[gardeners] Putting it by
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 28 Jun 1998 19:48:31
Picked a bunch of basil again today, both purple and green. Put the purple
in the dehydrator and it should be dry by 9 pm. The green, Mammoth, made 5
cups of pesto to go in the freezer. Put 1 1/4 cups each in plastic ziplock
bags and into the freezer. While I was at it I picked the 'maters, cukes,
and crowder peas that were ready. Got a bucket full again but the 'maters
are playing out. The hot weather tomatoes, Heatwave II, just came up so
they're behind at the moment.
Checked the flavored vinegars that had been "soaking" for a month and went
ahead and bottled them. Ended up with 3 liters of basil vinegar that,
rather than being purple, was a lovely red. Sealed the corks with paraffin
wax that had been tinted lavender with a purple crayon. The nastursium
vinegar came out a rosy gold and exactly filled a 1 pint rice wine vinegar
bottle that had been carefully saved and sterilized.
On the pesto front, anyone got any ideas for a substitute for pine nuts.
Bottled pine nuts in a 2 ounce bottle are $3.79 plus tax here and that's a
bit pricey for pesto flavoring. Thinking of using dry roasted, unsalted
peanuts. Anyone ever try that? Did some a while back and used pecans but
the pecans made it taste sweet. Dip into your store of knowledge oh
gardening gurus.
George