What Did You Dehydrate Today?

The Porch

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Slicing apples for drying...ate all the others, so time to get these working. They make great snacks. 😁

I remember my grandma stringing up apple slices to sun dry. Cheese cloth covered for bug protection.

@murphysranch how's that eggplant coming along?
Yes, and they did green beans to called leather britches
https://melissaknorris.com/leather-britches-green-beans/

https://melissaknorris.com/cooking-leather-britches-green-beans/

Leather%2BBritches%2B1.jpg
 

Hinotori

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flowerbug

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I thought leather britches were kind of tough to eat. Long slow cooking with some bacon helped a lot. It works to preserve food.

in the middle of winter with nothing much fresh to eat even boiled shoes started to become interesting, so leather britches were a step up from those... (all puns intended :) ).
 

The Porch

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Some of the old methods may seem strange but, it's what they had and it worked! Sunshine, salt, smoke, pickle, ferment -- all good methods many have forgotten or think "it's new". :idunno:old:lol:
Well especially when they didnt have electric refrigeration or all the jars to do canning,
 

Hinotori

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in the middle of winter with nothing much fresh to eat even boiled shoes started to become interesting, so leather britches were a step up from those... (all puns intended :) ).

I made up some a decade or so ago because curiosity was killing me. It was different.

I still want to try making some old time preserved tutti frutti. Trying the fermentation method rather than just resorting to rum to preserve them would be best I think. You just add new fruit to the batch as it comes into season.

It's not the same as the mixed fruit tutti frutti used to make desserts. Pretty much just something that was come up with several hundred years ago in the US to preserve fruits.

The recipe I'd found recommended it for making the topping for bread pudding.
 

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I made up some a decade or so ago because curiosity was killing me. It was different.

i think it makes a lot more sense to plant and harvest dry beans. if you can plant the right kinds then you can sprout them for bean sprouts if you want some greens in the winter. much better IMO. canned beans are ok, i can eat them, but prefer fresh steamed or raw. dry beans cooked up themselves are also a favorite food here so i try to grow 20 - 40lbs a year of those if i can manage it.


I still want to try making some old time preserved tutti frutti. Trying the fermentation method rather than just resorting to rum to preserve them would be best I think. You just add new fruit to the batch as it comes into season.

It's not the same as the mixed fruit tutti frutti used to make desserts. Pretty much just something that was come up with several hundred years ago in the US to preserve fruits.

The recipe I'd found recommended it for making the topping for bread pudding.

i've never known there was a fermented version of that so this is all new to me to hear. :)
 

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Do you know what variety of comfrey you have? I have bocking 14...sterile seed but root propagation. My chickens and goats love the stuff. I've had to hot wire them out to get it growing well again!

I've been drying a few BIG leaves. Gonna make my first batch of comfrey salve in a week or two -- just personal use. But, I may like it enough to make & sell. Not a huge market that I've been exposed to here BUT might be out there🤣👍 There are a few small shops that deal with such things, as well as ingredients for making cheeses, wine, candles, natural/organic things. 🤷

Have considered going back into goat soap making, again. Elderberry products, etc. Just a little here & there $. ☺️
 

Mini Horses

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Oh, yeah -- put 3 trays of figs & 3 of apple slices in machine. Picked figs today.

If we get the rains first half of week that they think, it'll blow those little ones up to ripen. Season is about over. So far I have 2 gal dehydrated & 5 pint jam, 3 pint just canned for cooking??? Been a good yr for them!

The comfrey thing sidetracked my posting :lol:
 
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