This weekend's apple picking has been turned into
15 pints of assorted applesauces (plain, cinnamon, Red Hots)
and 10 half-pints of apple butter.
The house smelled REALLY good yesterday!
What I do after juicing is let the liquid sit in the fridge in a clean clear plastic jug (I use the gallon size from distilled water). It settles out nicely and you can siphon off the juice with a turkey baster for use. It's amazing how clear the juice is! The sludge leftover in the bottom...
Harvested the green bean tower yesterday. Put a pound or two in the freezer and then made spicy pickled green beans with the rest (homegrown jalapeno in there). Used nine 12 oz. jelly jars, which allows for longer beans and less waste.
Didn't can, but had a pepper processing weekend with produce from the garden.... I live in New Mexico, where if you don't have peppers you're deported, period.
1 lb. red jalapenos = 2 oz. chipotle powder (peppers are split, deseeded, smoked, dehydrated, ground)
10 lbs. green chile...
Awake at 4:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so decided to do something productive. Fired up the Victorio and sauced a bunch of tomatoes, then made and canned 4 pints of spaghetti sauce. Done and cleaned up before 8:00 a.m. coffee rush. DH said the kitchen smelled waaaaaay too Italian...
Harvested my 4x4 foot bean bed to make way for beets. Got 8 lbs of Romano beans, now in the freezer in eight 2-cup portions, AND 4.5 lbs of yellow wax beans which were pickled in either garlic dill or spicy (with a Thai Hot Pepper) making 8 pints. The big trend now is to use a pickled bean...
I add a syrup of Red Hots (you know, those cinnamon dots/hearts) to applesauce. The grandkids love the bright pink color and flavor.... It's their favorite dessert. (Yay! Fruit, not candy!)
I love cookbooks, too. Always get at least one for Christmas or birthdays. This is my cookbook wall.....
It also serves as a place to house my chicken cookie jar collection.
BTW, the red jalapenos in the stovetop smoker turned out great! You're right about the flavor of fresh chipotle....it's cosmic.
I did the smoker and then put them in the dehydrator, then into the grinder. Got about 1/4 cup of bright red awesomeness.
Thanks for the tips!
Made 5 pints of Green Tomato / Hot Pepper Mix, which is kind of like a southwest jardiniere. Lightly pickled green tomatos, NM red peppers, garlic, pearl onions.
Also made 3 half-pints of Cowboy Candy (a half recipe)
House smells like spicy pickles!
Cameron makes the stovetop smoker. I've got the large and the small. It's essentially a sealed box in which woodflakes of various flavors are heated to release smoke which is then concentrated on the racks of food. If you keep the box long-term on the burner or turn up the heat you will...
This is inspiring!!!
I've got some red jalapenos and a stovetop smoker and a food dehydrator.... Will that work to make chipotle?
How long do they smoke for? Inquiring minds want to know!
From what I was told, you need to have at least two (2) tomatillo plants for cross-pollination. We had 3. The two closest together had large fruit. The one on the other side of the yard didn't produce as well.