Soap Making and Custard Baking

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Dave @ HappyAcres

So, you might be wondering, what do making soap and baking custard have to do with one another? Not much, really, except they were the two notable things I did on Saturday. And I thought that while neither of those activities warranted a blog post on their own, when you put them both together there might be enough substance for one. We will see!

Peppermint Honey Oatmeal Soap (from March)

Peppermint Honey Oatmeal Soap (from March)

First, the soap making. My wife and I have been making cold process soap for a little more than three years now. During that time we have made over 40 batches of soap, giving much of it away to friends and using the rest ourselves. We love to experiment – so much so, that we have rarely followed the same recipe twice! We decided we needed to simplify the process and pick a handful of our favorite base recipes. Plus we wanted to “decouple” the scent of the soap from the base recipe and make the recipes more generic. For instance, Peppermint Honey Oatmeal Soap now becomes Honey Scrubby. It can be scented with anything, and it can have oatmeal added as a mild exfoliant, or something else like poppy seeds, ground luffa or orange peel, and so on. And our Coconut Lime Soap becomes Basic Coconut Milk.

frozen coconut milk before adding lye

frozen coconut milk before adding lye

The other thing we wanted to do was change our recipes to stop adding additional ‘superfatting’ oils at the very end of mixing (aka trace), before pouring the soap. The theory was that if you added your most luxuriant oils at the end (like shea butter or avocado oil) then more of them would be present in the finished bar of soap. We had long questioned whether this really made a difference (other than adding more fat to the recipe). And after our favorite soaping experts from Soap Solutions (Mary and Tracy) went off to a soaping conference this year, they came back with the scientific answer that “no, it doesn’t”. So we decided to stop the practice, but that meant changing a couple of recipes where we added an oil at trace that wasn’t in the base recipe. If we just dropped that oil it would change the makeup and performance of the soap, so it had to be incorporated.

spraying silicone mold with oil before pouring

spraying silicone mold with oil before pouring

Saturday we found some time to make two small batches of soap using the tweaked recipes. Since we really don’t need oodles of soap at this point, we cut our usual two pound recipe in half to make a one pound batch (oil weight). For that we decided to use our round silicone molds. It will be several weeks before we get to try the soaps and see how our recipes worked. While we are waiting we will likely make a few more one pound batches to test our base recipes. We identified eight recipes to include on our short list of keepers, including four made with water, two made with goat’s milk and two made with coconut milk. I will post the recipes here when we get them tested and are happy with them.

soap after pouring into molds

soap after pouring into molds

And now, for something completely different! After making the soap, I whipped up a batch of pumpkin custard using the last container of last year’s frozen pumpkin puree. I wanted to make room for the new squashes once I start baking them and freezing the puree for later use. This year we have a bumper crop of winter squash, and I am looking for more ways to use this nutritious vegetable in the kitchen. Since a pumpkin custard is basically a pumpkin pie without a crust, and since I love pumpkin pie, I figured this would be a healthy way to get my pumpkin fix without the added calories of the crust.

pumpkin custard baking in the oven

pumpkin custard baking in the oven

I can’t remember the last time I made custard of any kind. I certainly haven’t made it since my wife and I got married, and that is coming up on 6 years now. After researching some recipes I decided on one from Eating Well that sounded good to me. I mixed up eggs, milk, pumpkin, maple syrup and some spices for this recipe. It took about an hour in a 325°F oven until the custard was cooked. By the end of that time, the whole house smelled like Thanksgiving! That is, assuming you celebrate Thanksgiving like we do and bake pumpkin pie.

finished Pumpkin Custard

finished Pumpkin Custard

The recipe called for putting crystallized ginger on top of the custard after baking. Since I didn’t have any on hand, I decided to put ground ginger in the custard itself. Both my wife and I liked the way the custard turned out. It had a great taste and a creamy, smooth consistency. I think perhaps I will try using less maple syrup the next time I make it. But it satisfied my craving for pumpkin pie, and now I have one more delicious way to use pumpkin and winter squash.

