CanadianHomeChef

Thai basil that was planted in a used lettuce pod.

The Thai basil I planted in a used lettuce pod is starting to sprout after 3 days

The tomatoes are supposed to be tinier than cherry tomatoes, so I'm not expecting much. I mainly got the system for fresh herbs and have been delighted by the basil so far. Hopefully it'll grow better now that I've done an initial trim. Got some thai basil seeds. Going to remove a lettuce plant that didn't thrive well after an initial harvest. Add the thai basil seeds and see what happens.

I’ve got some flowering happen on my tomato plants 🍅

Makes sense.

Oh and I harvested some basil today to add to pasta sauce. I’m told the plant will thrive better the more I harvest. Here’s hoping.

That blows Do you bury them or just scatt r them on top? After harvesting, 2 of 3 lettuce plants are still thriving. The third seems to have kicked the bucket, but I’ll give a while longer to see if it thrives. If not, I plan on planting some seeds in the empty pod. Cooks Illustrated reported there was enough nutrients left to get a good yield of lettuce. Also so looking into liquid fertilizer since the roots seem to be growing through the wicks. (The one with the most extensive root system in the tank is the one having issues thriving after harvest)

Well I harvested the lettuce. Had a quick salad. See if I get more over the next few weeks. Basil should be read to start harvesting in about a week. I hear it grows better the more you harvest it.

Just reread the comment from Cook’s Illustrated. They harvested for 2 months before it bolted. According to click and grow, I should harvest the entire plant after about a month. Think I’ll try the gradual harvest.

Day 27. Harvesting the lettuce this weekend. Enough for a small salad (far less than the 2 large salads Cook’s Illustrated reported in the comments of their review). Basil is is slowly getting another pair of leaves.

I was told not to thin the basil. My understanding is if you don’t, you get a bushier bunch and more yield over a shorter period of time. If you thin, you get less yield but over a longer period of time (less depeletion of nutrients in the soil). My basil is is still growing slowly but really bushy. Wish I thinned my lettuce, but was told not to.

Interesting. I took some pods out today and saw some roots growing through the wicks of some of the lettuce and basil plants!

Not sure about the Aerogarden, never owned. These actually have soil though, so no adding fertilizer and not technically hydroponics. Is Aerogarden hydroponics? I got mine for $160CAD from Best Buy Canada. They were on sale last month ($100 off). I wanted the one with the all white base, but I hummed and hawed and soon all of the Click and Grow 9s were sold out except for one with a dark grey base; in hindsight, I like the contrast of the grey and white so I'm not disappointed. Looks like they haven't restocked yet, and the sale is over.

Oh yes I did. I think lettuce sprouted earlier (that’s the first pic). If memory serves me right, Basil at day 3 still need a careful examination to see anything. It was barely emerging from the soil.

That's slightly faster than mine

As a single person, that half-cup setting makes a huge difference. My old rice cooker would only do 1 cup minimum (or that was the marking in the machine). I often found that as too much rice and it discouraged me from using it. With the convenience of the rice cooker, I'd rather have a fresh batch than left overs.

Day 20

Zojirushi rice on top. PC on bottom. Zoji definately less gummy. More defined grains of rice. Not sure if I’d notice much difference once another dish is served over top (I rarely eat rice alone)

If it's induction, it might control the temperature so it doesn't build up pressure when milk is used? I don't know.

The president choice rice cooker finished 10 minutes earlier. The markings in the pot start at 2 cups, but I did 1 cup with 1.5 cups as per Zojirushi's specs. It's a little stickier than normal. Might have to redo the cookoff with 2 cups. But I'll see if I notice a great improvement based on memory. I'm skeptical. If anything, the build quality of the Zoji seems very solid.

This is just induction. The pressure unit was a few hundred more 😮

Zojirushi arrived from Amazon today! Since it’s a warehouse deal (used-like new), I immediately looked over it. On the surface it looks like it hadn’t been unpacked or was repacked really well. All the manuals were neatly piled on top. Styrofoam in place. Wires tied together. Upon closer inspection, It has a small cosmetic dent on the outer stainless steel lid; if this was new and I wasn’t looking so closely for damage, I probably would have missed it. The inner removal stainless steel lid is pretty badly scratched up, as though it had lots of use. Not dirty though. Wondering if this is a refurb? I checked the pot to see if there were any scratches. It looked good except there’s a slight off-black ring around the entire circumference of the pot. At first I thought it was used and it was a water line. But it was a perfect circle. I looked on the outside of the pot and noticed that it matched with the outer ring that’s part of the design. Could anyone wth the induction model confirm if the inside of the pot contains this ring? I’m just worried about the longevity of the nonstick, but if it’s part of the design, I’ll accept it. Not sure if it’s worth reporting the scratches and dents to Amazon. They’ve been known to give me a further discount in the past. Like-new is supposed to be just a damaged box. But I don’t want to push my luck. Maybe I’ll see how it cooks first. Speaking of which, I’m doing a basmati cookoff with the Zojirushi and my old rice cooker. I’ll see if I can tell the difference. I’ll have my Dad do a blind taste test later this evening. The rice washing process described in the manual seems onerous. I usually just put the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse/swirl it around for 1-1.5 minutes under cold running water. I wonder if that’s sufficient? For the test, I followed the Zoji process.

The indicator will be half way down. I’m told there’s no harm keeping it topped up but don’t over fill (have the indicator reach above the surface of the click and grow).

Hello everyone, I’m making some pizza dough today in my Kitchenaid stand mixer. An ongoing issue that I’ve had with recipes that call for the dough hook is that the dough will rarely be hooked. Instead the dough will be slapped around the edges of the bowl by the hook. Sometimes if I push the dough down I can get it to hook for a good 30 seconds or so. I’m just wondering whether or not the dough actually needs to hook to be kneaded properly? It seems to get a better work out when hooked but it’s still being worked when it’s just being pushed to the side of the bowl. Today I’m making the neopolitan pizza dough in Modernist Cuisine at Home, and running into this issue. Recipes seem to to turn out fine, but it’s always been something I’ve wondered about.

I got a bottle of it in my unrefridgerated pantry about the same age. Salted, so I cut back on adding additional salt. I still use it. If it wasn’t so heavily salted I’m sure I could tell a difference in quality.