andiesenji

I have made watermelon and other melon syrups by the steam extraction method, which works great for many fruits - not so much for citrus, except for one exception - kumquats. As I saved the watermelon and honeydew rinds for pickling, this method worked great for me. I have two and plan on putting one on ebay shortly - the smaller one as a friend wants the big one. I think mine was made in Finland - will have to look - but they all work the same and are very efficient at producing juices that are ready to bottle or can or to be turned into jelly. I used to make a celery juice "tonic" with herbs using the steam extractor - nothing else worked as well.

Several of the Amish markets that sell online carry real whole hominy and hominy grits. They also carry yellow corn grits. Most hominy is made from white corn. Yoder's is one that I have ordered from and been very satisfied with the product. I also buy the whole hominy (store it in the freezer) for grinding my own so I have the exact grind I want. I also order their "Purasnow" CAKE FLOUR because it does not contain cornstarch. Their dark rye flour is better than others I have tried. I have also bought some of their dried/glazed fruit, which I found to be excellent quality.

I make and freeze the sauce and meat separately - my tomatillo green sauce freezes beautifully - I usually combine it with cooked chicken or pork and "finish" after thawing by simmering over low heat for an hour or so to combine and develop the flavor. People love it, I'm often asked for my recipe (including at an eGullet potluck years ago) which is one of the reasons I put it on my blog. I make the sauce in big batches and freeze in portions appropriate for serving or adding to dishes.

Yes, speed 4. And you can use your hands - wear gloves - or you can use a rolling pin - the French type or the plain cylinders, press and roll it away from you, fold it with a bench scraper or similar tool. Periodically dip your hands in cold water. You can also put it in cheesecloth (the fine weave butter muslin) and squeeze it while it hangs above the sink.

I've been making butter for decades. After draining and SAVING the buttermilk - I use it in baking - add back at least that amount of water - cold - run the mixer for 2 minutes Drain repeat two more times and then press out the remaining liquid. use a board over the sink with a slight tilt to allow drainage and two "butter pats" paddles that are grooved to facilitate drainage. Photos of the entire process on my blog.

Here's a link to one of the reviews of the LIMA green pans. As I said in an earlier post, there are some "green" pans that are crap. They don't perform as advertised. I got one because my daughter bought one of this brand and had excellent results with it so I decided to give one a try - I also had a coupon for BB&B, which reduced the price even more. I have numerous pans and didn't "need" this but I love to try new things. Look for the discount coupons here worth the small amount of effort required.

I don't think there really is such a thing as "left over brandy" - - -

Almost all paper products - when shredded - can be composted - investing in an inexpensive shredder, if you don't have one, allows you to use this carbon-rich stuff which is very useful in all kinds of soil - particularly heavy clay soil but is especially important in soils that are "off" - either too acid or too alkaline (as is the soil here in the desert). When I was still working I used to bring bags of shredded paper home from the office. The only exception is wax-coated paper - although the worms seem to like it just fine - I recently put a torn up milk carton (well rinsed) into the worm composter and when I added new vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and tea leaves, there were clusters of worms around each piece of the milk carton.

Lordy, my family room/kitchen is larger than your house. My city recycles everything that can possibly be recycled. There is a city facility - 24-hour recycling drop off place where one can discard electronics, batteries, etc., which are then broken down and recycled in various ways, some by reclaiming metals, plastics. The other recyclable stuff is sorted and processed, baled and sold to manufacturing places. Lancaster (CA) has won several awards for recycling, clean energy (all municipal buildings, all schools have shade structures with solar panels and most installations also have charging stations for electric cars. With an entire city dedicated to "green" policies, it is much easier to be an environmentally responsible citizen. Here's an article about it. There is a proposal to present seminars for officials from other cities that are interested in solving these problems efficiently and those should begin this year. There have been unofficial visitors from other cities and our mayor has championed this at meetings with other mayors across the country.

I buy as much organic as possible. I recycle alsmost everything - all appropriate vegetable waste is composted - worm composter and ordinary composting and this includes many paper products, shredded used paper towels, etc. I use up all my leftovers, and actually plan for leftovers as I live alone and fix things that can be repurposed in different dishes and I vac seal and freeze in serving portions and LABEL everything. I have been an environmental "nut" for decades, mainly because I grew up on a farm where nothing was wasted and when one gets into such habits when young, it sticks with you. While I have many appliances, I try not to waste energy. I only run the dishwasher with full loads - ditto the washer and I mostly use cold water and the dryer (gas) is operated on a low setting and most of my clothes are hung for final drying. Towels and sheets get the full dryer treatment. I use environmentally friendly detergents, somthing many people don't think about. All my major appliances are "Energy Star" compliant and I have tankless "on demand" water heaters which have reduced my gas bill considerably. While the initial investment is significant, the long-term savings are even more so and ONE NEVER RUNS OUT OF HOT WATER! I can take a shower with the washer AND the dishwasher running. Could not do that before...

