SKULLBIKERS 2024 FLOG

This will start my food log for 2024. On New Years Eve my wife and I went out to eat at a place called "Frostproof Barbeque Co."
I ordered what on consider to be one of the "real value meals" nowdays.
Here is what I ordered, on the menu known as "THE PATRIOT"!

This consists of a large hunk of brisket, a large pile of pulled pork and pulled chicken, 3 nice thick tender ribs, a large sausage, a cup each of potato salad, baked beans, and mac & cheese, finished off with two thick slices of Texas Toast.
I did not eat all of this in one sitting, in fact I ate off of this for 3 days.
The cost of this monstrosity: $25.00

 

[Tinkerbelle]

and no chilli

 

[skullbiker]

I started on a mission to empty the 8 cu. ft. freezer that was full to the lid with various peppers that I have grown the last 3 to 4 years. Most were destemmed pods in ziplock bags but there was a lot of 7 Pot Brainstrain mash in 1.5 pint jars. Anyway, I have started freeze drying batches and will try to get it done while the weather is cooler and dryer.
First batch (these are 1/2 gal jars), the two on the left are various red rocoto mixed with ripe jalapeno mash, the middle one is Gelbe Riesen Giant Yellow Rocoto, and the two on the right are mixed red rocotos.

Pour it into the trays to place in the freeze dryer.

Here is the result after drying and running it through the blender. About 4 pints of nice super dry powder.

Next batch, Ten 1.5 pint jars of 7 Pot Brainstrain blended mash. I put two jars per tray.

After freeze drying and running it through the blender to make a fine powder, the five trays made one full blender canister.

Here is the powder in jars and vacuum sealed.

I use this vacuum canister to vacuum seal my repurposed jars. The little jars from Dollar Tree pickles and such work very well for this.

You can verify they are vacuum sealed if the little button on the cap is down like the jar on the right.

Here are more bags of pods thawing to get pureed for the next couple of batches.

 

[Downriver]

Looks like that effort freed up some space SB!

 

[skullbiker]

Looks like that effort freed up some space SB!

That's for sure. I should have processed these long ago but you know how it is..........out of sight, out of mind! I just finished another load from the freeze dryer and put another 5 trays in the machine last night. Only about 1/3 left in the freezer. I think I'll pull out the Fatalii's from that one growdown to add to the next load.

 

[skullbiker]

Another bunch-o-bags thawing out so I can blend them up and freeze dry them.
Here's the "hotties".

And the milder ones.

Here's the last batch I did.

And here is the water removed from that batch.

Here's what I've freeze dryed in the last 6 to 8 weeks.

 

[Tinkerbelle]

those will keep you going when the apocalypse comes and zombies invade

 

[Bou]

those will keep you going when the apocalypse comes and zombies invade

Pepper spray for everyone

Joke aside, what do you plan to do with such a huge amount of powder @skullbiker ?

 

[wiicek]

Amazing

I'm curious, is water from the freez dryer usable? Like, what is there, just water or some juice too, I feel dumb right now :o
Also, those were just mash, not fermented mash, right? Seeing all those beautiful jars made me think about trying fermenting some mash, was wondering if it tastes different than normally fermeted peppers (slices).

Don't mind me, I'm just getting inspired...

 

[skullbiker]

Pepper spray for everyone

Joke aside, what do you plan to do with such a huge amount of powder @skullbiker ?

At this point, i’m not quite sure what I’ll do with the super hot powder. The jalapeno and milder powder gets used almost daily around here. One of the advantages of freeze drying is that it can be reconstituted to original mash any time from now to 20 years from now.

 

[Tinkerbelle]

it's going in the bunker

 

[skullbiker]

Amazing

I'm curious, is water from the freez dryer usable? Like, what is there, just water or some juice too, I feel dumb right now :o
Also, those were just mash, not fermented mash, right? Seeing all those beautiful jars made me think about trying fermenting some mash, was wondering if it tastes different than normally fermeted peppers (slices).

Don't mind me, I'm just getting inspired...

I use the water to water any “special” plants. Although it is basically condensed water it seems to have something in it that plants like, I have checked it with a EC meter and get no reading.
These are just blended peppers, nothing added or done to them.
I do all of my pepper ferments with mash.
Here’s what’s currently in the cabinet. Some since May of 2020! It may be time to process some of these.

