So many plums, so little time.
Wash and pit two pounds of plums.
Recipe:
– Two pounds pitted plums
– Two cups sugar
– Three cups vodka
Posted in Cooking | Leave a Comment »
Last year I did the following post on plum wine. A couple of days ago I did the final bottling and it turned out very well; it tastes more like brandy than wine but it’s very drinkable. To do the bottling you sterilize your siphon and bottles then carefully decant the finished wine from the carboy into the bottle. The wine mellows as it ages so it’s advised to let the bottles lay on their sides in a cool place for another six months before drinking.
This year we have few plums but you could dry this recipe with other fruit like peaches or nectarines.
Finished plum wine.Recently my neighbor invited me to pick his plums. “Sure!” I said with avaricious glee. Later that night as the fruit flies multiplied in the plum filled sink and the smell of fruit on the edge filled the air I wondered what in the world I had done; my freezer was packed, my shelved were filled with dried and preserved fruit and by tomorrow this treasure would be compost.
“Wine!” I thought “I will make wine!” I had never done this before but desperate times call for desperate measures and as the unwashed dishes began to pile up and the flies reached a fever pitch of activity it was clearly time to do something.
Plums ready to become wine.A survey of the internet showed a huge amount of differences in formulation. But after a while a few patterns did begin to emerge; most recipes needed campden tablets, pectic enzyme, yeast, acid and sugar. I ordered the more exotic items on-line, as well as a hydrometer and began to pit the plums.
Extras to make great wine.Once the plums were pitted I weighed them out, covered them with boiling water, crushed and added a couple of campden tablets and let them sit overnight. The boiling water and tablets discourage the growth of unwanted organisms.
The next morning I added in the pectic enzyme and acid. The enzyme helps break down the fruit and the acid improves flavor and storage.
That night I made a sugar syrup and added this in.
Sugar syrup being made.The following morning I put in a packet of yeast and covered it up to ferment.
All important yeast!When I got home the house had a faintly alcoholic smell and the pot was foamy and bubbling. I took a hydrometer reading to see where the starting point was and recorded it on a page in my homesteading journal.
HydrometerTo get a good reading you need a long tube so the device can float.
How to get a good hydrometer reading.The fruit was also starting to break down. Each day I gave it a good stir with a clean spoon in the morning and at night to break the cap on it.
Cap on the wine.After a week I siphoned it into a clean carboy, put the airlock on top and crossed my fingers.
Air lockNow it needs to sit for six months then I will bottle it and hopefully have some lovely plum wine.
In the carbuoy and ready to transform into wine.Here is the recipe that I wound up using:
- 16 pounds of plums
- 8 pounds of sugar, (half the weight of the plums)
- Two teaspoons of pectic acid
- Two campden tablets
- One packet of yeast
- Enough water to cover the fruit
Posted in Beverages, Cooking | Leave a Comment »
These are golden with a tinge of green; perfect for tortes but too tart to dry.I dream not in sugar plums but in Italian prune and this year my dreams are all coming true; the neighbor’s tree is bursting with succulent blue fruit. I harvest the plums in succession for each recipe tastes best with a different level of tartness.
First up are the wonderful New York Times Plum Tortes. Over the years I have modified the recipe a bit and here is my version:
Plum Torte
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup regular or brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup unbleached white or wheat flour, (if wheat is used it will raise less, you can also do a blend of flours)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- If unsalted butter is used add in a pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- Enough halved and pitted plums to cover top of torte
- Sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top
I use my food processor to make the batter.1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream sugar and butter in a bowl. Add flour, baking powder, salt and eggs, and beat well.
3. Put the batter in a pan. (I like to give these as gifts or make them ahead for potlucks so often used disposable aluminum pans.) Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and cinnamon to taste.
4. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze.
These tortes freeze beautifully but need to be cooled then well wrapped in foil.
Ready for baking.
All set!
Posted in Cooking | Tagged plum, plum cake, plum dessert, plum torte, plums | Leave a Comment »
Here’s one from the archives!
I went out in the garden last night and found several tomatoes, a couple of handfuls of beans, a small zucchini, kale and Italian parsley. The chickens are all back laying in full force so we had plenty of eggs too. Time to make pasta primavera!
Wash and prepare your vegetables.
Get your pasta making ingredients together: one egg, 2/3 cup flour, one teaspoon olive oil, one tablespoon water and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Mix dry ingredients then add wet.
Mix until you get a ball that is moist but not wet.
Put on a floured surface and flatten out with your hand. 
I use a pasta maker to do the final mixing and smoothing. Roll the pasta through until it is smooth and even then run it through the noodle cutting side. You can also roll out and cut the noodles with a knife.
Hang the noodles. You can let them dry completely and store in a ziplock bag, use immediately or freeze them.
Lightly stir fry veggies
Drain the noodles, add the vegetables and top with parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
Posted in Cooking | Tagged homemade noodles, Noodles | 1 Comment »
Making great pickles is easy! Here’s what you need:
Kosher or pickling salt
A few grape leaves for crunchy pickles.
Fresh cucumbers with the blossom end cut off to prevent softening.
