John Rynne's weblog

John Sundman, the author of “Acts of the Apostles”, a great science fiction novel set in the near-present and dealing with nanotech and stuff, is trying to raise money to finance his next novel, to be called Creation Science

It’s a very good cause. Check it out at Kickstarter

Find his previous books (free downloads) at Wet Machine

Having read about the “dead zone” created in the Gulf of Mexico by the fertilizer runoff from corn farms along the Mississippi, I am pleased to see someone has made a documentary about the impact of maize farming on the river, all the way down to the Gulf. The result is Big River (from the guys who made King Corn).

Big River Trailer from Wicked Delicate Films on Vimeo.

Though we are still getting 32ºC at midday here in Aranjuez, the fact that we are down to just 16ºC at night shows that summer is on the way out.

It’s also harvest time for lots of fruit and vegetables. Courtesy of some friends who have a small farm in Toledo, we get sizeable amounts of tomatoes, apples, peaches and peppers. The big problem is what to do with them.

I’ve made tons of peach jam (or perhaps I should call it “preserve”). Ignoring the recipe books, I don’t bother skinning them: just chop into chunks, leave overnight with half their weight in sugar, add a lemon (halved) and boil until the syrup is thick. It doesn’t “set” (apparently the main concern when making jam in my native Ireland). I immediately bottle in preserving jars, sterilise in the pressure cooker and they’re ready for the winter. I’ve also got some blackcurrant jam from the bush in the garden (imported from Ireland), which yielded a whole kilo this year, and we are planning to go blackberrying in the local area this month (more jam!).

The tomatoes are of the “beefsteak” variety. The traditional method of storing tomato here in Spain is to chop and bottle, then cook in a water bath. The tomato’s natural acidity keeps the nasties away. In fact, before preserving jars became available, the standard recipient was a glass (e.g. wine) bottle, which required the whole family to sit around cramming tomato chunks into narrow-necked bottles using a funnel and a small stick. However, hardly anyone does this any more. It’s too much like hard work and you can buy tomatoes all year round in the shop (not to mention ketchup, canned tomatoes and something called “tomate frito”, which is the lazy man’s tomato sauce). Though I originally thought we would have to preserve some tomatoes, we’ve found that we can get through them in salads and by making pasta sauce.

Fresh tomato sauce
Gently fry chopped onion and garlic until very soft, i.e. at least 30 minutes, then roughly grate 2-3 soft tomatoes, add salt and sugar to taste, plus any herbs you fancy, e.g. bay leaf, oregano, and simmer until sauce is thick. If you can use good Italian pasta, all the better.

As for apples, I’ve made apple jelly (Irish recipe), which is something I’ve never seen in Spain, flavouring one batch with allspice and another with ginger. But there’s a limit to the amount of jams, jellies, etc.

Apple jelly
The original Irish recipe is for crab apples, but you can use windfalls, or damaged apples picked up cheap at the market. Roughly chop your apples, removing any damaged parts (and insects), but don’t discard the peel or cores. Put in a pot that is large enough and add just enough water to cover (or maybe a little less). Boil until the apples have been reduced to a pulp. Pour the whole lot into a pillowcase and hang over a large bowl to catch the juice. This is best left overnight. The standard warning is not to squeeze the bag as that will give you cloudy jelly.
If you’re not ready to make the jelly immediately, you can keep it in the fridge for a few days. When the time comes, measure out the juice and add the requisite amount of sugar (one pound per pint, or one kilo per litre, roughly). Add the juice of one lemon per litre and any flavouring you want (e.g. allspice berries). Boil until you can see it thickening (there is also the classic test of pouring a spoonful onto a cold plate to see if it gels). Bottle.

So I’ve been thinking about drying. We should have no trouble sun-drying vegetables in this climate, which is both hot and dry. An internet search turns up some interesting ideas from the US, such as this list from Buildit Solar and this article from GeoPathfinder*

I can’t say I’ll be making anything like that, but I certainly thinking on those lines.

Dearest friends,

Below is the text of a letter I have just received from a fellow translator in Iraq. The poor man needs my help in getting 6.5 million dollars out of Iraq. No comment!

