Category: food

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Verna Knapp’s Recipe Roundup

By Ruth Steil

Verna Knapp’s cookbook mixes family quotes and stories with prize-winning recipes. Photo by Dani Steele.

Verna Knapp tries one new recipe every week, which explains why she calls her kitchen a”laboratory for experimentation.” She doesn’t always create the dishes from scratch, but”when I try a recipe I change the ingredients to see if I can improve it,” she says. Her cookbook, My Recipe Roundup at the Knapp Ranch, contains a wide variety of foods. They include an uncomplicated”Broiled Fish,” a curiously different”Sauerkraut Apple Cake” and an exotic”Essence of Rose Ice Cream.” Small ribbons placed beside a title designate prize winning recipes. There are 26 ribbons in the”Bread Basket” section alone. Along with the recipes, Knapp added family and regional quotes and stories.

Knapp has always been an avid recipe collector, but the suggestion to write a cookbook didn’t come until the summer of 2003 when her youngest daughter vacationed at the Knapps’ Waubay ranch and brought a computer. She said,”Here, Mom, this is for you. Now you can write your cookbook.”

“I did recall saying to her and our other daughter that I planned to copy my favorite recipes for them someday,” Knapp says,”but I had no plans to learn to use a computer at age 80. My daughter said, ‘Mom, you can do it.’ Then she had to leave, but she showed me how to dial up and shut down.” Knapp’s progress was”slow and painful,” but through the winter of 2004-05 she organized and copied recipes using the computer. The following winter she completed the cookbook and sent it to a publisher.

The prize-winning ribbons in the cookbook might never have happened if it weren’t for chicken pox. In the fall of 1957, Verna’s husband became ill. They had three children at the time, including a three-month-old baby.”I was milking and running the combine to harvest oats,” she says.”So I hired two teenage girls from a little town west of here. They took turns staying with us and caring for the children.” One of the girls came down with chicken pox and her mother didn’t want her to come home because the father was quite elderly and ill with congestive heart failure. It was a big disappointment for the young girl; she’d been working hard on a 4-H project for the Day County Fair.

“We didn’t have a phone so I told her to write her mother and tell her that we would get her to the fair,” Knapp says.”She wrote back, ‘That’s fine if Mrs. Knapp exhibits, but if she doesn’t exhibit we can’t expect that.'” Knapp had never intended to use her cooking skills to enter competitions — besides she was too busy with ranch work. But to console the young girl, Knapp said she would enter something.”I whipped up some muffins to take. The results were great — the girls took top ribbons and I took top ribbon, too,” she says.”That started me in competition. It was fun and a challenge, and I love a challenge.”‚Ä®

Knapp Ranch is 27 miles from Webster, 20 miles from Sisseton and three hours from Huron. Getting to a competition wasn’t easy, but the distance wasn’t the only obstacle for her.”My exhibiting was by chance. My main job was here at the ranch; if we weren’t haying we were combining, if we weren’t combining we were bringing hay home,” she says.

“Many times if I thought we had time to go, I would start after chores and bake until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. That was fun.” Knapp is a self-proclaimed bread-baker.”I never run out of bread,” she says. Maybe that’s why it was her biggest winner. She won a year’s supply of Red Star yeast, a year’s supply of Robin Hood flour and three photographs to be taken by a photographer of her choice when her rye bread took top honors at the State Fair.”Oh my, I appreciated the prizes so,” she says.”It was just great!”

Knapp hasn’t exhibited in many years, but she maintains an active lifestyle on the ranch.”This is my 64th garden on the same spot of ground,” she says. She raises a variety of vegetables including two kinds of potatoes, two kinds of squash, a variety of salad greens, beets, carrots, and tomatoes.”I’m really retired, but I don’t feel that way,” she says.”I’ve started selling produce at a farmer’s market.” Knapp also has several flowerbeds, including one that has roots in the long-gone claim shanty built in 1898 by her father-in-law and his brothers. The shanty’s stone foundation forms a 24 x 24 foot”sunken garden” that Knapp filled and surrounded with flowers.

To order Recipe Roundup at the Knapp Ranch, contact Verna Knapp at (605) 947-4309, or write 13168 450th Ave., Waubay, S.D., 57273-7500.

Vegetable Harvest Dish

Verna Knapp’s Vegetable Harvest Dish takes advantage of a bountiful garden.

1 med. unpeeled eggplant, cubed

1 med. unpeeled zucchini, diced

1 cup chopped onion‚Ä®

1 green pepper, seeded, diced‚Ä®

3 cloves garlic, minced

1⁄4 cup olive oil‚Ä®

2 large fresh tomatoes, peeled, cored, chopped‚Ä®

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

2 tbsps fresh sage, chopped, or 2 tsps rubbed sage

2 tsps dried oregano, crumbled‚Ä®

1 tsp cinnamon

‚Ä®1⁄2 tsp nutmeg‚Ä®

1⁄2 tsp allspice

‚Ä®1⁄4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)‚Ä®

1 cup cottage cheese

1⁄2 cup light cream

Salt and pepper

After cubing eggplant soak pieces in salted ice water. Prepare zucchini, onions, pepper and garlic; saute all vegetables in oil for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and spices, cook a few minutes longer. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into 2 quart baking dish sprayed with oil. Puree cottage cheese with cream. Spread over top of dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 1⁄2 hour or until bubbly. Serves 4.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the September/October 2009 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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Brookings’ Rhubarb King

By Katie Hunhoff

Jan Sanderson has been raising rhubarb in his gardens outside of Aurora for over 35 years.

“Everyone who has a rhubarb plant has a story about it,” says Jan Sanderson, the Rhubarb King of Brookings County. He runs Sanderson Gardens, a fruit and vegetable oasis bordered by corn and soybean fields.

Sanderson is always searching for new rhubarb to transplant, and he takes a notebook with him to record the histories of each plant.”If you could follow their history far back enough,” Sanderson says,”you would find all of our rhubarb came from England or the Nordic countries.”

The English used the vegetable as a food about 200 years ago, calling it pie plant. But for thousands of years before that, Chinese would grind rhubarb root as medicine, most commonly as a laxative, diuretic, astringent and detoxifier. The name rhubarb comes from the ancient Romans who knew that the plant was used by barbarians near the Rha River. The word is a combination of the words rha (an ancient name for the Volga River in Russia) and the Greek word barbarus meaning barbarians.

Rhubarb is enjoying a renaissance, Sanderson says. He can hardly keep up with demand, especially from local wineries. Rhubarb’s tart flavor and rich coloring make it a popular ingredient. Sanderson’s rhubarb has both, thanks to years of hunting for the best varieties.

