Raw Sheep's Milk Cheese, first day of fall, and MORE Italian Prunes

Autumn decorations came out of the boxes today...

Interesting day at the market yesterday.  I bought something totally new and fun:  raw sheep's milk cheese.  All I can say is...sublime.  Just, sublime.

As I may have mentioned before, dairy and I aren't always the best of friends, but, in moderate amounts, and fermented or cultured, I can tolerate a bit.  This sheep cheese is a hard cheese.  To me it was richer, tangier and sort of buttery-er than a hard cow's milk cheese.  Some of these precious jewels were actually cured for a YEAR.  I bought one that is cured wrapped in leaves and coated with herbs.  It was a luxury and a splurge.  I paid $8.00 per block for these little tastes of heaven, and they were worth every.  single.  penny.

Not that anyone cares, but I have to say it made a very satisfying lunch, along with some of my dehydrated walnuts, and some fruit I bought at the farmer's market--a pear, and a pluot  (a plum/apricot hybrid).  It was a fall-ish, quite September-ish lunch.   Simple, fitting fare for the weekend of the autumnal equinox. 

 

This year the official first day of fall is September 22nd, today, at 4:44 PM, according to the farmer's almanac.  On their website they share a delightful little poem that describes this change of seasons beautifully:

It is the summer's last great heat

It is the fall's first chill: They meet. 

  --Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt 

 

Does that describe the time of year perfectly, or what?

 

I'm telling you, I think Italian Prunes have got to have the shortest window of availability of any fruit I know.  There was one vendor selling them last Saturday, and they were still a bit green, and yet this week, there was one vendor selling them, and by the time I got there mid-morning there was only 12 lbs left, perfectly ripe...and that was all they had for the season!  Yikes.  So my other plans for the afternoon went out the window; I jumped on it, and bought all 12 lbs.

I wanted to show you another option for quickly getting those little things dehydrated and stashed away for winter munching.  (Who am I kidding, these will be gone by the end of October.)  If you want to be quick, you can just slice them in 1/2, pull out the pit, and then, one technique, which I used here, is to "pop the backs", which is kinda like flipping them inside out.  Alternatively, you could use a toothpick and poke holes in the skin.  A third option, according to some sources, is to just cut them in half and throw them on the tray...however, I haven't tried that, and I'm guessing it would take longer for them to dry that way.  (My most reliable source The Dehydrator bible, recommends the toothpick technique, and to tell you the truth, I can't recall where I learned the popping the back technique.  It's hard to remember...all my favorite books and websites start to blend together after a while.)

Step 1--wash, dry and slice Italian prunes in 1/2.

Step 2--Pop them inside out.

 

 

 

 

Step 4--Lay them skin side down, and dehydrate at 130 degrees.  Surprisingly, they took a little less time in the dehydrator than cutting the prunes into 1/6 ths!  Start checking them at about 15 or 16 hrs, but depending on lots of factors (size, humidity, etc) it may be up to 19 or 20 hrs..

 

One thing I like about this technique is how quick and easy the prunes were to prepare.  One slice around the middle and the job was done!  The pit pretty much just falls out.  Another thing that makes this way preferable is that the finished prune is round; no sharp, pointy tips like you get with slices.  I think this is the way I will go from now on.  Here's what it looks like when it is done dehydrating.

This is week I will (Lord willing...) finally be able to get into my "regular" school-year routine, now that my delivery-subbing gig is over, and a few other extra obligations and commitments I took on at the same time.  So...whew.   Look for at least one bulk freezer cooking post this week (spoiler alert: meatballs...) and at least two crock pot posts (I'm going to attempt lentils again, a different recipe.  I just can't leave them alone with a failure hanging out there!) 

 

Happy first day of fall.