Transcript
Alexis: Hello, hello, hello.
Brett: what up so oh
Jessica : Hey.
Plant People: Hello again.
Alexis: Next week is a good week. It's all about food. ah
Plant People: It's always all about food.
Alexis: I mean, true, but my question today is not food related, which has is gonna shock everyone.
Jessica : Oh, that's, yeah, that's surprising.
Plant People: Oh, wow. What?
Alexis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're welcome.
Plant People: I mean, it was butter lad that we gave a couple of weeks ago.
Alexis: Well, we're talking about food in our episode today, so I figured, figured.
Jessica : ah This is true.
Alexis: um i I was talking to a friend last night and she has, you know, have you ever like randomly said a saying and then like whoever's with you, a friend or or someone picks it up and just thinks it's like super cool or or vice versa.
Plant People: Okay. Okay.
Alexis: Like someone says something off -handedly and you're like, wait, What?
Plant People: Like word, word.
Alexis: And then you're like, I'm going to use that forever.
Brett: Is it a real existing phrase or they're inventing it?
Alexis: Wirt.
Jessica : Oh, oh, I got one. I don't want to forget now.
Alexis: and Either, either, or it's just something that like you begin using in phrase.
Brett: Gotcha.
Alexis: So, um, I'm the one I'll tell you mine and give you some time to think of if there's any, a phrase or something, somebody calls something even like, like if they call something super random.
Alexis: Um, so.
Brett: Like, like, uh, like cherry tomatoes and those are called Tommy toes in certain parts of.
Alexis: Yeah, exactly.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis: Or if there's something that you're like, I love that.
Jessica : Oh.
Alexis: I'm going to use it forever now. Uh, so, so mine is, I heard on a podcast and it's a podcast to listen to with some British women. And when they're talking about somebody being like, or some somebody or something even being like trash, right?
Alexis: Like, uh, I would just normally say like, Oh, trash. ah They say get in the bin. And I think that is the funniest thing because I like physically imagine like this human that I am disgruntled with like crawling into a trash bin and getting there.
Brett: a
Brett: of getting in the bin only
Alexis: He's like, ah, just it's just get in the bin.
Brett: o
Alexis: Just get in the bin.
Brett: the building
Alexis: I'm done getting the bin. So I'm using that now and I'm passing it.
Brett: So just to be clear, you opened that story by saying I was talking to a friend and then revealed that it was on a podcast.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: which is extremely relatable to me.
Alexis: No. Well, I was saying I was talking to a friend last night and she said something that she picked up from me, which made me think about what I picked up.
Brett: um
Brett: Oh, I see. I gotcha.
Alexis: Thank you. My brain doesn't always connect the dots.
Brett: I thought i thought that you you had ah one of those parasocial experiences where it's like, oh, my YouTube friends said that, bla blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Alexis: She picked up from me.
Jessica : oh
Plant People: Yeah, nonlinear discussions.
Alexis: Well, that too, I mean, so Hannah and Saruti are, were our best friends with me, obviously. But, uh, yeah, no, they say, they say, ah, get in the bin, in the bin. And I think that's, I love it. And I'm using it forever and ever now.
Brett: Does anybody else have any ready?
Alexis: Is anybody else?
Brett: Cause I have some ready.
Jessica : i oh Okay, do you want to go first?
Brett: No, I mean, I'm not.
Jessica : or
Brett: And I'm just saying if you need time, we're thinking.
Jessica : I had one just popped up in my head. I don't think I use it all the time, but I know Alexis has also quoted this, but one of my friends have said, who is like incredibly intelligent and, and she's, she's gonna, she's, she's very, used to be an opera singer and now is going to be a urologist, like is in med school and just very classy lady, but she will be like, well, they're just dumber than a coal bucket.
Alexis: This is one of my favorites. She's so classy.
Alexis: like
Jessica : Or or like,
Alexis: yeah I don't know who we were talking about. It was like the first time I met her and she just shook her head and she looks at me, she goes, they're dumber than a bucket of coal. I have never thought.
Jessica : And like, very classy, was a ballerina, opera singer, and now is a urologist.
Brett: from From Aria to Urethra.
Jessica : And it just, and it, and it just comes out.
Plant People: Yeah, I like that.
Brett: and Two moves or less.
Alexis: that one That one's a good one.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Game set match.
Alexis: Cause I've heard like dumber than, you know, like,
Brett: Box of rocks.
Alexis: ah um See, now I can't think of anything but bucket of coal.
Jessica : But yeah, Vox of Rogs, Jackson.
Alexis: Yeah, box of rocks. It's a box of rocks.
Plant People: Mox Rock's a classic.
Alexis: But bucket of coal. I was just like, there's something so Appalachia about that. I love it.
Jessica : Yeah. And you just don't expect it coming from her.
Alexis: Yeah.
Alexis: No.
Jessica : So it was, it was good.
Alexis: Yeah, it's so great when she says it.
Plant People: A zinger.
Brett: Well, one one from the from the podcast that I think about all the time, I don't really use it, is Ray's use of Blue Side of the Mountain.
Alexis: ah Mm.
Plant People: o
Brett: It's just very powerful to me. you know I'm not trying to fetishize it, I'm not trying to do some kind of weird hillbilly, elegy thing here or something, but I love that.
Alexis: I'm trying to make it weird. I'm making it weird.
Brett: But ah one that I picked up recently from one of my friends, AKA a person I watch on YouTube and have never talked to,
Plant People: My online friends.
Brett: Um, he's a, he's a British, uh, bonsai professional guy, big cutie. Shout out to Corin Tomlinson. Uh, he was talking about, and I think this is just a common British thing.
Brett: Um, but he was talking about like, when you go on some sort of a, uh, you're off the clock, you know, it's your vacation time, you're off time and you go and do a thing that you would normally do as part of your job.
Alexis: Uh -huh.
Brett: it's referred to as a busman's holiday. So like for so so the idea is that if you're if you're draw a bus driver, the last thing that you wanna do is drive a long distance to go you know on a trip somewhere, so you're you know a busman's holiday.
Plant People: Sounds very European.
Brett: So for instance, um if if i I went to, ah we took my mom and ah one of my dad's relatives, we went to this, like agritourism experience where we toured like a so a small ah ah kitchen garden and we went and saw horses and we did all these things that were very novel for them. Busman's holiday.
Plant People: I like it.
Jessica : Nice.
Plant People: I like it. It's pretty strong. That's got strong game.
Alexis: I do Jessica and I have Bussman's holidays every time we go to a botanical garden on our.
Brett: it's like very It feels very old -timey and very...
Plant People: It does. I like that.
Jessica : Oh yeah, that's true.
Brett: Exactly, exactly. We, and he went, he went not to for to do business or just, just to have fun to this like bonsai event over in Holland. And he's like, Oh, we had a bit of a busman's holiday.
Plant People: A lot of history.
Alexis: Okay, I like it. All right, Ray, what about you?
Jessica : Ray has a lot of sayings, so.
Brett: Oh, he has so many.
Plant People: Uh, yeah. and I'm trying to think of any that's appropriate is my problem. It's usually expletives or something or derivatives thereof.
Jessica : Huh?
Plant People: Uh, I don't know. Uh, something I said that makes no sense at all. And I just randomly put two words together and I read saying it and I was friends are saying, and I'm worried, but I'm like, Oh, what a trash biscuit.
Jessica : Roger.
Plant People: Like I say crash biscuit a lot and it means nothing. It's just two unrelated words slammed together. Um,
Alexis: Is it, or is it just like the feeling of when you get a biscuit and you're like, Oh, biscuits and gravy, and then your biscuit is trash and you want to put it in the bin.
