Carrie, by “oat groats” do you mean whole hulled oats, as James did, or cracked oats--that is, Irish or Scottish oatmeal? Also, how do you prefer to reheat the groats, if they are to be eaten over several days?

In the mid-1970s I lived for a year in Davis, California, where my favorite treat at the local ice-cream shop was carob-honey ice cream. I was a chocolate addict, but that didn’t matter. The carob-honey was simply wonderful.

Thanks for the really interesting article.
I’m wondering about the roses and sea buckthorn: Is the rose-flavored vinegar combined with the fruit juice, or are the pickled rose petals combined with the juice? Or both? How is this sour drink served?

Harriet, I think Balaboosta would be a great title for your next book.

When beans are slow to cook, sometimes the problem is the cooking water. Because my well water is hard--it has a high level of calcium--I now buy distilled water for cooking chickpeas, lentils, and split peas. But I have no problem cooking New World beans in tap water.
Regarding the old-bean problem, it’s wise to look for a “best by” date. Even more helpful would be a harvest date, but apparently not even a “best by” date is required by law. Perhaps we should work to change this.

Thanks for the tip, Stephanie. The University of California publication has a lot of helpful details about olive curing, including aboutlye.

Nino, thanks for sharing the information on the Hood River Gravenstein Apple Celebration. I didn’t know about this festival--or even that Hood River orchardists were growing Gravensteins.

I have read that the Gravenstein is popular in Germany, where I would expect it to go by this German name, though I found the apple mentioned in one reference as Gravensteiner. The French name, according to another source, is pomme Gravine. According to the blog of Chilly Farm, Maine (http://outonalimbcsa.com), other names for the Gravenstein are Blumen-Calvill, Diel’s Sommerkonig, Early Congress, Paradies Adfel, Ripp Apfel, and Tom Harryman. But I am unable to verify any of this.

I’m sorry for my sloppy writing: I wrote “jam” four times when I meant “jelly”! But the last “jam” is correct: I use no more than three pounds of fruit when I make jam.