wine? So I recentlyhad it with like a grilled tofu and
that sounds kind of like a strangepairing, but I really like this.
So to me, Peano Gree theblacknine Pinogree. It is a wine that
is more conducive for winter. Soif you have people that maybe don't look
(43:43):
for red wines in the winter,it's there's more substance to it, so
it's a broader mouth feel. Wedo put this in a Casha barrels as
well as some some stainless steel,so we have a very large six hundred
liters a Casia barrel versus if youthink of a standard barrels maybe two twenty
five lids. So why Acasia.So it gives it a little bit different
of an aromatic note. So Acashahas it's not that heavy woodiness. It's
(44:04):
a little bit more floral fresher,which is I want to punt it because
many people don't like white that areoverly oak. This is not that so
acasha. It makes it softer.The leaves make it softer. It's got
nice balance to it. What isthere Is there any residual sugar? It
is a dry wine. It's avery no so okay, so important because
people sometimes mix up and what's thealcohol in this? So this one is
(44:27):
a sixteen vintage, so it isabout thirteen and a half, so reasonable,
It is reasonable, yeah, whichis important. Yeah, and it's
interesting just as a testament to thisblock sixteen, we were hit by hail
at early months. We thought wewere not going to pick a couch that's
good beds for the grapes. Realwe lost our canopy and even the grapes
saw some damage. But it hungthrough, which again one would not expect
(44:47):
for Peter Gree, especially in thisarea. So for those who may not
understand a block, oh yes,let's explain a block for anyone who's not
in the wine making business. Andthen I want to go on to the
pet nut. A block is itis a section of vines is essentially our
block. So they can include manyvarietals, they can include just one or
and it's just how you designate sections. Of your vineor so picture a patchwork
(45:09):
quilt exactly, and every patch isa block in the quilt. And that's
how detailed fine wine making is.And that's really important to point out when
you hear the terms block. You'redealing with a very artisanal focus to making
wine and that's really important when you'rebuying wine because we all want to have
(45:30):
great wine to serve at events andto give us gifts. Now, this
one is fun because this is kindof a cool thing. It's petnot,
which looks explained what that is.Yeah. Hetnot is essentially method on cistral
sparkling wine. So it is believedto be the original method of making sparkling
wine where you are instead of withthe traditional method you're prementing a base wine
(45:52):
and then you are adding sugar andyeast to referment and bottle and cap it.
Whereas this we're actually finishing the primaryso the first imitation in the bottle.
So we do this, we makethis during harvest. We have it
started out what is the grape onthis because this is red, this is
blackish yeh, So this is probablyare a little craziest pet that we have.
And so this is one hundred percentwhole cluster blof froncish that came from
(46:13):
the Shenandoa Valley. And actually Benwho oversees our urban Jordan, He oversees
the winery and the vineyard and he'skind of our umbrella and overseeing it all.
He has a family vineyard that actuallygrew this black frackish, So this
is the first significant harvest and hewas kind enough to let us play with
it for the petnot so it's alittle bit more acid driven, you know,
(46:35):
blaff prackish can be very fresh cherryfreshberry notes to it, and with
the stones it adds a little bitmore herbal care. I get a little
more herbal, a little bit ofessence of cranberry, also a little bit.
It's a sparkling red bluff froncish iswhat is the providence of that grape?
Originally it is an Austrian variety,right, Yeah, and it's one
that he that we're seeing a lotof people play with in the Shenandoah Valley
in Virginia too. So like we'redrawn to the acidity of it, especially
(47:00):
in this wine, so we're ableto do a little bit lower over pressure.
So you may notice that the bubbleis that they're not as concentrated or
as large. Well was that becauseit's a naturally natural occurring effervescence. So
this is this is just it's theprimary effervescence from the from the primary fermentation.
It's just trapped in the crown cap. So this was actually was bottled
under a crown cap. And somepeople disgorge, they remove the sentiment.
(47:22):
Other people do not. We've removedsome because reds can be fairly heavily turbid.
And but we have a little bitof leaves left. I see it.
I see that. So it's it'skind of a lighter color at the
bottom. So petion, not yourwell means petian means pets is like a
So when somebody says, of winehas a little petiance to it, it's
gotta it's gotta a slight effer vescencewithout being overbearing. This kind of dances
(47:45):
on your tongue. We have abouta minute left. What would you so
this is a sparkling red, lightlysparkling lad not a yeasty, very light,
very good appartife. What would youhave with this? I like it
with grilled foods. So this iskind of like meatiness to this line and
a little bit from like a reductionof the grapes being undergrown cap which goes
(48:05):
really nicely for me. With thesemeteor or these grilled and like heavily kind
of smoky dishes, I get totell you, I don't really eat a
lot of grilled cheese, but Icould go for a nice grilled cheese cheddar
cheese with us right now. Likea grilled cheddar cheese would be really really
good, even you know, eventhough I downed mean and for vegetables.
For me, I love doing broccolidogs. You grill up the broccoli and
(48:27):
do some smoky mustard and put itin and a hot dog bone. It's
like so awesome. You could dothose smoke Yeah, it's really great.
So if you want to buy somethingit's kind of hot and trendy with with
the somlea world now and bring itto a dinner party, look for a
pet not your all wined pet.Not is the is the short term,
the Instagram term, and they're reallyhot. I'm exploring them right now as
(48:51):
well and hope to be writing aboutthem now just in the last few seconds.
People can visit Early Mountain. Lotsof weddings here, beautiful events space.
Yes, so we have beautiful viewsof the mountains behind us. You
can see the vineyards from the team. We do have a small restaurant on
site too, so it's kind ofa we've seen people do some all day
excursions. We have lots of spaceoutside. It's wonder I actually quite like
(49:14):
to look outside when there's no leaveson the vines. But it's also when
we have we're flanked by vines,so we can we can offer those little
those sites to our guests. Butyeah, so we're close to Washington,
d C. We're close to Charlottesville'squite a bit of food activities, and
we hear Charlottesville's bustling. So checkit out early Mountain dot com, Early
Mountain Vineyards and learn more. Imean, we're going to be doing some
(49:36):
more exploring about Virginia wine. SoI'm so glad Maya that you've joined me
today. I'm fearless, fabulous you. Thank you so much for having me
and for all of you listening.I hope this has been a fun way
to learn about food and wine,and thank you for joining me. And
is always say fearless and fabulous
The topics and opinions expressed on thefollowing show are solely those of the hosts
and their guests, and not thoseof W four WN Radio It's employees or
affiliates. We make no recommendations orendorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or onour web. No liability, explicit or
implied shall be extended to W fourWN Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any
questions or comment should be directed tothose show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:22):
W four WN Radio. Well,Hello, and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You.