Plant People: It's maybe that's what it is.
Alexis: You want to get it in the bin because whoever made it, trash biscuit.
Plant People: Something just makes no sense.
Jessica : A lot of like British, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: it has It has nice sounds to it for a yeah trash biscuit, hard B trash.
Plant People: It's phonetically works for me.
Jessica : Trash Biscuit.
Plant People: Trash biscuit. And it's provocative. I feel like it gets the people going like it makes no sense. It's nonsensical.
Brett: I think what I'm taking away from this is that Ray is what you call a creator.
Alexis: Now that's what Ray says. That's his.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : Yeah, yes.
Brett: He's a cultural creator.
Alexis: o
Jessica : Uh -huh.
Brett: He doesn't follow anyone's lead.
Alexis: yeah
Plant People: I don't...
Brett: He just sort of makes things up.
Plant People: I think he may be a trash biscuit. I mean, we don't know what he is.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Well, that happens when you're 200 years old, Brent.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah, he got bored with following trends and decided to start start them.
Plant People: Making my own just...
Jessica : There's so many.
Alexis: He was like, I've seen him come around so many times. so
Brett: ri roy ery Ray actually started Skibbity Toilet.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Some people don't know that about him.
Plant People: I did. I'm getting royalties to this very day. Yes, that was me.
Alexis: oh
Plant People: That was me, game developer extraordinaire, skibbity toilet.
Brett: So Skibbity Toilet fans, Trash Biscuit is the next step on deck.
Plant People: Version 20 .1. Yes, it's it's up next.
Brett: We're doing some beta testing with the youth of Georgetown.
Plant People: ah Yes, yeah apparently it's traveling in social circles now, because I've heard it bounce back to me on a person I didn't even know. And they said, a trash biscuit when they were pulling the bin to the curb.
Plant People: I was like, oh my gosh. I was like, they because it's something that you don't hear. So yeah, trash biscuit.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: There you go. I say hank a lot too here. I mean, it was spooky season a few weeks ago, and I love the word hank. That's an Appalachian traditional word instead of haunted or spirit.
Brett: what's can you give us that Can you give us the, okay.
Plant People: Instead of like a spirit, you know, you paint, uh, the porches. And if you go to Savannah, they'll, it's called Hank blue. They paint the tops of the porches blue because spirits can't cross over that.
Alexis: Confuses the spirit.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: So Hank is an old, old word and it's an Appalachian word, but it's also a Southern word. So yeah, I'm i' a big fan of Hank.
Alexis: Uh -huh.
Plant People: It's not exactly a phrase, but it's a word I enjoy.
Alexis: No, I like that. I like that.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: That's that. Yeah. Paint blue, paint blue.
Alexis: i want I'll have to share the the one that ah my friend Anna has been saying, but I feel like I have to share that one off air since we aired.
Plant People: blue.
Alexis: This is a UK podcast.
Brett: Wow. Oh my gosh.
Alexis: it's not It's not bad.
Plant People: and Saving the good stuff And probably coming from you that's high praise It's gonna be good folks, we're so sorry maybe look in the show notes and we'll all euphemize it a little bit
Alexis: I just think some people could be offended.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: I am gatekeeping that one.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: If you follow it Instagram, I'll give you a clue. How about that? so
Brett: I'm imagining it's like, it's not that bad.
Jessica : There you go.
Plant People: yeah
Jessica : Draw them in that way.
Brett: And then you, you say it and it's like bleeping for like four minutes.
Jessica : Ease them.
Brett: Like, but but but Oh God, I'm glad you didn't say that.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah. It's just one long beep. Beep, beep.
Alexis: I mean, I mean, it's like something I would say to my parents.
Plant People: Mm.
Alexis: It's not like that bad. I just think somebody might be a little offended.
Brett: All right. All right.
Alexis: then
Brett: Well,
Alexis: But we are talking about deliciousness this week, right?
Plant People: Bra surprise.
Alexis: We're talking them about goodness, food, because next week is a delicious week in the non -cast world.
Jessica : food.
Jessica : i I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving, like everyone's like Halloween.
Plant People: in the Thanksgiving world.
Alexis: And I'm thinking, well, November.
Plant People: Holidays. I am.
Alexis: Jessica's favorite meal.
Jessica : and which Halloween's really big in my house, right? Anniversaries and birthdays.
Alexis: It's a big, it's a big,
Plant People: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jessica : But, and then everyone's just like, Christmas, like Mariah Carey starts singing in the background and everyone's like, Christmas.
Alexis: It's time.
Jessica : And I, yeah, I really like some Thanksgiving. Like, let's enjoy, let's enjoy it.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: It's Jessica's last meal if she ever had to have one.
Jessica : I do enjoy Thanksgiving a lot, like all the sides.
Brett: So the only thing that I, the only criticism I have of Thanksgiving, aside from some of the broader cultural critiques, which we're not here about, we're here about the food, let's get it clear, is why why limit those delicious, amazing foods to just that one day?
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: oh
Plant People: the culinary traditions behind Thanksgiving.
Plant People: Oh, I don't.
Jessica : Oh, Brett, I don't.
Brett: And so I reject the premise. we Jessica and I reject the premise of limiting to just that day.
Alexis: that's
Jessica : My birthday's in March, and sometimes I have Thanksgiving in March and for my birthday.
Brett: Yeah, i I was talking with I was talking with Annie about how like, I feel like my grandma had this deep appreciation for certain types of meals that were kind of complex, kind of, not complex, but just involved to make.
Alexis: who
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And turkey and dressing was one of those, where it was like, Oh, a turkey and dressing dinner is like the vibe, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Like, my grandma would say that, you know, this was she was really cool.
Alexis: But she would say the vibe.
Jessica : She was ahead of her time, yeah.
Brett: um Yeah, she much like Ray was a cultural creator.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: ah And She was co -creators give any toilet actually but we don't we are out of the royalty.
Plant People: I want to know what kind of dressing, because you got my attention, Brad. I totally derailed when you said dressing, because that that covers a lot of ground dressing.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Plant People: Was she a light and fluffy or a heavy and dense sagey kind of dressing person? Or what kind of dressing are we talking about here?
Brett: I think she would she would prefer it like lighter and fluffier I believe she generally.
Plant People: Gotcha.
Jessica : You call it like stuffing or dressing, right?
Plant People: Gotcha.
Jessica : That's a great debate sometimes.
Plant People: Yeah, exactly.
Brett: to call it, that grandma would probably call it dressing. My other grandma who was, so so I had one grandma who was like Baptist, had one kid.
Plant People: and
Brett: My other grandma was Catholic and had six kids. And so it was like the spectrum of of just energies and and everything else. um But but the anyway, the so in as much as we're talking about Thanksgiving itself and the Thanksgiving meal, I really just wanted to give a shout out you know through this throughout this episode to the way that fruits and vegetables and other specialty crops play this huge role in our food culture in the fall.
Brett: you know We're kind of post um post -peak harvest.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Brett: We're in that awesome period of time where there's lots of great food. um There's been great food all season long, but now is the time I think culturally we really sync up with that harvest time and post -harvest food.
Brett: And man, there is so much of it. So Jessica, you it feels like you have the strongest passion for this.
Jessica : Oh,
Brett: among um um ah Yeah, where do we start?
Plant People: She has thoughts.
Jessica : um
Brett: Where do we start with all of the fruit fruit and vegetable related opportunities to enjoy this time of year?
Jessica : right. Well, I think like everyone goes to thinking about like sweet potatoes and stuff. And I think you're really divided about the yam versus sweet potato and, um,
Brett: Are you divided?
