Text 14519, 225 rader
Skriven 2007-04-23 19:00:49 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Re: TRAVELS 922 70422
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*** Quoting Glen Jamieson from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***
GJ> Grape jelly and apple butter are toppings I have never tried, or even
GJ> seen sold here.
CS> The apple butter, I wouldnt be suprised if you didnt have it. Sure,
CS> you grow apples but this is a product from an area with a glut of them
CS> and a need to preserve them. Colonial times (pre-revolution-USA) sort
CS> of thing that people still like. Easy to make too. You have to wrap
CS> your mind around the fact that its a dark brown. It's normally spiced
CS> with a little nutmeg and cinnimon. Goes great on hot toast with a
CS> little butter under it.
GJ> I'm familiar as a child with stewed apples and baked apple, with the
GJ> nutmeg and cinnamon, which do go well with apple.
Stewed apples as you call them *might* be my 'applesauce'. Although I've been
to OZ more than most here, I have never lived there so there are may things I
wouldnt be sure of.
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
Title: Moselem Springs Apple Butter (Lotwaerick)
Categories: Penndutch, Canning
Yield: 1 Servings
4 qt Apple
1 1/2 qt Cider
1 t Cinnamon
1 t Cloves
2 qt Water
1 1/2 lb Sugar
1 t Allspice
Wash and slice the apples into small bits. Cover with the water and
boil until soft. Press through a sieve to remove skins and seeds.
Bring cider to a boil and then add apple pulp and sugar and cook
until it thickens, constantly stirring to prevent scorching. Add
spices and cook until it is thick enough for spreading. Pour into
sterilized jars and seal.
MMMMM
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
Title: Crab-Apple Butter
Categories: Condiments
Yield: 6 Servings
2 lb Crab-apples
3 c Sugar
Wash and core crab-apples. Cover with water. Cover and simmer until
fruit is soft. Rub through a sieve. Add sugar. Boil slowly,
stirring frequently, until thick. The Household Searchlight
MMMMM
The second one feels more right.
I cant see a recipe that will really 'explain' the difference from applesauce
to apple butter. It is as far as I know, a food item mostly seen only on the
eastern parts of the USA. Northern parts more common than southern ones but
the south knows about this one.
CS> Grape jelly though? That suprises me? I imagine it is there but you
CS> havent noticed. I do seem to recall the jelly/jam section (now that I
CS> think about it) was pretty small at that place in Darwin. The popular
GJ> I looked out for it in the local s/market, and although there were
GJ> lots of spreads and many kinds of jams, the only jelly I found was the
GJ> traditional quince jelly; no grape jam or jelly.
Wierd! I had not expected that! I can think of other common endings like
'preserves' and such but I am sure you checked the right areas. Jam wouldnt
be quite right as that has fruit pulp still in there and this one breaks down
too much to leave that.
CS> but not so much so. It's considered a perfect match with peanut butter
CS> (which you've probably seen but i do not recall sold in Darwin?).
GJ> I have seen stripy jars of peanut butter and jelly somewhere, maybe in
GJ> Manila, but not eaten it.
No need. Thats a 'fast food' of no sense. Lazy housewives didnt even take to
that one.
CS> Gotta keep in mind, these ladies cooked things from 'ages past' that
CS> they learned from their own grandmothers and they were themselves
CS> pushing 70 by the time little ol' me encountered them. The lady I
CS> learned this from, learned it from a woman who'd learned it herself
CS> about the time of the US civil war. This area is too remote, to have
CS> been noticed by the Civil war antics in that recent contremps <grin>.
GJ> Seeing that the original sorghum was introduced to USA pre-Civil War,
GJ> I'm sure the grannies would have been familiar with it.
Most possible, but they may have fusioned something else in my remote stompin'
grounds. Most of these ladies had never been to the county capitol 50 miles
away. Judge Keller's wife was the traveller, having been to Atlanta once (110
miles away).
I kid you not, we had a tree stump with a burned in checkerboard and we'd sit
around and play in the evening at the general store (the hot-spot for fun).
Could be the sorghum grass, but my source lady didnt growed that because I'd
have known as her pot was my backyard of the rental place I had off her.
(dang, I digressed to 'growed'? I'll leave it. Shows my background). (Dang,
there be another! Pot vice 'plot' but we called it a 'pot').
Hehe best not think too deep back to my youth language or I'll lose the bunch
of you since the vernacular is a bit peculiar.
CS> others here who come from big city backgrounds (big city as based on my
CS> ideas of 'big' and not nessecarily how they'd term it). Ruth Hanascka
GJ> It is all relative. Some people even think Texas is a big state. (g,d&
Well, folks i grew up with, think it's big... Seems so too when you have to
take 2 days to get across it. Granted your version is different. You
probably dont really have the same travel pattern of elderly who've never been
more than 100 miles from home. Too compact in the USA and too less so where
you are to see that as a commonality.
