Processing the Harvest

I had plans for making ketchup and canning some tomatoes, ketchup is kind of tomato jam but without the jelling.

And then the creatures came out and ate it all - they have discovered the figs! And devoured most of the grapes! The flying squirrels ate all my red yard long bean plants! And I love them because they produce from June to October - and produce good amounts.

Another chick just now - 6 so far. The one who made a hole in the shell and then peeped solid for 12 hours, I opened the egg, and just as well because it's wing had dried to the membrane and had it gripped. It was very sickly but I put it under the hen (this was last night) and it may survive. I have a lot of chicks; three age groups so far. The hen seems happy and you can see the odd chick pop out and then go back under.

 

It must be so dis-heartening losing your crops to animals, I couldn't cope with that. Full marks for perseverance Colne! It's good to hear the chicks are doing well though.

 

It does not bother me much - I know every fruit I grow except the Kioa will fail though. If you want to live in a place where you have otters in your backyard, ospreys overhead, and on a forested bayou, that is what you will get. Grapes disappeared last couple nights, sigh.

 

Wild stuff here:

LEFT ON THE PLATE: 40 FOODS BRITONS ARE UNLIKELY TO HAVE TRIED
1. Oysters
2. Anchovies
3. Goose
4. Lobster
5. Scallops
6. Venison
7. Fennel
8. Mussels
9. Halibut
10. Sea Bass
11. Kale
12. Papaya
13. Sardines
14. Shrimp
15. Cantaloupe
16. Figs
17. Stilton
18. Mackerel
19. Goats cheese
20. Aubergine
21. Avocado
22. Olives
23. Prunes
24. Feta cheese
25. Brie
26. Asparagus
27. Squash
28. Scampi
29. Duck
30. Cranberries
31. Haddock
32. Turnips
33. Parmesan
34. Spinach
35. Salmon
36. Grapefruit
37. Sweet potatoes
38. Leeks
39. Tuna
40. Celery


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2695066/Ugh-The-fussy-eaters-never-tasted-certain-vegetables-One-ten-adults-admits-not-giving-kale-leek-celery-try.html#ixzz37hz0jsWv

 

So how about you? Naturally I have nailed that list, as any person would if they were sentient...but what about odd (not weird) stuff you could add to the list? Once my mushroom hunting partner and I found a dead bear and ate a fair bit of it - but I guess that falls in the weird category. My list of seafood I have caught and eaten would be too much to list easily but geoduck would certainly fit (pronounced gooey-duck) in.

 

A lot on the list are fairly common but I suppose with today's bad eating habits a lot of people wouldn't know what they are let alone having tried them. The only one's I haven't tried are 1/7/9/11/15. Although I'm not a great fish lover I was fed all types of shellfish as a youngster and love mussels and crab. I've also eaten and like rabbit and hare.

 

Squash would include butternut, courgetts, marrows, acorn.......

I have grown or caught, and then eaten, 27 of the list; the rest I have just eaten. Where are the snails, the jellied eel, frog legs, capers, wild Alpine strawberries, caribou, rattlesnake, whelks, chewing tobacco, and escarole? The stinging nettle, dandelion, and haggis? Persimmons, whole coconut, and celeriac and white truffles? Where is the 'A' list stuff? The caviar, whole poached wild Scottish salmon, dover sole, goose liver, Baked Alaska? I have had them all and am not even thinking of getting a comprehensive list going good.

 

I didn't realise courgettes and marrows were considered to be squashes, I've edited out number 27. I think the list is probably going for what are considered to be every day foods. Rattlesnake is not something we'd come across in Britain, there are none and there are no snakes here on the island. Whelks? My father used to love those, to me they were like chewing on rubber. Caviar and Scottish salmon are not cheap to buy, so that rules those out but Baked Alaska is a whole different ball game, now you're talking Colne! Unfortunately I've never succeeded in getting the timing right with that and end up with a melted mess, but oh! It's to die for!

Black pudding is another one I've remembered.

 

White pudding, kippers on the bone, finnan haddie, game pie, pig trotters, tripe, whitebait, and greengage plums.

When ever I am back in London I always go to the Harrods food hall and look around - I used to go there often when young and so it is both nostalgic - and wonderful. Ideally you visit when some things have been marked down and for £2 - 3 you can get something like the rather disappointing tiny game pies, or better, some outrageous cream pastry. And Selfridges food hall - also great fun but not even in the same class, also worth a visit, especially because it is right in front of the best free museum in London - 'The Wallace Collection'.

I really, really wish we had an Aldi here - one day I think they will cover the USA because our supermarkets have a complete lack of the things they do best. Being a foodie outside of a big city in USA is very frustrating.

 

We only have one major supermarket here, Tesco and there's only one shop on the island which is in Douglas our capital. I buy my main shop there once a week as I like a lot of their home brand food. The drawback is it's a thirty mile round trip! We only have one major diy store too.

