Chinese Dates (Jujube) preservation

For no good reason

how I'm making the preserves of the season

Chinese dates, aka Jujubees

These arrived the past week from family in California.  We have 3 large trees and lots of shoots coming up from the ground around them, kind-of the way pomegranates can grow a new "tree" from a root far from the main trunk.

At this point we eat as many of the more solid looking, not shriveled and not blemished as we possibly can.  The we worry about how to keep the others for the year (or two or...).  In the past we then take the rest and make jam out of them (might show you that some other time).

Last night, I dried some whole ones and for the first time painstakingly cut some off the seed as well. I set the oven to 175-degrees Fahrenheit the lowest possible.

The ones I cut off the seed were so so good!  Kind-of like crispy sugar candies of some kind.

Last night, Fu and I finished all of the sliced ones and a few that were dried whole.

Today I wanted to make more for Mi so she can taste both when she gets back on Saturday.

I'll update this when they are finally dried (3-4 hrs later) but for now, here they are sorted, peeled and in the oven:

Okay, it took a bit longer, more like 5.5 hours but I think that is because my first batch was already drier and it was a small test batch.

These will last a year or two stored properly.  Ok, here they are!

Why I started this blog...

The idea at the time, was let's go!  Put something out there!  Get going with new technologies in your field!  Talk about yourself as if everyone in the world wants to hear you!  Join the crowd!!

Obviously I did not "go" anywhere with this blog. No one besides my brother has seen this and I'm not sure I WANT anyone to see it.

I am here again because I have the desire to log some work notes somewhere, in a way that is easy to search, has a 'management' scheme of a blog and etc.

There are so many different ways to do these things, ranging from electronic logbooks to project management suites.  I'm not sure how I'll end up doing it or if I'll come back to this blog at all.  If I find something interesting that I think others might want to read, then maybe I'll come back here... later... in another 3.5 years...