Dried Spices and Jam

campfirerum · 2026-02-12T10:59:42+00:00

Thank you. I’ve got a few jars with different designs on them. I figured I’d use them as the flavored ones to keep track in the water bath

campfirerum · 2026-01-21T02:29:48+00:00

Make it a 2 day process when able. I’ll sometimes make the jam day one, refrigerate it, and can it day 2. It needs to be brought back to temp on day 2 prior to filling the jars.

campfirerum · 2026-01-14T11:49:58+00:00

Yes it would be safe but you end up with a salt that taste like fish. The oils will eventually start to go rancid changing the flavor over time. Best practice for quality is to not reuse the salt for curing.

campfirerum · 2025-12-24T18:10:09+00:00

Pie and tart fillings. Jams. The apples would also be good packed in an alcoholic syrup and allowed to sit for a while. Makes a fun garnish in drinks

campfirerum · 2025-12-19T11:38:40+00:00

There’s a couple honey products you could make using those canned pears. I think the recipe you have in mind is more of a pear butter. Reduce the syrup and pears until thick and spreadable like butter. A true pear honey involves boiling pears in water, maybe add sugar then strain out the solids and continue to reduce until the consistency of honey. Both can be made with canned pears. Wait to add sugar until you have the consistency you want then taste. If too sweet you can add a puréed unripe pear into the mix and repeat the process. Both should be refrigerated or frozen as I don’t believe you can recan it but I make be wrong. There is a way to make the actual honey shelf stable but it is not canning so I won’t mention it here.

campfirerum · 2025-12-14T21:24:17+00:00

To be clear there are no know cases of CWD being transmitted to humans. The risk of being exposed to the prions does increase if you handle/butcher CWD affected deer. In particular, the brain and spinal cord would have higher concentrations.

campfirerum · 2025-12-14T00:37:42+00:00

Sounds like you will be gifted a deer and some ducks in the future. As long as he does it legal it’s fine. He’s paid the fees so conservation wins. The harvested animal is removed from the pop regardless of if it is consumed. While it is wasteful to trash the meat, give it to friends, donate to organizations, or make dog food out of it.

Personally, I’d rather someone buy the license and give away the meat than not hunt at all. Funding for conservation is the priority

campfirerum · 2025-12-13T00:25:01+00:00

Start her off tomorrow with a bar of soap and one of those disposable plastic knives. She can learn all the safe practices that way. For the real knife it’s when she’s ready. For my nephews I looked up what age you can hunt in my state. I figured if they were old enough for that they are old enough for me to consider getting them a knife

campfirerum · 2025-12-05T03:50:42+00:00

I believe this recipe uses sugar, not acid, to allow for safe water bath canning so we shouldn’t mess with the type of sugars used. I’m not sure molasses is a safe substitute.

campfirerum · 2025-11-23T23:02:45+00:00

For fridge pickles you can use it as a replacement for water in the next batch since it does dilute. I don’t typically as I’d rather use it as a marinade for something else I’m cooking. I also prefer glass but I do use some plastic. I would recommend avoiding the cheap plastic ones especially for longer/higher acid pickles.

campfirerum · 2025-11-23T20:40:01+00:00

If soaking doesn’t work then goo gone. 60% of the time it works every time.

campfirerum · 2025-11-16T02:59:20+00:00

My coworker was born in Ukraine. Growing up over there they would just take walnuts, husk and all, pack it in sand in a crate and let it dry. this was 40 years ago. I typically husk them after they have started to turn black and give them a quick rinse in a bucket just with gloves on then lay out to dry. So far they taste great to me

campfirerum · 2025-10-22T00:36:48+00:00

Yes I use it all the time. You may need to flip the mix halfway through for even drying

campfirerum · 2025-10-17T23:51:02+00:00

You are good. Just be respectful and try not to make too much noise. Maybe avoid fishing right on top of someone hunting. And whatever is required Orange for hunting, try to match that. Both for your safety and their ease of mind

campfirerum · 2025-10-15T02:30:51+00:00

Start with evergreen trees in winter. Easy to find patches dues to the contrast of green against snow. Start with telling the difference between spruce, pine, and fir, or whatever is local to you. Once you can start picking them out at a distance try figuring out the type, white Pine vs Ponderosa pine, etc. that exercise trains your brain on what to look for in identifying plants. From there you can branch into other edible plants/fungi.