Jessica : Am I? No, but I like now my mind is drawing a blank and I totally did a whole article last year on the difference between yams and sweet potatoes.
Plant People: I've heard if you use enough brown sugar and butter, it doesn't matter.
Alexis: Well yams aren't grown here.
Jessica : Right. Yams are starchier, right?
Alexis: Sweet potatoes are.
Jessica : so
Plant People: and
Jessica : um
Brett: I prefer a sweet potato to a yam personally, not to take off big yam.
Jessica : But I don't like sweet potatoes with is marshmallows on them. And I know that's a thing, right? like People like the casserole with the marshmallows on it, but I prefer it with like pecans on it.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Sweet potato casserole.
Brett: So much. Yeah.
Jessica : I still want it unhealthy, right?
Plant People: watch
Jessica : It's going to be pecans and like brown sugar and butter on top of those sweet potatoes.
Alexis: I still want it terribly bad for me, but.
Plant People: ah to
Brett: Yes.
Jessica : but
Brett: Yes.
Jessica : um
Brett: I prefer that version too.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Mm -hmm. I don't discriminate.
Jessica : Cause I think, you know, trying to think about, I like all the sides that we have.
Plant People: Yes.
Brett: I'm not a big marshmallow guy in general.
Alexis: Homemade marshmallows, man, there's something special about a homemade marshmallow.
Jessica : Those hit different.
Alexis: They hit different.
Plant People: Yeah, they do.
Alexis: They used to be a remedy for colds, did you know that?
Plant People: I am.
Alexis: major your throat like when you had a sore throat because they would the homemade ones would like coat the throat and so uh and then they were like uh maybe not maybe we just put this in hot chocolate
Jessica : Hmm.
Plant People: You can't be coughing if you're choking on a homemade marshmallow.
Brett: but Let's get this viscous material down your throat that clings to every surface.
Plant People: sticky conglomeration that's cutting off my airway.
Brett: I feel like much better.
Plant People: yes Not bad.
Plant People: Is this fluff or glue?
Brett: Finally the kid shut the kid shut up stop coughing gave him a marshmallow
Plant People: I mean, I don't waste, ah I don't waste, I guess, you know, we're talking about holiday foods and also seasonal eating and everything goes along with this, as you guys mentioned, but I don't, I don't waste, I don't waste um my ah capacity on protein during, particularly the Thanksgiving meal.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: I don't fall for that. I can have turkey or ham just about any time. I'm all about the stuffing and the the homemade mac and cheese with 12 sticks of butter and eight valvices in there. You know, I'm ah um' all about that stuff.
Brett: So you're a mac and cheese at Thanksgiving, Virgin?
Plant People: ah Yes, I am.
Alexis: and
Plant People: And it goes right next to like the broccoli casserole with equally as much cheese.
Jessica : Yeah, I was going to say broccoli casserole too.
Plant People: yeah Yes.
Jessica : That's really up there during Thanksgiving.
Plant People: Yes.
Brett: Neither of those were staples at our Thanksgiving meals.
Alexis: Yeah, we i that's a Sheffield tradition, but like growing up, we had green bean casserole, but we didn't have like broccoli.
Jessica : Ah.
Plant People: Neither.
Brett: We didn't have any of those casseroles.
Alexis: Really? What did you have?
Jessica : What did you have, Brett?
Brett: Well, we would each get a hard roll and a list to ah list to list out all the things we were thankful for.
Alexis: Some tack.
Brett: That was our, no, I'm just kidding. um We would have, we would have like ah pretty typical things of the turkey and the dressing, but also like mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and I would put the green beans onto the mashed potatoes.
Plant People: A trash biscuit.
Alexis: mashed potatoes.
Jessica : Mashed potatoes.
Alexis: Okay, yeah.
Brett: That's how I, and I still do that.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: I just did that at a recent thing. I was down in Murray. They had green beans and mashed potatoes. And I was like, I'm going to rep, wrap it down here as well.
Alexis: Mix that.
Plant People: I've never seen that done with the green beans.
Brett: Sweet corn.
Plant People: Always peas. Always peas, but never green beans on the mashed potatoes.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Nice.
Brett: Sweet corn.
Jessica : Corn. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: We did do the, um, the sweet potatoes kind of in the style that you were talking about. Jessica with the um the nuts on on top.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: and But it was more of like, the the sweet potato would be more like pureed, less chunky. And so it'd be kind of like a not very deep. oh But we didn't ever, yeah, didn't really ever do the casserole thing that much.
Alexis: Oh, should we ask about the cranberry sauce?
Jessica : what What Alexis, you read my mind.
Alexis: What type of cranberry sauce person are you?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : That's what I was going to say. No one's mentioned cranberry sauce yet.
Brett: Mm -hmm.
Plant People: If it's not can -shaped, I don't want it.
Brett: Mm -hmm.
Plant People: No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Brett: They actually, you actually can use that to ah help with coughs.
Plant People: Not really.
Brett: Just.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: It will coat your throat.
Plant People: The slottedness.
Jessica : Keep it in. Yes. Investing can shape form though.
Plant People: Yeah. Very viscous when it goes down like a lead pop down your throat. It's amazing.
Alexis: Have you all ever seen the people who like will take tires, like old tires and they'll put chains on them and they'll use them to like, uh, like in a culvert, like a pipe that may be clogged.
Plant People: The therapeutic guy used through the roof.
Brett: Oh yeah.
Alexis: And so they'll pull that stats, that can of cranberry.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: Okay. Sounds like you have some experiences.
Brett: shows up on it Shows up on an MRI, it's all.
Alexis: So it just like jiggles and swear.
Jessica : i
Plant People: Yeah. It's like, why is this can shaped a conflagration down here?
Brett: Wow.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Weird.
Alexis: we we were a We were a family where we had both.
Plant People: It's cranberries.
Alexis: Mom made homemade, but we also had canned because you use so one for one thing and one for another thing.
Plant People: Mm -hmm.
Alexis: so
Brett: what would they be What were the other what were the things?
Alexis: So like, um, the, the homemade would be like a, almost like a dressing we'd put on the Turkey, right? Like you're just the Turkey or whatever you wanted, but just like something more liquidy.
Brett: It's a little accent, accent flavor.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Alexis: Yeah. And then the can would just almost be eaten like on its own, right? Cause you could like pick it up with a fork.
Brett: Hmm.
Alexis: Um, so it just kind of depends. It's like one was a condiment and one was sort of just like, like when you put butter on your toast type thing, you put, I used to put mine in the roll.
Brett: It's own thing.
Brett: Hmm.
Alexis: So.
Jessica : and The canned works well for like if you do like the day after sandwiches, right?
Alexis: Ooh, your Thanksgiving sandwich?
Jessica : You know, like with the turkey and the cranberry.
Plant People: Yeah, you can.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, I like both.
Brett: where What was your reaction to, so so you aren't you aren't opposed to the canned?
Jessica : me? Yeah, I'm not opposed to it.
Plant People: No, I like it all.
Jessica : I've also like over the years and made like a cranberry like salad. I'm kind of like weird about like the ambrosia salads and salads that aren't salads, you know, kind of things.
Alexis: Why are we calling it that?
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: I don't like it.
Jessica : But like, I've made something where it's like, like cranberry.
Brett: We just called it ambrosia. I never heard anyone call it a salad.
Alexis: Oh yeah, that's that's like very Midwest ambrosia salad.
Brett: Sorry, I cut you off, Jessica.
Jessica : Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're fine. But like cranberry, it was like pineapple mixed in it and like some other jello, right?
Brett: Mm hmm.
Alexis: Hmm.
Jessica : And had it that way.
