Good morning blessed ones!!! I hope and pray all is well in your corner of the world. It's somewhat of a dreary morning here. But that doesn't mean a whole lot. I expect the sun to shine to brightly sometime today. Even if it doesn't, that's ok. There is always a lot to stay busy doing. I got a new batch of sourdough starter going and I'm looking forward to baking something!!! Right now I have some "discard" to use, before the starter gets completely ready. When you feed sourdough, you take some off. Taking some of the starter off before you feed it, helps to strengthen the starter. In the past, people would throw it away or use it to start a new starter to give to a friend. Many years ago I used to use it instead of tossing it. I would make pancakes, biscuits, even put it in my cornbread. It is fabulous in cornbread!!!! Now, it has actually become a "thing", using the discard in recipes. You can google "discard sourdough recipes" and be blown away with all the recipes. hahaha Who knew???? I was "hip" with my sourdough discard long before it became a "thing". hahahaha I think I have always been a trend setter, but just didn't know it. I'm going with that. hahahahaha
I had mentioned dehydrating watermelon and even showed pictures of some recently dehydrated. I got a small watermelon on the dehydrator finally on Thursday. It took me long enough, but it's done. 40 hours later, it's done. It took longer this time than usual because I dehydrated it on 120* instead of 125*. I always dehydrate at a lower temperature than most say to dehydrate, simply because I like to maintain color and flavor. If you dehydrate some things at a high temp, it can actually burn the produce. Not with a flame, but just by overheating for a long period of time. You may not even notice it when you take produce from your dehydrator, but you will notice it when you open the container to use it. It can smell burned and even look burned. Then the taste test will prove that it burned. So, if you have a dehydrator, start using a lower temp than what books call for and see if your outcome is better. Mine always is. But, after having dehydrated this watermelon at 120* and taking over 40 hours, I'll be going back to 125* and cutting the time down significantly.
Just a quick update, I started this blog post about 7:15 am and mentioned how it was looking a little dreary, well, the sun finally made it high enough in the sky to touch us and it looks like it will be a beautiful day. Yay!!!! I can handle that!!
I took a few pictures of my watermelon process and will share them with y'all.
This picture shows how I sliced all the steaks and then put them on the dehydrator. If I am being honest, this watermelon doesn't look really good. But, it was!!! Also, remember that when you dehydrate something like this, all the sugars in it will be concentrated, so it will actually be much sweeter than it was in the juicy state. My sweet Momma, "eat it while it's still juicy!!!!!" Well, we do eat it while it's juicy, but we can't have it of the evening because it keeps us running to the bathroom at night. Like this, we can eat it of the evening and not have to take potty breaks at night. Now you know our secret. hahahaha
This one shows how I put them on each tray.
This one below is the finished product. Once it comes to room temp, which won't take long, it will be crispy enough to snap just like a potato chip. You can't leave them out in the open air very long at all because they will start re-absorbing moisture from the air and become damp and sticky. Most of the produce that we dehydrate will do that. I will take these off the trays and put them in the box that I store it in in the fridge and they will stay crispy as long they as I have them. I have another small watermelon and I'll get it on the dehydrator now, so it can be done by Monday at least. If you get the opportunity to try this, I encourage you to do so.
I also have 3 bags of marshmallows to get dehydrated. That is another VERY fun thing to do. I have a bag of small marshmallows, a bag of small shaped colored marshmallows and a bag of the micro mini marshmallows. I got those at the local Amish store. This will be a very good project a little later on. I still have a lot of peppers coming on and need to dehydrate them as they ready.
I don't know if I have mentioned anything about the fermenting I have going on. But I have a quart jar of honey garlic going. That will a year. Patience is a virtue. That's what the bible says. So we'll see how virtuous I am with this project. hahahaha Lord help me!!!!! For this ferment, you take raw honey, it has to be raw for it to have the beneficial bacteria in it. And lots of garlic. For my quart jar, I used about 10 or 12 ounces of raw honey. I heated the jars up in a pot of very hot water, but you don't leave it in the water long enough to pasteurize it, just long enough to thin it down a little so you can get it out of the jar. I used 6 big bulbs of garlic too. You mix it and the honey starts pulling the liquid from the garlic and the honey gets liquefied pretty quick. The garlic floats, so you want to turn the jar over every day so the garlic doesn't mold. I burp the jar every day too. You don't take the lid off, just just crack it to the point of hearing a little "woosh" come from the jar and it stink wore than "passy gassy" you ever smelled. It's working!!!!! hahaha Supposedly, at the end of this process, the garlic will have lost all the sulphur compounds and will become sweet like candy and the honey will taste like garlic minus the sulphur. It is a good immunity boost. It's healthy for you. Not practicing medicine here at all, just stating well known facts. You can do your own research on that.
I also have a small jar of dilly beans going. I'm just nervous with my ferments, because I've not tasted real ferments, other than saurkraut and kimchi. That's it. Maybe fermented pickles. But these dilly beans are so stinkin' good!!!!!! I'm hooked on them from one little bite. I just picked a handful of my beans and washed them real good. I cut up a sweet pepper and a little bit of onion. The onion is very prominent and the beans are very crispy. I have to keep reminding myself that the ferments are raw. The greenbeans are still raw although they are fermented and they are really crunchy. Delicious!!!!!
I have a bag of hot peppers, onions and kombucha fruit fruit in a vacuum seal bag. It's fermenting in the vac seal bag. This is without a doubt, the easiest way to ferment. Once you get all the vacuumed out it is in an anaerobic environment, "without oxygen". The bag will start puffing up. It's not oxygen, but the gasses formed by the process of fermentation. You'll want to make a tiny hole in the bag at the very top and release the gasses and put a piece of tape over the hole until the ferment is done. When this ferment gets done, I'm going to make some hotsauce with it. Should be interesting and hot, to say the least. hahaha
I love this time of year. It brings to mind sorghum and all the good days of being a kid and growing up in the country. I have a lot of fond memories, some may just be dreams, some may be wishes, but my head is filled with a lot of good times from days gone by. I wish, when I was a child, I would have paid more attention to the old ways. I didn't know then that I was having the opportunity to learn a lot of things. But, when you are a small child, that's not what's on your mind. Oh well, I digress.
I hope you have a wonderful wonder-filled day. I hope you stop to thank God for allowing you to be a part of it. I hope you tell someone today that they are loved. I hope you know how much you are loved. Share Jesus with someone today, you won't regret it and neither will the person you share Him with. Always remember that Jesus loves you and so do I. blessing and peace be yours today, love and hugs, patty
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