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[Smithy]

2 minutes ago, heidih said:

I was shocked when I spied a bright green patch under some old orange trees. Our current lanscape is parched and barren. My dad must have watered the trees heavily before he left town for the winter. It is young but a bit too tough for raw eating so I'll probably use in a soup or sauteed/steamed.  

 

Nice to see something green there. Is that cheeseweed mallow?

[heidih]

41 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Nice to see something green there. Is that cheeseweed mallow?

 

Yup!  In my German dialect we called the little "wheel" - "God's bread".

[Paul Bacino]

The other day we were vacation In the Santa Yenz area at a B and B.  Ran across these little devils.  I ate them raw had know idea that Quince had to be cook.  Doh an ole Mid Western Boy.  I did bring three nice ones home and Made a quince sorbet for Thanks giving

 

[heidih]

Wow maybe it is the lighting but the quince look dark. There is an old tree at the local landfill and I am often tempted. Landfill has been closed for at least 40 years  It is now an open  space area, I thought they were way way puckery if eaten raw.

Edited November 14, 2018 by heidih (log)

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Wow maybe it is the lighting but the quince look dark. There is an old tree at the local landfill and I am often tempted. Landfill has been closed for at least 40 years  It is now an open  space area, I thought they were way way puckery if eaten raw.

 

 

My experience is that they're very woody if eaten raw, but I'm not sure I've ever had a fresh (not store-bought) ripe quince. The ones I've tried from the grocery store haven't measured up to, say, membrillo - but neither do apricots. 

 

[chromedome]

Most varieties are hard as a rock and inedibly tart, but there's a lot of variation. One of the universities in the PNW has been collecting cultivars from all over the continent for decades now, and apparently they have one or two that can be eaten out of hand like an apple. That'd be interesting to try.

 

I collected about 15 pounds of quinces from one of my neighbours this year (a much better harvest than last year's).

[heidih]

I always was told they need to be cooked. They get that lovely peach/pink blush color. Honestly, I've never bothered. I'll pick one and just admire its odd shape.3 

Edited November 15, 2018 by heidih (log)

[Paul Bacino]

So of the three..I brought home I let them ripen ( they turn yellowish )

The above picture was still greenish.

peeled them/ cubed them and pressure cooked them in a 25% simple sugar mixture 20 min/ blended and used a tamis sieve to rid of fibrous pulp

Does taste pretty good.. process in my  Cuisinart

 

Btw--way to fibrous to eat raw

 

[gfron1]

Pulled well over 100 pounds of tree ripened winter persimmons today. Note the Ikea bag for perspective!

[heidih]

Wow what a haul! @gfron1  What do you have planned? They look ripe & wrimkly - not what I am used to here. Of coure our harvest is non existent as the night citters take it all!!!

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Wow what a haul! @gfron1  What do you have planned? They look ripe & wrimkly - not what I am used to here. Of coure our harvest is non existent as the night citters take it all!!!

Well this was an amazing find in early December. The fact that they are ripe and wrinkly means that they will be perfect for use and no tannins. I'll process it all into a puree and then vac pack it for my restaurant. Since we're using historic Ozark recipes as our inspiration there are plenty of uses in their - mostly cakes, cookies and puddings (British style pudding). But, just like pawpaw I am more intrigued with the savory applications. Molé, dark breads, soup thickener, bbq sauce...stuff like that. 

[gfron1]

Remember those persimmons...There is a clear winner in efficiency of processing large amounts of persimmon. I tried a conical sieve. Very clunky and slow. I bought a decent sized foodmill which was okay, but these persimmon are so sugar concentrated/dry that it was gummy. Finally i scraped over this screen tammis which worked great and gave me a refined product. Regardless of method next time I will presoak in orange juice it brandy to loosen it up. Keeping the seeds to distribute to friends, and the twigs for smoking. I may dry and grind the skin to see if it has any value and will use it also in a steeped alcohol.