Alexis: Hmm.
Jessica : That was good. More people seem to eat that than they did just like the can of cranberry.
Brett: Yeah. I, we have the last few years made, you know, made fresh and, and put them in the hot water and burst them and done all the, that fun stuff with citrus and with pineapple. And I don't think I can really go back ah to to any other way. I really like it that way. And I think as I get older, my palette for bitterness
Alexis: Trash.
Brett: ah
Alexis: For trash?
Brett: is Wait, what? No, I've no i've actually, like I love bitterness now more than I used to.
Plant People: know and No, we're going the wrong way. Oh.
Alexis: Oh, yeah.
Brett: um and they're like Cranberries have such a unique bitterness, ah I find.
Alexis: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
Brett: Am I off base here?
Alexis: I feel like they're not, no, they're not substitutes. Like I like both, but I'm not gonna, I don't, when I want one, this is the flavor I want and the texture I want.
Brett: Mm -hmm.
Alexis: It's not better or worse than this other one and its flavor and texture. Like I don't, I don't discriminate. Cranberries for all.
Brett: Well, yeah. Well, I mean, one is better and one is worse, but I mean, you know, whatever you want to say as far as far as your opinion on it, that's fine.
Alexis: Support the cranberry farmers.
Plant People: Yeah. did the ah Going back to stuffing, because I'm always going to go back to stuffing, did you guys ever have it, or is it just us?
Brett: I'm just kidding.
Brett: This is the second time that Ray has brought us back to stuffing.
Plant People: It's going to be about seven times.
Jessica : All right, Stephanie is probably my favorite. so
Plant People: Yeah, I love it. that Did you guys ever do any versions with like cornbread stuffing?
Jessica : hi
Plant People: Like cornbread, cornbread stuffing, or like how do you guys do the base of stuffing?
Brett: Uh -huh.
Plant People: like we We actually used old cornbread. Mom would sit it out intentionally for that purpose and then make a really and amazing, it was very sagey, I remember, but there was one version of stuffing and then the other version would be like a lot in fluffy stuffing.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yum.
Plant People: Like you were mentioning earlier, Brett, but
Brett: So, when when I, Annie and I, Annie is a vegetarian and we we both were vegetarian and and actually vegan for a number of years. And so,
Brett: When we would go to my parents' house, we would always like basically bring our own foods, some some of the side dishes we're were shareable or whatever, but um I would usually make... ah a thing of stuffing that was kind of like a protein heavy stuffing and I would make, um I guess sort of like hoecakes with a fresh cornmeal and I would sit them aside and then I would cube it up and put that into the mix it with some celery and some carrots and some other stuff along with like some some either ah legume or veggie sausage or something.
Plant People: Oh, those are so good.
Jessica : Hmm.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
Brett: And then I would pour broth over it and let it really soak it up and then bake the whole thing. That's how how I would make up like like a cornbread stuffing in that in that in that style.
Plant People: Oh, nice.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Alexis: This tide dish, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, like a very moist or dense, denser because, yeah, awesome.
Brett: Yeah, kind of. it would just It just allows the whole thing to kind of congeal and be more of a skippable thing rather than, yeah, definitely.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Alexis: um and I wanted to keep its forearm when I scoop it out.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: What about you all?
Jessica : Yeah. And then I add more gravy to it sometimes.
Plant People: But.
Plant People: This talk of gravy needs its own episode, I mean, you guys are tearing me up.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: I'm a gravy person, so.
Jessica : My mom and grandma always did like kind of like how Brett described where you're going to put it in a casserole dish and scoop it out that way.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Jessica : um My husband's family was like the first experience where I really saw like stuffing actually being like stuffed into
Alexis: Oh, really?
Jessica : ah Turkey, but they all they do all different things a lot of things sometimes that I don't think is Traditional like we have a cold asparagus salad for Thanksgiving and I'm just like, okay They also did a turduck in one year ah But I have I was not there for that at the time and and
Alexis: Is it jerky?
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: That sounds fun.
Brett: Did you like it?
Brett: I see. Oh, this is lore. This is pre pre Jessica lore back in the dark era of Sean's life.
Jessica : this is yeah This is when i wasn't I was just dating, and I just remember hearing from my now sister -in -law that it took a lot longer to cook than anyone anticipated, so there were really hungry people waiting for a while.
Plant People: The prequel.
Alexis: Dark era.
Brett: This solid brick of pulp of, of nested poultry took way longer than expected.
Plant People: Hmm.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It's like a nesting box of poultry.
Jessica : Yeah. yeah
Alexis: specific
Jessica : But I have a cousin -in -law, I would say, and she makes like the best like dressing. Like she tells the dressing, right? And it's like the dressing balls, right? And she'll bring them to my grandma's.
Plant People: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jessica : And every year I'm like, Jennifer, like, can I have this recipe? Like, what is this? Why are they so good?
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Jessica : I ate like five of them. And she's every year like, oh, my mom and I, we just throw stuff together and make it. And I'm just like, what I need, I need to know how did you make this?
Plant People: But the dressing balls are, they're so good because it's like they have so many edges where they're round, so you get all the crispiness with the moist on the inside.
Brett: We're just riffing.
Plant People: And the dressing balls are amazing just for no other reason, they're form factor. I mean, flavor, yes, said depending on how you do it. But the form factor of round dressing balls, and then you just slop gravy over all that, and it's amazing.
Plant People: It's amazing.
Alexis: Did you all have, uh, so my grandmother and that side of the family, um, that was, it's very large. just My mom's one of eight and they're from like Appalachia, Pennsylvania area.
Alexis: We always had pickled eggs at at ah any like function where there was a meal being made and there's, you know, 20.
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: Not deviled, but pickled.
Alexis: no pickled so there would be beets like we would have a dish that would have pickled beets and then there would have been the pickled eggs that went in the jar from the pickled beets and um and they were always so pretty so you know with the beet juice but we i do distinctly remember always having pickled eggs if we were at grandma's house for thanksgiving so
Jessica : ah
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Wait.
Plant People: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm hmm.
Plant People: For the beet juice.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Plant People: And you could tell how long they had been in the the juice by the permeation ah or the penetration of the color into the center.
Alexis: isn'
Alexis: Yeah, yeah, did it make it to the yolk?
Plant People: Yeah. Yes.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It's like, Oh, we see your cure is not complete.
Jessica : You -
Alexis: And then, yeah, sometimes she'd devil those and then you're in good shape, so.
Plant People: Granny.
Plant People: Oh man. Good stuff.
Jessica : You often hear people talk about deviled eggs or dressed eggs, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Like I have come across people are like, well, we don't have no deviled eggs in this household, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : yeah Like I've been told that in my yeah and in my career working now with lots of different clientele.
Alexis: The devil did not bless these eggs.
Jessica : And, you know, we feed people a lot and have different, you know, food events at extension offices. That has been a topic brought up before about there's a difference between dressed and deviled. And I was just like, paprika being put on them, right? Does that make them deviled? And they're just like, oh no, you know, we yeah we don't allow deviled eggs at our house.
Plant People: different way of looking at it.
Alexis: that That feeds into the thing I was going to tell you earlier that I'm i'm not going to say on air, so don't let me forget.
Brett: Who's teasing?
Plant People: ah You know we could talk Thanksgiving because it's a great topic like all day long but do you guys like seasonal eat? You know we talk a lot about local food systems and local foods and you know when we have the chance I think we all kind of you know involve ourselves in those activities but as far as Locally grown and produce food, but do you guys like love seasonally eat like certain things Do you eat in the fall of the year when the leaves start changing and dropping and the weather cools down?
