Welcome to another of my journals. In case this is your first time in my blog, this is journey into living off the land the most sustainable way I can think of, through the principles of vegan permaculture.
This year I thought I wasn't going to eat many prunes because heavy winds dropped their flowers prematurely in spring. However, I've been eating so many prunes that my tongue gets sore with all the sweetness
Most of the trees in front are prune trees. It is practically a food forest that I've barely assisted, and yet it thrives.
The trick to harvest in abundance was getting into the thick of the forest and cutting of some higher branches. These were protected from the wind and also received enough sunlight, that's why they were able to fruit when most trees didn't.
After having my fill of prunes, I had to start getting creative to take advantage of them in some way other than eating raw from the tree.
I wanted to make some jam so I begin cooking them, but then I had the idea of mixing them with rye flour to make some special flavored dough.
This was a good idea as taking out the seeds became easy just by squeezing the dough and pulling them out.
I had the intention of making some flat breads but the concept evolved...
I turned them into rolls, that way I could fit more of them into my pan. Never thought that this could have a practical side, other than aesthetics.
Some of the cooked prunes were reserved for dipping 😋
I ended up eating all the cooked prunes so no jam for me yet. However, I did some preservation by fermenting then like this:
- Sterilize a jar (optional, usually works anyways)
- Fill the jar about halfway with fruit
- Add some previous ferment if you have it or just water to the jar
The speed of fermentation will depend on the temperature of your house (warmer is faster)
My method is to drink some once a day (not all of it or you'll stop the fermentation), then take out a few fruits and replace them with fresh ones. If you ever run out of fruit, you can just use sugar. Once it's nice and fizzy, you can either keep enjoying it like that or leave it closed so that it becomes alcohol. You can literally make wine out of any sweet fruit.
This will be all for today. The rye flour was my last binding ingredient so now I don't know what I could mix prunes with. Maybe potatoes? I think that could be interesting... I will actually give a it try!
Do you have any particular recipe you like doing when you have an abundance of fruit at your disposal? Or something specific for prunes?
Thank you for your visit, I hope you got something from this post or at least enjoyed your time here, till next one.