What Does Heirloom Actually Mean? — Tips from The Kitchn

Latest sighting at the farmers market: heirloom tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and even potatoes. With their multi-colored hues, and craggily, bumpy shapes and scars, they make “ugly” a good thing.

We eagerly await its arrival, fawn over it at the market, and shell out upwards of $20 for a few pounds of it without blinking an eye — but what does the “heirloom” in heirloom produce actually mean?

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takeout-style sesame noodles with cucumber

takeout-style sesame noodles with cucumber

Is there anything more inspiring than a farmer’s market at the height of the summer, piled high with funky heirloom tomatoes, eggplants from fairytale to freakishly large, crinkly peppers, bi-color corn as far as the eye can see and stone fruits in every color of the rainbow? Wouldn’t this be a great time to cook with all of them? Isn’t it almost a moral imperative to fill our systems with as much of summer as we can before it passes and we spend the rest of the seasons pining for its return? Probably, I mean, yes, of course. But cravings are cravings, and what I’ve really been dreaming about is so-called Chinese food, like, the terrible stuff that comes unceremoniously in white boxes with an embarrassment of chopsticks (because they thought you were ordering for a dozen people, and not just the three of you). I’ve long accepted that if I don’t at least occasionally indulge cravings, they’re never going to pass.

what you'll need, plus or minus the ant that crawled in with the pot (silly deb)
piles of cucumber

The irony of craving unfancy takeout in a sleep-deprived, no-energy-for-cooking period of time that would normally be full of it is not lost on me. If a combination of a few freezer meals plus grandma deliveries of everything from soup to lasagna to Seamless.com order screen by now. But cold sesame noodles have long been one of my desert island dishes, and at least once or twice a year, nothing else is going to cut it.

all of the delicious things

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Recipe: Farro Salad with Roasted Eggplant, Caramelized Onion, and Pine Nuts — Recipes from The Kitchn

Roasting eggplants when they are in season brings out their lush silkiness and natural sweetness. Here they shine in a simple yet aromatic salad with plump kernels of farro. Fresh as well as dried mint add layers of flavor. Don’t let the few steps deter you — this creation comes together seamlessly.

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How To Make Soft, Creamy Scrambled Eggs — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

These are not just any soft and creamy scrambled eggs; these are the softest and the creamiest scrambled eggs of all time. These are the scrambled eggs that seal the deal on marriage proposals and earn you special brownie points every Mother’s Day. These scrambled eggs put all others to shame.

Want to know the secret to these swoony scrambled eggs? Here’s everything you need to make them for yourself.

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