Latest News on Recipe for America 
Susan G Reviews Recipe for America on DailyKos
posted by Jill Richardson 2009-09-07 23:26:43Susan G posted a review of Recipe for America on DailyKos. Here's an excerpt of what she had to say:
"Richardson, who first discovered her talent for writing about food issues here at Daily Kos as OrangeClouds115, has turned in a terrific book in Recipe for America, managing to organize into one smooth narrative information as disparate as employing undocumented workers and the lobbying that goes into the Farm Bill. Under her educated eye, the pieces of the enormous puzzle of legislation, policy, science and environmentalism are woven together in a book that can serve as an introduction to those unfamiliar with the sustainable food movement, while expanding the base of knowledge of those who've been reading on the topic for years.
"This is no small feat. Juggling the needs of newcomers to a topic without losing the interest of the already informed is a problem that many writers with many more books under their belt than Richardson have failed to solve."
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Book Tour Dates + Buying Autographed Copies
posted by Jill Richardson 2009-06-15 10:28:01
If you want to catch me on tour, here are the plans so far:
December 1 - Chicago, IL at Hull House's re-Thinking Soup at 12-1:30pm
December 1 - Oak Park, IL at Borders Books at 7pm
Past events:
San Diego
Philadelphia
Lancaster, PA
New York City
Pittsburgh
Morrisville, VT
Rutland, VT
Bellows Falls, VT
Boston
Shelburne Falls, MA
Northampton, MA
Seattle
Tacoma
Duvall, WA
Portland, OR
Madison, WI
Des Moines, IA
Los Angeles
Austin, TX
Orange County, CA
If your city isn't on this list and you want me to visit, please contact me at OrangeClouds115 at gmail.
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My Book is Available For Pre-Order
posted by Jill Richardson 2009-04-04 22:37:47Great news! My book, Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It, is ready for pre-order. You can buy it on Amazon, Powells, or Barnes & Noble.
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A New Blog on Food
posted by Jill Richardson 2008-07-05 23:28:28There's a new blog about food! Check out La Vida Locavore - a blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
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The Dirt on Our Farms
posted by marrael 2006-12-26 10:03:44Check out The Dirt on Our Farms at Tompaine.com.
More news from our favorite news sources!
La Vida Locavore
Chicken Dramas: Introducing Old Chickens and New Chickens
Welcome to the latest installment on urban chicken keeping. To update on where I last left off, we had two full grown hens, a "special needs" hen (Daisy, who suffered a bad brain injury and has not laid an egg yet even though she should have months ago), a bantam frizzle, and two roosters. The bantam and the roosters were all juvenile, so the roosters weren't crowing and the bantam wasn't laying. Since Daisy doesn't lay, and the two hens (Diana and Elizabeth) were molting, I was getting zero eggs.
So here's what's happened since: First, Diana resumed laying. Then Elizabeth did too. Then Spot the rooster began crowing. Roosters aren't very good at crowing when they first try, but by the time I managed to trade Spot and his rooster friend George in for two hens, Spot had nearly mastered it. And he was crowing A LOT. It wasn't a fully enunciated cock-a-doodle-doo but it was LOUD.
So last Saturday, Spot and George went back to the woman who sold them to me and she traded me two hens instead. I selected a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Rock who has a bunch of gold feathers on her neck, both nearly six months old and about ready to start laying. The Rhode Island Red was to replace our previous one who had died, and my roommate's youngest daughter had already named her Rosy Rose (same name as her predecessor). His other daughter gets to name the Barred Rock... but I really want to name her Goldie Hen. Of course, the kid's never heard of Goldie Hawn, so she might not go for that one.
I dropped Rosy and Goldie off in the undisclosed location where the chickens live (a fenced yard). Diana tried to attack one of the new girls, and the other new girl tried to attack Frizzie, the bantam. Then I headed to the farmers market. I thought they'd be OK.
When I got back, I was informed that one of the new chickens had hopped the fence and the firefighters had rescued her from a busy street below. Oops. I bet she panicked when she met the dog, who is not interested in eating chickens but VERY interested in sniffing chickens, which can be scary to a chicken who has never met him before.
