Sonoma harvest and the healthiest foods in the world

By Brenda Norrell

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. --In Sonoma County, it is harvest time. There's squashes and gourds, potatoes and persimmons and fresh herbs. A local beekeeper gave me a taste of six different honeys. "We stop harvesting in late summer, otherwise the girls will starve to death," he says. He tells me how bees live on their honey all winter. It is such a simple fact of life, and I wonder why I didn't know this.

Then, there's the incredible fresh goat's cheese, fresh loaves of bread and coffee beans to grind.

The garden vegetables are everywhere on this very warm day in November. This is the slow food and organic food center. The figs are finishing up the season on the trees, but the pomegranates are ripe and the sage and mint smells pungent and sweet in the gardens. The lemons are not quite ripe on the trees.

Which reminds me of the website, The Healthiest Foods in the World.

It lists the 129 healthiest foods in the world, with dark green, red, yellow and orange vegetables high on the list. It also recommends for sweeteners, to use honey, blackstrap molasses, pure cane juice and maple syrup (instead of white sugar.)

There's also a section on Healing with Foods.

There's a great blog of healthy recipes from this region as well, 101 recipe journal.

From northern New Mexico, and blue corn country, here's some simple recipes from the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico, Cooking Post to cook those harvest vegetables.

Corn Pudding
2 cups green corn cut from cob
1 zucchini, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
2 tablespoons shelled sunflower seeds or shelled roasted piñon nuts, finely chopped

Blend or mash all ingredients together until milky. Bring to boil and simmer until mixture reaches a pudding-like consistency. Serve hot with butter or chile sauce.
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Calabacitas (Skillet Squash)

5 cubed small summer squash
1 diced large onion
2 roasted peeled green chiles or about 1 small can diced green chile
1 tablespoon shortening or oil
3/4 cup shredded longhorn cheese

Sauté onion in shortening or oil until soft. Add squash and stir until almost tender. Add chiles; simmer briefly. Sprinkle on cheese and stir until melted.
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Baked Pumpkin

1 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon

Place pumpkin cubes in a baking dish and sprinkle with sugar and salt. Cover pan with foil and bake in 325-degree oven until soft. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

More recipes at Cooking Post