“Genetics are the secret to great rhubarb,” he says. He likes plants with pretty color and few seed stalks. He clones his favorites by digging up the crown, the part of the rhubarb that is above the roots but below the ground. The crown contains the meristem, which is like the plant’s stem cell system. He cuts the crown into several chunks and replants them. The new rhubarb will be an identical copy of the parent plant.

It seems nearly every yard has a patch of rhubarb, and all of it can be traced to England or the Nordic countries in Europe.

Sanderson began his rhubarb crop over 30 years ago with two rows of Valentine and Canada Red varieties from his parents’ garden. He advertised in local papers that he would remove or trim plants for people, and he would search for plants he liked. Through the years he’s developed a variety he calls Sanderson Red. At one time he had eight acres devoted to the tart vegetable.

Rhubarb is a strong plant, says Sanderson. Once it takes root, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. A deep root system helped plants survive the Great Depression, and the toxic leaves protect against chewing insects. Sanderson has even made an organic insecticide from the leaves.

Sanderson started growing produce in 1977 on his parents’ farm 4 miles east of Brookings along Highway 14. The season kicks off each spring with the sprouting of rhubarb and strawberries. Next come sweet corn, raspberries and pumpkins. Barbarians are few and far between in Brookings County, but there are lots of people there who appreciate the summer bounty of Sanderson Gardens.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the May/June 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

When Sanderson was a boy growing up near Sisseton, he and his seven siblings would eat rhubarb stalks raw, dipped in sugar. Although the raw rhubarb was a treat, Sanderson’s all-time favorite recipe is from his ex-wife, Liz. He recommends eating it hot with vanilla ice cream.

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, (Liz uses whole wheat) 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and dash salt. Add 3 beaten eggs; beat smooth. Stir in 4 cups 1-inch slices rhubarb.

Prepare pastry for 9-inch lattice-top pie. Line 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with rhubarb mixture. Adjust lattice top; seal. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes.

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Freeman’s Savory Soup

By John Andrews

Green beans star in Joyce Hofer’s soup, but its flavor comes from summer savory, an herb rarely used in other German cooking.

Call it what you want: pepper weed, bohnenkraut, gartenkraut or a pillar of the spice mixture”herbes de provence.” Germans in Freeman know it simply as summer savory, an essential component of the green bean soup that has been part of Schmeckfest‘s first course since the annual”tasting festival” began in 1959.

Summer savory boasts a piney, peppery flavor, similar to thyme or oregano. It is believed to help digest beans, which could explain how savory, otherwise used sparingly in German cuisine, became such an important ingredient in green bean soup.”It has such a distinct flavor,” says Joyce Hofer.”I don’t know that they use it anywhere else but the green bean soup. That’s all I ever use it in, too.”

Green bean soup, along with noodle soup and salad, is one of the first dishes served at the family style buffet in the basement of Pioneer Hall on the Freeman Academy campus. The soup has its origins with the Low German people, one of three Anabaptist ethnic groups that founded Freeman in the early 1880s. The others (the Hutters and the Swiss) traditionally prepared their own signature dishes to be served at Schmeckfest. Hutters made noodle soup, beef stew and their unique sweetened sauerkraut. The Swiss were known for their poppy seed rolls.”You just kind of stuck to the dishes you knew,” says Hofer, who counts herself among the Hutters.”Now it’s done communally, because there aren’t enough Low German women to make just the green bean soup.”

Summer savory isn’t a culinary secret, though Schmeckfest diners are often heard asking what gives the soup its unique essence. The herb’s history can be traced to early Greece. Mythological creatures called satyrs were often shown wearing crowns of savory. People in the Middle Ages wore savory garlands to prevent drowsiness. When the Emperor Charlemagne ruled over Western Europe in the early ninth century, he included summer savory on his list of herbs to be grown in his royal gardens. Savory’s role in German cooking began at about the same time, when monks brought the herb from its native region along the Mediterranean Sea in southern Europe to their monastery gardens in Germany.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the upper class citizenry of Western Europe grew savory in”gardens of delight.” Today you’ll find it growing in the backyard gardens of several Freeman chefs. A handful of gardeners sell tiny bags of savory at the Country Kitchen shop set up during Schmeckfest every year. Hofer bought a bag for $3.50 in 2013, and was still using it as 2014’s festival approached.”I try to buy enough to use through the year,” she says.”What you can grow is better than what you can buy, but what you get at the store is better than nothing.”

While savory dispenses a unique flavor, large quantities of the herb eaten directly can be unpalatable. That’s why Hofer places sprigs inside a tea strainer, and hangs it over the edge of the pot as the soup simmers.”You probably wouldn’t want to eat the savory itself,” Hofer says.”It has a slight aroma, but it really comes out when it mixes with other ingredients of the soup.”

Bought or grown, that’s what makes Schmeckfest’s green bean soup a dish to savor.

Schmeckfest 2019 is scheduled for March 29-30 and April 5-6 on the Freeman Academy campus.

Gr¸ne Schauble Suppe

Joyce Hofer’s green bean soup recipe is adapted from the Schmeckfest recipe that feeds 1,000 guests and 250 workers on each of the festival’s four nights.

ham bone (optional)

1/2 gallon water‚Ä®

1/2 lb. smoked ham‚Ä®

2 1/2 to 3 cups potatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 or 4 sprigs summer savory‚Ä®

1/2 cup finely diced or ground carrots

2 cans string beans (16 oz. total)‚Ä®

2 tablespoons sour cream

Cook smoked ham bone or smoked ham in water until tender. The last half hour before serving, add potatoes (cut in 1/2-inch cubes), carrots, onions and summer savory, using a tea strainer hung over the edge of the pot. When the vegetables are tender, add beans, including the juice, and sour cream. May substitute 1 pound of fresh-cut green beans and cream or butter for sour cream, if desired. Ham base may be added for extra flavor. Hofer says the soup is best when allowed to simmer at least an hour, but it can be eaten when completely heated.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the March/April 2014 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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Amaranth: The Once and Future Crop?

Story and photos by Ron Robinson

Could a plant grown as a food crop 1,000 years ago in what is now South Dakota be one of the state’s answers to coming dry seasons? That is the question I arrived at after a yearlong probe into the peculiar properties, mysterious origins and current development of the plant called amaranth.

If you’ve heard the word before but have only a sketchy idea of what it is, you may be surprised to know that it is a product on the market right now, appearing on health food shelves and in mainstream items like bread and cereal. And, it is increasingly popular with gardeners who find it fascinating for its ease of cultivation, colorful appearance and diverse uses in the kitchen.

