Carambola Chips

If I had more starfruit, and carambola wine weren't so good, I'd make these all the time.  Slice them thinly and liberally dose half of them with chili powder before putting them in the oven.

2 firm-ripe carambola 
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

Slice star fruit crosswise with slicer into 1/16-inch-thick slices.
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add star fruit, then remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 15 minutes. Pour star fruit into a sieve set over a bowl and drain 15 minutes. 
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 200°F. Put liner on a large (17- by 11-inch) baking sheet, then arrange star-fruit slices in 1 layer on liner (discard extra along with any broken slices). Bake until dry, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Immediately transfer chips to a rack to cool.

Chocolate Pudding Fruit, Chapter 1

I had never eaten the fruit of Diospyros nigra before today.  It's name gives an indication of the typical persimmon fruit lifecycle - astringent and bitter when unripe, soft and sweet when ripe.

I cut the first and only fruit from my tree last week when it started to turn from green to brown.  I patiently waited until the fruit was entirely brown and the flesh started to "give."

I cut it open and was pleased to see the chocolate pudding colored flesh inside.

I grabbed a spoon.  The flesh is still very firm, almost rubbery.  The taste is anything but chocolate.  I suppose I should congratulate myself for waiting long enough that any bitterness and astringency was gone.  But my first and only chocolate pudding fruit tastes a lot like an unripe pear.

The trees are supposed to be heavy bearers.  We'll what next year brings.

Chocolate and Blueberry

We kicked off two new brews this weekend.  I'll call them brews because one is not truly a wine - Chocolate Mead.

Each batch I make involves some research, and I found that chocolate mead recipes range from cocoa preferment to Hershey's Syrup postferment.  I went with the former.  I heat pasteurized the honey, added 8 ounces by weight of Hershey "Special Dark Chocolate" cocoa, and after much reading and hand wringing about pH in meads, went with no adjustments to the pH of 5.99.

We'll leave this on the cocoa lees for 2-3 months.  It is said to take 2 years for the bitterness of the cocoa to settle down.  I see why some would choose the Hershey's Syrup route.

The second batch is a second run blueberry hibiscus wine.  I saved the fruit/skins/pulp from my blueberry wine earlier this fall.  I thawed it and simmered it in a gallon of water.

Then in the primary I put the usual hibiscus flowers, a can of red grape concentrate, and sugar.

Then poured the blueberry water (with the bag) into the primary and gave it a good mix.  The kitchen smells like baked bread.  But the must is surprisingly fruity, with excellent deep purple color.

The plan is to let this cool, add OptiRed and pectic, then adjust the OG and pH and pitch the yeast in the morning.