GJ> varieties of sweet syrups, from Jim's maple, to beet sugar to your
GJ> sorghum is interesting. I wonder if there is much difference in
GJ> flavour between them?
CS> Oh yes! Much difference. Had a bit of a maple candy? Even the
CS> artifical kind? Thats maple syrup. Its somehow 'sweeter per cubic
GJ> Yes, I've had both the maple syrup and the candy. A pleasantly
GJ> complex flavour.
Yes, it is. Works well in some things, but as a non-sweets type, I dont use
even that often. I enjoy the occasionally foraging on fodder with it, but
just a bite or so.
CS> Had fresh beets just boiled up and noted the earthy flavor? Thats
GJ> Nup. No sugar beets; only red beets - in an Aussie-burger. That
GJ> looks impressive, with the juice bleeding down through the fried egg.
The fried egg seemed overkill to me. It did work though with a 'ham' burger
(slice of ham).
CS> inthere in beet sugar and in the 'sorghum' I was used to but the
CS> 'sorghum' had something else too and it wasnt the almost burnt corn
CS> flavor of molassis. Perhaps an almost kiwi-like hint without the tang?
CS> Like a sunwarmed stalk of grass was also in there which is weirding me
CS> out as other posts say its a grass but I am not sure what she used
CS> other than she also gre sugar beets...
CS> I dunno. I just was happy to eat it.
GJ> As sorghum is a type of grass, you were probably correct in picking up
GJ> a grass flavour.
Possibly. I wonder now. It's been far too many years and she's long gone. I
cant ask. I was a neophyte cook then, having already been told by my roomates
that I was so abysmal, I wasnt allowed to pour cornflakes. I set out to learn
but was a Burt-eat at that stage.
Lets say if it *was* true Sorghum sugar, it is slightly (very faintly, can be
missed) grassy and almost like an old sweet kiwi but mostly it tastes of the
pure sugar except I've never seen it in other than liquid form (melty jug).
GJ>
GJ> Beans
CS> Oh, I can make pretty good ones. The missing part is due to the
CS> food-cops. Lard is an essential. If you are making them without that,
CS> then you are missing out. Come to think of it, regular OZ bacon fat
CS> would be just about right to make them.
GJ> As I said to Jim who made the same suggestion, I will give that a try.
CS> I'll look over my memory for you. Since you can get dried beans just
CS> fine, you'll want to experiement with types. This is one time where
CS> the type of dry bean will make a small but telling difference.
CS> Pinto beans would be the classic. I dont know if you have them there.
CS> They are a mostly light tan backround with reddish spots. They take
CS> longer to cook to soft than most. Pink beans (they are basically 'pink
CS> when dry' vice red) would be my next choice. Red beans will work but
CS> be careful to not get adzuki 'sweet red' as that will not work (those
CS> are the tiny red ones, wont work for this).
CS> Put one part beans and 4 parts water in a pot then bring to a boil and
CS> draw down the heat to a bare simmer. Let'em do their thing, adding
CS> water as needed to keep it very loose for about 2 hours on the stove
CS> (gosh it's been ages since i stove made beans!). Its ready when it
CS> only faintly resists 'squishing' a bean between your fingers.
GJ> Thanks for that info on the beans.
CS> Cook up a mass of regular OZ bacon, perhaps 2 lbs or more. Let the
CS> fat collect til you have about 1 knuckle thick of fat, then add the
CS> soft beans at about 1/2 cup at a time, mashing them into paste as you
CS> go along, and adding more til it's a bit too runny but 'close' to what
CS> you want. Cook this down til a bit dryer than you want and then put a
CS> lid on it. Let this gently steam and add a little water and spices
CS> (use a light hand with spices this time). Add garlic whole cloves if
CS> you wish at this stage.
CS> Taste test and it it tastes 'watery' add more drained beans. If it
CS> still tastes watery, you overcooked the beans <grin>.
GJ> I will probably start with a smaller quantity, but try to keep the fat
GJ> level up. (G)
That works! The spicing if used at all whrn cooking, is with a very *mild*
hand. You also cant 'fix' overwatery beans by cooking them longer. I dont
know why, but experience is the best teacher this time and exactly why you had
a spectacular experience once and are still looking for it.
These are not a diet food, but they do taste fine enough for me without the
fat!
Now you know me. I got an alternative for almost everything. One of the
variations is to boil a ham hock in withthe beans, then debone it and stuff
that in a blender then use that for the 'fat'. One variation of that I
learned back home, was to then put the beans in the fridge (or back porch in
winter) til the fat congealed, then this time you use that vice tossing it
out. Pork fat rulez eh?
xxcarol
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