FauxPas

What is the WHPS? 🤔🙂

@gfron1 used pawpaws quite a bit, I think. I wonder if he ever dried them?

I don't know why I was curious about this because I don't have pawpaws and I don't think they are usually grown in this part of the world but I did some searching and found some stuff that suggested it was a bad idea to dehydrate them. Have you seen or heard of this? Seems very odd, but see here, for an example: https://growingfruit.org/t/using-pawpaws/2307/31 Here is the quote from I believe the Director of Pawpaw program at Kentucky State University from their Facebook page called “KSU Pawpaw”: Pawpaw fruit do not dry well, for some reason I have had reports from numerous people saying dried pawpaw fruit didn’t agree with them and made them a little sick to their stomachs. We aren’t sure why, if the fatty acids get rancid, or if there is something that gets concentrated when you dry that isn’t agreeable to the stomach, but because of that it isn’t recommended. Freezing pawpaw fruit is the best way to store it. Remove the skin and seeds, puree the pulp and store in a freezer bag.

There is les amis du FROMAGE. But the prices are a bit shocking. They may have more in-store than they have on their website. They also have COWS butter from PEI. You might find something at Granville Island Public Market, maybe at Benton Brothers or similar? Avalon Dairy makes organic butters. It's not easy to find some dairy products in Canada because of supply management of the dairy industry, as I'm sure you know.

I tried to link to an episode of the PBS show Pati's Mexican Table because she did a whole episode on cinnamon in Mexican cooking, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. Here's the link to the episode summary. Cinnamon is used in Mexico in various beverages (coffee!) and in sweet baking but also in more savory applications like meat rubs and moles (sauces). https://patijinich.com/cinnamon/ You can also find recipes using cinnamon with other well-known Mexican cooks such as Rick Bayless. Here are a couple of savory ones: https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/chile-marinated-pork-oaxacan-style/ https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/oaxacan-black-mole/

@KennethT, I'm wondering how your pepper plants are coming along - hope they are thriving!

Hahahaha. I'd do the same thing! Thank you! 🙂

This makes a lot of sense! 🙂

That's where I found it most appealing in our kitchen! Pork tenderloin is quite nice with SV, fat pork chops sous-vide then seared are also very nice. With a thinner chop, I still tend to pan-fry but thicker ones are tricky for me to get right in a pan alone. I only tried steaks via SV a couple of times. I think I like regular grilling better for two reasons. First, the regular grilled steak just tastes and looked better to me. I'm completely open to the possibility that I just didn't do a very good job at SV with them (!), but cooking steaks on the grill is one of the few cooking tasks that my husband enjoys and frankly, I like a night off now and then. 🙂 I too am interested in trying SV with halibut now. I did SV salmon a few times but not sure it was better than just doing a steam-broil in the Cuisinart Steam Convection oven.

I am quite new to fermenting so advice is welcome and this sounds like very good advice! 🙂 Thanks!

After picking my green cherry tomatoes, I looked at your lovely photo again and thought I should maybe do something similar. But then I got pulled by a recipe for green tomato chutney. I'm sure it's fine but I'm regretting my choice. The chutney tastes just ok to me and the ginger comes through way too strong for some reason. It's not what I had hoped for, anyway. And it's not very appealing as a photo. Does anyone else do a green tomato chutney version that they would recommend? Here's the pepper mash, mostly dehydrated. Will try grinding a bit and see how it goes.

Fermented hot sauces coming along. The cayenne-based one in the measuring cup is WAY hot, might add some mango or something to it. I strained these sauces and am dehydrating the mash to make a chile pepper powder. I'm a newbie to this but it's fun trying things. 🙂

Do the frozen peppers ferment just as well as fresh? Do you do anything differently when you start with frozen ones? The blueberry/blackberry addition sounds lovely. Do you ferment the fruit as well or add it later? Your green tomatoes look so pretty in the jar! 🙂

A friend gave me some of her late season raspberries recently and I made some quick jam with 4 cups fruit, 1 cup sugar, lemon juice + zest, splash of Grand Marnier. End result was a couple of these little containers, just nice to store in fridge and use over next 4 weeks or so. With low sugar, not sure they will keep too much longer than that. Making some fermented hot sauce with mixed peppers. And another batch with cayenne peppers, onion and garlic.

Once fermented, do you eat them as is? Or do you use them as an ingredient in something else or ???