I embarked on my personal voyage of discovery while writing a book about the Prehistoric Indian Village on the shore of Lake Mitchell, which was inhabited before there was a lake. The book, Village on the Bluff: Prehistoric Farmers/Hunters of the James River Valley, was commissioned by Dr. L. Adrien Hannus, director of the Archeology Laboratory at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Dr. Hannus told me he wanted an informative layman’s view of the site. Since I was highly qualified as a layman, and not lacking in curiosity or guts, I gladly took the job. Who knew where it would lead?

The main crops of the Hidatsa and other Native Americans were the “three sisters” of maize, beans and squash. Other crops, including amaranth, were grown as well. Some scholars think amaranth may have antedated all other grains and gave way to them only as the new grains were bred to greater size and bulk.

The people who inhabited the Mitchell site 1,000 years ago were influenced by the Mississippian culture, which had its center at Cahokia, near what is now St. Louis. The culture included elements carried from further south in the Valley of Mexico. The villagers relied heavily on hunting bison and their vegetable diet, which consisted mostly of crops grown in the valley near the creek, wild berries, roots and other native foodstuffs. Microscopic examination of pollen discovered at the site showed that principal crops were the famous”Three Sisters” originating in Mexico and Central America — maize, beans and squash. But also present were pollen from sunflowers and amaranth.

I was so intrigued by the knowledge that amaranth was cultivated by these ancient peoples that I endeavored to learn more about it. I found enough to write on the subject, but then I decided to grow some. I can report that growing amaranth is not daunting. I was easily able to obtain appropriate seed varieties, two reds and one golden, and in early spring of 2012 I started the plants in peat pots indoors by a sunny window. The plants tend to be frail in the early stages, and I wanted to take no chances with the seeds not reaching maturity. By the time the weather grew warmer, I had enough sturdy plants to make three rows in a 4-foot by 8-foot bed and another row of about 10 feet, with plants left over to stick in odd spots in the garden.

The plants grew vigorously, despite the low-moisture spring and summer. The hot, dry weather was disastrous for my beans, cucumbers and most other vegetables, but the amaranth flourished. By fall, the plants stood 2 to 5 feet tall and the colorful, plume-like heads were heavy with seeds. Harvesting and threshing are often accomplished in one step, usually just after the first frost, by bending the heads into a pail and shaking or beating the plant so that the seeds fall. I wanted to conserve as many seeds as possible, so I snapped off the heads and put them in a plastic bag.

Amaranth grown for grain does not fare well in containers, so Robinson moved these seedlings to his Sioux Falls garden.

Threshing was a bit trickier. The seeds are so light that winnowing in the wind, as I have done successfully with wheat, was out of the question; too many seeds would be lost. Various methods have been suggested, but none seem foolproof. I chose to use gloves to rub off the seeds (since the stems and chaff can be prickly and rough on bare fingers) and then collect the seeds and chaff in a bowl. A screen of the proper size can be used to sift out stems and much of the chaff, or by carefully shaking the bowl one can separate the seeds and chaff by weight and gently blow to skim off the chaff. Remaining chaff and stem parts can be removed by hand. If some chaff is left it is not a disaster — while annoying, it is edible.

Of the five plant species discovered at the Mitchell site, amaranth is unique in two respects. First, it is the only one of the group not thought to be exclusively native to the Americas. Second, it is the only one that failed to establish itself as a basic modern-day foodstuff until recently.

The fact that the name amaranthus (meaning”unfading flower”) has Greek roots speaks to the wide distribution of the genus around the world. Some 70 species exist in countries as far away as Australia, but few have been successfully cultivated. Nevertheless, grain amaranth was cultivated in Europe and Asia as well as the Americas in early times and was often associated with religious ceremonies, suggesting that it had a central place as a foodstuff among ancients. Some scholars suggest it may have been the very first grain, supplanted by other grains only as the latecomers attained greater size and volume.

Amaranth was highly prized in Peru and Mexico. It figured among the tribute crops demanded by Aztec ruler Montezuma. With the coming of European conquistadores, however, the growing and consumption of amaranth was nearly terminated. A ban on the plant was made on religious grounds. The Catholic Church found the use of small cakes made of amaranth seed and honey (sometimes allegedly mixed with human blood) in pagan rituals, to be eerily similar to using the host during Mass, and declared it blasphemy. Today, the use of the cakes, often in the shape of skulls but without blood, survives in Mexico, particularly during the weeks leading up to the Day of the Dead. Similar cakes of popped amaranth bound with honey or syrup were eaten in China, Nepal and Argentina.

Among tribes north of the border, amaranth was assigned other uses, as well. In the Southwest, Hopis used a red dye from one species as food coloring and for other coloring purposes.

Given the widespread use of the plant in ancient times, it is curious that amaranth holds such a small niche in today’s market. Other foods from Central and South America have had amazing success. Corn products are virtually ubiquitous, with such ingredients as corn syrup found in a wide selection of products. Beans and squash are also widely consumed. Even the sunflower seed has risen to widespread popularity as a snack. Mention the word amaranth to most people, however, and you will be repaid with blank stares.

How exactly amaranth was used by prehistoric people who populated land along the waterways of the Mississippi drainage is a matter of conjecture. The fact that the seed of the plant is rich in gluten-free protein (better than any other common cereal, and a particularly good source of the amino acid lysine), along with calcium, vitamins and other essential building blocks, may be a clue to its use 1,000 years ago.

Contrary to expectations, according to Dr. Hannus, the people of the Village on the Bluff may not have had a regular supply of fresh meat. The protein in amaranth may have helped fill dietary gaps.

Robinson found ground amaranth too gritty for pancakes, so he replaced it with cooked amaranth.

Today amaranth is easily available in supermarket health food sections, in stores devoted to health foods or from web sites. I was fascinated to discover that the seeds could be popped like popcorn, boiled whole for gruel or for soups, ground for inclusion in hot cereals, pancakes, muffins, or other baked goods, sprouted for salads, or made into breakfast flakes. I started including amaranth in my diet. I was particularly proud of my Sunday pancakes, with amaranth, flax, and oat bran added to ease the guilt of a tasty weekly treat.

The young and tender leaves of amaranth plants are edible and are often harvested early in the season and used in salads or cooked as greens. The greens are many times richer in antioxidants than most other salad greens.

What does amaranth taste like? The adjective”nutty” leaps to mind, but I’ve also seen it described as”peppery.” Popped, with a little salt and butter added, it tastes very much like miniature popcorn. Puffed, mixed with heated honey, it will remind you of Rice Krispy bars. In mixtures with other grains and baked or used as a thickener in soups, it imparts a delicate flavor all its own.

