For the love of Produce...

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Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited June 2020
    My blueberries look great, should be ready to pick soon. My colder weather planted veg are doing great too -- I actually had no idea what arugula looked like when growing.

    Some animal(s) is/are eating my strawberries.

    My flower skills are mediocre -- don't know why I seem to grow veg easily but have trouble with flowers.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,930 Member
    I cut the last five artichokes yesterday and ate two of them. They were fine. I left five out in the patch to open up for the hummingbirds and bees to enjoy. I'll enjoy them, too. The main stalks are dying back, but only two so far have small plants growing from the bases. I'm wondering if the ants destroyed the below-ground growth. If so, I'll take the opportunity to revitalize the bed with a bunch of compost and plant new plants. I can probably fit the last three in the toaster oven so it doesn't heat the house up as much. Yesterday was cool, and last night was cool and breezy so I was able to get all the heat out.

    I will probably pick berries today, and I think I could probably pull some beets! That's good because I planted them around some other plants that will soon need the space (cucumbers).

    Yesterday would have been my shopping day, but I didn't need that much so I was able to totally skip it.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,551 Member
    Our local green grocer is selling huge boxes of tasty tomatoes, maybe 2.5 kilos per box. Have bought these in the past to peel and freeze for fresh tomato sauce, especially as I am not a fan of the taste of tinned tomatoes that have been cooked at high temperature. We are now trying to clear out the freezer to make room for tomatoes.

    Any other ideas on what to do with a large quantity of tomatoes besides peeling and eventually simmering down for tomato sauce?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Our local green grocer is selling huge boxes of tasty tomatoes, maybe 2.5 kilos per box. Have bought these in the past to peel and freeze for fresh tomato sauce, especially as I am not a fan of the taste of tinned tomatoes that have been cooked at high temperature. We are now trying to clear out the freezer to make room for tomatoes.

    Any other ideas on what to do with a large quantity of tomatoes besides peeling and eventually simmering down for tomato sauce?

    Roast?
    Dehydrate?
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    edited June 2020
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
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    Zucchini ribbon disaster-mash-up salad thing.
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    edited June 2020
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Our local green grocer is selling huge boxes of tasty tomatoes, maybe 2.5 kilos per box. Have bought these in the past to peel and freeze for fresh tomato sauce, especially as I am not a fan of the taste of tinned tomatoes that have been cooked at high temperature. We are now trying to clear out the freezer to make room for tomatoes.

    Any other ideas on what to do with a large quantity of tomatoes besides peeling and eventually simmering down for tomato sauce?

    Roast?
    Dehydrate?

    This.

    Plus... ketchup, marinara (base for all other sauces)... and freeze.

    2.5kg of tomatos is not all that much once you start going.

    Disagree with the ‘not that much’ part.

    My opinion is that tomatoes have such a high risk of sucking, being mealy, looking like tomatoes but not tasting like them.... They are like apricots. Eat off the tree or vine, or buy from a farm stand on location where grown, or... I’m not bothering.
    They don’t transport worth a kitten.
    To get them as deliciously amazeballs as they can be, they should - in my highly biased opinion- be consumed on premise, at ambient temperature. Salt shaker in hand for tomatoes. Apricots need no adornment.

    All the rest I’m not bothering.
    I’ll save stomach space for stuff that doesn’t so often disappoint me. I HATE produce disappointment.

    So, for me, ANY amount of tomatoes 🍅 is likely too much ;)

    I once saw a woman return a pineapple.
    I consider bad produce to fall under ‘act of Goddess’ clause in the unwritten consumer contract.

    Buyer beware. Do your homework, experiment, take risks - the worst thing that happens is it’s a few disappointments.
    Learn from them.
    Deduce causality.
    Then roadmap around them for future, whilst remaining open to new information.
    Maybe some rediscovered heirloom varietal won’t be a sad optical illusion tomato.
    I’ll revisit periodically and reassess.
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    I do love a nice juicy watermelon every week! Just thought I’d share that. I don’t have a watermelon picture but I can use this watermelon 🍉 emoji with a bunch of splashes 💦💦💦 and a heart ❤️ to vividly showcase my love for juicy watermelon!

