Even with the garden winding down and the temperatures cooling off life is still busy here in the holler. I guess it isn't over till the fat lady sings and I'm not singing yet. I did want to share some things that I have been up to lately. I will start with my tomato powder.
I made the last of the powder the other day and discovered that when I put warm water in the blender to clean it made a thick and wonderful soup or tomato drink. Then it hit me I love V8 tomato juice so I am going to dry some mashed carrots and dehydrate and make some celery powder and experiment with powdered V8. It would be very convenient and take much less storage space.
On the downside it is a very dense powder and wants to clump so store in smaller jars. Another thing I have discovered that helps is rice. Like adding rice to a salt shaker to keep it from clumping you can do the same with powders and spices for the same reason.
I ordered small tea bags from Amazon. Got like 400 for under $10.00. Fill with a teaspoon or two of rice and drop in jar to absorb that moisture and keep things flowing.
Here it is in some powdered chicken soup base that I buy from the Mennonite store. Same problem with compacting and clumping. These rice desiccant bags are working great.
As an added bonus I have plenty of bags for my herbal tea blends since I am stocking bags anyway. Pictured above is lemon balm already dried for teas. I'll do some more posts on teas another day.
I like to air dry my herbs if possible so as not to apply any heat. So notice in the picture above simply sprigs of lemon balm wrapped together with a rubber band and then a paper clip bent for a hook. They are hanging from my dining room chandelier. My house smells wonderful!
Or maybe the lemon balm, basil and mint sprigs hanging from my fireplace mantel. Simply allow to dry out naturally and store in a dark and dry place.
I love hot herbal teas through the winter and hope to have several different options dried to last through the winter months. I have elderberries in the freezer to dehydrate yet for tea and I want to do some orange tea and some apple spice teas which I love. But those are posts for another day.
Well that is enough for today. Hope everyone has a safe and healthy weekend. See you over the back fence.
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Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
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ReplyDeleteLooks like you have great ideas for soothing drinks this winter. I’m still canning carrots and a surplus of Mandarin oranges. Have a bushel of apples ready to peel for apple butter. Does it end? Will can dry beans later.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing more about the apple spice tea. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of your rice-filled bags. So smart!
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