I Hate Being Told

If you haven't figured this out yet, I have a strong dislike of being told I "can't" do something, simply because someone (GOONS) might just never have done the research on it before.  To say that you can't, without even trying, or pondering how to do a task, is just plain lazy and rather ridiculous. 

I would even venture to suggest those that insist on "can't" lack a bit of the spirit of adventure. 

My family believes in embracing adventure and living outside of the box marked NORMAL.  (I haven't found a good set of words that NORMAL would stand for, yet, but I do feel that I ought to, don't you?)  I would say that embracing adventure from babyhood to adulthood has put the power of fear into perspective and has made risks less emotionally risky, and sometimes, less mentally and physically risky.  S.D. is a kindred adventuring soul, and together we've found all kinds of ways to make our lives the kind of lives we want to look back on with happiness and satisfaction when we are very old.  We are working towards eudaemonia. 

And what is a life well lived without hot fudge topping?  When the zombies come, and we're living off what we've put by, a little joy into just surviving is just plain important.  So, in the interests of the joy that only hot fudge topping can bring, I started to look into how to put-up hot fudge.

This is when I was told I "can't".  I hate that.  really really.  If I am able to can bacon jam, onion jam, ghee, beef, pork, fowl, and other such things, fudge really ought not be such a stretch, should it?  I didn't think so.

So I read, I watched videos, I bought cookbooks, I really tried to educate myself, and the biggest sticking point that I puzzled over was not about safety, as there are very safe ways of canning dairy, sugars and fats.  I was concerned about how to make a quality product that was heat tolerant and would withstand pressure canning temperatures.  This led to the collection of several hot fudge recipes, which I printed out and reviewed the positive aspects and negative aspects of each.  I wanted to use cocoa powder as an ingredient, and I wanted to use regular sugar as an ingredient, but the recipes using those things would crystalize unless handled with kid gloves, while I was reluctant to use chocolate chips, they seemed like the best option for flavoring.  My sugars are all in liquid form, and while I used some prepared items and combined them, I am certain I could break this recipe down to even more basic ingredients.

As a thought to ponder, though, would I really be doing pressure canning at the apex of the ZA?  No, not really, which is why keeping the recipe as-is will likely be the adopted course of action.  So, with much less ado, here it is, my current Holy Grail of Canning: Canned Hot Fudge Sauce

Gather together your weapons and tools:
heavy bottomed pot (I used a large one that would accommodate more than a gallon of liquid)
wooden spoon(s)
heat-resistant rubber spatula
wire whisk
measuring cups and spoons
jars, lids and bands
pressure canner and accompanying tools

Now, gather your ingredients:
#1 semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate (I may experiment with milk chocolate in the future, but this time through...)
1/2c salted butter
1c Lyle's golden syrup
1/2c corn syrup
1 tsp instant coffee
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 TBS vanilla

(I had gathered up all the ingredients for all the recipes I'd found, and played Jr. Chemist while doing this experiment, above items were what made it into the mix)

Melt the chocolate and butter over as low of heat as you can get in a heavy bottomed pot.  You do not want to increase your heat for risking burning your product and having to start all over again.  At some juncture in here, wash your jars, heat your lids and start water boiling in your canner.  Add your syrups and coffee, mix well.  Bring back up to temperature.  Mix in evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk, you'll want to use the whisk at this juncture.  Bring back up to temperature.  Turn off heat, add vanilla, mix well.

Put product into half pint jars, leave 1" headspace.  I'm not kidding about this, do not use 3/4" headspace, use 1", as the product will get really hot and will boil out if the jars are too full, and it's an unholy mess!  Wipe your rims, lid and process at 10# for 60 minutes.

While I am certain that you could put the product into pint jars and process for 75 minutes, I think it would adversely affect your fudge.  As it is, you will need to give it a wee bit of a stir when you open the jars to enjoy.  There is a slight baked-brownie aspect to the final product, instead of being simply velvety-smooth.  S.D. and Lucy found it to be very satisfactory, and had to be restrained from just eating it from the jar with a spoon.

Yeah, I hate being told.

