Harvest and enjoy in November

The gray season begins in November. Fog, rain and wind let us escape inside. This is the time for convivial dishes like the Martin's goose and one or the other stew. Despite the first frosts, there is still a lot on the table from the garden or at least from local cultivation.

Table of contents Table of contents Harvest and enjoy in November

• Pears: big stars of the season
• Horseradish: the healthy tonic
• Celery: the vitamin bomb
• Fennel: the lucky charm

Table of contents Table of contents Harvest and enjoy in November

• Pears: big stars of the season
• Horseradish: the healthy tonic
• Celery: the vitamin bomb
• Fennel: the lucky charm

Pears: big stars of the season

Since pears are much more difficult to transport and store than apples, it is advisable to fully enjoy the local blessing. The classic Williams Christ was already harvested in September, but its aromatic sisters like the Gute Luise are available all winter. If you want to or have to ripen pears, store them together with an apple for a few days, preferably in a paper bag. Ripe pears have a very limited shelf life. What is not eaten raw can be traditionally cooked into juice, jelly or compote. Pears can also be dried whole, in slices or rings. The easiest way is at a good 50 degrees in a convection oven.

Pears make their big appearance in November.

Photo: Buriy - Fotolia

Quinces: As a delicious chutney, an autumn dream

Quinces cannot be enjoyed raw, but cooked, but they are a poem. If you want to enjoy them, you first have to remove the furry fluff and then cut the hard fruits with a solid knife. Before they are eaten, they are cooked until soft. Quinces have little minerals or vitamins, they impress with their unique aroma and high pectin content. This makes them predestined for jelly fruit. For this purpose, neither the shell nor the core housing should be removed, because this contains the lion's share of the pectin. Quinces are also good as a compote or chutney.

Recipe for a quince chutney

ingredients

2 1/2 kg quinces

30 g fresh peppers

30 g ginger root

250 g onions

2 tbsp coriander seeds

300 g of sugar

12 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of salt

preparation

• Peel the quinces and cut the pulp into medium-sized cubes.
• Finely dice the chili peppers, peel the ginger root and cut into fine strips.
• Peel and dice the onions. Pound the coriander seeds in the mortar.
• Mix the quince pieces with ginger, chilli, onions, coriander, sugar, vinegar and salt and let them steep for an hour.
• Then bring to the boil while stirring and continue to simmer until the chutney is viscous. Season with salt and vinegar, pour hot into glasses and close immediately.

In the golden season, quince jelly tastes delicious.

/ Simone Andress

Horseradish: the healthy tonic

Have you been caught? Everywhere is now sniffing and coughing again. Probably the one who planted horseradish in spring. Now it is harvested and used. The essential oils emitted by the freshly grated horseradish have a sweaty and antimicrobial effect. Unfortunately, the risk of injury is high if you operate the grater with tears. For this reason, professionals wear diving goggles. If you don't want to do this work all the time, the sharpness is preserved. You can, for example, let sliced ​​horseradish in honey. After straining a good home remedy for cough.

Recipe for hot horseradish mustard

Ingredients and preparation for 400 ml mustard

70 g of yellow and 30 g of brown mustard seeds are mixed and ground very finely with a grinder or flash chopper. Mix in a bowl with 80 ml of water and 60 ml of 5% wine vinegar. Season with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of freshly ground horseradish. Mix with the hand mixer for at least 5 minutes to a homogeneous solid mass. Put in glasses in a cool place for two to three days.

You can now harvest horseradish, the strong root vegetable, in late autumn.

Photo: unpict - Fotolia

Celery: the vitamin bomb

The tuber-shaped celery is a classic soup vegetable for autumn and winter. It also enriches our menu as raw food and as a steamed or cooked vegetable side dish. Especially in the cold season, it is worth putting celery on the raw food plate, because it is rich in vitamin C and contains an oil that is said to have a positive effect on the skin stressed by cold and heating air. The tuber has also always been said to promote male strength. If a whole tuber is too much for you, you can preserve celery in the freezer. Finely chopped and blanched, it then waits for use in the soup.

Cooking with celery

With the right companions, celery tastes delicious as a vegetable or salad. The Waldorf Salad, a creation of the London luxury hotel Waldorf-Astoria, is famous. For this, celery is cut into pens or, even healthier, grated raw and mixed with a little lemon juice. So it stays nice and white. There are also fresh chopped pineapples and walnuts. If you don't have a pineapple in the house, you can also use sweet and sour apples. Arrange with a yoghurt-cream sauce, let it steep for about an hour and serve with toast. A fine starter or a light dinner. Breaded and baked or fried celery cutlets, on the other hand, are a wholesome lunch. A homemade herb or walnut mayonnaise tastes particularly good. Side dish: jacket potato and carrot salad.

A delicious celery smoothie provides you with many vitamins - for a perfect start to the day!

Photo: tashka2000 - Fotolia

Fennel: the lucky charm

In the past we only knew the seeds as tea, today the thick fleshy leaves of fennel are also in demand. It is now known that there is more vitamin C in the fennel bulbs than in oranges. Common to the seeds and tubers is their beneficial effects on stomach and digestive problems. The high calcium content caresses our soul and makes fennel the ideal "happy food".

Cooking with fennel

As a starter, fennel raw food with oranges or apples is suitable. You can turn on the salad with a classic white wine vinaigrette or with a yogurt sauce. Refined and healthy: roasted sunflower seeds and a grated carrot on top. Fennel vegetables steamed in white wine are a delicious accompaniment to many fish and meat dishes. If you prefer vegetarian, you should try fennel gratin with potatoes. For this purpose, potatoes and fennel are cut in equal parts and cooked in vegetable broth, to which a little white wine can be added, until firm to the bite (never boil gently!). Then alternately layer potato and fennel slices in a fire-proof form. It is seasoned with white pepper and nutmeg. Pour a little vegetable stock and a mug of cream over the vegetables. A spicy cheese is grated, mixed with breadcrumbs and spread thick on the vegetable mixture. Bake everything in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. You can sprinkle the finely chopped fennel herb over the finished gratin.

If you want to eat a healthy diet in autumn, you shouldn't do without fennel.

Photo: nblxer - Fotolia