Day 68

March Harvest

Dealing with the harvest:

Dehydrating:

To preserve the harvest while things are in abundance and allow us to access these foods out of season, the freezer is still full of Pork, so dehydrating is a good option to free up freezer space and provide some variety in our diet. I am thinking about the merits of a Fowlers Vacola preserving kit versus the dehydrator, and whether I need both. I like the idea of dehydrating as there is no need for salt or sugar in the process, although I don't want to use sulphur either. I like that I won't need to use water in the process and the end product will not take up so much space in the pantry.

I have been wanting to buy a dehydrator for some time now, looking on Ebay as one does, and fantasising about a solar dryer too. My lovely little sister Lisa came to the rescue with a top of the range dehydrator for me to try before I buy. YAY! It is easy to use, and comes with instructions and recipies too. It is a bit noisier than I expected, but I like that I can add up to 30-yes 30 extra trays if I want to. I am not sure how much power it uses, it sounds like it is using a lot, I can use Sue's energy meter to check consumption but that is a job for Michael. It seems easy to clean and robust, and does not take up too much bench space. The only thing I am a bit thingy about is the plastic construction, I am not too keen on heating food in plastic, I avoid plastics mostly, but it seems that most dehydrators on the market are the same, I think that even the stainless steel ones have plastic trays? I will report back on the results tomorrow.

Farmer's Market Apples - I squeezed lemon juice on the apples to stop them going brown                        (not sure if this will work)

Farmer's Market Plums

Garden Tomatoes and Capsicums

Zucchini

Storing fresh herbs:

Sometimes I just want to have some handy in the kitchen. I have tried keeping them fresh in a glass of water on the kitchen bench with some success. My latest approach is to keep them in the fridge in a glass of water with a plastic bag over the top. This is so far the most successful and keeps herbs fresh for up to 2 weeks! Great if you are buying herbs and don't use them all straight away. I was looking for a way to stop them getting soggy and slimy in the fridge, (when the herbs touch eachother and stay moist).




I bought this at Cheap as Chips for about $2, I think it is an iced coffee mixer, but it is perfect (without the lid) for storing herbs as the mixer blades keep the herbs apart allowing some air flow between the leaves.

In door of  fridge (stops it falling over) with bag ontop. Would be better with a cap of some sort as the bag takes up space, but it allows some air in while keeping herbs slightly moist.

Dealing with the Food Boredom:

Aarod is so bored with his school lunches and snacks at home, he says that sandwiches with home made bread is like eating sandwhich fillings in-between cardboard! He says he is so sick of bread, and he despairs when he opens the fridge or pantry, he just looks and then closes the door. He made me feel his chest tonight, commenting that he has lost so much weight that his bones are all poking out!
It is surprisingly true, even though we are eating heaps more dairy, meat, and wheat, we have all lost weight, but I think it is more due to us eating out less, not eating processed foods, and just not eating at all because it is too hard! I think that Aarod's main issue is that there is no longer any convenient foods in the house. That is, apart from fruit ( "I am so sick of apples"), other foods need to be cooked or somehow prepared. I am waiting for the day that Aarod decides to bake some cakes or biscuits, I guess he is just not desperate enough yet.