No recipe from TaMara this week (“Some experiments just go south!”), so I figured I’d swipe a great photo from JeffreyW and ask: What do you do with a harvest “bounty”?
The results of a family-weekend apple-picking expedition?
The last batch of half-ripe, somewhat cracked tomatoes gathered in advance of the first killing frost?
Morning-after overpurchase from the season’s last farmer’s market expedition?
Pumpkin guts from preparing the school Halloween party setup?
Let me know what I’m missing in the comments….
khead
Great pic. KITTEH!
indycat32
What do you do with those tomatoes? I still have dozens on my one tomato plant and they’re not going to ripen.
maeve
Cherry Bounce
When I was a kid we had 2 large sour cherry (pie) trees in our yard – we’d have a cherry picking party and invite everyone over for cherry picking.
One of the things my parents made was “Cherry Bounce”
Fill a mason jar 3/4 with cherries, 1/4 with sugar cubes (could be just sugar but the cubes were TRADITION! as well as for measurement)
Pour over with cheap vodka to fill the to top.
Seal and save a couple months
Drink “liquour” and/or pour cherries over ice cream
Being a kid I never got to partake, but our local liquor store has started a “moonshine” line in Mason jars, one variety of which is filled with cherries. (And also costs $23 per jar!)
Ahhh … Tradition!!!
schrodinger's cat
@indycat32: I put them in my tomato sauce, which I then used as a base for a quick butter chicken.
schrodinger's cat
I have many too butternut squashes than I know what to do with, any suggestions?
schrodinger's cat
Queen Bea looks pissed, get off my lawn you crazy kittens.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: Burn them.
maeve
@schrodinger’s cat:
Butternut are “winter squash” so in theory you should be curing and saving them
bonnieplants.com/library/how-to-store-winter-squash/
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: You seem to be in a destructive mood tonight.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: I just don’t care for squash all that much.
ETA: Or mayo, cooked spinach, cooked celery, okra, and most goat cheeses.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Last week, I made an orange and squash cake, nutritious and delicious.
Gin & Tonic
@maeve: I do the same with all sorts of summer fruits. A great thing to have around in the winter.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: The only way I have ever enjoyed squash was when it was done as a pie, like a pumpkin.
Pogonip
Since this is a cooking thread, I am pleased to announce that since my mom is no longer able to cook, I have become the custodian of her Farm Journal cookbooks, the Farm Journal Cookbook from1971 and the Busy Woman’s Cookbook from 1972. The latter has the bestest porcupine ball recipe ever, although you can’t get the same results nowadays because modern tomato soup is mostly corn syrup, but if Campbell’s ever revives their previous tomato soup formula, I’m ready.
maeve
If you have rhubarb – cut it up in cubes and freeze it.
You probably already know that, but what I’m going to encourage is to use rhubarb in savory dishes – I made a really good South African pork curry (roast pork cut in cube and then currified) – it was South African inspired because SA curries tend to have fruit – but then I got further inspired and added Rhubarb for the sour element – came out most excellent!
Rhubarb! It’s not just for dessert!
Omnes Omnibus
@maeve: Rhubarb works very well with apples, it does not surprise me that it works well with pork.
John Revolta
I don’t think the porcupines nowadays have the kinda balls they used to, either.
I do love me some low-hanging fruitcake, though.
Scamp Dog
@Pogonip: Have you tried making it with home-made tomato soup? I imagine that’s a big increase in the workload for the dish, though.
Scamp Dog
@Omnes Omnibus: Gahh, brings back some horrible memories. When my Mom made squash, it was this nasty-looking orange-colored mush, with some extra-watery stuff around the edges after it sat for a bit. She’s generally a good cook, but oh my, that was an exception.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scamp Dog: The rest of my immediate family loved the stuff when I was growing up. ::shudder:::
KG
Frost? Season? My Californian brain knows not these words. We have no word for them in our language.
John Revolta
Don’t do squash. Not a big fan of eggplant, either. Gaahhhhh.
Omnes Omnibus
@KG: I could not live like that.
@John Revolta: Jesus, fried breaded eggplant. Fucking horrible.
jurassicpork
Our SNAP benefits were indeed cut off without explanation and at the worst possible time. Details are here with an update.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: If you don’t have summer and winter, you don’t have fall – which is wonderful. Also, winter comes with skiing, which is also wonderful.
scav
@efgoldman: He’s either a transplant, a liar, moonlights as a poster child for aphasia or multi-tasks at the three. There are seasons — they just may be less apparent to the unobservant.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I haven’t been skiing since grad school. If I ever try it again, I’d probably take lessons. We do have snow here in Southern CA in the winter(mountains).
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, what do you have there, 300 feet of vertical?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve skied in places outside of WI, but this is in my hometown. Also, skiing includes Nordic.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: It gets cold in these parts in the winter, sometimes it gets down in the 40’s at night.
Omnes Omnibus
@BillinGlendaleCA: There is a possibility of some snow here tonight.
p.a.
@schrodinger’s cat: if you have freezer room, squash soup. Roast em, make veggie broth, maybe some apple cider, food processor. A little more work: prep some guajillo/pasilla peppers (saute the slurry or it’s bitter, strain if there are still seeds) and add to the processor. Tablespoon Calvados and chopped fresh cilantro/parsley to each serving, sauteed shrooms too.
