http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CLOEC 22 August 2010 Corn Smut (Ustilago maydis)

When removing the spent corn stalks some corn smut was seen on two plants. The fungus has culinary prospects. Here is the URL to an article about uses of this rather interesting fungus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CPQFI 22 August 2010 Handling Spent Vegetation

Spent vegetation is handled by putting through the Chipper/Shredder a 10 HP Yard Machine Unit. The chopped vegetation is blown onto the compost pile. The shredding speeds up composting, and reduced the labor in removing the waste in the yard. This waste is better removed before completely dry, since it shred better than when dry. The process is easy and only takes a short time to complete. One must have a sufficient quantity to justify the cost of the Chipper/Shredder. When I had a smaller yard the process use to be accomplished with a wooden block and a machete.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BZVQB 21 August 2010 Produce Picked Today.

A care package was prepared for a friend who lives in the city. The main crop of tomatoes, corn, is almost finished. The only item rather strange is the purslane, which grows everywhere. It is a fine addition to a salad. All the vegetables are of excellent quality.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GGLEQ 19 August 2010 Pear Juice

Pears were converted into juice. Pictures depict the method. After processing the jars were placed in a pressure canner to sterilize for long term storage. For relatively immediate use this step can be omitted.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?STLSD 19 August 2010 Black Cherry Tomato

Black Cherry Tomato is dark flesh colored, and is probably my favorite small tomato. The plant is similar to Sweet Million and is equally prolific.

Food preservation is always a problem in the home. The traditional methods are boiling water canning, freezing: and storing in a cool place like the refrigerator or a cold room. All these methods have shortcomings.

Boiling water canning usually involves salt or sugar.

Freezing is fine for meat, but does a poor job on vegetables and fruit.

A cold room at best is a compromise, since temperature and humidity varies from the ideal.

Another method , which I am now practicing is Pressure Canning, which is not new, but seldom used in the typical home. With a relatively cheap canner, Presto 23 quart, food preservation can be made easy. Suppose one has made a large pot of say spaghetti, which is usually stored in the refrigerator until it spoils or used up before this occurs. With a pressure canner the spaghetti can be stored in jars and kept at room temperature for about as year. This frees up the refrigerator for food items, which can be consumed in the short term.

I have a large garden, and am flooded with fresh, pristine produce during the month of August. This year I am processing much food, mostly in the form of juice with no sugar or salt. Simply cooking and then pressure sterilizing. The method of Pressure sterilizing. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TOZTY 17 August 2010 Pressure Canner. This is an ongoing experiment and I have drawn no firm conclusions as to most appropriate methods for all food. My desire is to limit the consumption of commercially prepared food.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SZGLW Niagara Grapes
Twelve pound of grapes were picked from my one plant. The grapes were pristine, and were processed into juice for long term storage. Process is to place in a pot with about a liter of water to facilitate boiling. An electric stirrer was used to crush the grapes, then strained through a fine mesh. The juice as placed in jars and pressure processed (sterilized)for long term storage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NWGQY 19 August 2010 Sovereign Coronation Grapes.
Sovereign coronation grapes were picked, and processed into juice, and sterilized for long term use. This one arbor produced 10 pounds of perfect grapes. From one arbor ten pounds is typical and anything over this weight is excellent from my experience. Process is to wash the grapes, place grapes into a pot, (about a liter of water was added before boiling to improve the cooking process), and boil gently for about 15 minutes, stirring periodically. Strain to separate pulp from the juice, and if required immediately simply store in the refrigerator. I desire long term use, so the jars were pressure processed.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TOZTY 17 August 2010 Pressure Canner.

A Presto pressure canner, 23 quart size, was purchased to enable me to process and store safely (sterilize) various juices in the cold room. This unit is the same as a typical Presto pressure cooker, of which I am familiar, except it has a pressure gauge controlled by adjusting the heat applied, and the container is larger.

Today the elderberries were processed for long term storage, up to a year in the cold room. The berries were made into juice, and placed in liter jars with the lids finger tightened, and placed in the canner, and placed on the stove. The canner was operated without the “whistler” in place until steam started to emerge to drive out the air, then placed in position.