Maple Pumpkin Custard topped with whipped cream

Maple Pumpkin Custard topped with whipped cream

That’s an update on what’s been cooking at Happy Acres lately. I’ll be back soon with more adventures as they happen!

Posted in Food, Homemade | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

It’s Drying Time Again

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Dave @ HappyAcres

The dehydrator has been staying busy lately here, doing everything from drying flowers, herbs and peppers to making fruit leathers from apples and peaches. I have gotten so used to the sound of it running, that the kitchen sounds really quiet when it is turned off! We have the 5 tray model of the Excalibur dehydrator, and it does a great job for us for a multitude of drying tasks.

cayenne peppers in the dehydrator

cayenne peppers in the dehydrator

This week I was using it to dry some red ripe cayenne peppers. I didn’t really time the operation, but it took a day and a half to get them thoroughly dry. I turned the dehydrator off at night, so I am guessing it took about 10-12 hours at 135°F to get them dried to a crisp. I will leave them whole for now, but I will crumble them for flakes as needed and grind some up later for cayenne powder. We don’t use a lot of hot pepper, but a little bit of homegrown is always nice to have on hand. And while it’s colorful to string them up into a ristra, I like to store them in a glass jar to keep them fresh.

dried whole cayenne peppers

dried whole cayenne peppers

I also dry peppers for chili powder, usually a mix of Anaheim types, Anchos and Holy Moles. Unlike many commercial chili powder mixes, I don’t add anything else to my powder except dried ground peppers. It will be later when I dry those peppers since most of them are still green, though I do have a few Anaheims that are ready. This year I am also experimenting with some paprika type peppers to dry and grind for powder. I have Alma and Dulce Rojo growing now, and when they ripen I will dehydrate them. I may throw a few other sweet peppers in the mix as well.

Calendula blooming in our garden

Calendula blooming in our garden

We have been drying calendula flowers all summer, accumulating a few at a time as they bloom until there’s enough to fire up the dehydrator. Calendula is a wonderful healing and medicinal herb, and is loaded with antioxidants that are great for the skin. We mostly use these flowers for lotions, salves and soaps, but they are edible and I want to explore some culinary uses for them too. Currently I am infusing some olive oil with the dried calendula blossoms. That oil will probably go into a soap.

dried calendula flowers

dried calendula flowers

Right now I am also drying beans from the garden, though I don’t use the dehydrator. I planted a 10 foot section of row this year with Jacob’s Cattle bush beans. I was very happy with the results, as they yielded 25 ounces of dried beans. This will be a great bean for adding to soups. I’m still harvesting and drying the beans from Rattlesnake and Cherokee Trail of Tears. And rounding out the dried beans for 2013 is Good Mother Stallard, which is a later pole variety that is just now setting pods.

dried Jacob

dried Jacob’s Cattle beans in jar

Another experiment this year is growing amaranth for seed. I have no delusions of growing any great quantity of seeds here, but I think it is a good choice for us given the limited space we have to devote to growing any kind of grains at all. Of course amaranth is not really a grain, but is considered a ‘pseudo grain’, which means it is a broadleaf plant used like a grain. The leaves of amaranth are edible too, but I have not planted any yet for that use.

amaranth seed heads drying

amaranth seed heads drying

So far I have let the seeds dry on their own inside. The amaranth seeds are tiny, and I was concerned I would have a difficult time separating them from the chaff. But so far it has proven to be fairly easy. First I sift out the course bits through a plastic strainer. Then I put what’s left into a bowl, and blow away the chaff, which is lighter in weight even than the tiny seeds. I’m sure this method wouldn’t work well with larger quantities, but so far I have a bit less than a tablespoon. Most of the plants are still flowering and setting seed, so it will be a few more weeks before I have any more ready to dry. I will experiment with different methods of sifting the seed, including using window screen material. The seeds in the below photo are pretty clean of chaff, though not as perfect as what you buy in the store.

