HOW TO: Prune Tomato Plants

Pruning tomato plants can be easy.

Before you start pruning see if you can identify the following:

• Main stem

• Blossoms

• Suckers

• Dying leaves

You want to keep:

• Main stem

• Blossoms

You want to remove:

• Suckers

• Dying leaves

What are suckers?

Suckers are extra limbs on a tomato plant that divert nutrients from the fruit and critical parts of the tomato plant. Suckers are the lateral growth located in the crevice (often referred to as the armpit) between the main stem and the branches. On a supported tomato plant (caged or strung), the vertical growth is likely to be the main stem.

How do you remove suckers?

There are two ways you can remove suckers (and dead leaves):

1. Pinching them off using your fingernails

2. Clipping them off using hand pruners

Why is pruning important?

Pruning helps your tomato plant stay healthy. A healthy tomato plant maximizes the delivery of vital nutrients to the critical parts of the plant and fruit. Pruning also helps your tomato plants produce more fruit.

A few more tips . . .

1. Prune early and often. Anytime a sucker appears, pinch it off. Continue removing suckers throughout the season for a healthy plant with abundant fruit.

2. Sometimes suckers will regrow. Simply pinch off the recurring sucker.

3. Don’t leave clippings near the live plants. Tomatoes are infamous for their susceptibility to disease. The clippings need to be fully disposed of to prevent infection. (Do not compost tomato clippings.)

4. Don’t cut off the top growing area of the main stem, as it is vital to the plant’s survival.

For a visual representation of how to prune your tomato plant, and specifically how to identify and remove suckers, watch the video below.

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Window to B’s greenhouse and kitchen . . .

The Brenda Cookie Story

The Brenda Cookie Story

As told by Brenda

The person who inspired me to try to make the cookie that eventually became The Brenda Cookie is Julie Cropper. At the time I had a roommate named Kristy. Julie and Kristy attended the same church congregation. On Sunday, March 31st, Julie brought over a plate of cookies for Kristy. Kristy wasn’t the biggest fan of sweets so she let me have one. It was a life-changing cookie. I convinced Kristy I needed to eat the rest of them, contacted Julie about the recipe (she said she used the New York Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe), and the next day I found the recipe online. 

Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Click to view an interview Jacques did about these cookies on The Rachel Ray Show.

The New York Times recipe was created by the famous pastry chef and chocolatier, Jacques Torres. There used to be a big article attached to this recipe too. They walked you through the entire recipe, step by step, and interviewed Jaques Torres about it. 

Julie told me she followed the recipe exactly. When I found the recipe and reviewed the ingredients my first thought was, “Oh, this really isn’t my style. It calls for 2 kinds of flour, and chocolate disks, not chips.” 

I spent a lot of time researching the chocolate disks, or feves as they’re called. The disks were used so you would get layers of chocolate as you bit into the cookie, as opposed to chips which tend to keep their chip shape and look more like chunks. I decided to give the recipe a try and follow it exactly. When I found the chocolate disks they were $15/lb and the original recipe called for one and a fourth pounds of chocolate. I couldn’t bring myself to spending that much on chocolate, so I decided to buy a 60% cacao chocolate bar and chop it up. The only other change I made was using a hand mixer since I didn’t have a KitchenAid at that time.

The end result was nothing too exciting, which was really disappointing considering the cookies Julie made were life-changing. I felt the chocolate chip cookie recipe I was using at the time was far superior in texture and flavor. The whole thing was a dud. In trying to figure out where I went wrong I determined it was either because of the chocolate I used and/or because I didn’t have a KitchenAid. I couldn’t justify becoming addicted to cookies that had $20 worth of chocolate in them, so I put the recipe aside and try again later.

A year later I bought a KitchenAid Pro Line 7 Quart Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer. It was the first I ever owned. I didn’t have one growing up, so it felt like a luxury to finally own one. I had gotten a promotion at work and used my raise money to buy it. The first thing I did was make another batch of the NYT chocolate chip cookie recipe. Also during that year, I discovered the Ghiradelli 60% chocolate chips. I recognized that they cooked flat instead of retaining a chip shape, and they came in a 10-ounce bag.

When I made the cookies again, this time using the KitchenAid and the Ghiradelli chip they were delicious. My first thought, “These are really good. I can work with this recipe.”

The next several times I made the cookies I changed the recipe a bit. The first thing I changed was the amount of chocolate used. One and one-fourth pounds of chocolate is too much for the average consumer. They would be overwhelmed with the amount of chocolate and wouldn’t enjoy the cookie. Using the 10-ounce bag produced what was a really good chocolate to dough ratio. If I’m making the cookies for someone who LOVES chocolate I’ll increase the amount of chips, but generally, I use one bag.

