84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 19, 2000
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
Say it ain’t so,
Green ketchup. Green
KETCHUP, for crying out ioud!
“Did you get your green
ketchup yet?,” joked my mom
last week, during a quick family
lunch on the deck one lovely
afternoon last week.
We like to think we embrace
most new ideas pretty quickly
here. Green ketchup (or catsup,
or whatever the spelling you’re
accustomed to of this tomato
based condiment) is the H.J.
Heinz food company’s latest in
novative condiment creation to
hit the supermarket shelves.
Or so we’ve read. None of us
around here has actually seen
any of it yet, so maybe it’s just a
marketing idea that was being
floated in a sort of consumer trial
balloon.
Green ketchup isn’t aimed,
though, at the taste of adults.
This dramatic color change is
targeted to kids, consumers who
thrive on stuff that looks some
what gross to adults. And, green
ketchup might cause some react
ion of that nature. Not because it
looks or tastes or functions any
differently, just because we veter
an condiment users have this
mental image of ketchup as a
thick, reddish substance which
hangs up in the bottom on the
container.
Home Dry
Dry cleaning products are be
coming more and more popular
as consumers seek the conven
ience and cost savings of doing
dry cleaning at home.
Now that they have been on
the market for awhile, what’s the
score?
According to Maytag, the pri
mary benefit of using
these kits is for fresh
ening dry-cleaning
only garments in home
automatic dryers. The
kits may remove some
stains from garments.
Professional dry clean
ers have stain removal
tools for a wider vari
ety of stains.
How they work:
After a colorfastness
test, treat spots with
the special stain re
moval solution. Once
the stain is treated, the
garment is ready to be
freshened. This is done
in a specially designed
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Imagine french fries topped
with a dollop of green. Or, a hot
dog sporting squiggles of green
catsup. (Hot dogs served with
green ketchup and yellow mus
tard should play well at next
winter’s John Deere days open
house events at area dealerships.)
So, how about orange pickle
relish to go with that? And pur
ple onions, which God has al
ready created all by Himself with
no need for help from food mar
keters, thank you very much.
Or maybe even yellow ketch
up, to compete with the attention
of the mustard set? That should
be easy, given that yellow toma
toes the base source product of
ketchup makings already
come in a variety of yellow
shades. (I have oodles of tiny
little ones in the garden; anyone
wishing to try this, they’re yours
for the picking).
Actually, there are also orange
tomatoes, and cream-colored to
matoes, and if you got to mixing
all the potential shades together,
you could almost have a rainbow
of ketchup colors. If properly
packaged like those pens that
write a bunch of colors at the
same time you could theoreti
cally stripe your cheeseburger
with a rainbow of ketchup at one
swipe.
The possibilities are just mind
boggling.
Cleaning Kits
dryer bag and a pre-moistened
dryer-activated cloth. More than
one garment can be treated. The
bag goes into the dryer. The bag
protects the garments from heat
while releasing moisture from the
cloth to freshen the garments.
After the end of the recommend
ed time, remove garments from
But if the sacred cow of red
ketchup Has gone by the wayside,
why not look at a redo of some
other familiar foods.
One of the seed catalogs that
arrives every winter advertises
blue potato seedstock. Together
now, let’s visualize the color of
potato chips fried from blue po
tatoes. Topped with green ketch
up, of course.
They’d probably turn the same
shade of purple as the blue corn
tortilla chips you can occasional
ly find in the supermarkets. First
time I ever saw those was during
a camping trip grocery-restock
ing stop in an Idaho supermar
ket. Our grown-up kids poked
fun at me for getting them, but
scarfed down the entire bagful!
in short order.
We’re almost making pigs of
ourselves on the fresh sweet com
of the season, one of our very fa
vorite August foods. Meanwhile,
a small planting of Indian corn
at the corner of the garden tow
ers over my head, planted espe
cially for the grandsons.
Wouldn’t it be neat to have
multi-colored Indian-sweet com
to plop on the grill in its husk
and munch dripping with butter?
That’d definitely get your guests’
attention.
