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Early Summer 2021: Balance

Early Summer 2021: Balance

It’s early summer. Greens and garlic scapes are coming in, patios beckon, and, at least locally, the world is opening up again. Yet health remains at the forefront of our minds. Not only the boost to individual and communal health promised by strong participation in the movement to vaccinate, and not only the health of local restaurants, farms, and arts. What guides the stories in this issue is the intersecting health of people and land.

Mocktails

In this edition of Cooking Fresh, we show you how to create several mixers to build a mocktail repository that you can enjoy as is or spike on the weekends for cocktail hour.

SIMPLE SYRUPS

The possibilities with simple syrup are endless. Equal parts water and sugar is the standard...

Making Shrubs

Making shrubs is easy, the flavor possibilities are endless, and it is a great way to preserve...

Balance

It’s early summer. Greens and garlic scapes are coming in, patios beckon, and, at least locally, the world is opening up again. Yet health remains at the forefront of our minds. Not only the boost to individual and communal health promised by strong participation in the movement to vaccinate, and not only the health of local restaurants, farms, and arts. What guides the stories in this issue is the intersecting health of people and land.

From microbes to fungi, we explore local food producers providing sustenance that is kind to the microbiome and kind to the earth. We look at health issues facing local farmworkers that can seriously hinder the overall goals of sustainability and balance, even on small-scale market farms that sell locally. We also talk with the food policy team at La Semilla Food Center, who, in their ongoing efforts to build a more sustainable and equitable food system, have pushed forward the New Mexico Healthy Food Financing Act—legislation that aims to support food economies in underserved areas through grants and loan supports. Following Christie Greene to a ranch outside Wagon Mound, we slow down to look through a hunter’s lens, reflecting from close range on human settlers’ historically uncertain and ever-important relationships with water and wildlife, land and food, in a drying region.

In these pages, we are reminded that our human bodies are small ecosystems whose well-being depends on the well-being of the greater ecosystems surrounding us. The pandemic has laid bare how connected our individual health is to the health of others, the health of the economy, and, ultimately, to the health of the planet itself. Our food systems, shaken to their core in the early throes of the virus, are fundamental to keeping our bodies and our society going. They also have an enormous influence on our environment and can be, as Ximena Zamacona remarks in Shahid Mustafa’s article on Full Circle Mushrooms, both the problem and the solution. Beneath the surface of all the stories in this issue of edible lie fundamental questions about whether we will choose to work toward food systems that are part of a solution. More broadly, after so much has been stripped away this past year, basic questions remain: Will the pandemic collectively lead us to more deeply appreciate our fragility, our shared fate, and the ways we are intimately and intricately connected to one another? In the process of recovering, will we clarify to ourselves what we truly value and need, shake ourselves from a stupor of normalcy bias, and act boldly for the future health of our species and the millions of other species we live with? 

Mocktails

Mocktails

In this edition of Cooking Fresh, we show you how to create several mixers to build a mocktail repository that you can enjoy as is or spike on the weekends for cocktail hour.

SIMPLE SYRUPS

SIMPLE SYRUPS

The possibilities with simple syrup are endless. Equal parts water and sugar is the standard ratio, but you can also do a 1:2 water to sugar ratio for a more viscous mocktail. Steeping herbs and teas in simple syrup creates the basis for hundreds of possible...

Making Shrubs

Making Shrubs

Making shrubs is easy, the flavor possibilities are endless, and it is a great way to preserve seasonal fruit. Tomatoes, cucumbers, chile peppers, beets, stone fruits, citrus, and berries all make wonderful options. You can make shrubs through two methods, one cold...

DIY Tonic

DIY Tonic

Quinine is a compound found in the cinchona tree’s bark, and cinchona bark is a key ingredient in tonic water. In large amounts, cinchona is unsafe and can be deadly. Although not illegal, quinine can be dangerous unless professionally sourced and produced, so we are...

DIY Ginger Beer and Berry Mocktail

DIY Ginger Beer and Berry Mocktail

Making ginger beer is a bit of a risky business, but you will have a fizzy addition to your mocktail repertoire if you follow these instructions. After the ginger beer has finished fermenting, you can add fruit, simple syrup, or juice to create a customized mocktail,...

Herb Appeal

Herb Appeal

The Herb Blurb By Marisa ThompsonTalk about a rewarding bunch of plants to grow in New Mexico! Many herbs thrive in our climate, are easy to grow (even in containers, balconies, and windowsills), and can be harvested continually throughout the season. Parsley,...

Eight Around the State: Plant Based

Eight Around the State: Plant Based

We’ve rounded up a list of establishments that serve highly rated plant-based dishes, so whether you’re a vegan or vegetarian, or just want to include a few more veggies in your diet, you’ll discover many local options from which to choose.

Confluence

Confluence

During a woman’s spring turkey hunt in northern New Mexico, uncomfortable truths are revealed about relationships among people, land, animals and water.

Farmworker Health Here at Home

Farmworker Health Here at Home

Hardships among farmworkers not only manifests on larger-scale farms or for an immigrant labor force—it’s important to understand that these issues are systemic and impact all people working on farms that they do not own, including workers here at our go-to local farms.

Q&A with Chef Kimnath Gyallay-Pap

Q&A with Chef Kimnath Gyallay-Pap

Interview and Photos by Stephanie CameronTurmeric noodles.Chef Kimnath Gyallay-Pap, who goes by Chef Nath, calls her fare “inspired Khmer.” It’s a melding of her multiethnic heritage, blending Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and her native Cambodian cuisine. Born in...

Chocolate Pecan Tart

Chocolate Pecan Tart

Chocolate Pecan Tart Indulge in every bite of this tart without guilt. Made paleo style, this recipe is delicious without grains, dairy, or sugar. Experiment with the chocolate and try using some different artisan flavors from your favorite chocolatier. Chocolate...

Developing a Fair Food Economy

Developing a Fair Food Economy

La Semilla Food Center and the New Mexico Healthy Food Financing Act By Ellie Duke“You can’t really talk about justice and equity without talking about land,” said Krysten Aguilar, co–executive director of La Semilla Food Center, a nonprofit based in southern New...

Seoul Food

Seoul Food

Mi Young’s Farm Korean Seoul Food KimchiIs Food for Health and Happiness Words and Photos by Ungelbah Dávila-ShiversJenn Yi at 50/50 Coffee House & Pub in Albuquerque, where she makes her kimchi. Jenn Yi lifts the earthy-brown lid of her ceramic crock, revealing a...

Kohlrabi & Fennel Slaw

Kohlrabi & Fennel Slaw

Kohlrabi and fennel make their appearance at farmers markets in the late spring and early summer months. This slaw recipe packs 12 grams of fiber in 1 serving. Kohlrabi, fennel, and apples combined are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, beta-carotene,...

Local Hero: Micah Roseberry

Local Hero: Micah Roseberry

Olla Award Photos by Stephanie CameronLeft: Micah Roseberry. Right: Picadillo bison empanadas with raisins, tomatoes, onions, kalamata olives, and spices, simmered in a sweet and savory sauce, baked into a pastry dough crust. The Olla Award recognizes individuals who...

Rhizome Revolution

Rhizome Revolution

Shahid Mustafa shares how Ximena Zamacona’s Full Circle Mushrooms has implemented a regenerative plan at Stahmanns Pecans in La Mesa.

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Edible celebrates New Mexico's food culture, season by season. We believe that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. With our high-quality, aesthetically pleasing and informative publication, we inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals in our community.

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