Some weeks are like this. I turn on my computer and I’m faced with those little AOL news (sort of) sound bites. They cover everything from torture and sexual abuse to a new little Duggar. I try to avoid them but there they are, like air pollution or modified corn starch, just about impossible to avoid. On those days, when I feel the poison seep into my spirit, I go my dank and damp basement. It’s not a pretty place. The ceiling is low, the walls just stone. There is a maze of pipes and duct work overhead and if you’re spider phobic, you might want to give it a miss. Still, being here gives me a sense of peace and place. What’s there is there because of my labor. I own it in a way I don’t own much else. My jars of sauce are beautiful. The baskets of potatoes solid and satisfying. The neat rows of wine bottles are a pleasure and the cabinet of candle-making supplies hold a promise.
I do find one little irritant down there. Years ago, when I first started preparing for life where there might well be supply interruptions and major spikes in the cost of energy and food, I bought cases of canned goods. Some of them have already fed the pigs. Some were consumed and never replace or at least not replaced with commercial varieties. I no longer purchase tomato products as my garden leaves me with an embarrassment of sauces and salsas. But there are still some things sitting there that I know I need to use up or dispose of. One of these is the canned corn.
I don’t loath canned corn the way I do string beans but there is no way it can compare with the corn I put up in August. In one of those serendipitous moments, I was faced with a case or so of canned corn just as I was rereading Independence Days (Sharon Astyk’s book and if you don’t have it, get it.) Right at the beginning is a depression era recipe for scalloped corn. It’s pretty easy. A can of corn, two cups of milk, three egg yolks, three beaten egg whites, some salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar mixed together and a topping of buttered bread crumbs. it took only a couple of minutes to put it together and 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven to produce a lovely, puffy corn casserole that my family actually ate seconds of. With a cup of tomato soup, this would have been a meal in itself. I served it with some long-simmered beef and onions and some pickles. Part of my 100 days of prepping is going to include using the food. I can make this ones a week and the corn will be gone before you know it. I’m going to try it with creamed corn next time. I have a lot of that too.
I had one other 100 days experiment. I still had a few gallons of cranberries to use up but I already have a lot of sauce. I decided to dry them as we like cranberry bread and it will be nice to have them on hand. I first dipped the berries in boiling water until the skins popped. Like blueberries and grapes, the skins must be split to prevent case hardening, a condition where the center of a fruit remains moist, even when the exterior is dry. This leads to a mold problem. I popped the skin then placed the berries on the dehydrator trays. One thing I did need to do was keep going back, every hour or so, and popping any berries that had not spit in the boiling water. I was still finding unpopped berries after 7 hours. It was easy to identify them as they were puffy and shiny and I just used a skewer to give them a poke. After 9 hours, the fruit was not quite dry so I turned of the Excalibur and got up early today to finish them off. I plan to vacuum seal the fruit in pint jars as I have a lot of those jars sitting empty and 1 pint is about what I’ll need for a batch of bread or muffins. When I use them, I’ll increase the water in the recipe by a 1/2 cup which should rehydrate them nicely although I may have to fiddle with amount unless I have a reader with a more precise measure)
My oldest son is getting me a camera for Christmas and my DIL is giving me a tutorial so I can post videos and pictures without help. I’m looking forward to having pictures available on a regular basis without having to rely on others time and energy.
November 11, 2011 at 7:10 am
I thought I was the only one who found peace in my panrty when the world seems to have lost it’s mind, thanks for your post!!!
November 11, 2011 at 7:30 am
An older friend told me about some sauerkraut her mother used to buy from a Jewish deli in NYC. It contained cabbage, caraway seed, and chopped up fresh cranberries. I’m going to try this recipe whenever I get around to making some sauerkraut. The cranberries should be a good boost to the already respectable nutrition of the kraut. Maybe you could try it too.
November 11, 2011 at 9:04 am
on bad days, I too head to the basement…my imagination likens us to Dragons! It’s our treasure, it comforts us and make the hard work to get it feel sooo worth it. Then we can come up and like dragons, fight the good fight all over again.
I think I’ll try that scalloped corn. I used to make it when the kids were little but haven’t since. Ed’s getting me a video camera so I can’t make videos also…IF I can manage to figure out how. I’m not the most technicals of people! lol
November 11, 2011 at 9:11 am
Kate, Emily and Deb. We are sisters under the skin. I am going to try the cranberries in the kraut. I have cabbage I need to use and I even have an empty crock.
November 11, 2011 at 11:12 am
DH is building root & fruit cellars in the basement, so until those are finished I head upstairs to the unheated storeroom and linger over the baskets of apples, squash, and garlic, and jars of salsa, juices, and pickles.
Thanks to your inspiration, we made home-dehydrated apples for our first time ever this fall. The taste is sooo much better than store-bought!
I’m looking forward to things slowing down a bit later this fall so we can try our hand at canning beans.
November 12, 2011 at 7:21 pm
There is a core security in having a huge pantry full. I included the word “core” because it is that deep in me of a need. There is a saying that could be modified that fits me. I have been rich [full pantry] and poor [empty pantry]. I prefer being rich [full pantry]. It is good to know we are not alone…[smile]..in our core.
November 12, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Kathy – I’m with you in not caring for AOL soundbites, Many of them seem to be aimed at our collective thirst for scandal with no real information contained within. Having a full pantry is a good antidote.
November 13, 2011 at 2:27 pm
I’m not a fan of corn at all, but I do like a good corn chowder, which uses up the canned corn quite nicely, especially with a bit of creamed corn as well.
November 15, 2011 at 9:09 pm
If you don’t have to have whole dehydrated cranberries you can just put them in a food processor. You can dehydrate the ground cranberries without even having to blanch or poke each cranberry. They dry much faster, can be used in bread, muffins and for sauce. Great if you don’t need them whole.