our first amaranth seed harvest

our first amaranth seed harvest

This year I have just a few test plants growing, but next year I want to pick the more promising varieties and devote a little more garden space to then. Amaranth seeds come in a variety of colors including white, tan and blackish red, and in addition the flowers are highly decorative. Some varieties are reported to yield a pound of seed from a 10 foot row of 10 plants. If that is true then I think it is possible to grow enough to make it worth my while. I love to use amaranth in the kitchen where it is a nutritional powerhouse, loaded with protein and fiber. I have some almost every morning whenever I eat my Homemade Dry Toasted Muesli.

amaranth seeds raw(L) and popped(R), next to pinto bean seed

amaranth seeds raw(L) and popped(R), next to pinto bean seed

Occupying the dehydrator briefly were a few sprigs of rosemary. Normally I use rosemary fresh, and if I dry it I just hang it up to dry. But this rosemary is going into a soap I hope to make this week, where it will add a bit of color and visual interest as well as serve as a mild exfoliant. We often add dried herbs to our soaps. You can add fresh ones, but I find it is easier to grind them up to a fine consistency if they are dried first. They usually expand when they are added to soap, so finer is better for my tastes. Even something as small as a lavender bud can wind up pretty scratchy in the finished bar of soap.

rosemary drying in dehydrator

rosemary drying in dehydrator

I’m sure the dehydrator will be keeping busy throughout the fall, as we use it to dry peppers and apples, among other things. I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of the ‘drying times’ we’ve been having lately here at Happy Acres. I’ll be back soon with more happenings!

 

Posted in Food, Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Hot Stuff

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Dave @ HappyAcres

After having a relatively mild summer so far by our standards, the heat has finally arrived. Last week saw our highest temperatures of the year, with the thermometer hitting 97°F one day. It hasn’t been much cooler at night either, with the low barely getting below 80°F one night. Despite the fact that most humans and animals don’t really appreciate the hot weather, the garden is doing all right. In fact, the peppers are loving the heat, and many are finally ripening now. Early Sunday morning we had a thunderstorm that dropped 1.5 inches of rain, so that should help perk the garden up a bit as well.

Joe

Joe’s Long Cayenne

For me, having ripe hot peppers means it is time to make some more hot sauce. I had so much fun with this last year that I planted a few extra hot peppers this year. Ok, I planted a LOT more hot peppers, not just a few. One newcomer I tried this year is an heirloom called Joe’s Long Cayenne. They aren’t kidding when they call it long! Some of mine are approaching 8 inches long, which makes them twice as long as most cayenne types. The plant is loaded with them too. The one in the above photo is the first one on the plant to ripen.

Purple Cayenne

Purple Cayenne

Totally Tomatoes must have read my mind about growing more hot peppers, because they threw in a free packet of Purple Cayenne with my order this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but it looks like a keeper, at least as long as the seeds are free! The plant is highly ornamental, with upright peppers starting out green, then turning to purple, before finally maturing to a bright red color. Maybe I’ll grow it in a container next year.

Cayenne LongThin

Cayenne LongThin

I grew Cayennetta again this year in a container, and an o/p cayenne called Long Thin Cayenne. The Long Thin looks small next to Joe’s Long, but it is a more normal sized cayenne. It is safe to say that I will have plenty of cayenne peppers this year for hot sauce and for drying.

Serrano Del Sol pepper

Serrano Del Sol pepper

I’ve already had ripe serranos for a few weeks. I’ve been growing Serrano Del Sol for several years now, and it’s a great performer for me. I only grow one serrano plant, because the peppers are plenty hot for my tastes and one plant usually produces more than enough. If I could grow one half a plant it would probably be enough! The plant is loaded this year as usual. I’m growing several Chinense peppers (Aji Dulce #1, Aji Dulce #2 and Trinidad Perfume) and one Bacchatum (Aji Angelo) this year, but they are not ripe yet. I will talk about them later on when I have had a chance to taste them. Those plants are all looking good though and loaded with blooms and young peppers. I’m thinking they will make some flavorful hot sauce.

