prism

Celebrate Old and New Traditions on Thanksgiving

Traditions are one way to bring back the memories of past years or share them with others. Thanksgiving is one of many holidays imbedded with numerous traditions handed down from generation to generation. Here are some ideas to ensure a memorable, tradition filled Thanksgiving year after year.

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How to Publish and Sell Your own Book by onlinemoneyteacher

Many people at one time or another have had the idea to write a book. However those same people normally give up because the find that it is almost impossible to either finish the book they started writing or get the finished product published. In this article i will do all of the work for you except write your book.

The Greatest Gift by Dollsandart

To give of yourself is a rewarding experience!

Lost - The Dharma Stations by claritynow

Now that the remaining survivors appear to be back on the island amongst the Dharma Initiative, it’s likely that the Dharma stations will feature heavily in future episodes. Here’s what we know about the Dharma stations on the island, as well as what we don’t.

BryanJ on High Altitude Crabapple Jelly Recipe With Pectin on 4th, Sep 2011

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I will add that I've made the jelly in pint jars and without added pectin and I've been able to get a nice soft jelly. (I'm not as much a fan of the very "hard" type jelly - the type that breaks apart on cool bread rather than spreading smooth - that many added pectin recipes produce.)

One thing I have found that my lovely clear crabapple jelly "clouds" when an opened (but lidded) jar has been in the fridge for several weeks. I don't know if this is a common issue with crabapples, or whether it is indicative of using only natural pectin. (Don't have that issue with other pectin-added jellies I've made.) This is one virtue of sticking to 1/2-pint jars when making. The clouded jelly, however, still melts pretty nicely on toast or when glazing but it isn't as pretty as the clear jelly when more freshly opened.

And to add for your metric equivalents: an American cup (volume) is approximately 200 grams (weight) of sugar. A cup of another ingredient obviously weighs differently in mass. Therefore your recipe is approximately 1000 grams of sugar to 1.18 liters of juice - much more sweet than Neil recommends. (Though I don't mind your sweet recipe since I tend to spread it sparingly.)

This year I made my crabapple jelly with some added ginger, garlic and hot peppers (anaheim and jalapeno) to make a slightly more savory glaze to use for roasted pork or chicken, since I've used the basic jelly as a meat glaze to much success. This way when I give it away as gifts I will call it a glaze and probably find recipients will be more excited to use it. I've found people are suspicious of crabapples expecting them to be too tart to enjoy even in a jelly. They're missing out!

ashKetchum on How to Build the Best Pokemon on 24th, Feb 2011

kobieseekahn

tomcmoore on High Altitude Crabapple Jelly Recipe With Pectin on 14th, Dec 2010

Like everything else we do in live we seem to go a little to far in our articles. I've made a lof to money here on buskis and can only give you my opinion. Long articles will not get people to read the entire aritlce. This fast past world that we live in seems to want information fast and move on. Sometimes faster than me and you can write. There's no problem with writing what you feel. It should be done like that, but most of my readers will only read 4 to 6 lines and move on, not even taking in every thing the article offered. I have over 740 articles running and coming up close to 1000 online. One day I will get you a trick to get you some additional revienue and it's right under your nose. Take care and keep up the good work;

megacurios on Crabapple Butter Recipe on 29th, Oct 2010

Your pictures really look good and delicious!

megacurios on Celebrate Old and New Traditions on Thanksgiving on 26th, Oct 2010

I wish Thanksgiving day was also celebrated in Romania...

Neil on High Altitude Crabapple Jelly Recipe With Pectin on 6th, Oct 2010

H’mmm . . . . I think that you’re making this a bit more complicated than it need be. I’ve been making crabapple jelly every year for many years, and each year I generally manage to improve upon last year’s batch in some way: either in the work, or in the results.

1. (This doesn’t really relate to the work or to the results: just an aside in connection with the high-altitude text. Many readers may be puzzled by what the height has to do with the jelly. This is an effect of altitude: as we go up from sea level, air pressure falls, causing water to boil at a lower temperature. So at 3300 feet - the height that Prism gives – water boils at about 97 °C.