(00:43):
I am your host, Melanie Young, and I am so happy you're
joining me today December nineteenth. I'mon a road trip with my husband David
and broadcasting live today from Virginia fromEarly Mountain Vineyards in Virginia and just around
the Shenandoah Valley, and I'm reallyhappy to be sharing today with you.
You're going to love this show.My first guest is going to talk about
(01:07):
something very near and dear to myheart, which is how to reduce food
waste in your kitchen by making amazingdelicious recipes from bits, scraps and ends
and peals that will appeal to yourwhole family. And in my second segment,
we're going to be talking with thewomen winemaker of Early Mounta Vineyards,
which is also a woman own winery. As you know, my goal is
(01:30):
to help all women make healthy choices, to live happier lives and to create
the life they dream of. Sothank you for joining me on the Women
for Women Network and of course myshow is always film on iHeart dot com
and the free iHeart app So whydoes the topic of food waste matter?
Well, I'm going to tell youa shocking, shocking statistic. According to
(01:53):
a twenty fourteen Environmental Protection Agency study, America throws away more than thirty eight
million tons of food every year.That's the weight of one hundred and four
Empire State buildings with a bit tospair. Or to put it another way,
that single years year's worth of foodwaste could be enough to balance a
(02:13):
scale with all the blue whales leftin the world, multiply by ten.
Food waste is not only wasteful,but there are many people who don't have
enough to eat. And if youare fortunate enough to live in abundance and
have a refrigerator and covered full offood and the ability to buy food good
food, don't waste it, butmany of us toss out bits and pieces
(02:37):
and scraps and ends and seeds andpulp of fruits and vegetables, especially which
we're going to zero in since I'mvery veggi focused, because we don't only
know what to do with all thesewonderful pieces, and therefore they get dumped
in the garbage. Well, we'regoing to talk today about how to turn
what you think is garbage into amazingfood and great dishes. With me is
(03:00):
Lindsay gen Hard, who is authorof a book a new book called Cooking
with Scraps Turn your peels, cores, rines, and stems into delicious meals.
If you follow food fifty two,which is just really one of my
favorite sites, We've had one ofthe founders on our other show that Connect
a Table Live. You'll follow herbecause she regularly blogs there and she also
(03:23):
works at a really terrific place calledZingerman's in Michigan, which is really one
of the greatest spellity food stores inthe United States. But this book is
amazing because, as I said,Americans currently produced one hundred and thirty three
billion pounds of food waste every day, forty percent of the food in this
country goes on eating. And accordingto Workmen Publishing's wonderful information they sent me
(03:46):
because Workman is the publisher, theUSDA has set a nationwide goal to reduce
food waste by fifty percent by theyear twenty thirty. So let's talk about
what we can do to go zerofood waste and eat even better with your
bits and scraps. Lindsey gene Hard, Welcome to Fearless Fabulous. You,
thank you, thank you so muchfor having me on. Well, I
(04:10):
love your book. First of all, we were reading it in the drive
down and kind of earmarking some ofthe pages since we know we are wasteful.
Sometimes I'm curious, as I alwaysam with it. My I guess
what got you into writing about thistopic. Well, it really started when
I was living in Japan. Myhusband and I moved there for a couple
of years and we joined a CSAfor the first time. So that meant
(04:33):
that we were getting a box ofvegetables grown by local farmers every week.
And you know, not only wasit like an exploration and cooking for me
because I had never seen or cookedwith a lot of these vegetables. But
it was also really a point forme to connect more with my food because
I knew that local farmers were growingthese things and it worked hard to do
(04:56):
so, so I wanted to beputting all of it to good And then
eventually, once I started working forfood fifty two dot com, I started
a column called Cooking with Scraps,and I was highlighting recipes from the food
fifty two community that were making reallysmart use of all of these under utilized
produce fits and other odds and ends. And I just wanted to share that
(05:19):
with everyone because I feel like wecould all be doing a lot better than
we are. We all can andit's interesting, you know, for all
of us who had parents or grandparentswho grew up during the Great Wars,
like my mother in law and mygrandparents before, you know, you had
to be thrifty. You had tobe thrifty with your food. People planted
(05:41):
victory gardens, and people really workedvery hard to utilize every part of the
animal or the vegetable or the fruit. And historically in Europe they do the
same thing. And somewhere along theway, Americans got lazy and decided they
only wanted the best parts and notthe bits. Don't you think that?
You know, what do you thinkis? You know, I think it's
(06:03):
great that people are changing their mindsabout that, But what is your message
to people about that, even morebased on your own experience. Yeah,
like you mentioned, this isn't anew topic. I mean, I think
it's just cyclical and we've just reacheda point where our level of waste is
so alarming that it can't be ignoredanymore. So that's I think it's great
(06:23):
that we're all realizing that we needto do a better job of this.
And it isn't even necessarily, youknow, that we're all needing the best
bits. It's that somehow we've beentrained to think that that's the case.
But really almost all of the produceparts can be eaten and are just as
delicious as the parts that we're usedto eating. Well, we're going to
have some fun here. I havea copy of Cooking with Scraps, which
(06:46):
again is published by Workmen in frontof me. I'm going to talk about
I shopped the farmer's market. Thatmany people shop the supermarket. That's okay,
as long as they're being fresh andnot processed food. I'm going to
talk about some vegetables that we cookon the regular basis seasonally. Right now,
I'm in winter and we seem tobe cooking a lot of kale,
(07:09):
and we use it in soups,We make grapes of kale salad. We
have been making kale chips every whichway to make kale because it's an abundance.
