Life at Zaytuna – Potato Storage Tip
Food Plants - Perennial, Processing & Food Preservation — by Craig Mackintosh
Mmm…. I don’t know about you, but potatoes are one of my favourite foods. Here at Zaytuna we were a tad late in potato planting, so we’re having to cover our potato rows at night – as even here in the sub-tropics we’re getting some winter frosts. A couple more weeks and we should have a good crop to harvest – which will add to all the sweet potatoes and pumpkins we’ve already gleaned from the soil.
Anyway, here’s a tip on storing seed potatoes for future planting – simply layer them in a container with dry sawdust. Easy.
Comments (0)Posted on: June 20, 2009
How to Turn Astringent Persimmons into Enchanting Natural Confections, Japanese Style
Food Plants - Perennial, Processing & Food Preservation, Trees — by Cecilia Macaulay
This week I’m shopping for a persimmon tree for the Edible Japanese Garden I’m creating. Of course I will be planting a sweet, rather than an astringent, or ’shibui’* persimmon. The sweet ones, such as Fuyu, are squat-shaped, and can be eaten either crunchy or yielding. The long-shaped Hachiya variety, the ones Aussies first planted before we knew better (sorry Hachiya), are awfully ’shibui’. You have to wait until they become syrupy-ripe before eating, otherwise, biting into one will give you that ‘cotton-wool-in-the-mouth’ reaction. Awful. I find slush and string almost as unattractive as shibui, and so too it seems, do the Japanese. They usually hang the autumn harvest under the eaves, and let the dry winter air transform them into something like enchanted dried apricots: intense, chewy, and frosted in sugar crystals. ‘Hoshi Gaki’, in Japanese.
Posted on: April 19, 2009
Jerusalem Artichokes – like Diamonds, are Forever
Food Plants - Perennial, Processing & Food Preservation — by Margaret Lynch
PIJ #54; March – May 1995; page 47
Margaret Lynch explains how to grow, store and prepare the edible section of what is a truly prolific plant.
Helianthus tuberosus is an annual which will tolerate most conditions. Commonly called Jerusalem artichoke, it is known in its native America as Sunroot. Other names include Sunchoke and Suntuber. It is not to be confused with the globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, which is a thistle with edible flower-buds.
Suntuber foliage is said to be good fodder. Rapid growth makes it an excellent summer shade, screen, or windbreak. It may also have potential in paper-making. The plant produces a substance which inhibits growth in nearby plants, so don’t use the green foliage for mulch.
Comments (0)Posted on: December 30, 2008
Get Behind the Raw Milk Campaign
Health & Disease, Markets & Outlets, Processing & Food Preservation — by Cathe Fish
by Cathé Fish of Practical Permaculture
Help Raw Milk Diary Producers in Australia!
As you probably know, many small dairy farmers have been forced out of business by big corporate Ag laws, especially those laws that outlaw sales of health-giving raw milk, raw butter, raw cream and other raw milk products. My grandparents had this happen to them. These pasteurization laws take what should be a healthy value added cottage industry product (raw milk and raw cheese, etc.) and force small dairy farmers to sell at wholesale at 1975 prices.
Dairy farmers who sell wholesale go out of business here in the US at a rate of 16 per day, as they are squeezed by the giant corporate milk companies. Study after study shows that compulsory pasteurization laws (that protect the inferior pasteurized unhealthy product of Big Ag) have been largely responsible for the decline of small diverse mixed farms, and small American towns and rural life. I believe this is true also in Australia and around the world.
Comments (0)Posted on: September 10, 2008
A Refrigerator that Runs Without Electricity
Community Projects, Processing & Food Preservation — by Craig Mackintosh
Sometimes there are simple solutions to universal needs that don’t require coal fired electricity, fossil fuels, or even solar panels or wind turbines.
Around a third of the world’s population have no access to electricity. If you’re like me, you’ve spent your entire life being able to plug in. Do we ever give a thought to what life would be like if the various appliances we’ve come to rely on were to suddenly stop working? One of the most energy guzzling appliances in our carbon footprint portfolio is the refrigerator. But, unplug it, and the quality of your life will suddenly deteriorate. Take that thought, and imagine living in a hot dry country in Africa, without electricity, where food quickly wilts and rots in the sun, aided by onslaughts of flies.
One modern day genius, mindful of this basic need to preserve food, has solved the problem for many. Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian teacher, invented the ‘device’ — a refrigerator that doesn’t require electricity!
Comments (0)
