| Archive for The Potting Shed A forum to discuss Crafts, Cooking, Gardening, Countryside, Livestock and Pets |
| Leonie2 |
Dried grapes and deflated bread (lottie)LottieEvergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 20 Feb 2006 09:08 pm Post subject: Dried grapes and deflated bread! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I used the food dehydrator again today, this time for grapes. I tasted them as they were drying out - after a few hours they had shrunk a little and smelt amazing - and tasted warm with an intensified flavour. I have dried them so that they are very slightly moist inside, shrunken and wizened, and dark, but not 100% dried out like the ones you buy in a shop. Five bunches dried down to 10 ounces of grapes - but they taste so sweet. (the grapes were freebies - in the 'animal box' that the village shop gave us for the chooks. Just a few grapes on the top bunch of each bag were a going soft - these bunches went to the chooks). So I have vacuumed packed these and I am saving them for my Christmas cake or Christmas pudding - don't laugh - there is nothing wrong with a bit of forward planning is there. How many days is it to Christmas Leanne - I have forgotten already! I am quite excited about how the grapes taste intensified when drying, making them very sweet, the reason being is that we have white grapes on our pergola - and every year we get a fantastic crop - as they do not ripen and are not sweet until the first frost or really cold spell. So I am now thinking that if I dry them - they might be sweeter - and if not then they will be fine for raisins anyway. Does anyone know? Oh and whilst I am on the subject I have to thank those who posted to say when this particular food dryer was back up for sale a month or two ago! The other gadget I have bought recently is a vacuum bag thingy - don't know where I should post about that if anyone is interested _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top Jesse Site Admin Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 2188 Location: West Sussex Posted: 20 Feb 2006 11:39 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lottie you could make your christmas cake or pud now, the longer it matures the better it is. When the grapes dry the sugar becomes more concentrated because of the loss of water so they become sweeter, still the same amount of sugar in them but they taste sweeter because of less moisture to dilute the sweetness. I'm guessing here but on unripe grapes I would imagine they'll sweeten but they'll need to be at a stage where they contain some sugar, so they need to ripen at least a bit before you attempt to dry them. Can you dry other things like herbs and flowers in your dehydrator? Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 20 Feb 2006 11:51 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes you can dry flowers and all sorts. I got it for my allotment produce really - so that I have some dried fruit and veg and still freeze some. Onions, peas, runner/french/haricot - all sorts of beans. Do a sun dried tomato thingy too. All my fruits of course. All my herbs so that I can pound them up to make my own veggie stock powder. I think I might have to buy a coffee grinder for that or I'll get muscles like popeye! _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top n Moderator Joined: 15 Feb 2006 Posts: 334 Posted: 21 Feb 2006 12:38 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christmas. Did someone say Christmas? n Back to top Becki Moderator Joined: 15 Feb 2006 Posts: 1106 Location: Over here and not there. Posted: 21 Feb 2006 05:03 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arrrrrrrgggrgrhhhhghrrghh! _________________ www.thecardbee.com Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 21 Feb 2006 05:42 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- n wrote: Christmas. Did someone say Christmas? n Don't go blaming me - it is all Leanne's fault - see her posting on how many days left _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top Greenlady Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 549 Location: Scotland! Posted: 21 Feb 2006 07:30 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thats a good idea for making herb stock lottie, what herbs do you use? _________________ Don't eat fruit and nuts. You are what you eat... Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 21 Feb 2006 08:06 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greenlady wrote: Thats a good idea for making herb stock lottie, what herbs do you use? Every conceivable herb you can think of that I can get my hands on to grow. I am particularly pleased with my soapwort - still get a flower or two. If you want a root in the Spring let me know. It is so easy to grow. It is on my www somewhere but I have written so many pages I can't remember where . I am thinking of moving some herbs up my lottie to have them all in one bed instead of scattered around the garden - but they do thrive that way too. _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top coco331 Moderator Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 451 Location: Far away Posted: 21 Feb 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oooooooo christmas!! _________________ THIS BE CAPTAIN JENNY FLINT This day be for talkin' likes a pirate and any land-lubber who ain't speakin' like a man who spends his life at sea be keel-hauled and forced to walk the plank! YAAAAAAAR! Back to top Greenlady Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 549 Location: Scotland! Posted: 22 Feb 2006 02:20 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ooh, that would be great lottie, me and my mum have been searching for soapwort in our local area for ages! We were going to make shampoo and soap from it but couldnt find any last year _________________ Don't eat fruit and nuts. You are what you eat... Back to top Greenlady Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 549 Location: Scotland! Posted: 22 Feb 2006 02:21 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think we should make a pact not to discuss christmas till at least march _________________ Don't eat fruit and nuts. You are what you eat... Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 22 Feb 2006 02:29 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greenlady wrote: ooh, that would be great lottie, me and my mum have been searching for soapwort in our local area for ages! We were going to make shampoo and soap from it but couldnt find any last year It is still a bit cold yet to dig some up - mainly because I need it to grow to find it. It seems to grow in any conditions so might do well in your mum's wet circle bit of garden too. If I do forget - just remind me, I won't mind. Off to look for the photo of it _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top Greenlady Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 549 Location: Scotland! Posted: 22 Feb 2006 09:19 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks lottie, I'll try and remember to remind you _________________ Don't eat fruit and nuts. You are what you eat... Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 22 Feb 2006 09:54 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greenlady wrote: Thanks lottie, I'll try and remember to remind you I am usually quite good - it will be a month or so yet I think before it really sprouts. Once you have a bit it will romp away, so you won't need lots and lots. I smells lovely. I rub my hands on the flowers to clean them when I am gardening! _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 24 Feb 2006 06:14 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to vacuuming of the machine that does the bags variety not the dirt sucking sort I played with my machine a few days ago and did some bread - gorgeous large loaves that I made for the family to take home and forgot to give them to them. So OH suggested I froze them - according to instuctions bread was on the list. Huge lovely light loaf, go all the air sucked out of it and I watched it shrink to just one third of it's size. Ever the optimist I thought it would inflate when I opened it and the air rushed back in. An ex chef left a message on my www to say he did a lot of that in his early years as a chef - and the bread doesn't - should just have been sealed. Didn' t say that in the now called destructions! Had loaf today and it stayed shrunk - even the chickens are not impressed. Any ideas for use - door stop? Certainly can not recycle these, they are so hard that they won't even make bread crumbs. OH tried to make a piece of toast and where the air is all sucked out of the middle the outside edges burnt and the inside bits just sunk! Woe, woe and thrice woe, they were really perfick loaves - serves me right to inwardly glow! Probably Karma - but I felt so proud! Fiddlesticks but funny ones. _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top Jesse Site Admin Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 2188 Location: West Sussex Posted: 24 Feb 2006 07:28 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- oh that's annoying and a great shame Lottie. If you soaked them in liquid e.g. milk, would they soften enough for the chickens to eat? Otherwise I guess just put it down to experience. Back to top Lottie Evergreen Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 740 Posted: 24 Feb 2006 09:38 pm Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The girls will have them soaked tomorrow - they had a peck at them today, but preferred the grapes, brussels and tomatoes better! ~Too many good things went into them to put them in the bin. _________________ I am at that purple age! Back to top |