Opuntia, a revisiting

     I have been rethinking the case for planting spiny Opuntia at the new place. The spiny Prickly Pear still makes a delicious fruit, and it has the added benefit of keeping out people, deer, and anything else soft and fleshy.
There is a very nice overview here.
     I must have at least 20 starts in the front yard ready for transplant. Exciting!

Vitamin C Tisane/Infusion Recipes

Dried Hibiscus Flowers 

     Be aware that boiling the plants for 20 minutes reduces available ascorbic acid by at least 20%. Perhaps making sun tea/solar tea or steeping overnight might be a better method.

High-C Tisane (Homemade Red Zinger Tea)

Dried hibiscus, lemongrass, orange peel, peppermint, and rose hips
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Pine Needle tisane

Dried pine needles
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Celestial Seasoning's Red Zinger

Mint tisane

Your choice of mint or balm
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Fresh Flowers, Water. Let chill overnight. Enjoy!

Vitamin C for the Survivalist

     Have you ever thought about what your diet would be like if you had to fend for yourself? Have you found a solution to the problems of vitamin insufficiency in restricted diets? Most of our modern, processed foods have been vitamin-enriched to prevent scurvy, rickets, and folate deficiency. If you were trying to supply your whole diet from what you can grow or forage, would you be safe?

     Interestingly, capybaras and guinea pigs (cuys) also lack the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid just like humans, bats, and some other apes. If cuys are one of your survival protein sources or urban farming animal, this is a problem you will have to address.

     Lack of vitamin C results in scurvy, with significant symptoms appearing in as little as three months. Foods naturally high in ascorbic acid are cruciferous vegetables, all kinds of peppers, kiwi, seabuckthorn, acerola, goji berry, persimmon, and citrus. Also found in oysters and animal liver. Heat (cooking or canning) significantly reduces available vitamin C in foods. One trick for canning is to add lemon juice to foods which are lacking, increasing the vitamins, preventing oxidation, and lowering the pH.

     Although I have no real proof, I suspect that the leaves of many of our edible plants that produce high-vitamin crops probably have a higher than average concentration of those vitamins, particularly before flowering and fruiting. I suspect strawberry, rose, and hibiscus leaves to be higher in vitamin C, banana leaves to be higher in potassium, citrus leaves high in both. With our soils naturally being magnesium-deficient, I suspect that to be lacking in a person living on a native Floridian diet (in the absence of shellfish and other seafoods). The more research I have done to prove or disprove this hypothesis, the more I notice there is a lack of study in this area, though I did find here that purslane and plantain are very high in vitamin A precursor. This study finds that ascorbic acid is higher in lemon leaves than in the bark, roots, and juice, partially confirming my hypothesis.

Dehydrating Food on the Cheap

     Having a curious mind will get you everywhere. While stumbling around the internet I was able to find some fascinating information about using solar cookers. There are many different kinds of solar cookers available to build yourself or purchase. There may even be a market to produce solar cookers for sale, if someone were enterprising enough.
     The best part about using a solar cooker is that it uses no electricity at all. It creates no heat in your kitchen for your refrigerator and air conditioner to fight against. It is carbon-neutral, green technology that can be cheaply made and acquired, that will pay for itself in savings after a few uses.
     I am unclear on why so few people use solar cooking here in Florida and elsewhere around the United States. When the weather is pleasant it is good to just be outside, and most solar cookers require very little tending. Sunlight, is much more plentiful and cheaper than charcoal, firewood, or propane.
     The most basic solar cooker that I know of has materials I was able to get at the local W. Mart for under 10 USD. It really has only two necessities, a vehicle sun visor and some self-adhesive Velcro from the craft department.

     Wrap the vehicle sun visor into a cone with the reflective side on the inside. Place the Velcro carefully so as to attach the sides to one another. Ready to go, and portable.
     When dehydrating, follow the conventional rules for dehydration. There are many great videos online, apparently spearheaded by the Mormon movement. Cut the food as thinly as possible, then into as small of pieces as possible. I placed the apples in between two splatter guards that I got for Christmas. I put the splatter guards on top of a dark bowl, then out in the sun at about 11:00 am. I did end up turning the cooker about every hour to track the sun - about 5 seconds worth of work. After 4 hours, half the apples were completely dry. The rest I put out the next day to finish up.
     The secret to dehydrating well seems to be all in the cutting. A lot of people recommend using things like lemon juice or soy sauce, and you can if you wish. But the magic is in the slicing.

Windshield Shade Solar Cooker