Plant People: Do you eat things specifically during this time of year that you may not eat as much at other times of the year?
Alexis: Acorn squash, butternut squash.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: all the But judge just from a practical standpoint, yeah, you can get that stuff I guess yeah
Alexis: the harder squashes. There's I would say there's like, I i mean, i'm I'm an American. So like, we, we pretty much get whatever we want whenever we want it. But there are like a few things that I just refuse.
Alexis: And it's usually just based on flavor. So like, I won't eat a watermelon when it's not watermelon season.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis: Like, you know, there's this, there's certain things, but like, you know, I don't seasonally eat, like all we will get asparagus year round.
Plant People: Oh, yeah, that's a good point. It's a good point.
Alexis: And
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: That would be the dream would be to more seasonally eat. But um I feel like that requires a different level that I'm not prepared for.
Plant People: Oh,
Jessica : something that is not like we are not necessarily growing local but getting into that timeframe is like the good citrus like being able to re -approach that because I know that's something like my little family looks forward to because like you buy the little oranges and
Plant People: oh yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : They taste absolutely horrible, like everyone in the bag.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : And then suddenly you hit that sweet spot, like where we go through like a bag in like two days, cause they're so good.
Plant People: amazing.
Jessica : But as far as like local, local wise, just like what Alexis said, like a lot of um squash because it's readily available. Uh, we talked about apples in our last podcast. Like I have a giant bag of apples currently in my garage fridge that my husband just likes to
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : you know, buy things in bulk and bring them, bring them home. Um, those are like two of the big ones I think of this time of year, especially in our household that we'll have a lot of.
Alexis: Can we talk about how mandarins were like, you want to call us cute. We want to be called cuties. And we were like, you got it. And so now we call them cuties. And I just, I just think that.
Jessica : Great marketing.
Plant People: Yeah. I mentioned somebody, just yesterday, our snap edit system was like, can you go give me some cuties?
Alexis: that
Plant People: I'm like, you mean Mandarin oranges. And like, she rolled her eyes hard at me because she knew what I was doing. But yeah, that's weird how everybody asks for cuties now. It's like making a, you know, when you say maybe a Xerox of that.
Plant People: Well, it's not, a that's a brand, not a process. It's the same way ah a cutie is a marketing term.
Jessica : Kleenex.
Plant People: Yes. Yes, exactly. But that is interesting how that that's morphed over time and become almost universally, no matter what brand or marketing, it's a cutie.
Jessica : huh
Plant People: I'm like, Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah.
Alexis: Sorry.
Plant People: Somebody just voted for the affirmative of this conversation and another little cutie.
Jessica : Yes.
Alexis: Well, you said cutie. He thought you were talking about him because he's a cutie.
Plant People: Um, yeah.
Alexis: So that tracks.
Plant People: This, I feel like this time of year is a Kushaw season two. Did you guys eating Kushaw pie or Kushaw?
Alexis: Ooh.
Plant People: I love this time of year. I don't know.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: It makes me think of Kushaw. And I was just thinking about that yesterday. Cause I can't wait to go and get one. There, there's a few local sources of the the thinner shelled ones. There's the hard shell Kushaw that you can't cut them with an ax.
Brett: I was going to ask, ha do you have a Kushaw hatchet? Because most of my experience has been trying.
Plant People: There's ones that aren't that thick. but now that's the that's the decorative kusho just like pumpkins kusho the same way there's the more the decoration kusho but you get the old kind of the old versions of kusho that were for eating primarily they're just like the old lines of pumpkins yeah ah but kusho i love kusho pie no best for last
Brett: Okay. That that makes more sense.
Brett: I gotcha.
Jessica : Yeah. Nobody's mentioned pumpkin yet. If they like, we have a pumpkin that is living still on our um kitchen table that we grew like a, you know, like surprise one in our backyard.
Jessica : And I thought my son just wanted to keep it to like carve it, but instead he told me he's keeping it to eat it eventually. And I'm just like, okay, well, I don't know if that's going to be a good one because it's definitely not a pie pumpkin, but I don't know.
Plant People: Okay.
Jessica : I don't have much experience with, um,
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: um
Jessica : You know making pumpkin pie from I just you know go for the can right for ease
Plant People: it's
Plant People: I actually looked at, yeah, I looked at the ingredient.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: You know, I'm always like, well, what's in all spots? I can make my own pumpkin spot or make my what's in pumpkin spots. And you look at the list of like six or eight or nine things that's in there. I'm like, I'm going to continue to buy pumpkin spots if I use fresh pumpkin.
Plant People: But yeah, the pump, the canned pumpkin so good. And it's such a consistent product that I haven't made up from scratch pumpkin pie in years, years and years.
Brett: They have removed an hard to believe amount of water from that canned pumpkin in my experience of having made made some from like, yeah and I think that the, the pie pumpkins, they just have a little bit lower water content.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm.
Brett: Um, but otherwise, and maybe a little bit higher sugar content, or maybe that's just proportional where it's like drier. But yeah, I remember getting it and cutting it up and pureeing it and putting it into like, um, uh, like a mesh, uh, cheese, clothy kind of bag, spinning it and squeezing it and spinning it and squeeze just to get as much water.
Jessica : Like cheesecloth or something. Yeah.
Brett: Cause otherwise you can have a watery pie, but, um, I don't know if the the the juice is worth the pie is worth the squeeze, the juice is worth the squeeze in that case. ah I think the ah canned stuff, I don't know.
Plant People: Yeah, it's pretty good.
Brett: but and So here's a question ah ah along along the lines of what Alexis was saying with like there's certain things that
Brett: sort of like the SEC line. It's just better here. It just means more here or whatever they say. It's just better seasonal.
Jessica : That is what they say.
Brett: It's just it's just better seasonal. what are What are some of those like in this fall time of year that you feel like that? yeah So like, for instance, is cabbage better in season than what you can get at the grocery store?
Plant People: oh yeah Yeah, if it's grown in cool conditions naturally, I think so. But then again, I guess most of the cabbage that's produced at other places ah would be like that as well. so
Brett: Yeah. um I find that um the the cabbage is one of those like that there's less of a difference compared to some others.
Plant People: It's a pretty consistent product through and through, isn't it? I mean, I'm assuming that wherever it grew, it grew in optimal conditions for production.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: But you're right, Brett. It's a very consistent product. Yeah.
Brett: What do you think Alexis?
Alexis: I would say, I would say greens, kale specifically.
Brett: Hmm.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Jessica : Mm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: The greens, even like broccoli, stuff like that, I think is, I mean, we there's science behind it, obviously, and but um definitely, definitely kale is better in this all.
Plant People: Mustard greens.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: can you Can you put words to how it's, how you sort of if i' if I'm out here, I've just had that stuff from the grocery store maybe or wherever.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Can you tell me why?
Alexis: Well, so locally grown, the In general, those crops, if they're grown in a place where you have seasons, so um you know you you're getting cooler, those crops will convert their sugars when it cools down at night, and when we have like a ah little bit more of that jump that we tend to have in the fall of warm days and cool cold nights.
Alexis: um So locally, we have that in Kentucky around here. So that's why a lot of those like broccolis, cauliflowers, kales, you know, greens like that will taste better in the fall than in the spring because the spring were getting warmer at night where now we're getting cooler at night and those starches are all converting into sugars.
Alexis: And so you have a much more flavorful, less bitter product that's still like real crisp.
Plant People: It's a totally different product if you eat them back to back.
Alexis: Yeah, like but like Brussels sprouts are another one that are really good in the fall locally, I think.
Alexis: but
Plant People: It's not a local food, but it's chili season for me. I don't eat a lot of chili when it's hot, but soup season, chili season, all of those things.