 

Sheal how about that very British way of getting the harvest, internet grocery shopping? We do not have it here. This is our local supermarket. $1.7 = £1 And USA bakeries are horrible, as are prepared foods like potato salad. No curries, no packet soups other than chicken noodle and stock cubes, and no European stuff, bad cookies mostly - our ice-cream is better though. For obvious reasons the USA shopper is pretty provincial, but still, the USA household still makes their meals from ingredients rather than from microwaving ready made. And the Americans are pretty good cooks.

Prices in pounds (16 oz, same as British except for volume where the British pint is 20 oz and USA 16.( 2.2 pounds = 1 kg)) (by the way I have a really good head for this stuff - converting the kg to pounds, then the £ to $. Do you remember the old money? I loved that, it was a real crime to deciminalize.)


Prices good 07/16/14 through 07/22/14



Prices good 07/16/14 through 07/22/14

 

Hi Colne,
sorry, scrolling thru' those items left me uninspired. I do not like supermarkets and that watermelon says it all.... . Give me town square /street markets or farm shops every time.
I love the big French supermarkets though strangely enough - their fruit and veg. are usually fresher and, with all that land and such a superbly varied climate, they have most things to hand. We have stopped growing stuff and now import much too much from abroad.
Too much sugar in everything which is ruining our teeth and making us overweight,
Jenny

 

Internet grocery shopping is a non-starter Colne, everything has to be shipped to the island and food wouldn't be fit to eat by the time it arrived as a home delivery, food that is delivered to shops comes by refrigerated container. There is also a shipping charge. Anything we buy via the internet costs more because of shipping but there are exceptions where lower item prices make it worthwhile. As individuals we are not allowed to bring meat on to the island but we have a lot of specialist farm animal breeds here and believe me there is nothing better than the meat produced on the island.....it still tastes of meat! The lamb particularly is mouth-watering. Oh and our Manx kippers are world famous!

Tesco's run their own grocery, home delivery service, but by the time I've searched for what I want, having got my head round the site and paid a charge of between £5 and £10 delivery, it's actually quicker and cheaper for me to go to the shop in Douglas. Also the 'pickers'...... the people that select the grocery items ordered, can't be trusted to pick the best use by dates or select the better items of food from what's on display.

I still struggle to convert kg to pounds and yards and inches to metres. That may be because the island's weights and measures are still imperial, we are not part of the EU so don't have to conform. I also still use a balance scale for weighing, in pounds and ounces. Yes, I think everyone over a certain age group still remembers the old money in Britain and I still convert back now and again to see what I'm getting for my money. It's a scary thing to do though.

 

jenny, our watermelons are excellent - this is prime watermelon country. WalMart had 20 - 30 pound melons for $5 the other week! And they were good. Those little round seedless are almost always good (they have tiny seeds that are soft). People sell them off trucks on the side of the road - $6 being the normal for the giant oval ones (20 + lbs) and $4 for the round seedless. Here it is necessary to drink a gallon an hour doing hard physical work outside, and one to two quarts for light work - so one can eat a watermelon! Huge slices go down - no gathering in Mississippi happens without watermelons being brought.

I do remember the markets of Afghanistan where the meat seller had a little flag like thing made of woven grasses he would use to brush off the mass of flies and yellow jackets covering the carcass to cut you piece. And the fruit were the best in the world, and all the place just beautiful. The old travelers in those regions always commented on the beauty of the people and their world.

I did not know the Isle of Man was not EU - well done! live free or die.

 

Sheal, tell us more about the non-EUness of the Isle of Man. Have you become an offshore banking headquarters yet? Sealand, the worlds smallest nation (not recognized, but kind of, by some). Taken fair by conquest after ejecting the pirate Radio guys in the 1960's and then later successfully resisting invasion; but have not yet figured out how to become rich off it.



Sealand Rebel Government and the 1978 attack on Sealand[edit]
In August 1978, while Bates and his wife were in England, Alexander Achenbach, who describes himself as the Prime Minister of Sealand, hired several German and Dutch mercenaries to spearhead an attack on Sealand.[19] They stormed the platform with speedboats, jet skis and helicopters, and took Bates' son hostage who stayed at Sealand while his mother and father were away in England. Bates' son was able to retake the platform and capture Achenbach and the mercenaries. Achenbach, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand[19] and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than US$35,000 or £23,000).[20] The governments of the Netherlands, Austria and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed his imprisonment, citing the 1968 court decision.[1] Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Sealand to negotiate for Achenbach's release. Roy Bates relented after several weeks of negotiations and subsequently claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany.[19]
Following the former's repatriation, Achenbach and Gernot Pütz established a government in exile, sometimes known as the Sealand Rebel Government or Sealandic Rebel Government, in Germany.[19] Achenbach's appointed successor, Johannes Seiger, continues to claim via his website that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority.[


I remember this all from then - I wish I had had the sense to rush off and jihadi my self in their defense and so win a Sealand passport, and possibly a Baronetcy of Sealand too! Might be the garden capital of the off shore North sea If I had done so. Still could be though ( if they have 1 potted tomato.)