elaine wrote:

> "Katra" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Ok, I have a bit of a problem here sometimes...
>>I do nearly all of the cooking (by agreement since I'm better at it than
>>he is <G>) so I prefer to do the meal planning AND the grocery shopping
>>so I know what I have and can use it within a reasonable amount of time.
>>
>>I've been buying less as I'm on a very strict diet (trying to lose 123
>>lbs. and am down by 23 so far since Jan. 4th) so am not eating a lot at
>>all. In fact, I fix myself a separate meal from what I cook for dad.
>>
>>At the beginning of the month, he gets his SSI check and tends to want
>>to grocery shop. <sigh> We end up with TOO much fresh produce! I s'pose
>>I could blanch and freeze it, but I've run out of freezer space and he
>>would just buy more! :-P
>>
>>Enter the Tilia food saver! I'm finding that it DRASTICALLY increases
>>the shelf life of fresh produce! Or at least on the one item that I
>>tried it on, plus it should allow me to clean and prepare it prior to
>>sealing it into portions. Handy that! :-)
>>
>>So, dad bought 2 nice big beautiful bundles of Asparagus! I had a lot of
>>older produce that I really needed to use up first, plus there were
>>about 2 days worth of leftovers in the 'frige. It's been my experience
>>that, even at a good regulated 40 degrees, asparagus starts to spoil
>>after about 3 days. The tips (which are the best part!) go first, then
>>after about 5 days, the stems start going soft.
>>
>>So I took a large foodsaver bag and undid the wire holders and flattened
>>out both bunches of fresh asparagus into the foodsaver bag and "saved"
>>it. I got a really great vacuum on them too! :-) The plasic nicely form
>>fitted itself around the asparagus spears.
>>
>>I checked them every couple of days for spoilage and finally after a
>>solid 2 WEEKS a couple of stems started going soft and I started to lose
>>the tight seal around the spears. I assume that is because spoiling
>>veggies produce a small amount of gas.
>>
>>I opened the package to cook them and I had to toss one entire spear,
>>and 2 lower stems. That's it. The rest of the asparagus tips were
>>perfect and the stems etc. of the remaining ones were still fresh and
>>crisp enough to "snap" the tougher part of the stems off and break them
>>up into bite size pieces.
>>
>>I sauteed' them in butter and olive oil with leeks and shrimp.
>>
>>I've not experimented yet with any other fresh produce, and am wondering
>>if anyone else has or does???
>>
>>Thanks!
>>Kat
>
>
> Katra,
> Congratulations on losing 23lbs. Now that's the kind of incentive that
> should keep you going until you reach your goal. Good luck!
>
> This doesn't having anything to do with the Tilia food saver, although it
> sounds wonderful. Yesterday, I bought some pickled asparagus from Costco -
> they were really good. Now that asparagus season is almost upon us (at
> least here in Ontario), I plan on making some myself. I would imagine it
> would be like pickling cucumbers. Will check it out at Google.
>
> Elaine
>
>

Another pickled asparagus fan. I'm going to try making it with mum's
dill green bean recipe, as soon as local asparagus is available. Looks
like it'll be awhile in the midst of another round of white stuff in Maine.

Jessica