As I'm going to be doing the market, Brad picked up some candy samples to see what works and what doesn't.
Salt Water Taffy, Caramels, Skittles original, Blue Whales, Skittles berry.
Regular caramels do not work, btw but everything else was great. Apparently I need to get Werther's Chewy Caramels for this purpose but I have decided to go with Milk Duds instead -- I'll pick some up today to try them in Betty first.
We decided to rehydrate some Thai Green Curry Chicken for dinner to have with some naan bread I had made that morning.
Oranges were finished, time to bag them up.
Salt Water Taffy
Because the Salt Water Taffy expands so much, they must be cut into quarters
Filling the trays with Salt Water Taffy
The after result of Salt Water Taffy, each quarter expands to the size of the original piece. Cup for reference as this massive jar is one of two I picked up a few months ago for just this purpose.
Just as I was pushing the button to start the Salt Water Taffy run, the power went out. Literally, just. I thought I'd blown up the machine for a minute until I realized the whole house was out. Whew... as Brad was not out of bed yet, the power outage soon woke him up... but with no power --- no morning coffee --and neither of us wants that, believe you me.
This is where 2.5 years of RV Living comes in handy.... I put some water on the woodstove to boil and pulled out the handy MyJo from our boondocking days.
Water on the stove to boil
means a Tim Horton's coffee pod injection to his bloodstream is imminent LOL
Note the coffee pod in the middle
3 pieces that go together like this
Fill with water, then you place it on the cup and push the top plunger down.
Priceless in an outage.
The power returned about 5 hours later but we had already decided to make Tandoori Chicken for dinner and it was waiting in the fridge.
As it was packaged on Oct 30/20
Out of the package and in to a dish
Add water and allow it to sit, I put it in the fridge to absorb the water while we await suppertime.
Meanwhile, it was time for lunch
On top of the woodstove with a lid, okay so its 2 bread pans - but it worked.
When it was time for supper, I made some rice -- haven't freeze dried any rice yet. We've only had Betty for about 6 weeks remember....
Warmed up the Tandoori Chicken on the stove.
Delicious.
So I have finalized my list of things I want to sell at the market. I completed the MarketSafe course and I also took the FoodSafe 1 course again to allow flexibility as my previous one expired long ago. Now I am able to do 'high-risk' foods in a commercial kitchen should I want to later.
As I have a corporate mind, it is very difficult for me to 'keep it simple'... when I first decided to sell FD items, I set up a whole website and massive online presence before I remembered that I'm retired and I like it that way... so I cancelled it all. Just a local market presence and an etsy shop.... plenty enough for me right now. Just a little something to do.
I have chosen 5 fruits, 5 vegetables, 3 candies and 8 powders (for people to make their own smoothies)... Stacey and I spent a whole day trying to find a perfect recipe for smoothies to sell, without any luck --before it dawned on me to just make the individual powders and let people create their own combinations with the fluid base of their choice at home.
Glad things are still working out for the FD foods.
ReplyDeleteNot good when the power goes out at the start of the day. Luckily the wood stove helps you out.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Don't think I'd ever be without a woodstove at this point. Sooo handy. That said, I'd much prefer Central Heating to any other.
DeleteI was just reading about FD cat food. Raw meat and vegs. That would be great to sell at the market. Usually market buyers have pets.
ReplyDeleteThank you FG, Pet treats was on my list but got lost along the way.... appreciate the reminder. :D
DeleteGood luck in your new endeavor. Should keep you very busy over the winter. :)
ReplyDelete