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Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion

01:28 | Labels: Georgia, U.S. state foods

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion With Plants

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion Plants

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion Plant

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion With Plants

Georgia Vidalia Sweet Onion Plants

A Vidalia onion is a sweet onion of certain varieties, grown in a production area defined by law in Georgia and by the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The varieties include the hybrid yellow granex, varieties of granex parentage, or other similar varieties recommended by the Vidalia Onion Committee and approved by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

The onions were first grown near Vidalia, Georgia, in the early 1930s. It is an unusually sweet variety of onion, due to the low amount of sulfur in the soil in which the onions are grown. Mose Coleman is believed to be the person who discovered the sweet Vidalia Onion variety in 1931.

The Vidalia onion was named Georgia's official state vegetable in 1990.

Legislation

Georgia's state legislature passed the "Vidalia Onion Act of 1986" which authorized a trademark for "Vidalia Onions" and limits the production area to Georgia or any subset as defined by the state's Commissioner of Agriculture. The current definition includes:

The following thirteen counties: Emanuel, Candler, Treutlen, Bulloch, Wheeler, Montgomery, Evans, Tattnall, Toombs, Telfair, Jeff Davis, Appling, and Bacon.

Portions of the following seven counties: Jenkins, Screven, Laurens, Dodge, Pierce, Wayne, and Long.

In 1989, at the request of producers and handlers meeting the standards defined by Georgia law, the United States Department of Agriculture promulgated a Federal Marketing Order (CFR Title 7, Part 955) which defined the production area.

In popular culture

Country singer Sammy Kershaw released a song named 'Vidalia' in 1996 as a single from the album Politics, Religion and Her. It is a wordplay song about a woman named Vidalia who, the singer says, "always makes me cry."

The 1999 album Oh! The Grandeur, by American musician Andrew Bird, includes a song called 'Vidalia', an ode to the onion in question.

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Grits

06:00 | Labels: Georgia, U.S. state foods

Grits

Grits

Grits refers to a ground-corn food of Native American origin, that is common in the Southern United States and mainly eaten at breakfast. Modern grits are commonly made of alkali-treated corn known as hominy.

Grits are similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world such as polenta or the thinner farina. "Instant grits" have been processed to speed cooking.

The word "grits" derives from the Old English word "grytt," meaning coarse meal.This word originally referred to wheat and other porridges now known as groats in parts of the U.K.. Maize, unknown in Europe in the Middle Ages, is a food derived from corn (a New World plant) and "corn" had been used to describe wheat products in many European regions. "Grits" may be either singular or plural; historically, in the American South the word was invariably singular notwithstanding its plural form (cf. such food names as "spaghetti" or "linguine", likewise plural in form, but singular in use). Sometimes, grits are called sofkee or sofkey (from a native American Muskogee word).

Origins

Grits have their origins in Native American corn preparation. Traditionally, the hominy for grits was ground by a stone mill. The results are passed through screens, with the finer sifted materials being grit meal, and the coarser being grits. Many communities in the United States used a gristmill until the mid-twentieth century, with families bringing their own corn to be ground, and the miller retaining a portion of the corn as a fee. In South Carolina, state law requires grits and corn meal to be enriched, similar to the requirements for flour, unless the grits are ground from corn from which the miller keeps part of the product for a fee.

Three-quarters of grits sold in the U.S. are sold in the South, throughout an area stretching from Texas to Virginia, sometimes referred to as the "grits belt". The state of Georgia declared grits its official prepared food in 2002.Similar bills have been introduced in South Carolina, with one declaring:

Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grits mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as Charleston's The Post and Courier proclaimed in 1952, "An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace."

In the South Carolina Low Country region the uncooked ground corn is referred to as "grist" and the cooked dish is "hominy." This should not be confused with the more usual usage of hominy.