At that point, I caught Rosy and found Goldie (who was well hidden and very high up - it involved me climbing on a chair and then onto a six foot high wall) and clipped their wings and put them in the coop for the rest of the day. For that day and night, they got to look at and check out the rest of the flock without any pecking.
The next day, I let all the chickens hang out together out of the coop. It seemed OK. The yard has many places for chickens to hide, and I've been giving everybody lots of treats so that there isn't much competition. I also put the food down in several places so that the new chickens can eat in a different location from the old chickens if necessary. Goldie's even timidly started eating out of my hands, but Rosy's still too scared to do that.
Then this morning, while feeding the chickens, I noticed a huge pile of Rhode Island Red feathers... but no Rhode Island Red. I searched the yard - twice. There was no blood anywhere, or any part of a dead chicken. It seemed like it was most likely that the chickens had pecked Rosy, not that a predator ate her. But there was no Rosy anywhere.
A little while later, I looked out back and saw a tiny Rhode Island Red head peeking out from behind a trashcan in a very narrow corner of the yard. I caught her and put her in the coop. I brought treats out several times today and fed the chickens from my hands right where Rosy could see me and then put some in the coop for Rosy. I managed to catch Goldie and put her in the coop to so Rosy could have a friend. I gave them rolled oats, half a bagel, and a piece of string cheese as treats today. I looked through the compost and one of the garden beds for grubs to give them but found none.
Late in the afternoon, Rosy and Goldie seemed eager to get out of the coop so I let them out. I figured there wasn't much time left before Chicken Bedtime for anyone to peck anyone else. The chickens did well together until bedtime. And everyone went to bed in the coop like they were supposed to. After dark, I moved the old chickens into one section of the coop and shut the door, and put the new chickens in the other section and shut their door. So in the morning, my roommate will let the old chickens out and leave the new chickens in. I don't know how long we'll do this for. I've never had any pecking incidents before so this is my first. I can't say I'm enjoying it.
Pot Luck
Pot Luck is an open thread...
Kenya Or Bust
Hi folks, my apologies for my long absence. I've been working on planning my trip to Kenya, writing my book, and trying to pay the bills by writing articles. Writing for free on this blog in addition to that hasn't seemed very attractive. You will hear from me A LOT once I'm home from Kenya, because I will write daily diaries of the trip and post all of my pictures.
That said, I want to share what I've come up with for my trip to Kenya. Unlike my previous travel, I'm going alone this time. The research and the legwork was mine alone to do, although I'm very grateful for a number of people, both American and Kenyan, who have been incredibly helpful. I'll be gone for most of the month of February, and my itinerary is below.
First, why Kenya? I was looking for an African country that was colonized, which rules out only Ethiopia. I also didn't want a place where I could get killed, which knocks out Sudan and Somalia. I wanted somewhere where the U.S. was very active in providing agricultural aid and had been for some time. Kenya fits the bill but so do many other nations. Kenya specifically had something special: When Monsanto approached USAID to suggest that they would donate technology if USAID would fund the development of "humanitarian" GMOs back in 1990, Kenya was the first country targeted by that program, which began in 1991. (For more, see this article.) This year, Kenya legalized GMOs. Add to that the fact that they speak English, I actually took a class on Kenya in college so I know a bit about it, and it seems like it's a lot easier to find contacts in Kenya to visit than any other country, and the choice was simple.
Once I made my plans, I realized another reason why Kenya's a great pick. Africa's agriculture developed along the same lines as it language families. The first Bantu speakers, for example, domesticated a successful package of crops in modern day Cameroon, West Africa, and used that to spread out across the continent. Ethiopians domesticated another package of crops, as did those living in the Sahel region just south of the Sahara. Ethiopians and their crops are associated with Afro-Asiatic languages and in Kenya I believe the Afro-Asiatic speakers are all within the Cushitic group. Those who domesticated pearl millet and sorghum in the Sahel speak Nilo-Saharan languages (and within Kenya, the Nilo-Saharan speakers seem to be within the Nilotic branch). And Kenya also has plenty of Bantu speakers. So aside from the non-Bantu Niger-Congo speakers of West Africa and the strange group in Madagascar that speaks languages related to languages in Indonesia, Kenya has ethnic groups from each of the major language groups and hopefully agriculture to match! (For a quick primer on this topic, read the chapter on Africa in Guns, Germs, and Steel.)
