lemniscate

I've ordered directly from KewpieUSA. They have both the Japanese and US styles of mayo. Also carry some of the hard to get Kewpie dressings, I particularly like the Coconut Wasabi over avocado.

I'll just leave this here for the Avance owners perusal.

I am almost ready to take the next foray into canning: pressure. Mostly it would be soups that I can't buy in stores anymore (I am looking at you Campbell's, you discontinued Pepperpot😠) like my Mom's Polish Beet Soup (also possibly her Dill Pickle soup), and I like Manhattan Clam Chowder but I don't like the commercial offerings. I'm pretty sure I am the only one in the household interested in these soups, so I'd probably stick to pint jars for smaller servings. My thought is it would be like having a serving size like a traditional sized can of soup in the cupboard. I think it would be fun and rewarding to resurrect some of my Polish Gma's soups we don't make anymore due to the problem of scale. Still got my eye on the Presto induction friendly pressure canner, but since I just bought the Vacmaster VP215, I have to money-up a bit again.

I finished the pom molasses. It went well, excluding an end of day incident which I might put in the "I Will Never Again" thread. I reduced 7 quarts of fresh pom juice (neighbors), 1 quart of lemon juice (my tree, canned last year) and I'm guessing 1 to 1 1/4 cups of sugar to 1 pint of molasses. It's dark, pungent sweet and sour. I might have went slightly into the caramel range, due to "my incident", but I am happy with the results. This stuff is dense. I still have another 3 quarts of fresh juice for drinking.

I am in the process of making pomegranate molasses. My neighbor left 4 bag of poms in my courtyard, over 100 fruit. I spent the last few days chipping away at getting the arils out. I used my steam juicer to extract the juice. It came out a dark purple color. I was afraid it would taste cooked, but it tasted fine, more sweet than I'm used to. I am now reducing 7 quarts of juice and 1 quart of lemon juice and adding sugar to balance.

I made a basil simple syrup for sweetening drinks. I don't recall what kind of basil is was. Goes really good in lemonade.

I never use the home delivery, but I've used the parking lot space pickup version. I also don't get the "ramming" thing. I see the fulfillers in the store with 3-4 bags in their carts. Never see a logjam. Seems to me they are reducing the aisle cart traffic by 3-4 carts per fulfiller, so I'm not sure how people are getting upset with that, but my WF store is huge. The area for the filled Prime Now bags is in the entry atrium, and does not get in the way of egress to the store.

Instant pot, much more flexible. And I love, love, love my sous vide appliances, but the Instant Pot gets used everyday, sometimes multiple times.

Something I have done in the past is gone to thrift shops and purchased vintage silverplated trays (nobody's heirs seem to want these and they end up piled up in Goodwill) for $2-$3 and use them as gift trays. They certainly are memorable because my friends bring them up all the time. Also, some are using the trays as gift trays to pass-it-forward to others.

Maybe a Tao stove would work for you. I have one and it gets hella hot. I bought mine for way way less than the linked price at the Asian market in my area.

Reminds me of the movie Bottle Shock.

@chromedome Pascal @JoNorvelleWalker the BASIC joke was pretty freaking funny too.

I did the tie wrap repair, watched all the videos, studied the book, read the tips and tricks here and fired up the VP215. Not gonna lie, I had a couple "Oops, operator error" moments. Recovered and then it was off to the races. I started with rice, then plain water, and just got finished re-packaging all the non-vacuum sealed things in my freezer at the moment. I think I shall name it "Pascal". Thanks @Shelby , @rotuts and all others for the help and advice.

Mar-Stew's Halloween Ladies Fingers, a pretzel like bread. Was really well received. I also made a blood-red horseradish-bacon-onion dip to go with. Maybe had 10 left at the end of the night.

Does Halloween count? Because I am in the middle of making Martha Stewart's Ladies Fingers and mens toes for an early Halloween party today. If they come out OK I'll post pics in the daily baking thread. I am planning to do a lot more of the King Arthur Caribbean rum cake, soon, in small loaf pans for Christmas sharing. I don't think I'll do any cookies this year. But I could change my mind.

I would think some breweries/mead producers would be happy to get this quality and price on that honey. Hopefully connections can be made.

I looked for it in my local TJ's previously. No luck. Hoping it shows up for Holiday supplies.

@Shelby ! Awesome! I *might* just use one of my own stock of zip ties to try a self repair. I wanna play with this VP215!

Ok Kind VP215 EG'ers, I need some help. My VP215 just arrived and has been unboxed and sits on its new table cart. We opened up the back to access the oil port and I found a broken white rather heavy duty zip tie behind the plate. See pic. I believe this zip tie goes around and over the vacuum pump on this end, there is another white zip tie unbroken far more internally on the other end of the vacuum pump. I have sent an email off to the Vacmaster support with the pics. I was hoping maybe someone with a VP215 could open theirs and take a picture so I can compare it with mine, especially how this zip tie should look unbroken around the vacuum pump.

I thought mead was the oldest archeological record (so far) human produced alcoholic beverage. Then beer. Then wine.

My rolling table that @Shelby recommended is being delivered today, and just now I checked on the VP215 arrival. It says Friday and 112.4 lbs. I think I am ready. To those who have one, what was the first thing you sealed to test and play with the unit? Bags of water? Rice? How did you start your learning curve?

Does it have to be a food based gel/jelly? Because you can make a very clear "slime" product that may work. In case you're not familiar, making slime is an obsession with a lot of tweens around here and youtube is inundated with how to videos. Slime can be made with household products. It may work for your art exhibit as you are planning it. Example Video Seriously, do a search on youtube or google about making clear slime.

I can't keep up with the varieties. I grew up in northern apple orchard country. Northern Spy, Winesap, Jonathons, McIntosh, Pippin, Snow are cemented in my mind as what I judge all other apples by. Used to piss me off at school lunch they would serve us the effing awful Red Delicious apples when right out the door of the school were local apples of heritage and great taste. The only apple I look forward to now, where I am, is the Jazz. I think I'll try the Cosmic Crisp out of curiosity, but Jazz variety reminds me of those northern apples quite a bit.

@MelissaH Looks like there's a Groupon deal. I've never used a Groupon anything so I'm not familiar with the process. Article HERE. Groupon link HERE. To be honest, this is a fantastic deal. Also canceling a Costco membership is very, very easy if you are not satisfied. My advice is go for this deal, get the bennies and then test out Costco for your needs. I've been a member for decades and never once regretted it. Highlights of deal here: (LOTS of stuff included, nice things) Groupon is running a limited time offer for a Costco Gold Star membership. According to Groupon’s website, the package deal is valued at $148.98 when you take into account the membership fee and the additional goodies. If you buy a membership through Costco’s website, you can get a one-year Gold Star Costco membership for $60. So, what does this Groupon deal actually get you? Here’s what you get for the $60 Groupon Costco deal: A One-Year Costco Gold Star Membership. This includes a membership card for the Primary Cardholder and one additional Household Card for anyone over the age of 18 and living at the same address. A $20 Costco Shop Card. The gift card is valid towards any Costco purchase, including gas. Exclusive coupons for the following products (a $68.98 value) which vary depending on your Costco location Free Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean HE Laundry Detergent Pacs (a $17.99 value) Free Kirkland Signature Create-a-Size® Paper Towels (a $15.99 value) $10 off Fresh Meat. This includes beef, chicken, pork, or fish but excludes deli items. $25 off any order of $250+ on Costco.com

Sorry .ca folks, I should have specified US based pamphlet.