Drying Tomatoes

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Momzoo

Drying is one of the oldest forms of food preservation.
At the beginning of our tomato season, when things finally started to pick up and the tomatoes came trickling in faster than we could eat them, Lou and I decided the best thing to do would be to dry them.

We didn’t have quite enough to can anything and a few jars of dried tomatoes are nice to have around, they can be added to soups, stews, pastas, stir fries, or eaten as is.

Lou with one of her first baskets of tomatoes, she is my tomato girl and has taken care of these plants from the very start when she planted the seeds.

Striped Cavern heirloom tomato.

The inside of the Striped Cavern. See all the open space, thus the name “cavern”. It doesn’t make for a good saucing tomato, being that there is little flesh, but it has a wonderful taste, very mild and low acid. It was my best producing heirloom this year.

Another pretty yellow heirloom, “Dr. Wyche’s Yellow”. It too is a low acid tomato that is great for eating. I wouldn’t can it, being low acid it would either need to be pressure canned or there would have to be added vinegar. Isn’t that flesh beautiful.

The only prep involved in drying tomatoes is washing and cutting.
Simple and free.

I used my dehydrator, and it took about a day.
A dehydrator isn’t necessary, an oven on a low setting can be used, or they can be dried in the sun.
I dry them nice and crispy. If too much moisture is left in the tomatoes the will go moldy, and since I want them for long term storage I need them very dry.
They will be stored in glass jars in the pantry.

This winter they will add pretty color and great flavor to hearty vegetable soups and stews.

I am so very thankful for the bounty we have received throughout they year and the ability to store and use it later to feel our family.

#shespeaksinhashtag

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Momzoo

Monkey,
our two year old,
is the, small, silent type.
She rarely speaks,
and when she does it is only because she wants to.
Never because she is prompted
or bribed,
or begged.
She has a lot of made up works,
for example she says
“Mmmmmmm”
when she wants a drink of water.
She also uses a lot of hand gestures and pointing to communicate.
Some people would be worried,
but I’m not.
I’ll give you an example why.

Yesterday, Sunday,
we were all sitting around the dinner table eating,
and Dadzoo along with the rest of the zoo think talking in “hash-tag” (#) is really funny.
Everything they would sayat dinner that night they would prefaced with “Hash-tag: canyoupleasepassthesalt.”
Annoying.
I soon noticed Monkey, who was stilling to my left whispering:
“‘ashtag”
I stopped and asked
“Are you saying ‘hash-tag’?”
She smiled and said
“‘ashtage”

Since then we have been able to get her to say anything just by asking her in “hash-tag”
“Monkey, say ‘hashtagiwantadrink'”
and that little Monekey says
“‘ashtageiwantadrink”

She speaks
#shespeaksinhashtag.

Honey Harvest

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Momzoo

Cutting the comb off the frames

Little fingers (Boo I believe) picking honey comb to eat

More cutting, loving the honey rolling off the frames

Little Monkey, her fingers in the way wanting a sweet treat

Golden honey comb

ready to strain

Golden goodness dripping from the filter

Filling the jars

Pints of our own honey. We only harvested 4 pints this year, but we are happy with our first year with our one little hive.

Drying the Zukes

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Momzoo

Zucchini
A gardener’s delight,
the gift that keeps giving
and giving
and giving
right up until the first hard frost.

Zucchini is one of those beautiful vegetables that seems to grow despite the blackest of black thumbs, it gives prolifically for a long time, making it one of the best vegetables to grow for fresh summer eating.

There are many recipes out there for fresh zucchini, from skillet dinners to baked goods, but today I am going to talk about preserving zucchini. Zucchini is a delicate vegetable, being that its flesh turns soft quickly when cooked, making canning and pickling a little challenging. However it dries and freezes beautifully.

Zucchini is very simple to dry, if you don’t have a dehydrator, a warm oven or a couple sunny afternoons will do. The method is as simple as slicing thin and sprinkling with salt (if you want). Some recipes call for oil to be added, while added oil is good for a very crispy, flavorful zucchini chip, it doesn’t work well for long term storage, as the oil will go rancid quickly.