2. Never, NEVER, N*E*V*E*R give the pulp a second boil-up with some added water to get a second run of juice: you’ll spoil the colour of the juice and therefore of the jelly. Second-run juice is more brown than red, and lacks the almost fluorescent colouring of first-run juice.

3. I suspect that the reason that Prism may be needing added pectin is that she’s making the juice too thin, i.e. she’s using too much water. In the picture of the fruit boiling in the pan, the water seems to be covering the fruit. I don’t use that much water: I fill the pan with crabapples, and then add water to about three-quarters of that depth – perhaps a bit more, but not enough totally to cover the fruit.

After you’ve strained the juice from the pulp, it should be a lot more viscous than water. About the density of washing-up liquid, is a fairly good comparison.

4. No matter how carefully you clean the fruit, or how fine your strainer, there will always be some ultra-fine sludge in the strained juice. I strongly recommend that you set the juice aside in the refrigerator for some days for the sludge to settle. If you leave it in a shallow container, it’ll be difficult to decant the cleared juice without also carrying over the settled sludge. Put your strained juice, therefore, into (plastic) bottles (at last, a use for them), the taller the better, and leave them for at least two days (but a week is better). Look at the bottom of the bottles, and you’ll see the brown sludge.

When you’re ready to cook up the juice, pour it off carefully and don’t use the juice from the bottom of the bottle. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pour all these tailings from several bottles into one new one, and put that aside again to settle. Or you could pour the tailings into a new batch of crabapples that you’re boiling up.

5. No matter what the commercial makers of pectin say, you shouldn’t need to add any pectin: apples and crabapples contain plenty, and the lemon (or lime) juice adds more. I think that the reason that Prism has found that she needs to add it is because of that second run of juice and/or too much water (see 3, above). It will have been more watery than the first run, and so will have diluted the juice.

6. The water bath method of filling the jars seems fearfully complicated. I simply heat my jars (not the lids) in a fan oven set to 120 °C. Mark them and their lids in some way so that each jar will get its correct lid. Take one or two jars at a time out of the oven and fill them with boiled juice and put the lid on quickly. The air above the juice in the jar will be at juice temperature, and there’s no significant risk of spoiling sterility.

As the jelly cools over the next few hours, the pressure in the small air space left in the jar will fall, and the ‘safety spot’ that most jar lids have nowadays will pop inwards – as it should.

7. Again, I’m sorry, but I think that you’re making things unnecessarily difficult in the preparation of the fruit. You do need to get the woody stalks off the fruit, as otherwise they’ll contribute tannin to the juice, but on the other hand you don’t need to split the fruit. This therefore avoids exposing cut fruit to the air.

Yes, it’s time-consuming to get the stalks off: you’ll have to find which way is easiest for you. Get them off against the edge of a knife, as the picture shows (but don’t cut the fruit in half), or perhaps use a pair of small scissors. But the end result is a pan of fruit, into which you pour the water for cooking. Don’t fill the pan to the top, as the fruit will froth up as it comes to the boil, and you’ll have a sticky mess over the stove.

8. This one is in very definite agreement with Prism: don’t mash the fruit. If you do, it will stick to the bottom of the saucepan and burn. But on the other hand, do break it up. I use an electric hand mixer, with plain mixer blades: that breaks the fruit up nicely. But don’t use a high-speed blender: that’ll produce the dreaded mash.

9. Prism is evidently in America, and uses the cups unit of measure. I can’t therefore really comment on the amount of sugar in her recipe. However, the old imperial measures used to say one pound of sugar per pint of juice. (In fact, they all more or less automatically gave that proportion for any type of jam or jelly.) Now a pound contained 16 ounces, and a pint was 20 fluid ounces. This was therefore a proportion of 16 parts of sugar to 20 of juice, or 4:5. When you turn that to metric, you get 800 grams of sugar to 1 litre of juice. I think that this makes an excessively sweet jelly, so I use 600 grams of sugar to 1 litre of juice.