So here's where I'm going:
Feb 4: Leave U.S. Fly through London, since my flights are always canceled and I might as well be in an English-speaking country when that happens.
Feb 5: I am scheduled to arrive in Nairobi at 9:40pm. If I actually arrive then, I'll be shocked. I'm hoping I get there by Feb 6 or so. (I love you, airline industry...)
Feb 6-7: Recover from jetlag in Nairobi. Visit museums, the huge slum Kibera, the African Network for Animal Welfare and see if I can get in touch with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), who has not answered any of my emails yet. I REALLY want to hear directly from them what they are up to and how they feel it will help farmers. Maybe look up the World Agroforestry Centre and the International Livestock Research Institute as well. ILRI, to their credit, HAS answered my emails and was in the process of helping me plan to visit one of their sites. Then they asked me who I write for, I gave them the name of my publisher, and I haven't heard anything since. Again, I am VERY interested in hearing about their work directly from them and - even better - directly from the farmers they help.
Feb 8-11: I'll spend this time in Thika, a city about 30 km from Nairobi. From what I understand, this area is mostly populated by the Kikuyu, which is a large ethnic group and also the most powerful ethnic group within Kenya. There are a few NGOs I'll be visiting here, and two groups will take me out to meet the farmers they work with for two of the days I am there:
- Grow Biointensive Agriculture Center of Kenya (G-BIACK), winner of this year's Food Sovereignty Award
- SARDI Kenya (Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Initiative)
- African Biodiversity Network
- Participatory Ecological Land Use Management
- Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa
Feb 12-16: Travel to and visit Samburu. If you look at a map of Kenya, Samburu is roughly halfway between Nairobi and the northern border, directly north of Nairobi. Roughly half of this five day period will be taken up by travel to and from Samburu. The rest will be spent with the Samburu ethnic group. The Samburu are pastoralists who are similar, at least linguistically, to the more famous Maasai. Here I'll be with the African LIFE Network, who doesn't appear to have a website.
Feb 17-19: Back to Nairobi, unless I can find something better to do with myself. I am VERY MUCH hoping to use this time visiting and learning more about KARI, ILRI, and their work. However, I might end up taking a day trip east of Nairobi to visit an ethnic group called the Kamba. The Kamba are a Bantu-speaking group that live in one of two regions targeted by USAID for ag development work. It's a semi-arid region with several ethnic groups (Meru, Embu, and Kamba, if I remember right - all Bantu-speakers). But we'll see. If I do that it would be to visit the family of a random Kamba lady I met here in San Diego at the farmer's market.
Feb 20-24: Fly to Kisumu near Lake Victoria and stay in Bondo District, also near Lake Victoria (Nyanza province if you're looking at a map). Here I'll be with Amy Lint and Malaki Obado of Grow Strong. I have an interview with Amy that will be published soon (I hope) and I cannot wait to share it with you.
The two of them are INCREDIBLE. Malaki is a Luo, the same ethnic group as Barack Obama's dad. Amy's from the U.S. and was assigned to Malaki's area while in the Peace Corps. They lived in San Diego for the past several years and both did amazing work on community food security and urban agriculture, although Amy has been the more recognized of the two (Michelle Obama and the New York Times both thought she did great work - not bad, huh?). Malaki's work is less celebrated but incredible all the same. He does beekeeping and bee rescue and set up an aquaponics facility, among other things.
If you look at a precipitation map of Kenya, you'll see that the area in between Nairobi and Lake Victoria is more or less where all the rain falls. However, Bondo District does not get enough rain. It's also suffering from a very high HIV/AIDS rate, which Amy spoke poignantly about when I interviewed her on Monday. They moved to Kenya yesterday.
Feb 25: Return to Nairobi. Tie up loose ends.
Feb 26: Fly home.