hot peppers for fermented hot sauce

hot peppers for fermented hot sauce

Some of the cayenne peppers, a few serranos and one ripe jalapeno went into a batch of Basic Fermented Hot Sauce I started last week. I had enough chopped peppers to fill a pint jar. You can see the Joe’s Long Cayenne on top of the pile in the above photo – it was too big for the small colander! Last year I only let the mash ferment for a week, but this time I plan on letting it go for a full month. I’ll be making more hot sauce as the peppers ripen. I already made a batch of No Rooster Chili Garlic Sauce, and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. My favorite thing to do with it lately is to put it on a baked potato, instead of butter. I had it that way for lunch yesterday.

hot peppers fermenting in jar

hot peppers fermenting in jar

One sweet pepper that is loving the heat is Jimmy Nardello. I can always count on this one to produce lots of sweet red peppers for me. We been enjoying them on pizzas and salads. They are really tasty when grilled.

Jimmy Nardello peppers on the grill

Jimmy Nardello peppers on the grill

Not loving the heat though are the honeybees. When the weather gets hot, they start hanging out on the outside of the hive. This is called ‘bearding’, because it looks like the bees have formed a beard on the front and side of the hive. The bees do this not only to stay cooler themselves, but also to regulate the temperature inside the hive. Just as a lot of people in one room can warm it up, all those bees inside the hive tend to make it warmer too. I have seen some of them flying around in loops near the hive, almost as if they are out for a spin to get some air.

bees

bees ‘bearding’ on hive

You can keep up with other gardener’s adventures by visiting Daphne’s Dandelions, where Daphne hosts the Harvest Monday series. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from HA!

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Another Sweet Harvest

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Yesterday was our second honey harvest of 2013, and what a sweet one it was! Our first harvest this year was two months ago, back in June. I knew for several weeks that there was honey ready to be harvested, but it had taken until now to find a good time when my wife and I were both available for the operation. And this time I decided to try something new, at least new to me, to improve the harvesting.

honey frames in big storage container

honey frames in big storage container

To facilitate the operation, I used a big plastic storage container (with lid) to hold the frames of honey. Previously I had put them in an unused shallow wooden hive super, without a lid. First I removed each frame from the hive, carefully brushing the bees back into the hive using my bee brush. Then the frame went into the container, hopefully minus any bees. Since our beehive is a good distance away from the house, and down a steep hill, I used a wheelbarrow to haul the container full of frames (and honey) back up to the house.

frame of capped honey

frame of capped honey

Once I got it up to the house, I left the closed container sit out on the deck for about two hours while we had lunch and I cooled off from the harvest operation. It was 90°F at 10:30AM when I worked the hive, and I’m sure it was even hotter for me wearing my jacket, veil and long pants. Keeping the container outside let the honey stay warm and closer to ‘hive temperature’, which we hoped would make it flow faster once we took it inside.

crushing the honeycomb with wooden pestle

crushing the honeycomb with wooden pestle

We brought the frames into the kitchen one at a time, cutting the honeycomb out into a glass baking dish. Then we crushed the comb with a big wooden pestle, and scooped it out into a fine mesh honey strainer suspended over a five gallon bucket. The bucket is fitted with a honey gate at the bottom for filling the containers.  The honey was easier to extract this time than it was back in June, no doubt because it is hotter now in August. And honey certainly flows faster when it is warm! After all the honey has dripped from the strainer, we will save the beeswax and melt it in our solar wax melter. My wife wrote a tutorial on that process: How To: Solar Beeswax Melter.

honey and comb after crushing

honey and comb after crushing

Once we were done with the crushing, I put the empty frames down next to the hive to let the bees clean them up. I will pick them up this morning and take them back to the shop, where I will finish the cleaning, removing all the bits of wax and propolis (bee glue) and fit them with new beeswax foundation before they go back in the hive.

bees cleaning up the frames

bees cleaning up the frames

We harvested just over 29 pounds of lovely honey from this operation. After some serious sampling by me and my wife, we decided it was a bit milder tasting than the first harvest this year. This honey is probably predominately made from clover, with other flowers and herbs thrown in, while the earlier batch was a mix of tree nectar. It has been a great year for honey here. We’ve gotten right at 48 pounds so far from our single hive, and that is not counting the honey that the bees store for their own use – which is a considerable amount and way more than what we take.