Waste Not, Wine More

In our wine making endeavors, we allowed many, many pineapples to enter the house to become fodder for the wine mill.  I dislike waste, but want a clear, pretty-colored wine product, so the skins had to come off.  But what to do with the skins?  After processing 10 pineapples, I came away with roughly 9# of skins, a magnificent quantity, but what to do with them?  The internet provided an interesting recipe for them, which I will share here:

Pineapple Chili Syrup Sauce

 Chop roughly 9# pineapple skins into 2x1/2" pieces (approx), and toss to coat well with: 6# sugar.

Let it sit, let it sit for a good, long while.  Poke at it a bit here and there, then ignore it for a while, when night falls, stick it in the fridge overnight.  Take it out the next day and stir it up a bit, and heat it all in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium/low heat until it simmers.  Strain out the chunks, then strain again through a finer sieve to get the wee tiny chunks out.  Return to heat and simmer some more.  Add:

1.5cup lemon juice

1cup honey

1 TBS + 1 tsp ginger powder

1 TBS hot chilli powder

1 TBS Ancho chili powder

Return to simmer, skimming off the scum that rises to the top.  Keep skimming, that stuff is kinda gross.  Simmer for about an hour, reducing it some.  Pour into pint jars, process in boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

They Can Make a Pill for That

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249450115938044.html

The GOONS are looking to approve a new obesity pill.  This ought not be any kind of surprise, the thought of "curing" an evil that is manufactured by the same systemic corruption that is looking to any means to "subdue" it.  Supposedly, we have a crisis on our hands; we do, just not the one they're (ostensibly) trying to fix.  

I think it's just another means to add another ingredient to the culmination of the ZA... a drug that influences the pleasure centers of the brain and includes an appetite suppressant?  REALLY?  If you suppress something long enough, something comes in or out from the side, remember that.

So, outlining the steps for you: 

The GOONS are in bed with everyone, BigAg, BigPharma, and the Media.  You are going to be given "food" that isn't, get confused by contradictory information on what to eat and what not to, when you DO eat, the "food" will make you addicted and sick.  Because you are sick, BigPharma is going to solve your problems by giving you more medication.  When, or if you decide to attempt (and the majority of attempts are weak at best) to walk away from "food" to eat food, it is made incredibly difficult because the "food" is manufactured to be incredibly addictive!  

All done in the name of increased sales, really, if you believe that.

So, the average American eats the "food" watches manufactured and addictive media, becomes sedentary, becomes sick, takes drugs to manage the sickness, works hard on the mill to pay for insurance to pay for the drugs that are managing the sickness, and the cycle continues.  The people are controlled.  Quite effectively, I must say.  The managing of disease continues because the population has been convinced that the cure either does not exist or is too painful to grasp, and the above said powers that be keep folks believing the cure is not worth it, because to be cured means to take back health, will and self-determination.

Let's add in my bit on top.

All is happening as said above, right?  Add in a lack of checks and balances on what chemicals are being put into the systems of the masses, the test tubes we call a nation, and add energy... perhaps energy from untested, unpublished scanning equipment put in place by the GOONS who just want to control everything.  

Remember high school chemistry and what it takes to make a chemical reaction react?  heat or energy.  

I'm not saying that the GOONS, BigAg and BigPharma want to create the ZA, but I would say that they, through their own agendas and wondrous stupidity, are doing the heavy lifting to make it happen quickly.  The control over our own fates still lies in our hands and I encourage you to grow your own food, eat as organic as you can, and put by what you can when you can, because like it or not, the tenuous control of the American people is in the hands of the GOONS.

When there is a revolt, they will take away the medication that manages the disease, and when that doesn't work, the GOONS and their minions will take away the food.  Control through starvation and deprivation.  People will do anything you want them to do if they are hungry enough.

What the GOONS (who can't manage a national budget, how in hell can they manage our lives??) haven't figured out is that their systemic poisoning of their populace is really gonna backfire, and what we have figured out is that those of us who are awake will have to do the surviving.

It's time to plan gardens, it's time to start seeds indoors, it's time to take a stand on our health.  Don't manage the disease, cure it.  Most times, the cure is in your food, the real thing.