Grits are usually either yellow or white, depending on the color of corn. The most commonly version found in supermarkets is "quick" grits in which the germ and hull have been removed. Whole kernel grits sometimes are called "Speckled." Grits are prepared by simply boiling the ground kernels into a porridge until enough water is absorbed or vaporized to leave it semi-solid.

Preparation

Whole kernel grits are prepared by adding five parts boiling water (seasoned with salt or sugar) to one part grits and cooking for 20 to 30 minutes. Grits expand when cooked and need periodic stirring to prevent sticking and lumps forming. Commonly served with grated cheese, butter, sausage,bacon, or red-eye gravy, they also are accompanied by fried catfish, salmon croquettes, and in the Low Country of coastal Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia, by shrimp as a traditional breakfast dish. Charleston-style grits are boiled in milk instead of water, giving them a creamy consistency.

Solidified cooked grits may be sliced and fried directly in vegetable oil, butter, or bacon grease, or they may be breaded in beaten egg and breadcrumbs first.

Other uses

Folk wisdom contends that dry grits, scattered where ants will eat them, can be used to kill them by causing them to 'explode' as the grits expand inside them. However, laboratory tests on fire ants have shown that grits in soybean oil and treated with pesticide may be used against fire ants. It is the pesticide, not the grits that kills the ants.

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Florida Orange

00:26 | Labels: Florida, U.S. state foods

Florida Orange

Florida Orange

Florida Orange In Ice

Florida Orange

Florida Orange Bird

Florida Orange Juice

Florida Orange Tree

Florida Orange with Flower

The orange (specifically, the sweet orange) is the fruit of the citrus species Citrus × sinensis in the family Rutaceae.The fruit of the Citrus sinensis is called sweet orange to distinguish it from that of the Citrus aurantium, the bitter orange. The orange is a hybrid, possibly between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and mandarin (Citrus reticulata), cultivated since ancient times.

Probably originating in Southeast Asia, oranges already were cultivated in China as far back as 2500 BC. Between the late fifteenth century and the beginnings of the sixteenth century, Italian and Portuguese merchants brought orange trees in the Mediterranean area. The Spanish introduced the sweet orange to the American continent in the mid-1500s.

Orange trees are widely grown in tropical and subtropical climates for their sweet fruit, which can be eaten fresh or processed to obtain juice, and for the fragrant peel.They have been the most cultivated tree fruit in the world since 1987,and sweet oranges account for approximately 70% of the citrus production.In 2010, 68.3 million tonnes of oranges were grown worldwide, particularly in Brazil and in the US states of Californiaand Florida.

The origin of the term orange is presumably the Sanskrit word for "orange tree" (नारङगम्, nāraṅga),whose form has changed over time, after passing through numerous intermediate languages. The fruit is known as "Chinese apple" in several modern languages. Some examples are Dutch sinaasappel (literally, "China's apple") and appelsien, or Low German Apfelsine. In English, however, Chinese apple usually refers to the pomegranate.

Botanical information and terminology

All citrus trees belong to the single genus Citrus and remain almost entirely interfertile. This means that there is only one superspecies that includes grapefruits, lemons, limes, oranges, and various other types and hybrids.As the interfertility of oranges and other citrus has produced numerous hybrids, bud unions, and cultivars, their taxonomy is fairly controversial, confusing or inconsistent.The fruit of any citrus tree is considered a hesperidium (a kind of modified berry) because it has numerous seeds, is fleshy and soft, derives from a single ovary and is covered by a rind originated by a rugged thickening of the ovary wall.

Different names have been given to the many varieties of the genus. Orange applies primarily to the sweet orange – Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck. The orange tree is an evergreen, flowering tree, with an average height of 9 to 10 metres (30 to 33 ft), although some very old specimens can reach 15 metres (49 ft).Its oval leaves, alternately arranged, are 4 to 10 centimetres (1.6 to 3.9 in) long and have crenulate margins.Although the sweet orange presents different sizes and shapes varying from spherical to oblong, it generally has ten segments (carpels) inside, and contains up to six seeds (or pips)and a porous white tissue – called pith or, more properly, mesocarp or albedo — lines its rind. When unripe, the fruit is green. The grainy irregular rind of the ripe fruit can range from bright orange to yellow-orange, but frequently retains green patches or, under warm climate conditions, remains entirely green. Like all other citrus fruits, the sweet orange is non-climacteric. The Citrus sinensis is subdivided into four classes with distinct characteristics: common oranges, blood or pigmented oranges, navel oranges, and acidless oranges.

