andiesenji

I guess I should say thanks, but that is one depressing article!!! ← I know the article is sad but the source site might be a way to find other growers.

Hamilton may be pretty far east, but I am further east yet. And north. I have never seen sour cherries at a farm stand in our area...we are in a different zone than Hamilton. I think that barring driving south and west, a grocery store may be my only source. And we do not have any grocery stores here like Trader Joe's or Whole Earth. ← I emailed Gina this morning and just got an email with this website address. re growers in the area

Thanks Andie. I think I have a lot to learn about Galangal. Somehow I thought it was quite like ginger, more than just belonging to the same family. I thought ginger from Thailand was called Galangal. Obviously that was not the case. I'll go back and read about it more carefully. I noticed that it has all sorts of little side 'branches' in the rhizome which make it hard to peel. And the peel is different. So, after 2 1/2 hours of constant steaming, the slices are finally tender-ish. And the taste is less hot and less peppery, but still quite sharp and pungent. I am candying them anyway in a syrup made with orange flavored sugar (from a confused mistake). Won't hurt them I am sure. I'll get back with the results. I like the idea of candying tiny hot peppers. My friend Melanie would go wild for them. Did you do anything different that I should know about? Thanks. ← Nothing much different with the peppers. The skins are fairly tough so they don't break down and since they are so tiny, they will hold their shape fairly well. They should look slightly translucent - mine were sort of a "candy-apple-red" when finished.

Thanks Kerry. If the Niagara grows sour cherries, then I find it hard to believe that you can't get them in Peterborough. Perhaps my friend is mistaken. I'll call the produce managers of some of the local grocery stores. Thanks as always. ← One of my friends used to live in a suburb of Hamilton, which I think is pretty far east, and she used to buy cherries for canning in the early summer from farmstands a few miles outside of the city. The same place sold apples in the fall. There might be a directory of farmstands, etc., in eastern Canada somewhere on the 'net.

I can get fresh galangal at the local Filipino market but I don't recall ever trying to candy it. I do use it in sambals but pound the heck out of it in a mortar (have tried processing it in food processor but get strings so the old-fashioned method works better for me). To me it has an "earthier" flavor than ginger and while it does work in recipes, I don't like it plain. For hot an peppery, I have candied the tiny piquin and tepin peppers - dried. As with other dried items, I steamed them first. I used to make them when I was regularly attending Chile-Heads Hotlucks and the real "tin-throat-chile-heads" loved them but I couldn't eat them myself. They are the original "red-hots"

I have several pieces of Magnalite (WagnerWare), including the monster roaster that I bought in 1969, and I also have Guardian ware, a couple of pieces of other Wagnerware cast aluminum and some less well-known brands. When I got my first piece of Magnalite, 40-some years ago, it came with a little booklet that indicated how it could be used, including stovetop (over two burners) and also that it might discolor inside when cooking certain acidic foods. It turns a dark gray. The instructions said that it was easy to get rid of this dark gray discoloration, if one found it unattractive, by simply filling it with hot water to just above the area of discoloration, bringing the water to a boil and adding Cream of Tartar, 1 tablespoon for each gallon of water. I have had various pieces discolor over the many years I have used these for cooking, canning (waterbath), roasting and etc. The Cream of Tartar works. While it is an acid, it apparently is very good at stripping off the layer of whatever it is that has created the discoloration on the inside of the pot. Incidentally, I found the same "hint" in a book of household hints from the late 1940s and when I mentioned it at one of my volunteer meetings at the local senior center, a WWII vet, who was a GI cook, said they did the same thing as they were using very large aluminum pots because steel was not available for cookware. In this photo you can see the level where I last "treated" the roaster. These are always available on ebay but they can also be found for much less at thrift shops and yard sales. This is the 4269, they also made a 4267 and 4265, (large and medium). The 4269 is the largest. It always has the incised name on the bottom with the number.

Softened butter mashed into sorghum molasses and spread on biscuits was the breakfast sweet of my early childhood in the late winter and early spring when the stock of homemade jams, jellies and preserves had been depleted. My earliest memory at about age 3 was riding my little tricycle around the big round breakfast table and having a bite of biscuit and "scumbly" popped into my mouth every time I went past my grandpa's chair. I have an ancient "receipt" for molasses stack cake which is an assembly of thin layers of a spice cake (actually baked on griddle in a ring) and "filled" with molasses. There is no covering so the layers (usually eight) are clearly visible. I made in only once and found it to be extremely sweet but the flavor was great. I intended to try it again with a different and less sweet type of cake but, like so many projects, never got around to it.

Right you are! During my few years of residence in Wisconsin in the mid '50s, I developed a taste for Gurkensalat which was a staple on almost every table from early summer to late fall. There are numerous variations but I loved them all. There are numerous recipes online but this one is pretty close to the one I use. I often add celery seed in addition to the dill weed. I also like thinly sliced shallots instead of the onion.

I have psoriatic arthritis and I LOVE my electric peppermill. I dont think anyone who has ever seen it would call it a waste of money( although they might think the tellicherry pepper was). So many of the gadgets that I do have, are so much more helpful to me because of my arthritis. ← I have more than one "electric" peppermill - I like the ones that dispense the pepper from the top when inverted as there is no button to push. As for spending too much on tellicherry, I buy a lot of "exotic" peppers and use them all. If they get used, they are not a waste of money. Pepper-Passion is my drug of choice!

I love my "One-Touch" can opener which I can start and leave alone to do its job and then return to lift it off the can with the lid attached to its magnet. I first got one of the cheapies then opted for the deluxe version. I also have the power jar opener for the same reason, severe arthritis at the base of my right thumb and weakness in my left hand from atrophied muscles because of nerve damage. They are a godsend for me.

