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lentils and pulses
On 3/3/2015 9:19 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote: We moved back to Texas after 24 years in SW Louisiana, town called Sulphur. Had a very large backyard with a mature fruit trees, two kumquat trees generally gave us about ten gallons of fruit, fig tree almost that much, Japanese persimmon, two plum trees, one Ponderosa lemon tree that was very fruitful too. We were basically one step up from sub-tropical, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) heat zone 9b, we're one zone down here at the new place so get a bit more frost. In 8b our last frost date was generally around mid-February, here it's mid-to-late March. The most recent USDA remapping changed us from 9a to 9b. However, the white shirts neglected to tell the weather sprites and nothing really has changed. We freeze a lot of vegetables. Generally I will slice and dice then put on a bun pan and into the freezer for 1 hour, then vacuum bag. Do that with peppers, okra, green beans, etc. For greens I blanch them for three minutes in boiling water, drain the liquid off, put on a bun pan in a serving size for two, vacuum pack and into the freezer again. Pulled some Swiss chard out the other night from 2011, still like new Yours is basically the procedure that I follow except for the vacuum. I spread the stuff out on cookie sheets so that individuals are separated. They freeze quickly and remain separate when packaged. I do, however, vacuum pack dehydrated foods such as onion or celery but don't use any of those "systems" that use plastic bags. In the 1990's DW&I purchased and tested every countertop vacuum appliance that we could find at retail. 100% of the bags, even brand name bags, failed within just a few months. In many cases the failure was undetectable until one opened the package. Most failed along the factory seams. I obtain a higher vacuum than the Tilia ever achieved by using a high quality bicycle pump (the repairable kind from a bicycle shop, not a Walmart throwaway) with reversed valving (Had to add an external check valve because the stock valve does not seal when reversed). Tape tabs over piercings in the lids of the same Mason jars we used for canning makes touching up the vacuum from time to time easy. The last time I used the Foodsaver was to remove excess fluid through the fill tube of an automatic transmission in '03 or '04; really. I'm still using the FoodSaver but I don't buy bags from them. Find 50 foot rolls online and have only had two fail in service recently. My main gripe with the FoodSaver is that the new ones eat about an extra two inches of bag each time you seal one due to setting the vacuum channel back that much. My first FoodSaver only used about a quarter inch of bag but it croaked after several years due to bad construction of hinges on the lid. Super glued that and it kept working until some of the internal plastic died too. I'm looking on line for a better vacuum sealer without all the foibles of Tilia. I would not be without my pressure canner and assorted menagerie of boiling water bath canners. We still have ours, too, along with a motley assortment of pressure cookers none of which ever gets used. However, a five or six quart weight-regulated pressure cooker makes a fine retort in which to evacuate multiple small jars at once. Attach the pump onto the cooker's vent tube and let'er rip. snip I have a small closet in my office that is full of canning jars, lids, rings, full jars of this and that, and most of our canning pots and pans plus extra rolls of vacuum bags, etc. Once you learn how to do it and do it the proper way so no one dies from eating your stuff it becomes easy and, I think, saves lots of money instead of buying more stuff that you don't know where it comes from. I have become one of those who avidly reads food labels. I don't buy food canned in certain countries and try not to eat anything that comes out of those countries. I don't visit certain American restaurants because most of their food comes from one or more of those countries. Home made is best. Ironically, even at upscale restaurants the fancy dishes could come frozen in a bright white box bearing the "Sysco" label. Not many upscale restaurants where I live, mostly TexMex, sandwich shops, etc. Do better cooking everything myself. My kraut is working, made its own water and is doing well. Hit 81F here today and if it stays hot there goes the kraut. Unless I put it in the old fridge in the garage and keep it around 60F, if possible. What the heck, it was only two five lb heads of cabbage, turn it into compost if it fails as kraut. |
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