However, we tend to toss thestems because we don't really use them
and don't know how. You havea recipe which I thought was very interesting
about making hummice with kale. Whatare some you know, talk to us
(07:31):
about you utilizing stems and we're gonnastart with kale and then I want to
move into broccoli. Yeah, SoI think this is one of those that's
becomes sort of an unconscious thing forus. A lot of times recipes will
say like cut off in discard thekalees them, so we don't take the
time to stop and think about it. But they're completely edible. You could
just chop them up really finely andstawkay them before whatever else you're using the
(07:54):
leaves for. In this case,I like to cook them until their tender
and then can blend right into abatch of hummus and you would never know
that they're there. So it's greatfor a holiday entertaining dish. Like even
people who don't like kale will likethis hummus. Well, what I like
about it. I have the restof frame in front of me. It's
very simple. It's a cup ofdried chickpeas, a teaspoon of baking soda,
(08:16):
the stems from a bunch of kale, garlic cloves, true thirds cup
to heeni, which I think justmakes everything taste better, a teaspoon fine
grained sea salt. I have atwo thirds cup fresh squeeze lemon juice and
some evoo and you you basically putthis into a food processer processor like we
do when you make gregor hummus,and so the kale stems kind of morph
into what we call the reregar hummus. And I can't wait to make this
(08:39):
because we eat so much kale andwe are really being wasteful tossing away the
stamps. And I also want tobring out chickpeas because one of the things
I learned and I've written about isus is making aqua faba from chickpea chickpea
water. Let's talk about not tossingout the chickpea jew from the can if
you're using can can or can beansfor example. Yeah, aqua faba is
(09:03):
such a fun ingredient. It canwhip up just like egg whites, and
so you can use it in avariety of different ways. In the book,
I'm using it to make mayonnaise,and then I'm also using it in
a brownie recipe. It's a reallyfun versatile thing to play with. Well,
I actually tried making I wrote aboutthis. It's also great if you're
vegan and you're not eating eggs.The fudgy aqua faba brownies I have not
(09:28):
made yet, but I get totell you. I cannot wait because it's
it's the it's the aqua faba,which it basically is your chickpea juice chickpea
water. Do you have to doanything with the can? If you're using
can you can also make fresh chickpeasand use the water from that. Do
you need to if you're using itfrom a can, do you need to
do anything special with it? No? Not, not anything, Just drain
(09:48):
it off and use it. Sothis recipe is so great because it's basically
you're using the aqua faba all purposeflour, unsweetened cocoa, fine grain sea
salt. I'm just littering the easy, the easy to source ingredients espresso powder,
granulated sugar, butter, and vanillaextract. These look so these are
like chewy brownies, right, Yesthey are? And if like you mentioned
the vegan you could use a veganbutter replacement there to make them vegan friendly
(10:11):
too. What would be a goodvegan butter replacement, lindsay, like Earth
Balance six or something similar, right, you know, so you can almost
make any recipe vegan if you giveit a really work hard at it.
I'm a big, big fan ofnutritional yeast flakes for cheese for example.
Now you I want to segue whenI see a recipe I'm gonna bring up
(10:31):
on your green you talk about espressopowder. I have to tell you one
of the recipes I've been I've beencollecting all of our coffee grounds and I've
been putting him in our yogurt containers. And my husband David open one thinking
he was opening yogurt the other dayand he's like, Melanie, what is
this now you have. I've beenusing coffee grounds and mixing it with coconut
(10:52):
oil to make body scrub. Itmakes the biggest It's great, but it
makes the biggest mess in the inthe shower, imaginable. Just looks like
you've been, you know, inmud. You have a recipe here that
I can't wait to try as soonas we land for ground cashew butter.
We were reading this in the caron our drive and salivating. What you
(11:13):
know with this one? It's it'sraw cashew's sea salt, coffee grounds,
cocoon nibs and neutral oil and youprocess it make this wonderful butter. What
are some other things you can dowith coffee grounds? And do you have
to use certain types as it haveto be like from a certain type of
coffee. No, it doesn't.It's whatever type that you use and have
on hand. And I love usingthem because they still have so much of
(11:35):
that great coffee flavor in them.On Sune fifty two dot com, I
have another recipe for a fit Frenchsilk pie that uses them a couple of
ways. One to infuse whipped creamfor a topping for the pie, and
then I'm also using them directly inthe crust, along with some crushed chocolate
cookies. So you really get thisgreat coffee chocolate flavor. It just sounds
(11:58):
so good. And you also talktalk about, you know, you can
repurpose leftover brood coffee. What aresome things you can do with it other
than I don't know, you know, lovey brew coffee. For me,
often it tastes kind of booth aftera while I have I've been using it.
Sometimes I'll put sparkling my club sodawater in it to kind of make
a coffee a kind of a semifizzy coffee water drink. It's kind of
(12:20):
weird, but it works. OhI like that idea. Yeah, yeah,
you know, I like flavored,you know, to flavor water.
Sometimes it helps. It's kind oflike an old timey New yorky thing.
But what would you do with leftoveror spent coffee itself, not the grounds?
I would also use that in bakedgoods instead of to replace some of
the other liquid in there, especiallyif it's like a chocolate cake or chocolate
(12:43):
cupcake, to help boost the chocolateflavor. That's a great idea, that's
I mean, because you know alot of people just toss out their coffee,
and that's just so wasteful. NowI want to bring I want to
go back to stems before I moveinto some sweet. We've been also making
a lot of braccoe and I've beenmashing it up to death, because if
I don't mash broccoli up, Iget a little bloated, I get broccoli
(13:07):
blood. And so I've been mashingit up with olive oil and sea salt,
and I mean it's literally a broccolimash and cooking it to death.
So it includes the what is itcalled, not the stems, but you
know, the base of the broccoli. What else can you do with broccoli?
You have a great recipe in herewith it with chickpeas on toast.
Let's talk about that. Yeah,I love broccoli stems. I feel like
(13:30):
this is one scrap that's maybe finallygetting it to do because I feel like
you would see you used to seebroccoli heads in the grocery stores and the
stem would be totally gone. Andnow more and more often I'm seeing it
with the stem there, which isgreat because it has I love the texture
of broccoli stems, sometimes even morethan the floor us. And they're so
versatile. You can start hay them, you can shred them into slaws.
(13:54):
In the book, I'm poaching themand using them on top of toast with
chickpeas and ritata. Mm hmm.This it looks so good. Lemony olive
oil poached broccoli stems and chickpeas andricotta tosa. If that's not a cocktail
party dish, you know, handon order, I don't know what is.
It just looks amazing, thank you. Yeah, And it looks impressive,
(14:16):
but it's really easy, just likeall of the recipes in this book
are. Because I really don't wantcooking with scraps to be overwhelming for anyone.
I want to make it as simpleas possible, exactly, and it's
really about, you know, notbeing wasteful, but also making easy.
I think the main equipment you needfor a lot of this is a food
processor and also some of the someof the scraps stems need to be peeled
(14:39):
a bit. I tried really hardto cook with asparicus stems and it was
the disaster. I tried to makeasparacus stem soup. It was vile.