If there are commercial growers of amaranth in South Dakota, they are doing a good job of keeping it a secret. Organic farmers, plant specialists and packagers I contacted could not recall anyone in the state raising the crop. When asked why, they came up with reasons ranging from”once bit, twice shy,” through”alcohol addiction,” to”a black sheep in the family.”

Paul O. Johnson, South Dakota State University extension agronomy field specialist based in Watertown, cites the Jerusalem artichoke fiasco as a possible reason that growers in this state are wary of”novelty crops” like amaranth. Many farmers were stung in the early 1980s when a firm called American Energy Farming Systems (AEFS) touted Jerusalem artichokes as a drought-resistant, high-return crop with unbelievable potential for development. Of course, what seems unbelievable often should not be believed. Some growers paid exorbitant prices for seed plants (often over $1,000 per acre sown), and found themselves at harvest time with little or no market for their crop. AEFS soon went bankrupt. Farmers with a long memory can hardly be blamed for being suspicious of get-rich talk about a crop with a funny name.

Like other plants grown in the Prehistoric Village, amaranth now seems to be here to stay, and it offers opportunities for enterprising growers. Its novelty, the combination of its value as an ornamental and as a fun and nutritious food, and the ease of its cultivation and harvesting, make it a welcome addition to the growing beds of those who love gardening.

Five Sisters Stew

For the fun of it, I created this stew mostly using ingredients that might have been found at the Prehistoric Village, particularly those foodstuffs common to the Mississippian culture. You could add a cup of whole corn if you wanted to make that ingredient seem less of an afterthought. By the way, say what you will, both amaranth and refried beans make excellent thickeners. I think you will find this dish to be rich, creamy and satisfying.

1/4 cup chopped sweet onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil

1/2 cup cooked amaranth

1 1/2 cups cooked butternut squash

1 cup refried beans (about 7 ounces or half a can)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)

1 tbsp. Cholula hot sauce

A sprig of cilantro, tortilla chips, and sunflower seeds to garnish.

Heat butter or oil in a two-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery and sautÈ until onion is clear and soft. Add amaranth, squash, and refried beans and stir thoroughly. Add tomatoes and cook. Flavor with cumin, salt, and hot sauce. Add broth to bring to desired consistency. Garnish with cilantro, chips, and sunflower seeds.

Makes about four servings.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the March/April 2013 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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A White Cookie Tradition

Story and photography by Staci Perry

Delicate white sugar cookies are a holiday tradition for Staci Perry and countless other South Dakota families.

My grandma Janet Moe has always arrived at Christmas dinners carrying a bucket delicately packed with thin, white cookies twinkling with fine sugar. A few years ago, we allowed ourselves to accept that grandma would not be the white cookie matriarch forever. She humbly shared the recipe with us, which is particularly light on instruction, and said,”I don’t do anything special to them.” I knew it was time for me to learn how to make her signature cookies.

Staci Perry and her grandmother, Janet Moe.

As we baked that day, I pictured my grandpa, his hands the size of little league gloves, grabbing a handful of grandma’s white cookies and steeping them into his steaming coffee until soggy crumbs floated to the top. It was one of his favorite cookies. But that’s no surprise. His mother gave the white cookie recipe to his lovely bride, and his father made the richly-marbled apple wood rolling pin that grandma still uses.

After almost 70 years of warmly saturating her home with the sweet scent of homemade goodies, grandma’s baking sheets have become almost too heavy for one oven mitt to hold, the dough is getting harder for aged hands to stir, and her kitchen counters have mysteriously gotten taller.

Although my first crack at baking grandma’s cookies taught me that it would take practice before they look perfect like hers, my kids devoured them when I got home. And grandma asked me to come back and make them again. To me, that’s what baking and sharing is all about.

Now it’s my turn to give grandma a tall, plastic bucket overflowing with family tradition and sweet memories that will spread farther than a handful of flour tossed into the South Dakota wind.

Grandma Janet’s White Cookies

2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable shortening (not butter-flavored)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

1 teaspoon baking soda

6 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

White sugar to sprinkle on top of the cookies

Flour for rolling out the cookies

Prep: Bring the eggs to room temperature, approximately 30 minutes. At the same time, measure 1 cup of sour cream into a medium bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The sour cream will swell as the soda dissolves.

Make the dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat white sugar and shortening together until creamy.

In a separate bowl, vigorously stir eggs with a table fork or small whisk until well beaten. Add to the sugar mixture and beat on medium-high until combined.

Spoon sour cream into the batter and add vanilla. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes, turning off the mixer a few times to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Into a separate large bowl, dump 6 1/2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder, stirring so the powder is dispersed throughout. Add the flour to the cookie batter 1 cup at a time, beating on medium-low speed after each addition until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is stiff. If it’s not firming, sprinkle in more flour until stiff. Depending on the mixer’s power, you may need a thick wooden or heavy metal spoon to stir in the last few cups of flour by hand.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. The batter is ready when it’s firm and doesn’t stick on your finger. If the dough remains sticky, add a little more flour.

Roll out and bake cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a heavily floured surface, roll a handful of cookie dough into a flattened 1/8-inch thick sheet, dusting with flour to prevent sticking.

Cut the cookies using a lightly floured 2- or 3-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, turning the cutter slightly as you lift it off the dough. Slide a lightly floured spatula under each cookie to ease it from the surface and transfer to a cookie sheet, lining cookies 1 inch part. (If the cookie sticks to the counter, there wasn’t enough flour on the rolling surface so add more next round.)

Scatter sugar onto the tops of the cookies. Bake 7-8 minutes. The cookies go from white to golden brown in a matter of seconds so watch closely in the last minute. The whiter the cookies, the softer they are in the middle. For a crisper cookie, bake 8-10 minutes, removing from oven as they turn darker brown.

Transfer to cooling rack. Repeat in batches until the dough is gone. Makes approximately seven dozen cookies.

Staci Perry blogs at www.RandomSweetnessBaking.wordpress.com. She is also the corporate communications manager for Daktronics in Brookings.

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Piggin’ Out On Pork

Editor’s Note: October is National Pork Month. Several years ago, South Dakota Magazine toured the state to see how families and restaurateurs were featuring the”other white meat.” Here’s what we found.

By Jennifer Thom

Three years ago, Louise Albers’ father told her about a new cut of pork, prime rib, that would be a good entree for her restaurant, the Black Angus in Canton.

Intrigued, Albers went looking for it.

