Subj : Al K. Haul
To   : Dave Drum
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Mon Jun 30 2025 13:48:04

Hi Dave,

 RH> A few years ago we started trying small amounts of it in cooking. Still
 RH> don't drink it tho.

 DD> Which brings us back to the original reason for fermentation, eTc. As
 DD> a food preservation method from back in the pre-refrigeration days.

 RH> Same with a number of things we don't do these days. When was the last
 RH> time you buried a ham in a barrel of salt to cure it? Most likely,
 RH> never, but that was common at one time.

 DD> Never salt cured anything - except ice.  Bv))=  ButI did help hang
 DD> hams and pork bellies (to make bacon)  in the smoke house and stoked
 DD> the smoke generating stove.

Used to be, just a wood fire was kept smouldering for smoking. All in
all, Steve likes the "convenience" of the smoker he has as he can
usually do a project in a day or less. Cheese only takes a couple of
hours but has to be done when the outside temps are under 70 degrees F.

 DD> But your usage pretty much mirrors mine these days. I use it DD>
 culinarily, not recreationally.

 RH> You probably use it more than we do. We can go months without using it,
 RH> then I'll do something that calls for it a couple of times, then not
 RH> again for more months. Shrimp scampi is enhanced by a splash of white
 RH> wine a couple of minutes before turning off the heat & serving it over
 RH> pasta.

 DD> Actually it's been a couple years since I've used anything alcoholic
 DD> as an ingredient. I still have two of the 187mL bottles I bought from
 DD> Walgreens when I stocked this kitchen 10 years ago. One red and one
 DD> white.

We buy the maybe quarter liter boxes, a red and a white, from Publix,
but yes, have bought more than one each since moving in here back in
December, 2014. Don't remember if we used it in the rental house or not.
We did try the gin and raisin "cure" for arthritis but it didn't do a
thing for either one of us.

 DD> My friend, Lee, makes wine as a hobby - much like our late friend
 DD> Burton Ford. Lee presents all in his monthly group with a bttle(750
 DD> mL) of some very nicely done grape juice. I re-gift it to someone
 who DD> will enjoys it.

We've regifted bottles several times. Our Legion Auxilary has a white
elephant gift exchange as part of our holiday party; when I first
joined, a lot of bottles of wine were swapped. I never got one and over
the years as membership changed, the bottles disappeared.

 DD> Without getting off into an off-topic discussion of religion - wine is
 DD> and has been an integral part of Western religion since before the
 DD> late, great J. C.

 RH> Definatly. IIRC, the southwestern native Americans fermented cactus
 RH> juice.

 DD> Agave cactus is the basis for tequila.

 DD> And many of the old, traditional wineries/distilleries began in and in
 DD> many cases are owned/operated by various religious orders.

 RH> Which goes against some orders of poverty.

 DD> But they weasel their way around it with fancy bookkeeping - just like
 DD> politicians. You do know that politics was invented/refined in the
 DD> Roman church, don't you?   Bv)=

Want to buy an indulgence? It'll save you from saying a few hundred
"Hail Marys"--yes, I know.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


.... Matthew 7:20 | Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

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