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... .. .. .....anyone one can tell me any other oil for cooking?.... .. ..

Again while mowing down meadows yesterday my eyes noticed something ripening. The black raspberries were mostly gone by now of course. But plants that bore nothing of interest in mid June now attracted me with a splash of red. Could it be?



Yes, Red Raspberries. I resolved to pick some today, but alas although warm, it rained most of the day. Finally at 7:30PM it stopped raining and with only an hour and half of sunlight left I grabbed my coffee can and went picking.



I beat the deer this time as many plants still have immature berries. However, I could hear the deer walking around me and snorting hust out of sight nearby. Also heard were the clucks of a Tom turkey herding his flock nearby.

Sadly it began to rain again almost as soon as I started picking, so I retreated to the house with what I got.

Spice for my Cheerios. Addendum for my protein shakes.



Psst, don't tell Tomato Girl. She likes these more than she does tomatoes.

Ilove one restaurant in beijing a lot. I had the gongbao prawns. they used big prawns together with pepper and garlic, peanuts as well as some garlic stalk. I think they need first stir fried the garlic and pepper, ginger and spring onion stalk,they need add some sugar in the pan too, and then fried everything in, then add soya sauce and sichuan pepper. Then they will add the big prawns in. and they could add in some chicken stalk to make the dish more tasty. Then add good quantity of salt, and add a bit of oil.

This spicy gongbao prawns has very special taste. Ilike it a lot.

Success. It was hot yesterday about 88 F, but I threw on a welding shirt, long pants and boots, strapped on a bear pistol (I have encountered them before picking berries here. They love eating berries too. I leave them alone, and so far they leave me alone, but one should be prepared for bad days. Noting almost every critter on my place loves eating berries, from fox and deer to birds and bears, so it is a race to see who gets to them first, me or them) grabbed a hat, leather gloves, a canteen and a clean 27 ounce coffee can) and I waded into the raspberry bushes.

It truly is one of America's favorite pastimes for many I think. It is just a shame so many get to do it so rarely.

These berries, being of the black raspberry kind, v. the commercially raised ones sold in many stores, are not yet ripe.



These berries are ready and calling you to come get them.



I have it down to a science I think. I taste sample from each new plant. If it isn't sweet, I usually just go to the next plant. Variations in soil and sunlight produce different sugar levels. Also different sizes of berries. I usually just hold the pail under the cluster and lightly stroke the cluster with my thumb. Truly ripe ones virtually leap off into the pail. Yes, sometimes they miss the pail and go to the ground. No matter. A new berry bush will come of that next year. I usually don't actually wear the leather gloves. Rather I just hold one and use it like I would a pot holder on a hot frying pan, to pull back the thorny branches so I can reach the fruit. Some of the older raspberry bushes have thorns almost an inch long. When one thinks they have picked a bush clean, the thing to do is walk around to the back side of that bush. Often you will spy another hundred berries you just couldn't see from the front.

I finished the cluster of bushes I was playing in, then wandered around a while and found another huge cluster. The second cluster was frayed around the edges with obvious indications the deer had found it, but as with the other one, the plants one to five feet inside the cluster of bushes were untouched. So, sheathed in my heavy clothes, I waded in again and ignored the sound of thorns grasping at the thick clothes.

Of course during this process I ate almost as many (if not more than) berries as I picked. That's always a problem here. I have the same problem with the wild asparagus if I can catch it at the young shoot stage. Later on this month I will (now that some areas are mowed) go check out the places where the wild strawberries grow. I find mowing the area so more sunlight reaches them encourages them to grow much sweeter.

Eventually of course, in that heat, my canteen ran out of water, so since I had a good load I returned home. Taking a different route home I saw several other berry clusters and I am expecting to see some fat deer this fall. :)

This can is about half full. I got over a pound of black raspberries before the deer, birds, et al did.



Only after I returned home with my treats did I remember most of the traditional uses for raspberries and the other fruit growing here are now closed to me. No more raspberry pie. No more raspberry wine or raspberry brandy. So I put them in my refrigerator while I pondered this new problem. Truly, old habits die hard, raspberry pie with a good syrup (yum) and a few Mason jars of fresh home distilled raspberry brandy, is what I was thinking about when I went out.

Yes, of course today I threw several handfuls into my Cheerios. The good news for diabetics is according to online sources a full cup of the black raspberries is only 10 grams of carbohydrates. Three guesses as to what I am nibbling on now as I write this..

Nutmeg and mace. Pala in Indonesia.
Once these trees only grew on the Banda Islands in the Moluccas.
The dutch waged bloody wars for control of this spice and the Banda Islands, even exterminating the native population.
The profit range was about 600 times, when there was rumour in Europe that nutmeg would be the only remedy against the black death.
Nowadays Indonesia is still a main producer and a good nut costs about 1,40 Euro here.
No idea what the peasants get or what the price in Indo shops.

Anyone else here like Broccoli? I could live of it

Spring Violet Jam..using Wild Violets



Spring is Violet time in the Midwest...did you know you could use the blooms to make a edible Jam? Here's a recipe for making Violet Jam using the blooms only, not the stems or leaves. Be sure to pick your blooms in area free of pollutants or spray. Anyone with allergies should sample small amt of this to test for reaction to the flowers involved.

1 1/2 cups violet blooms (purple color or white)
1 1/2 cups water, divided
Juice of 1 lime
2 1/3 cups sugar
1 package (1 3/4 ounces) powdered pectin

Rinse violet blooms well, place in blender. Add 3/4 cup water & lime juice, blend well.
Gradually add sugar,blending til a smooth paste is formed.
In a saucepan, combine pectin & remaining water. bring to a boil for 1 minute. add to blender & blend 1 minute.
Quickly pour into prepared jars & seal with lids or may be stored in refrigerator. Jam will be magenta pink color if using mostly purple blooms.
Makes 4-5 small jars of jam.



Very good on biscuits or toast.

Think of Indian food. You'll come across variety of delicious and mesmerizing recipes. Some of them are branded according to the region and were branded by their rulers throughout india. Different regions in india are recognized by their specific type of recipes. And important to mention these dishes are only for those who are having huge taste buds. And not for those who are habitual of having only and only boiled vegs..........(ohhh..Indian food.--so pungent ..so....spicy.) people using these kind of quote are ignorant and uneducated in chemistry of spices. For which whole world dependend on india for centuries........................
Guys.....those who have heard of forgotten recipes can share.

we were discussing this subject the other day, and I thought you would enjoy this. I would have sent this to you via email, but I'm blocked...
Don't know if this link will work, didn't have time to figure how to load it here.....