I recently made and canned beef Shawarma (a middle eastern staple) with ground beef that came out remarkably well. I followed your post for canning ground beef, adding chopped onion, a healthy amount of garlic, and shawarma spices. The fat cap In the jar provided the perfect fry medium to crisp-up the beef. By the time I whipped-up the hummus, the shawarma was ready to spoon on top of it.
I picked up your column quite a few months ago. I sold my house with 4 acres in the city about 3 years ago and moved into an apartment. I was having trouble getting around and had cared for my wife a long time who died in 2015. We did lots of things before she got sick. I had planted asparagus, rhubarb, June berries, raspberries, and lots of other things like apple trees, blueberry bushes grapes, etc.
One of the best investment we made a long time ago was a steamer juicer.
I lived in apartments for 2 1/2 years and being on the north side of the apartment it was difficult growing anything on the balcony. In September of last year my girl friend and I started to look for a house with acreage. that was difficult finding something as most people were willing to pay well over market value for anything available.
We did close on a place with 12 1/2 acres the end of June and a month later we were married in our own house by her son. Pretty scary for an 80 year young man and a 75 year young lady. I planted some field peas near the end of June plus some buckwheat. The peas were just blooming and they still are in this cold weather. I did pick a couple pounds of the bucjwheat. Not sure if I want to gring it into flour or reseed it next year earlier.
My wife's (Terry) granddaughter who is 10 was here and we picked a bunch of the wild plums. Most of them were purple but found red ones later. We canned and froze the juice for making jelly later.
I have lots going on and my energy runs down a little earlier in the day than it used to.
I also have at least 20wild apple trees growing here. I did make desserts out of some of the crabapples. I have at least 3 varieties. I am guessing somebody deer hunted here years ago and just throw his apple cores away.
Congratulations finding your 12 1/2 acres in this market, that's quite an achievement! And double congratulations on your marriage, that's so lovely and I'm happy for you!
Wild apples are really a treasure, and many of them you'll find are quite good if harvested at the right time. Some of the best apples I've had have been wild ones, though of course, the worst have also been wild apples, so it's a mixed bag. Enjoy it though, that's all part of the fun, not knowing what you're going to get!
I know you can't pressure can dairy, but how about whey? I make cheeses with fresh goat milk, and then make a batch of ricotta with the whey. that leaves the final whey, which is a clear yellow liquid (some say it looks like urine!) As all the milk solids and fats have been removed, can the final whey be canned? It works so well as a broth substitute, liquid in smoothies, etc. I try to never waste any, but during heavy milking and cheese making seasons, there's just so much of it!
That is a darn good question! There is no "tested" method for canning it, at least that I know of. When fully cultured it is very acidic though, and it's almost like lemonaid in terms of acidity. In a technical sense, it might be safe for canning, but I have no idea?
The thing is, cultured whey will keep A LONG time, in fact, in the historical record in iceland there are vats built into the floor of medieval stone huts specifically for storing the whey for years at a time. They whey didn't spoil, but perhaps because it was kept partially underground so slightly cool.
Anyhow, the idea was that it was so acidic that they could pickle in the crocks, and they'd fill a half burred barrel in the floor with sour whey, and then preserve mutton in the liquid. Literally just chunks of meat in there, and it'd keep a year or more on it's own.
If your whey is very well filtered so that there's no solids, it should keep without canning if kept somewhat cool (basement or back closet). Since it's a live food, like sauerkraut, you don't want to screw the lid on all the way so it can breathe.
That's a long winded answer, and not really what you were getting at, but I sadly don't know for sure if you can can it (as making it anaerobic in a jar might have other consequences). You should be able to store it though.
Thank you Ashley! Such wonderful information on so many things I do not have here in my little garden in Oz...but I really enjoy reading and learning about them all from you....thanks again...enjoy it all! hugs, Barbara from South of Sydney xoxoxo
Ashley, really value your content and appreciate all the time this takes. I'm curious if I become a paid subscriber does it remove the ads? I'm not really clear on the differences and I tried looking for it on your website
The substack newsletter isn't tied to the website directly, and I don't at this point have a way to take ads down off the site for some people and not others. I'm trying to come up with a solution for that, but it's complicated.
For now, the idea is you get extra updates and subscriber only posts here on substack, and eventually if I can get enough of a following on here I'll be able to reduce ads on the site.
