Out & about... Autumn
Explore Posterous
Search posterous
Search all posts and users. Type a name, type a favorite song title, whatever! See what comes up.
More posterous blogs
Here are posterous posts filed under berries...
15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee
via theoatmeal.com
Repost of my original post which I deleted. I have now created I single large image from all the small images this originally came in.
Great information about coffee beautifully presented.November Berries
When choosing bushes to plant in your yard, keep in mind that non-migratory birds eat berries during the winter months.
Omaha Organic Blueberries @giapo
Yesterday I went to Omaha to meet with our supplier of organic bluberries and strawberries. It was an awesome experience, we learnt many things about crops and berries and did not have ideas. Farmer Rob was a great host.. I will be posting a video of the day including our informative interview with Rob our farmer and then me handpicking some fabulous blueberries, promptly turned into a fabulous giapo when I was back at the shop.
ciao gianpaolo.
Freezin' the Goods
My language teacher, Yelena, was recently explaining to me why it is
so good to freeze the fruits available right now for the winter. For
one, there isn't much produce beyond onions, potatoes, cabbage and
carrots around here in the dead of winter. Well, I kind of take that
back. Yes, you can find apples, oranges, etc. in the supermarkets.
But, in all fairness, if I were to take a blind taste test, I might
not be able to identify the orange as such due to the complete lack of
flavor. It definitely isn't like the fresh-from-the-tree yumminess we
would pick up from the church building just about every week during
citrus season when we lived in Mesa. Nope, it's nothing like that.
Secondly, she says that the juices here are really filled with sugar.
I told her that we only buy the ones that say 100% fruit. But, she
countered that "it's a problem here in Ukraine", meaning that just
because it says it's all fruit does not mean it's all fruit. Maybe
she's right. I definitely don't know.
In an effort to save money, be cultural, and have some yummy berries
in the winter, I decided to freeze some. Rob hiked over to the
nearest market, which is about the size of a small city, and came home
with blueberries, black currants (which I am trying to learn to like
since I live in the land of currants), gooseberries (also might need
to work on liking), raspberries, and cherries. I still need to get a
gadget to take the pits out of cherries before I want to freeze them.
Other than that, though, I was ready to freeze.
There isn't much to tell about how to do this, especially as I used no
specific method and know next-to-nothing about the art of freezing
things well. I didn't wash them, as that seems like it would just
turn them to mush. I'll wash them after I defrost them. I simply
labeled some bags, scooped probably a pound or so of berries in each
individual one, and then made sure that each bag was then put in a
second bag. I've always had problems with things getting a little
freezer-burned. I hate that.
Here are some pictures of our little escapade. The first is a very
happy and messy Silas after a drink of banana-bluberry smoothie. I
firmly believe that 50% of this kid's caloric intake comes in smoothie
form. After that comes some pictures of different berries and labeled
bags. I know, super-exciting stuff. The green things, in case you
are unknowledgeable about gooseberries as I am, are, you guessed it,
gooseberries. Then comes my freezer in all it's smallness. No, not
tininess, but smallness. And, the last pic is Malachi. I tried to
get a shot of him scooping berries into the freezer bags, but he was
just too quick. He was a well-oiled machine in action. Instead, this
is him as he explains that he has a 4X4 on his shirt. And then he
asked why it didn't say 4X4. I don't know. I wouldn't even be able
to tell you that it was a 4X4.
I think people should freeze more. In America, it seems like the
price of produce doesn't rise and fall dramatically like it does here.
As an example of the fluctuations here, during the winter, I was
paying about $1.41 a pound for tomatoes. Last week, I paid 32 cents a
pound. Incredible difference. Now we are buying cherries and other
berries for $1.07 to $2.08 per pound. And, in a little while, they
will disappear completely in the form of fresh food. But, thanks to
my little freezer, we can enjoy some of this lip-smacking stuff in the
dead of winter...when we are freezing in our apartment and really only
want to drink hot tea anyway. And I won't want to make smoothies.
Why am I freezing again?
Freeze. Freeze away, my friends.