What would you do? Not fromyour book? What would you do with
asparicus stems, and what can youdo to soften you know, make it
a little us what sinewy or whateverit was. They were very stalky tasting.
(15:07):
Yeah, well one that's towards theend of the season and they're really
woody and you're snapping off a goodchunk at the bottom. You can do
a couple of things with them.You can either save that and make stock,
and you can even just make itdedicated asparagus flavor stocks. You could
use it for soup or risotto,but I also like to use it for
pesto. So the only trick isyou need to chop it really finally before
(15:30):
you're processing everything else in the foodprocessor, because otherwise it will be stringy.
M really great point, and youtalk about including mushrooms as well as
asparagus, like you know, kindof taking the harder exterior skin not skin,
(15:50):
but you know, kind of slicingit and getting to the center part.
In fact, well, there wasone item in here somebody said you
could use like bone marrow. Ithink it was I think it was broccoli.
I have the look, I meanthere was something there. I was
like, you could use this asbone marrow. You not bone marrow,
but it was marrow we inside.I think it was a spiracus, but
(16:10):
I'm going to check. I alsowanted to bring up though, that in
your book you also talk about utilizingbits and pieces for cocktails, so it's
not just cooking. You have somecockta recipes in there. I'd love to
talk about it. And you alsohave a section clean out the Crisper with
Infused alcohol hals, hmmm, let'stalk about some of that. Yeah,
(16:34):
a lot of scraps can be greatto add flavor to alcohol. I think
one of my favorite ones is thebeat peel margarita. So you're using the
beat peels to infuse tequila first,and it gives a lot of that great
earthy beat flavor, and it alsomakes it a really pretty pink color too,
so it's a really festive drink.Well, my husband hates beats,
(16:56):
but he was ogling the beat pillmargarita. You know it was. It
really looked good. How would youyou know? Here's the problem with beats.
I absolutely find whenever I try toprepare beats, I just become a
giant red mess. What are sometips to not just completely stain yourself?
Yeah, I think it's hard toavoid that entirely. I oftentimes like to
(17:19):
just roast them without peeling them,in like a foil packet with some olive
oil and salt, and then peelafterwards. It can go a little bit
faster when they're already cooked. Andsometimes if it's not like if it's a
fairly fresh beat, like I've juststarted cutting them up and roasting them without
even bothering to peel them, andyou don't get any of that kind of
(17:44):
harsh, scally not scalely but stringystuff from them. On the x CIA,
you don't get that skinny taste,skinny in the negative sense. It
depends on the age of your beat, So if it's you know, been
overwintered, you might not want tothat. You might want to feel it
first. But most of the timeI find it's just a little added texture
and it doesn't really detract much fromit. And of course, let's don't
(18:07):
neglect the beat tops you talk aboutall, but let's talk about tops,
radish tops, beat tops, carrottops, you know, let's talk about
what you can do with the topsof everything you throw out. Yeah,
those are such great leafy greens thatcan be used in a really wide variety
of ways. Beat greens can reallybe treated just like spinach. I like
(18:29):
to wilt them and then use themin warm salads or put them on top
of pizza. Ratish greens have agreat peppery bite for salads. Carrot greens
I love turning into pesto. They'reincredibly flavorful and a lot of things you
can do. You can make intoit a frittata. I notice, so
fratata to me just simply means fryup everything in eggs. It's over in
(18:55):
your refrigerator, right, Yes,it's such a great way to clean out
your fridge but still make an impressivedish at the same time. Yeah,
it is. It's funny. Inever loved for Tana's because it reminds me
of bad winds at restaurants, butit's a great idea. Another way that
I like to use a bit ofmy husband is we will make soups.
(19:17):
We will just boil everything and cookit and add an olive oil and kind
of make We've been experimenting with ribbelitas, which is the tuscan you know,
vegetable soup basically slow cook tusk andsoup. But you can almost put any
kind of scrap into a soup,right, Oh, yeah, absolutely.
And if you're going to make stockwith stuff, I like to just keep
a freezer bag going in the freezerat all times. You can just keep
(19:41):
adding to it until you have enoughto work with. Yeah, I mean
you talk about I love to talkabout using ice cube trays to keep things.
What are some things you can storein ice cube trays? Well,
you could be putting that leftover coffeeand can portion out for later. I
like to put tomato paste in thembecause I use like a tablespoon and then
(20:03):
I have a hard time getting tothe rest of the can before it goes
bad. Well, I love thatidea because we cut up a lot of
fresh Farmer's Market seasonal Farmer's market foodand put it in baggies right now,
and I'm trying to figure out,Lindsay, I'm scratching we had because I'm
trying to go less plastic next year, how to not use bags to do
(20:23):
it now, I have to makesure we've got a little time to recipes
we've been doing making tomato jam.Actually, Justin Chappell has a great recipe
in his cookbook Just Cook It.It's like awesome whenever we make it,
people just like pounce on this.We're trying to forigure out turning into a
business. You have a recipe forbacony tomato jama, tell us about that,
(20:45):
because that's a great way to useup kind of tomatoes. Right.
Well, yeah, and like theselittle odds and end pieces of bacon too.
Maye is modeled after a favorite tomatojam recipe that I have from Food
fifty two. And then one timeI was shopping at Zingerman Stelly and my
(21:06):
husband saw bacon ends for sale.So it's just literally the ends that don't
quite make it into a full sliceof bacon. And he was like,
surely you can come up with somegreat use for these. I was like,
of course, let's buy them.And it was a great way to
add this bacon flavor into tomato jam, which just becomes delicious on a sandwich.
It just sounds really good. NowI want to talk about two other
(21:30):
things that we toss out too much. Just when kind of was an AHA
for eyes. Corn cobs. Yeah, grilled corn cob YACKI on a geary
grilled rice balls that kind of blewus away. I love those because corn
cobs, you know, especially ifyou're slicing off the kernels, there's still
little bits of those kernels and alot of that corn flavor left. So
(21:52):
you can, again, like theasparagus, you can make a dedicated corn
stock with them to use for things. Or I like to put those corn
cobs in with rice when I'm cookingthe rice, and then the rice will
take on all of that corn flavorand then I'm turning them into little rice
balls and grilling them with some butterand soy sauce. Well, I just
think that sounds really really amazing.And something we talked about was using the
(22:18):
corn juice right the corn liquid todo a seafood boil, so that you're
kind of cooking your seafood in thecorn liquid and then you're cooking the corn.
