How does this fit into subjects we discuss on the Harvest Forum? Perhaps you are letting others know that there are other forums out there that they can explore if they are interested in those subjects?

Nancy

Thanks Ruthie, off topic or not this is a neat recipe for candy making that my grandkids will love!

Jackie

How snappy you are Nancedar ...considering it is a recipe that I thought "My friends" here at the Harvest forum might like since it is quick and easy and since we all like to make gifts from time to time. Sorry that you are so freaking offended.

Thank you, friend RuthieG. We're purchasing the items needed and will make these candies with our daughter and granddaughter tomorrow when they come over for Thanksgiving dinner. We appreciate anyone sharing something special of themselves --

Kathy

I can't wait to try this. I'm sure the granddaughters will have fun doing this. Thank you Ruth, I always enjoy the little extras you give to our forum.
Donna

Thanks Ladies...A friend was over and I showed it to her and she said...I've been looking for a recipe for my 9 year old to use to make a gift for his teacher...and that one is perfect.....another friend told me that she makes them and that she uses the waffle pretzel.

Ruthie - Sorry, but I didn't think this Harvest Forum was a chat room. OT subjects, even with "friends", could mean that I really should share the great website for knitted stocking caps I found using the hand spun wool from my sheep, or for the one on tanning deer hide the easy way. Neither of which I think I really would consider posting on this Harvest Forum, even though they are loosely termed as "harvesting" something homegrown, they are still OT.

Harvesting Rollo's isn't on a list of things those frequenting a Harvest Forum want to find out about though, IMO, and that is why the forums are divided into subjects of interest and that is why they, and I, frequent the forums that post messages relevant to the subject in the forum's name that interest them/me. You can get all huffy about wanting to share your "great find" but I don't think it is relevant to what most of us want to post/talk about in the Harvest Forum. I just seem to be the only one who objects to the posting of something totally irrelevant to the topic of a Harvest Forum. Y'all just keep making that pseudo-candy stuff. I'm going to be busy making real apple butter.

Nancy

another negative comment...for what it's worth your rant or opinion is of little interest to me, you cannot police this board because I will post whatever I choose to post about ...why don't you do this....if the subject isn't relevant to you or what you consider relevant to the forum...Try scrolling on by the subject...should be easy enough to do....The subject line ..."A candy idea" should have given you a clue unless you are as ignorant as you are arrogant....

IÂm not here often and forgive my intrusion on this post BUTÂ

respectfully nancedar,

I submit "Harvest" means many different things to many different people. Yes, ruthieg__txÂs candy post doesnÂt fit your regular jelly making or canning tomatoes topic but it does offer a service for those who want to preserve (harvest) good memories of sharing something nice from our labour. Heck, if you really think about it, Harvest can include everything from the garden produce to hay and firewood.

Ya, IÂm ticked off at her voting thread (but only because I am not eligible to vote as a non-US citizen). OK, just kidding.

I enjoy this forum because it gets diverse every now and then. We should welcome the diversity. Heck, where else on the Web can you get honest knowledgeable opinions on topics relating to all types of harvests (jams, candy, whatever)?

Bill

Warning! Warning!! Don't.. Do _Not_ go look at that recipe.. nor think of gifting it to others! A friend of mine sent me a big tin of those last year as a Christmas surprise, and I couldn't stop eating them! Worse yet... I believe some may still remain stubbornly attached to my hips!! It is definitely mmm gooood .. I mean, good that I can't harvest Rolo Pecan Caramel Candies from my garden! Though I wish I could grow pecans....

Crystal

"I just seem to be the only one who objects to the posting of something totally irrelevant to the topic of a Harvest Forum."
Nancy,
Concur with your above statement 100%. There are lots of Yahoo Forums if ruthieg wants to chat or is lonely. If she doesn't know how to find them, I can help direct her.
As Ken Rogers would say, relevant information is being lost to a topic that does NOT belong on this forum. This is the Harvest Forum. If it morphs into something else, I will stop logging in.
Hey, at least Ken kept us directed!
Jim in So. Calif.

Oh for having a cow! It's Thanksgiving, Ruthie presented a great idea. If you don't like it don't try it. It's a day to remember our blessings,not to squabble like little kids. Everyone have a wonderful day, no matter what you do for Thanksgiving, share the love and food, enjoy those who share your life. The world needs more kindness and appreciation.

Jackie

I'm visiting my in-laws in the south, where pecans are definitely part of the local harvest!

Z

Get a life, nancedar. How important is that in the grand scheme of things!

jude

Hey OttawaPepper - I'm from Canada and I've been voting every day so please give it a try okay?

Ruthie -

This sounds like a great recipe for my kids to make! Thanks!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

~ Tracy

Well, this is an unpleasant dust-up for Thanksgiving. This candy is not a recipe for me, but I don't have a problem with it being here.