The recipe called for 11 pounds pressure for 15 minutes. When the pressure reached 11 pounds the heat was adjusted to maintain this level for 15 minutes. Then the heat was removed, and the canner allowed to de-pressurize. The jars were removed and placed on the counter to cool. The pictures depict the simple procedure.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ABXRH 16 August 2010 Elderberries.

Thirteen pounds of elderberries were picked this morning and processed. Juice will be made and stored in the refrigerator for relatively immediate consumption. A Presto pressure canner has been ordered so the juice can be kept for longer periods and stored in a cold room. This is a perfect year for this fruit. The five bushes with which I am familiar still have many berries available. Observation indicates that the best berries are in the shaded part of the bushes, since direct sun dries the berries somewhat. This will be my last picking. It appears that I am the only person picking the fruit.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ISAAO 14 August 2010 Making Blackberry Juice.

Many blackberries are available, so juice is being made of the excess. A container of four cups of berries is filled with water, placed in a pot on the stove and gently boiled for about 20 minutes, with periodic mashing. The cooked mash is then run through a fine mesh screen. The finished product is of fine quality and nothing added. Pure!

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ETBYM 14 August 2010 Tomato Juice

There are many tomatoes ripening simultaneously, so it was decided to make tomato juice. The most ripe tomatoes were selected, placed in boiling water for three minutes to loosen the skin, then mashed in a pot. The mashed tomatoes were gently boiled for about 20 minutes with some periodic mashing. The mash was then run through a fine mesh strainer, and presto one has pure tomato juice. Absolutely nothing extra added.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?MEHSP 13 August 2010 Butter Gold SE Corn
This is the first corn picked. The cobs are good quality, but the taste is marginal when they were cooked. Corn has been so modified over the years, that the old taste of 20 or so years ago has disappeared, but the cobs can be kept for longer periods in the supermarkets , without losing their non-taste. My corn is a little late this year, since a rabbit ate the first seedlings, and replanting was necessary.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QKMNN 13 August 2010 Redhaven Peach Tree

There is one peach tree in the garden. It produces a fine tasting fruit. Most of the fruit has some skin damage which is Peach Scab, a fungus, but this does not penetrate into the fruit to any large degree. Apparently spraying with lime sulfur at the appropriate time can prevent this damage. There is nothing quite as tasty as a tree ripened peach, seldom encountered, unless in your own garden, since when ripe the fruit is soft and does not ship well, also it is difficult to pick without further damage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?EVHFY 13 August 2010 Tomato types

Many tomatoes were ripe today and were picked. Pictures were taken of the stem side and the obverse to indicate typical vine ripened growth. Perfect tomatoes are seldom vine ripened. Of my selection the best for market is Supersonic VF and Lemon boy. Both are excellent in shape and are most prolific. All the dark fleshed types are usually scared, but probably have the best flavor. There is little to choose between the dark fleshed tomatoes, and side by side they appear almost identical. The Japanese Momotaro is similar to many other tomatoes and has no special features.Tomatoes have been modified so much over the years that the names in many cases have no real significance. The current hybrids are amongst the best compared to the heirlooms. There are some other types in the patch, but either so few in number or appearance, that they were not worth photographing.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NYVCU 12 August 2010 Elderberry Juice

Nine pounds of elderberries were picked today. This makes a total pf 21 pounds in the last week or so. To utilize them it was decided to make juice. After some experimenting this is my method. Four cups of berries are placed in a container, and water is added to fill the container still containing the berries. The purpose is to obtain a fairly strong juice. The berries are placed in a pot set to gently boil for about 20 minutes, meanwhile mashing periodically to break the berries apart. The mixture is strained through a cheese cloth to extract as much juice as possible from the pulp. Pictures depict the method.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DMTWM 11 August 2010 Thornless Blackberry