Beautiful and inspiring as always. Keep us posted about the husk cherry wine!? I'd love to try that. Husk cherries always reminded me of that candy in willy Wonka that tastes like a full meal all the way to dessert....you know, the one that turns Violet into a blueberry? Husk cherry has this (i know it sounds odd) marvelous buttery turkey aspect that is hidden beneath warm cantaloupe and honey flavors. It's so unique. I just harvested my first mushroom since becoming a new mother. A stroller harvest too! There's an old churchyard with an even older oak tree near my apartment, and I've been watching that big mama oak tree for some time now. Lo and behold! Three gorgeous maitake popped up. I made sauteed turkey and maitake with garden kale and thyme and served it stuffed in a sweet potato.
Not too much in the putting away of food at the moment, which pains me to say, but i am so inspired by you and can't wait to see me and my daughter doing the same sorts of things!!
Congratulations! Stroller finds are the best =) Oh boy do I remember that, especially since that time of life is so filled with babies, lack of sleep and a thousand other things that are real, visceral and hard...but very little discovery and wonder outside of those cute little smiles. It's so magical to connect with something else for a moment.
Also, that's got to be the very best description of a husk cherry I've ever heard! I'm totally stealing that!
Hey, about the colorful mushrooms.. (know that you have much more knowledge here than I, so I am truly wanting to know, not correct!) My husband calls these a Russian name that translates as fly agaric and won't even let the kids touch them without washing their hands. Or do they look very much alike? Or is this the same name, but one scientific and one colloquial?
Fly Agaric is one of the common names of this same mushroom that goes by the scientific name Amanita muscaria. It actually got that common name because it's also used to make fly traps or fly poison when placed in a dish. The flies can't avoid it, and come to the dish and then die. It was used to keep flies away at harvest time, especially around slaughter day, but also just around the house.
So yes, in short, the red one with spots is both Amanita muscaria and Fly Agaric, they're one and the same.
I recently made and canned beef Shawarma (a middle eastern staple) with ground beef that came out remarkably well. I followed your post for canning ground beef, adding chopped onion, a healthy amount of garlic, and shawarma spices. The fat cap In the jar provided the perfect fry medium to crisp-up the beef. By the time I whipped-up the hummus, the shawarma was ready to spoon on top of it.
Thanks again for your posts!
That is such a great idea!!!! I'm adding that to my list for this winter, thank you!
Hi Ashley.
I picked up your column quite a few months ago. I sold my house with 4 acres in the city about 3 years ago and moved into an apartment. I was having trouble getting around and had cared for my wife a long time who died in 2015. We did lots of things before she got sick. I had planted asparagus, rhubarb, June berries, raspberries, and lots of other things like apple trees, blueberry bushes grapes, etc.
One of the best investment we made a long time ago was a steamer juicer.
I lived in apartments for 2 1/2 years and being on the north side of the apartment it was difficult growing anything on the balcony. In September of last year my girl friend and I started to look for a house with acreage. that was difficult finding something as most people were willing to pay well over market value for anything available.
We did close on a place with 12 1/2 acres the end of June and a month later we were married in our own house by her son. Pretty scary for an 80 year young man and a 75 year young lady. I planted some field peas near the end of June plus some buckwheat. The peas were just blooming and they still are in this cold weather. I did pick a couple pounds of the bucjwheat. Not sure if I want to gring it into flour or reseed it next year earlier.
My wife's (Terry) granddaughter who is 10 was here and we picked a bunch of the wild plums. Most of them were purple but found red ones later. We canned and froze the juice for making jelly later.
I have lots going on and my energy runs down a little earlier in the day than it used to.
I also have at least 20wild apple trees growing here. I did make desserts out of some of the crabapples. I have at least 3 varieties. I am guessing somebody deer hunted here years ago and just throw his apple cores away.
Congratulations finding your 12 1/2 acres in this market, that's quite an achievement! And double congratulations on your marriage, that's so lovely and I'm happy for you!
Wild apples are really a treasure, and many of them you'll find are quite good if harvested at the right time. Some of the best apples I've had have been wild ones, though of course, the worst have also been wild apples, so it's a mixed bag. Enjoy it though, that's all part of the fun, not knowing what you're going to get!
