Pitaya

Pitaya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

welcome back to findin’ fridays, where I introduce something new to us (not necessarily so to you: yumvee, folks).  K & I have picked kerala, chayote, and now pitaya.  I had no idea that “dragon fruit” was a cactus fruit… I figured it was related to kiwi because that’s kind of what it looks like inside!  there ya go, don’t let any of my taxonomy instructors from uni read that.

not really knowing what else to do with it, we’ve just peeled it & eaten the inner pulp.  check out this Pinterest board devoted to pitaya!  our grocery has run hot & cold on providing reasonable specimens; lately they’ve been great.  but look at the varieties you can get where these babies originate (Caribbean, Central America, South America, Mexico, although now grown in Asia):

Pitaya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Picture taken by Fibonacci. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pitayas I (Photo credit: Sam Blackman)

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LF Salsa Fresca

salsa fresca WIP

inspired by thehungrybelgian: using chayote & jicama, cantaloupe, shallots, sweet ruffle pepper & mildly hot black Hungarian pepper, coriander & toasted cumin, splashes of lime juice & apple cider vinegar.

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Chayote Squash

chayote squash via thehungrybelgian

I’ve been trying to provide K with the opportunity to pick different produce from the grocery store.  she enjoys the discoveries (“ooh, what’s that? what do we do with it?”…. I dunno, let’s google it….) kerala (bitter melon) was one of our first experiments. chayote was the next. I’ve just been eating them raw in fruit salad or as a sliced veggie crudité.  but I’m keen to try thehungrybelgian’s “kickin’ chayote & melon salsa” (preferably fermented!).  hopefully, the selection of chayote is kickin’ at the grocery next week (it’s been good lately, but definitely went through a sad phase).

and so starts my efforts at “findin’ fridays” – where I’ll post something different that we’ve tried (a new food, a new way of preparing something familiar, something different, anyway).  no promises for consistency; I’ll do what I can 😉

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Tractors

fargo

bumpy ride

driver’s seat

purple!

line ‘o farmalls

putt putt

international harvester

Nightshades

tomatillos & jaltomatos

pretty purple through ‘n’ through

this year our purple tomatillos are actually ripening to purple! and our jaltomatos are spectacular: many are small marble sized, and delicious (well, K & I think so).  we’ve had enough that we’ve eaten tonnes fresh, and we’ve even dehydrated some as raisins for winter snacks.  don’t bother staking: like tomatillos, they prefer to sprawl, and do much better that way, but give ’em lots of room!  purple is K’s favourite colour, so getting to chow down on these babies right out of the garden as purple fruit is very exciting for her.

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LF Preserve WIP

cooking down fruit

going to be preserves that I’ll lacto-ferment. contains purple tomatillos, jaltomatos, Italian prune plums, wild evergreen huckleberries, all of which are from our property, and a couple of clementines (which, of course, are not).  added some ground cardamom and freshly grated nutmeg & ginger.  once thickened, will add honey, reduce a bit more, then cool.  will follow GNOWFLGINS fermentation eCourse (here’s basically the recipe I’ll be following)

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Canning Day

duck day (9 carcasses) + stock days (3 days of cooking) last week = canning day today. probably have about 14 quarts altogether… wish we had the ginormous canner! will enjoy one quart tonight for dinner, with homegrown salad and mini spaghetti squash.

Lazy Fair Day

hanging’ at the Saanich Fair. watched the pigs & donkeys, cheered the draft horse teams, ate a lot of fair food. what a great day.