So there you have it: much easier to work in metric than in imperial; 600 g of sugar per litre of juice, and the juice of one lemon or lime.

vishy on Celebrate Old and New Traditions on Thanksgiving on 3rd, Sep 2010

Nice work prism

Lisa Gough on The Thalidomide Tragedy ~ Will History Repeat Itself? on 30th, Aug 2010

I am a thalidomide baby born in 1962. I spent a great deal of my childhood years in a Shirners Hospital with many thalidomide babies. I am one of the very lucky ones. My birth defect is minor in comparison to the babies I have seen in person.

I agree that if thalidomide can be used under strict regulations, many people who suffer from certain cancers, leprosy and AIDS could benefit from thalidomide, but, unfortunately I tend to agree more with this article.

The human element is going to prevail. As cautious as many folks are, there are just as many people who are not as concerned about public safety and they have no interest in worrying about anyone other than themselves. It's just the way it is.

I hate to see thalidomide being reintroduced because I can't help believe that history will repeat itself. I don't see how it won't. The effects of thalidomide has been called "one of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times" and I believe it. I am a thalidomide baby. I've seen it for myself.

Karyn on Crabapple Butter Recipe on 26th, Aug 2010

Very detailed instructions about making crab apple butter, thanks! Now I do not feel as intimidated. I do have a question though. I want to make jelly and then another batch of butter. When I make the Jelly I will use jus the liquid. With the remainder pulp, skins and seeds, can I then press the pulp through and make the butter or do I need the liquid to do that? If not, any other suggestions what to do with the pulp after using the liquid to make jelly? Thanks so much.

Lisa on Help Avoid More Thalidomide Baby Births on 20th, Aug 2010

Prism,

You know nothing about how this drug is regulated, so stop SCARING people! This drug saves lives! When you or your loved one is diagnosed with a blood cancer you had better hope you can get your hands on it. The S.T.E.P.S. Program is highly regulated every country has to follow the prescribng guidlines. Since you didn't think to mention it, you will note that not a single Thalidomide birth has happened since this program has been instituted!!!! It's amazing you forgot that isn't it! You people need to pay more attention to who you get your information from and do your own research if your that concerned.

for Dryer Sheets For You're Computer Screen!! It Works on 14th, Dec 2010

I have a stack of dryer sheets I've been saving for a while. Now I know how I will be using them. Thanks!

for High Altitude Crabapple Jelly Recipe With Pectin on 14th, Dec 2010

Hello Tom. Thanks for your comments although they have nothing to do with how to make crab apple jelly or how well the article informs the reader on how to do a specialized process.

In response to your comments, in most writing communities, quality takes precedence over quantity any day. Nothing will make me move on faster than lots of typos, misspellings, excessive grammar issues, or articles that are too short and general to provide the information I was seeking. I write articles of many different lengths which is dictated by the necessary subject detail. Some warrant 300 words, others 1500.

I'm glad that you have made a lot of money here on Bukisa. With the pay per view model, everyone earned for their articles when displayed to the reader whether the reader actually "read" the article or not. As Bukisa shifts to the revenue sharing Google Adsense model, you may find that you have to change your writing style or strategy and work harder to earn a buck. I wish you continued success with your writing.

Thanks again!

for Crabapple Butter Recipe on 29th, Oct 2010

Thanks megacurios! I made so much of it last year that we still have about half of it left and I didn't make any this year. I tried substituting the butter in place of applesauce in applesauce muffins recently and it was so good I think we will be using up the rest soon. I think I will be wishing I had made more this year. My tree had loads of crabapples this year. Oh well, the deer had quite a feast. LOL.

for Crabapple Butter Recipe on 29th, Oct 2010

Karyn, I am so sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I think I was not receiving alerts from Bukisa for a time. It is probably too late for when you needed the info to make your crabapple butter but I will respond for future reference. The liquid used for jelly should be the thinnest liquid removed without mashing up the crabapples. Therefore, there is still a lot of liquid left behind within the crabapples. Once you press the pulp to separate the solids, you end up with a sauce that still has plenty of liquid which is why it needs to be cooked down more to get thicker. You also don't loose any flavor from not having the liquid you took for the jelly. I hope your jelly and butter came out good! Again, sorry I didn't see your question sooner.