Hamlin

This cultivar was discovered by A. G. Hamlin near Glenwood, Florida, in 1879. The fruit is small, smooth, not highly coloured, seedless, and juicy, with a pale yellow coloured juice, especially in fruits that come from lemon rootstock. The tree is high-yielding and cold-tolerant and it produces good quality fruit, which is harvested from October to December. It thrives in humid subtropical climates. In cooler, more arid areas, the trees produce edible fruit, but too small for commercial use.

Trees from groves in hammocks or areas covered with pine forest are budded on sour orange trees, a method that gives a high solids content. On sand, they are grafted on rough lemon rootstock.The Hamlin orange is one of the most popular juice oranges in Florida and replaces the Parson Brown variety as the principal early-season juice orange. This cultivar is now[needs update] the leading early orange in Florida and, possibly, in the rest of the world.

Navel oranges

Navel oranges are characterized by the growth of a second fruit at the apex, which protrudes slightly and resembles a human navel. They are primarily grown for human consumption for various reasons: their thicker skin make them easy to peel, they are less juicy and their bitterness – a result of the high concentrations of limonin and other limonoids – renders them less suitable for juice.Their widespread distribution and long growing season have made navel oranges very popular. In the United States, they are available from November to April, with peak supplies in January, February, and March.

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Key lime pie

06:36 | Labels: Arkansas, Cakes, U.S. state foods

Key lime pie

Key lime pie

Key lime pie is an American dessert made of key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk in a pie crust.The traditional Conch version uses the egg whites to make a meringue topping.The dish is named after the small Key limes (Citrus aurantifolia 'Swingle') that are naturalized throughout the Florida Keys. While their thorns make them less tractable, and their thin, yellow rinds more perishable, key limes are more tart and aromatic than the common Persian limes seen year round in most U.S. grocery stores.

Key lime juice, unlike regular lime juice, is a pale yellow. The filling in key lime pie is also yellow, largely due to the egg yolks.

During mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Many early recipes for Key lime pie did not require the cook to bake the pie, relying on this chemical reaction (called souring) to produce the proper consistency of the filling. Today, in the interest of safety due to consumption of raw eggs, pies of this nature are usually baked for a short time. The baking also thickens the texture more than the reaction alone.

History

The origin of key lime pie has been traced back to the late 19th century in the Key West, Florida area. Its exact origins are unknown, but the first formal mention of Key lime pie as a recipe may have been made by William Curry, a ship salvager and Key West's first millionaire; his cook, "Aunt Sally", made the pie for him. If such is the case, however, it is also possible and maybe even probable that Sally adapted the recipe already created by local sponge fishermen. Sponge fishermen spent many contiguous days on their boats, and stored their food on board, including nutritional basics such as canned milk (which would not spoil without refrigeration), limes and eggs. Sponge fishermen at sea would presumably not have access to an oven, and, similarly, the original recipe for Key lime pie did not call for cooking the mixture of lime, milk, and eggs.

Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, since fresh milk was not a common commodity in the Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods.The creator of the "frozen" Key lime pie is Fern Butters (1892-1975).

Legislation

In 1965, Florida State Representative Bernie Papy, Jr., introduced legislation calling for a $100 fine to be levied against anyone advertising Key lime pie not made with Key limes. The bill did not pass.

In 2006, both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate passed legislation {HB 453} and {SB 676} effecting Key lime pie as the "Official Pie of the State of Florida", as of July 1, 2006.

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