Alexis: Yeah. it's And it's like your canned tomatoes, right? Like a lot of people can a ton of stuff, but if they do, they'll can tomatoes, right?
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Cause it's just kind of a little easier. You don't necessarily have to have a pressure canner. Um, you usually can get a lot of them ah from a couple plants. And so like, it's like you're breaking out that, that set this time of year.
Jessica : Mm -hmm. I've already started getting into mine. And then I'm also like, oh, it's so early.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Your canned stuff.
Jessica : I should I need to save them for the winter.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: went Winter months were like eating all of that stuff.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: There was canned beans, there was, you know, pickled corn, which I never was much of a fan. And there was just everything out of a mason jar. We'd have hundreds of, you know, jars of stuff canned.
Plant People: And it was amazing, the variety, but we hated on that all all winter. And I knew it was winter when we would start breaking out the mason jars. And like you said, Jessica, mom would try to wait to a certain point because you didn't want to crack the seal too soon, ah you know, and start eating that stuff too soon.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: But um I think of seasonal eating, like growing up, thinking back, you know, we ate a lot of canned stuff, but you know People would bring us deers that they might have killed and they were fresh kills and for whatever reason they couldn't process.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
Plant People: We'd eat a lot of venison for whatever reason.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
Plant People: um We would kill like hogs on the farm, but all of that stuff I have super fond memories of you know having your hands in that process of you know hanging them you know the the hog gone yeah out on the tree limb with you know ah just in going through the whole process.
Plant People: ah But I have like lots of strong memories of all of that stuff and enjoy it. But the canned stuff, more than anything, that was seasonal eating to us because I was like, by the end of the winter, I was like, if I have to eat another thing of canned green beans, canned green beans, yes, yes.
Alexis: Canned green bean.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: Yeah, I think that.
Jessica : And you counted. Yeah.
Brett: Well, I was going to say and like a supplement to the canning conversation that that predates the technology needed for canning is the fermenting um where so like, I mean, there were there were days, there were days where you would have some sort of a vessel and you could take and chop up a bunch of cabbage and get it going as sauerkraut.
Alexis: Oh yeah, I was going to say that.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Yeah, we never did that.
Plant People: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Brett: And literally, it's just preserved yeah as sauerkraut, you know, maybe with a cover on top. and you would just sort of scoop some out. It's a way that to to supplement your vitamin C during the winter time.
Alexis: Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Brett: If you like the flavor of it, it's amazing. if it If you don't, I'm sure that there's a lot of kids that grew up in that time that are like, if I have to have another bite of sauerkraut.
Alexis: Try again.
Jessica : Yeah, try it again.
Alexis: ah yeah You can't...
Brett: So yeah, we we make sauerkraut. And we i'm I'm mellowing with age, but in... in younger days would just be like go super hard and make like 15 or 20 gallons of sauerkraut like at a batch and like just yeah.
Jessica : Ooh.
Plant People: Wow, that's a lot of sauerkraut.
Alexis: I wanna do it.
Brett: And and but so you can end up going through 40, 50 plus heads of cabbage, you know, getting big bags of cabbage and and preserve them. And um that's another method.
Plant People: Did you have a trick, Brett, of when you would go through your process? People used to brag out here, you know, ladies in church or whatever. people in church brag about the color, how bright and white, like there's sauerkraut.
Plant People: I mean, did you have any tricks or, you know, pay attention to the coloration of the sauerkraut?
Brett: well Well, so so there's ah there's a tradition in like some people who make sauerkraut, they will like ah pound it, muddle it, like pound it until the cell wall breaks down.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: You don't have to do that.
Plant People: yeah
Brett: um And and ah the thing about that is it will almost invariably result in a mushier sauerkraut.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Brett: And so I do typically minimal amount of mushing. I had some garlic, I had some onion, I had some obviously salt ah salt and and water and then keep it topped off.
Brett: And usually the color is pretty good. um I don't have any tricks that I do to, I didn't know that that was a part of the standard of sauerkraut judging, but
Plant People: yeah
Plant People: Oh, it was a, it was a, yeah, it was a source of pride for ladies to have that nice, beautiful white, like sauerkraut. And I don't know why that was a thing. I'm sure it was more aesthetic than functional, but I mean, I don't know.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: It's just one of those things.
Brett: For me, it's its texture and tang are the two, like, tensions.
Alexis: my yeah
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: The more longer you let it go, the maybe the more the texture is bad, but the tang is good, and then vice versa. You go quick and the texture is really crunchy, but the tang isn't as good.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: I feel like you've like unlocked a memory of like what my my grandfather was in charge of the sauerkraut making. And so again, they had eight kids in the depression era, the you know older people.
Alexis: So I lived out in the middle of nowhere. And so even after everybody moved out, my grandma still like canned a ton and yeah they just did like their favorite things, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: cabbage, they grew a bunch of potatoes, stuff like that.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Alexis: And i'm like you just like unlocked a ah memory of my grandfather and my uncle like processing cabbage for the sauerkraut. And I just remember like sitting there watching this machine they had that I like chopped it all up and I would have been little of doing that.
Alexis: and that's that's a fun That's a fun little memory.
Plant People: they hand chopped this hourraut Did they Did they hand chop it?
Alexis: No, I think they had some sort of, I remember my uncle like like turning a wheel of some kind.
Plant People: and
Alexis: So, and it's like a big old.
Brett: It's like a giant version of the like veggie shooter thing, you know, but it's but it's hand cranked, you know, that yeah, those are awesome.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: Mom had a, it was the sharpest implement I can ever remember in my life.
Brett: That's so cool.
Plant People: But mom had this old German half moon, double half moon, krautkutter and it was a little hand implement that was crescent shaped, had two blades. And she would chop these huge bowls and process that so fast into this uniform size particle for sauerkraut making with this half moon cutter.
Plant People: And it was just, it was like a art and rhythm watching her with this big aluminum bowl just go to work on the sauerkraut and hand chop that and I remember that nobody touched her sauerkraut chopper and dad she let dad sharp us sharpen it.
Alexis: It's like fabric scissors nobody touches Yeah, it was very old -school Try again put it on your grilled cheese
Plant People: Yeah, nobody touches mom's sauerkraut chopper, but it was one of those weird memories that ah that kind of goes around sauerkraut and processing it. So yeah, I didn't realize there was like other ways like hand crank probably a lot more efficient.
Brett: Yeah.
Brett: If you haven't tried, if you haven't tried sauerkraut, I would say give it a try.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Jessica : I was going to say, put it on something if you're leery of it first, right?
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, it'll it'll mellow it out, yeah.
Brett: yeah
Alexis: Or like a hot dog or something with some brown luster.
Jessica : Yeah.
Brett: Undefeated, combine a carb, a cheese and sauerkraut, a little bit of black pepper, undefeated.
Jessica : And then.
Alexis: and
Jessica : There you go.
Alexis: Undefeated.
Plant People: Yeah, it's.
Alexis: I actually just had one.
Brett: Pizza, grilled cheese, wraps, undefeated.
Alexis: Yeah. Annie, Annie told me about that and I, cause I love it. I just eat sauerkraut, like out of the jar, like just pull it out of the fridge and she's like, you need to try it with grilled cheese. And I was like, you have changed my life. I just had it yesterday for lunch actually.
Jessica : Cause right, that's like, what's like on a Reuben, right?
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yes, love sauerkraut on a ribbon.
Jessica : They put like, sauerkraut on a Reuben. So, you know, it's good.
Plant People: It's one of my favorite sandwiches.
Brett: On a hot dog
Jessica : Good stuff.