She quizzed the hog buyer at John Morrell and Company, the meat buyers at grocery stores and each of her food service vendors.

She finally found the cut her father described at Iowa Quality Meats in Des Moines. A phenomenal success for Iowa Quality Meats, pork prime rib is a Black Angus special, served one or two weekends a month.

South Dakotans are lucky that Albers doesn’t give up easily. Slow cooked at 150 degrees in a special oven called an altosham, Pork Prime Rib is gluttonous: tender, juicy and chock full of flavor.

South Dakota chefs like Albers are inventing sophisticated yet hearty ways to serve pork, an entree that satisfies”down home” diners as chops and bacon, but can be”dressed up” for dinner out.

Newer recipes for stay-at-home cooks feature pork that’s cubed, sliced and ground, and combined with fruit and spicy seasonings, such as Peachy Pork Picante. Because South Dakota produces 3.5 percent of the total pork raised in the United States we need a lot of ways to prepare pork.

“We’re receiving more requests than ever for pork recipes with hot peppers and hot and spicy flavors,” says Robin Kline, director of the Pork Information Bureau for the National Pork Producers Council.

“Pork is the perfect complement to spicy, bold seasonings. Its robust taste stands up to strong flavors rather than being eclipsed.”

“Pork is a menu maker, because you can go so many ways with it,” confirms Dave Casper, owner of Casper’s restaurant in Brookings.

Casper’s menu includes Pork Cacciatore, Pork Loin Cutlets, Twin Chops, Pork Saltimbocca, Smoked Chops and Pork Citron. Pork Robert is a special.

“Pork Loin Cutlets is everybody’s favorite,” he says. Casper’s prepares more than 400 pounds of boneless pork a month.”I serve the cutlets with braised red cabbage and apples, and browned spaetzle.”

One of the best ways to enjoy the newest pork dishes is the annual Taste Of Elegance contest, sponsored by the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. Chefs from the region compete for first place and the right to represent South Dakota at the National Pork Producers Council competition.

The Council sponsors the contest to promote boneless pork to restaurants and encourage them to feature pork as a menu entree. For a pittance, the public can attend the event, graze from the buffet, and taste the chefs’ entries. You can even vote for the winner of the People’s Choice award.

In 1992, Casper won the Taste of Elegance contest with Pork Saltimbocca. In 1995, he won with Pork Rattle and Roll, a pork version of Beef Wellington.

Back home in Brookings, Casper demonstrates a dish once or twice to his kitchen staff, then he becomes quality control chief.

“I garnish the dish, and if it’s not right, I throw it right back in their face. I’m the final inspector.”

Casper’s presentation is wonderful, and his”fill `em up” portions reflect another customer service philosophy:”Give `em plenty. South Dakotans are leery of leaving a restaurant hungry.”

Because they want a sure thing at mealtime, a lot of South Dakotans stick with the tried-and-true pork chop. It’s a staple on the Black Angus menu.

“Some people like pork chops, and that’s the only way they want pork,” Betty Fiegen acknowledges. Still, as an education consultant for the South Dakota Pork Producers Council, Fiegen demonstrates how to prepare new pork dishes that fit today’s lifestyle. She also talks to groups on how to fit pork into a nutritious diet.

“Pork is a different product than it was 10 years ago,” she explains. Pork is 31 percent lower in fat than it was a decade ago.”The tenderloin is the cut lowest in fat. It compares to a chicken breast. You can have pork in your diet and still have a low fat diet.”

Fiegen may get a touch of stage fright before a demonstration.”I’ve been known to have a few butterflies. If I do demonstrations more often, then I don’t get nervous.”

Fiegen was preparing three different dishes for a group in McCook County, on a stage equipped with an outdated electrical system. The breakers kept going, so she had to prepare one dish at a time.

“The women were so patient,” Fiegen recalls.”They made me very comfortable. They didn’t act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere.”

Parkston pork producer Glenda Odegaard created a Pork and Pasta Salad that is popular with South Dakota Pork Producer demonstrators.

“I just threw it together,” recalls Odegaard. The salad won second place at a contest for salads using pork.”I’ve been making it four or five years now … I think I’ve worn it out.”

Jeff Tuschen has charcoal on his ingredient list when he cooks pork. The Salem resident cooks 2,000 to 3,000 pounds a year at community events across the state. He was part of the crew that cooked pork when Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign came to Baltic.

To cook for a crowd, Tuschen calculates he’ll get five sandwiches from a pound of meat; a bit more if there’s a lot of kids. For every 150 pounds of pork, he’ll use 50 to 60 pounds of charcoal.

He prefers charcoal to gas.”I have better control over charcoal, and I think the meat tastes better.”

He grills the pork loins whole (he can prepare 150 pounds at a time), slices and buns them, and adds a squirt of sauce. The sauce recipe is from a friend’s father.

“The biggest secret is when to take the meat off the heat,” Tuschen explains. He’s willing to spill all his secrets to someone who wants to go into the business: he can’t keep up with requests.

“I’d teach `em in a minute,” Tuschen says.”It’s a good way to promote pork”

While in San Diego, Albers visited”the” steak house on the West Coast. Anticipation built as she read the menu: Midwest corn-fed beef.

“It could’ve gagged a maggot at a chuckwagon,” she reports.”The grass isn’t greener. South Dakotans may lack fresh produce sometimes, but we do have the best meat. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

JEFF TUSCHEN’S BARBECUE SAUCE FOR PORK SANDWICHES

“This makes a little over two gallons,” Jeff says.”For the sugar, I use half brown sugar and half white sugar.”

2 10-pounds cans of catsup

3 to 4 pounds sugar

1/3 cup pepper

1 cup onion flakes or chopped onion 1/3 gallon vinegar

1 small bottle Tabasco sauce

3 tablespoons garlic powder

1 pint honey, optional

Mix together. Spread on pork sandwiches.

PEACHY PORK PICANTE

“Who’d have thought to mix salsa and peaches together?” Betty Fiegen asks.

1 pound boneless pork, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix

1 8-ounce bottle chunky-style salsa 1/3 cup peach preserves

Coat pork cubes with taco seasoning. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add pork and cook to brown, stirring occasionally. Add salsa and preserves to pan; lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve over rice if desired. Serves 4.

GLENDA ODEGAARD’S PORK AND PASTA SALAD

1/2 to 1 pound cooked pork, cut into thin strips

1 7-ounce package rotini pasta, cooked and drained

Toss pork and pasta with raw, diced vegetables, such as celery, tomatoes, carrots, onions, green pepper, broccoli, cauliflower and radishes. For dressing, combine one packet of Italian dressing mix with one bottle Italian dressing, creamy or oil. Toss with salad. Serve.

