I had cancelled our Tuesday Produce box since we would be gone for an overnight trip. I changed my mind and decided to get a box for the holiday weekend when I saw the list of goodies in this week's box.
What a yummy box of fruits and veggies.
Showing posts with label fruits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruits. Show all posts
Friday, May 26, 2023
Fresh Friday
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Box Dinner
Today was pick up day for our weekly Talley Farms Fresh Harvest produce box but instead of bagging and storing in the fridge I decided to use a few of the produce straight out of the box.
Broccoli crowns and carrots (along with celery, sliced almonds, raisins, and Brianna's Poppy Seed dressing). Fresh strawberries for dessert.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
A Kaki Christmas
Merry Christmas Y'all, I hope it's a sweet one for you.
In mid-November our critter-sitter, Karen, sent me an email:
It turns out picking the fruit was the quick part. It takes me about two days to process a batch from start to finish.
Twenty firm fruit, thinly sliced (I use a mandoline), will fill 11 dehydrator trays.
Drying time in the dehydrator is between 8-10 hours.
The hardest part of the whole adventure is trying to remove the dried - but still tacky - fruit without shredding them to tiny bits when they adhere to the plastic trays. Grrrrr.
The ripe persimmons are made into fruit leathers. You know when they're ripe because they feel like water balloons about to burst. They're squishy, sweet, and delicious at this stage. Tip: stand over the sink, grab a spoon (or not) and eat one, it's a burst of flavor.
To make the fruit leathers the innards are scooped out, blended smooth, and spread out on parchment paper. The peels are saved as a special treat for the Goaties and chickens.
But wait, there's more.
Our friend Jerry dropped off a bag of 'Fuyu' persimmons. A very big bag: twenty and a half pounds of ready-to-eat sweet fruit.
'Fuyu' persimmons are round and squat and it's the kind you can eat while they're still hard.
The 'Hachiya' which I have been drying is heart-shaped. Psst, if you forget and bite into the wrong one, well, you'll know your mistake immediately. (Face pucker here.)
Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki 'Hachiya'
In mid-November our critter-sitter, Karen, sent me an email:
since you bake a lot (and i have been remiss in thanking you for the goodies you leave for us) are you interested in persimmons?
the tree is loaded, not all big ones but thousands. i've picked a few and am processing them for the freezer. leaves have fallen off with the below freezing temps we've been having and the birds are finding them now.
to finish ripening them you put them into the freezer for a couple days, when they thaw they are ripe. i then peel and make pulp in the blender and freeze in containers.
you can have as many as you want to deal with.
the tree is loaded, not all big ones but thousands. i've picked a few and am processing them for the freezer. leaves have fallen off with the below freezing temps we've been having and the birds are finding them now.
to finish ripening them you put them into the freezer for a couple days, when they thaw they are ripe. i then peel and make pulp in the blender and freeze in containers.
you can have as many as you want to deal with.
I emailed her back quickly, "Yes, we love persimmons!!!"
Karen is right, I do bake a lot but haven't tried persimmons, yet. Instead I love turning persimmons into fruit candy just by drying them in the dehydrator. Our friend Jan shared that tip with us last year. It's amazing how a nasty, mouth-puckering 'Hachiya' persimmon can be transformed by drying. The astringent taste disappears and only sweetness remains. Magic.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving The Man, The Man's Mom, and I arrived at Karen's to pick her persimmon tree.
The three of us used clippers to snip off the low-hanging fruit and quickly filled up the bins and bags we had brought.
The persimmon tree was still full of fruit as we said our Thanks Yous and Goodbyes. Karen said she expected the birds would take care of the rest of the tree.
It turns out picking the fruit was the quick part. It takes me about two days to process a batch from start to finish.
Twenty firm fruit, thinly sliced (I use a mandoline), will fill 11 dehydrator trays.
Drying time in the dehydrator is between 8-10 hours.
The hardest part of the whole adventure is trying to remove the dried - but still tacky - fruit without shredding them to tiny bits when they adhere to the plastic trays. Grrrrr.
The ripe persimmons are made into fruit leathers. You know when they're ripe because they feel like water balloons about to burst. They're squishy, sweet, and delicious at this stage. Tip: stand over the sink, grab a spoon (or not) and eat one, it's a burst of flavor.
To make the fruit leathers the innards are scooped out, blended smooth, and spread out on parchment paper. The peels are saved as a special treat for the Goaties and chickens.