    All produce appreciation welcome :)

    I’m in this for the inspo, the colorful pics and ingenious use of emoji alike... the pro tips, the savagely creative upcycling of food ‘waste’ and the friendly banter.

    I could google or read food blogs, but I trust y’all to be my eyes on the street. I can’t read the whole webternet. I tried and my eyes broke.

    So- produce porn!
    Carry on 🤗
  • MinTheKitCat
    MinTheKitCat Posts: 173 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Our local green grocer is selling huge boxes of tasty tomatoes, maybe 2.5 kilos per box. Have bought these in the past to peel and freeze for fresh tomato sauce, especially as I am not a fan of the taste of tinned tomatoes that have been cooked at high temperature. We are now trying to clear out the freezer to make room for tomatoes.

    Any other ideas on what to do with a large quantity of tomatoes besides peeling and eventually simmering down for tomato sauce?

    Ina Garten’s roasted tomato soup is pretty delicious (I don’t find that I need the full amount of oil, but certainly taste as you go). If you reduce the soup, it also makes an epic sauce 😋😍

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,551 Member
    Thanks for the tips. I'm going to do roast tomato sauce seeing I will have the oven on tonight anyway to do a chicken.
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  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,930 Member
    I'm almost as opinionated about tomatoes as @purplefizzy. Pretty much, I just don't buy them ever. I always seem to end up with some starts for the garden; this year I have six. I always grow Sungold if I can. This year I also have Green Tiger, Cosmonaut Volkov, Berkeley Pink Tie-die, Estrina, and Valencia. Sliced still warm from the garden with just a little pepper and some fresh basil is pretty fine. Every now and then I might buy some romas for a particular recipe, but grocery store tomatoes just don't do it for me.

    That said, because of our climate, our tomatoes can actually be sweeter and more flavorful if we harvest early and bring them inside to ripen in a window. In the cool nights, some of the sugar turns back into starch, and it usually doesn't get quite as cool inside the house. I started experimenting with this last year. I will try again this year.

    If I have room in my dehydrator, I love to make tomato chips. Oh yum. So much flavor in a crispy wafer. I might even have enough (of course I will) to pickle some green tomatoes this year. Woo hoo.

    Too many years ago for me to actually remember, but I do, back in grad school, my neighbor offered me some canned tomato juice. I never was a fan of the stuff except maybe in a good Bloody Mary. Well, this was special juice. It came from his family's garden in southern Idaho. There was a cannery there and you could take home-grown produce and have it put up. This juice was over the top fantastic by itself. Even better was the time we essentially made a gazpacho from garden produce, added plenty of garlic, blended it smooth, and added vodka to make what we called Vodkazpacho.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,551 Member
    The tomato box was actually 5kg for £2.50. No shortage of asparagus either.
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  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,473 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    I'm almost as opinionated about tomatoes as @purplefizzy. Pretty much, I just don't buy them ever. I always seem to end up with some starts for the garden; this year I have six. I always grow Sungold if I can. This year I also have Green Tiger, Cosmonaut Volkov, Berkeley Pink Tie-die, Estrina, and Valencia. Sliced still warm from the garden with just a little pepper and some fresh basil is pretty fine. Every now and then I might buy some romas for a particular recipe, but grocery store tomatoes just don't do it for me.

    That said, because of our climate, our tomatoes can actually be sweeter and more flavorful if we harvest early and bring them inside to ripen in a window. In the cool nights, some of the sugar turns back into starch, and it usually doesn't get quite as cool inside the house. I started experimenting with this last year. I will try again this year.

    If I have room in my dehydrator, I love to make tomato chips. Oh yum. So much flavor in a crispy wafer. I might even have enough (of course I will) to pickle some green tomatoes this year. Woo hoo.