And it was like, that justsounds really really delicious. And then
another interesting one you talk about isusing it to use corn husks to wrap
to Molli's because I'm like, whatdo you do with the corn, But
(22:41):
that's like what they do with Tomali'sright, right, yeah, And you
could be adding those in with thecobs for stock too, mm hmm.
So that's something really practical that alot of people, don't you know,
always toss is their corn husts,and yet in Mexico you use them all
the time. The other thing weeat every morning with our yogurt is a
sliced banana. Let's talk about theone. I can't wait to try your
(23:07):
banana peel cake. Yeah, Ithink that was probably the most surprising recipe
in the book for folks. Butthen once they try it, they're a
maize. So banana peels are completelyedible for this recipe. I'm cooking them
just to soften them a little bitand then blending them up into a pure
and it gives the cake this nice, light, bouncy, fluffy texture.
(23:32):
And it does carry some of thatbanana flavor with two and you don't like
it. So it's a banana cakebasically, but with very righte bananas,
unsalted, butter, grain, sugar, eggs. So it's a banana cake
or banana bread, more cake thanbread because you serve it with So do
you get any kind of banana peeltexture in the cake or is it just
kind of morphed together? Yeah,you don't get any of the banana pult
(23:57):
texture in it at all. It'scompletely smooth and fluffy. Yeah. I
saw that site recipe also on thefood fifty two site when I was scrolling
through. It just looks so good. Is there anything else that you would
do? And these are like reallyand you say, use the brown freckled
ones versus very right du you know, like black bananas. I always figure
that they're great for smoothies. Duh, you know, making smoothies or banana
(24:21):
mash. I'll tell you something Ialso like to do, lindsay. I
like to take peanut butter, goodold fashioned peanut butter or homemade right and
I like to just whip up thatold, you know, mushy banana that
I don't want my yogurt because youmushy. I'll mush it up into the
peanut butter and it's automatically peanut butterand banana mash. It's really good.
(24:41):
And then I had to put thatout and then I just spread that on
toast or if I want to,you know, add it with a little
yogurt to cream it up. ButI don't like the sweetness of an overly
righte banana. But when you mixit in with the almond butter or the
peanut but whatever, butter you use. You kind of got your peanut but
and butter banana already done. Thatsounds delicious. Yeah, yeah, I
(25:02):
mean it's it's good because, likeI said, I really can't stand waste.
And in doing this book and kindof doing your own zero waste odyssey,
what were some of the most surprisingthings you've discovered that you didn't think
you could ever find a way torepurpose. Banana pills and coffee grounds were
definitely two of the most surprising.I would say artichoke leaves are up there
(25:23):
too. I mean, I loveseeing a whole artichoke and dipping the leaves
and butter and biting off the ends. But if you're peeling the artichoke right
from the get go, just toget at the heart, a lot of
times those leaves are then discarded.And I actually had a dream about treating
them like nachos and woke up andtried them and was really pleasantly surprised by
(25:45):
how well that worked, and howit's a really easily customizable recipe. You
can put whatever toppings you like onthose leaves. Well, I see the
recipe here artichoke leave nachos with fetaand black olives and cheaters. I oel
of that cheater. I'm fascina aboutthat because artichoke lees are so tough.
And we were in Rome in Octoberand I was waxing poetic about Roman artichokes,
(26:08):
you know the kind you get inTrustovy and they're very traditional, and
I dragged my husband to a recipeand we had two different artichoke dishes,
and I mean we were like outof like candid camera or some joke.
I felt like Lucy because I waschewing and chewing and chewing, and they
were just the toughest damn artichokes.And I was like, I give up.
I give up on art of choke, but you're kind of giving me
(26:30):
hope. I'm curious about that onebecause I am very cynical but trying to
eat a whole art of choke.Mail after my artochoke experience in Rome,
Oh, I hope you gave themanother shot. Well, we definitely will,
because again I always felt that Ifeel like eating an artichoke is one
of the most wasteful ways. Ilove artichoke, but you know, you
don't eat half the half, thehalf the yea vegetable. It's kind of
(26:53):
silly. Now, your book mainlyfocuses on vegetables, but I also want
to underscore, as you will,that you can also do this with animal
products like bones, right, Oh, absolutely, Yeah, there's a section
on stocks that talked about using thosefor stock and other it's in leftover parts
(27:15):
that you might have. Yeah,and you know, I I'm the person
I don't eat meat anymore, butthe carcass always it was just out the
door. But when my mother inlaw comes comes up for Thanksgiving, you
know, you just look in thisgiant plot and you go, who died?
I mean, it's just boone bitsand whatnot. And then I've but
I created a whole level of appreciationbecause the stock that you get out of
(27:37):
it is so amazing, and thenyou freeze it right, and then when
you make stock, you unthaw itand you've got this really fresh stock with
no sodium and it's not store boughtand it's just such a better way to
eat. Yeah. Yes, it'sreally really great. And just you know,
in the last minute or so wehave left, what are some other
tips for anyone that's still still skeptical, or say, what do I need
(28:03):
to have on hand equipment wise?Or you know, how can I store
stuff? What are some just practicaltips? Well, I would think making
use of your freezer is definitely agreat way to start, because you know,
like you mentioned with the stock,if you're doing a few things ahead
of time, you're really setting yourselfup for great meals in the future.
And I really want to encourage peoplenot to be skeptical, because these are
(28:27):
just ingredients like anything else, andthey're delicious and should be put to good
use. And it's really it's goodfor the planet, but it's also good
for your pocketbook too. You know, throwing these things out is wasting money.
Well, and I'm weird. Alot of the reason we're doing it
at our end is one, I'mtrying to eat healthy, but two we
(28:47):
are trying to save money. Eatingout is expensive and food is expensive right
now if anyone goes grocery shopping,and so you really want to maximize whether
you're cooking for one or cooking foran entire family. These are great recipes
to be practical but also tastes good. So you're not only saving the planet,
but you're saving money. As yousaid, and I want to echo,
you know, get to know you'rea freezer and label everything because we
(29:08):
seem to have a lot of yogurtcontainers that don't have labels on us.
You're to open yes, labeling thiskey. Well, Lindsay, thank you
so much for joining me again.We've been speaking with Lindsay gene Hard.
The book is cooking with scraps.Turn your peels, cores, rines,
and stems into delicious meals. AndI promise you they work. And as
Lindsay said, always know that youcan play around with recipes. Don't don't
(29:32):
you know, try to be perfect, just try to make it work.
