What did you do in the garden today?

[WIchickMama]

I didn't do anything in the garden but I made chocolate cherry dump cake, lol!

 

[NewBoots]

So I hear tomato products and chickpeas are among the products that might be is short supply during the next year so I guess I'll be making sauce out of my abundant cherry tomatoes and can up every large tomato I can get to ripen. I'll check the local restaurant supply store for big bags of chickpeas, I like to can them to have them ready to use. I think it was @WthrLady who turned me on to canning dried beans.

I had an epiphany this morning. I was disappointed for not finding a canning recipe for shakshuka but it looks like my salsa recipe would work fine, I can add the additional spices once I'm ready to warm it up. In fact, I could also make a spice mix and store it in a small jar to add when needed.

 

[esturtz27]

The Uganda Bugizu if you can still find it is totally awesome too, as is the Burundi. Most people tend to just not even think of these regions. This year, yah you'll pay 3 dollars a pound MORE for that 'other' popular region that's mediocre this year, but won't even look at this one?

JBM's have in my experience been mostly marketing and hype. HUGE and HUGELY successful !! marketing campaign is what drives them. Nothing super about them about 90 percent of the time... except their prices. Yah, it's good, it's not GREAT, it is not really standing out in any one quality, scores maybe an 85 or so, but people pay top dollar for a name. THAT is it right there, the name recognition. just like a certain mermaid that sells burnt sewage but people will gladly pay 8 to 10 dollars for a cup of slop, JUST so they can show that cup and pretend they are somehow, slightly better than YOU are... because THEY paid 10 dollars for that cup !!

Kona is another one that people get stupid over. Kona at least has a unique flavor that ONLY Kona has, so there is that. Did you know that a coffee only has to have like 10 or 20 percent Kona in it for them to be able to put the "Kona" label on it (and the kona price), the rest is typically another much lower priced arabica, some will really do you over and put a Robusta in there to kick the caffeine up.
Were you aware that Kona is just where it is grown? Low grade FAR inferior beans are grown on that Island too, but because they were grown on "Kona", these low grade culls, can technically put the "Kona" label on themselves too and sell for "Kona" prices??

Don't let a name fool you into paying stupid prices. Do some research before you buy ANY specialty coffee !!

Aaron

Oh definitely kona and jbm are hype mostly. I refuse to order or subscribe to anything that says "quality kona blend" or something similar because it's mostly Honduran coffee with a dash of kona. I only really bought kona when I lived in Hawaii and only direct from the roaster cause some people will con you over some coffee. I have a Jbm blend I think with a Nicaraguan bean it's nice wakes me up and isn't super acidic which is a big thing for me. All the kona beans I know of were grown on Oahu, the guy that grew the first hybrid was from kona...but the volcanic soil and perfect (literally perfect) weather have alot to do with the bean

The leaf from the papaya you have looks like greening and if your orange tree looks kinda pathetic, with split,disfigured or ripe but green fruit...its citrus greening. So far its taking out oranges trees pretty hard.

 

[Ascholten]

So I hear tomato products and chickpeas are among the products that might be is short supply during the next year so I guess I'll be making sauce out of my abundant cherry tomatoes and can up every large tomato I can get to ripen. I'll check the local restaurant supply store for big bags of chickpeas, I like to can them to have them ready to use. I think it was @WthrLady who turned me on to canning dried beans.

I had an epiphany this morning. I was disappointed for not finding a canning recipe for shakshuka but it looks like my salsa recipe would work fine, I can add the additional spices once I'm ready to warm it up. In fact, I could also make a spice mix and store it in a small jar to add when needed.

why would you need to can beans that are already dried? Arent they kind of already preserved? I can see putting them in a freezer for a week to kill off the bugs that everything has in it nowadays but canning a dried thing?

just curious
Aaron

 

[jerryse]

Gloomy day here . Off and on light rain . I took the day off and caught enough fish for a meal between rain showers .

 

[Ascholten]

Hopefully you didn't catch the fish in your garden !!

Aaron

 

[WthrLady]

I ripped out the tomatoes and hauled them all to the woods and put away the shade cloths.. I still need to rake and strip the plastic off the hoop house.

It seems like only yesterday, I was planting everything and begging it to grow.

 

[Sally PB]

try finding a local coffee roaster who is not a fanatic of second crack

What does this mean? It made me laugh.

why would you need to can beans that are already dried? Arent they kind of already preserved? I can see putting them in a freezer for a week to kill off the bugs that everything has in it nowadays but canning a dried thing?

If you pressure can dried beans (with water), then you have cooked, canned beans, like what you'd buy in the store. Open, add to recipe. No soaking or cooking. It's for convenience.

 

[Elyrian1]

@Sally PB Got a package today! Arrived quite early and the bulbs all look fantastic! Thank you so very much!

I got a large handful of okra out of the garden today, watered my fall sprouts, double-checked my watermelons for ripeness, and went over my two cherry tomatoes for any caterpillars. Nada

Now what I did discover was a vine that I had been allowing to grow in order to identify is actually a Texas native: Purple bindweed. *sigh* I thought I left native bindweeds behind when we left Colorado. Not so I see, and this stuff is just as dang hard to get rid of apparently. Ah well. Pretty flowers I suppose. Maybe I'll dig it up, stick it in a pot next to the gate and put up a trellis. Landlady might like it. She's a crazy plant lady too after all.

 

[Ascholten]

What does this mean? It made me laugh.

When you roast coffee, the beans crack, they make an audible crack noise. There is first crack, which you must get past for them to be considered roasted, and then there is second crack, they will crack a second time BUT only after you roasted them very deeply and at this point you are burning or have burned out any of the flavors of the coffee, and are basically just finishing off carmelizing any sugar and beginning to burn the bean / scorch it at this point. This is where it gets black, oily, and a charcoal taste.

Many places LOVE second crack, because they buy cheap beans, which the flavors often have defects in them, BUT by burning out all the origin flavors, you are only left with the burnt, charcoal, chalky taste of what they call coffee. Now throw in a little snazzy marketing, and the clueless populace will gobble up this burnt mass, and gladly pay 10 bucks a glass for it, only to add a bunch of goops glops and other potions to try to make it drinkable again !

What I was suggesting was for you to find a local roaster, who isn't a nut about burning the hell out of his / her coffee's (just like the big guys do it !!! ) so you could actually TASTE a good coffee that had origin flavors in it, and not get heartburn, or need half a cup of sugar so it wasn't sour /bitter.

Aaron