The Rural Voice, 2005-12, Page 19produces table salt.
Vegetables to accompany your
Christmas dinner aren't a problem if
you stick to traditional Christmas
fare which was heavily dependent on
root vegetables like carrots and
turnips (or rutabagas if you talk to
the people who grow the crop who
insist that a turnip is animal food
while we eat rutabagas). Traditional
vegetable growing areas like the
Holland Marsh and the Thedford
Marsh near Grand Bend, provide a
variety of vegetables at this time of
the year. Grand Bend and the
Alliston area are both major sources
of Ontario's potato supply.
Much of Ontario's rutabaga crop
is grown in Huron -Perth in areas like
Blyth and Exeter and is shipped all
the way to the southern U.S.
Two of the great traditions of
Christmas come up against the 1,00 -
mile rule: Christmas cake and
Christmas pudding. Both make use of
dried fruits and nuts, many of which
can't be found locally.
The Oxford Companions for
Food says that the tradition of
fruit cakes evolved after the
arrival in Britain in the 13th century
of dried fruits from Portugal and the
eastern Mediterranean.
It is believed that humans
discovered raisins when they
happened upon grapes drying on a
vine. In 1490 B.C., history books
first note raisins were sun-dried
grapes. Between 120 and 900 B.C.,
the first vineyards were developed.
Muscat raisins, which are oversized
with seeds and full of flavor, were
grown in southern Spain.
In the lith century Crusader
knights first introduced raisins to
Europe when they returned home
from the Mediterranean. Packaging
and shipping techniques were good
enough to ship raisins throughout
northern Europe.
One of the greatest sources of
raisins these days (or at least one of
the most promoted) is California. In
the 18th century Spanish
missionaries in Mexico moved into
California and helped farmers grow
grapes for wine. By 1851 a
marketable muscat for raisins, the
Egyptian Muscat, was grown near
San Diego. Since the area didn't have
sufficient water supply, farmers
moved to the San Joaquin Valley
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