 

[skullbiker]

it's going in the bunker

That would be cool……….but……….it would be extremely difficult to have one in Florida unless it was super duper waterproof. They don’t even have basements here.

 

[Bou]

At this point, i’m not quite sure what I’ll do with the super hot powder. The jalapeno and milder powder gets used almost daily around here. One of the advantages of freeze drying is that it can be reconstituted to original mash any time from now to 20 years from now.

About 4 years ago I made several pots of every color and heat level possible (from mild to hot AF) and even with regular use I don't think I've used half of my stash since! The only exception was my brown mix because it was way too good and disappeared prematurely. Now it's the one I use most often (preferred flavor profile and versatility from a personal perspective).

As any drug addict will tell, there is no such thing as having too much powder in stock!!

 

[skullbiker]

About 4 years ago I made several pots of every color and heat level possible (from mild to hot AF) and even with regular use I don't think I've used half of my stash since! The only exception was my brown mix because it was way too good and disappeared prematurely. Now it's the one I use most often (preferred flavor profile and versatility from a personal perspective).

As any drug addict will tell, there is no such thing as having too much powder in stock!!

In 2012 I ended up with about 2 quarts of NAJA MORICH powder. I just used it up last year.

 

[Downriver]

The only exception was my brown mix because it was way too good and disappeared prematurely. Now it's the one I use most often (preferred flavor profile and versatility from a personal perspective).

...and what is this "brown mix" you speak of? lol

 

[Bou]

...and what is this "brown mix" you speak of? lol

the original mix was mainly Bih Jolokia caramel, Machu Picchu and Nazghul's Breakfast. The mixture evolves each season depending on the brown pods that I have harvested but the Bih Jolokia caramel is always in the mixture as it is already very good on its own! Last year I added Taconator and Ethiopian Berbere which I had in abundance and the result was pretty good too, while being a little less spicy.

 

[skullbiker]

Finished up the last batch of peppers in the freezer. This is what remains after freeze drying the last 2 1/2 gallons of blended up peppers.

And, my first (2) ripe Tomatoberry tomatoes. They are as yummy as I remember!

 

[skullbiker]

OK, time to pickle some Kossak Kohlrabi. Here's a big one with the leaves still on.

Here's one with the leaves off.

Group shot of the six I picked, but not peeled yet. I trim off the leaf nubs first and then just use a standard vegetable peeler.

Next I cut them into large chunks and push them through the french fry cutter(1/2 inch cutter). If you don't have one of these you can just cut strips or chips.

I salted mine and mixed them around and let them stand for a couple hours to draw the moisture out of them and then rinsed them off and on to the next step.
Pack them in jars, mix up your brine and simmer it a while and pour it over them while it's hot. Here's what you get.

They should be good to eat in a week or two but they will be awesome in 6 months! Here is my recipe that I use for these, radishes, and also peppers.

2 1/2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
2 1/2 cups Sugar or Splenda
1/2 cup water
1 Tbls Sea Salt
1 Tbls Mustard seed
1 Tbls Celery seed
1 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
1 1/2 tsp pepper powder of choice(for this batch I used freeze dryed Cherry Bomb powder)

They say that pretty much everything on this plant above ground is edible. That being said...................
I chop up the peelings and greens to till back into the soil as supposedly it retards the growth of root knot nematodes when it breaks down.

 

[skullbiker]

No cooking or processing today. Today we are at the FLORIDA STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL!

Home - Florida Strawberry Festival

Each spring, the Florida Strawberry Festival® rolls out the red carpet to welcome visitors from throughout the Sunshine State and the world. Guests come from

flstrawberryfestival.com

First the bad…………….I started my intermittant fasting diet Monday morning, it’s a 18-6 routine and I’m in my 6 hour eating window so I’m chowin’ down(just not real “healthy” stuff.
We got in the gate at 10:00am when they opened and by 10:15 I was wolfing down Strawberry Shortcake, you get to pack your own bowl!

Then on to the Jalapeno Cheddar cheese logs. And for once these were pretty darn spicy.

Then on to a Smitty’s Original Corn Dog. No pic as I had it down before I thought about it. This pic off of the web.

Now at the Strawberry Shortcake eating contest where the contestants try to wolf down 4 pounds of it in record time. Will update on that later.