Garlic
Dill
Pack grape leaves, cucumbers, dill and garlic into clean jars and cover with brine solution.Brine solution is made by dissolving 2 tablespoons of salt into a quart of water.
Cover and let the pickles sit until the desired level of fermentation is reached. They will be cloudy and bubbly.
It usually takes 5 to 10 days for pickles to ferment enough for a good, snappy taste. At this point you can put them in the fridge. They’ll continue to ferment but much more slowly.
Nearly done!Posted in Cooking | 2 Comments »
Spinning with pet fur can be done! In this warm weather Mr. Bunners, aka Attila the Bun, is shedding his white fur in big soft billowy clumps. Petting him it felt sort of like cashmere so I decided to collect it and try spinning it into yarn. First I tried just the fur but the fibers are too short to do much. Next I carded it into some existing wool I had and that worked great. It also worked to lay the fur along the wool as I was spinning. I think this process would work for dog and cat fur too.
I’m looking at Angora rabbits with much more interest. Has anyone tried raising them or spinning their fur?
Natural wool fibers
Wool with the bunny fur laid on it.
Fur spun with wool using a drop spindle.
Here’s what it looks like knit into a small square.
Posted in Crafts | Tagged knitting, pet fur, spinning | Leave a Comment »
Each year I look at the riot of colorful flowers in my garden and want to save them for the dark winter months. One of the best ways I have found to do this is by making dried flower bouquets. After a lot of trial and error the plants that seem to work the best for this are chives, yarrow, money plant, lavender, hydrangea, oregano, pearly everlasting and grasses with showy seed sprays. Other flowers will dry but a lot of them fall apart or quickly fade.
To dry the flowers cut them with long stems and strip off the bottom leaves. Next tie them at the top with string or wire and hang them in a dark place until dry. I string a piece of rope across the rafters in my basement and hang the bunches from there. Once dry you can arrange them in whatever way you like.
Try out different flowers from your yard and let me know what you like to dry!
Bluebells dry well to a deep lavender color.
When drying chives pick and hang them in a dark place before they open completely.
Hydrangeas are always good for drying.
Daisies are not thought of in dried bouquets but they dry quite nicely.
Sea Holly dries well and has an interesting shape to it.Posted in Crafts | Tagged bouquets, dried flowers | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a soothing tonic for stressful times. Carmelite Water or Eau de Mélisse, has been used since the Middle Ages to settle nerves.
Here’s how to make a simplified version using readily available ingredients:
- Two cups white wine
- One cup lemon balm leaves
- Zest of one lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Posted in Cooking | Leave a Comment »
With the warm weather all the fruit is coming in strong! In fact there’s so much it’s time to start canning and jamming.
Friends have been telling me about the virtues of Pomona Pectin for quite a while. I recently got some from PCC, and now I’m hooked. Because it doesn’t require sugar to jell, you can easily vary the amount of sugar you use or you can use a different sweetener all together; the result is a fruitier, fresher jam which is quite nice.
Pomona PectinYou can get sweet peaches now from the farmers’ market. If you are going to can with farmers’ market produce, always ask to see if they have any produce they have set aside as too blemished to sell. You can often get really good deals this way, and as long as the produce is not spoiled it cans up beautifully for a fraction of the usual price.
Millions of peaches!First wash the peaches. Then to make them easy to peel, put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes then in cold water until the fruit is cool to the touch. The peels should slide right off.
Transforming into jam.Next mash them or pulse them in a food processor. For jam you want pieces of fruit so don’t puree them. Put the peaches in a pot with lemon juice and calcium water. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add in the pectin and sugar and bring back to a boil and cook for one to two minutes.
A little extra zip.I like to add in some flavoring or spices but you need to be careful not to overpower the fruit. Spices can also intensify over time so it’s better to use less to begin with until you get an idea how much tastes good to you.
Clean jarsCarefully pour the hot jam into sterile jars, do a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, and you’re good to go.
Posted in Cooking | Tagged peach jam, pomona pectin | 3 Comments »
Right now is a good time to harvest garlic. Braiding it then hanging it in a cool, dark place is a great way to store it for later.
If the garlic isn’t well dried it will rot.First dry the garlic until the leaves are limp and the outside of the bulb is getting papery.
It’s ok to leave some of the dirt on the bulbs.Gently brush off the dirt and trim the roots off. Be careful not to bruise the garlic as it will spoil more quickly if damaged.
If you’re new to braiding then getting someone to help will make a smoother braid.Line up three bulbs with good long stalks and begin to braid.
Make sure there is some space between the bulbs so they can continue to dry.With each cross over add in another bulb until you have a braid that is about a foot long. If you go longer it can be quite heavy and hard to hang. It’s also nice to keep the braids a bit shorter to have more to give as gifts.
Ready to hang. If you are a big garlic user then hang in your kitchen, if not put in a cool, airy place and take off heads as needed.Here is the finished braid!
Posted in Crafts, Growing | Tagged garlic braid, harvesting garlic | Leave a Comment »
Categories
-
Recent Posts
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 158 other subscribersTop Posts & Pages
Spring
Rhubarb