Omnes Omnibus
@p.a.: No, tablespoon the Calvados to me. I like it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: 80 degrees outside right now here.
scav
@efgoldman: More than that (that’s just where the body norm is set — see temperatures that drive midwesterners fleeing to jackets in fall are exactly the same that unleash the shorts in spring). Fall for me is triggered by some change in the color of the sky, hard to describe, must have something to do with the angle. Canyon Live Oaks just aren’t that communicative (Sycamores helped more). Summer is foggy in the morning. odd things like that. I managed it the other way at Xmas. Enter LAX, exit O’Hare into the 10° wall at the parking garage. 2,100’ drop, by the by.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Get Web designer Tommy in here stat! You really have to drill down in that site before it grudgingly reveals that Granite Mountain is located in (or near) Wausau. And nothing as radical as directions or a Google map: just a page with “hours from” a number of cities in the Midwest. Talk about hidden gems.
Omnes Omnibus
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ll take what I have.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: If you ski and are in Chicago or north of it, you know it. The UP locations are too far for a weekend and everything south of Rib Mountain doesn’t compare.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: It was pretty nice out. I got my walk in tonight, even after getting rear ended this afternoon.
Omnes Omnibus
@BillinGlendaleCA: While walking?
p.a.
@Omnes Omnibus: the packie where I buy my supply almost never has the same brand next trip. Quality varies from good to OMG. They seem to be family businesses in Normandy. Product may also vary by the harvest. Near me there’s an importer of hard Spanish apple cider (Asturias). Nothing like American cider. Nothing sweet or semisweet about it. I’ve only had samples at promo events. Not sure I like it, but mustn’t be hasty.
Omnes Omnibus
@p.a.: Calvados can vary a lot. You shouldn’t compare it to ciders. After dinner brandies are your standard.
ETA: A good Calvados has more bite, without being harsh, than a Cognac or Armagnac.
ruemara
I made a really good acorn squash bread with cranberries and dark chocolate. And an acorn squash beer bread with herbs, cheeze & sauteed onions. and I’m sitting here with 2 dozen bacon chocolate chip cookies. I stress bake. I have no one to give food to. These cookies need a lot more bacon. But I think I know what to use for the vegan/halal version.
Omnes Omnibus
@ruemara: Um. should I send you my mailing address? Bacon choco-chip cookies? Um, yeah.
gelfling545
@schrodinger’s cat: steam , purée & freeze. Use for soup, sauces & pies.
KG
@scav: born and raised in Southern California. Was mostly just being a smart ass since it was 100 degrees today in what is technically autumn.
ruemara
@Omnes Omnibus: Send away. I have another 2 dozen freezing in the fridge. I doubled my workout as penance.
ruemara
@schrodinger’s cat: Let’s see, pie, pumpkin spice smoothies, mix into breads
Omnes Omnibus
@ruemara: They just sound delicious- and I am coming off of a day of feeling ill.
scav
@KG: No matter then, it was just the flip side of my utter boredom with the team that can’t recognize seasons without every tree on the block jumping up and down with violently agressive primary colors.
ETA so I should be chided for not adding creatively lying for effect to my list of possibilities.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: No, in my automobile.
ruemara
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m sorry you were feeling sick. Not sure if bacon chocolate chip is a healing food.
Steeplejack
@p.a.:
Tell me about it. Same deal with the state liquor stores here in NoVA. I love Calvados, but it’s strictly hit or miss on whatever brand (one or two) they happen to have in stock. I’m currently making my slow way through a not-so-good bottle. I won’t buy another until I finish this one, but it’s taking a while because it’s not very good. Catch-22.
Omnes Omnibus
@BillinGlendaleCA: Shit, that sucks.
@efgoldman: I suggest the mint tea and the fact that I spent much of the day napping. I once read a a quote about wine that when paraphrased sums up my view. As a middle class boy but well educated boy, I can tell good from bad wine, but I can’t tell the difference between awesome and exquisite. And I never will. When I look at wines, I just look for good. The same with cognacs. I recognize that there are people who can tell the differnce between good and OMG, but I am not one of them.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m feeling ok, The driver who hit me is younger than my car. My car had some scratches on the bumper trim. That car is a fuckin’ tank.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ditto. And it’s interesting how far that can take you. There are enough good wines out there for a lifetime without torturing yourself over the exquisite one-percenters.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: I no longer have this problem.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I look for good wines that I enjoy. That is all.
John Revolta
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, oddly enough that’s the same way it is with bagpipes(another *acquired taste* perhaps). I always say that while it’s easy to tell a rotten piper from a good one, the only people who can tell a good piper from a REALLY good piper are mostly other pipers. Of course, bagpipes and wine together…………well, NOW you’ve got something.
Steeplejack
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Because you no longer drink or because you hit the lottery and have a million-dollar wine cellar?
Inspired by the comments above, I just poured a splash from the bottle of so-so Calvados I am trying to get through (Busnel). It’s sort of a Maigret night, cool and rainy, and he’s always getting a glass of the good local stuff in the Bruno Cremer series. In great glassware, too. I’m using this Crate & Barrel glass. Nice compact size—7 ounces, 4" high. I don’t get drinking brandy from gigantic fish-bowl snifters.
Anne Laurie
@ruemara:
I wouldn’t try it on a queasy stomach, but the thought of it waiting would give me a reason to go on!
SWMBO
@BillinGlendaleCA: My mother was throwing away an old washer and had it next to the driveway at the curb. She was backing out and hit it with her car. Didn’t even knock the dust off the washer but it nearly totalled the car. My husband joked that she needed to drive a maytag.
Josie
@indycat32: Fried green tomatoes.
lurker dean
Reminds me of that glorious bastard Tunch.
Greg Koos
I pickle the tomatoes in salt brine and spices. They get real sour – it’s a matter of taste. Also probiotic value. Just “put up” three quarts. The half ripe, if not flawed, can ripen in the window.