2nd honey harvest of 2013

2nd honey harvest of 2013

However, the best news came after we were done, when my wife declared that she is ready to join the fun at the hive. Up until now she not participated in those activities, but we have ordered her a jacket and veil and she will get to witness the next harvest up close and personal. I can only hope she enjoys working with the bees as much as I do. Beekeeping is a fascinating and rewarding hobby and I never cease to be amazed at seeing them at work. I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about our honey harvest, and you can bet I’ll be back soon with more bee news when it happens!

 

Posted in Beekeeping | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Harvest Roundup of Paste Tomatoes

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Dave @ HappyAcres

While the results from 2013 are still fresh in my mind, I thought I would do a roundup of the paste tomatoes I grew here this year. This wasn’t a scientific experiment, but I grew about a dozen different varieties this year and will share my observations on how each did.

I’ll start with the determinate types. I grew these supported by folding tomato cages I got from Gardener’s Supply. These cages are 32 inches tall and about 14 inches square when installed in the ground, and have 8 inch openings to retrieve the tomatoes. They are a bit pricy, but are really good for the short-vine tomatoes and should last many years.

cages for determinant tomatoes at planting time

cages for determinate tomatoes at planting time

I planted these tomatoes in mid-May about 18 inches apart, one plant per cage. I amended the soil first with compost, and gave each plant some Espoma Tomato-Tone mixed in the planting hole. I mulched using newspaper that I covered with straw. Five weeks later, they had grown to the top of the cages and were beginning to set fruit.

determinant tomatoes 5 weeks after planting

determinate tomatoes 5 weeks after planting

I grew three of my tried and true paste tomato varieties in these cages: Viva Italia, Health Kick and Rio Grande. All three are hybrid varieties with good disease resistance and dependable yields, and they began ripening about 10 weeks after setting out the plants. I’ve grown Viva Italia for many years, and it never fails to produce for me. The tomatoes are about three to four ounces in size, with a classic Roma shape.

Viva Italia paste tomatoes

Viva Italia paste tomatoes

Similar in size, shape and color is Health Kick. I’ve been growing it ever since it was introduced back in 1999. It was bred to have 50% more lycopene than other taste tomatoes. While I certainly can’t verify that claim, I can tell you that it has been a reliable performer for me every year I have grown it. The tomatoes are nearly identical to Viva Italia, perhaps a tad bigger on average, but not much. They are meaty, and great for cooking. I can’t tell you how most of these paste tomatoes taste raw, because I almost never eat them that way. They do sometimes wind up in salads, but most of them get cooked down.

Health Kick paste tomatoes

Health Kick paste tomatoes

Next up is Rio Grande. This is my third year growing this variety, and it has done great in all three years. Which is saying something, since 2011 brought us cool and wet conditions in early summer, and 2012 gave us hot and dry weather. This year it has been wet, and slightly cooler than usual. Rio Grande has pumped out lots of blocky red paste tomatoes every year. They are a bit larger than Viva Italia and Health Kick and similar in color and texture. I got my seed from Seeds From Italy.

Rio Grande paste tomatoes

Rio Grande paste tomatoes

I also grow several indeterminate type paste tomatoes. For these I use my concrete remesh cages, and normally set two plants per cage. Soil prep, fertilizer and mulch are the same for all tomatoes I grow. A newcomer here this year is an open-pollinated one called Italian Gold. I got my seed from Victory Seeds, where it is listed as a determinate variety. I am glad I planted it in a taller cage, because it has vined to at least six feet tall for me! I guess it could be called a ‘tall’ determinate. The tomatoes are a bit smaller than Viva Italia, and a lovely golden orange shade. It has done pretty well for me under somewhat challenging weather conditions, so I will likely grow it again next year.

