The large dehydrator has 6 of the 10 shelves loaded with split figs. They dry quicker and use less energy split. Plus, I can check for quality.
I’ll offer some dried figs to the neighbors when they return, as there may well be more to pick. It doesn’t seem fair they’re missing out on the main harvests. We share abundances, stories and laughs. They’re very fond of black garlic, which I make every now and then, with enough to send their way.
Birds are ruining some of the figs. I just hope it doesn’t get worse.
I managed to eat two. When I picked them I put them in a bowl of water to see if ants would climb out the hole. They did. I rinsed and rinsed and gently squeezed, and found two that were edible. Next year I’m surrounding the pot with ant bait, which is very not like me.
“What went so horribly wrong? The first thing was the brine. Those lovely Chowhounders? They were discussing a cucumber brine, one that was significantly more salty than less sealed-off veggies like peppers and Brussels can bear.”
She follows with a different recipe and adds “it is in no way the accepted jar-sealing technique–”, but they keep for a week in the refrigerator and sound like they were really tasty.
The best way to get brines right is to abandon volume measures; weigh the produce and salt. Sadly, most recipes use volume, tablespoons, cups, etc. For fermented vegetables, 3–5% salt, compared to produce weight is about right. For watery vegetables, like cucumbers, I’ll go for 4-5%. For peppers, usually 3%. Metric makes life easier here.
For, e.g., 1,000 grams (1 kg) of peppers, use 30g of salt in enough water to submerge vegetables by about an inch. Kickstarting the ferment with a little fresh kimchi juice helps.
The marinated, roasted recipe sounds delicious! It’s obviously not processed for long-term storage, being “fridge pickles”. But, they may not last long!
Roasted, peeled sweet peppers make amazing salsas!
I started this on another thread, then figured you’ve probably answered this question already.
I used a bit of some extra strength vinegar you once mentioned, although I couldn’t remember any details for using it, and didn’t find this thread until afterwards.
Awww; sorry to hear that. I don’t know anything about growing celery, which may reflect the fact that it doesn’t do as well as a bunch of other things do here.
I’ve never had luck with celery. In the past, mine has always developed some sort of scale. I gave up on it, until I scored on a bunch of free plants this year from a local green house grower. I planted nine plants in a raised bed. They look gorgeous - no scale! Just bitter!
too late
Heal quickly and completely! Baby toe injuries can be terribly painful/ all the nerves must just collect there.
