Megan Palmer

tel jetson wrote:
I can think of at least one alternative way to solve my problem without the brazing pan. simmering un-puréed quince in a little water with the sugar already added instead of simmering after it’s already puréed would likely work in one of the smaller and deeper pots I already had.

I prefer quince jelly to quince paste and simmer the washed, halved unpeeled quinces in a crock pot covered with water overnight and strain off the fruit to make jelly using 40% sugar to volume of liquid.

The pulp is not wasted, I feed it to the chickens.

Occasionally, I make a quince butter, again with reduced sugar, that can be eaten the same way as paste, just more spreadable and less sweet.

Have you tried slow baking washed, halved quinces in a a light syrup with cinnamon and cloves, covered with foil at about 100C overnight?

I then carefully slip off the skins, remove the cores and transfer to a wide mouth jar, top with syrup and water bath for 20mins.

They can also be frozen.

The cooked quinces can be sliced and added to apple pies and or drained and used in baking.

There are also a number of middle eastern recipes cooking quinces with lamb and/or goat.

The quinces trees at the community garden are in full flower at the moment so fingers crossed for a good harvest.

How do you mostly use your quinces?

We had a roast leg of lamb.

It served four with four portions of leftovers for week day lunches and two portions diced for shepherd's pie.

Pearl Sutton wrote:I don't own an instapot.  I use a basic pressure cooker, cheap, goes on the stove top, doesn't blow breakers, have digital stuff, and is more useful to me.  Not a pressure canner, different animal

Snap, ours is a stove top pressure cooker that must be over 40 years old.

Had to buy a new seal and valve about 20 years ago and touch wood, still going strong.

Just to qualify long soak, at least overnight may be necessary if not longer.

The water may also need to be changed during the soaking time.

Another vote for the pressure cooker to cook the beans after soaking.

Let us know how you get on.

Quote from this site

https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/phoenix-oyster-mushrooms.html


“One of the key differences between the Phoenix oyster mushroom and the “true oyster,” P. ostreatus, is their fruiting season. The Phoenix prefers warmer weather – it usually fruits from April through September, appearing as soon as the weather transitions out of winter.

Pleurotus ostreatus, on the other hand, is a cool-season mushroom that won’t fruit until the weather cools down. This is an excellent way to determine which oyster mushroom you’ve found initially.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_ostreatus

Slot

If you look to the bottom of this page, there are links to similar threads discussing soil remediation that will give you really helpful advice.

A search of the word "remediation" in the top banner will also bring up many threads.

Here are just a few to get you started -

https://permies.com/t/63383/chicken-manure
https://permies.com/t/4903/Lead-contaminated-soil-wildlife
https://permies.com/t/240232/High-chromium-soil
https://permies.com/t/216479/Heavy-Metals-Soil

Matthew Nistico wrote:
What are "cepes"?

Boletus edulis, aka penny buns, porcini, ceps


Chestnuts are also delicious boiled and sauted with onions and celery served as a vegetable, chopped cooked with diced onion, celery, tart green apple and used as a stuffing in chicken/turkey.

A Japanese friend gave me a jar of whole cooked chestnuts preserved in a light syrup that I eat as a sweet.

The French prepare a delicious confection called marron glacé that I have never attempted to make myself which is like a dry version of the chestnuts in syrup that my friend gave me.

Chestnuts purée is another method of preparing chestnuts - savoury for stuffing and sweet in desserts.

I don’t know whether the local chestnut trees are European or Chinese but they grow well in our climate and there are many found in parks and on the roadside where we can gather the nuts in autumn.

Kate Downham wrote:

Sounds good. 'Kumara' in NZ is sweet potato, I imagine regular potatoes would go well in this too.

Thanks Kate, I completely forgot that it said kūmara😉

I’ve substituted pumpkin, cauliflower florets, Brussels sprouts and of course regular potatoes in the roasted vegetable base too.