ok this is just gross

did you know the red/pink coloring in yogurt & other foods is BUGS!!!!!!    I am so glad I do not buy it, another plus for making your own.

oh the name is carmine or ?? I need to look for it on any colored foods.



http://www.ibtimes.com/dannon-uses-bugs-red-yogurt-carmine-dye-contains-crushed-cochineal-insects-1361375

Cochineal is a red dye that has been used for centuries by the Aztecs and Mexican indians for dying wool for weaving.  It became a leading export when it was discovered by the Spanish.  Some synthetic dyes have surpassed it for coloring but they were found to be dangerous for human consumption.  Cochineal is safe for consumption.  It is cleaned and dried before processing. A bug free food dye called red dye #40 is actually derived from coal.

A gal I went to school with worked for research and development for Heinz....ketchup division.

OK, so I won't go any further. But suffice yogurt isn't the only gross food out there.

We just have to trust our systems are strong enough to combat some of the nastiness out there. Heck, when I was a child my brothers fed me mud pies...and I just had another birthday!!!

Since this bug thing has gone public, I've noticed that a lot of the foods that used to say "carmine" as the coloring, now say beet powder.  LOL  I know some people that would rather eat bugs than beets.   Speaking of beets, I planted mine thickly in one of the upper terraces of my raised beds, in the front and my vining winter squashes in the back of it so they would grow up the trellis.  We've been tying up the squash and cucumber vines but they are still overtaking the plants that are directly in front of them.  My beets will be okay for pickling but the greens look horrible from the uneven sunlight they receive.  Well, I'm recording all this so that next year, I'll know better how to organize things.  I love the raised beds, easier to plant, attractive, little to no weeding and things grow quickly and well.

And by the way, that's not me in my avatar pic, it's my dad with their dearly departed dog, Daffy.  My dad would howl and then Daffy would start up and they'd sing a chorus of a song, they only knew.  So funny!!!

Pea, just wanted to tell you can post about canning any time  

Pea, I just posted a site link the other day for a nice container/raised bed gardening site. She does a lot with square foot gardening and pallet gardening, where you plant stuff to come up between the slats in wooden pallets. A lot of frugal ideas for growing produce in small areas.

I use to grow my beets in a broadcast bed, just tossed the seeds in an area willy-nilly. I thinned a bunch early for salad greens and then continued to thin as they got big. The young ones only needed to be washed well and cooked, didn't even need to be peeled.

I'm looking forward to playing around with a few things when I get back to the villa.

Barbara101 wrote:Pea, just wanted to tell you can post about canning any time  

And you can send me a jar of your relish, for which I shall return a very nice thank-you note!

LOL  

you know if I want my plain jane homemade yogurt pink ,I add strawberrie's.sliced or chunk-ed or mashed.

And, Barb, the next time you make your yogurt I want you to do a photo series, complete with a time line. Please? Pretty please?

I have tried to make it three times and every time I ended up with stinky liquid, not at all yogurt.

You know how you said you needed a visual for the cooking on the grill? Well, that's the way I am with your yogurt. I read your instructions a hundred times and always ended screwing it up. So, go SLOW for me.....think remedial cooking class here...."Yogurt for Dummies" if you will.....because when I get back to the villa I want to make my own. I know how to strain to thicken, but I don't want to have to drink it through a straw! Help me out, please!

ok but I have no idea how to do that..It really is so easy.I make it about every 2 weeks.maybe you are not letting it sit warm enough.???

bethk wrote:Pea, I just posted a site link the other day for a nice container/raised bed gardening site.  She does a lot with square foot gardening and pallet gardening, where you plant stuff to come up between the slats in wooden pallets.  A lot of frugal ideas for growing produce in small areas.  

I use to grow my beets in a broadcast bed, just tossed the seeds in an area willy-nilly.  I thinned a bunch early for salad greens and then continued to thin as they got big.  The young ones only needed to be washed well and cooked, didn't even need to be peeled.

I'm looking forward to playing around with a few things when I get back to the villa.

I have always done my beets the same as you and planted them very close so I could thin them out and sauté them in a little butter with salt and pepper. I pick them so that the bulb is just developing and we eat them whole with the greens and bulbs, they are amazing that way. Next year the upper tier will be just beets.

Are you able to have raised beds in your yard or do they have to be on legs and on your deck? I'll try to find links to the ones I've purchased.

And isn't that a hoot about canning -- some people from cooking.com and the newer forum are just snobs and comment as if I'm some country bumpkin and know nothing. I've been canning for nearly 40 years. LOL  

These are the raised beds that I have -- 4 of the first link and 2 of the second and then I have 3 - 20 gallon grow bags with peas in them.  The peas are called Peas in a Pot from Burpee's and are especially for container gardening.

http://www.amazon.com/Cedar-Raised-Garden-Bed-Trellis/dp/B004Q0ES7Q/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1375034196&sr=1-5&keywords=suncast+raised+bed

http://www.amazon.com/Cedar-Tiered-Raised-Garden-Trellis/dp/B008XF0HYI/ref=pd_sim_lg_6


I only paid $98 each for the two-tiered beds and $64 for the single levels. They are very well made and I had a huge pile of black top-soil delivered. Once the plants get established, there is virtually no weeding and I had very little before that.

Oh, my, but those are handsome additions, especially at this point in our life.  I'm thinking of experimenting with some new-to-me methods....hydroponics with just circulating water and small stuff that can be grown in gutters buried to patio depth along the edge of the sidewalk or patio.

We have a huge farmers market /flea market that is open every weekend and anything that is able to be grown locally (I'm talking down at our villa in The Villages) is sold fairly inexpensively.  It's nice because I can purchase two red beets or four carrots, whatever.  I loved when the fresh baby bok choy was in season, and could get just enough for a couple meals instead of too much packaged together where I had to either eat it every day or end up throwing it out.

Re: the canning....yes, sometimes they treat us like we're trying to poison everyone in sight.  The nice thing now is my older daughter has all my canning stuff so she gives me some whenever she cans.  But I do miss making bread and butter pickles, the dilly hot beans and chow chow.  But there is no way I want a huge amount anymore.  We just don't eat it like we use to.  So now I just make a jar of refrigerator pickles or pickled beets.  Last year I stored my pickled beets in the back of the refrigerator for the year in one of those tall "lock lock" plastic containers.  Actually, I liked the onions better than when I canned them because they stayed crisper than when heated in the hot water bath.  I ate them from September until just finished in mid June....and I'm not dead.  No mold, no cloudy....absolutely fine.

And isn't that a hoot about canning -- some people from cooking.com and the newer forum are just snobs and comment as if I'm some country bumpkin and know nothing. I've been canning for nearly 40 years. LOL  

I really got into canning this year, Pea.  Even my husband loved doing it and helping me with it (he just retired so he LOVES everything -- he's having a hard time wiping a smile off his face).  Recently made some pickles for the first time -- something I'd wanted to do for years.

Anything you have to share about canning would be wonderful!