@steveb4 … Nashville stations were calling for low 30s and frost last night… but here as daybreak is happening 39F at my place.
When the sun actually comes up it often drops one more degree.
Hopefully 38-39F … and my figs and raspberries will continue.
Our lows are supposed to get back up in the 40s and 50s soon.
TNHunter
First sub-freezing for us… Which is fine, I have no fruits left to harvest at this point. Everything can go to sleep and come out swinging next spring!
the last of it coming in, we have had a few soft frosts and a hard one coming in now. also, the first apple from our apple trees. I’m waiting a week to cut it and try. there’s one more on the tree, not ready yet I think. this one slipped off the branch when touched
previous few days of rush harvesting. corn is always a failure for me, but I like having a little patch anyway. my sorghum is still ripening up, green on the tall stalks.
also these seem very familiar but I’m not sure what they are. they’re cute on the straw bale though.
I saw those in my wood chips from chipdrop, I remember looking them up and they were not edible or plant pathogens, so I promptly forgot what they are.
I don’t think they’re food at all, but they’re very familiar. they’re very cute so they can stay
They look like wood ear mushrooms. I’ve eaten a couple and it didn’t bother me at all.
My wife is making a batch of pear preserves.
I helped with pealing and slicing.
We got these European pears at Englands Orchard.
TNHunter
First luma berry of the season! It’s a small crop this year after a huge one last year, seems prone to alternate bearing.
“Trompo” Canistel fruit on a tree we are putting in at a school in Tampa. Tree has two fruits on it, hopefully they won’t drop so we can have at least one tree with fruits on it.
I have a green gage that just did this too.
Roselle is blooming like crazy now, all it took was a hurricane. Even with having to cut down the plants by at least 2 feet, still going to have about a 5 gallon bucket full.
What do you mostly use it for? As a beverage, I’m guessing? I had no idea all the different ways different cultures use that plant, though. Here’s just the “culinary” uses listed on Wikipedia, not even counting all the people who use it in beverages:
Culinary
In Bihar and Jharkhand roselle is also known as “kudrum” in local language. The bright red petal of the fruit is used for chutney which is sweet and sour in taste.
In Saputara region (near Maharashtra/Gujarat MP border), roselle is called khate fule also called as ‘ambade fule’ by local tribal language. The khate fule leaves are mixed with green chillies, salt, some garlic to prepare a chutney and bhaji which is served with jowar (sorghum) or bajra (millet) made bakho (a flat bread). This is eaten by tribals as breakfast to start their day. A dry dish or sukhi bajji is prepared with khate fule leaves.[citation needed]
In Andhra cuisine, roselle is called gongura and is extensively used. The leaves are steamed with lentils and cooked with dal. Another unique dish is prepared by mixing fried leaves with spices and made into a gongura pacchadi, the most famous dish of Andhra and Telangana often described as king of all Andhra foods.[citation needed]
In Manipuri, it is called Sougri and it is used as a vegetable. It is generally cooked without oil by boiling with some other herbs and dried fish and is a favorite of the Manipuri people. Almost every household has this plant in their homes.
In Burmese cuisine, called chin baung ywet (lit. ‘sour leaf’), the roselle is widely used and considered affordable. It is perhaps the most widely eaten and popular vegetable in Myanmar.[40] The leaves are fried with garlic, dried or fresh prawns and green chili or cooked with fish. A light soup made from roselle leaves and dried prawn stock is also a popular dish.
Among the Paites tribe of the Manipur Hibiscus sabdariffa and Hibiscus cannabinus locally known as anthuk are cooked along with chicken, fish, crab or pork or any meat, and cooked as a soup as one of their traditional cuisines.[41]
In the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, it is known as galda and is consumed boiled with pork, chicken or fish. After monsoon, the leaves are dried and crushed into powder, then stored for cooking during winter in a rice powder stew, known as galda gisi pura. In the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, the plant is locally known as jajew, and the leaves are used in local cuisine, cooked with both dried and fresh fish. The Bodos and other indigenous Assamese communities of north east India cook its leaves with fish, shrimp or pork along with boiling it as vegetables which is much relished. Sometimes they add native lye called karwi or khar to bring down its tartness and add flavour.
In the Philippines, the leaves and flowers are used to add sourness to the chicken dish tinola (chicken stew).[42]
In Vietnam, the young leaves, stems and fruits are used for cooking soups with fish or eel.[43]
In Mali, the dried and ground leaves, also called djissima, are commonly used in Songhaï cuisine, in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao and their surroundings. It is the main ingredient in at least two dishes, one called djissima-gounday, where rice is slowly cooked in a broth containing the leaves and lamb, and the other dish is called djissima-mafé, where the leaves are cooked in a tomato sauce, also including lamb. Note that djissima-gounday is also considered an affordable dish.
In Namibia, it is called mutete, and it is consumed by people from the Kavango region in northeastern Namibia.
In the central African nations of Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon the leaves are referred to as oseille or ngaï-ngaï, and are used puréed, or in a sauce, often with fish and/or aubergines.
The leaves are sour and tasty too. You can also make candy from the buds. They turn into like, fruit roll up consistency when you turn the buds into candy
I plan on making a jelly/jam with it. I saw Self Sufficent Me make one with them and it looked really good. I might also make a syrup from it if I have enough extra.
I make a beverage with Cranberry Hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella) that has a good sweet and sour flavor (after adding some sugar). Just boil the leaves until it becomes a deep red almost purple and then add sugar to taste.