    Too many years ago for me to actually remember, but I do, back in grad school, my neighbor offered me some canned tomato juice. I never was a fan of the stuff except maybe in a good Bloody Mary. Well, this was special juice. It came from his family's garden in southern Idaho. There was a cannery there and you could take home-grown produce and have it put up. This juice was over the top fantastic by itself. Even better was the time we essentially made a gazpacho from garden produce, added plenty of garlic, blended it smooth, and added vodka to make what we called Vodkazpacho.

    I've grown sungold a few times and grew Berkeley Pink Tie-Die, Sungold did great in the heat and I love them but I didn't get many Berkeleys but really liked them. This year as far as tomatoes I'm only doing various heirloom cherries and two regular from Lowes. I've never tried tomato chips, they sound awesome! All I've dehydrated so far this year is lavender, all but basil, dill, and parsley grow year-round as I'm in the Sacramento area (9B). I wish I had room for artichokes like you! I went totally overboard with basil, I have 13 pots and it's been in the 100s, I need to start whipping out basil cubes!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Our local green grocer is selling huge boxes of tasty tomatoes, maybe 2.5 kilos per box. Have bought these in the past to peel and freeze for fresh tomato sauce, especially as I am not a fan of the taste of tinned tomatoes that have been cooked at high temperature. We are now trying to clear out the freezer to make room for tomatoes.

    Any other ideas on what to do with a large quantity of tomatoes besides peeling and eventually simmering down for tomato sauce?

    Roast?
    Dehydrate?

    This.

    Plus... ketchup, marinara (base for all other sauces)... and freeze.

    2.5kg of tomatos is not all that much once you start going.

    Disagree with the ‘not that much’ part.

    My opinion is that tomatoes have such a high risk of sucking, being mealy, looking like tomatoes but not tasting like them.... They are like apricots. Eat off the tree or vine, or buy from a farm stand on location where grown, or... I’m not bothering.
    They don’t transport worth a kitten.
    To get them as deliciously amazeballs as they can be, they should - in my highly biased opinion- be consumed on premise, at ambient temperature. Salt shaker in hand for tomatoes. Apricots need no adornment.

    All the rest I’m not bothering.
    I’ll save stomach space for stuff that doesn’t so often disappoint me. I HATE produce disappointment.

    So, for me, ANY amount of tomatoes 🍅 is likely too much ;)

    (snip)

    Wellllll . . . to each her own, I guess. I agree that corporate tomatoes are generally quite sub-par, bred for shipping qualities, consistent turning-red time for a whole plant worth of fruit, and redness before ripeness, among other silly things. Not good for eating, because they put that too far down the list.

    But even moderately poor tomatoes are pretty good roasted, IMO.

    ;)
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,930 Member
    Goodbye artichokes, hello beets.

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    Marion berries are just starting to come in.

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    And while I'm not eating these plants, the hummingbirds like the scarlet bee balm

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  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    I ate the last three small artichokes the other day. As much as I felt overwhelmed by them, I'm now sad I won't have any more for ten months or so.

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    But now it's full-on blueberry season. I can pick two or four pints every few days. They freeze well, so after I eat as many as I want, I can put 'em on a tray, freeze them, then vacuum seal them for later in the year when I miss them so.

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    Sad to hear it'll be a while for you to have your artichokes again. Mine are still getting there. Cross fingers. Gave up on our blueberry but our cherry tomato is going great! Passion fruit not too far off I think.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,227 Member
    So new treat for me... sugar kiss melon. It's like cantalope and honeydew had a delicious, sweet, juicy baby melon. It may be my new favorite.

    Also for my radish experiments... not my favorite. Not bad and they will have their uses but not one that I will just add to random recipes.
  • annk18
    annk18 Posts: 85 Member
    Any recommendations for stuffing squash blossoms, but not deep fried?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    I just noticed that my squash blossoms have arrived. Blueberries are looking good, not quite ready yet. Some animal (I suspect rabbits) ate all my strawberries, though.