Seven pounds of berries were picked from these two thornless blackberry plants in their third year, and the first year of production. The berries ripen over a period of time. Quality is excellent. All the berries have a slight tart taste. This depends on the degree of ripeness. If the berry is fully ripe, determined by it falling off the stem when touched, the berry will be sweet with almost no tart taste.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CHFRS 11 August 2010 Elderberry

More elderberry bushes are producing. Today 7 pounds were picked. I am experimenting with making juice by gently boiling for about 20 minutes then squeezing the pulp through cheesecloth.  Depending upon the amount of water the juice can have the consistency desired. According the some the juice is beneficial. At least it cannot be worse than commercial fruit juice. One or two pounds of fruit produce about one liter of juice.

There are millions of Black Walnuts, which are an excellent food source, that go to waste yearly in North America, since people do not know how to process or crack the nuts, due to the strength of the hull and the nut proper. . First it is necessary to remove the hull, then crack the nut to get the meat. Here is my simple method utilized to process this wonderful nut. The pictures are annotated and are self explanatory.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UFWOW 17 October 2008 (Juglans nigra L. – black walnut) or American Walnut.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IWMKD 19 October 2008 Black Walnut Nutcracker.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?Squirrel 25 June 2009 Black Walnut and Squirrels.
Black Walnut nuts are extremely tough and the meat is in the four quadrants around the shell. These nuts are very difficult to crack even for humans. I observed that the squirrels simply gnaw the four corners and remove the meat.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VGLUS 8 August 2010 Processing Elderberries.

Eight pounds of elderberries were picked this morning, and removed from the branches. The berries were picked by snapping off the fruit bearing branch and placing in a plastic bag. The problem is removing the small berries from the branches. Usually the process is done by hand plucking. Since I had a 1/2 inch screen, it was decided to see if this would work. It did with amazing results. The berry removal only took a few minutes and was more than satisfactory. After all the berries were removed, all were put through the mesh again to trap any small branch parts remaining. This could be improved by utilizing as 1/4 mesh screen, which was not available. The berries will be used for juice, some cooked as a table fruit, and some frozen for later use in juice.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RPNTK 7 August 2010 Dark Fleshed Tomatoes

Two types of dark fleshed tomatoes, heirlooms, indeterminate are depicted. The flesh is darker than a normal red tomato, depending upon the amount of ripening, and the fruit has a unique, pleasant, distinct taste. These are field ripened, which are seldom seen in stores. Usually any tomato that has a perfect shape with no markings is picked green or long before ripening. The dark fleshed tomatoes are certainly my favorites and when a tomato is needed these plants are checked first. At the present time they are a hard sell, since the public has become use to perfect shaped tomatoes, picked green.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GJZUW 5 August 2010 Blackberry. Picking Today.

Blackberry plants (2) are producing well. I stand up between the net and the bushes when picking. The staggered ripening is convenient, since I pick about every three days. There is little wastage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WMCZM 5 August 2010 Okra Flower
Four flowers were in bloom on the Okra plants. The delightful, clear form of the bloom is a pleasure to behold. Flowers exist only for one day. I enjoy them.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QYYCJ 4 August 2010 Cooking mushrooms (agaricus bispous).
Cooking the (agaricus bispous), common commercial mushroom. I decide to experiment and have for several years utilized the following cooking method. The mushrooms are scrubbed thoroughly with a brush under water to remove any growing media residue. A pot on high heat with a slice of butter is placed on the heat and the mushrooms introduced. Any reasonable amount of mushrooms can be placed in the pot. The mushrooms are cooked (boiled in their own juices) for about fifteen minutes and stirred periodically. There may be a significance amount of moisture present, and this is reduced by boiling without the lid until removed. A splash of Soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce is added and stirred vigorously until all the mushrooms are brown. The finished product retains the mushroom shape, and is very meaty in texture. The finished product may be kept in the refrigerator and warmed up in a microwave for serving with little loss in shape.texture and taste. hence the mushrooms can be cooked prior to a meal. Often at family gatherings, I am asked to bring the cooked mushrooms, indicating the method has a bit of merit.