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I Herald & lantern 14 October 81

Jersey Recipes Farm Tour Shows _ ” * € Why New Jersey Is the Garden State

By Florence L.D. Heal Recently I had the privilege 6/ attending a food tour sponsored by the New Jersey Dept, of Agricblture, Cook College, and the New Jersey Vegetable Growers Assn. Our first stop on the tour was at the Ed Wuillermin’s farm in Hammonton where there were booths featuring New Jersey foods such as blueberries, peaches, apples, milk, eggs, cranberries, fish, and vegetables. From the farm, buses took us to visit the Maurice Barsuglia farm where we saw cucumber and eggplants packed. did you know New Jersey is the Eggplant capital'? We then visited the Vineland Auction. It was fascinating to see buyers buying for. markets from Canada to Florida and west to the Mississippi. The produce being auctioned during our visit were squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants. The auction does a $30 million business which gives you some idea of the volume of business. We then returned to the Wuillermin’s farm where we saw com harvested by machine. I would like to share with you some of the recipes for the foods I tasted at the various booths. j* EGGPLANT CAKE cup margarine y 4 tap. salt M cup sugar I teaspoon baking powder J4 cup honey 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 eggs ^ teaspoon nutmet \ ' 2 cups grated eggplant y 4 teaspoon ground ctbves I cup chopped nuts % ):up whole wheat Pour Cream margarine, add sugar and honey. Beat eggs, then stir in grated eggplant, flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, spices and nuts. Pour in cake pan with hole in middle. Bake at 350*F. for 1 hour. Top with 3 oz. cream cheese mixed with 1 cup confectioners sugar. TILEF1SH SALAD 2 cups cooked Pokes tilepsh* 1 cup chopped celery ft cup shopped onion ^ cup chopped dirt pickle cup chopped walnuts cup mayonnaise I tablespoon lemon juice ^ teaspoon salt *To prepare fish for Poking, use poaching or steammg as method of cooking Combing fish, celery, onion, pickle and walnuts. Mix together mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt. A

. Add dressing to the fish mixture. Toss lightly and chill. PEACY MINI PIZZA i 1 ■ 14 oi. can sweetened condensed rhilk I ^ cup cottage cheese 1 envelope Knox gelatin \ Ji cup water I teaspoon lemon juice M cup soft buffer ^ * Kgup packed brown sugar I cup/tour 1/3 cup rolled oats 1/3 cup chopped walnuts 1 lemon, sliced peaches dipped in lemon juice or "Fruit Fresh" Preheat oven to 375*F. Combine butter, sugar. Hour, oats and walnuts until blended and crumbly looking. Divide dough evenly (about 1 tablespoon each) into 30 muffin tins lined with paper cups. Pat down as evenly as possible: Bake 10-12 minutes, watching carefully as they can get too brown quickly. Cool the crusts. Dissolve l envelope of Knox gelatin into cup water. In the blender, blend the dissolved gelatin, an additional ^ cup water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and cottage cheese. Blend until smooth. Add 1 can sweetened condensed milk, juice and rind of 1 lemon and blend untU mixed. Spoon mixture onto crusts in muffin cups and top with 2 or 3 peach slices. Chill. Makes 30. APPLE IZED TEA To make one gallon: Combine 64 tablespoons of instant iced tea powder, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and 4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. Mix well. Add the above mixture to one gallon of apple juice. * SHr until ingredients are completely, dissolved. Cut 8 orange slices in half and add to the mixture. Add ice and chill until ready to use. CORN & ZUCCHINI SOUFFLE 1 cup whole kernel corn 2 cups zucchini, washed and grated 5 tablespoons margarine or butter y cup chopped onion 3 tablespoons Pour 1/8 teaspoon pepper M teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup milk 4 eggs separated cup shredded swiss cheese Saute com and zucchini in 2 tablespoons butter for 5 minutes. Stir in onions and set aside. Heat 3 tablespoons margarine in a large

saucepan. Blend in flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook until smooth. Add milk gradually. Stir and cook over medium-low heat until mixture thickens. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat egg yolks into a bowl, then gradually stjr into the hot mixture. Add corn and zucchini. Stir in cheese. % Beat egg whites until stiff. ^ Blend in 1/3 of the egg whites into the milk mixture. Carefully fold in the remaining eggs until no white streaks remain.

