Processing the Harvest

Jenny, I have promised several people a Pavolva base so must do it but unfortunately the eggs have been saved for the incubator - this raising chicks has gotten out of hand - cannot help myself. But the eggs keep coming so soon I will be loaded again.

And that means lots of yolks left over. I am thinking of a sponge cake but with yolks - no idea how to do it but I have 100 tiny pie pans, littler than the little pies I showed upthread, or cupcakes. So make these tiny cakes that are for pouring fresh fruit over and then cream. The biological term being 'mutualism' in pastry with whites making Pavpovas and the yolks some pound cake/sponge cake/lemon poppy seed cake.... Both of them being a dessert base of the finest (mega organic, pogy fed, forest chicken) eggs. I keep feeling I could make a buck - again as a hobby - selling pavlova bases - I really have them figured out - and then cakes with the yolks. All made the size for 1 or for two. What do you think? I know everyone at the farmers Market, and it is legal to cook up to $20,000/pa of food in your home kitchen for sale there as long as the food requires no refrigeration.

I have been sitting here for sunrise - I was supposed to go back to sleep but I took some pain pills (ibuprofen) - I just pulled a muscle in my leg - ouch - and with some gabapentin and temazepam I just kept sitting here watching the bayou and water birds from the window next to me - dogs sleeping behind. I have a business appointment, a vital one at 11a.m. (now about 9 a.m.) so will make do with my 3.5 hours sleep.

So I need a picture to post - this is my porch where I train my humming birds to sit on my finger, a wild feeling because as they hover the down draft is so strong it feels heavy - but then when they land they weigh nothing - like they are heavy in air, but just ephemeral nothing really. But for their toes - they grip firmly and you can feel their tiny claws squeezing. Funny little birds - sometime they swarm on my porch like bees but much louder - and can drink over a liter of syrup a day when en-mass.

 

A beautiful picture Colne, thank you. Now, for me, those yolky desert buns sound a bit but I am not the right person to judge them for taste appeal. Would you freeze them and sell them in, say, bags of 6? We have such horrendous Health and Safety Food police laws that discourage folks from selling foods at the market place - sounds as though, for a change, your lenient rules make it more sensibibly feasible. I reckon I feed my gut soldiers handsomely and I expect them to deal with the odd bacterial issue every now and then I don't suffer from gut rot myself.
So, are you interested in just covering costs or making a profit as well? It would make you of your egg surplus,
Jenny

 

jenny, Mississippi passed the Cottage Food laws last year:

What are Cottage Food Products?
Cottage Food products are specific types of foods that you make in the kitchen of your private home. Not all food products can be sold as Cottage Food products. They must be non-potentially hazardous foods that do not require time and/or temperature controls for safety. You must also store your Cottage Food Products in your home following safe food handling guidelines outlined in the U.S. FDA Retail Food Code to prevent adulteration caused by insects, household chemicals, water damage, unsanitary conditions, etc.
What is a "private home?"
This is the place where you live, whether you own the home or are renting. So a house, an apartment, condominium, or a rental home all could be a private home.
Is there a limit to how much I can sell as a Cottage Food Operator?
Yes. You are limited to $20,000 in gross annual sales in the amount of Cottage Foods you sell.

Am I limited in the types of Cottage foods I produce in my home?
Yes. Only non-potentially hazardous foods that do not require time and/or temperature control for safety (can be safely kept at room temperature and do not require refrigeration even after opening). The following is a list of foods approved for sale by a cottage food operation:
 Baked goods without cream, custard, or meat fillings, such as breads, biscuits, cookies, pastries, and tortillas.
 Candy
 Chocolate-covered nonperishable foods, such as pretzels, nuts, and dried fruit.
 Dried fruit
 Dried pasta
 Dried spices
 Dry baking mixes
 Granola, cereal, and trail mixes
 Dry rubs
 Fruit pies
 Jams, jellies, and preserves that comply with the standard described in part 150 of (the list continues)



Before that new law all cooked things must be cooked and stored in a certified commercial kitchen. This is being done all over the USA for farmers market and other sales of foods. Church bake sales of cakes and cookies and jams so on. No custard fillings, cream, meat, fish, cooked vegetables, and so on, that needs refrigeration.