I know you can't pressure can dairy, but how about whey? I make cheeses with fresh goat milk, and then make a batch of ricotta with the whey. that leaves the final whey, which is a clear yellow liquid (some say it looks like urine!) As all the milk solids and fats have been removed, can the final whey be canned? It works so well as a broth substitute, liquid in smoothies, etc. I try to never waste any, but during heavy milking and cheese making seasons, there's just so much of it!
That is a darn good question! There is no "tested" method for canning it, at least that I know of. When fully cultured it is very acidic though, and it's almost like lemonaid in terms of acidity. In a technical sense, it might be safe for canning, but I have no idea?
The thing is, cultured whey will keep A LONG time, in fact, in the historical record in iceland there are vats built into the floor of medieval stone huts specifically for storing the whey for years at a time. They whey didn't spoil, but perhaps because it was kept partially underground so slightly cool.
Anyhow, the idea was that it was so acidic that they could pickle in the crocks, and they'd fill a half burred barrel in the floor with sour whey, and then preserve mutton in the liquid. Literally just chunks of meat in there, and it'd keep a year or more on it's own.
If your whey is very well filtered so that there's no solids, it should keep without canning if kept somewhat cool (basement or back closet). Since it's a live food, like sauerkraut, you don't want to screw the lid on all the way so it can breathe.
That's a long winded answer, and not really what you were getting at, but I sadly don't know for sure if you can can it (as making it anaerobic in a jar might have other consequences). You should be able to store it though.
Thank you Ashley! Such wonderful information on so many things I do not have here in my little garden in Oz...but I really enjoy reading and learning about them all from you....thanks again...enjoy it all! hugs, Barbara from South of Sydney xoxoxo
Thank you so much Barbara!
Ashley, really value your content and appreciate all the time this takes. I'm curious if I become a paid subscriber does it remove the ads? I'm not really clear on the differences and I tried looking for it on your website
The substack newsletter isn't tied to the website directly, and I don't at this point have a way to take ads down off the site for some people and not others. I'm trying to come up with a solution for that, but it's complicated.
For now, the idea is you get extra updates and subscriber only posts here on substack, and eventually if I can get enough of a following on here I'll be able to reduce ads on the site.
Beautiful and inspiring as always. Keep us posted about the husk cherry wine!? I'd love to try that. Husk cherries always reminded me of that candy in willy Wonka that tastes like a full meal all the way to dessert....you know, the one that turns Violet into a blueberry? Husk cherry has this (i know it sounds odd) marvelous buttery turkey aspect that is hidden beneath warm cantaloupe and honey flavors. It's so unique. I just harvested my first mushroom since becoming a new mother. A stroller harvest too! There's an old churchyard with an even older oak tree near my apartment, and I've been watching that big mama oak tree for some time now. Lo and behold! Three gorgeous maitake popped up. I made sauteed turkey and maitake with garden kale and thyme and served it stuffed in a sweet potato.
Not too much in the putting away of food at the moment, which pains me to say, but i am so inspired by you and can't wait to see me and my daughter doing the same sorts of things!!
Congratulations! Stroller finds are the best =) Oh boy do I remember that, especially since that time of life is so filled with babies, lack of sleep and a thousand other things that are real, visceral and hard...but very little discovery and wonder outside of those cute little smiles. It's so magical to connect with something else for a moment.
Also, that's got to be the very best description of a husk cherry I've ever heard! I'm totally stealing that!
Hey, about the colorful mushrooms.. (know that you have much more knowledge here than I, so I am truly wanting to know, not correct!) My husband calls these a Russian name that translates as fly agaric and won't even let the kids touch them without washing their hands. Or do they look very much alike? Or is this the same name, but one scientific and one colloquial?
Maria
I think fly agaric is that red Alice in wonderland amanita mushroom! Pretty sure
Fly Agaric is one of the common names of this same mushroom that goes by the scientific name Amanita muscaria. It actually got that common name because it's also used to make fly traps or fly poison when placed in a dish. The flies can't avoid it, and come to the dish and then die. It was used to keep flies away at harvest time, especially around slaughter day, but also just around the house.
So yes, in short, the red one with spots is both Amanita muscaria and Fly Agaric, they're one and the same.
Amazing harvests! I love the photos you post. thanks so much! Sharifa O
You're quite welcome!