The Artful Kitchen

The Artful Kitchen is a blog about art, food, and culture. The premise is that you can make beautiful, tasty, and healthy things at home--domestic works of art! Happy reading!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Arkansas Black


I ended up at Whole Foods somewhat randomly yesterday. I didn't really need anything, but it was the closest place I could think of that had both a cafe and a clean public bathroom, so I stopped with the hubby to have an iced coffee and a mini cupcake. While enjoying our sweet treats I remembered that I needed a red bell pepper for dinner after all, and that's how I ended up taking a spin through the produce department.

I love the produce department at Whole Foods--it's bright, shiny, and full of delicious organics and little oddities. If I'm not careful, it's a place where I can drop some serious cash on bizarre impulse buys, since I am exactly that kind of person that is taken in by produce that seems "exotic." Yesterday, I managed to bypass the squid-like Buddha's hand fruit but was completely taken in by some interesting looking apples. I ended up buying two lovely, deep red Arkansas Black apples (although mine were grown in California).

I ate one of my Arkansas Black apples this morning and it was delicious--extremely dense and totally unlike any other apple I've ever had. The flavor was very sweet and the apple was juicy. In fact, it was so sweet and juicy that it was almost like eating cider, if you can imagine. It had a little acidity in the finish and actually reminded me of what my pie apples taste like once I've sprinkled some sugar and lemon juice on them to keep them from oxidizing. A nice, hearty apple, it would be ideal for juice or cider and will definitely hold up well in baked desserts. I can't wait to try it in a pie or apple crumble some time soon.

I noticed that the label indicated that the Arkansas Black is an heirloom variety, and frankly, that was part of its appeal in the produce aisle at the store. I have been really influenced by Cary Fowler's outstanding TED Talk on the need to protect biodiversity and his involvement with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. I make an effort to buy different kinds of produce and let my dollars tell the places I shop that I'm a consumer who supports bio-diversity. The fact that the apple was local was just icing on the cake, as it were. But I digress. Fowler's TED talk is actually relevant here not only because it's about biodiversity, but because one of the examples he uses to address crop diversity is apples and the notion of ancestral apples that families once grew and named after themselves. His comments on the Fowler apple, named for his family, are amusing and make one wonder about what crops one's ancestors might have grown, and whether they are still being cultivated. Thinking about his comments on the Fowler apple, I couldn't resist finding out a little more about the Arkansas Black.

According to the Arkansas Encyclopedia of History & Culture, the Arkansas Black was probably first cultivated on the Braithewaite farm around 1870 in the Northwest corner of Arkansas. It grows in swampy areas and is prized for being a "good keeper" that can last anywhere between 2-6 months if kept in cold storage. The longer it is stored, the darker the skin becomes, turning from a deep red to a black color, and the fruit itself becomes less acidic. It's also an apple that, like the rest of the apple industry in Arkansas, has never quite bounced back after the damage done first by the 1920 codling moth infestation and then by Dust Bowl conditions and the ensuing Great Depression. I have Romantic notions about reviving heirloom crops and am happy that this delicious heirloom apple is becoming more widely available, but also can't help but think that commercial enterprises have a lot to gain from reviving this specific type of apple since longer shelf life minimizes waste and increases profits. In any case, it's a darn tasty apple, and I it was fun to both try something new and do a little foodie research.

In doing some reading about the Arkansas Black, I came across another blog worth mentioning here. Adam's Apples is a blog all about, well, apples, and it's amazing how many varieties there are. Adam tastes them, photographs them, and posts information about the different varieties, including their flavor, size, where they grow, etc. It's fun reading, and basically a fruit-based and far less insane version of Ron Swardson's steak diaries (any other Parks and Recreation fans out there?!). It also makes me marvel at the diversity that remains in the world, it makes me want to keep protecting it, and, frankly, it makes me hungry to keep trying new things.

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Monday, November 14, 2011

Back from the Big Apple

I've just returned from a trip to New York, a fabulous city full of great eats and great art. Needless to say, I had a wonderful time. I love New York, but I don't love the totally unsecured internet connection in the hotel, so as you can see, I did not end up doing any blogging while there.


Out of all the museums in all the countries I've visited thus far, I have to say that MoMA is probably my favorite. The collection is fabulous, the floor plan clear and well thought out to anticipate the needs of visitors (free audio guides, bathrooms on every floor--hurrah!), the special exhibitions are outstanding (I highly recommend the current de Kooning retrospective). In short, it's a great institution, but the bonus for me was finding out that MoMA is also a great place to get something to eat.

MoMA offers three dining options. There's Terrace 5, a cafe that had a humongous line that I opted to skip, as well as the James Beard Award-winning French-American restaurant The Modern on the ground floor, which looked like the kind of place that was going to sucker-punch my wallet, so I skipped that, too, but found utter bliss at Cafe 2. Make no mistake--this is not your average museum cafeteria. Cafe 2 offers delectable upscale fare for reasonable prices. You're probably going to pay $14-20 per person for lunch, but oh what a lunch you'll get. There are no soggy sandwiches here--just inspired fare like the Wild Mushroom Tart with a huge dollop of creme fraiche on top and a crisp, lightly dressed salad on the side. I was so impressed with lunch that after a few more hours of wandering the galleries, I returned for a cappuccino and a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. The cappuccino had the perfect amount of foam, with a little heart design that gave me exactly the boost I needed to get back on my tired feet and do some more walking. The cheesecake was outstanding--rich and velvety but not too dense, and with a deep pumpkin flavor. The vanilla creme fraiche on top was a perfect accompaniment, and there might not be anything more delicious than sugared pepitas.



I'm sorry that I can only offer this blurry photo. Maybe I was too embarrassed to be another tourist taking a picture of my food at one of the communal tables and didn't bother getting a picture that was in focus, or maybe, and more likely, I was in a hurry to take the damn photo and eat that cheesecake!

If MoMA hadn't already won my heart for so many other reasons, it's very possible that the pumpkin cheesecake would have done it. It wasn't just that it was a pleasurable late-afternoon snack, but rather, it seemed to enhance the entire experience of visiting the museum. The pleasure of looking at the art, of watching other people, of doing things at my own pace--it all sort of culminated in this moment when I stopped to eat something delicious and reflect on everything I had already seen and done, as well as providing a little sugar burst so that I could go on and experience more. It was the kind of moment that makes you feel grateful for all of the things you have, and grateful for the small pleasures of life. It was poetry--the kind of moment that comes to you when all of the conditions are right, and that I frankly think is much less likely to happen in the dingy cafeterias with hard plastic chairs that serve greasy grilled cheese sandwiches.  I love the idea of an art museum as a showcase for the culinary as well as visual and performing arts.

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