Alexis: If you like, and it's like, if you like pickles, you should like sauerkraut in my brain.
Plant People: Hot dog, yeah.
Alexis: Like I know they're different, but like i I tend to think that like, if you like one, you should like the other.
Plant People: um
Brett: And you don't have to make insane amounts.
Alexis: Like sour, like dill pickles.
Brett: You you can make like a you know moderate amount.
Jessica : No.
Plant People: No.
Brett: um you You can, I apparently can't. But um but I think the other thing, you know if you've had if you've had the store -bought stuff, to me, it's a little bit almost like over -fermented is how I would maybe describe it, because it has a little bit of a soft flavor.
Alexis: If you ever want to do it again, let me know.
Alexis: and
Brett: And they also, I think, add some vinegar and stuff to it. But um it it tastes a little different than
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Brett: the stuff that you might may have had in a more commercial production environment.
Alexis: home for a minute
Brett: And it's it's really, really straightforward.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: All you have to have is patience, really. um Patience, cabbage, salt, and water is all you really need.
Plant People: It's one of those amazing products.
Plant People: You guys mentioned pickles.
Alexis: which is really cool idea to think about it like the flavor profile you get from the simple ingredients
Plant People: Yeah, and the subtlety.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: But the pickles, we had no no fewer than at least three types of pickles, not counting spears or deals or or the shape of the what we were actually putting up. but we I remember us having bread and butter pickles, salt pickles, and regular dill pickles.
Alexis: Um.
Plant People: And then there'd be different variations of those things on whether or not you put them in a hole, whether you slice them or made spears out of them. But mom loved her pickles, and we had such a variety of pickles.
Brett: And now take me through, hold on, so take me through the the, are the dill and bread and butter, that's like a vinegar and water, hot water bath canning kind of vibe?
Plant People: ah
Jessica : it
Plant People: At that time, back in the day, yes, it would have been a hot water bath.
Brett: but
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: I know things have been modernized and changed, but at that time in my life, yes, exactly what you said.
Jessica : it's It's still hot water bath to do pickles.
Plant People: Yeah. Is it? Is it?
Jessica : Yeah. I've started doing a lot of pickles recently. um We make a lot of bread and butter, and then my husband likes the um spicy ones, like the pickle mix.
Plant People: I love bread and butter pickles.
Alexis: What?
Plant People: So good.
Alexis: Mm -hm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : But those bread and butter pickles, it's just like when you make your own jam at home, um whether it be freezer jam.
Plant People: They taste so much better.
Jessica : Well, yeah, it tastes better. But if you freezer jam or regular canning jam, the amount of sugar that you're putting in, it kind of blows your mind how much sugar is put in them.
Alexis: Mm.
Plant People: Oh, gosh, yes. Yeah, you cringe a little bit. and Yes, I love those at home.
Jessica : But they are they are so good. ah and And just the trick it for me is like trying to get them to stay crispy.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : Right. And so that's just like it's keeping them getting like perfectly ripe cucumbers and then keeping them as cold as possible right before canning.
Brett: Mm hmm.
Alexis: Yes.
Jessica : And they they sell the things, you know, that you can add to like kind of crisp them up.
Brett: It's anic acid.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah. But just I found just keeping them in the refrigerator until right before I'm ready to put them in the jars and fill And can but yeah, there are pickles are pretty easy. They're all still just water bath and not a very long processing time Ah Yeah
Brett: Some of the
Plant People: OK, cool.
Brett: Some of the folksy people will put a an oak leaf or a grape leaf in with the pickles for crispness, because it has tannins in it.
Plant People: That's how we processed them.
Plant People: Hmm.
Brett: And in theory, it would help. I don't know. um I always thought that was a fun, like, folksy thing.
Plant People: Interesting. Never heard of that. That's cool. Yeah.
Alexis: Well, uh...
Plant People: Check it out.
Brett: I don't think that's like ah that may not you check with your local extension office to make sure this is, you know, I'm not taking on your your well being with my folksy.
Jessica : So yeah, do not take our advice on that.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: I'm just trying to keep up with Ray.
Alexis: Yeah, the folksy -ness of Rei.
Brett: Uh, but, and so the salt pickle, the salt pickles, what's the deal with that Ray?
Plant People: I don't remember specifically the process other than they were very salty. It was straight brine.
Brett: It was it where they, where they, were like a sealed canned jar.
Plant People: I mean, the salt pickles were straight brine.
Jessica : um
Plant People: I mean, yes, it was a canned in a water bath type process, but salt pickles only about half the family love those.
Brett: Okay.
Plant People: So we did fewer of those than deal or bread and butter, butter butter.
Brett: Gotcha. Cause cause there's. you know, the brining and fermenting side of things, again, not to put, he pulled it back to that, but that was a technique for preserving things before they had, you know, canning.
Plant People: Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah.
Brett: and And so you literally just have this big thing of pickles where it's all below the surface of the water. It stays anaerobic, gets all funky and tasty and all those other things.
Plant People: Mm hmm.
Brett: And um I think that's something I didn't ever realize that growing up necessarily. You know, there is, For some of these fermented things, there is no canning stage. you know It's never killed.
Plant People: No, it just ah the nature of the process.
Brett: you know it's never and all that All that kind of stuff.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: and so It's pretty interesting.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: in that i I associate sauerkraut and and like pickled pickles um with fall like because you sort of start it in summer and kind of have batches going throughout summer and then have it built up for for the fall.
Plant People: Hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah. I did just the fall. I mean, that's like pause and I think of all the dump. I don't know why dumplings, but more than anything else is, uh, I think Jessica first brought it up.
Alexis: Soul food.
Plant People: Yeah. Just comfort food, but also all the canned stuff and stuff that we got out of the garden.
Jessica : Yeah, we didn't mention your sorghum that you said you consider fall.
Plant People: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Jessica : ah
Plant People: Sorghum and all the sweeteners that, you know, uh, molasses and sorghum and all that stuff. And are you guys still making, you're making that still, right? Cause I'm nervous. If you say no, really?
Jessica : Yeah, yeah, we're still doing sorghum and just got a batch finished.
Plant People: No. Okay.
Jessica : So yeah, it is kind of a fall or fall thing because it's like one of the last, like not the last crops like we're harvesting, but while the main vegetable produce is going down, that's when it's time to harvest that.
Plant People: Yeah, it is.
Plant People: It really is. is It's a light one.
Jessica : Usually in you know October, October into um late October, harvesting it and processing it.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: And that that's and such a cool process too. I mean, the way you squeeze it out and the way you boil it, I guess you guys have what, a three or four bin boiler or whatever. I don't know what the, I haven't looked at the process in the last 10 years, but I remember that's a cool process.
Jessica : Yeah, yeah.
Plant People: The way that you make it.
Jessica : It, for at least my husband has gotten significantly faster because the first year he did it, he just had a large pot and he squeezed all the juice and he put it in there.
Plant People: Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah.
Jessica : And we were talking about that how the first time he did it, which was actually like this year we got married. I remember he started cooking at like nine in the morning and then it was like 10 o 'clock at night and he still wasn't like finished cooking it down.
Alexis: Aww.
Plant People: Yeah. And that's if you do a single pot, it's almost like maple syrup type process.
Jessica : It took forever. Yeah.
Alexis: No.
Plant People: If you reduce it it, it takes so long.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Plant People: You have to have that big pan, but the first time you do it with a big pan, you do what?
Jessica : Yep. Yep.
Plant People: You scorch it all.
Alexis: Burn it.
Jessica : Yes.
Plant People: You burn it. Yes.