You could dazzle your friends
with a summertime spread of
picnic favorites, hot dogs and
hamburgs lathered with green
ketchup, red-speckled-and
striped corn-on-the-cob, purple
potato chips, and for dessert,
slices of crispy-sweet yellow wa
termelon (which we are harvest
ing and eating as we speak).
All served up beside the spar
kling waters of your pink swim
ming pool.
Bon appetite.
Do They Work?
the bag and hang immediately.
Pitfalls: If crisp creases in
pants, skirts, or shirts are impor
tant, home dry cleaning is not a
good alternative. Some fabrics
such as silk or rayon can develop
water rings when used with
the home dry cleaning kits.
(These rings can be re-
Dry Tomatoes?
According to Martha Filipic of
Ohio extension, you can dry gar
den tomatoes.
The best tomatoes to use are
the meaty type, such as Roma
tomatoes. From 14 pounds of
fresh tomatoes, you can expect
to end up with about a half
pound of dried tomatoes, or 2.5
to 3 pints.
Use fully ripe tomatoes, and
cut away any bruised spots be
fore beginning the process.
As with any vegetable, picking
a tomato off the vine activates
certain enzymes that causes
changes in color, flavor, texture,
sugars and nutrients. So, its al
ways best to process tomatoes as
quickly as possible after being
harvested.
Before you begin the drying
process, pretreat the tomato by
rinsing it off and dipping it in
boiling water for one minute.
Peel the tomato and remove the
stem end. Cut the tomato in slic
es from an eighth to a half of an
inch thick. With Roma toma
toes, you can also just cut them
down the middle.
A food dehydrator is the best
appliance to use to dry tomatoes
follow the manufacturers di
rections. Drying in the oven is
possible, too. Use the lowest
oven setting possible, about 140
degrees. Once it’s preheated,
leave the oven door open a few
inches, with a fan blowing across
the opening to assure good air
circulation and to allow moist
air to escape. Adjust the temper-
Tour Trial Gardens
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co) Backyard gardeners,
gourmets, and any person with
an interest in vegetables can find
out how to produce, cook, and
serve great produce by attending
moved in some instances.)
Home dry cleaning kits are not
recommended for use with leath-
er, velvet, suede, or fur.
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ature setting and use an oven
thermometer to be sure the oven
remains at about 140 degrees.
Place the tomatoes on a cook
ie tray or put them on a cooling
rack that’s set on top of a tray.
They should be dried for several
hours, perhaps as many as 10
hours, depending on the thick
ness of the slice and the moisture
content of the tomato. They’ll be
crisp when they’re done. Watch
carefully, as they can scorch eas
ily near the end of the drying
time. Store the dried tomatoes in
an enclosed container in a cool,
dry dark place.
To make dried tomatoes in
olive oil, cut Roma tomatoes in
half and dry them until they’ve
shrunk to about one-quarter
their original size, are dark red,
shriveled and dry but not hard.
Let them cool for an hour, then
pack into jars and cover with
olive oil. Let the tomatoes mari
nate at least six weeks before
using. These tomatoes must be
refrigerated, because the combi
nation of fruit and oil in an air
tight container could cause botu
lism. Remember, the tomatoes
must be dry and the tomato mix
ture must be refrigerated to en
sure this product is safe.
Chow Line is a service of The
Ohio State University. Send
questions to Chow Line, do
Martha Filipic, 2021 Coffey
Road, Columbus, OH
43210-1044, or
filipic.3@osu.edu.-30-
Penn State’s All-American Selec
tion Vegetable Tour, Aug. 24.
Jhe Penn State Trial Gardens,
comer of Bigler Road and Park
Avenue, University Park, are
test plots for new vegetable vari
eties to see if they are reliable,
vigorous, productive, and show
distinct improvements over other
varieties in use.
Participants will get a chance
to tour, sample and photograph
vegetables, ask questions. A $25
registration fee includes materi
als and catered lunch. For more
information, call Peter Ferretti
at (814) 863-2313.
5935 OLD PHILADELPHIA PIKE, GAP, PA 17527
PHONE: 717-442-8134 • FAX 717-442-3112
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