Greeting from Iraq,
I had your contact and would like to share an important case with you.if you are interested, please exuse me for the inconvenience.

I am Mr. Issam Majeed, I am working in Iraq with the American military as a translator.In one of our military operations in Iraq, we found a safe in a large house of a great man in Iraq in the town of TIKRIT. The safe contains a large amount of money, American dollars, that is US $ 20 Million.

We immediately kept this safe in a secure place with two other American soldiers. After a lengthy deliberations among ourselves as to wheather we need to deliver those funds to American authorities in charge of the place or not,we all decieded to share these funds between ourselfs. In sharing, i received the sum of US $ 6.5 Million. For my part i have problems because of security in Iraq,I decieded to mananger with private security officers in Iraq to help me ship my share of these funds outside Iraq precisely to London for the security of the money.

The funds which was placed in a package as family valuables, I coded it, which means nobody knows what the package contains except me.
So I am contacting you to see if you can help me receive the package from London and ship it to your country, so I would invest those funds in area of profitable business in your country. I promise to give you some percentage of these funds for helping me but, we will discuss it when I receive your reply indicating your interest to help.
The citizens of Iraq are against me that they seek to kill me because I do translations for American military. I do not go out without American militries to avoid the worst happening. I can not use telephones or recieve calls here.I Only use Internet and walkie-talkies to communicate with military personnel whom I work with.
If the transaction is concluded, I will resign because for me to work and live here in Iraq is too risky for me.

Thank you as i am waiting for your urgent response
Mr. Issam Majeed.

This recipe is adapted from “Apple Dumpling Slices” in the King Arthur Baker’s Companion That’s a great book, incidentally, with recipes for practically everything. The original recipe requires you to make your own pastry. This is the “lazy man’s” version (i.e. with “shop-bought” pastry).

This recipe is for apples, but you can use practically any fruit that you can use in a pie, cobbler, etc. (that is to say, peaches, cherries, nectarines, or a mixture).

Total preparation time is 15-20 minutes. Total cooking time is 40 minutes.

This dessert is a winner every time; it is great alone but it goes really well with vanilla ice cream.

What you will need:

4 large apples (or the equivalent of another fruit or fruit mixture)
2 sheets of puff pastry (or plain pastry). It’s handy if they are rectangular, but round is fine. (The rolls I’m using weigh 250 grams each, i.e. half a kilo of pastry – that’s about 1 lb if you’re using Imperial measures).
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
300 grams sugar (that’s 1.5 cups in American parlance)
750 ml water (3 American cups)
Butter or margarine to grease the dish

1. Put the oven on to preheat at 175-180ºC (350º Fahrenheit)
2. Core, peel and dice your apples. (Peaches, nectarines, etc.: don’t bother peeling — just stone and dice).
   
3. Put the diced fruit in a bowl and add one teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Mix well. (NB: no sugar at this point).
4. Put the butter/margarine in the oven dish and put it in the oven for a few minutes to melt (don’t let it burn).
5. Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the sugar has fully dissolved and take the pan off the heat.
6. Roll out one sheet of pastry and cut it in half.
7. Spread a row of the fruit cubes along the centre line of a piece of pastry.
8. Fold over to make a filled roll.
   
9. Cut into segments about 3 cm. wide.
   
10. Arrange the slices in the greased oven dish. Repeat steps 7, 8 and 9 until you’re done.
    
11. Pour the sugar syrup over the whole concoction. Yes — ALL the syrup.
12. Put the dish in the oven (CAREFUL: the hot syrup will slosh around).
13. It should be done in 35-40 minutes. The base of the pan will be full of delicious thick syrup with the flavour of the fruit.
14. You can serve hot or cold. Don’t count on there being any leftovers (I’ve never seen any).

A note about the cookbook: it’s BIG (620 pages). There are not many illustrations but the recipes are very easy to follow and have clearly been field-tested. The paper is thick and absorbent, so it will survive the odd splash of batter, syrup, etc. (i.e. it’s made to be used, not just looked at).