I always have Triscuits on hand and find they are great under a lot of things, including homemade pimento cheese, smoked trout with cream cheese and guacamole with bacon.

I am sooooooooo jealous! (Could you please come over and declutter my house?) ← It looks like it belongs in Architectural Digest.

Thanks, Andie. I just looked up your photo demo on search and got...the above message only. Can you please give me the information to find it? ← It's post # 163 on this page.

When I separate oranges from their peels, as per my photo demo posted some time back, I end up with whole oranges too. I pull the segments apart, spread them in one layer on a sheet pan or tray and put them in the freezer for an hour or so until they are solidly frozen. Then I put them into a vacuum bag or a ziplock bag works okay too, just for shorter periods. This way they don't clump together and you can remove just a few of the segments for use in a drink or dish without defrosting the others. Because of the effects of freezing/thawing, the segments seem to produce much more juice than the fresh oranges. Earlier today I combined a dozen segments with a cup of homemade yogurt and a couple of tablespoons of honey and a dash of angostura bitters in my Vita-Mix and made myself a frosty orange drink.

I make batches of Alton Brown's Orange Sherbet It is delicious. I also make a casserole - side dish sort of thing with sliced sweet potatoes interleaved with cross-cut orange slices (rounds), drizzled with maple syrup and baked in a 300 degree oven for 40 minutes. I've also got the Citrus Cookbook and I even have one on my Kindle that is an Orange Cookbook - I don't think it is available in paper.

Try candying sour cherries. They turn out quite different from the sweeter varieties.

I have to say that, not only do think this is not a waste of money, but I think it's a necessity. I don't understand dumping out all the water into the sink, when you can use the starchy, salty water to adjust the tightness of the sauce and to provide liquid for cooking the sauce and the pasta together for the last minute or two. ← I also use the pasta water in the "starter" when I prepare salt-rising bread. Regular hot water works okay too but I seem to get a much better result when I use the water from pasta or from boiled potatoes (also cooked in the perforated insert). I think it IS the starches dissolved in the water that give a rocket start to the salt-rising yeast culture. (I use the King Arthur product.) I also use the insert to blanch greens and to dip whole tomatoes and peaches when I am skinning several for canning or ???.

I have the "tankless" water heaters which have inline filters on the intake line. Now that the fed is promoting these energy-saving appliances with a significant tax credit, I expect more people will be converting. Mine have 20-year guarantees, which is considerably longer than regular tank type heaters. The water is heated once, on demand. My gas savings have averaged 30% over the past couple of years. And even better, one never runs out of hot water - I can have the washer, dishwasher and showers going at the same time. No cold-water shock!

I guess I have got a lot of stuff that many of you feel might be a total waste of money. It all comes down to personal preference. I do have a pot filler and I have a stockpot that has a spigot at the bottom and I use a pasta cooker that has a perforated insert (just like the one Jacques Pepin used today on his show) that allows me to lift out just the pasta (or dumplings, etc.) leaving the water behind to cool before I have to move the pot. I have a fair amount of tile on the walls. I do have some granite but I also have a lot of butcherblock and some stainless steel. There is even a section of marble. I have lots of gadgets because I love to collect them. There is more than enough cookware for several kitchens - mainly because I also collect that stuff. I don't spend a lot of money on jewelry or clothes (shoes are another matter), expensive cars, cruises, spas, and etc. I buy things that make me happy and which I plan on passing on to my offspring who are as nuts about cooking stuff as me. Then there is the fact that if I ever fall on hard times, I can probably live quite comfortably on the sale of my collection of copper for at least a few years. After that I can get into the other collections - the vintage toasters and the mixers which ought to carry me for a few more years. And I have a vintage range that should help a bit. Assuming I can bring myself to part with any of them. My kitchen is well-loved and well-used. I do actually cook and bake in it and I am happy in it. It's not a "just for show" kitchen and is beginning to show a little wear here and there but to me that shows that it has been serving its purpose.

why not just freeze it as is, of course after trimming off all the parts that do not look too happy, and/or cutting it into portion sizes? What i am really asking is, does grating prolong shelf life or should i say freezer life? ← Grating renders it easier to use. Otherwise you have to thaw a chunk and then chop a mushy chunk of stuff.

I do have a brix meter but have used it sparingly. In fact, I don't even know where it is presently located because it has been so long since I did use it.

I nominate the "trendy" odd-shaped sinks that have in recent years been highly touted at the industry shows. I see no point in having a "sink" that is 40 inches long, 4 inches deep and 6 inches wide, installed in the center of an island, simply as a "design element." Ditto for the "butterfly" sinks, the countertop mounted "blown-glass" sinks that are only eye-candy and have no practical use whatsoever. Not to mention, costing the earth.

If anyone wants an extremely detailed and technical (patented) description of the candying process, it can be found at this site. Scroll down to read the precise instructions which include the use of a Brix Meter (refractometer). A less technical process is described here, specifically for cherries.

We were a fairly large family with not a lot of money. We very rarely had cold cereal of any type in the house. Breakfast was usually oatmeal, rice or cream of wheat. When we did have cereal it was usually those huge pillowcase size bags of almost-name-brand unsweetened cereals like the generic corn flakes or puffed wheat. I think the cereal dessert thing came from pure greed. There was actually cereal in the house but there was also ice cream... how can I have both? ← Obviously you have never tried topping plain vanilla ice cream with Post Toasties. One of my faves!

I grate fresh galangal and freeze it in 1/4 cup portions in the little snack-sized plastic bags. After it has frozen solid, I gather all the little bags into a Cambro container. I have kept it for close to a year with no loss of flavor.