I would only do it if I made a profit. Say I made $40 a Saturday - I would do it, couple thousand a year, could be fun - or I would stop. The windstorm insurance on my house is $1700 a year - cover that. (then Flood insurance, $870, homeowners insurance, $800 - living in hurricane ground zero is expensive for insurance - windstorm (hurricane winds) especially - and that is subsidized by the state - it is through Lloyds of London) (Then the tax - like your rates - $1000 p/a)

(as an aside My father in London many years ago used to make damson plum jam in huge batches - fantastic jam! from a tree in the dentists property - otherwise un-used. Then it would go into washed baby food jars collected - and finally sold at the church jumble sale. I heard this kind of thing is no longer allowed in the EU unless sanity has allowed it again.)


BBC sponge cake:


A step-by-step recipe for a foolproof sponge cake.
Ingredients

• 125g/4oz butter or margarine, softened
• 125g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 125g/4oz self raising flour

I think 1 egg + 4 yolks - ritch and golden cakes. Something like that

Business rescheduled for afternoon - lazy day with my hurt leg.

 

? But you couldn't sell it with a cream filling?. I know you have access to good berries so a jam filling wouldn't be a problem.
How about Blueberry muffins? Muffins seem to be all the rage in the UK,
Jenny

 

I love the hummingbird picture Colne!

Here's a yolk recipe I found for you.....
http://www.actuallymummy.co.uk/2013/09/17/lemon-and-white-chocolate-egg-yolk-cookies-recipe/

 

No jenny, I would not be able to sell them filled - just the sponge or pavlova to take home and cover with fruit and cream. The aerosol whipped cream is very good too - lighter then what I make, but then less calories. My mother in London - who takes food very seriously indeed even uses the aerosol cream (because they have fruit with something and cream often and it is soo easy)

But the relentless march of veg is hard to deal with. This is tonights:



Big pot of soup; will be most of the veg eaten tonight, and the entrée is buffalo style chicken legs with celery sticks and blue cheese dipping sauce + some potato cut up and made into microwave chips.

I have another blueberry muffin sans walnuts - and fresh fruit, with the end of the fresh blackberries and some blueberries steeped in sugar - whipped cream with the salt and vanilla.

Thankyou Sheal - I will give them a go, but with dark chocolate chips and nuts. I am seeing a cookie heated in the microwave - then with a scoop of ice cream on it. I do not know how to squeeze in the fruit though.

 

Put the fruit on the ice cream Colne!

 

Well red finally proved the suspicion that she is an egg eater by breaking her own egg, and for two days wile she was caged there were no outside eggs pecked. And so:



Maybe not a neat job, but I was very pleased because the whole thing from walking out with the knife to cleaning up took 10 minutes with the skinning and gutting about 3. Getting on for 3 years old this hen is for slow cooking and then a pie so I was not concerning myself with anything other than cleaning it. Now it will sit in the refrigerator 2 days (this is best with tough meat) and then slow cooked at below boiling temp for several hours.

Done incorrectly the meat is falling apart, but in strands like strings, because you have toughened the fibers.

So hope no one is bothered - I did not video the process because my wife was busy, but next time will because many people should have a, humane - quick - easy - and good guide to processing a layer who is one like this, or the unexpected rooster. (even pre-sexed chicks have about a 1/12 chance of being a rooster)

 

That looks a seriously bonny bird to me Coilne .We call it a broiler and with a bit of white wine and onion and garlic inside and a small herb garni, I would be more than happy to sit at your table and eat that.
I would be interested in seeing a video of how it is prepared - pm me would be great ( if Admin would prefer)
thank you,
Jenny

 

Thankyou Jenny - I want my wife to video it because when looking on line for tips I got so annoyed at all the videos making such a big deal of such a simple thing. They set up killing cones for cutting its throat every time (I hold it by the feet and it stops moving, lay its head on a bit of wood and with the other hand smack it on the head with a bit of 2X4 lumber, done instantly! then snip off the head with my garden shears - job over in 10 seconds - bird never knew what hit it.)

