That would be evaporated milk. Condensed milk is something a little different. Both are water reduced but condensed milk has so much sugar added, it's thick like syrup.Isn't condensed milk just half way between milk and milk powder?
We grow a lot of apples, and a lot of apple varieties, in Nova Scotia. There is a variety which I think is common in the UK but seldom seen here, called Bramley. I have made apple desserts which called for Bramley apples, but made them with other apples, and they always came out too sweet. I recently found one orchard in Malagash that grows Bramleys, so last weekend I drove up there and bought some (along with some Macs and pears, and a couple of bottles of cider). Tonight we made pie using a recipe that calls for Bramleys and a sweet crust. I am impressed, those apples really changed the character of the dish. The tartness of the fruit really offset the added sugar, and the sweet pastry did not seem out of place. Worth a 3 hour round trip? Not really, but the scenery was stunning and I needed a day out of town, and the fruit and cider were top notch.
Bramleys are a superb apple. Used to have a Bramley tree in the garden*. My favourite is stuffed apples. Cut out the core and fill with butter, sugar and your choice of dried fruit, wrap in foil and bake in the oven. Serve with custard or at a pinch ice cream.
*That house had 14 apple trees. I loved autumn there. One day will get space again and plant some heritage varieties (the ones with some taste).
*That house had 14 apple trees. I loved autumn there. One day will get space again and plant some heritage varieties (the ones with some taste).
Bluenose,
this is as you say a superb apple, you can stick Golden Delicious where you like. When I first visited the Netherlands the Dutch complained that they were forced to dig up all their old Dutch varieties, like the English they had varieties that were only on sale for a few weeks and then were finished - the EU don't you just love it?
On a different note - potatoes. There used to be an old standard - King Edwards, they were superb for baked potatoes, can you still buy them in the UK?
this is as you say a superb apple, you can stick Golden Delicious where you like. When I first visited the Netherlands the Dutch complained that they were forced to dig up all their old Dutch varieties, like the English they had varieties that were only on sale for a few weeks and then were finished - the EU don't you just love it?
On a different note - potatoes. There used to be an old standard - King Edwards, they were superb for baked potatoes, can you still buy them in the UK?
Apple crumble and custard
Our Bramley tree passed away a few years ago, it's now a housing estate for bee's, insects and various fungi
Last edited:
The story is more complicated than that. It's not just a matter of top down agricultural policies.
My family on my mother's mother's side were farmers, with quite a few apple and pear orchards in Belgium (near the Dutch border actually). In the 1960s-1970s, the local varieties of apples didn't sell that well anymore: the customers wanted standardized, flawless apples. They wanted "progress". A farm being a business first, my grand uncles were thus quite eager to take the subsidies to destroy old trees and switch to small height trees. Those required a lot less work overall, were less risky to work on and also required less workers. And the fruits they produced were easily sold.
Luckily for the family they kept some trees for their own consumption...
Btw, it's also unfair to blame the EU for those policies. They only came to be because there was a wide consensus on the topic among national ministries of agriculture. In Belgium they were promoted with enthusiasm by local authorities.
Not much help but if you ever come across olives or olive oil from Gaeta (the 't' is important!) do try it. They grow some of the best olives in the World around there but the Italians tend to keep that stuff to themselves.
Hard to get even in Italy. Many people around there own olive groves, use them to make their own oil the very traditional way and sell any surplus locally.
If you ever find yourself in Italy between Rome and Naples visit a little village shop and buy some!
Someday I would love to spend some time in EU to explore and seek out some of the traditional goodies.
I processed my fermented peppers, they only had a couple weeks of time to bubble away before forgetting and raising the temperature in the room. I turned it up to a high level in order to dry some paint on some parts I had. That several hours was enough to quell the fermentation.
I was amazed at the great flavors, and apparently the active bacteria hadn’t been destroyed by the raised temperatures, since I have noticed a gastrointestinal benefit as well. Thanks Cal!
I processed my fermented peppers, they only had a couple weeks of time to bubble away before forgetting and raising the temperature in the room. I turned it up to a high level in order to dry some paint on some parts I had. That several hours was enough to quell the fermentation.
I was amazed at the great flavors, and apparently the active bacteria hadn’t been destroyed by the raised temperatures, since I have noticed a gastrointestinal benefit as well. Thanks Cal!
Na, just buy em online:
Black Olives from Gaeta 250g | Buy Online | Olives & Capers
English rapeseed oil is just as interesting and tasty. And we don't have to drag it half way around Europe to get it here
Whilst they still grow rapeseed in uk anyway. A lot of farmers are stopping it as yields are down due to changes in the law on spraying.
Kids wanted a halloween jack-o-lantern this year and finally got around to making soup with the flesh I scraped out yesterday. Tried making it a different way than usual, basically caramelising it a big with the onion in the pan first , thickening with red lentils and adding some Kashmiri chilli powder for colour and some tomato paste. Worked rather well.
Tonight was Diwali so had samosas then Sabji and then indian sweets till we nearly burst. The Paneer and pepper dish we had calls (Kadhai paneer) for tomatoes and we had an excess of grape toms we had bought for salad then didn't use so chucked those in. Really lifted the dish as added some extra sweetness to balance the spices. Tasted way to good to stop to photograph it though
Kids wanted a halloween jack-o-lantern this year and finally got around to making soup with the flesh I scraped out yesterday. Tried making it a different way than usual, basically caramelising it a big with the onion in the pan first , thickening with red lentils and adding some Kashmiri chilli powder for colour and some tomato paste. Worked rather well.
