Commodity prices are soaring. Grow food.
Oct 9, 2014 0:44:14 GMT -5
synergy, blackox, and 4 more like this
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 9, 2014 0:44:14 GMT -5
Last fall I asked myself, "What am I currently buying at the grocery store that I could grow myself?".
Tomatillo salsa was on that list. Therefore I planted tomatillos, and today I bottled tomatillo salsa. I got 25 and a half pints. I also bottled 4 quarter-pints of hot pepper sauce. I have been too often disappointed in the past that my salsas turn out too picante for my liking, even if I only use a little bit of hot pepper. Yes, I'm a wimp about picante. One of my mission assignments was to a tribe that used eating hot peppers as a test of masculinity. I always ended up being a man, but I hated every minute of it. Today I wouldn't play that game, I'd rather be labeled a wimp. So this year I am getting smarter, and I make a hot pepper sauce, and then add a little bit at a time to the salsa until it's as hot as I want. Then I bottle the excess as hot pepper sauce.
This is my third time making tomatillo salsa this year. It's the first year I have bottled tomatillos, and I am loving it!!! To me, tomatillos are a much nicer fruit than tomatoes... I think they taste better. They definitely store better. They seem sweeter. They make thicker sauces with less effort. They don't get blossom end rot. They grow as volunteers. They are smaller fruits, and have a husk so they are more fiddly to prepare. They are easier to harvest. Tomatillos take a bit more care in cooking because they scorch easier for me.
Economically it's a bust to make my own tomatillo salsa, but emotionally and for health reasons it's a glorious thing to do. I don't have a clue what is really in the tomatillo salsa that I buy, but I know how my tomatillos were grown, and the history of the land they were grown on.
Another item on my list of things to make is catsup. I made one batch already. My family badmouthed it extensively. Turns out they were objecting to the texture which was not as smooth and creamy and thick as the commercial offerings. What I am competing with isn't even the same product. The commercial catsups we buy have things like corn starch in them as thickeners. I was able to modify the texture by running the tomatoes through a high-speed blender. That made it smoother and somewhat thicker. Something that I have added to my list of things to try is making catsup out of tomatillos instead of tomatoes.
I have been making vinegar. That's been hit and miss for me. Some batches turned out great. Others have failed.
I am nixtamalizing corn and making tortillas and hominy. I suppose that I aughta branch out into polenta or other things made with masa.
Another thing I made this year that I have never made before is raisins. It took about 6 weeks. They dried on a bench in the greenhouse. That kept them in the sun and out of the rain (mostly). They taste great. I haven't typically eaten raisins, but if I am growing them, and don't have to pay outrageous prices for them I might eat them. They are a product that has a great return on investment economically. The hardest thing about the process was de-stemming. I did that by rubbing the raisins through my hands, but some still had to be removed manually one at a time. A pint of grapes dried to a small handful of raisins.
Tomatillo salsa was on that list. Therefore I planted tomatillos, and today I bottled tomatillo salsa. I got 25 and a half pints. I also bottled 4 quarter-pints of hot pepper sauce. I have been too often disappointed in the past that my salsas turn out too picante for my liking, even if I only use a little bit of hot pepper. Yes, I'm a wimp about picante. One of my mission assignments was to a tribe that used eating hot peppers as a test of masculinity. I always ended up being a man, but I hated every minute of it. Today I wouldn't play that game, I'd rather be labeled a wimp. So this year I am getting smarter, and I make a hot pepper sauce, and then add a little bit at a time to the salsa until it's as hot as I want. Then I bottle the excess as hot pepper sauce.
This is my third time making tomatillo salsa this year. It's the first year I have bottled tomatillos, and I am loving it!!! To me, tomatillos are a much nicer fruit than tomatoes... I think they taste better. They definitely store better. They seem sweeter. They make thicker sauces with less effort. They don't get blossom end rot. They grow as volunteers. They are smaller fruits, and have a husk so they are more fiddly to prepare. They are easier to harvest. Tomatillos take a bit more care in cooking because they scorch easier for me.
Economically it's a bust to make my own tomatillo salsa, but emotionally and for health reasons it's a glorious thing to do. I don't have a clue what is really in the tomatillo salsa that I buy, but I know how my tomatillos were grown, and the history of the land they were grown on.
Another item on my list of things to make is catsup. I made one batch already. My family badmouthed it extensively. Turns out they were objecting to the texture which was not as smooth and creamy and thick as the commercial offerings. What I am competing with isn't even the same product. The commercial catsups we buy have things like corn starch in them as thickeners. I was able to modify the texture by running the tomatoes through a high-speed blender. That made it smoother and somewhat thicker. Something that I have added to my list of things to try is making catsup out of tomatillos instead of tomatoes.
I have been making vinegar. That's been hit and miss for me. Some batches turned out great. Others have failed.
I am nixtamalizing corn and making tortillas and hominy. I suppose that I aughta branch out into polenta or other things made with masa.
Another thing I made this year that I have never made before is raisins. It took about 6 weeks. They dried on a bench in the greenhouse. That kept them in the sun and out of the rain (mostly). They taste great. I haven't typically eaten raisins, but if I am growing them, and don't have to pay outrageous prices for them I might eat them. They are a product that has a great return on investment economically. The hardest thing about the process was de-stemming. I did that by rubbing the raisins through my hands, but some still had to be removed manually one at a time. A pint of grapes dried to a small handful of raisins.
