Preparedness for when

machasraven

I love my dehydrator only got it recently. I have done mash and herbs so far and use kilners to keep them.

Any ideas about what to do with lemon balm? I have a receipe for wine but need other ways to use it too.

Btw when I said rubber for my jam it bounced not just a spoon but knives too so was thinking that I should of sent a sample to the army for a new type of ballistic armour:D

C_J

Found it! My canning thing is this one :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Fruit-Preserver-Jam-Maker/dp/B003QXB9TE

boultdj

Well I'v been paid,so can go shopping for adopt-a-cats food, that being the only thing I needed, no noticable diffrence in the freezer, so will carry on trying to find the bottom of it,ready to defrost it, hopefuly before this years glut of beans start coming off the garden.
I tend to just dry fruit or herbs in my dehidrator, or make lazy jam.

C_J

https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/12-things-to-do-with-lemon-balm/

mrs-moneypenny

My mum made some rhubarb jam when I was young, it was rock hard and she actually snapped a spoon handle trying to pry it out of the jar.

Picked strawberries from the school beds while I was there at lunchtime they are growing really well. Mine are still green.

boultdj

machasraven wrote: »

I love my dehydrator only got it recently. I have done mash and herbs so far and use kilners to keep them.

Any ideas about what to do with lemon balm? I have a receipe for wine but need other ways to use it too.

Btw when I said rubber for my jam it bounced not just a spoon but knives too so was thinking that I should of sent a sample to the army for a new type of ballistic armour:D

Makes a nice lemon tea, also infuse in milk to give a lemon taste to sponge cakes, use insted of mint in a curry.hth

maryb

I remember seeing those in Lidl a few years back. However I don't think the temperature goes above 100 degrees C so you wouldn't be able to use it for bottling veg if that's the case. You can use it for pickling veg as in chutneys etc because the added acid makes it safe. And you can bottle fruit and tomatoes (maybe add a little bit of lemon juice to raise the acidity) But it's really good for water bath bottling - it's got a thermostat making it much more controllable than the stove top vat I got in a French supermarket.

I am impatient so I usually bottle small quantities of rhubarb apples and plums etc in my ordinary pressure cooker because it's quick. But that tends to mean the fruit rises in the jars even though I pack them really tightly.

John Harrison writes a lot of books on allotment gardening and he and his wife Val have published a book on preserving and storing which is very good. She describes the 'slow water bath method' of bottling fruit which stops the fruit rising in the jars and I would think your gadget would be absolutely perfect for that.

I must keep an eye open when I go to Lidl to see if they are doing those again this year

maryb

ooh and they look perfect for heating and dispensing mulled wine at a certain time of year whose name may not be spoken yet

machasraven

Thank you CJ love the sound of the lemon balm and honey butter

maryb

this is the book I was thinking of
http://www.allotment-garden.org/book/store-home-grown-produce/