Italian Gold paste tomato

Italian Gold paste tomato

Another indeterminate yellow paste tomato I like is Golden Rave. I have been growing this one for five or six years now. Golden Rave is a pale yellow hybrid paste tomato, listed as a saladette type or mini-Roma. I got my seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, where it is called a ‘baby Roma’. Golden Rave never fails to pump out loads of 2 ounce tomatoes that are great for roasting and cooking, as well as eating fresh. They have a mild flavor, and are a colorful addition to salads and salsas. My one cage with two plants has yielded 12 pounds of tomatoes so far, which makes it a real winner to me.

Golden Rave paste tomatoes

Golden Rave paste tomatoes

Back to the red varieties, another indeterminate one I’m growing is Super Marzano. I have not had much luck growing any of the open-pollinated varieties of San Marzano, and I’ve tried several. But Super Marzono is a hybrid version of these classic Italian paste tomatoes with good disease resistance and a hybrid vigor. The tomatoes are nice and meaty, and somewhat drier than many of the paste tomatoes I grow. The tomatoes are elongated in the San Marzano style, and average about 4 ounces each. I’ve grown this one for about five years now, and I plan on growing it next year.

Super Marzano paste tomatoes

Super Marzano paste tomatoes

colander of Super Marzano tomatoes

colander of Super Marzano tomatoes

Another newcomer this year is an open-pollinated indeterminate variety called Ludmilla’s Red Plum. I got the seeds from a swap with reader Jeanne who also sent me seeds for one called 10 Fingers of Naples. I could not get those seeds to germinate and grow, but Ludmilla has done great in its first showing here. The tomatoes are large and average about five ounces. It has been the largest of the paste varieties this year, and I will definitely grow this one again. Thanks to Jeanne for sharing the seeds!

Ludmilla

Ludmilla’s Red Plum tomatoes

I also grew the Burpee hybrid Big Mama, which has had mixed results here in the few years I’ve grown it. A local friend recommended this one, which does well for him. It’s a big paste tomato, but doesn’t produce all that many tomatoes for me on the rambling vines. I might give it one more try next year, but I’m not sure it adds much to the mix of tomatoes here. We will see.

Big Mama paste tomatoes

Big Mama paste tomatoes

One newcomer this year that won’t be back is Speckled Roman. It has only managed to set a few pitiful fruits this year, and they have suffered from blossom end rot and splitting problems. I have yet to get a single usable tomato from it! Mind you, it is the only tomato in the whole lot that has any blossom end rot this year, so it would seem to be something inherent to this variety. It might do well for some but it hasn’t for me.

Speckled Roman paste tomato

Speckled Roman paste tomato

Amish Paste has done worse than ever this year, only giving a couple of tomatoes all season. I’m not even going to dignify it with a photo! I know some rave about it, but after several years of giving it my usual tomato TLC it has failed to impress here. So it is officially OUTTA here!

2013 Juliet tomatoes ready for the Vitamix

2013 Juliet tomatoes ready for the Vitamix

And while not technically a paste tomato, we use Juliet in much the same ways. Johnny’s calls it a ‘small mini-Roma’, and it is a perennial favorite here. Two cages with two plants each have yielded about 18 pounds of tomatoes total so far, and they are good fresh and cooked. Many of them wound up in the Vitamix Freezer Tomato Sauce this year, and they are great for dehydrating and roasting too.

paste tomatoes hanging out with cukes and zuke

paste tomatoes hanging out with cukes and zuke

Most of the tomatoes in the above photos went into sauces and ketchup we cooked up last week. There are a few more on the vines, but the big slowdown has arrived and I am happy about that! The freezer is full, and we should have plenty of tomato goodness to last us until next summer. I hope you have enjoyed this roundup of paste tomatoes. To see what other gardeners are rounding up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, where Daphne hosts the Harvest Monday series.

 

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments