Food in the time of a pandemic

[heidih]

2 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I am not much of a canner put am determined to put up some of the stewed tomatoes from Deep Run Roots this year when the local farmstand does their pick your own Roma special for 25 cents/lb.  

 

 

I love the phrase "putting up". The current batch of cool kids doesn't use it. Seeing people here show their canned jars ready for the pantry is a beautiful thing.

[kayb]

22 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Nice looking tomato sauce, @kayb!  

Hope your lids turn up in time.  There was a while there when they were out of stock in lots of places and were selling for outrageous prices.  That seems to have passed.

I am not much of a canner put am determined to put up some of the stewed tomatoes from Deep Run Roots this year when the local farmstand does their pick your own Roma special for 25 cents/lb.  

That's not til Labor Day weekend so I've got time to get my jars & lids in order!

 

Thanks. Amazon says some shipped today and should arrive Monday. We shall see. This weekend, I'm freezing stuff; picked up a half-bushel of purple hulled peas and a quarter-bushel of peaches at the Farmers Market this morning. They'll all be in the freezer by tomorrow night. I'll can a few tomatoes along as long as mine keep producing, then buy a box or two if mine don't make enough.

 

I canned the stewed ones from DRR a year or so ago. Tip: can prior to putting in the bread crumbs. They're easy enough to add when you open a jar to eat. And not half bad without them. I love them to poach eggs in for a Southern take on shakshuka.

 

[chefmd]

A neighbor gave me zucchini from his garden.  This is a foot long I can live with!  I think people got nicer during the pandemic.

[heidih]

More of a stuffer boat?

[Franci]

On 7/10/2020 at 5:59 AM, weinoo said:

 

I've had some good luck with World Market, and they have a decent free shipping policy too.

 

@Franci - have you ever been to Marky's?  It's a fun store, with lots of high end stuff.

 

https://www.markys.com/showroom.html

 

No, I’ve never been! It’s not too close to where I am but I’ll check the online store. Loooong time, I’ve not been into a World Market and didn’t occur to me.  Thanks! 

[Franci]

So, the other day that I shopped at the Spanish store, I didn’t know my husband placed a big order, again, at Smooking Goose. But he knew I went to the Spanish store! So we now have an abundance of charcuterie 😁

[chromedome]

52 minutes ago, SarahPorta said:

Super bored this summer, trying to grill different unusual stuff. Fruits like melons, pears, pinapples, oranges. Mix them into strange salads and sandwiches with salmon, avocados, lamb.

Works for me.

 

Welcome aboard....

[lemniscate]

I'm bored too.  I've been doing a lot of compressed fruit experiments in the vacuum chamber.  Watermelon/strawberry mint was fun.  Watermelon lime was fun.  Pineapple mint was fun. 

Family is getting used to vacuum chamber noises LOL.

 

Today is strawberry kiwi lime, I think.  Anybody done compressed mango?  

[haresfur]

11 hours ago, SarahPorta said:

Super bored this summer, trying to grill different unusual stuff. Fruits like melons, pears, pinapples, oranges. Mix them into strange salads and sandwiches with salmon, avocados, lamb.

 

I like grilled pineapple. Grilled peaches are good, too.

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, SarahPorta said:

Super bored this summer, trying to grill different unusual stuff. Fruits like melons, pears, pinapples, oranges. Mix them into strange salads and sandwiches with salmon, avocados, lamb.

 

Grilled pineapple isn't unusual. Watermelon works very  well, too.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not long ago at the start of cherry season I forked over about $23 for some amazon/Whole Foods Cherries.  I forget what the price was per pound, but I requested and received a partial refund from amazon because I ordered one bag and they sent two.

 

These cherries were sweet, luscious, and fantastic and I managed to finish both bags before they rotted.  More recently Shoprite had cherries on sale for, as I recall, $1.99 per pound.  I tried the first of them tonight.  They looked like cherries but that was their only semblance to fruit.  They were hard, tasteless, and slightly bitter.  Not sweet in the slightest.

 

I guess sometimes one does get what one pays for.

 

[rotuts]

a lot of fruit is bred for appearance  

 

think   store tomatoes.

 

maybe that bug has gotten to cherry trees , or they were picked very early

 

for shipment .   that's also very common.

[Shelby]

Ugh.  I bought a bag of russet potatoes the other day.  They looked fine from the outside at least half are rotten on the inside.  Not much smells worse than a rotten tater.

 

[lemniscate]

3 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Ugh.  I bought a bag of russet potatoes the other day.  They looked fine from the outside at least half are rotten on the inside.  Not much smells worse than a rotten tater.

 

Ugh, that looks like "hollow heart".   