The second thing I changed was the flour. I didn’t want to use cake flour. It doesn’t have a long shelf life (I grew up on a farm, and as one of 13 kids I hate the thought of wasting food) and I didn’t want to deal with multiple types of flours. I was researching options of how to change the recipe and started reading about the protein content of different flours.

The recipe called for bread flour and cake flour. Bread flour has a protein content of 13% and cake flour has a protein content of 5%. All-purpose flour is in the middle at 9%. That’s how I figured out I could switch to only using all-purpose flour.

I made the recipe about 4 more times until settling on the results I have now. While I’ve tried a lot of other chocolate chip cookies through the years, many of them are delicious, this is my favorite recipe. It’s also the recipe that has brought the most joy to people.

How Brenda Cookies Became Brenda Cookies

I started making the cookies for church events, and friends, and somewhere over the next year or two I got a new roommate named Kelsey. She loved the cookies so much I’d make batches and refrigerate the dough. Every morning for breakfast she’d take a dough ball and eat it on the way to the subway. She also worked in Public Relations so she wasn’t shy about hyping up the cookies to everyone.

I think the name evolved from a combination of commentary. At first people would say, “I hope Brenda’s making cookies.” Which evolved into “Brenda’s Cookies.” Which a few of my guy friends shortened to “Brenda Cookies.” It stuck because it was faster and easier to say than all of the other options.

My Advice to People Making Brenda Cookies

There are some philosophies out there saying no one can make Brenda Cookies as good as Brenda because they don’t have “Brenda germs,” but that simply isn’t true. Anyone can cook and given enough direction they can also replicate the results.

The secret to making a successful batch of Brenda Cookies is to obey the instructions given instead of thinking you already know how to make cookies. If you make this recipe the same way you always make your go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, the only difference you’ll achieve is a saltier cookie. If you want a Brenda Cookie, follow the directions and forget what you already know. The lacy caramelized edge from the proper distribution of the ingredients, as well as the cookie texture, is achieved by following the recipe. It’s important to pay attention to the details.

To achieve a perfectly risen chocolate cookie that doesn’t turn out tough, the key is to not activate the gluten within the flour. All wheat flour has gluten and it’s activated by moisture. This recipe’s moisture comes from the butter and eggs. When these ingredients touch the flour, the gluten is activated. It doesn’t do anything if it just touches the flour, but if it’s worked too much that’s when the cookie will become tough. Gluten is an incredible element. If you want to create a beautiful crumb for your bread, work the dough. On a cookie you want the gluten to remain dormant since it doesn’t contain yeast to create the pillow texture you can get in bread. Again, follow the recipe as directed.

I’m so happy to share this story and these cookies with you. I hope they bring as much joy to you as they have for me, my family, and my friends.

Brenda bakes cakes. Chelsea decorates cakes.

Brenda’s a huge fan of baking cakes. It’s no surprise that everyone who’s eaten a Brenda cake is a huge fan of Brenda Cakes. While she loved baking them, she was NOT a fan of decorating them.

April 30, 2013 was a pivotal day in the Brenda/Chelsea Friendship Story. Brenda wanted to make a cake for one of her long-time friends, Brigham, who was planning to celebrate his birthday at a restaurant in Chinatown known for its liberal use of sichuan peppers. Two days before Brigham’s birthday, he posted this on Instagram:

Brigham’s post.

Take note of his caption…

Which sparked an idea for Brenda. She wanted to add a shark on top of the cake, but she didn’t know how. Reluctantly (because back then Brenda was always reluctant to delegate her beloved baking tasks to anyone), she showed me the picture and asked if I thought I could decorate the top of the cake like the picture. She must have been inspired to ask me in a “challenging” way, because when I looked at the picture I blurted out, “Of course. No problem.”

I got home a few hours earlier than Brenda, and I set to work. When Brenda came home and saw what I was doing she said, “Wow. I thought you were just going to do an outline of a shark on the cake.” I took her speechlessness as a sign that she was impressed.

The final product.

I accompanied Brenda to the party solely to help transport the cake. I wished Brigham a happy birthday (we were only acquaintances at that time!), then headed home.

When Brenda returned home after the party she said when Brigham unveiled the cake he was speechless, and he didn’t want to share it with anyone. I don’t think they cut into the cake that night…lol. Btw, Brenda took two cakes that night so there was still one to share.

That moment marked a new chapter in the Brenda Chelsea Friendship Story—one where Brenda baked the cakes, and I decorated them. I loved it. And, I miss it.

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Feeling inspired to make a cake? We recommend pairing Brenda’s:

• Best Sour Cream Cake: an easy, delicious white cake

• Chocolate Pudding Frosting: it’s as delicious as it sounds!

Baking at a high elevation?

• Use Brenda’s Best Sour Cream Cake for High Elevations recipe

• …or consult Brenda’s High Elevation Adjustment Chart