Here on Gabriola Island, we are enjoying gorgeous summer weather after a day of long awaited rain of last Thursday. We are so blessed! Many people in BC and Ontario are dealing with either direct threat of wildfire or bad air quality due to smoke. Our son bought an air purifier for his apartment and our daughter had to cut short of her dog walking. Both of them live in downtown Toronto.

My favourite winery in Niagara region was a little concerned on the effect of thick smoke to their grapes and forced to move their social event from outdoor patio to indoor, according to their newsletter I just received.

In our garden our experimental outdoor cucumber plant finally started to grow.  Tomato fruits started to turn their colours, too.

One of the crops looking so good now is burdock, or “Gobo” in Japanese.

We dug up one 50’ bed as much as possible and direct-seeded them early spring. They took a while to germinate but now they have giant green leaves and are almost care-free. I guess giant leaves create a big shade and not much weed can grow underneath. Despite this good-looking leaves, edible part is its root which will be ready to harvest late fall to winter, or can be overwintered for early spring harvest. Burdock roots were originally treated as medicine in China and parts of Europe. After it arrived in Japan around 8~10th century and found to be well suited for growing in volcano ash soil, they have been cultivated all over Japan and enjoyed in variety of cooking. For me the most iconic recipe of gobo is ‘Kimpira Gobo”. Gobo roots are thinly sliced, stir-fried and braised with soy sauce, mirin, a bit of sugar and a little chilli pepper. It goes fantastic with steamed rice!! This recipe, “Kimpira” was named after one of the characters in Japanese traditional puppetry “Jyoururi” play, first played during Edo period (from 17th to 19th century).

ARC collection, Ritsumeikan University UP5038

Crispy texture of cooked gobo and fiery chilli pepper flavour was likened to the strength and bravery of the folk hero character, Mr. Kimpira Sakata in the play. We are looking forward to bringing gobo to the market and sharing Kimpira Gobo recipe with you!

One of the benefits sourdough bread provides is well broken down protein through long fermentation.  I have prolonged our proofing time a little in the last couple of spelt bread bake to achieve more fermented yet with airy crumb structure and some sweetness still maintained.  I think this plain spelt loaf is pretty handsome and tasty.  Please let me know if you noticed any changes and I am happy to discuss our ideal bread!  

 

Our market schedule is as follows

• Island Roots Farmers’ Market: Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, 3 – 6pm on Wednesday
• AGI Market: AGI Hall, Gabriola, 10am – 2pm on Saturday

Thank you for reading our weekly newsletter. Have an amazing summer week!