So it's good for you. Thankyou so much for joining me. I'm
fearless fabulous you. Thank you somuch for having me my pleasure. We
are going to take a short breakand then we're going to talk about Virginia
wines here at Early Mountain Vineyards andtaste a few with a woman wine maker.
You're listening to fearless fabulous. Youhas to give you broggy snag pemple
(30:03):
me follow the punch bad how salmonthe I'm tramping on me? Hello,
possible a fellow. I'm thank youjoin him angels jealous you know you could
(30:41):
be now I thank you, Johags, Jealous, Charn't Know. We're bringing
people love Rangel Sure and we're back. You're listening to Fearless Fabulous you on
(31:04):
the Women for Women Network, Andof course all my shows are podcasts permanently
on Iheartradioiheart dot com and the freeiHeart app, as well as iTunes and
speaker and other outlets. And ofcourse do follow me on Melanieong dot com.
I have a blog and a Twitteraccount Mighty Melanie and Instagram at Melanie
Fabulous because my goal is to helpyou enjoy life and live it to the
(31:27):
fullest, happy, healthy and onyour terms. So, as I said
at the top of our show,I am broadcast sitting from a winery in
Virginia called Early Mountain Vineyards, andit's surrounded by mountains in the most beautiful
area, a rural area of Virginia. Really, I think this is one
of my favorite states. David,my husband, who will co hosts my
(31:47):
other show, The Connected Table,live with me. We're on a road
trip because we like to get onthe ground and really get to know people
when we travel. I'm really excitedto be here because Early Mountain is a
woman owned winery So we're going tolearn about a woman owned winery in Virginia,
and I'm speaking with a woman winemaker. Maya hood White is the
(32:08):
associate winemaker and viticulturist at Early MountainVineyards. Maya welcome, Thank you so
much for having me. Well,I'm really excited to be here. We
are going to be tasting a fewwines on air. Don't be jealous,
listeners. Maya tell us a littlebit about your background, because you originally
were not planning to be a winemaker. No, it was definitely never
something I set out to be.So I prior to starting in the wine
(32:32):
industry, I worked a bit indefense and I had this epiphany one day
that I didn't particularly love sitting ina cubicle, but I enjoyed wine.
And I had never put too muchthought into who makes wine. It's just
not something I ever thought of onedrinking the wine, sadly, So what
I decided to do is make apretty significant career change at that point for
me, and I thought I wouldwork a couple vintages at a local winery.
(32:54):
So I was in Virginia at thetime, and I figured I really
should see what the job would entailand if it's something that would be right
for me. So, after workinga couple vintages and taking some prerequisites for
graduate school, I eventually went backto California. I did my master's degree
at UC Davis and then came backto Virginia because it's a state that's doing
(33:14):
some pretty interesting things and here youare here. Yeah, well, I
just want to underscore why that's significant. I'm a big believer in second acts.
And what you showed here, Mayais that you started in a career,
a really well paying, successful career, but it really didn't sing your
song. You didn't want to workin a compubicle, and you decided to
go learn another industry. You gotyour hands dirty to really see if it
(33:37):
was for you. So if youwere thinking about doing that and you want
to make changes, go do yourresearch and go do the work, even
intern yourself out to learn, andthen if it really does sing do you
then go get professional training and education. And what's important about that in the
wine business is it's not about sittingaround and tasting wine like we're getting ready
to do. It's a really hardwork. What are some things you can
(33:59):
need to think about it? Ifyou want to get into the wine business
as a winemaker, maya. Well, I think with any job or with
any industry, you usually kind ofstart at the bottom, and that's the
same with wine. You you wouldstart interning places, and typically internships involve
a lot of grunt work. Soit is very physical and quite a demanding
demanding job at times, especially becausewe have a fairly narrow range that we
(34:21):
are able to pick grapes in throughoutthe year, so we have one harvest
annually, so you have to getit all in and you don't have many
options to, oh, well,we'll just wait till a little bit later
when it's more convenient to grab it. So there are times when you're here
a little bit longer, a littlebit you know, tough for days,
a little bit more strenuous days.So if you if you're happy with that,
and most people in this industry reallyare. You know, it's it's
something we're excited to do. Soyou have to kind of have a perspective
(34:43):
as to what's what you'd like todo. And you need to learn how
to drive a forklift. We talkedabout that before we went on. It's
it's this is manual labor. It'sall. It's not about just you know,
blendy, beautiful wines. It's alsoyou know, you get your hands
dirty and you need to be goingopen, you know, eyed about it.
Let's talk about where Early Mountain Vineyardis in Virginia and also about the
(35:04):
owner, Jene Case, who wasa woman. When when when did the
Cases? This is an older winery, but the Cases took it over when
it was in twenty eleven, sosince then it was a previous it was
another winery before that, and theydid take ownership, I believe it was
in twenty eleven and in twenty twelveit's when they started producing winees under the
Early Mountain label. And I actuallycame in twenty fourteen, so it was
(35:29):
purchased when I was still on theWest Coast, and I remember hearing about
Early Mountain but not conceptualizing where itwhere it was located within Virginia. So
I was always curious when I movedback to Virginia and I ended up coming
here and learning more about it.And what drew me to Early Mountain was
how excited everybody who works here isfor our industry, and this includes our
owner, who is you know,could could put a winery wherever she would
(35:52):
like, but she has chose thisarea because it is doing new things and
it's just it's very different too.Well, let's talk about you know,
it is a beautiful area. Forthose of you who are not familiar with
the state of the Commonwealth of Virginia, where are we located in Virginia and
is this a specific appalation or arewe outside of an Appalachian Are we in
north South? Where are we inVirginia? So we're kind of what we
(36:12):
can fill central Virginia when we're notin an appalation, So we fall immediately
outside of the Monticello Avia. Butif you're coming from Washington, DC,
you drive about two hours or justshrive two hours south. And if you're
coming if you know where Charlottesville isthe University of Virginia, we're about thirty
to forty minutes north of Charlottesville.So we're kind of a little bit between
those two of those two points ofinterest. And just to underscore, there
(36:34):
is quite a Virginia wine trail.I was surprised at how many different wine
making regions there are in Virginia.And it's actually got a long history as
we all know Thomas Jefferson made winein Virginia. And actually this property dates
back to the Revolutionary War. Iread right, I think I think somebody
who was in one of George Washington'stroops. I think the slept here,
(36:58):
Yeah, slept here, slept herehere and David are sleeping here tonight.