Tonight was Diwali so had samosas then Sabji and then indian sweets till we nearly burst. The Paneer and pepper dish we had calls (Kadhai paneer) for tomatoes and we had an excess of grape toms we had bought for salad then didn't use so chucked those in. Really lifted the dish as added some extra sweetness to balance the spices. Tasted way to good to stop to photograph it though
The apple talk I find interesting. I do have a small bit of space for a few trees. To grow an apple tree you need a clipping. It turns out seeds from an apple will not grow the same type of tree they came from. The gene structure is fluid. That is why there are so many varieties.
If any one would be so kind enough to send me a new growth clipping of a favorite apple tree I will see if I can propagate it.
My personal bias is to plant more trees than you remove. I recently took down three 100’ plus maple trees. One was dying when I bought the property, but I removed the parasitic vine that was the cause. The tree did well after that, however it was hollow and just waiting for a large storm to break it down and into a nearby house. The other two used to be a threesome, but one fell before and took out a privacy fence. (Tall solid fence)
My recent tree planting was three flame maples by the side of the road on my work property. One local jerk liked to run his four wheel drive pickup truck over the trees I planted there each winter. Having a bit of sheet metal machinery I built a “decorative” border around my third try plantings. The fence was made of .115” thick stainless steel bits with a rectangular bottom and a triangle top. Made an attractive tree border. Oh yeah I did sharpen the triangular tops to a knife edge.
Funny thing the four wheeler guy stopped running over my saplings! Also a tractor trailer driver who used to use my lot to turn around in stopped backing over that bit of lawn with the trees. Also stopped using my lot entirely.
Now my current third try at that location did have two of the current trees damaged, but it looks like they recovered and the truck drivers seemed to no longer be interested in damaging them. However for some reason the bits of decorative border seem to get stolen. I think some bits are not just leaving in tires, but with folks from the nearby bus stop.
As to fruit trees, around here peach borers seem to come with peach trees, as I don’t use pesticides, those trees don’t make it 20 years. A bit too cold for pear trees. A neighbor has a fig tree, but the summer is too short for ripe figs. So apples are the best choice for a fruit tree. Unless of course anyone wants to send me something to try.
On a side note there is another variety of fruit tree that was here before folks settled here. Not very popular and sufficiently gone I have never seen one and can’t even recall the name.
The downside of fruit trees is that they attract birds. So a single fruit tree will have much “damaged” fruit. A grove tends to only get a few more birds so a smaller percentage of damaged fruit. On the plus side predator birds like hawks and even an occasional eagle are now back after the DDT loses. That tends to keep the damage down.
As an amusing side note, a hawk in the neighborhood used to watch my neighbor’s ducks as they grew up. Once they reached full size, the hawk lost interest as they are a bit larger than the hawk. Also explains I think why ducks group so tightly.
If any one would be so kind enough to send me a new growth clipping of a favorite apple tree I will see if I can propagate it.
My personal bias is to plant more trees than you remove. I recently took down three 100’ plus maple trees. One was dying when I bought the property, but I removed the parasitic vine that was the cause. The tree did well after that, however it was hollow and just waiting for a large storm to break it down and into a nearby house. The other two used to be a threesome, but one fell before and took out a privacy fence. (Tall solid fence)
My recent tree planting was three flame maples by the side of the road on my work property. One local jerk liked to run his four wheel drive pickup truck over the trees I planted there each winter. Having a bit of sheet metal machinery I built a “decorative” border around my third try plantings. The fence was made of .115” thick stainless steel bits with a rectangular bottom and a triangle top. Made an attractive tree border. Oh yeah I did sharpen the triangular tops to a knife edge.
Funny thing the four wheeler guy stopped running over my saplings! Also a tractor trailer driver who used to use my lot to turn around in stopped backing over that bit of lawn with the trees. Also stopped using my lot entirely.
Now my current third try at that location did have two of the current trees damaged, but it looks like they recovered and the truck drivers seemed to no longer be interested in damaging them. However for some reason the bits of decorative border seem to get stolen. I think some bits are not just leaving in tires, but with folks from the nearby bus stop.
As to fruit trees, around here peach borers seem to come with peach trees, as I don’t use pesticides, those trees don’t make it 20 years. A bit too cold for pear trees. A neighbor has a fig tree, but the summer is too short for ripe figs. So apples are the best choice for a fruit tree. Unless of course anyone wants to send me something to try.
On a side note there is another variety of fruit tree that was here before folks settled here. Not very popular and sufficiently gone I have never seen one and can’t even recall the name.
The downside of fruit trees is that they attract birds. So a single fruit tree will have much “damaged” fruit. A grove tends to only get a few more birds so a smaller percentage of damaged fruit. On the plus side predator birds like hawks and even an occasional eagle are now back after the DDT loses. That tends to keep the damage down.
As an amusing side note, a hawk in the neighborhood used to watch my neighbor’s ducks as they grew up. Once they reached full size, the hawk lost interest as they are a bit larger than the hawk. Also explains I think why ducks group so tightly.
Last edited:
Not only that but grafting of rootstock to reduce disease can make it difficult to grow some varieties without simply grafting over new cuttings onto new stock - almost cloning the trees rather than growing them.
Pear trees are a common example of this too.
The rootstock also determines the size of the tree if I remember right.
In my junior school we had an ungrafted pear tree. It was HUGE and impossible to harvest.
Just looked it up, the forgotten tree is a paw paw!
Pennsylvania’s Forgotten Fruit: the Pawpaw | Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art
Pennsylvania’s Forgotten Fruit: the Pawpaw | Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art
