August 15, 2011

The Nesco food dehydrator is supposed to arrive today.  This week there’s going to be a glut of peppers and tomatoes that are all ripening at once, so the dehydrator will be just in time.  I ordered the 700W model with an adjustable thermostat.   It costs a little more than the basic model but it has one more tray, adjustable heat and some extras that the basic model doesn’t have.  And it looks a lot more solid.  It’ll be fun to try it out – I’ll have to make some jerky later. 

Here’s a pic of the Giant Marconi peppers.  It’s my favorite sweet pepper, tangy and sweet.  I picked one yesterday and grilled it with eggplant and chicken.   This morning I picked the first pimento pepper, they are sweet and thick-walled and great with tomatoes and cucumber.

These are the paprika peppers, very large this year.  I bought the plant at the farmer’s market and will be back for another one next year.  These will go in the dehydrator.

And here’s the red hot cherry peppers.  I’ve read these are good for pickling.

Tomatoes are really coming on.  The brandywine especially are very good.  The ones in the picture are German Queen.  I’ll probably go back to raising at least one Supersonic F1  tomato next year.  It’s just been a very good robust plant for me that produces excellent tomatoes from mid July to fall.  And I’ll plant one heirloom, probably Cherokee Purple.   

The lavendar touch eggplant is about four feet tall.  Good thing the tomato plant on it’s north side is almost seven feet tall.  It has completely outgrown the fairytale eggplant that was seeded at the same time.  The fairytale plant is a little over a foot tall.  Probably the last year for that variety although it is good on the grill.

 

I put some produce in a cooler for the delivery person.  I know it’s a long trip to the middle of nowhere and it’s usually their last delivery of the day, so a little reward is in order. 

Weekly totals:

Tomato 8 lb 6 oz;  Okra 3 oz;  Eggplant 11 oz;  Sweet pepper 9 oz;  Hot pepper 11 oz;  Beans 8 oz 

The spreadsheet under the Results tab has been updated as well.