food preservation

I’ve taken up smoking!

Not the evil cigarette kind of smoking, but the kind that gives food a great taste. For my first try, I overfilled the fuel, added too many woodchips and forgot to open the vent. But, after smoking out the house (is that really a bad thing?) I got it back all under control with only the lightest of burns on my finger. I’m trying garlic and sea salt today, let’s see what happens Give it half an hour and we’ll see what I get… 29 minutes …28…27… /… 2…1…let it cool for a bit… And here we go… At first look it looks very dark and oily… And yes, it is super strong – the whole neighbourhood smells of hickory and mesquite, though neighbours have asked ‘what’s that nice smell, is Marlon cooking again’? Next time, I need to lighten up on everything… Time, fire, wood chips. The big question is ‘will Marlon cook with it’? I’ll ask him when

read more I’ve taken up smoking!

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Hanging it out to dry.

Some extra citrus drying on a 34 degree day.

I will try to dry as much stuff as I can over summer, using solar and wind power iinstead of the food dehydrator. I’ll keep that for winter when it can do double duty and heat the house a little.

I got the drying rack from Ebay for about $20.00.