I like the way you think! 😄 My husband used to love Manhattans but disliked maraschino cherries. I used to think about making a better cherry for garnish, like this Brandied Cocktail Cherry. But then he discovered those Trader Joe's Morello cherries, which he really did like. I think they have been discontinued now. Do you have a perfect garnish for your Manhattans? I think I'd go with orange peel these days if I made one.

Back to this question. I thought I would share what I did with my pepper seeds this year. I germinated them in a Sunblaster countertop greenhouse with LED light, using those little jiffy peat pots. Guessing about actual heights here but once they were an inch or two tall and had some true leaves on them, I transplanted them to garden store black pots, 10 to 14" or so. All of them were doubled or tripled up. I left them to grow in those for a bit too long, probably. They were at least 6 to 8" tall when I separated some of them and put them in their own pots. They did have roots intermingling somewhat and I was as careful as I could be at that point but not obsessive. I left a couple of pots with two plants sharing. Almost all my plants did well, though I probably could have got a better harvest if I had given them more space. But for an example, here is one that is still thriving despite my less than delicate handling and it was definitely separated from one or two other plants. I still have several other ones but they are slowing down due to cool weather. I guess I would say they can still do well but maybe best to give them a chance to develop some decent roots and grow some true leaves.

What will you do with them? Any special preparations?

I'm not the best resource on this. I would be agonizing over the decision! My tendency would definitely be to let them grow larger without splitting them. At some point, it might make sense to split and pot them separately but they should be fine for awhile yet, right? I'd be so afraid of losing both if I tried to transplant them separately at this phase. Good luck with them and keep us posted!

Here's a good NT Times article on this: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/bending-the-rules-on-bacteria-and-food-safety.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ME4.IGb8.fLq2UZcE6q4B&smid=url-share Edited to add: I chose to throw out poultry stock after forgetting it overnight! Maybe I was being overcautious and maybe boiling for at least 10 minutes would have been sufficient, but I tend to worry about food safety. I usually put the pot in the sink with ice water to help cool it faster or put into smaller containers, etc.

No replies yet, so I thought I would get something started, though it has been quite a few years since I did any serious canning. Someone like @Shelbymay have better answers but I'll give it a go. I do think the state matters. As far as I can remember (and from what I see from a quick search) whole tomatoes will need more processing time than crushed tomatoes, for example. Looking at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, there are some differences. See here for a recommended boiling water bath time of 35 to 45 minutes for crushed tomatoes while whole or halved tomatoes may have a recommended time of 85 minutes. The recommended processing times vary depending on whether the tomatoes are packed with hot water or tomato juice or tomatoes alone. I think the reasons behind this variation have to do with the density of the contents - i.e. whole tomatoes take longer to heat through than crushed tomatoes? Your second question: You can definitely can tomatoes with other ingredients. Think about canning salsas, for example. Your processing times will vary somewhat, depending on ingredients and acidity. The concern about canning tomatoes on their own is usually making sure they have the right acidity and that's why citric acid or lemon juice is added. And some salsa or tomato sauce recipes will advise against changing the proportion of ingredients because it may affect the overall acidity. And I think the general rule is that properly canned jars will last about a year.

Oh I hope they grow and thrive! Keep us posted, please. I love pepper plants though I am not very adventurous! 🙂

A fairly fast pasta/noodle dish I've been meaning to make for some time, saw the NY Times recipe in @blue_dolphin's posts, I believe. Pretty simple list of ingredients. Here are the main ones, along with our salad bowls (tomatoes still from our garden, yay). Gochujang Buttered Noodles. Very tasty and very quick, will definitely make again.

I have used these lids just a couple of times for sauerkraut but I know folks who use them a lot and swear by them. I think they're pretty cool and plan to use them again with some more fermentation soon (I hope). As @Smithysays, a bit of liquid can emerge at times, so heed her advice about placing jars inside something. The only thing I would say is that you will most likely still need some kind of weight or screen to hold your produce under the brine while fermenting. Masontops also has Pickle Pebbles for this purpose (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), or you can buy a kit with lids, weights and a tamper or another kit with lids and weights only. (If you search under Masontops, you'll see the various options.)

Greek salad with homemade tzatziki and Greek-ish meatballs (hey, they had a lot of garlic and oregano 😄) and some store-bought pitas.