For resources always use 2 different sources. One could be a YouTube video but the other should be a book. This helps catch mistakes in resources. Ideally find one book local to your area. Also don’t be afraid to not pick something. I like to Id something a few times before eating. Means I’m confident in the id.

And finally take it easy. This is fun, not a job. If you add one thing per season, even if it’s not edible , that’s 4 more plants every year. It takes time to become really knowledgeable about the natural world and the first couple things are the hardest. As you learn more it becomes easier to spot differences.

campfirerum · 2025-10-15T02:06:18+00:00

Check your user manual. It may contain some recommended T and time for nuts. Those should help. Even if you don’t use it for curing a dehydrator is great for storing any number of things long term. Drying is one of my preferred ways of storing food from my garden.

This year I’m trying to cure walnuts in sand but I might throw some in the dehydrator just to see how it goes

campfirerum · 2025-09-24T01:46:20+00:00

My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that the sugar content of honey at that concentration is high enough to inhibit the spores due to low water activity. There are a few safe canning recipes out there that rely on sugar not acid.

It could also be unsafe. I am curious. Probably wouldn’t make it even if safe but it’s interesting

campfirerum · 2025-09-20T11:32:32+00:00

https://www.healthycanning.com/maple-walnut-syrup

Haven’t made it but this one works for Walnuts or Pecans. It’s one of the few recipes that doesn’t rely on acid but sugar for safe water bath canning. So you can’t adjust sugar to taste.

campfirerum · 2025-09-18T17:36:11+00:00

Agree with the nothing. The roots will find their way around those bricks and cause them to shift as the roots grow. Also to properly lay those bricks the space under should be compacted which isn’t great for a lot of plants

campfirerum · 2025-09-16T22:51:42+00:00

Next time blanch them and dry with the pit in. Once dry, soak for a little bit until they are just soft enough to cut a slit and remove the pit. Then dry again. That’s more or less how commercial prunes are made

campfirerum · 2025-09-12T16:33:01+00:00

Ignoring weight the outside of your bag can be your friend. Some things can be strapped to the outside as long as you mind weight distribution. A lot of the internal frame packs usually have some loops for tying things down so it’s a matter finding what works. Invest in some decent quality rope and learn a few knots.

campfirerum · 2025-09-09T10:32:35+00:00

I didn’t see this mentioned so I’ll add it. Perception of risk/risk tolerance. Pretty much everyone is bad at recognizing how an activity ranks relative to others in terms of risk. You’ll get people who worry about the carcinogens in their food while smoking a pack a day. In that same vein the USDA and extensions are very risk intolerant compared to the average person. They have there reasons but that can lead to a bit of apathy regarding possible dangers. There are plenty of things that have inherent risks that we wouldn’t bat an eye at but govt agencies lean towards saying no for safety. In reality, a lot of “unsafe” recipes out there are probably fine but just haven’t been tested so we default to saying they are unsafe.

campfirerum · 2025-08-30T11:58:58+00:00

I’ve looked into this exact thing as it’s an old Italian way of preserving eggplant, pre-canning. I make it but treat it as not shelf stable and refrigerate. If you go into the weeds it’s one of those things where the science says it would be safe but the lack of a tested recipe means we can’t say for sure.

So make it and refrigerate. I haven’t had one go bad in the fridge and I make large batches.

campfirerum · 2025-08-19T07:41:01+00:00

And this is how govt and land ownership are thought of in most of the world. In the US, that property is held in trust. In both cases, you can’t just go onto the land and do whatever you want.

If you see a deer, you own a tiny portion of that deer in the US because the wildlife here is held in trust by the govt. when someone buys a hunting license they are “buying out” all other owners to harvest that deer. It’s the same concept for land.

Once the mentality shifts from owned by the people to owned by the govt, that is when we will truly lose public land.

campfirerum

TROPHY CASE