This spring/summer, I put on my overalls, sun hat, grabbed my tools and decided to play farmer. Since moving into our new house at the end of last summer, I’ve been staring at all the raised vegetables beds, dreaming of a bounty of vegetables and planning my garden. I’ve never really grown my own food before in large quantities. Sure, I’ve dabbled in herbs, but these new adventures in gardening are on a much larger scale. Little did I know how much work it would be.

Moira Cockburn is a Food Scientist who teaches the Culinary Management Nutrition students at The Center for Hospitality & Culinary Arts at George Brown College. Moira teaches our students the fundamentals of developing retail food products. This is more difficult than just multiplying by a hundred because of the way ingredients react differently on a larger scale. One of her recent projects was a type of preserve so it seemed a natural fit for her to take on the Preserve the Season blog.

To create a perfect summer pie you need to start from the bottom up. First the crust, followed with a fresh ripe filling and then the finishing touches.

Well we are into the dog days of summer and what a summer it has been, here in Ontario at least, with lots of hot sticky days. Not that I am complaining, it just means it is time to harvest the fruit from the trees! When I think of tree fruit I think of pies, I mean who doesn't? The blog theme this week is Perfect Summer Pies and everyone has their favourite apple or peach or cherry pie recipe and Chef Ryan and I have given many pie recipes to you through the blog and Inspired Magazine.

As a chef I can’t help but look at a recipe as more than simply mixing ingredients together. Creating a great drink, cocktail or punch is no exception. They all need great ingredients and passion to make them delicious. Most of my punches use fresh elements such as sliced fruits, fresh herbs, and fresh juices. They add flavour undertones that cant be duplicated. I also prefer to use honey and other natural sweeteners over refined sugar, their sweetness has more complexity than just plain old sweet.