So that's the trip. Also, in case you're wondering, Kenya is home to just about every African animal you can name except gorillas and chimps. Among the animals I might see (or not see, since I'm really there to learn about people, crops, and livestock) are:
- Baboons (Yellow Baboon and Olive Baboon)
- Lions
- Cheetahs
- Leopards
- Cape Buffalo
- Zebras (Burchell's Zebra and Grevy's Zebra)
- Elephants
- Rhinos (severely endangered)
- Flamingos
- Gazelles (Grant's Gazelle and Thomson's Gazelle)
- Wildebeest
- Warthog
- Vultures (Egyptian Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Ruppel's Griffon, White-backed Vulture and White-headed Vulture)
- Ostrich
- Monkeys (Vervet (Green) Monkey, Colobus (Guereza) Monkey, Sykes' (White-throated, Blue or Samango) Monkey, Patas Monkey, De Brazza's Monkey and Red-(Copper-)tailed Monkey)
- Mongoose (Banded Mongoose, Dwarf Mongoose, Slender (black-tipped) Mongoose and White-tailed Mongoose)
- Impalas
- Jackals
- Hyenas
- Hippos
- Giraffes (Masai Giraffe, Reticulated Giraffe, and Rothschild's Giraffe)
- Dik-Dik
- Crocodile
- Bushbaby
- Porcupines
- Much, much more
To put it another way, Simba, Puumba, and Rafiki all live in Kenya, but Timon definitely doesn't. Simba, by the way, is Swahili for "lion." An animal I hope I do not see is a Black Mamba.
Dow & Monsanto in deadly race on the pesticide treadmill
Originally posted on Pesticide Action Network's blog, Groundtruth.
You've all heard the news: farmers across the country are losing their fields to superweeds so formidable and fast-spreading that they break farm machinery and render millions of acres of farmland useless. These superweeds have evolved as a direct consequence of Monsanto's RoundUp Ready pesticide-seed package. Now superbugs are emerging, resistant to Monsanto's transgenic insecticidal crops. Ecologists predicted this ecological disaster 15 years ago.
The big question is, can we possibly learn from this ecological and agronomic disaster? The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Monsanto's rival, Dow Chemical, apparently cannot.
From bad to worse
Instead of abandoning this losing strategy, Dow is trying to get us running faster on the same old broken pesticide treadmill. Dow and USDA are hoping to quietly approve a new genetically engineered corn seed that basically swaps RoundUp (glyphosate) out and an even worse weedkiller (2,4-D) in. Bad idea.
As with Monsanto's RoundUp Ready lines, the herbicide with which these seeds are engineered to be used (2,4-D) will surge in use. Dow aims to get 2,4-D-resistant corn to market this year, soy next year and cotton in 2015. These three crops dominate U.S. agriculture, blanketing over 100 million acres of mono-cropped countryside and driving the pesticide market. Only this time, the fallout will be even worse. Here's why:
➤ 2,4-D is a more toxic herbicide, both to humans and to plants. 2,4-D is a reproductive toxicant (associated with lower sperm counts) and its formulations have been linked to cancer (in particular non-Hodgkins lymphoma), disruption of the immune and endocrine (hormone) systems and birth defects. EPA has also expressed a "concern for developmental neurotoxicity resulting from exposure to 2,4-D."
➤ 2,4-D does and will drift off of target crops - both through spray drift and volatilization. The latter enables chemicals to travel with moving air masses for miles. Neither applicator nor innocent bystander can prevent such movement. The spread of 2,4-D across our lands will damage non-target crops and vegetation, devastate adjacent ecosystems and poses a very real threat to rural economies and farmers growing non-2,4-D-resistant crops. Conventional farmers growing their product miles away will suffer severe crop losses, while organic farmers will lose both crops and certification, resulting in business failures, job losses and an economic unraveling of already-stressed rural communities.
➤ 2,4-D-resistant "superweeds" will arise and spread just as RoundUp-resistant "superweeds" have taken over farms and countryside in the Midwest and Southeast. Where will this leave struggling farmers? What even more deadly pesticide will the biotech companies resort to next?
➤ Corn is wind-pollinated which means that genetic material from 2,4-D corn will contaminate non-GE corn. You cannot put a GE genie back in the bottle.
What next?
Will Dow provide compensation to farmers, their children and rural communities for the harms likely to occur should the company secure approval of its 2, 4-D resistant corn? I rather doubt it. Dow has still refused to assume responsibility for the deaths and devastation arising from the pesticide explosion in Bhopal, India in 1984, so why would the company show any integrity now?
