Dehydrating #5 and #6

Life has been busy. I'm finally getting around to writing the next part of my dehydrating series! 

Apple Chips

I made apple chips! Typically, I'm not a fan of apples. I think I've been scarred growing up eating fruit. My dad didn't cut the core out of the apple. He would just cut the apple and hand me and my brother each a half. I ate around the core but did so pretty sloppily so a lot of the apple went to the trash. I'd also get in trouble for eating it sloppily so I hid my apple trash in various places around the house so they wouldn't be found. Needless to say, I don't have good memories eating apples.

Lesson to parents: just cut the core out of apples for your kids. Do it forever if you can. One day they will notice.

I bought apples specifically to dehydrate for this "experiment." They turned out well! It made me actually want to eat apples.

 

It's been so long I honestly can't remember what temperature I dehydrated them at anymore. I would think I did about 135 degrees for 8-10 hours as that is pretty standard for dehydrating. I did both regular apples and cinnamon apples. My preference was for the cinnamon apples because they had a sweetening effect on the apples. 

As you can see from the photo, I had to cut my apple in half and then slice into semi-circle shaped slices. Ideally, I would have loved to be able to slice them in a donut shape with the center cored out. However, my mandolin would not fit my apple all the way across in diameter so I had to slice. They are more aesthetically pleasing as cored out rounds, but that would also affect the dehydrating time because the pieces would be larger. 

Kani Crab

I was inspired to try dehydrating Kani Crab because I saw someone do an air fryer recipe. I actually tried the air fryer recipe in our toaster oven as well and it didn't turn out like the video...so I adapted it for myself.

The consistency of these was not there because I bought kani in strips and pulled them apart by hand. The pieces were not evenly sized so they cooked at different rates. Some pieces were perfect, some were still on the chewy side, and some were overcooked and too brown. 

I attempted to make this two times. The first time, my temperature was too high and the pieces were uneven so we had a gamut of overcooked, perfect, and not cooked enough.  The second time, I think my temperature was too low but the pieces were more uniform. As a result, they ended up hard and tough, not light and airy as I'd hoped. I think I'd aim for a temperature of around 380 degrees for 15 minutes and tweak from there if I were to try again. 

The video I originally saw was great inspiration to make these, but the results just didn't turn out as I'd expected. There was a lot of flavor within each piece, but because I didn't perfect the cooking instructions, it wasn't completely enjoyable for the work it entailed. If I were to commit unlimited time and resources, I would further develop this recipe. However, I don't think I will.

Joy

The first year I tried planting things was more experimental. I wasn't sure what would and wouldn't work. So whatever I got was bonus. Last year I had more confidence being my second year. I had high expectations, and unfortunately, most of them weren't met because the weather didn't cooperate with me. 

This year, I'm growing for the joy of it. Lots of things are growing. I've harvested some sage to grind down to use in my cooking. Everything else is slowly getting into the groove. There's been a lot of covering and uncovering because of multiple cold snaps we've had since our 90 degree February days. But so far, everything is still alive.

That's not to say I haven't failed this year. I've actually "failed" twice already. I got a grow light at the end of last year for my indoor plants. As 2024 started, I was reading about people starting seeds indoors already with their grow lights to get a head start on the season before the temperatures became too hot. What a great idea! I wanted to try it.

My first failed tray of seeds.

Honestly, my set up was okay. My mentality was good. But the execution was not good. I learned grow lights need to be placed mere inches above the top of the seedlings in order to get them to sprout. I learned more about bottom watering and figured out what I did wrong - not only was my grow light not close enough but I kept them covered too long. Mold claimed this tray of seedlings. But it's okay because my pepper seeds are plentiful.

As a result, my pepper plants are behind this year, I think. I finally was able to germinate some sprouts around March 20th but that's pretty late for growing from seed. Oh well, we'll see what happens. 

This year, I don't have expectations. What grows will grow and what dies will die. Am I working hard to protect them and care for them as best I know how? Absolutely. I might be checking the weather more than I'm checking social media. And my husband jokes I pay more attention to my plants than I do him. He's not entirely wrong...but he lives in a climate controlled building with ready-made food for him. My plants live outside and are at the mercy of the weather. 

But there's one key difference in growing things this year. I find it so joyful and I'm recognizing the joy I get from growing my plants. Would it be nice to get a great harvest? Of course. Is it sad and disheartening when things don't produce or grow like I wish? Definitely. But the process of it all excites me and motivates me to get out of bed in the morning. Also because sooner or later we'll reach that point in the year where if you want it to be less than 90 degrees out, you need to beat the sunrise. 

Here's to year three of growing! 🪴

Garden Updates

As the weather is starting to cool, I've been thinking of how to protect my plants for the winter and/or what to do with the plants I don't want to overwinter. First, some updates.

So the original basil growing in cups that I thought was basil is not actually basil. It's actually a tomato plant! I have no idea how I ended up with a tomato plant. I'd never intentionally planted tomato seeds, but we have composted some tomatoes that went bad or composted portions of the fruit we did not consume. There may have been a few seeds in there which didn't sterilize or die over time. Otherwise, I have no idea how I came to grow a tomato plant.

