Dog Days of Summer!

   I have been so busy, I haven't had much time to read or blog. I step outside to see what was happening to my garden. Pretty much nothing, Not really surprised.  

   Tangent (the garden which is taking on a persona) seems a bit tired of the these dog days of summer too.

   Summer has brought a toll on to all...

   My cabbage and broccoli have not sprouted.. sigh! The cucumbers are tired, and starting to turn yellow and get white flies.  Swiss Chard is just there. Some Basil is coming to an end. Eggplants are still trooping along. There are no tomatoes. Green beans seem stunted!! The green onions won't sprout either!  My pumpkin and bird house gourds are lovin' life though!

    So it made me think what is next for Tangent? I have my front yard container garden to proceed with but that won't happen for now! I have jellies that I want to make.

But!!!??!!

    Has anyone ever heard of Jujube fruit? (Chinese dates!)


   Well, I have a good amount of these Jujube fruit. I have to do something with them, so I looked to see about drying them...  It is like a 12 step process well not really, but it felt like it!


Here is what I did!

This is the first step: boil until tender...  Then drain

I cooked them for about 20 minutes... After that, I measures out  4 cups  jujubes and a half a cup of sugar.. I combined them together in a pot and warmed them until the the sugar was melted...

  In the pot with sugar... This took about 5 minutes or so... Then I  poured them on to a pan to cool.

Once they cooled,  I took my dehydrator and layered them evenly on the tray.

Make sure they have space between them to get air circulation... now I am not sure for how long to dry them. But the texture should feel like a prune it is said...

These are not finished... Yes, I know! psych... (jus' kiddin).. When they are finished hopefully soon, I will be trading tray positions in say in about 9 hours, then every, maybe 3 hours They should be like a prune! Not taste like it but the texture will or should be like it...


More to come soon...