What about USDA? Can we expect our public agency to carefully scrutinize the likely fallout of approving 2,4-D resistant corn? One problem is that USDA does not really want to know what the public thinks.
One giveaway sign: USDA opened the required public comment period over the holiday break, as the Agency tends to do for controversial decisions they want to bury.
More significantly, they've asked the public to comment only on whether or not the new GE corn poses a "plant pest risk" - not on whether the impacts of this new GE crop are more likely to strengthen farmers' ability to grow healthy food safely or to devastate their health, livelihoods and the environment all in one go.
But Agency reluctance to face facts shouldn't stop us from exercising our rights. We'll have to be loud - really loud - because an active engaged public is what it will take to get our agencies back on track and in the business of serving the public interest, not corporate profits.
Take Action » Tell USDA we want off the pesticide treadmill! This dangerous and antiquated herbicide shouldn't be on the market, and we certainly should not be giving Dow license to profit from driving up use. Sign our petition to USDA.
Pot Luck
Pot Luck is an open thread...
Trials with Chickens
We had a death in our family today. Rosy Rose, the Rhode Island Red chicken, met her maker. And if I get my way, she'll be an excellent source of fertility for our fig tree (my plan involves somebody who isn't me digging that hole so we'll see if it happens).
I just want to share the craziness of our little flock with everyone, to tell you how it is that I had seven chickens (now six) and get about one egg a week.
Rosy Rose, who is no more
My girls (and boys)
Of the original four chickens, I got, three were hens, and two are still alive. Victoria, the third hen, was constantly broody and she died in the nestbox during a stretch of 104 degree weather this summer. My two remaining hens, both Buff Orpingtons, are alive and well... but not really laying. This time of year is when chickens molt and they stop laying, but Buff Orps supposedly consider laying through the molt. Diana gives us maybe an egg a week these days. Elizabeth went broody for a long time and got attacked by mites until she was anemic. She's still not back up to her former weight, and her comb and wattle are still pink and not quite red yet. I give her as many treats as I can to help her recuperate.
Diana and Elizabeth
Diana. I love this chicken!
In March we got four more chickens, three Ameraucanas and a Wyandotte. I didn't like the Wyandotte much and I gave her away. We raised the other three until early August, when I was leaving for Bolivia and worried that we would have roosters crowing while I was gone. Of the three, two were roosters. You can tell because they have pointier saddle and hackle (neck) feathers than the hens do, and their feathers are also shinier. Plus, they are assholes.
Just before we re-homed the two boys, our only hen of the bunch, Daisy, bumped her head and got a brain injury. We nursed her back to health with vitamins and prednisone, but she's still not quite "all there." And she hasn't started laying, even though she's now over 9 months old. She still seems underweight for her age too. Who knows if she'll ever lay, but she is a lovely, lovely bird. I think Daisy is destined to be a pet.
My beauty, Daisy
Our next attempt was a purchase of four baby chicks who were just old enough to live outside (about six weeks old). I think we got them in September or October. We got a Barred Rock (Spot), a Rhode Island Red (Rosy Rose), an Australorp (Ella), and a Frizzle Cochin/Silkie mix (Frizzie). Rosy Rose is the one who died today. Spot is a boy for SURE. And it's now looking like Ella's a boy too, since his feathers are just too beautiful and shiny to be on a hen. The kids are working on thinking up a boy's name for Ella. My room mate and I are working on plans to eat Spot and Ella, and the kids are not down with that plan.
Spot and Ella
Last is Frizzie. It doesn't much matter whether Frizzie is a boy or a girl. I kind of hope Frizzie is a boy so we can find him a new home. He or she is a bantam, which means Frizzie will always be small. If Frizzie is a girl, the breeds (Cochin and Silkie) are notorious for being broody, so we won't expect many eggs. Having a bird who can incubate and hatch eggs and raise chicks is a nice idea, but it's not something I want to do until our mites are all gone. They are mostly under control but not 100% gone.
Frizzie
I've just emailed my "dealer" to see if we can get a few hens who are old enough to lay NOW. I've asked for another Rhode Island Red and either a Barred Rock or an Australorp. If she doesn't have any, then I'm going to go to another woman who sells chickens and get a few Black Star sexlinks from her, ones that are ready to start laying. We've got a full coop of chickens and almost no eggs, dammit!