Jessica : Yeah. So yeah, now he has this system where he has a large pan and he cooks it over an open fire and now he knows and he has it, he has it down.
Plant People: h
Jessica : um But it's one of those things that I think when people see it at first, they're like, ugh.
Plant People: It's awesome.
Plant People: It grows.
Jessica : Right? Cause it's all this green juice foam and it's like, that's going to be good, you know?
Plant People: Oh, it's so good.
Alexis: um
Jessica : And then it turns into this great syrup afterwards.
Plant People: It's amazing.
Alexis: hall laura fell
Plant People: Just biscuits and butter and that goodness man.
Brett: I have, I have a memory.
Jessica : Yeah.
Jessica : Cookies. I use it in baking.
Plant People: Oh, sorghum cookies are the best. Absolutely.
Brett: I have a memory of the, the sorghum growers group having the booth out at the state fair and they would have little, little plastic spoons where you could taste and it was like every year we would go out there and that would be one of the first places we would hit.
Jessica : Uh -huh.
Plant People: a
Brett: And so I always will associate the taste of sorghum. Cause I mean, I grew up in Louisville. It wasn't, you know, We weren't clicking with Sorghum or and even knew what it was and so that's like the only time that I had it for a really long time.
Plant People: What did you think when you first tasted it? Do you have an impression that's still in your mind, Brett, when you first had it?
Brett: um
Alexis: bitter. That's why he likes it now.
Brett: it There was just a ah depth to it as a sweet syrup that I had not experienced, maybe in honey, but even honey, the it's a way away lighter flavor profile.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: i'm not I wasn't putting these words to those as like an eight -year -old, but, hmm, the palate, my palate, and I'm getting...
Plant People: Unless you had buckwheat, yeah Your mind had to process that I bet yeah
Alexis: more du
Brett: Yeah, but but I remember thinking like, and it I think if I had the words to put it to it, then there's a vegetal ness to it. Like, he it's very clearly from a plant.
Jessica : hu
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Compared to like honey is is hard to describe what what it where, where did this come from?
Jessica : Oh, yeah.
Brett: It's a very strange ah flavor.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: But um whereas something like
Alexis: Or molasses or something.
Brett: I don't know just sugar. I wasn't really eating just spoonfuls of sugar but ah maple syrup has I guess its own um sweetened peanut butter.
Alexis: You weren't?
Plant People: Yeah, maple syrup is different, too.
Alexis: No, I asked.
Jessica : Did everybody do that as a child?
Alexis: Seriously, like you weren't because I recently learned that my husband for an elementary school every day took for lunch a peanut butter and sugar sandwich.
Jessica : No, he did not.
Plant People: Well, I did.
Alexis: Yes. And not like the like all natural peanut butter.
Plant People: That's not bad. Not syrup, but sugar.
Alexis: It was, it was Jif sweetened peanut butter with a white bread.
Plant People: OK.
Brett: But I mean, let's let's do a little analysis on on the sugar.
Jessica : Well,
Brett: code We just talked about the sugar content of jam and jelly.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Oh, that's pretty much what my child's eating with his peanut butter and homemade jam that he has on his sandwich.
Brett: um
Plant People: I mean, a sirr peanut butter and syrup, I mean, same thing.
Alexis: I feel like but like at least homemade jam has like some antioxidants in it, right? And like they're learning were learning about different flavors.
Plant People: i think he may but I think he may have been a visionary.
Jessica : I hope so.
Plant People: I'm going to say Tyler is a visionary.
Alexis: no My husband was like, I want white bread and I won't eat the lunch at school.
Plant People: He's a visionary.
Alexis: I want peanut butter and sugar sandwiches. And I, for one, am shocked.
Brett: yeah Yeah. So on a, I'm just defending it on a, it's not that crazy level on an aesthetic level. I find that revolting.
Plant People: The graininess of that.
Jessica : So it's just like white sugar.
Plant People: I mean, did they melt them together?
Alexis: I'm honestly like how did he be like become the healthy human he is now if that is his formative years they think you invent here at Makes the wonder bread go down
Brett: Good genetics, baby.
Plant People: Yeah, long game.
Brett: Or maybe we've been doing it all wrong and you know,
Jessica : He knows something that we don't.
Brett: Yeah, actually, it was the grape portion of the jelly that was causing all the problems.
Plant People: Could be.
Plant People: Wasn't there a song, a spoonful of sugar or something?
Brett: and The sugar part was totally makes the peanut butter go down.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: It's a medicine. Yeah, it makes a peanut butter not asphyxiate you.
Brett: You know, if you just if you just take eat a couple of cups of peanut butter actually helps a lot with a cough.
Plant People: Yeah. Cause you can't be coughing if you're joking.
Jessica : That's what I've heard.
Alexis: This really coats the throat.
Brett: Just complete.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: ah It's so good.
Alexis: No, you can't drink anything afterwards. It's very important.
Brett: I'm feeling, I'm feeling much better now.
Plant People: That's great. It's great.
Alexis: All right.
Jessica : You're welcome for all the advice today.
Alexis: So yeah the advice is ah use something to coat the throat when you're sick, ah but also, yeah.
Jessica : on t Take it with a grain of salt.
Plant People: Yeah. This is, yeah, this conversation. Yeah.
Brett: yeah Whether that be homemade marshmallows, whether that be a just solid can of cranberry relish, whether that be a fistful of, uh, of peanut butter.
Plant People: peanut butter.
Alexis: also try sauerkrauts the other thing maybe maybe try that add that to your thanksgiving uh list possibly if you're if you're interested in that
Jessica : Yeah.
Brett: And and I'll say I'll say on it just the tiniest bit of a not serious note, but whatever is close to serious as I can get the as you're as you're eating some of these these foods, sometimes it's easy for them to become just this commodity thing.
Brett: It's just this idea that exists that didn't come from anywhere. But just remember that corn, those beans, those cranberries, that turkey, they were grown somewhere. They didn't come from nowhere.
Jessica : No?
Brett: and And as you as you you move throughout the year, it's easier to remember that in the when you go out and see stuff growing out in the field. But when you sit down and you eat a bunch of people, a bunch of time, a bunch of energy went into making that that stuff happen and it didn't just come from nowhere. And it's just nice to kind of remember that sometimes.
Alexis: I'm sorry. I just have to say for a second there. I thought you said when you eat a bunch of people They're like your paws in between you that's exactly what you said But you meant to say when you eat comma with a bunch of people and you said when you eat a bunch of people yeah We're not sure
Plant People: When you eat people.
Brett: What did I say?
Brett: Ah, yes, I was re yeah, my AI generated content.
Plant People: This is, a is Brett real?
Brett: yeah
Plant People: We'll never tell that smooth radio voice.
Brett: I'm definitely real.
Plant People: Is it real? Is it attached to a human?
Alexis: Is it real Well, awesome. ah We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Something a little different. We wanted to talk about food. What's new for me, I know, but the rest of the group was on board this time.
Alexis: So so thanks for being here today with us. you know Leave us a review. Drop us what your favorite thing is. Tell us which cranberry sauce you like. And if not, some people just don't like cranberry sauce at all.
Alexis: So you know what do you like? Is it just gravy on everything? No shame in that. ah Whatever you're into. But you can, full sugar.
Brett: It's just been full of sugar.
Alexis: You can also follow us on Instagram at Hort Culture Pod and we we post about our episodes on there. You can send us messages. You can email us. You can find that in our show notes if you have any questions or thoughts or just want to say, hey, guys, you're great.
Alexis: Keep up the good work. We we always take that. No criticism allowed, obviously. but ah But we hope that as we grow this podcast, you will grow with us and that you'll join us next time.
Alexis: Have a great one.