In the past this forum has been pretty flexible in what has been posted. I hope it stays that way. We have currently on the forum Thanksgiving wishes and a humorous turkey thread. Should we not acknowledge holidays?

In the past we've had numerous bread posts. None of us, as far as I know, grow and/or mill our own grain. And the glorious fruitcake threads of past years have had only the most peripheral connection to Harvest.

Ken had his quirks and obsessions, but he never, that I remember, objected to a thread as unsuitable for Harvest. He participated as eagerly as the rest with posts on bread-baking and even his own posts on cake recipes and other cooking projects. If anything, he had a propensity for digression. No one ever said, "This isn't relevant to Harvest. Go to Fresh Loaf."

This forum has sustained a great deal of damage already. Let it heal.

Carol

For many of us in the colder zones, the harvest season has pretty much come to an end, but the holiday baking season has just begun. It is exactly the type of thread that will keep this forum active over the winter months. As I begin to select recipes to use as gifts for teachers, friends and family, I am thankful to Ruthie for being kind enough to share it. This recipe is simple enough for my kids to make themselves, and would fit in nicely in a gift basket of my homemade jams, and breads.

Thank you, Ruthie, for sharing it, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bonnie

What's the fuss about? I'm sure that many folks on this forum harvest nuts. I have access to a friend's farm for walnuts, and I might want to try this recipe with them, lacking local pecans (too far North). I might also want to sub Reese's minis for the Rolos.

Does every ingredient in a Harvest forum recipe have to be grown by the poster? Sheesh! How Simon Pure and snooty can you get?

One of the reasons that I come here everyday is that this is one of the most friendly forums in GW. I feel that the other posters are friends, sometimes more like family. I really find it distressing when someone gets a case of the grouches and start snipping about something that is posted here. If you don't like reading a post, skip over it, or go to one of the more formal forums. Me, I love our little friendly forum just the way it is. And I just love to read Ruthie's informative and sometimes humorous posts.
Donna

Ohhhhh those sound sooooo good. Now I have to erase that memory from my hips -- oops -- memory.

And too many nasty comments from my memory as well.

Hey! these can be put in a pretty jar as easily as your jam AND they don't have to be HWBed.

KEWL! I'm gonna make some tomorrow afternoon!

I agree, Carol, Ken participated in bread making threads and yard sale threads and threads on getting rid of garden pests, and not by harvesting them either. He posted on Happy Birthday threads and "introducing ourselves" threads and on rum pot threads and fruitcake recipe threads. I don't see how this thread is much different than the fruitcake recipe threads.

I don't have a problem with off topic posts or threads and I don't have a problem with old information "falling off". This forum is not so busy that useful information is "lost", there are posts that go back a couple of years, certainly enough time to save the information.

I tend to be very flexible and if I'm not interested in something, I just pass it up and go on to something else. And, for the record, some of my favorite discussions were commpletely off topic!

Annie

Well, I made 4 fruitcakes yesterday. I used some of the figs and nectarines that we harvested and dried, and some of my 'failed' citrus marmalade (you know, the kind that remains liquid and does not set) from our harvested citrus. I also used some store bought dried fruit, but as far as I am concerned, the fruit cakes were mostly made with our own 'harvested' fruit. I could have used the pecans from our tree, but so far they are not too good (too warm here for good pecans).

One of them will remain a virgin (alcohol allergy) so it is now in the freezer. Three of them are presently wrapped in cheesecloth soaked with brandy. Any idea if I can soak the virgin one in anything? some orange syrup maybe? They all seemed really dry after baking, but the brandy soaked ones got moist in a hurry (oh my, they smell good....) Just not sure how to handle the 'virgin' one. Any ideas? Maybe I will look at the old fruitcake threads or start one.

You could use fruit juice or a simple syrup. Orange syrup sounds good.

The one thing I discovered with fruit juice is I had to refrigerate between bastings. Years ago I made one basted with fruit juice and didn't realize until too late that it was molding.

Carol

Thanks Carol! I was just wondering that, this is why I put it in the freezer. I will soak in the fridge 1 week before Christmas and I am leaning towards the orange syrup. It is minneola actually (part of the harvest too).

So the ones in the brandy can be left out until Christmas? will it hurt them if I put them in the fridge just as a precaution? This is my first time making fruit cake, it was brought in by the abundance (also got a bunch of hazelnuts and marzipan) and variety of my fruit/nut fridge area. My brother loves them, so if they come out well I'll send him one. Also, we were short on desserts for Thanksgiving, and what better than fruitcake for Christmas?

short on desserts? Oh, no, cabrita, that will never do, LOL.

If it helps, Grandma used to bake the fruitcakes on Thanksgiving Day weekend and liberally douse them with blackberry brandy. They were wrapped in cheesecloth and kept in Tupperware until Christmas, but they were unwrapped weekly and subjected to another good brushing of brandy. No wonder everyone liked them...

