board77

It depends on the pear, honestly.

The fruit whose texture I really love, for some odd reason, is apricot. Especially canned apricots.

I like dried apricots.

I like dried apricots, too, but they can give me issues.

I like both fresh, canned and dried fruit. Unfortunately, almost all fruits are on that ridiculously long list of foods I'm not supposed to eat. I'm slowly trying them out to see which ones are actually OK, and so far apples and grapes are edible but not raisins. Apparently the drying process doesn't stop the formation of histamines as the fruit ages. I've got a large bag of mixed dried fruit that I'm probably going to give up on. Canned cherry pie filling is *bad*, but I don't know if that's from the cherries or the artificial ingredients.

It seems like anything sour or tart is on the bad list. Even the vitamin C pill with rosehips I used to take puts my digestive system into a tizzy. My sour detectors are getting more sensitive, now that I'm taking in so little of it. I took a sip of wine last week, and even though the label said the wine was well into the sweet spectrum of wines, it tasted horribly sour and nasty to me and I ended up giving the rest of the glass to my husband. He assured me it was a mild, sweet and quite good wine.

I was picking up wood chips for my next barcecued chicken, and got a bag of maple chips, which I hadn't seen before. Do they impart a maple flavour, as in maple syrup? I'll find out tomorrow...

Keep us posted!

Well, it was very good - there was a strong maple aroma when it was cooking, but the end flavour was a more neutral smoky flavour. The maple was discernible if you looked for it.

I recommend maple wood!

Mmmm, sounds good! I'll make sure Freddy sees this.

Is it possible to use the hot-water-bath method to process a spread that has milk in it? I want to try out this chocolate-hazelnut spread recipe but it says it will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week, and I think it'll take me a lot longer than that to get through it. Besides, it would be nice to be able to give some away.

Nope.

Here's one of my accomplishments from today: chestnuts preserved in vanilla and port.

I bribed my sister-in-law to come over and help me with the promise of a free jar to take home; peeling them after roasting them is fairly tedious and time-consuming. Luckily she's a chestnut fanatic so it was a good bribe.
vison, did you ever make the fruit relish recipe I posted last year?

Those look very interesting! I don't know that I've ever had chestnuts.

No, Jude, I didn't.

We had homemade fish and chips this evening. (We used frozen chips, though.)
The batter was sensational. I haven't made deep-fried fish for many, many years and I had forgotten a few things. The pieces were too thick, for one thing. But the coating was so crunchy and good!

If we do it again we'll use thinner pieces of fish and maybe cook it at 350 F instead of at 375 F, so it can cook a bit longer without getting too brown.

Super Decadent Hot Cocoa

1 c. milk
1/3 c. sugar
2 TBSP cocoa powder (It called for sweetened, which I didn't have, so I just added a bit more sugar.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces (I doubled this recipe when I made it and used about 3 squares of a bar of Lindt 70% Cacao.)
1 c. heavy cream

Heat the milk over low heat till steaming. Whisk in the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the chocolate pieces till melted. Remove from heat. Beat heavy cream till stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate/milk mixture.

That was following the directions. Here's how I'd modify it a bit. Make the whipped cream first and set aside. Make sure you get the milk mixture as hot as possible without scalding. The whipped cream really cools down the chocolate milk, and you'll end up with cool cocoa instead of hot cocoa. Folding didn't really work very well, so I gently mixed and then gently whisked the whipped cream and chocolate milk together. In any case, it was super good and very chocolatey and rich. It was a bit like drinking melted ice cream.

I doubled this recipe, and it made more than 4 people could really drink at one time. (I'd say it yields enough for about 6 people or so. I'm thinking the original recipe might not make enough for 4 people, though.)

Has anyone here ever canned pears?

Jude wrote:

Has anyone here ever canned pears?

Yes, many times.

I used a VERY light syrup, like 1 cup sugar in 5 cups water. Also, it is traditional to put 1 whole clove in each jar. My father-in-law really liked canned pears and I used to do them just for him.

How long do you cook them? Is it basically the same as making poached pears, and then water-bath-processing?

I made poached pears with vanilla last weekend for a pear-almond tart - they were awesome.

So here's the recipe for Stained Glass Window Cookies, something I finally found (a lady brought them to the book club!) after searching many years. My grandma used to make them but didn't leave me a recipe.

My only question is, should I be concerned about the eggs? I am thinking not, but you all can let me know your opinion.


1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 stick butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg (10 oz.) colored miniature marshmallows
1 c. finely chopped nuts (omitted this)
1 c. powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips in pan over low heat or in a double boiler. Fold in beaten eggs. Cool slightly and add vanilla. Put marshmallows (and nuts) in a large bowl. Melt butter and add to marshmallows and nuts. Pour chocolate mixture over marshmallows and blend well. Take 3 sheets of waxed paper (about 12 x 12). Divide powdered sugar into 3 equal parts and spread over waxed paper. Divide chocolate marshmallow mixture into 3 equal parts and roll in powdered sugar, shaping into small logs. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate to chill. Slice into 1/2" slices.

So what do you think? I don't think it's any different than eating a slightly runny yolk in a fried egg, do you? The chocolate chip mixture is still hot when you add the eggs. ??

It's raw egg - you're taking your chances. Only you can decide whether it's worth the risk or not.

For the record, I always lick the remainder of cake or cookie dough that I didn't get into the pan. What I don't lick, my nieces and nephew finish off. Nothing's happened to us.

Yet.

If you served me those, I would definitely eat them. But others may not feel so confident.

If you're really worried, use frozen eggs from the store. They have those, don't they? They've been pasteurized.