Unfortunately, tomato likes hot temperatures and we are winding down for the hot season. I don't know how much growth this tomato will get before I need some serious blanketing for winter, but we will see. If anyone has any advice, I am open!

As for actual basil, I actually tried again for the 3rd or 4th (I lost count...) time to grow them from seed. I had purchased seeds in the spring to grow my own basil, but about a month ago, my sweet neighbor gave me a ton of basil she'd cut from her garden. She purposely left the flowers on top so if I wanted to save the seeds to attempt to grow myself, I could. 

Yup, she was right. I saved the seeds. Basil seeds are really tricky to get out of the flower. Each flower has about 20 seeds in it. However, these 20 seeds are grouped in pods of about 3-4. And each of the pods has to be opened for the dried seeds to fall out. I tried simply shaking the seed pods in a glass jar fully expecting the little seeds to pop out and separate from the flower. No such luck. I used my fingers and separated the flower pod and removed all the seeds by hand.

Before separating the seeds.

After separating the seeds.

I'm sure actual seed farmers have a much more efficient technique for how they remove basil seeds. Unfortunately, I don't. 

We'll call this my 4th attempt. For my 4th attempt at growing basil from seed, I took two styrofoam cups and grew one with my neighbor's seeds and one with the seeds I purchased. Within 4 days, I saw seedlings sprout from the seeds I purchased. The following day, I saw one seedling sprout from the seeds from my neighbor's plant. 

Basil! Actual...basil...

Now this time I know for sure these are basil seedlings...they are the only seed I put in. AND the stems are not furry. I do plan on continuing to grow my basil indoors through the winter because these plants are too small to make it outside and basil is not frost hardy. However, I've noticed after the initial sprouting, I have a hard time getting true leaves to grow.

From reading online, I've seen others say plants will take some time after sprouting to focus on growing roots so it looks like the growth is stagnant from the top. I've also read basil needs moist soil but doesn't like to be overwatered. 🤔 That's a tricky balance...

Lastly, an update on my peppers. I harvested some! Dixie cup is for size comparison. 

Harvest #1 These I ate.

Harvest #2. Pepper on the left started going bad so I had to remove it.
The two on the right went to my dad. 

They're definitely on the smaller side, but my first harvest was a forced harvest. One of them actually became too heavy and broke off the plant so I had to harvest it or trash it. The second one, I decided to remove because I had noticed it was not growing, but the same plant had two more peppers coming in. Rather than have this tiny pepper continue to take nutrients from the other two, I decided to cut it off early and allow the other two peppers to continue growing - they have grown in size every day when I check so I think I made the right call in this decision. 

They don't taste the same as store-bought bell peppers, but they're pretty tasty. Quite satisfying getting to eat something I grew myself. 😊

Household Tricks: Part 2

Today's household tricks will be tricks I've found in the kitchen. If you didn't read part 1, you can find it here. 

1. Wash grapes in baking soda.

I've always liked grapes, but I've always hated that waxy coating on the outside that never seems to come off. I've never bought any fancy fruit and vegetable washes, but recently, I bought grapes, and I really wanted to get the waxy coating off. So I did a quick search online and found my answer: baking soda. 

Before: waxy grapes from the store straight out of the packaging

I give the grapes a quick rinse first and then I pour some baking soda on them and shake the grapes around. After that, I rinse off the grapes and they're ready to go. The waxiness on the outside is visibly gone and they actually taste different. I can't not wash my grapes in baking soda anymore before eating. It makes that big of a difference.

After: look how shiny they are. And they actually stay this shiny!
It's not reflection from water.

2. Wash strawberries in vinegar.

Strawberries are a huge hit at our house. In the summer during strawberry season, we average four pounds of strawberries a week. Next summer we're going to have four people eating strawberries at our house. 😳

I can't taste the difference in this one, but I've done this religiously since I first learned about it. I know tik-tok had a viral video about soaking them in salt so the fruit worms come out...I don't know if that's completely necessary. If someone has done that with organic strawberries and still seen the worms come out, I wouldn't worry about it so much.

3. Remove coffee and tea stains from mugs with baking soda.

Baking soda is a bulk purchase in our house. We buy the 15 pound bag from the wholesale store and it lasts us years. I'm never buying the small 1 pound boxes from the grocery store ever again. This trick I discovered on my own with some prior knowledge. After the weather turned cold, I pulled out a mug I hadn't used in a while to make some tea. Upon inspecting the inside for cleanliness, I noticed dark stains adorning the inside of the white ceramic mug. My first attempt at washing it with dish soap did not work and then I remembered baking soda. I poured in some baking soda, scrubbed it a bit, and voila! Back to its original color!

I could elaborate on baking soda for so much more, but we use it to clean everything: our stovetop, our sink, the oven, removing stains from unsealed countertops, in our laundry, and so much more!

Let me know if you've ever used these tips or if you have any of your own! Stay tuned for part 3 coming soon!