for Work All Day Then Publish Something! on 29th, Oct 2010

I found Bukisa a couple years ago by accident. I really like everything about Bukisa from the earning method to the community. I wish I had more time to spend on Bukisa. Between family and a regular writing commitment on another site, I have a tendency to neglect Bukisa. I hope to someday get active on Bukisa again on a regular basis. I think one could do quit well with consistent effort. The more quality articles you have, the more you can earn. Also, additional promoting of articles beyond what Bukisa already does for us can only help all that much more. Great article! Keep writing!

for Celebrate Old and New Traditions on Thanksgiving on 29th, Oct 2010

Thanks vishy! Sorry I didn't see your comment before now.

megacurios, you could start a Thanksgiving day with your family which would be a very nice tradition to celebrate every year. Thanks for reading and commenting!

for Passion For Pansies on 25th, Oct 2010

Great article and subject! Gardening is one of my passions and pansies are one of my favorite flowers. I just love the way they seem to have cheerful little faces. Pansies are really an outdoor flower and prefer the cooler outdoor temperatures of springtime although they will flower into the hotter months. Do you have a place to grow them outdoors in the ground when the time is right? If not, do you have a place to grow them in a container outdoors?

for High Altitude Crabapple Jelly Recipe With Pectin on 25th, Oct 2010

Hello Neil. Thanks for your input. First I would like to commend you on working through the article in the state it was in. I have not been able to spend much time on Bukisa these days and was shocked to see all the funky symbols throughout the article. It was not like that when I posted it a year ago. I have fixed it and hope it stays this way.

Next, I would like to respond to some of your comments. 2. Sorry, I don't agree with this to be entirely true. I did not have problems with browning with a second run which I only did in one batch out of several that I made. There are many varieties of crabapples and perhaps some are more susceptible to this condition. Even with only one extraction, some crabapples will give a redder color than others. You can see in the picture of the cut apple that it is red inside as well as the skins being fully red. Perhaps that is why I did not have this problem. I have a friend that has a different variety which is very light inside like a regular large eating apple. The skin is half blonde and half red. These crabapples do not produce a nice deep red color jelly and perhaps the color would not hold up well for a second run of this type. That is just a guess though. 3. The reason it appears to have so much water is that the picture is of the pot in a hard boil. The water is pushing up through and over the crabapples. When you have half the amount of water to crabapples, the water is barely visible in the pot before cooking, only coming up to about 3/4 the depth of the crabapples. Also, as the apples cook they begin to break down and shrink as the juice is pulled out of them. At the stage of cooking in the picture, the water is not water anymore but is mostly juice. You are looking at the process close to the end, not the beginning. 5. You said: "No matter what the commercial makers of pectin say, you shouldn’t need to add any pectin.apples and crabapples contain plenty". Yes, I believe I said that in my article too in the first paragraph: "Apples and crabapples naturally have a very high amount of pectin and additional pectin should not be required." 6. The water bath method described is a standard water bath method that has been recommended by Ball and the USDA for safe canning practices and the same method used for canning anything that doesn't need to be processed in a pressure cooker. Some people still use the method you describe without the water bath or even use a paraffin seal with no water bath. This is very much a personal choice. I am a little confused about your comment regarding matching the right jar with its correct lid though. It has me wondering what type of jars/lids you use. 9. Yes, I am in America. Thanks for the metric lesson. Now let me help you with our measurement and sugar content. First, there is 8 ounces in our cup, 2 cups or 16 ounces in a pint compared to 20 ounces in your pint. Five cups of juice is 1.18 liters. Five cups of sugar is 496 grams. So in actuality, this recipe produces a jelly that is less sweet than the proportions you mention would be.

Again, thank you. By the way, where are you located and at what altitude?

for The Importance of Call Centre Staff on 25th, Oct 2010

Great article! I think part of the problem also is that corporate doesn't feel like they have to work very hard to keep their employees happy anymore. Look at the economy and unemployment rate. People stay in their jobs as long as they can even when unhappy or mistreated because another job might not be so easily found. If they do quit, corporate knows there are plenty of unemployed people ready to eagerly take their place.

for Spinach Dip to Live For... on 2nd, Aug 2010

This sounds so good! I really must try it. I like the idea of the bread bowl too! Thanks for sharing!