Dear Martha: Is it worth trying to save seeds from an especially fruitful tomato plant?
Answer: Saving seeds is always a good practice — not only will you reap the rewards of your prized plants again, you'll be preserving them for future generations. Yet many modern hybrids are bred in such a way that they won't yield the same offspring. Plants marked "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" have seeds that can be saved and replanted.
The nice thing about working with tomatoes is that most varieties are self-pollinating. Many other plants, squashes and melons for instance, rely on insects to pollinate them — a process that can result in hybridization. (For seeds from those plants to produce true to their parents, they must be pollinated by hand or isolated from their neighbors.)
To maintain as strong a gene pool as possible, it's a good idea to save seeds from a few different fruits. Designate the choicest tomatoes, and pick them a week or two after you normally would for eating to ensure sufficiently ripe seeds.
Whenever seeds are suspended in the flesh of the fruit — as with tomatoes — they must be fermented to neutralize agents that resist germination. To do this, scoop out the seeds and pulp and place them in a bowl. Add a bit of water and let stand indoors, away from direct sunlight, for four days; the resulting mold will cause the necessary fermentation. After four days, pour off the water and any floating seeds, which will not germinate. Lay the remaining seeds on a sheet of newspaper in a warm, dry area for two weeks, then transfer them to a labeled storage container.
As you can see, saving seeds is not technically complicated, but if you want to practice it with a variety of plants, it's worth it to invest in a good manual, such as "Seed to Seed," by Suzanne Ashworth (available from Seed Savers Exchange, www.seedsavers.org). The manual describes in detail the techniques for collecting seeds from all types of vegetables and flowers. It also contains comprehensive instructions for hand pollination and plant isolation.
Dear Martha:How can you tell if a pet that had sensitive stomach is over the ailment?
Answer: Sensitive stomach can affect many young dogs and cats. Treatment typically involves placing the animal on a special medical diet. Besides being expensive, these diets often contain more chemical preservatives than regular food does, which over time can take their own toll. So it's definitely worth seeing if your pet has outgrown the condition, as many eventually do.
The only way to tell if a pet will take to regular food is to test it out, says Shawn Messonnier, D.V.M., host of "The Natural Vet" on Martha Stewart Living Radio. Introduce the new food over a 10-day span, mixing it into your pet's sensitive-stomach formula.
On the first day, try about 10 percent new food. Increase that amount by 10 percent each day, watching for signs of digestive duress, such as vomiting or diarrhea. Such symptoms don't necessarily mean your pet can't eat regular food; the one you chose might contain an irritant that others don't. Experiment with various formulas to see if any work.
Dear Martha:Can you suggest some good spirits to cook with?
Answer: Alcohol adds depth, tang and body to many dishes. A light, sweet wine is a good match for macerated fruit, while a full-bodied red enhances hearty dishes, such as tomato sauces and stew. Wine is also commonly used to deglaze a pan, creating a flavorful sauce or a base for soup. Beer can be mixed into deep-fry batters, lending a wheat flavor to your recipe; the yeast in beer also acts as a leavening agent, causing the batter to puff slightly. The sweetness of rum and the spiciness of brandy go well with bread pudding and other treats.
When offering foods made with alcohol, keep in mind that while much of the alcohol cooks off, a small percentage will remain, so you might let guests know. Visit marthastewart.com/recipes to find several dishes that incorporate spirits, including a melon and wild-strawberry salad with sweet wine, beer-battered onion rings, and zabaglione (an Italian dessert with a consistency similar to light, foamy custard made with Marsala wine).
Questions should be addressed to Ask Martha, care of Letters Department, Martha Stewart Living, 11 W. 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. Questions may also be sent by electronic mail to mslletters@marthastewart.com. Please include your name, address and daytime telephone number. Questions of general interest will be answered in this column; Martha Stewart regrets that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually. For more information on the topics covered in the Ask Martha column, visit www.marthastewart.com.