カテゴリー: cooking

Quickly Cooked in Sunday Night, It was Four Bottles of Fig Jams

Figs need to be processed quickly because the fruits get worse soon. Though I wanted to go to the bed early, I started cooking after dish washing.

When you cook fig compote, you don’t need to peel off. But I think it is better to peel off when making jams. If a fig is ripen, it is easy to peel it off.

The weight of Figs was 433 grams.

There was a leftover when I made apple jam a little while ago. Its weight was 151 grams. I mixed them with figs because I expected an effect of pectin of apple.

I usually use sugar of 50 percent weight of fruits when I cook jam. Probably 50 percent is a bit large portion when Japanese make a jam. But I am expecting the effect of sugar as preservative, though I am not sure the percentage is best for my purpose.

I chopped figs so that the jam would be a smooth one.

I put apple paste, beet sugar, and chopped fig into a pot. Oops! Too much for this pot!

Heating with gas fire, I stirred for fifteen minutes.

I tighten the lid of one bottle while the jam was hot. For other three, I loosely put the lids on the bottles and boiled them in a big pot. Having boiled for ten minutes, I took them out and tightened the lid with gloves.

Okay, I got four bottles of fig jam.

I hung up Eighteen Persimmons to Dry.

Persimmons we get in Niigata are usually bitter one. Those persimmons can’t be eaten if nothing has been done for the bitterness. There are several ways to get rid of bitterness from the persimmons, for example, just freezing them. But I like the way using strong alcohol. Yes, it should be stronger than 40 percent. I had done “Astringency Removal Process” with alcohol through the last week. And then I realized that there were too many persimmons to eat for two people who are my old mom and me.

So, I decided making “Dried Persimmons”. I peeled them, tied the strings, and sterilized them with boiling water.

And I hung them under the roof. This was yesterday. I added six this morning. So, there are eighteen persimmons that are being dried in the air. I hope they will get sunny days by coming winter. The climate in Niigata in late autumn is humid, which is not good for persimmons to dry.

I made Fig Compote

There are some fig trees in my garden. One of them is an old species that has been planted and harvested from very old times in Japan. These days I can get some fruits of that fig tree. It was like one in one day until last week, but the number increases these days. At time of this morning, I had six of them, and I thought they were a little more for eating fresh. So, I decided making Fig Compote.

They were 314 grams. Of course, the weight of container is deducted.

A cooking recipe on the web read the sugar should be 30 to 40 percent of the weight of fig. So, I just used beet sugar of one-third weight.

I had red wine, but not lemon juice. So, I poured one spoon of apple vinegar though I was not sure if it could be an alternative. Putting the pan on the gas stove, I heated it for fifteen minutes or so.

I think the color is beautiful but don’t know the taste because I haven’t eaten it yet. Once it has cooled, I will put it in the refrigerator.

Shiso Seeds Marinated in Soy Sauce, Good to be Served on Top of Rice.

They are almost a kind of weeds in my garden, but “Shiso” is growing many places. They are now having seeds.

And people around here like marinated shiso seeds with soy sauce very much. I decided making it this time. I gathered seeds from green and purple Shiso, and got the amount of one bowl of metal colander.

I removed seeds from the stem by my finger, one by one.

I got 132 grams of seeds. Of course, the weight of container is deducted.

I put salt on them. I tried putting salt of 10 percent of Seed’s weight.

Next day, I washed the seeds and marinated with soy sauce.

Putting them on top of Rice, and I ate it. I felt it was like a taste of autumn season.

Now the Season of Persimmon, Got to Get Rid of Bitterness with Strong Alcohol.

This year too, I have got some persimmon fruits on the tree of a bitter persimmon “Koyo”.

I poured strong alcohol onto a small dish. And put the upper part of persimmon into it about ten seconds.

Then I put three persimmons into a plastic bag. I hope I will be able to eat them in several days. The strong alcohol I used was made from Gāoliang (高粱). I guess its smell will remain until I eat those persimmons.

Oh, by the way, now it’s the time for me to work a lot on my garden before the winter comes. So probably I will not be able to write a post of “Japanese Learning” for a while.

Made Jam of Apple “Jonathan” that I got in my Garden

Since Jonathan is a sour apple, if I got them early, it could have been too sour. Therefore, I have just kept them hanging on the tree. Then some of them fell onto the ground, and some were eaten by worms and insects. I picked up them yesterday, and made them jam today. I used not cane sugar but beet sugar this time.

In reality, there is a lot of insects’ excrement. I got rid of them carefully.

I grated the apple. Thinking about the amount of sugar I had, I just stop grating when I got 1 kilogram of grated apple.

The pan was a little big, but anyway, I boiled 1kg(=1000g) of apple with 800g of beet sugar.

I got six bottles and more of apple jam. When I harvest fig in October, then I will make fig jam. I hope that I won’t need to buy any jam from the supermarket until spring, by pasting these my handmade jam on toast in breakfast.

I Roasted Hazelnuts that I harvested from my Garden.

Their weight with shells was 83 gram. Of course the weight of the plastic container is excluded.

I used a “water pump pliers” to break the shells.

Some were rotten inside, some ran into the air, I got 40 gram of Hazelnuts without shells.

I roasted them Four minutes by an electric oven toaster.

To be honest, neither their taste nor quality of roasting were good. Since they were what I could get this year, I hope I will be able to harvest more next year. And roasting procedure needs to be improved.

Hot and Humid, resulted in Worms in Stock of Rice.

It’s not just one but many. Some worms make rice grains stick to their body, and hide themselves in the rice grains. It looks like a ball of rice grains of One centimeter diameter.

I should have kept rice in refrigerator before the temperature rose.

Got Stung on the Scalp by an “Iraga” Moth Larva.

Several days ago, I felt sting like aching on my head skin when I was walking under the persimmon tree. Then I found them on the back side of persimmon leaves.

I tried to find the leaves with larva as much. When I found, I cut the branch and threw them into the compost in which pesticide is poured into. Basically, the persimmon is a tree that is not affected much by pests and diseases. So, I didn’t expect such nuisance creatures were there. I don’t use pesticides for my vegetable, but occasionally use it for fruit trees. I haven’t used pesticide so far this year. Probably hand picking is the best way for an amateur like me. Anyway, I felt a numbness around my mouth and in my fingertips in the next morning, though I was not sure if the poison of “Iraga” moth larva was such strong or not.

When it comes to Tomato, it is only for fresh consumption in Japan. Tomato on the shelves of a supermarket and tomato seeds being sold in a “home center” are both tomatoes to be eaten fresh. You can’t find tomato for cooking. This year I got some seeds of tomato for cooking by mailing order. I made 30 seedlings and planted on my field. And then now it’s the time of harvest, I have got quite a lot of them. I boiled them and put them in freezer. I think I will have a lot of tomato soup in coming autumn rather than Miso-soup.