Pour into greased, flour dusted, 2 quart souffle dish or casserole. Bake at 350,F. 50-60 minutes, or untihpuf fy and golden brown on top. Serves 6. \

A tour, as I experience^, really makes one appreciate.the fact that we live in the Garden State and know what is meant by fresh fruits and vegetables. Florence L,V. Heal of Cape May is former Home'Economist for the State of New Jersey.

Jersey Note Imports Most of it’s Milk, Eggs, Fruit

In Two Decades, One-Third of the Garden’s Been tost

by David F. Moore Farming in the Garden State. That evokes a romantic image ot a quieter yesteryear, doesn't it? Not any more! Anybody who wants to farm in the Garden State nowadays has to rise above too many problems and temptations to enjoy that romantic feeling. Acreage in fanning in this state we're in has shrunk by almost a third in just 20 years. That's pretty siary when we thintf how many centuries there's been farming here. Also, back in 1961 New Jersey had 15,200 farms. In 1981 farms total only 9,100. THE REASONS FOR this tailspin are complex, but revolve closely around rising energy costs, mechanization, government subsidies fot- land development and, of course, the inflated sums being offered by builders to farmers for their lands. A sidft effect of this trend is that smaller farms are being lumped into bigger ones, with fewer persons involved in food production, while agriculture has become in-, creasingly subject to disasters like

petroleum shortages and droughts. It’s the food production that’s the bottom line everywhere, but especially in New Jersey. This state sorely needs the capability for production of more food close to the folks who will eat it. What with thousands of acres of farmland in the Garden State succumbing to development each year, that capability is literally being buried in concrete. FOR THE PAST decade conservationists, concerned citizens and those involved in supplying food have been seeking a .way to maintain an adequate supply of farmland and farmers. This country so far produces enough food to meet American needs phis export demands. This leaves existing farmers in a competitive position, making it easier for developers to round up farmland for their purposes. The problem is just down the road, when skyrocketing energy costs and growing foreign demands for our bounty create an intensifying demand for farm production, in New Jersey and the rest Of the states.

The less farmland remaining to be tilled, the nastier that crunch is going to be. And the sooner, too. Here at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) we’ve just produced a strikingly beautiful two-sided poster depicting the image of New Jersey farming. Anybody donating $15 to our farmland conservation efforts will get a poster by return mail, along with a year's membership in NJCF JVe’re at 300 Mendham Ro6d, Morristown; N.J. 07960. AS' IT HAPPENS, Governor Brendan Byrne received the first such poster recently when he signed legislation putting a $30-million Farmland Preservation Bond Act on general election ballots this Nov. 3. Many see the Farmland Preservation Bond Act as a brilliant stroke of legislative ingenuity, because it will provide matching money for counties to buy agricultural easements to protect farms. TTieiresult will be that a farmer can reap part of the financial harvest a developer woul(j offer, while keeping ownership and

his ability to farm. He and future owners of that land would keep it farmland forever. The bond money would also provide matching funds for needed sbil-and wa^pr conservation projects on land devoted to farming. MEANWHILE, enough land has already left farming in the Garde| State so that our 7.5 million population has to send out-of-state for 95% of- its meat, 75% of its fruit, 76% of its milk, 81% of its eggs and 46% of its vegetables. Still, New, Jersey ranks first nationally in average value of farmland and buildings; Second in production of blueberries, eggplant, escarole and summer potatoes; third in cranberries and fresh spinach, and fourth in peaches, peppers, fresh tomatoes and snap beans • But unless we arrest the loss of farmland, we’re going to be in big trouble in the future David F. Moore Is executive direetdr of thfN.J. Conservation Foundation.