We're really excited because we're going tobe tasting a lot of wines. What
are some of the Early Mountain producesa number of different wines. What are
the major grapes that you grow here? And why, I mean, why
is this climate conducive to certain stylesof grapes and what's it more like.
So we have two vineyard sites.We have the Early Mountain Site that we're
(37:22):
currently at, and then we haveanother vineyard site. It's called Quaker On
Vineyards. It's probably about as thecrow flies, eight to ten miles from
us, or as they say insouth, just up the road, just
up the road. It usually takesabout twenty minutes, you know, not
even if trailer with you to Yonder. Yeah, but that is our mountain
side site. So at the EarlyMountain Site, we have quite a bit
(37:43):
of marlow. We have a littlechardonnay, some pino and greet that we'll
be tasting some later sauvignon blanc petitmonsingh as well, and some Cabernet fronc
and Cabernet sauvignon. And at QuakerRun we have primarily read, so that
is what we would call our morered centric site. The only white there
is some shardon, and we dohave We recently planted some cabernet sauvignon petit
(38:05):
for doeau Ton and a little bitof melback as well. But on that
site it was actually an older vineyardwhen we took ownership or we started leasing
it, and there was a greatdeal of merlou on there, and that
is some of our are exciting,very concentrated muleau and their older vines that
are very self regulating. So it'svery different compared to the early Mountain site.
It's so interesting when you think aboutwine. You could be fourteen,
(38:30):
fifteen, twenty minutes drive away,you could be across the street. I've
actually been in some wineries in Spain. We're across the street. The soil
is different, so that really makesa big difference based on elevation in soil
and sun exposure, right, verymuch so. And even between the two
sites, like, we see incrediblydifferent rain patterns. So even when we
(38:52):
may see a little bit more rainat Quaker Run, it's a very rocky,
well drained soil, so it doesa very little water colding capacity compared
to Early Mountains, So and shud, Early Mountain is more significant to us
than you know, a quarter inchat Quicker Run. And I've even been
out there during harvest and I'll textsomebody back at the winery because I go,
I see clouds. Are we expectingrain? We weren't expecting rain,
and all of a sudden a stormjust comes out of nowhere or you know,
(39:15):
usually it's not a significant storm,thankfully, but you know, we'll
we'll see these very different weather patterns. Wow, it's amazing. And you've
got one are the mountains in thebackground here, so we're kind of flanked
by like Blue Ridge Mountains. Yeah, the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are
quite stunning. And I'm sure thatalso affects breezes around here, right so
very much. So. We havesome wines, so I'm going to ask
you about them before we taste merrilawa lot of people go, I just
(39:37):
read this article about Pino Gricio,people like, I hate Pino Gricio.
Let me peopay, I hate Marlow. The murlow is Merlow is a beautiful
grape. But for all of thoseof you who go, I hate Merlow,
I want to tell you it isone of the noble grapes that goes
into making Bordeaux, which everybody,I don't know anyone who doesn't like Bordeaux.
What makes them merlaw here in Virginia? So why is it a great
grape to grow here in what yourMerlau's style. So for me, Merlow
(40:00):
is something that is very indicative ofthe site that you have it on.
So at Early Mountain, it's veryfresh, fruit driven red red berries.
It's very light and approachable, Idon't say life, but just it's more
elegant. You know, it doesn'thave quite the concentration that we Quaker run.
At Quaker Run, we also havethese very old vines of Merlow.
So at this point they are fairlyself regulating, and I should I should
(40:22):
say old for us is you know, about eighteen years We're not talking,
but not like seventy or something,right, So in context you know,
we do consider it older. ButI to me, they are quite a
bit smaller berries, very thick skins, and they're on these we have cord
untrained spur prune vines, so prettythick, and they're they're fairly self regulating.
(40:44):
So we see these clusters that ifthe vine doesn't want to push a
cluster, it doesn't, So wehave these open a lot of air flow,
and so coupled with the airflow ofthe site, we have small berries.
So a much higher color tannin ratioand very elegant wines is a result.
Yeah, they're also they have avery distinctive concentration and density to them
as well. So not no fruitbombs here. So I'm salivating because I
(41:06):
have not had a glass of winein twenty four hours for me, and
here I am at your vineyard atEarly Mount Vineyards, and in front of
us we have two wines we're gonnataste on air. We are tasting wine
on air. I get to dothat, it's my job. This first
one is a pino gree Now pinogree is also for those who is like
a pino grigio. But explain forthose who don't understand the difference in mano
(41:29):
like Pino gresio. We're gonna lovepino growth. Give us a little difference
in the in the in the stylisticallyabout grapes pinogreevy pinogrisio. So we typically
we do actually in the in thepast we have produced two pino gree We
call one the more pino Grecia style. It's very light, it's fresh,
a little bit more acid driven andjust kind of fruit forward, citrusy,
whereas this we do a little bit. We do we put this in akesha
(41:52):
barrels and it has a much moreextended, extended leaves contact to it.
So we have a lot we're leavesmanagement that goes in. And this is
from a very small block. It'sabout one and a half acres at Early
Mountain and it's the accidental block thatwe always say. We found out that
when the previous ownership had this site, they were just sent some peanugreen vines
they did not expect to receive,and they happened to see a space right
(42:15):
next to the production building on thislovely little hill and they threw them in
there and they just didn't think,I mean, you just keep going and
you start harvesting Peinagree, but wefound compared to our other pinogree blocks at
Early Mountain, it has a verydifferent ripening pattern so it can hang through
weather. So Peinugree is a verytight cluster. You don't have a lot
of air flow through that, andusually that it can be a sign of,
you know, if you have hireddisease pressure, that's a problem,
(42:37):
whereas we typically don't see this withour pinogree, and we also in the
block nine rather and we also seethat it's fairly self regulating. So maybe
we have like a little bit greaterof growth of vegetative growth, green growth
that we have to hedge off andmanage throughout the season, whereas this block,
you know, maybe we hedge itonce instead of three times depending.
Let's talk about the taste, becauseit's got some great acidity to it,
(42:58):
which makes it very food friendly.When you talk about it being on Lee's
longer, that adds more complexity andsoftness. So this is not an astringent
wine, which some pino grisios canbe. But when you it's on Lee's
it's softer and rounder, which isvery appealing to anyone who says I don't
like Pino grisio traditional. This isnot a traditional, this is pino Gree.