Annie

There's no reason why you couldn't baste with brandy and refrigerate. In the old days people kept them on the back porch and given winter temperatures, it's not much different than a refrigerator.

Carol

Ruthie I shamelessly hijacked your thread...

Thanks Annie and Carol. The cakes were thirsty OK, consuming most of the brandy....I was hoping there would be more left for me...LOL

It makes sense about fridge storage. I finally got a heater installed here and it is a cozy 73F....so I put them in the fridge.

I was going to 'accelerate' the process on one of them and take it to a Christmas party this coming Saturday. Not my fault, if you hold a Christmas party on the 5th of December, you have to expect that the fruitcake is not going to be 100% ready, right? Soak enough brandy in there and nobody will care?

Ruthie, I made the candy yesterday, had to put it away or none would be left for Christmas...that is so good!!!!! Thanks so much for posting the recipe.

Jackie

Well, geez.
I could care less about the off-topic stuff. FWIW.

But, I wasn't too interested in making candy right now so didn't open this one until today. Still not interested in making candy much, but I'm bored and love reading ALL the posts here!

Now..........I think I have to at least go look at the recipe since you all are raving about it!!

I trust the opinions here, so it's worth a look.

If I gain 5# just looking, I'm blaming you guys though......just so you know!! LOL

Deanna

Cabrita, save the cake for dessert at that party and make sure everyone drinks enough BEFORE dessert.

Actually, I can't really tell a huge difference in a cake that's aged a week and one that's aged 3 weeks, but I'm a heathen and don't even like fruitcake, LOL. Take it to the party and have a great time.

For what it's worth, I just got an email from the Snyder Pretzel people and they had the same recipe but used white Hershey's kisses instead of the caramel candies and they pressed what appeared to be an M&M or some other red and green colored round candy into the top so it looked very Christmas-y. If you wanted a pretty plate, you could do some of each...

Annie

I was just re-reading Mimi Sheraton's old cookbook Visions of Sugarplums; in it she has a recipe for a Jamaica Black Fruitcake that calls for soaking the fruits in rum beginning in August at least, but ideally for four months.

Now that's a fruitcake with a boost! Maybe next June, if I think of it, I'll take a look at that recipe again.

To get to the other question about aging, I think those fruitcakes will be just fine in a week. Where long aging becomes a real benefit is if the cake is slightly over-baked. Then the more bastes and the longer soaking the better.

I just baked a new fruitcake recipe from King Arthur Flour that calls for dried pineapple soaked in rum. I let the fruit rest three days then finished the cakes yesterday. It's taking all my willpower not to dig in and have a big slice right now, it smells that good.

You can see the recipe at the link.

On the other issue, I don't like self-appointed arbiters of what's suitable for posting on Harvest and I particularly don't like posters being browbeaten. GardenWeb has rules for what's suitable to post and what's not and other than that I think most of the time we do just fine self-policing and as Deanna said, simply not reading threads that don't interest us.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Good Fruitcake - Taste of the Tropics

Carol, this is one reason I want to take it to the party Saturday, I'll get to taste it and determine if it is good enough for gifting....LOL. Annie, I agree, not enough desserts for Thanksgiving is almost un-American. Of course, we did not have turkey either, but this is because nobody likes it that much. More desserts would have been well received though.

To me this forum is more about food preservation than harvesting. If I have something tricky to harvest I am more likely to ask at the veggies forum, or at least double post. I ask food preservation questions here though. Sometimes I find myself preserving food I did not harvest. Sometimes this non-harvested food comes in HUGE quantities, like the 3 boxes of bananas that were 'harvested' from my sweeties employer, or the 80 lbs of cheese.....(he works on food commercials and there is often lost of food left, good food too...). Answer on the bananas: peel and freeze. Answer on the cheese: don't take it! run away from it! OK, if you must take it, it will freeze pretty well.

The candy linked by ruthie looks very good indeed. The ingredients listed are not part of my harvest though. Lately I got 11 lbs of good quality belgian chocolate (melting type, yum....), 3 to 4 lbs hazelnuts, and some caramel sauce (all "harvested" by the food commercials....and free to me!). I see some hazelnut chocolate cookies materializing soon, right on time for Christmas. I'll post the recipe if they work out.

Wow! What a benefit to have access to all those wonderful cooking and baking supplies. I can see the challenge with some of them, but it's great that you're reducing the waste.

Carol

I made cake balls this morning for a gift. They are so easy to make and look and taste so special....Have any of you made them.

Cabrita, you're lucky to have access to those things, although I don't know what in the heck I'd do with some of them!

Ruthie, I made cake balls but I thought they were horrible. They were crumbled up cake mixed with frosting and I thought "how could cake and frosting be bad", but it was really mushy and not good at all. Even the little kids in the family wouldn't eat them.

I suppose I screwed them up, probably, although I used a homemade cake from scratch instead of a mix because I thought they'd be better...

Annie