Freemotion's food journal: Expanding the gardens, pics p 53

[TanksHill]

For my tomato sauce I use a recipe from my Blend Tech blender book. It is intended to use fresh but I make many batches and then water bath. I never thought about acidity levels. The recipe uses unpeeled tomato, onion, garlic, tom paste, seasoning oh and I think a bit of lemon juice. Maybe that covers my acid issue.

I'm just teasing on the scooby thing. You always have so many things going at once. It amazes me.

Now boiled peanuts. Uhhh your going to have to explain that to me. Are these different that nuts you would buy in a can, jar or in bulk from the store???

g

 

[freemotion]

Modern canning instructions call for lemon juice since modern tomatoes have less acidity, making them unsafe to can in a water bath unless you add lemon juice.

Boiled peanuts are a southern thing, apparently. I'd never heard of them until dh and I drove to Georgia in '96 to see the Olympics (ahh, the days of apartment life and no more responsibilities other than two easy cats!) and the further south we got, the more roadside stands selling boiled peanuts we saw. We said "Yuk! Who on earth would want to eat boiled peanuts?" for the first several dozen we passed. Then it turned into, "Hmm, I wonder what they taste like? Seem to be pretty popular!" and then finally, "Let's stop and get some!"

I was totally hooked. They taste nothing like the peanuts I was used to, very salty and messy to eat. They are boiled for hours in a salty brine in the shell. The best ones are boiled green, which is why you only see them in the south....green peanuts don't ship well without getting moldy....I searched and finally asked a peanut farmer.

I make mine with raw, in-shell, dried peanuts. I can them according to the same directions for green beans....I described it in detail in a thread somewhere. I have to order the peanuts in bulk, which I do once a year now. My brother brought a bag up from Florida last year and I finally canned them. Now I know where the meal moths were coming from! But they are all boiled up, and the infestation hadn't gotten bad yet. I lost very few peanuts. Next time, I will can them within the week. Lesson learned!

 

[JRmom]

Yes, the boiled peanuts are definitely a southern thing - and a good one! Yum! The green peanuts start coming in around Memorial Day. We always do tons and freeze them. You can also add other seasonings besides just salt - we like cajun peanuts, just add garlic and cayenne to the water along with the salt.

 

[freemotion]

My family likes them boiled with a spicy cajun crab boil mix, too!

 

[JRmom]

And is Kombucha a northern thing? I have never ever heard of it (and it looks so gross!). Oh please tell me how you can drink that stuff and live to tell about it!

 

[Wifezilla]

I just got in to kefir and I am not sure I will ever make the leap to kombucha! It looks scary!

 

[TanksHill]

So when you can boiled peanuts do you leave the shell on? I remember this all from last year. I think.

 

[freemotion]

Yup, in the shell. Half the fun is the mess of eating them!

WZ, I just can't see you as a wimp! Get some kombucha and chug-a-lug!

 

[Henrietta23]

Kombucha is great!! If I can handle it anyone can!! I admit I tried store bought first. Somehow that seemed "safer" which I know is just stupid. But there you go. Now I make my own with that scary thing that is related to Free's scary thing and can drink it just fine. You have to at least try it!!

 

[freemotion]

I do strain all the icky ugly bits out, though, and restrain it if it sits in the fridge too long and grows more tentacles....