CSA week nine wrap-up

I hoped to have another post today but I screwed up the dish and ended up having to throw it out so you're getting the wrap-up instead.

Actually, I threw a fair amount of produce out this week. I had hoped to make another salad soup but the lettuce had gone too grotty so out it went. In contrast, I peeled the canistel too soon and, when I washed up, found my fingers covered with the sticky stomach-ache-causing sap so I tossed that too to be on the safe side.

The dish today was an adaption of this recipe for persimmon chews. I substituted in black sapote for the persimmon, used light brown sugar and added a little vanilla and a good squeeze of lemon juice. The resulting goop was tasty but, after a lengthy time on the double boiler and a cool down, showed no sign it intended to thicken into anything close to a "chew". I don't see how the recipe would work with persimmons, even the more solid sort. The double boiler should keep temperatures from rising anywhere near what's needed for the sugar to thicken up. Maybe persimmons have lots and lots of pectin?

So I figured, put the mix right into the pot, get it up to 250 degrees and that should do the trick. But I got distracted and let it burn, ruining it and quite possibly the pot. I still think the recipe has some promise so I might try it again next time I get some sapote to work with.

I do have one success to report, though. I made the Italian green bean recipe suggested by drlindak in the comments on this week's start-up post. I made the one small change of substituting in the milder pecorino toscano for the pecorino romano. I'm usually not much of a pesto fan, but I liked this a lot. Maybe I just don't care for pine nuts.