GLENDA ODEGAARD’S ROAST PORK

Chefs agree, do not overcook pork. Cook it to a maximum of 160 degrees, a medium temperature that’s safe.

Mix 1/3 cup garlic pepper with 1 teaspoon crushed rosemary. Rub the mixture over a pork loin or pork roast. Place fat side up and bake at 350 degrees, or barbecue on grill. Make sure the internal temperature reaches 150 to 155 degrees. Let set before slicing. For a 3 to 4 pound pork loin, cook 1 hour. For a 3 to 4 pound pork roast with bone, allow a little longer time.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the January/February 1996 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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Ambassadors For Beef

By Heidi Marsh

Bob and Nancy Montross are among the best ambassadors for beef in American agriculture.

Ranchers Bob and Nancy Montross grill almost daily in their picturesque yard east of De Smet.

The couple, married over 40 years, raise cows and calves on a tidy farm east of De Smet, just a few miles from the historic Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead. Gleaming white fences, red barns and green grass surround the Montross farm.

Like all good ambassadors, they promote their special interest — the American cowboy and cattleman — by extolling the virtues of beef rather than by downplaying the competition, poultry and fish.

Bob and Nancy grill steaks and burgers on their front yard grill almost every night the schedule and weather permits, but Bob admits he doesn’t eat beef three times a day. Remember, he’s a diplomat in a John Deere cap.”When I go to a restaurant and want to order chicken, I have to wear dark sunglasses so people don’t recognize me,” he jokes.

The couple became involved in beef promotion through the South Dakota Beef Council. They helped erect giant billboards featuring a western hat on a juicy steak. They’ve served thousands of beef sandwiches at fairs and festivals, and helped to publish cookbooks.

They and some friends were brainstorming around the Montross kitchen table in 1997 when someone came up with the idea of Beef Bucks, a pre-paid check that could be given away for gifts or prizes and redeemed at grocery stores and cafes. The campaign began slowly, but last year over $1 million in Beef Bucks were sold, and they were redeemed in 42 states.

Cookbook sales and an annual golf tournament provide revenues so the Beef Bucks board can give away checks in splashy ways. They hit the jackpot in 2011 when the producers of”Wheel of Fortune” agreed to offer two $1,000 cards as prizes.

The Montrosses and fellow Beef Bucks promoters watched the show from a Brookings restaurant. You can imagine their pride, and the goodwill felt by cattleman across the country, as Pat Sajak and Vanna White offered Beef Bucks along with island vacations and fancy cars.

Able ambassadors excel at energizing their community, and for the Montrosses that would be the American cattleman.”It’s the greatest industry in the world,” Bob says.”It’s the backbone to the state of South Dakota … and to the country.” According to Ag United, more than 3.7 million cows and calves are raised on 15,000 South Dakota farms. The bovine provides 11,600 jobs and $83.8 million in tax revenues.

Beef Bucks is one reason why cattle remain the king of the state’s economy. Farm country banks, livestock auction barns and other agricultural companies purchase the certificates for gifts. Denny Everson of First Dakota National Bank, who uses Beef Bucks as a rewards program for customers and also sells the certificates at branches statewide, has been a supporter of Beef Bucks since its inception.”This is just an extraordinary way to showcase the quality of beef in South Dakota, and Bob and Nancy are to be credited for that,” Everson says.

Kevin Larson of Aberdeen Livestock Sales Company, who buys up to $30,000 a year, says,”We like to give something out to show appreciation. Why not give beef?”

And why not grill beef, especially if you are lucky enough to win or receive some Beef Bucks? Here’s a recipe adapted by Nancy Montross from the cookbook, Beef Bucks Recipe Collection. They use it regularly on the farm grill.

Steak Sizzlers

2 lbs. top sirloin cut into 1-inch cubes

Marinade:

1 cup medium salsa picante

1 Ω tsp. lemon pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

Ω tsp. seasoned salt

º cup vegetable oil

Mix together in large heavy plastic bag. Place beef cubes in bag and marinate over night in refrigerator.

Place on skewers with peppers, onion, tomato and pineapple.

Grill over medium coals for 5-7 minutes, turning occasionally.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the July/August 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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Watermelon Capital

Editor’s Note: Forestburg is our Watermelon Capital, as we discovered when we visited Levo Larson, the self-proclaimed”Watermelon King,” in the summer of 1997. Levo has since passed away, but Forestburg melons are a South Dakota tradition that will long endure. This story is revised from the July/August 1997 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

By Bernie Hunhoff

Salesmanship and showmanship are rare commodities in agriculture these days. Farmers send their crops to market and seldom get an encouraging or discouraging word from the final consumer.

That, perhaps, is part of the attraction to the watermelon industry that has sprung up in Sanborn County. Several dozen farm families devote their summers to the back breaking, sweaty tasks of planting, hoeing and harvesting several thousand acres of watermelon. They say it’s all worthwhile when the customers flock to their roadside stands in late summer as predictably as the waterfowl who soon follow in the fall.

The tiny town of Forestburg has laid claim to the title of South Dakota’s watermelon capital. Nobody has challenged for the title. Nobody is competing. There aren’t many other places where an entire rural neighborhood wants to work that hard to make a few thousand extra dollars.

“Everything with melons is pretty much hand done. It is a lot of work,” agrees Dorrie Tollefson, who married into the business 19 years ago. “But I like meeting people. We’re our own boss. It’s all I do for a job.”

For Tollefson and her neighbors, the melon trade has been successful because of geographic good fortune, namely the James River and State Highway 34. Sandy soil in the river valley gives the melons their sweetness and the highway provides a steady stream of buyers, especially during the last week of August when thousands of cars drive by daily en route to the South Dakota State Fair at Huron.

“We measure our melon crop by how much we sell during fair week,” says Tollefson.

That’s where showmanship enters into the business. Farmers who might not normally paint their barn go to great lengths to create a folksy, country look to their roadside watermelon stand.

Melon decor ranges from gaudy colored lights to wagon wheels and scarecrows. But over time, the produce itself has proven to be the best car-stopper. Melons are piled high in mounds. Splashy orange pumpkins, earth-tone gourds and enough colored corn to decorate a palace wall in Mitchell are common to most of the roadway markets.

“Appearances are very important,” says Charlotte Nelson, who runs Nelson’s Melon Stand along with her husband, Bud. “I decorate with banners. We use corn and hay bales, pumpkins and gourds and whatever else looks good.”

Levo Larson and his son, Skip, stop motorists with red, white and blue wagon wheels, an old red pump, flashing lights and an American flag waving in the breeze.