But wait, there's more.
Our friend Jerry dropped off a bag of 'Fuyu' persimmons. A very big bag: twenty and a half pounds of ready-to-eat sweet fruit.
'Fuyu' persimmons are round and squat and it's the kind you can eat while they're still hard.
The 'Hachiya' which I have been drying is heart-shaped. Psst, if you forget and bite into the wrong one, well, you'll know your mistake immediately. (Face pucker here.)
Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki 'Hachiya'
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Winter Orange
The early mornings have been chilly and foggy but warming up later in the day. The goaties are starting to shed their downy coats and the chickens are laying an egg or two.
Winter is moving on.
Our Talley Farms Fresh Harvest CSA weekly box has been awash with the color orange. Sometimes a little creativity is required to discover new ways to use up all the produce.
Butternut Squash Soup
Sweet Potato Chips
Candied Blood Oranges
Yum: Toasted sliced almonds topped with small wedges of candied fruit and melted dark chocolate.
We've also been happy recipients of both fresh and dried persimmons from Jerry and Jan's trees. Although the sweet Fuyu persimmons can be eaten sliced like an apple, the Hachiya needs to be eaten spoon-soft. Take a bite into a crisp Hachiya and you'll remember the difference between the two, trust me.
Jan passed on the discovery that Hachiya persimmons loses it's astringent flavor when dried. I gave it a try; how sweet it is.
Yellow and orange - fresh and flavorful - are the winter colors for the Central Coast of California.
Winter is moving on.
Our Talley Farms Fresh Harvest CSA weekly box has been awash with the color orange. Sometimes a little creativity is required to discover new ways to use up all the produce.
Butternut Squash Soup
Sweet Potato Chips
Candied Blood Oranges
Yum: Toasted sliced almonds topped with small wedges of candied fruit and melted dark chocolate.
We've also been happy recipients of both fresh and dried persimmons from Jerry and Jan's trees. Although the sweet Fuyu persimmons can be eaten sliced like an apple, the Hachiya needs to be eaten spoon-soft. Take a bite into a crisp Hachiya and you'll remember the difference between the two, trust me.
Jan passed on the discovery that Hachiya persimmons loses it's astringent flavor when dried. I gave it a try; how sweet it is.
Yellow and orange - fresh and flavorful - are the winter colors for the Central Coast of California.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Pucker Up
Yesterday I attended a presentation by SLO's Master Food Preservers. The MFP program is sponsored by the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) as part of a public service and outreach program to provide home food safety and home preservation information. The two-hour class was called "All About Citrus".
Freezer Lemon Curd was demonstrated by Arlene, MFP. We sampled her yummy dessert with bits of vanilla wafer cookies, aka crust, and mascarpone cheese. Oh, fancy. I wasn't familiar with mascarpone cheese. The woman next to me said it was an Italian cream cheese. "You can get it at Trader Joe's." Psst, you can also get a jar of lemon curd at TJ.
Carla's demonstration was on Salt Cured Lemons. (I'm not sure if there was any to taste or I just missed it.)
After the citrus presentations there was time for any questions related to canning and preservation so I asked about my two jars that broke in the Water Bath canner. The MFPs offered several reasons which I had already considered: defective jars, thermal shock, and It Happens.
There were samples of dehydrated lime and orange slices as well as candied citrus peel. I brought a couple of small pieces home for The Man to try. We both liked the sugar-coated candied citrus peel the best.
This morning I remembered that I had beautiful Meyer lemons from Jerry in my produce bin so I followed my take-home recipe for "Traditional Preserved Lemons" and made a batch of my own Salt Cured Lemons.
The jars will need to be turned upside down every day so I used the FoodSaver Wide-Mouth jar sealer attachment to vacuum seal the lids and prevent any leaking. Very nifty.
The lemons will need to soak in the lemony brine for two weeks. Then the pulp gets tossed (per Carla, MFP, "it's yucky") and all the saltiness gets rinsed off the peel. It'll be interesting to find out what it tastes like and what I'll use it for. But as Z. says, "Lemon makes everything better."
I've already signed up for the next Master Food Preserver's class in April: "Fantastic Fermentation!"
Freezer Lemon Curd was demonstrated by Arlene, MFP. We sampled her yummy dessert with bits of vanilla wafer cookies, aka crust, and mascarpone cheese. Oh, fancy. I wasn't familiar with mascarpone cheese. The woman next to me said it was an Italian cream cheese. "You can get it at Trader Joe's." Psst, you can also get a jar of lemon curd at TJ.