 

[kayb]

The barter economy lives. I traded a bag of tomatoes and a pint of tomato sauce for two quarts of pickled okra.  Both of us felt we got the better end of the deal.

 

WalMart announced today it will require masks be worn inside its stores beginning Monday. I will be interested to see how many people wear them below their noses. Kroger says it will follow suit on July 22. I'm pleased, but not hopeful. My city has taken the first step toward a mask mandate, but per our state government, cities may not provide for any prosecution/enforcement method for those who decline to wear it. The governor continues to reject any potential statewide mandate, although he "encourages" everyone to wear a mask.

 

Currently, I'm not seeing tons of shortages in anything other than canning jars and lids and freezer bags. And, of course, disinfectant wipes.

[lindag]

8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Ugh.  I bought a bag of russet potatoes the other day.  They looked fine from the outside at least half are rotten on the inside.  Not much smells worse than a rotten tater.

 

Yep, the only thing I‘ve ever encountered that smelled worse was some cooked broccoli that was kept too long.  
My cleaning woman thought something had died!

 

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, kayb said:

freezer bags.

Explains why there were none to be found today.  Wasn't thinking about folks using them to put up garden stuff.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

2 hours ago, lindag said:

Yep, the only thing I‘ve ever encountered that smelled worse was some cooked broccoli that was kept too long.  
My cleaning woman thought something had died!

 

FWIW, and I've been fortunate to have never been able to test it, our next neighbor in the country told us that a nest of rattlesnakes smells like rotten potatoes.    I'll take the potatoes any day.    And his word for it....

Edited July 16, 2020 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[MokaPot]

I'm still traumatized by the smells emanating from a 7th grade project involving a russet potato, toothpicks, and a jar of water. (Moral of the story: don't try to sprout a potato that's already been in the fridge.)

[heidih]

1 hour ago, MokaPot said:

I'm still traumatized by the smells emanating from a 7th grade project involving a russet potato, toothpicks, and a jar of water. (Moral of the story: don't try to sprout a potato that's already been in the fridge.)

 

I am the girl KNOWN at the local Pavillions that  there is a rotten orange. The beautiful produce boy just smiles    https://local.pavilions.com/ca/rolling-hills-estates/7-peninsula-ctr.html

Edited July 16, 2020 by heidih (log)

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

 

I am the girl KNOWN at the local Pavillions that  there is a rotten orange. The beautiful produce boy just smiles    https://local.pavilions.com/ca/rolling-hills-estates/7-peninsula-ctr.html

 

 

I know the smell you're describing! There's something very distinctive about citrus mold, isn't there? I can pick it out from yards away.

 

That a rattlesnake nest smells like rotten potatoes, now...that is new information that I hope never to need. 

[heidih]

13 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I know the smell you're describing! There's something very distinctive about citrus mold, isn't there? I can pick it out from yards away.

 

That a rattlesnake nest smells like rotten potatoes, now...that is new information that I hope never to need. 

 

At least rattlesnakes are shy. That smell thing is new on  me. The city just puts up signs saying to give them a wide berth. Oh and keep the barking dog far away - they can strike. The last one my mom encountered was basking on the warm black asphalt and the not so brilliant Malamute got agitated. Fire Dept came. Before people were more ecologically aware so they killed the snake. I have the ginormous rattle somewhere in a jar. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by heidih (log)

[kayb]

14 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I know the smell you're describing! There's something very distinctive about citrus mold, isn't there? I can pick it out from yards away.

 

That a rattlesnake nest smells like rotten potatoes, now...that is new information that I hope never to need. 

 

Citrus going off always had a smell like a sweet acetone to me.

 

As for rattlesnakes -- if I'm close enough to smell 'em, it isn't going to matter, because I'm going to be dead. Else I'd be running.

 

[Miriravan]

On 7/15/2020 at 2:58 PM, Shelby said:

Ugh.  I bought a bag of russet potatoes the other day.  They looked fine from the outside at least half are rotten on the inside.  Not much smells worse than a rotten tater.

 

Oh, you are so right!  I still have a very vivid memory from well over 30 years ago of trying to figure out what (and where!) that hideous vile stench in my kitchen was.  I finally found the remnant of a plastic bag of potatoes that had somehow migrated underneath a vast sea of paper grocery bags.  I have never smelled a worse vegetal stink (though rotten parsley is surprisingly bad).

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

23 hours ago, heidih said:

 

I am the girl KNOWN at the local Pavillions that  there is a rotten orange. The beautiful produce boy just smiles    https://local.pavilions.com/ca/rolling-hills-estates/7-peninsula-ctr.html

 

Tangentially, it was a standing joke that any kid looking for fruit flies for a science project should contact a certain kid 'cause his mom was known for always having a supply in her kitchen.