It's to say gree greedy. It'sall the same, but very food
(43:22):
friendly. So you're a vegetarian,I'm a vegetarian. What would you have
with this wine? So I recentlyhad it with like a grilled tofu and
that sounds kind of like a strangepairing, but I really like this.
So to me, Peano Gree theblacknine Pinogree. It is a wine that
is more conducive for winter. Soif you have people that maybe don't look
(43:43):
for red wines in the winter,it's there's more substance to it, so
it's a broader mouth feel. Wedo put this in a Casha barrels as
well as some some stainless steel,so we have a very large six hundred
liters a Casia barrel versus if youthink of a standard barrels maybe two twenty
five lids. So why Acasia.So it gives it a little bit different
of an aromatic note. So Acashahas it's not that heavy woodiness. It's
(44:04):
a little bit more floral fresher,which is I want to punt it because
many people don't like white that areoverly oak. This is not that so
acasha. It makes it softer.The leaves make it softer. It's got
nice balance to it. What isthere Is there any residual sugar? It
is a dry wine. It's avery no so okay, so important because
people sometimes mix up and what's thealcohol in this? So this one is
(44:27):
a sixteen vintage, so it isabout thirteen and a half, so reasonable,
It is reasonable, yeah, whichis important. Yeah, and it's
interesting just as a testament to thisblock sixteen, we were hit by hail
at early months. We thought wewere not going to pick a couch that's
good beds for the grapes. Realwe lost our canopy and even the grapes
saw some damage. But it hungthrough, which again one would not expect
(44:47):
for Peter Gree, especially in thisarea. So for those who may not
understand a block, oh yes,let's explain a block for anyone who's not
in the wine making business. Andthen I want to go on to the
pet nut. A block is itis a section of vines is essentially our
block. So they can include manyvarietals, they can include just one or
and it's just how you designate sections. Of your vineor so picture a patchwork
(45:09):
quilt exactly, and every patch isa block in the quilt. And that's
how detailed fine wine making is.And that's really important to point out when
you hear the terms block. You'redealing with a very artisanal focus to making
wine and that's really important when you'rebuying wine because we all want to have
(45:30):
great wine to serve at events andto give us gifts. Now, this
one is fun because this is kindof a cool thing. It's petnot,
which looks explained what that is.Yeah. Hetnot is essentially method on cistral
sparkling wine. So it is believedto be the original method of making sparkling
wine where you are instead of withthe traditional method you're prementing a base wine
(45:52):
and then you are adding sugar andyeast to referment and bottle and cap it.
Whereas this we're actually finishing the primaryso the first imitation in the bottle.
So we do this, we makethis during harvest. We have it
started out what is the grape onthis because this is red, this is
blackish yeh, So this is probablyare a little craziest pet that we have.
And so this is one hundred percentwhole cluster blof froncish that came from
(46:13):
the Shenandoa Valley. And actually Benwho oversees our urban Jordan, He oversees
the winery and the vineyard and he'skind of our umbrella and overseeing it all.
He has a family vineyard that actuallygrew this black frackish, So this
is the first significant harvest and hewas kind enough to let us play with
it for the petnot so it's alittle bit more acid driven, you know,
(46:35):
blaff prackish can be very fresh cherryfreshberry notes to it, and with
the stones it adds a little bitmore herbal care. I get a little
more herbal, a little bit ofessence of cranberry, also a little bit.
It's a sparkling red bluff froncish iswhat is the providence of that grape?
Originally it is an Austrian variety,right, Yeah, and it's one
that he that we're seeing a lotof people play with in the Shenandoah Valley
in Virginia too. So like we'redrawn to the acidity of it, especially
(47:00):
in this wine, so we're ableto do a little bit lower over pressure.
So you may notice that the bubbleis that they're not as concentrated or
as large. Well was that becauseit's a naturally natural occurring effervescence. So
this is this is just it's theprimary effervescence from the from the primary fermentation.
It's just trapped in the crown cap. So this was actually was bottled
under a crown cap. And somepeople disgorge, they remove the sentiment.
(47:22):
Other people do not. We've removedsome because reds can be fairly heavily turbid.
And but we have a little bitof leaves left. I see it.
I see that. So it's it'skind of a lighter color at the
bottom. So petion, not yourwell means petian means pets is like a
So when somebody says, of winehas a little petiance to it, it's
gotta it's gotta a slight effer vescencewithout being overbearing. This kind of dances
(47:45):
on your tongue. We have abouta minute left. What would you so
this is a sparkling red, lightlysparkling lad not a yeasty, very light,
very good appartife. What would youhave with this? I like it
with grilled foods. So this iskind of like meatiness to this line and
a little bit from like a reductionof the grapes being undergrown cap which goes
(48:05):
really nicely for me. With thesemeteor or these grilled and like heavily kind
of smoky dishes, I get totell you, I don't really eat a
lot of grilled cheese, but Icould go for a nice grilled cheese cheddar
cheese with us right now. Likea grilled cheddar cheese would be really really
good, even you know, eventhough I downed mean and for vegetables.
For me, I love doing broccolidogs. You grill up the broccoli and
(48:27):
do some smoky mustard and put itin and a hot dog bone. It's
like so awesome. You could dothose smoke Yeah, it's really great.
So if you want to buy somethingit's kind of hot and trendy with with
the somlea world now and bring itto a dinner party, look for a
pet not your all wined pet.Not is the is the short term,
the Instagram term, and they're reallyhot. I'm exploring them right now as
(48:51):
well and hope to be writing aboutthem now just in the last few seconds.
People can visit Early Mountain. Lotsof weddings here, beautiful events space.
Yes, so we have beautiful viewsof the mountains behind us. You
can see the vineyards from the team. We do have a small restaurant on
site too, so it's kind ofa we've seen people do some all day
excursions. We have lots of spaceoutside. It's wonder I actually quite like
(49:14):
to look outside when there's no leaveson the vines. But it's also when
we have we're flanked by vines,so we can we can offer those little
those sites to our guests. Butyeah, so we're close to Washington,
d C. We're close to Charlottesville'squite a bit of food activities, and
we hear Charlottesville's bustling. So checkit out early Mountain dot com, Early
Mountain Vineyards and learn more. Imean, we're going to be doing some
(49:36):
more exploring about Virginia wine. SoI'm so glad Maya that you've joined me
today. I'm fearless, fabulous you. Thank you so much for having me
and for all of you listening.I hope this has been a fun way
to learn about food and wine,and thank you for joining me. And
is always say fearless and fabulous
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