In The Spotlight - Canning/Freezing/Decorating Specials
For a limited time we are
offering the following specials:
Red Haven Peaches (very
limited supply) -- $10 a half bushel (pull up
and take plastic liner)
Red Beets (fair to good
supply) -- $8 a half bushel (pull up and take
plastic liner)
Bi-Color Sweet Corn(good supply) -- $8 a
bushel (please use your own container)
While we try to keep a
good supply of these specials on hand, at times we will be
temporarily out. We plan on having these specials available all this
week (August 19 through August 22) and into at least part of next
week, but since we grow everything ourselves, when supply gets low
there is a possibility we will cancel these specials at any time-this
is especially true of the peaches.
Note about corn by
the bushel:
A bushel is a measure of
volume, not of number of items or even weight. The number of ears in
a bushel varies widely depending upon size of ear. On average, it
seems there are between 35 and 45 ears per bushel in the bi-color
corn we are now picking. Early in the season, when the ears were
small, there were around 60, or even more. Sweet corn in the
Terminal Wholesale Produce markets in Detroit and Chicago usually
offer sweet corn for sale in crates which usually contain between 48
and 54 ears. The current prices, per crate, at these locations is
between $11 and $12.
Decorating Special
Beautiful Cut Sunflowers (good supply for now) - 5 for $2.00
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How We Freeze Sweet Corn
This is the way we have found to be the best for freezing corn. First we husk it and remove all
the silk (a soft corn brush helps here) and then drop the ears in
rapidly boiling water (this is called blanching) for about 5 minutes.
(Some wait until the water boils again but this doesn't seem
necessary and requires more work since you have to keep an eye on the
water in the pot and decide if it's truly starting to boil again.).
Take the corn out and cool it well
in cold water. Then cut it off the cob and put it in good quality
freezer bags or freezer containers and stick right in the
freezer immediately. We also have simply cut off leftover cooked
corn on the cob from our summer meals and frozen the cut off corn.
This also works.
Freezing corn on the cob
can be done but it takes up freezer space. It also requires longer
blanching and cooling time. Soggy ears after cooking the frozen corn
on the cob (a common complaint) is usually due to the fact that the
corn wasn't cooled sufficiently after blanching during the freezing
process.
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From The Kitchen
Since we are featuring peaches this issue, here is an easy peach pie recipe.
Fresh Peach Pie
2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced
3/4 - 1 cup granulated sugar(depends on how sweet you like your pie)
3 tablespoons cornstarch diluted with 1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Prepare glaze by mixing sugar, cornstarch mixture, salt and almond extract in a pot. Cook until thick and clear, stirring constantly. After mixture comes to a boil, cook a few minutes more. Pour hot glaze over peaches, mix gently and allow to cool.
While peaches are cooling, prepare favorite pie crust recipe (ours is below) and prepare pie plate with bottom crust. Add peaches. Top peaches with remaining crust. Cut slits into top crust before baking to allow steam to escape.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift
together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening
until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough
appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons
unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead on a
few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible.
Roll out using your favorite technique.
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