Sweet Potatoes, Rice, and Peanuts

First frost is the decisive end of the summer garden. We had two light ones back-to-back at the beginning of the month, and although they weren't killing frosts, they did enough damage to set fall harvest in motion.

The first thing on my list was sweet potatoes. I waited as long as I could, since the bed in the garden never seemed to grow well. Of my two plantings of slips, these were planted first (April 5th and 6th). But that particular bed is at the top of the garden and has never held soil moisture well, so the plants never grew well, even with my inverted bottle waterer experiment.

Photo from last August.

The sweet potatoes in the African Keyhole Garden, on the other hand, did fantastic.

The slips in the keyhole garden were planted June 9th.

The difference in the harvest is just as amazing. 

On the left are the largest from the keyhole garden.
On the right are the largest from the garden bed.

It wasn't a huge harvest because my slips were late to grow, but I'll take whatever I get and be thankful for it. 

Another surprise was my rice. We planted a small plot of it last June, and I admit I was doubtful about the seed, which I saved from the previous summer. I'm pretty sure I harvested it too early, so I doubted it was mature enough to be viable. Amongst the (unwanted) volunteer grasses, I assumed it was a no-show. Dan even mowed the patch, and I never watered it, even during our hot dry spell. What a surprise to finally realize I had scatterings of mature rice plant growing there!

I hand harvested these by cutting off the heads. The yield was a bowlful.

Rice harvest so far.

There are still a few unripe rice plants, but even so, I won't get much of a harvest. But at least it's a seed crop for next year. 

Lastly, my peanuts. They're supposed to be harvested when the leaves start to turn yellow and about 70% of the nuts are mature. Well, the plants never yellowed, but they did suffer some frost damage. I checked on them the other day and discovered that between soggy soil and a return to summer-like temperatures last week, they were starting to sprout! So I pulled them.

One thing I observed is that where the vines laid on the ground, more peanuts grew.

That gives me information about how to increase production next year.

The last step is to dry them, and I hope that stops them from sprouting so I can have seed to plant next year!

Of the summer garden, my Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes and Cornfield pole beans are still producing. 

Neither got much frost damage. Looking at the weather forecast, however, I suspect that will come to a frozen end soon. 

Sweet Potatoes, Rice, and Peanuts © Nov 2020 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Learning How To Make Ghee

I don't get a lot of cream from my goats' milk, so I've adjusted how I use it. That means, it accumulates faster than I can use it, so I end up storing it in the freezer. When I want cream for ice cream, whipped cream, cheesecake, or butter, I defrost what I need. But eventually, I need the freezer space for something else, and that's what got me thinking about learning to make ghee.

Butter is fat plus a little remaining water (as whey) and milk solids (proteins). Much of this is washed out in the last step making butter.

Washing goat butter to remove residual whey.

Even so, some of these remain and that's what can give old butter an off-flavor. It's also why butter smokes when heated too high. If the water and solids are removed, however, the result is pure butterfat, which is shelf-stable. It can be stored for months without refrigeration and has a low smoking point, making it a very useful product. There are two forms of this - clarified butter and ghee. Ghee has a nuttier flavor because because the milk solids are browned a bit after the butter melts. Clarified butter is commonly used in French cooking, while ghee is used in Indian cuisine.

I'm not an expert at ghee making yet, but I'm starting to get the hang of it; at least enough to share some pictures and explanations. It starts with unsalted butter. Plop it in a pot and turn on the heat to medium. Then watch for three things: fine foamy bubbles, large airy bubbles (from simmering), and the milk solids floating to the top of the simmering butter. The foam forms first.

After it melts, it begins to bubble and foam. Stir gently and watch.

In every tutorial I've read or watched, the bright golden yellow color is mentioned somewhere along the way. I'm using butter made from goat cream, so I won't get that beautiful color because goat milk lacks beta carotene. It's the beta carotene that gives cow butter its yellow color. My goat butter and butter products are very pale in comparison. The color variations you see in this series of photos are due to whether or not the camera auto-flash engaged.

The simmering butter is stirred gently until the foam dissipates and the milk solids form and float on the surface of the simmering butter. Turn the heat down to medium-low.

As the foam (fine bubbles) disappears, the milk solids begin to rise and float.

For clarified butter, you can skim the milk solids and then strain the melted butter through cheesecloth. For ghee, simply stop stirring and continue to watch. Soon it looks like this...

The milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan.

If you look carefully, you see surface bubbles, but
also the milk solids lying on the bottom of the pot.

Now the milk solids are allowed to brown until the butter starts to foam a second time.

When the butter starts to foam again, the ghee is done.

Then it's removed from the heat and strained.

I use a fine strainer, but several layers of
cheesecloth would improve the product.

Some people actually discard the browned milk solids, but I would at least feed them to the chickens! Others recommend them as a popcorn topping, and they'd be good in an au gratin topping too. I've eaten them myself because they're too tasty to waste.

I spent too much time fiddling with the camera, so my scrapings are a little
dark. Usually, they are more of a golden brown, but at least they didn't burn(!)

The jars are then lidded and placed on a pantry shelf for storage.

Maybe a little difference in color depending on the browning of the milk solids.

The ghee on the right is the batch made in the photos. The jar on the left has been stored in the pantry since April. It's my test batch for non-refrigerated storage.

The other day, I made some from unsalted cow butter because I was curious about the color. Here's how the two compare ...

Cow ghee on the left, goat ghee on the right.

For the uninitiated, I'm pretty sure the one on the left looks more appealing.

A pound of butter yields about a pint of ghee. It can be used the same way butter is, and since it doesn't smoke when heated, is excellent for sauteing. Plus, it frees up room in the freezer. 😺

Any ghee or clarified butter fans out there? What's your favorite use for it? Recipes?

And here we go again, another shameless plug for one of my little how-to eBooks. This time for the revised edition of How To Get Cream From Goats's Milk: make your own butter, whipped cream, ice cream, and more. It now contains more photos, more information, and updated links. It includes how to make clarified butter and ghee!

For more information or where to buy, click here. 

Learning How To Make Ghee © November 2020

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Fall Foraging: Rose Hips

We have wild roses everywhere. In some ways they are a nuisance, but they are also useful, so over the years we've thinned them out. I still have several areas, however, where I gather rose hips.

The wild rose hips are tedious to gather because they are so small. It takes a while to get a worthwhile amount.

Over the course of several weeks I was able to gather and dry a pound. A quart jar holds them nicely and looks pretty on a kitchen shelf.

Occasionally, I make tea. 

Crush gently.

Simmer a tablespoon in a pint of water for 10 minutes.

Very tasty with a drizzle of honey.

Rose hips are traditionally used in cough remedies or to treat diarrhea. And of course they are rich in vitamin C. I also feed them to the goats!

I have some rugosa roses too, but they've been taken over by honeysuckle and Virginia creeper. Hopefully, this winter I can rescue them. 

Anyone else collect rose hips?

Fall Foraging: Rose Hips © Nov 2020 by Leigh 

at http://www.5acresandadream.com