God I love growing our own

[enrico]

I have wanted to do this for so long...

A couple of weeks ago I was offered the opportunity to pick some perry pears from a local orchard. There were two of us interested and we picked around 75kg of pears between us. This afternoon we took them to the premises of a local orchard group to crush them and then press them using a hydropress, which I've never used before. I can't deny that it was very impressive. You'd never think that just tap water pressure would extract so much juice.

In the end we split forty litres of juice between us. Now the interesting bit starts...

James

Used a water press for the first time this year. 60 litres of apples turned into 25 bottles which fit perfectly into my honey warmer from Lidl (jam maker) for pasteurising.

 

[JamezF]

I am guessing the leftovers will be compost or will it make feed for something ? What is the interesting bit, does it involve alcohol ?

The spent pomace has to be taken away from the orchard group's place with you, so I have taken it all and it will go on the compost. It is incredibly dry and quite difficult to break up. The "interesting bit" is getting it to ferment and produce alcohol, as you correctly surmise. It's the pear equivalent of cider, basically.

James

 

[fian]

Drying/smoking is a well-known process in the Atlantic arc of the peninsula.
In Spain there are two areas that stand out for their paprika (sweet, spicy or bittersweet), which are La Vera and Murcia. Paprika is nothing more than varieties of dried or smoked red pepper and ground very fine.
In the region of La Vera (Extremadura) they smoke it while in Murcia it is dried in the heat of the Mediterranean.
There are two very important factors in smoking:
A. The type of wood is generally oak or holm oak but any non-resinous wood can be used.
B. The free height between the ember and the element to be smoked.

 

[JamezF]

Used a water press for the first time this year. 60 litres of apples turned into 25 bottles which fit perfectly into my honey warmer from Lidl (jam maker) for pasteurising.

The group have a number of 14-bottled pasteurisers that they rent out, but have just installed a much larger three-phase unit that will apparently do around 100 bottles at a time. It's quite a beast.

James

 

[Penninetrader]

The spent pomace has to be taken away from the orchard group's place with you, so I have taken it all and it will go on the compost. It is incredibly dry and quite difficult to break up. The "interesting bit" is getting it to ferment and produce alcohol, as you correctly surmise. It's the pear equivalent of cider, basically.

James

Great, pear cider is the preferred summer drink for me and my good lady.

 

[holmbee]

Just taken advantage of a 40% price reduction to order tomato seeds for next year. Old favourites Ailsa Craig, Gardener's Delight and St Pierre (third year). Plus Abraham Lincoln - second year, really impressed last year good size, good crop and great taste. New this year are Moonglow and Golden Sunrise. All to be grown in unheated greenhouse.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Next year I will be growing Polish Linguisa and Faworyt for processing and Sungold for the table. @pargyle gave me some seeds from his famous blight free plants so I will put those outside.
I bought some seeds of long orange peppers last year and as the weather has been poor they have taken a long time to ripen. They are on the small side but ………..HOT! So they aren’t peppers!

 

[E&MBees]

Just taken advantage of a 40% price reduction to order tomato seeds for next year. Old favourites Ailsa Craig, Gardener's Delight and St Pierre (third year). Plus Abraham Lincoln - second year, really impressed last year good size, good crop and great taste. New this year are Moonglow and Golden Sunrise. All to be grown in unheated greenhouse.

Where did you buy them from? I would be interested to know. Thanks

 

[holmbee]

Where did you buy them from? I would be interested to know. Thanks

Plant World I think sale ends today

 

[Amari]

I grew my customary five rows of spuds on my allotment this year - but maybe no need. The spuds grown in a huge
(?100acres) field opposite have been harvested leaving copious small and medium sized spuds behind - easily accessed from the footpath running alongside. It took me less than 10 minutes to glean 14lbs using a litter-picker.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/jean-francois-millet/the-gleaners-1857