[chromedome]

At the restaurant where I worked in Edmonton, the chef preferred Kenwood stand mixers because you could get a mouli/food mill accessory for them. The screen insert sat in the bowl, and there were angled paddles that attached to the mixer and pressed the food through.

 

I don't remember what we used it for, probably fruit for sorbets, but it worked great and was a huge time saver. On the downside, those Kenwoods sound like a cement mixer when they're running. Real workhorses, but loud.

[Kerry Beal]

31 minutes ago, chromedome said:

At the restaurant where I worked in Edmonton, the chef preferred Kenwood stand mixers because you could get a mouli/food mill accessory for them. The screen insert sat in the bowl, and there were angled paddles that attached to the mixer and pressed the food through.

 

I don't remember what we used it for, probably fruit for sorbets, but it worked great and was a huge time saver. On the downside, those Kenwoods sound like a cement mixer when they're running. Real workhorses, but loud.

I have (or had) a food mill for the cuisinart food processor and another for the Kitchen aid that attaches to the hub. I also have a couple of champion juicers that I believe can be set up to accomplish the same. 

 

And that being said - I usually use my Rosle food mill with the fine blade for almost everything I want to mill.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[MelissaH]

35 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

And that being said - I usually use my Rosle food mill with the fine blade for almost everything I want to mill.

 

Kerry, or Rob, is your food mill's fine screen fine enough to strain out raspberry seeds?

[Kerry Beal]

2 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

Kerry, or Rob, is your food mill's fine screen fine enough to strain out raspberry seeds?

The fine one does a reasonable job on raspberry seeds.

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

I have (or had) a food mill for the cuisinart food processor and another for the Kitchen aid that attaches to the hub. I also have a couple of champion juicers that I believe can be set up to accomplish the same. 

 

And that being said - I usually use my Rosle food mill with the fine blade for almost everything I want to mill.

 

You can't beat those Champion juicers.  We are on our second one in 59 years.

[gfron1]

Imagine juicing a dried date....in this instance muscle power and a screen were the best option.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

16 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I have (or had) a food mill for the cuisinart food processor and another for the Kitchen aid that attaches to the hub. I also have a couple of champion juicers that I believe can be set up to accomplish the same. 

 

And that being said - I usually use my Rosle food mill with the fine blade for almost everything I want to mill.

 

 

I too have the food mill for the Cuisinart.  The Cuisinart works but it can't beat a tamis.  Que music for ballad of John Henry.

 

I also have a Moulinex which is great for liquidy things like canned tomatoes.  Seeds tend to get stuck in the round holes of the Cuisinart.

 

 

[heidih]

Well we had RAIN so the weeds are showing off. Looking forward to using this mallow, mustard and dandelion

[TicTac]

4 hours ago, heidih said:

Well we had RAIN so the weeds are showing off. Looking forward to using this mallow, mustard and dandelion

 

Awesome.  It's a treat to see some green on the ground rather than all this wet white stuff!!

 

Curious to hear what you do with the dandelion and mustard greens...

 

[heidih]

@TicTac  I tend to use them as any green: soups, with pasta. I do like the greens in a sort of Persian Ash Reshteh style of soup. 

[Smithy]

@heidih, if you get a chance, could you please show what your mustard looks like in isolation? I can't make it out in your pictures and I'm curious as to how it looks compared to the desert mustard that's flourishing where we are. I've collected a few leaves here and there - the plant life is too sparse for me to want to take much - and it adds a nice rockety accent to my salads.

 

[heidih]

@Smithy Mustard is a big family. It is a huge member of our local flora The horses won't eat it! - so it thrives. Plein air artists come out to capture the spectacle when the hiillsides turn bright yellow.,  I'll grab a few leaves tomorrow.  

Edited February 27, 2019 by heidih (log)

[johnnyd]

Some old pals came to visit from Virginia and brought me a ripe pawpaw.  Apparently they were George Washington's favorite dessert. They don't come to market, they said, because they ripen too fast to stay on the shelf.  They have several stones in each fruit. They remind me of custard apples (fruta de conde) I had in Brazil - tastes like banana/mango but smelled like pears. Delicious!