Levo has learned the art of salesman-ship better than most. He is the self-proclaimed Watermelon King and his stand is named accordingly. You’ll find him in the Forestburg phone book under that title.

Levo has been raising melons for 45 years. For several decades, he entered his produce in the state fair and won many honors. But he says the best test of any melon farmer is repeat customers.

“There is a hell of a lot of work and hand labor that goes into growing these. They don’t just spring up on the shelf,” says Levo. “But a lot of the people thank you for doing it; and that’s something you don’t hear as a farmer too often.”

For thousands of Midwesterners, the traditional end-of-summer excursion to the state fair wouldn’t be complete without a stop at a Forestburg watermelon stand. Mark Twain called watermelons “the fruit of the angels” and obviously their reputation hasn’t soured since his time.

Some customers will buy the first melon they see atop the pile. “Others will thump a dozen or more before they find one they like,” laughs Mrs. Nelson.

Thumping is a layman’s test of whether the melon is ripe. A hollow sound means “get the knife.” However, professional melon growers are divided over the best way to judge ripeness. “Once you’ve raised them for awhile, you can tell by the color,” says Mrs. Nelson.

Forestburg farmers say customers don’t need to test their melons for ripeness because they won’t bring them in from the field until they are ready for eating. “It hurts our pride to pick a green watermelon,” says Levo. “We guarantee ours to be ripe and we guarantee them to have Vitamin P if you eat enough.”

The thumping no doubt comes from customers’ experience with store-bought melons. Imported melons from southern states are often picked “pink” rather than vine ripened.

In Poor Richard’s Almanac, one of the sayings suggests, “Men and melons are hard to know.” Melons aren’t that difficult, however, according to Skip Larson. “I look for the little curl beside the stem. If it is dry the melon is ripe.”

His dad says ripe melons also have a chalky look. A melon that needs more time on the vine will have a shiny appearance.

Another trick of the trade at Forestburg is crop rotation. “Watermelon shouldn’t be planted on the same ground more than once every five years,” says Skip. “The melon takes the sugar out of the ground and if you don’t rotate you won’t have the high sugar content.”

Customers often think the Forestburg melons’ sweetness comes from the seed so they save seeds for replanting. Bad idea. “If you save the seed you’ll have a watermelon that tastes like a cucumber from cross pollination,” says Levo.

Experienced growers buy nothing but the best hybrid seeds at $180 a pound and more. Favorite varieties for Forestburg include the round, dark Black Diamond and the striped Crimson Sweet, Sangria and All Sweet.

The Larsons grow the smaller King and Queen melons for area Hutterite colonies, who pickle them whole in 55-gallon barrels along with garlic, dill, salt, vinegar and water.

The real secret to good melons is the same as real estate – location, location and location. “You can get out of this area and raise big watermelons but they don’t have the sweetness or flavor,” says Skip Larson. “It’s something about the sandy soil.”

Melon growing presents challenges different from corn and bean farming. Striped, yellow beetles will eat small watermelon sprouts if they aren’t controlled. A hailstorm wreaks havoc when the melons are formed. The hailstones cut holes in the rind and cause the fruit to go sour.

Rabbits, deer and raccoons are also a threat. They love to dine on ripe melons. To keep them at bay, the state Game, Fish and Parks Department loans propane-powered boom guns that are designed to “pop” every three minutes and scare wildlife away from the fields. Sometimes on a still day in late summer, Sanborn County sounds like a battlefield.

About 2,000 acres are planted to melons in a 12-mile square between Forestburg and Woonsocket. Most of the small melon fields drain into Sand Creek, which runs into the Jim River at Forestburg.

Of course, the coincidence of having State Highway 34 running right through melon country has encouraged the profession. Motorists during State Fair week in late August haul away half the annual harvest. That’s followed by the annual Corn Palace Festival in Mitchell, which is almost as busy.

In the 1930s, when Ernie Schwemle and Harold Smith first started raising melons commercially, it wasn’t nearly as easy to find local buyers. They hauled them by wagons to the railroad at Cuthbert or Woonsocket for shipment to grocery stores in bigger cities.

Ray Baysinger constructed one of the oldest stands during the early 1950s in the shade of the big cottonwood trees a few miles west of Forestburg. Now known as Ron’s Melon Stand, the Peterson family operates it.

Some of the melons are still sold wholesale to area stores. Most growers also sell at a discounted price to people who resell them out of the back of their pickup in their hometown. “People in their 50s or 60s, retired from their regular job, will do it for entertainment and a few extra dollars,” says Skip.

Most stands remain open throughout October to catch pumpkin buyers. Prices for melons drop as the days grow shorter and colder.

Some customers drive long distances just for the sweet melons. The Larsons once had a customer from Tyndall, two hours to the south, during fair week.

“Going to the fair?” Skip asked.

“No, we just came for melons,” was the reply.

That’s music to the ears of Forestburg farmers.

Though experts say watermelon tastes best right from the vine, cooks have been turning the juicy, summertime treat into everything from pickles and preserves to pastries.

Here’s a few new ways to enjoy watermelon, courtesy of the National Watermelon Promotion Board.

Watermelon Smoothie

2 cups seeded watermelon chunks

1 cup cracked ice

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 to 2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. almond extract

Combine all ingredients in blender; mix until smooth. Makes 2 to 3 smoothies.

Fresh Watermelon Salsa

2 cups watermelon, seeded and chopped

2 Tbsp. chopped onion

2 Tbsp. water chestnuts

2 to 4 Tbsp. chopped Anaheim chilies

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Refrigerate for 2 hours; add more balsamic vinegar to taste. Serve with grilled chicken or nachos.

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Eating Wild Cactus

Wild plants like the prickly pear cactus have served many purposes

By Ruth Steil

Prickly pear cactus thrive in dry conditions on slopes and hills, like these yellow flowered cacti found along Highway 1804 near Fort Pierre. Photo by Chad Coppess/S.D. Tourism.

As a young boy Joe Delvaux spent school years with his mother in Yankton and summers with his father in Pickstown, a government town built in the 1950s to house the families of construction workers at Fort Randall Dam. But by the 1970s, Pickstown had dwindled from a high of 5,000 people to less than 100. It could be a solitary setting for a kid who was a”big city” implant.

Delvaux spent hot South Dakota summer afternoons roaming the sun-baked hills surrounding the Missouri River with two older brothers who pointed out plants and insects.”It became natural for me to notice vegetation and to look under rocks,” he says.”It was what we were about and who we were.”