Then they dip in hot water to loosen the feathers, pluck, and laboriously gut and trim it. Madness for a old bird.

I hang it by string by each foot, skin it and remove the crop and windpipe, 1 minute, done. lay on piece of cardboard and cut around the entire vent area fallowing any bone (That way the fat comes out too), reach in and pull out the guts (large opening the way it has been cut), then one reach in to cut the ovaries out - done, 5 minutes.

That is the video people need for one off old birds. Or for someone given a duck or pheasant.


Something I have not talked about here is the waste. nationally Westerners dispose of 1/3 of their food. Wholesalers must grade out the worse, Retailers must throw out a lot - restaurants too, and the person at home.

Us growers waste a lot too - and we get to see how much we grow actually ends up on the dinner plate. With me it is probably 25%. 50% gets eaten by creatures I really could control if I had to. The rest is just not wanted. Like too many beans but not enough to freeze - so they sit in the refrigerator wile more beans keep coming. Tomatoes sitting till over ripe, cucumbers gotten too big so too seedy...........

But then I have chickens and they eat most things. I had about 8 pounds of brown Jasmine rice get infested with moth (they grow grubs and eat the rice making silky threads. I have, many times, just sorted them out by floating and picking - but not this much. So I boiled it up and it gets dolled out every day.

And from all this I still get all the veg I need - except out of season things like lettuce in summer (too hot for it) or I trade eggs at the market with organic growers for veg (they all know my chickens - forest and pogie fed). But mostly from the garden.

Now flying squirrels have cut down my bean plants and the whole forest turned on my tomatoes and stem borers nailed my squashes............that may no longer be true. But I have plenty of good stuff in the freezer - if I was more efficient I would just waste more or end up with frozen stuff I never ate. (something I have not had a problem with so far)

 

That is amazingly cute
I cant keep up with your thread,you move to fast for me
However i did buy some collard green seeds you grow,they are now ready for planting,how far apart do i space them? and are they perrienal?info i find on google says they grow tallish like standard???
Thanks joolz x

 

Collard greens are one of the foundations of Soul food - they should be cooked well done. I do them simply by cutting into 1 1/2 inch pieces - (discard any tough stem and rib) and simmering in water to cover when packed in a bit. I add a tiny bit sugar - not to sweeten but to counter any excess bitterness and salt. Southerners use a lot of salt when boiling collards but I just use a bit - traditionally they are served in a small bowl with the liquid and that is drunk too. (smoked pork neck bones or ham hocks - which you can buy anywhere here, are cooked with them for flavor, but it is unnecessary) We eat them in large amounts as well as turnip and mustard greens - the other two Soul greens. Collards take being kept after being picked, they are thick and tough where the others soon wilt so Collards are the favorite because they hold up. Hot sauce is put out for sprinkling on them too.

Here collards are eaten for the cool season - they are planted in Feb here and the summer finishes them off - it is hot here. I still have a couple but too caterpillar chewed. They are one of the most healthy things in the world - I juice them. I just plant them 6 inches apart and thin them twice, they get very big, like a broccoli. They are a strong flavor, but we love it.

Jenny - I have a new recipe -lady fingers, but I will cook them in rectangles 4 X 8 inches for two berry (or peach or nectarine, strawberry) with whipped cream servings. May soak it a bit with berry syrup first.

4 eggs, separated

• 2/3 cup white sugar

• 7/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 
  
• From All Recipe - but I will change it to: 1/2 cup self rising flour and 1/3 cup sugar. But LOOK -No fat!
• 
  
• Will report back, looks good and business finished.

 

Thanks colne,sounds like it will fit right in with me(cabbage addict), ham & collard soup

 

too eggy for me and I'm not a fan of fatless sponge,
Jenny

 

Im going to have to try this,i have 13 hens and always giving eggs away,the kids love custard