chromedome

The ones I got from this particular friend were very tart, but not tannic. In my (limited) experience - and I'm sure others can augment this or advise you better - with the really tannic ones, you have to harvest them late in the season after they've had a frost or two. There was a tree near my old apartment that had really tannic apples (like chewing on an old teabag) which magically became sweet and wonderful after a cold snap.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/the-physics-of-salt-water-taffy/

A busy harvest day for me today, in witness whereof... From L to R in front we have a late handful of shelling peas (they're almost done); a Sugar Baby watermelon that weighed in at just under 6 lbs; a few florets of broccoli (there's lots more, but this was all I needed for today); a half-dozen zucchini (2 lbs); 3 podgy little cucumbers; and 2 fennel bulbs mostly buried under 2 lbs of bush beans. L to R in back we have 2 lbs of chard, kale and beet tops; and a large quantity of lemon balm bound for the dehydrator. I'm really happy about the watermelon, those have been difficult for me over the years. It looks like I'll get at least 3 or 4 cantaloupes as well, and maybe double that depending how long the weather holds. Then there's this: You'll remember I'd mentioned that the deluge of tomatoes had begun? Well here's 10 pounds of them, mostly cherry and cocktail tomatoes but with some Romas along the back and sides and a couple of Black Krims (they're the ones with the dark shoulders; these ones didn't get enough sun and heat over the past few days to darken them up). Note that a few are underripe and I normally would have left them, but I needed to tie a few heavily-burdened vines back up to their stakes with extra supports and some of these (especially the Romas) fell by the wayside during that process. So I'm eating tomatoes on toast for lunch these days, and made a quick salsa yesterday with tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and jalapenos from the garden. Now that I've restocked on lids and rings, I'll start canning tomatoes in the next day or two. Doubtless we'll make some tomato sauce and cooked salsa for canning as well, but my reasoning is that we can do either of those things just as easily with the canned tomatoes at a less-frantic time of the year.

We were gifted a large quantity of crabapples from a friend's tree (I don't know how large, because we never weighed them, but it was a full Rubbermaid tote). The tally so far is: Crabapples canned in light syrup: 10 pints, 4 quarts Jelly w. Thai chilies: 4 jelly jars Jelly w. warm spices: 6 jelly jars, 1 1/2 pints Plain crabapple jelly: 10 jelly jars, 1 1/2 pints. I also have a pint jar of the frothy foam skimmed off during the cooking process, which I'll eat up over the next month or two on my toast. May post a picture later if I'm not too tired; have some rabbits to harvest tonight so I'll be busy for a while.

Sadly one of my two suitable windows is shaded by the house's back deck; and the other is our cat's favorite nighttime perch (and you know how well that works out for any plants on the windowsill). We do have grow lights, but given the winter power bills at our ramshackle, sprawling house, I'm reluctant to make much use of them. So our winter gardening will likely be restricted to our existing houseplants, which prefer indirect and partial light. Maybe next year I'll have a more permanent greenhouse in place, and can do some winter gardening outside of the house. It could even potentially happen this autumn, but the scope of my "honey-do" list makes it unlikely.

Those crazy-hot Paqui brand tortilla chips featured in the "One Chip Challenge" are being recalled, in the wake of the death of a 14-yo boy who ate one. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/paqui-brand-2023-one-chip-challenge-recalled-due-reported-adverse-reactions?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23 For a backgrounder, and an explanation of the suspected/unexpected side effects of Carolina Reaper consumption, you can refer to this article: https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/09/teens-death-after-eating-a-single-chip-highlights-risks-of-ultra-spicy-foods/ ETA: To be clear, a causal link hasn't yet been established between the teen eating the chip and his death, but the other incidents cited in the second link validate the potential concern.

I'd forgotten to mention it, but our inoculated bed of winecap mushrooms has fruited again and we've gotten just over 6 pounds from this second flush (slightly more than from the first one). Yesterday's harvest was mostly salad greens, and I didn't bother taking another pic because one mound of lettuces looks more or less like any other.

Tomato flavor can be a bit of a "black box," because there are a lot of variables. One is that even farm-fresh tomatoes aren't likely to be completely ripened on the vine (when it's dead-ripe, eating it immediately after picking is about the only option). Also tomatoes grown in different soil will vary somewhat in flavor, and even one plant in the same bed may yield tastier fruit than the one next to it. Then there's the question of which specific cultivar you've grown (there are a lot of beefsteak-type tomatoes, some more flavorful than others). In short, there are some imponderables involved. Black Krim is an heirloom variety originating in the Crimea. It's a big beefsteak-style slicing tomato with a dark, dramatic color and a rich flavor (I like it a lot).