Sunday Bread - Almond Christmas Pudding, with Grand Marnier Butter
Happy Sunday Bread Heads!
I have a bit of a problem, since I have promised two things for this week, Gingerbread Men and Christmas pudding. Since the pudding recipe is a little more rare than the Gingerbread Men, I am going to go with that one, sorry for those looking of the cookies, I promise that next year I'll do them early and thoroughly.
Now, let's talk Christmas pudding. This is a really traditional English dish. It is a cake made of bread crumbs, and studded with dried or candied fruit that is cooked in a mold surrounded by boiling water over several hours.
The real deal Plumb Pudding is made with suet, which is the beef version of lard. You can make this recipe with suet, which is really good and tasty no matter how much you squirmed reading about it, but it is not always easy to find, so I am going with butter instead.
The recipe I am giving you today is my own take on Christmas pudding. I come from a family that inexplicably does not like rum nor brandy which are the traditional flavors for the cake and the hard sauce that go with it. So I have changed things around to us Amaretto and Grand Marnier.
This gives a wonderful almond and orange flavors to the dish that contrast nicely with the fruit which is raisins (white and regular), candied cherries and the special twist ingredient of candied pineapple.
This recipe, like all traditional feast foods takes some advanced preparation, it is going to take a couple of days to candy the fruit (unless you want to commit the heresy of using the candied fruit from the store, in which case you may be cursed onto the seventh generation. Just sayin') and you will need to make a loaf of bread for the bread crumbs, and there is a need for part of the recipe to sit overnight in the Amaretto.
So, all told if you want to have a pudding for Solstice or for Christmas Eve or Day you have to get started today!
For the bread I use either French Bread or English Oatmeal Bread. By clicking on the links you can find the recipe for each.
Before we start, I have to warn you, this is an unlovely if tasty dish. It is not going to have the pristine look of a cake that is iced or even the smooth texture of bread, it is going to look more like what it is, a bread pudding. But if you can get around that it is delightfully tasty!
But enough cautions and warnings, let's make a Almond Christmas Pudding with Grand Marnier Butter!
Ingredients:
For Grand Marnier Butter:
¾ cups (1 ½ stick) butter, slightly softened
1 cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons Grand Marnier
For Candied Cherries and Pineapple:
1 can pineapple chunks (drained)
1 can cherries in water (drained )
8 cups sugar
8 cups water
For the Pudding:
¾ cup Sultana (white) raisins
¾ cup raisins
½ cup candied cherries
½ cup candied pineapple
¾ cup prunes (finding fresh plumbs at this time of year is a drag, but you can't have a plumb pudding without them, so prunes it is)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly shaved preferred)
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup Amaretto (I like Lazzaroni but DiSarrono is the one that you are most likely to find, don't use a cheap off brand whatever you do).
3 cups fresh bread crumbs (use French Bread or English Oatmeal Bread if you can)
½ cup packed brown sugar (dark preferred but light will work as well)
6 tablespoons of flour
½ cup finely chopped almonds
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3 eggs
¼ cup whole milk (no sense in scrimping at this point, eh?)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
Equipment:
1 2 quart mold - There are special molds for this. But any bowl or soufflé pan that you can cover with a lid will do. I used to have a mold but I gave it to my sister and started using my soufflé dish.
1 pot large enough to fit your bowl or mold
1 grate or Mason jar ring
Method:
For Grand Marnier Butter:
In a large bowl or the work bowl of your stand mixer beat the butter until it is smooth. Beat in the sugar. Then beat in the Grand Marnier.
This can be made up to 1 week ahead. Just place the butter in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
For the Candying Cherries and Pineapple:
You can use the same method for both the cherries and the pineapple, but don't do them in the same pot, as the cherries will make the pineapple a very unappealing color.
In a large pan, bring 4 cups of water and sugar to boil. Clip on your candy thermometer and let it cook until it comes to 228 degrees (216 above 5K feet). Carefully add the cherries or pineapple. Reduce the temperature and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 8 to 24 hours uncovered.
