Your tomatoes are the supermodels of the tomato world- really perfect.
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Beautiful!!!
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Aww shucks. Thanks
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Thank you! The larger one isn’t quite ripe, but it weighs more than a pound!
I like this Dwarf Purple Heart variety because it’s an oxheart; you can cook it like a paste tomato, but it’s much larger and it’s indeterminate, bearing over a long season. Of course, the color is a bit non traditional in a sauce.
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CUCUMBER OVERLOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAD
pls make it stop.
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The seven Er Jing Tiao peppers sure are productive. This is one day’s picking:
Fourteen more peppers were set aside from this lot to extract seeds. The process leaves a lot of cut-up peppers, not the best for drying and too much for something like salsa. So, I chopped them up finely in the food processor, added 3% salt, by weight, a little frozen kimchi juice (kick starts the ferment) and am aiming for a Sambal.
Experiments with drying the bulk are ongoing. It seems simply dehydrating doesn’t develop the rich flavors Er Jin Tiao is famous for. Clues indicate some sun drying, slow-drying is involved. I think I may have the method:
First, sun-dry the peppers unti lthey are quite wilted, but before the sun bleaches them. Here, rains have been coming every evening. A way to get the peppers out and in is necessary.
Once the peppers are about 2/3 dry, they go into a dehydrator set at a low temperature: 100–110°F, 38–43°C. When flexible-dry, they develop more umami type fragrances, along with the pepper aroma. I’ll know if this method is correct the next time I make Sichuan style chili oil.
About 1/4 cup, 60mls, of seeds have been processed, plenty to distribute this fall. More will get done as each picking comes in, especially if the sambal ferment works.
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Oooh, that is cool. I need to try growing these. These might be a nice addition to a homemade XO sauce recipe.
I spent some time yesterday evening making a jail for my fig. Squirrels have been eating them all, and I had to move it inside but it stinks. I had it in the back porch, but it made for a very unpleasant entry in the hot weather. I used metal and then plastic at the top and sewed them together with wire. Fingers crossed this works!
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Exactly what I was thinking but would be aiming to try sambal bajak. I don’t know much about it except I’ve enjoyed a bottled version and don’t see it labeled that way anymore.
@bogman , those peppers are beautiful, and “rich flavors” sound intriguing!
Keep us updated!
Damn squirrels! The pine squirrels around here are on some kind of war path. They sem to be culling every cone or seed containing pod, or gall. The varmints usually are at this in mid-July, and they are quite vocal this year, maybe they’re being territorial. I have had to wire my decorative bulb beds in past years. The ground squirrels are taking their annual leave to their underground homes.
There is smoke drifting in from eastern Idaho. I just replaced all the filters in the portable air purifiers. Just in time. They help.
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It has been very dry here and they have nibbling on my tomatoes too, but fencing the whole garden is not feasible. I leave water out but they prefer tomatoes and freshly dug up bulbs! It could also be skunks, raccoons, groundhogs or rabbits, but I haven’t seen many rabbits this year. Have smelled a lot of skunks though.
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Erm…what time is that?
Dragonfruit. To be.
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Of course! 
I think there’s another picture here somewhere. When are they usually “ready”?
Found it!
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Curing onions and shallots in the green house. These will last us until sometime in the late-winter/early-spring.
Looking good in the winter squash department. We have four good sized squash (and a lot of little ones). The one shown here is just over 13" at the moment (and growing). Assuming no attrition, we need only a couple of these to give us a year’s supply of roasted squash puree. Will probably end up running the excess down to the food bank.
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First figs!
I was concerned that I may have jumped the gun to beat the varmints but they were very nice (the figs; not the varmints).
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Oh those are soooo pretty! I saw similar for sale (in the organic produce section) the other day, $9.99 for a small cardboard berry container.
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