On another note, I always look forward to this time of the year when we can get the fresh Indian River oranges from Florida !!!

I always get a case …. Love’em !!![:D]

In the backyard under a pile of hay or pine straw !!!

That’s the way my grandmother did it !!!! [:p]

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

We have sweet potatoes curing in storage bags, that is a short-term process (a few weeks) but it really works to ‘sweeten’ them up.

Coming up through the Carolina’s this past week, I purchased some great sweet potatoes and am interested in just how you store them to sweeten them up. The grandchildren were very excited about buying sweet potatoes from the farmer that grew them and want to make sure that we save them for Thanksgiving!

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

We are making Pear Butter as fast as 16 hours in the crock-pots will allow. Next year we will have enough apples (we Hope) to do some apple Butter also.

Al,
Do you have a recipe for crock-pot apple butter that you could share with me, and maybe the rest of us as well?

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

We are making Pear Butter as fast as 16 hours in the crock-pots will allow. Next year we will have enough apples (we Hope) to do some apple Butter also.
Making and freezing Persimmon puree (mush!) is not as much fun as it sounds thats for sure. But just in case we want to play "traditional food" games we will have some to work with.
We are not much into the home-canning game, but dried fruits (using the smoker for a heat source) seems to work well.
We have sweet potatoes curing in storage bags, that is a short-term process (a few weeks) but it really works to ‘sweeten’ them up.

Mr Mayor,
Have you ever tried a pressure cooker instead of a crockpot? They are really easy to use once you get past the fear of having a pressurized device bubbling and hissing on your stovetop. It would speed your process up quite a bit. I sure would like to try some of that pear stuff, as apple butter is one of my favorite things[:p]

We are making Pear Butter as fast as 16 hours in the crock-pots will allow. Next year we will have enough apples (we Hope) to do some apple Butter also.
Making and freezing Persimmon puree (mush!) is not as much fun as it sounds thats for sure. But just in case we want to play "traditional food" games we will have some to work with.
We are not much into the home-canning game, but dried fruits (using the smoker for a heat source) seems to work well.
We have sweet potatoes curing in storage bags, that is a short-term process (a few weeks) but it really works to ‘sweeten’ them up.

I do this also with apples, as well as pears and green tomatoes. The pears have to be used up a bit faster but it does increase shelf life.

I *love* Fugi apples…they have such a great texture and flavor. Your garage temperature sounds ideal.

An aside: I wonder if wrapping the apples individually has to do with the possibly true old wives tale that "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch." Does close contact with a bruised/rotting apple really cause the surrounding apples to begin to chemically break down, too?

quote:

Originally posted by retired & glad

My wife and I visited the orchard last weekend, and since it was the last day they were to be open this year, we stocked up with over a bushel of apples. They are about 1/2 Fugi, & with the remainder Melrose. Since it will be just the two of us eating them, we would need to store them properly to retain their crispness & flavor. My wife says her family always wrapped them individually in newspaper and stored them in metal lard cans in their garage. This kept them ok through the holidays. Our garage maintains a pretty constant 38 degrees no matter what the outside winter temperature is. What method do you use? We would appreciate knowing what you consider as proper safe storage.

This is the exact method my wife’s grandfather used with great results in keeping apples fresh through the winter. I, on the otherhand, just turned three bushels picked into applesauce which not only filled my freezer but will keep us in applesauce through late spring. [:)]