Bring the syrup back up to 228 (216 at 5K feet or above), reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand overnight. Bring the syrup up to a boil, then pour the fruit and syrup out into a colander. When the syrup has drained turn the fruit out onto a wire cooling rack to dry. When just tacky (about 8 hours) toss the fruit in a bowl filled with sugar to coat the outside. Store in an air tight container for up to 3 months.
For Pudding:
Chop the raisins, pineapple and plumbs into ¼ pieces and, in your largest bowl, combine them with both types of raisins, the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Pour the Amaretto over the whole thing and stir to combine. Let stand for 30 minutes while you get the bread crumbs sorted out.
We want fresh not dried bread crumbs for this recipe so we need to start with fresh bread and make bread crumbs. Start by cutting the crust off of about half a loaf of the bread you're going to use. The easiest way to make the bread crumbs is in a food processor. Just cut some thick slices and plop them in the work bowl with the metal blade attachment. Pulse 10 or 12 times until you have a nice even small crumb.
Now, if you don't have a food processor, it is a little more work but not that much. The best way is to use a bread knife to cut really thin slices from the half loaf after you've taken the crust off. When you have them put them in a bowl and then use your fingers to shred them into a fine crumb. Take your time and don't rush. It'll take about 10 minutes or so. You won't get the evenness of the food processor but it will not matter at all in the end result.
In a medium bowl mix the bread crumbs, the brown sugar and flour together until it is evenly mixed. Pour this mixture into the fruit and Amaretto mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let it stand on a counter for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Combine the almonds, baking powder, melted butter, eggs, milk, vanilla and almond extracts in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
Remove the plastic wrap and stir the milk mixture into the fruit and bread mixture.
Thickly butter the bottom and sides of the mold that you are going to use. For the love of the FSM do not skip this step! Your pudding might adhere to the sides of the bowl and that would be a disaster!
Pour the mixture into your mold and press down firmly all around. Now it is time to boil this bad boy!
Place a rack or a Mason jar ring in the bottom of your largest pot. I like to tie four piece of kitchen twine to the ring to use a way to lift my soufflé dish out of the water. Place a pot lid over your mold or bowl or soufflé pan (it is there to keep water off the top of your pudding, not to make a seal). Fill the pan with boiling water up to the middle of the mold. Cover the pot and put it over medium heat for about 2 hours. The pudding is done when a tester comes out clean from the middle.
You want to keep an eye on the water level; you will almost certainly have to add more to keep it from boiling dry.
When the pudding is done, remove it from the pot and let it stand on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert it onto a serving dish and serve with the Grand Marnier butter.
The great thing about this dish is you can make it ahead and then re-heat it to serve. Just unmold it and let it cool completely. Then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it.
To bring is back, just rebutter the mold, put it in cover and put in a pot of boiling water half way up the sides of the mold. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 45 minutes. Then treat it just like the first time, 5 minutes on the wire rack and unmold.
So there you have it Bread Heads, the way to make an updated version of the English Christmas pudding; sweet, moist with bright fruit flavors and smooth almond taste. Enjoy!
The flour is yours!
Interesting Statistics About "Feeding the World"
I'm curled up with a World Bank report and I've come across the following statistics. Globally, as of 2007, here is the area devoted to each of several crops:
Maize: 158 million ha
Oil palm: 14 million ha
Rapeseed: 30 million ha
Soybean: 90 million ha
Sunflower: 27 million ha
Sugarcane: 23 million ha
Plantation forestry (paper & lumber): 139 million ha
Total: 481 million ha
Included among this is a little less than 36 million ha of biofuel feedstocks (the number was 36 million ha in 2008 and since the numbers above are 2007, the biofuel feedstock amount was presumably a bit less), which includes 8.3 million in the EU (mainly rapeseed), 7.5 million ha in the U.S. (mainly corn), and 6.4 million ha in Latin American (mainly sugarcane). And I believe I read recently that some 70% of corn is fed to livestock. If that's true, then about 40 million ha of corn goes to uses other than livestock and ethanol, i.e. feeding people.
In 2007, the total world arable area used for farming was 1554 million ha. Of that, the 441 million hectares of crops noted above used for oil, biofuels, livestock feed, paper, etc, make up about 28%. In addition to the 1554 million ha of cropland, there was 3,400 million ha of pasture.