My great grandmother and one of my great aunts used to argue about the relative merits of Barm Brack (great grandmother) and Bara Brith (Aunt Maude, who had lived for a time in Wales) and how they differed - one "regular" flour, one "wholemeal" flour. (after 65 years I don't recall which was which). And sometimes we did get these treats as long as the cook was willing or one of the girls she was "training up" could bake one or more. My grandpa always insisted that the cook was "not to be annoyed" by special requests when she had enough to do with the usual things. As there were around 12 to 15 adults and 9 children living in the house, plus the folks in the smaller houses who usually shared meals, the cook did have a monumental job, even with the women who also worked in the kitchen. Sometimes one of my aunts would help and my grandmother did some when there were a lot of visitors during the holidays. And of course me, being the only girl in the herd of children, got to "help" in the kitchen from time to time - if being underfoot was at all helpful...

One of the reasons that I began candying my own citrus peel, ginger and etc., many years ago, was the lack of realy quality ingredients for the "fruit" cakes that I prefer. I could get good dried fruits but glacé fruits that were reasonably priced for use in baking were virtually impossible to find here in the U.S., even in large cities. Occasionally one could find a source but the products were so expensive that it made baking with them unaffordable. The usual supermarket offering for "fruitcake mix" might as well be colored plastic for all the flavor it has. For pineapple, I buy the best unsweetened dried slices I can find and steam them until they are translucent and then allow them to dry so they become "candied" with their natural residual sugar. The flavor is so much better than the commercial stuff.

I haven't been able to find the card with my recipe but phoned a friend who emailed me the link to this page which is virtually identical to the recipe I used to make and may have come from the same source . Torta di Noci

Found the recipe for the Apricot Almond Tart. Apricot Almond Tart (This also works with other dried fruit and nut combinations - Peaches work with pecans or almonds. Plums or pluots with any nut. I have made one with pineapple and macadamias - apple jelly for glaze) Just remembered I made one with dried cherries (the bing cherries from Trader Joe's) and hazelnuts... Crust: 1 cup Vanilla wafers (I also used some other cookies - the Italian amaretti at least twice.) 1 cup Almonds - not blanched 1/4 cup Sugar - granulated 1 stick Butter - unsalted - cut into pieces Preheat oven to 350° F. Put all ingredients into food processor. Pulse till it looks like coarse sand. Press evenly into 10-inch tart pan (preferably one with removable bottom to make it easier to serve when done. Bake for 8 minutes, set aside to cool. Filling: 4 eggs 2 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg extra TABLESPOON OF FLOUR for apricots - to keep them from sticking together. 2 cups finely chopped dried apricots tossed with the tablespoon of flour 1 cup sliced almonds - no need to use blanched Glaze 1/2 cup apricot jam, melted Method: Use a large mixing bowl. Beat eggs and yolks together until smooth Add sugar and beat to blend Add flour and nutmeg and beat until completely blended. Fold in the apricots and almonds. Pour the filling carefully into the prepared crust, spreading to the edges gently so as to not break the crust. Bake for 22 minutes Remove from oven to cooling rack. Drizzle melted apricot jam over surface. Cool completely before removing tart rim - transfer on base to serving plate.

Do you have any figs or dates? If so, you can make fruit and nut "confections" by grinding equal amounts of fruits and nuts together, kneading to fully combine and forming into little balls or sticks and coating with something to keep them from sticking together. I use pulverized coconut but you can use powdered sugar, etc. Or you can make a Torta di Noci - I have a recipe, will see if I can find it. It uses lots of walnuts and the other main ingredients are eggs and sugar. A friend makes a walnut halva - Lebanese, I think, that uses a lot of walnuts - I don't have her recipe but will see if she will give it to me, or something similar.

I have a recipe for an almond/apricot tart made with dried apricots that is based on an eggy custard. I think it is still on a recipe card so will have to hunt for it. As I recall the crust is vanilla wafers ground with almonds but I'm just guessing. No caramel but there is some apricot jam...