Carla's demonstration was on Salt Cured Lemons. (I'm not sure if there was any to taste or I just missed it.)
After the citrus presentations there was time for any questions related to canning and preservation so I asked about my two jars that broke in the Water Bath canner. The MFPs offered several reasons which I had already considered: defective jars, thermal shock, and It Happens.
There were samples of dehydrated lime and orange slices as well as candied citrus peel. I brought a couple of small pieces home for The Man to try. We both liked the sugar-coated candied citrus peel the best.
This morning I remembered that I had beautiful Meyer lemons from Jerry in my produce bin so I followed my take-home recipe for "Traditional Preserved Lemons" and made a batch of my own Salt Cured Lemons.
The jars will need to be turned upside down every day so I used the FoodSaver Wide-Mouth jar sealer attachment to vacuum seal the lids and prevent any leaking. Very nifty.
The lemons will need to soak in the lemony brine for two weeks. Then the pulp gets tossed (per Carla, MFP, "it's yucky") and all the saltiness gets rinsed off the peel. It'll be interesting to find out what it tastes like and what I'll use it for. But as Z. says, "Lemon makes everything better."
I've already signed up for the next Master Food Preserver's class in April: "Fantastic Fermentation!"
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Small Batches
The first day of spring arrives in two days and already we're seeing a change to the fruits and veggies offered in our Talley Farms Fresh Harvest produce box. Our winter citrus - blood oranges and pink Cara Cara oranges - are being replaced by blueberries, asparagus, and English peas.
The sweet Cara Cara gets eaten right away but the blood oranges seem to accumulate in the refrigerator's produce bin. The blood oranges have a surprisingly dark red color, very exotic, but too sour for our taste. I find them to be more ornamental than edible (though I've read they make a lovely cocktail).
I decided to sweeten things up by making Blood Orange Marmalade.
I read several different citrus marmalade recipes and tried to find the easiest one to process the fruit. I'm not sure I found the easiest way but in the end I used my favorite Kuhn Rikon vegetable peeler to nick off pieces of zest, cut away the bitter white pith, and then cut the fruit out of the membrane (supreme). Learning to supreme the fruit was a new-to-me cooking technique and it made me feel so Martha Stewart.
All the recipes called for collecting the seeds and white fibery pith, gathering it in cheesecloth, and making a pectin bag so you don't have to add commercial pectin. I took a pass on that process and instead used Pomona's Universal Pectin. The enclosed recipe in the box called for 3 cups of sugar. (In comparison, my Christmas Orange Marmalade required 9 cups of sugar with the box of Ball commercial pectin.)
The instructions for the Water Bath canning method are followed exactly as written.
Our friend Jerry brought over Meyer lemons so they got chopped up as well.
Unfortunately two Meyer Lemon jars broke in the Water Bath canning process.
It took me two full days to make the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Marmalade. The Man commented that I could probably buy the same type of jam at Trader Joe's.
Of course he's right. But.
Behold! A taste of our winter, captured in glass jars.
The sweet Cara Cara gets eaten right away but the blood oranges seem to accumulate in the refrigerator's produce bin. The blood oranges have a surprisingly dark red color, very exotic, but too sour for our taste. I find them to be more ornamental than edible (though I've read they make a lovely cocktail).
I decided to sweeten things up by making Blood Orange Marmalade.
I read several different citrus marmalade recipes and tried to find the easiest one to process the fruit. I'm not sure I found the easiest way but in the end I used my favorite Kuhn Rikon vegetable peeler to nick off pieces of zest, cut away the bitter white pith, and then cut the fruit out of the membrane (supreme). Learning to supreme the fruit was a new-to-me cooking technique and it made me feel so Martha Stewart.
All the recipes called for collecting the seeds and white fibery pith, gathering it in cheesecloth, and making a pectin bag so you don't have to add commercial pectin. I took a pass on that process and instead used Pomona's Universal Pectin. The enclosed recipe in the box called for 3 cups of sugar. (In comparison, my Christmas Orange Marmalade required 9 cups of sugar with the box of Ball commercial pectin.)
It took me two full days to make the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Marmalade. The Man commented that I could probably buy the same type of jam at Trader Joe's.
Of course he's right. But.
Behold! A taste of our winter, captured in glass jars.
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