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Post by woodeye on Feb 6, 2024 7:09:00 GMT -6
Clearly, I have the attention span of a monkey, because I don’t remember last year’s snowfall. Remember the tornadoes, tho. 😉
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 6, 2024 17:57:43 GMT -6
Well, that’s not very comforting.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 6, 2024 17:58:02 GMT -6
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Post by woodeye on Feb 6, 2024 18:11:06 GMT -6
hahaha, We don't stand a chance against those monkeys, FrostyTurnip. I'm worse than you. Monkey see, monkey do is just too far fetched for me...🤔😊
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 6, 2024 22:55:39 GMT -6
I can always rely on Woodeye to crack me up with his quick-witted humor. And for that I am highly appreciative. The monkeys were just too much I always was a sucker for the chimp channel! I enjoyed that! Teddy and Frosty!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 18, 2024 8:08:22 GMT -6
Wow! It got down to 12° here last night. We got up to 70° last week and the forecast calls for 76° by Wednesday; what a roller coaster!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 18, 2024 8:37:26 GMT -6
Was out late morning, yesterday, with a guy as he was giving me estimates. Sunny and clear skies, but the biting wind reminded us that winter was still around.
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Post by woodeye on Feb 18, 2024 11:01:00 GMT -6
Agreed. It's too soon to pack away the soapstone I use to warm my toes. Two mornings in a row I have had to utilize advanced hot rock technology.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 18, 2024 11:30:01 GMT -6
We had a biting wind move in here in Virgnia, too, yesterday, bringing a return to freezing temperatures overnight. My husband and I were out in the afternoon doing some wood splitting and stacking, and by the time we packed up, the temperatures had dropped down to the thirties. As soon as I came inside, I got a hot shower to get the cedar pollen [it’s even here in Virginia, though far less than in Texas] out of my hair, and then I sat down with my feet on a warm soapstone, too.
My mother has been looking for a chance to tap her sugar maple tree this year, and there haven’t been a lot of good stretches of days recently with good weather and temperatures consistently above freezing with nights consistently below. We put three taps in yesterday and are hoping to get a few gallons of sap to boil down. It won’t make much syrup, but some is better than none.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 23, 2024 19:29:30 GMT -6
I got 6” dandelion shoots coming up. All that clean up work I did? They’re all over the place. But the warmth . . I feel sorry for them.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 23, 2024 22:11:47 GMT -6
Young dandelion blossoms are some good eatin' when fried up with a little batter on them. I feel sorry for them too.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 24, 2024 7:21:18 GMT -6
In my childhood we used to eat wilted dandelion salad in the spring. My mom would gather young greens, cook up a couple slices of bacon and then sauté the greens in the fat. She would crumble the bacon on the greens and add sliced hard cooked egg and perhaps some homemade croutons. I believe she topped it with vinaigrette.
I’ve eaten dandelion flowers just plain but never have had them battered and fried. I might have to give that a try. I like squash blossoms that way.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 24, 2024 12:37:07 GMT -6
Fried dandelion blossoms are a traditional Spring fare in our family, just like eggs and wild onions, or poke sallet. Yes, that's Sallet, with a 'T' not salad with a 'D'. (Sallet is a French-derived Appalachian word) similar to salade. Salad is served fresh and raw, (Poke is poisonous when eaten raw). You have to take special precautions when preparing a poke sallet.
When I was a kid, we used to pick poke by the thousand pound trailer load, to sell to Griffins cannery in Muskogee. We got 5¢ per pound for it, or $50 per 1,000 pounds. $50.00 was a lot of money back in the early '70s. We were happy campers back then. Listening to Elvis on the old 8 track helped put us in the mood for a hard day's work in the hot, May, sunshine.
Back to fried dandelions:
The secret to serving dandelion blossoms is found mostly in mustering enough patience to pick enough of them to make a decent showing at the dinner table. Patience is a virtue and oftentimes the hardest part. The blossoms have to be plucked just before they open or very shortly thereafter. (The first day they bloom) sotherwise, their cottony innards don't go over too well when plated.
Back when I worked in the women's prison in Taft, the Warden could not stand the look of dandelions anywhere on the compound and would have inmates hit the lawn by the hundreds every morning, picking dandelion blossoms and hauling them off by the wagonload. (It was a 42 acre compound), so there were lots of dandelions there just going to waste. I'd ask a few of the more trusted inmates to set aside any tender specimens for me. Then, I take them home to fry and bring a few with me to work the next day to freshen up in the air fryer in the prison kitchen. There were times when they'd bring me an entire burlap potato sack stuffed full of tiny dandelion blossoms.
To prepare them, the blossoms are shaken loose of any unwanted debris, then dipped in a light, well-seasoned batter, and then fried to a light golden brown. Most beer batters are good for this type of fritter frying, or else use a favorite tempura batter if you know a good one.
Just like good fried chicken, fried fish, or fried squash, the secret to good fried dandelions is found in the seasoning and the palatability of the batter.
Speaking of Women's Prisons, even Martha Stewart fries dandelions. Here's her take on the process. Fried Dandelion Batter Ingredients:
2 cups unsprayed dandelion flowers, wiped clean
1 ¼ teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon chile powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 large egg
¼ cup milk
Directions:
Step one: When picking dandelions, pinch blossoms off from top of stems. Fill a medium bowl with 4 cups of cool water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and lemon juice. Place dandelions in the bowl and push them down into the water several times to clean them. Drain dandelions upside down on paper towels.
Step two: In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, and chili powder. Add thyme, and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk. Pour egg mixture into flour and stir until well combined to form a batter.
Step three: Pour 1 inch of oil into a 9-inch cast-iron skillet. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Gently dip each flower into batter. Carefully place in hot oil; do not crowd. Fry until golden, about 2 minutes, turn, and fry 1 more minute if necessary. Drain on paper towels. Salt lightly. Serve hot as hors d'oeuvres or a side dish.
(I never follow step one myself), I just fry my dandelions, au natural. I wonder if Martha Stewart ever had to pick dandelions during her stay at Anderson Federal Prison? Maybe, she'll drop us a line someday and let us know.
Here's a good tempura recipe and video, well worth the time it takes to watch.
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Post by amyinowasso on Feb 25, 2024 11:45:57 GMT -6
Okay I admit to being a city girl, what does a dandelion flower taste like? My husband picked dandelion leaves for greens one year. He ate them, I found them bitter. I suspect the texture would bother me . I know my geese loved them. They ate all the dandelions in the back yard and as far as their necks would reach through the fence. Warmer than normal weather is predicted through March 9th. I still need rain. We're still more than 2"behind the average rainfall.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 25, 2024 21:55:31 GMT -6
Amyinowasso,
The taste of dandelions vary slightly, depending on their stage of maturity and the seasoning used in the batter. They have sort of an 'earthy' tone, similar to mushrooms, though not as strong an earthy flavor as mushrooms, and minus the mushy mushroom texture. Dandelions have a texture that's hard to describe, they have substance, something to bite and chew, sort of fibrous, similar to fried okra, but no okra-like mucilage, some say more like a fried green bean. They retain a slight floral aroma after frying, but surprisingly little floral taste, the yellow, flowery parts are slightly sweet, while the green parts have a slightly bitter flavor. They are crispy on the outside, due to the nature of fried batter which imparts a mildly frittery flavor, and are slightly salty if seasoned properly.
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