Equal measures when subbing applesauce for fat, oil or butter. For each egg, 1/4 cup of applesauce for one or two eggs. If your recipe calls for more than two, you need to add something like a few drops of liquid lecithin or the texture will be coarse and uneven. Use unsweetened if possible. If all you have is sweetened, reduce the sugar by 1/3.

Apparently it is all in one's perspective. One of my neighbors has a visitor from England - Norfolk to be exact "near but not in King's Lynn" who has been here since before Thanksgiving - who wonders why Americans restrict the making and consuming of fruitcakes to the Christmas holidays. She says most wedding cakes in England, at least in the places she has lived, are fruitcakes and they will keep for at least four months or longer if dosed with liquor. She says they enjoy fruitcakes all year - different varieties but still fruitcake whatever the ingredients. She says her mum always has some dried or candied fruits "marinating" because it doesn't dry out and get hard when stored in liquid. She also says the "mixed peel" available there is somewhat different from the usual stuff seen here and the dried black currants her mum use for baking are larger, softer and have a different flavor from the "currants" we see here. Sultanas, large golden raisins, are more common than the "black" raisins that are more common here. I grew up in a family that favored fruitcakes all year and there were always several tins with interesting contents - all on high shelves out of the reach of inquisitive children. These were served at tea time, thin slices that could be anointed with soft butter. I can't remember a time when there wasn't at least one Dundee cake, a Madeira cake and possibly a Bishop's cake and usually there were multiples, at various stages of "aging" with various spirit flavorings. My great grandmother was especially partial to one she called Pepper cake, which was quite spicy and loaded with candied ginger. The "seedy cake" also sometimes contained fruit. So consider spreading the fruitcake season into the rest of the year and try some different varieties. I can recomment HIGHLY, the paper cake molds now available in reasonable amounts at Amazon. I have several sizes of loaf "pans" and the cakes come out clean and easy.

I have often reduced the amount of sugar in certain baked goods. One does have to do some experiments to determine what works well. I have been substituting some "alternate" flours in my baking - coconut flour, milo flour (made from sorghum - use less sugar because it is sweet) oat flour requires a tad more liquid but keeps baked goods moist when the sugar is reduced. There are numerous web sites, blogs and etc., with advice on how to use the alternative flours. This is one. I remember the war years (WWII) when there were many recipes for eggless, butterless cakes and many were made with alternative sweeteners, molasses, honey, etc.

I've been preparing Hoppin' John for 50+ years and I've never used tomatoes. Black-eyed peas (beans), rice, bacon and a little hot pepper - finely chopped onion - for flavor. Occasionally I add some cut green beans - a variation favored by my family.

I haven't done this intentionally but I recently "discovered" what I thought was a bottle of Christian Bros. brandy in the back of my small pantry (has very deep shelves on which I have trays to allow me to pull them part way out to get at things in the back). I wondered why I had stuck it back there and not with the other liquor bottles so pulled it out and found I had sealed the top by dipping in liquid plastic coating. I cut the stuff away and opened the bottle and the intense vanilla aroma alerted me that this was not "pure" brandy. I have no idea why I did not label it - I usually label everything - but I tested some in a spoonful of cream and it is perfect. My other containers are all labeled with the dates they were started - this one is an orphan and the last time I reorganized that shelf in the pantry had to have been at least four years ago, if not longer. It's where I keep the stuff that is for long-term storage. Canned water, emergency canned rations, etc. This bottle was behind that with a couple of jugs of my home made vinegar that are "aging" - and they are labeled 2008 and 2009.

The recipe is quite versatile. I did do a cherry vanilla version - using the LorAnn cherry oil flavoring - with the white chocolate chips and they turned out nicely. I haven't tried it but a baker friend took the idea and used lemon zest and called the cookies "Lemon Bisque" because they have the flavor of the 1950s lemon bisque ice box desserts. Of course he converted the recipe so it made many more cookies. And he used, besides the white choc chips, lemon chips. He buys his commercially but they are now available from online sources - I ordered some from nuts.com but have not yet gotten around to using them. I had visions of doing at least a little holiday baking but simply tire too rapidly and get chest pain if I try to do too much. Here I have all these lovely ingredients for baking and they just sit there, mocking me, so I am anxious to have my "valve job" soon.

The glass tops work fine with cast iron that has a FLAT bottom. If there is a "heat ring" around the perimeter, it will not work and also won't work on an induction burner. My best friend has had two glass top electric ranges over the past 20 years and uses her old cast iron skillets all the time. Previously she had an electric range with the flat metal "coils" that also worked fine with the cast iron.