Plants held less interest for Delvaux when he entered high school and later college. But in the summer of 2001, when the National Parks Service opened an office in Yankton, he took a position as a Seasonal Park Ranger.”We were given the freedom to connect an interest to the public and plants were my interest,” Delvaux says.”I got a small library of books to read and took them into the field with me to collect specimens.” He drove back roads and hiked meadows looking for buffaloberry, sumac, sage and chokecherry.

Photo by Stephen Gassman.

His research evolved into a park program called Cultural, Medicinal and Edible Plants along the Missouri River. Delvaux often tells his classes about how Meriwether Lewis was introduced to the benefits of chokecherry. During the 1804 expedition, Lewis became very ill with fever and diarrhea. He’d tried the medical treatments of his time, including bleeding, with no alleviation of the symptoms. But then he made some tea from the bark of the chokecherry. He felt so much better that he hiked several miles the next morning.

Prickly pear is among the edible plants that Delvaux brings for the class to sample. It can be found throughout South Dakota and most Western states. He harvests the cactus pads from plants in ditches by Pickstown, near places he wandered as a youth.

Kay Young says in her book Wild Seasons: Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains that prickly pear cactus pads and ripe fruits are not poisonous — it’s the spines and glochids (barbed hairs) that pose a danger. She recommends handling the pads with tongs or pliers when washing and preparing them. She singes older pads over a flame to remove spines and glochids before cooking, but cooks young pads just as they are, removing the stickers once the pads have cooled.

Delvaux prepares the prickly cactus for his class by filleting the outer skin off the pads, rinsing away the gelatinous juice, patting the pads dry and then cutting them into bite-size pieces.”I’ve cooked it a couple of times — battered it and fried it, but I really prefer it raw and chilled,” Delvaux says.”Fried it tastes a little like fried green tomatoes.”

Cactus Salad

6 cups prickly pear cactus pads, cut into 1/2 inch squares
3 bunches green onion
7 tablespoons salt
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
2 medium plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup white onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of two Key limes
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano

In a medium stockpot, cover the pads with at least three inches of water. Add a bunch of green onions and two tablespoons salt and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into colander. Discard onions and rinse pads in cold water until cool. Repeat the boiling twice using the remaining green onions and four tablespoons salt. This will remove the slimy stuff from the cactus pads. You will now have half the amount you started with.

Mix diced pads, jalapeno, white onion, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, oregano and remaining teaspoon salt. Let stand 45 minutes for flavors to blend.

— Recipe From I.M. Cowgirl Magazine

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story is revised from the July/Aug 2010 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order this back issue or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.

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Grassfed at Jefferson

By Rebecca M. Terk

In the late’70s, when Bob Corio and his wife Barb were first married, they were invited to a lamb chop dinner at a friend’s house.”It was the most awful tasting food I’ve ever eaten,” he recalls.”I had to bury it with mint sauce so I could clean my plate.”

Corio thinks he knows what made it so unpalatable–the advanced age of the animal, its corn-fed diet, and that strong lanolin taste often associated with the meat. Now, years later, the cleaner, more refined flavor of his own Dakota Harvest Farm grassfed lamb earns rave reviews from farmers market patrons and restaurants all over the region — including Omaha’s Grey Plume, recently named the”greenest restaurant in America” by the Green Restaurant Association.

In addition to the Dorper and Dorper x de la France lambs (which are a shedding”hair” sheep without the lanolin production, and flavor, of wool sheep breeds), Corio raises heritage Dexter cattle on his alfalfa, grass, oats, and winter annual grazing mix.”Dexters are good mothers and have a gentle disposition, and they may be helpful in protecting lambs from coyotes,” Corio says. The opportunistic predators can be severe on the Jefferson, South Dakota family farm that borders the Missouri River. One year, Corio lost 10 percent of his lambs to coyotes.

So, in a family that traditionally stuck to beef and hogs, why the switch to lamb, especially after the memorable mint sauce incident? In about 2002, Corio had an area of pasture going to waste. He found 10 ewes of the Dorper breed in eastern Iowa to graze it. Their lambs were corn-fattened and auctioned off. He didn’t break even, but he didn’t give up, either.

With a fresh crop of lambs, he started grazing instead of graining them (his lamb is now Certified American Grassfed), and he sought out direct markets in Sioux City, Omaha, and Vermillion with an ever-expanding menu of cuts processed by USDA-inspected Hudson Meats in Hudson. Corio obtained health department licensing as well, so he could grill lamb bratwursts and kabobs to sell and sample at the four or five farmers markets where he and his wife vended — often separately so as to hit more than one market during a single time slot.

Word of his lamb’s unsurpassed flavor spread quickly. Corio has seen demand for his grassfed lamb (and now grassfed heritage Dexter beef) skyrocket. The Omaha World Herald‘s review of the French Cafe in Omaha, which referred to their Dakota Harvest lamb entree as”crazy delicious,” hasn’t hurt, either.

Dakota Harvest Farm now has 350 ewes and almost two dozen Dexter cattle grazing 160 acres, with plans to increase the herd size sustainably as space and time permit. Though his customers may occasionally be disappointed when he runs out of their favorite cut, they are quick to understand it’s all about the care and quality of the meat — quality that Corio maintains as much for the local customers who cook at home and know him by name as for the nationally-acclaimed restaurants that proclaim his farm by name on their menus.

Dakota Harvest Lamb (and beef) is available during the regular season at Vermillion Area Farmers Market and the Sioux City Farmers Market. You can also order online at www.DakotaHarvestFarm.com.

Formerly of Flying Tomato Farms in Vermillion, Rebecca Terk is the Land Stewardship Project’s Healthy Food System Organizer in Big Stone County, Minn., near the South Dakota/Minnesota border. In fact, she can see South Dakota from her writing desk. She writes about local food and sustainable farming at http://www.BigStoneBounty.com.

Roast Lamb with Coffee-Brandy Sauce

Rebecca Terk calls this lamb recipe”awesome and unusual.” After preparing the dish, she recommends using the sauce left at the bottom of the dutch oven.”Put it on the stovetop and whisk in a little flour over low heat to make a gravy — it’s very good on rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes or a cucumber and tomato salad.”

Ingredients:

5 lb. lamb roast (leg)

salt and pepper

dry mustard

ground rosemary

Sauce:

1 cup strong black coffee

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons brandy

Directions:

Salt and pepper the lamb, dust with dry mustard, then pat rosemary on top. Combine ingredients for sauce.

Roast lamb at 300 degrees for 18 minutes per pound, basting with sauce frequently. Pull the roast out onto a tray and let stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story originally appeared in the March/April 2011 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.