Came home on Monday after spending several days in NS visiting my mom and other family, as well as my longtime best friend's mom ("Mom #2"). The garden, of course, had run wild in my absence. My yellow bush beans are spent but the green beans and green filet beans are still going; and in fact the filet beans are just now hitting their stride. Harvested 3 lbs more when I got home, which by my count brings me up to 42 lbs blanched and frozen. Also harvested some broccoli and broccolini, a couple of pounds of tomatoes (the deluge is just beginning), another couple of cups of shell peas, several zucchini (totaling 3 lbs or thereabouts), my three surviving cabbages (which will become this year's kraut), and a basket of chard and other greens (radish tops, beet tops and lacinato kale). I'm probably forgetting something, but it's late and I'm tired. Will post a few pics tomorrow. ETA: ...and here are the pics. Tomatoes in the bowl are from my first night back, those out of the bowl were from the second. Most of my tomatoes so far are the cocktail and cherry varieties, but I've also gotten my first couple of Romas and Black Krims. The larger Krim checked in at 14 ounces. Tomorrow I'll harvest salad greens again, and by then the beans and peas will need picking again as well. I believe I mentioned upthread that the broccoli I planted this year pushes out lots of side shoots if you harvest the main head early, resulting in more broccoli overall. Here's what it looks like in practice: My dill is about 7 feet tall right now! Gotta buy some pickling cukes, because my own plants aren't going to give me enough to be going on with (given the opportunity, the two younger grandkids will hoover an entire jar at one sitting).

An interesting piece (offered with no endorsement express or implied, but the writer is one I have a degree of trust in). https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/chemical-fertilizer-is-a-climate-disaster-can-high-tech-biology-fix-it

Yup. With no offense to Scott, or anyone else who likes 'em, a list that begins with "spare your taste buds" but then includes natto and liver amused me greatly. To be clear, I'm in the pro-liver camp but have never had natto. I'm sure it packs a ton of umami, but "lumpy snot" is not a texture that in any way appeals to me.

The final level of (over-)doneness betrays this image's origin on a Star Wars fan page.

I'll often throw big handfuls of chard or lacinato kale (or turnip greens, or whatever mixture I've got) into a pan with a sauteed onion, and a generous quantity of garlic. It's a really simple side dish, but you can tweak it and tart it up with things like a squeeze of anchovy paste and/or lemon, or toasted breadcrumbs, or the chopped and toasted nut of your choice. GF likes hers with a substantial glop of heavy cream and some cheese grated over top, but that's just how she rolls.

A friend gifted us with a large quantity of those from his own trees. We canned some whole, and cooked down most of the remainder to make jelly. I ran out of time before leaving for NS (I'm down visiting my mom) so we just poured the juice into Mason jars, refrigerated the ones that didn't self-seal, and the rest can wait until I get home. I suppose this could/should have gone under "unexpected food gifts"...

I've tasted it, it's definitely still got some zing and some apple-y goodness.

We're doing much the same right now (20 lbs of crabapples from a friend) and granddaughter has requested that we turn the pulp into fruit leather for her lunchbox.

They're voracious little bastards, aren't they? They got into my lacinato kale while I was away in Nova Scotia a couple of months ago, so I had to squish a bunch of them and then wash their eggs off of the plants. I've taken a few measures to deter them. One is giving my grandkids carte blanche to "collect" any white butterfly they see in my garden, and start a terrarium for it. I've had to clean up several sad little forgotten Mason jars full of twigs and leaves and a dead moth, but that's a small price to pay. The two usual companion-planting suggestions for the cabbage moth are alliums and marigolds, and I've used them both. I didn't set up in proper scientific fashion, with an unprotected control plot of the same cultivars, but anecdotally I can tell you that I've had fewer issues with the cabbage worms in those beds. This year, for example, I had broccoli interplanted with marigolds in the bed right next to the one containing the kale, and the broccoli was unscathed. Ultimately I hope to have mesh covers over my brassicas, but that didn't happen this year for various reasons. Maybe next year.

The ever-expanding energy drinks recall now includes several Monster brand products. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-brands-caffeinated-energy-drinks-may-be-unsafe-due-caffeine-content-and?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

LOL It's all about the marketing...

That'd be a heck of a road trip...

There are some cultivars, like the aptly named Permagreen and Staysgreen, that retain their color when they ripen. That's less common, though. I expect they're primarily of interest to commercial growers who need to supply consistently green peppers in quantity over a full growing season.