Project Updates

Here are some updates on a few projects we started earlier this year:

Canned Cranberry Juice
We opened a jar of the cranberry juice I canned a few weeks ago. I was curious to see if we like it enough to can more. Everything I read about it was spot on. It is definitely not as strong as commercial cranberry juice, but it does have a lovely light cranberry flavor that is very pleasant.

Our eldest son was eager to use it to make a cranberry cocktail for Christmas. When I asked him if the flavor was too light to make a good cocktail, he said that, on the contrary, it works well because you get the flavor of cranberry without it overpowering the other flavors in the drink. Here is a picture of the drink he made. Isn't it pretty?

Cranberry Cocktail
Photo by Connor Thomas

The verdict: This is a project that I definitely want to repeat. I like the idea of having a supply of healthy cranberry juice on the shelf.

Rum-Soaked Cherries

We also tried our rum-soaked cherries. I thought the cherry flavored rum from these might make a nice cocktail. While I enjoyed the flavor of both the cherries and the rum in which they soaked, our eldest son, who is the mixologist in the family, did not care for it. He said the rum tasted too much like cherry cough syrup! He also thought the alcohol flavor of the cherries was too strong. 

The verdict: Since this was not a favorite with everyone and we all enjoy brandied cherries, I think I will search for a brandied cherry recipe to try. I am not ready to give up on the idea of alcohol preserved fruit quite yet!

Calendula Infused Oil

Calendula oil is said to be very good for problem skin. I started an oil infusion several weeks ago to have on hand for rashes and other issues and to use as an ingredient in the healing salve we make. While I made the infusion by warming the oil with the dried flowers and leaving it to warm for a few hours, I wanted to also leave it sit for several weeks to finish infusing. I finally strained out the flower heads and put the oil in the refrigerator to save for later use. (Refrigeration helps to keep the base oil used in the infusion from going rancid as quickly.)

The verdict: This should be a great addition to our healing salve recipe. Since calendula is universally known to be good for the skin (unless you are allergic), I will definitely make this again.

Usnea Tincture

I also started an usnea tincture several months ago. I finally got around to the last step: straining out the usnea solids. Usnea is said to be an immune system tonic, a lung tonic, and to have potential for antibiotic use. If you are interested in learning more about usnea and how to make a tincture, click here for an article from one of my favorite sites.

Getting ready to strain the oil and the tincture 

The verdict: We currently have a good amount and should not have to make this again for quite a while. I tried some and found that it has an oddly woody taste. If it really does what herbalists claim it can do, I definitely see us making this again.

Other Projects - Holiday Sweets

Peanut Butter Balls

If you get our newsletter, you will have seen the recipes we included for our favorite peanut butter balls and gluten free peanut butter balls. This year our youngest son offered to make the gluten free peanut butter balls for our Christmas celebration. I have named these Monster Peanut Butter Balls. It is difficult to tell from the picture, but they are about three times the size of those we usually make. All the men at home were thrilled. They tell me this is the proper size for a peanut butter ball!

Gluten-free peanut butter balls
made by our youngest son

Tiramisu

Our Christmas dinner was Italian food themed and our eldest son wanted to try his hand at making tiramisu. He found a recipe online to try and it was a hit! We love tiramisu and this was one of the best ones we have had. Here is a picture after we delved into it.

Tiramisu courtesy of our eldest son

Let me know if any of you who do not receive our newsletter would like the recipes or if you would like us to add you to the newsletter list.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Water Glassed Eggs & Homemade Butter

Image
I love to experiment with new recipes, different methods of preservation, and ways to avoid waste.  Here are last week's efforts: Water Glassing Eggs  I finally tried water glassing eggs this past week.  I read about this method of preserving eggs a long time ago, but I needed to get unwashed farm fresh eggs in order to try it AND I needed to have enough eggs on hand to not cut us short in our weekly egg usage (we eat a lot of eggs throughout the week). Last week was finally the week. I got the pickling lime I had been saving for this purpose out of storage, picked out the cleanest unwashed eggs I had purchased from some friends down the road, and preserved 18 eggs in a gallon sized glass jar.  I followed the instructions from The Prairie Homestead, which can be found here . Why preserve eggs in this manner? Since we do not have our own chickens, we rely upon a couple of friends having extra eggs to sell. I wanted to preserve some eggs for those times when we cannot get them fresh
Read more

Fried Daisies, Yarrow Tea, and DIY Rose Oil

Image
We had a lot of rain last week, which "dampened" my forays into the woods to forage, so I spent some time on the website better organizing it and adding another article.  We now have a DIY project section and an article on jean quilts. Click here to see what is new! In spite of the damp weather, I spent a bit of time outside and picked enough to fill the dehydrator.  While I collected several kinds of plants, here are the ones I focused on this past week:   Oxeye Daisies I collected oxeye daisies mainly to dry for tea, but they are also wonderful to eat.  They can be battered and fried, much like fried mushrooms.  We have tried both a sweet and a savory batter for these and have enjoyed both. As with any new food, be careful to avoid these if you have an allergy to other plants in the asteraceae (daisy) family.  One of its many uses in tea is for coughs accompanied by an excess of mucous. Oxeye daisy is said to decrease mucosal secretions and calm inflamed tissues. It reporte
Read more

Garden Report - 10/9/23

Image
Last week I spent a bit of time tidying up the garden for fall. I gave my tarragon and mint their last trim for the year.  I bundled the bounty and hung it in the attic to dry along with some dill.  I had three nice bundles of orange mint, two smaller bundles of tarragon, and one of dill. I also filled the dehydrator with borage, winter savory, oregano, and mullein. I gathered some seed from the nasturtiums, dill, cilantro, and calendula. I then picked the ripe tomatoes and pulled the onions. What did well in our garden this year? Our tarragon produced very well. I think this was my third or fourth cutting of this year.  I am pleased we have enough to share with the girls and a couple of friends as well. The orange mint I planted last year also produced well as did the dill, pepper plants, and the nasturtium. We were pleased to have a nice crop of potatoes, too. The potatoes produced well for the 3 foot by 3 foot area we planted (we were following the square foot garden method).  I lef
Read more