Kitchen Tip: Tea Brewing Tip

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This is a quick Tea Brewing Tip for sweet tea – it works particularly well with hard water, but we are on city water, and it made a huge difference in the quality of my favorite drink.

I really like sweet tea, but due to the bitterness of the tannins it contains, I hate unsweet tea. I have to have a lot of sugar to counteract the bitterness. However, sugar is not very healthy, and I am trying to get a little healthier.

I found that a pinch (about 1/8 tablespoon) per gallon of tea counteracts the bitterness so that I can enjoy my tea with 1/3 less sugar.

As I mentioned in the video, the ability of baking soda to absorb and counteract contaminates lead to many moonshiners adding it to their mash as they ran their stills.

I read recently that some people have a gene that makes them taste bitter flavors more than others.  I think I have that gene as I cannot stand bitter.  I don’t drink coffee or unsweetened tea.  This tip reduces the bitter tannins enough that I can use much less sugar to counteract the bitterness in tea so I think it is a great thing to share.

How to Make Homemade Chicken Bacon

 

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Yesterday we showed how easy it is to make bacon – we do it at our house every chance I get – but to be honest finding good quality pork belly can be difficult at times so I am always on the lookout for alternatives.

We tried rabbit bacon and found it to be – well blaaa, it was tough and not very meaty.

However, chicken bacon was pretty good – if you like turkey bacon.   Chicken Bacon tastes just like turkey bacon.

Personally I think bacon that is not pork based is a horrible lie, but my wife wants to limit my intake of the meaty goodness so that I wait until I am at least 50 before I stroke out, so she makes me eat more turkey bacon than I would choose to on my own.

Making it is the exact same process as pork bacon – but since it does not have as much fat, I wanted it to have more flavor so I coated it in maple syrup during salting, and then again as I put it in the smoker.

I have made many posts about ho to make bacon, but since bacon makes the world go around I am adding a link to an article on how to make bacon jerky.

My wife eats turkey bacon, she uses it in her 21 day fix diet.  Personally I’d rather eat less real bacon than more fake bacon.  But its personal preference.

Distilling Urine In a Survival Still

 

Camping: Distilling Urine
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I know that showing how the survival still works on distilling urine may seem like a kind of a gross post – but I think it really showcases the capability of the Survival Still and water distillation versus filtering.

Obviously, the volume of urine produced is going to yield less distilled water than a person needs per day, but I am not doing this demonstration to say that my plan involves distilling urine into drinking water, but rather to show how well the still works.

If it purifies the urine into water I am willing to drink, then it’s obvious that this is a process I trust.

Like I said in the beginning of this post, it seems really gross to drink urine, but that is not what is happening.  Once the urine is processed through the Survival Still, it is no longer urine, but pure water.

Distilling urine is not really a good part of a survival plan (unless you are in a desert or a life raft in the ocean), but having a device that works well enough to turn pee into drinking water IS a good part of a survival plan.

I am not willing to drink urine.  But distillation does not purify urine, it removes the pure water from it.  I am drinking distilled water.

Easiest Way to Make Corn on the Cob for a Crowd

 

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I like grilling out, but I have a problem timing everything to be ready at the same time, and I tend to run out of eyes on the stove and space on the grill when trying to entertain. This means I am always looking for better ways of doing things (plus I just love experimenting…)

I saw this tip the other day on pinterest for cooking corn on the cob in large amount easily and had to try it – it worked amazingly well so I felt I should share it.

If you dump raw corn (shucked and cleaned preferably) into a clean chest type freezer (not Styrofoam) you can cook large amounts of corn without doing a lot of work. Simply add boiling water to the corn filled cooler, close the lid and wait at least 30 minutes.
The corn will cook perfectly – will not overcook – and the cooler will keep the corn warm for hours.

Very simple, very easy, and when we tried it at our home it worked perfectly…

This way of cooking corn on the cob is crazy simple, and it turns out the water can be reused for making jelly.

I don’t think I will ever cook corn on the cob on the stove again, unless it is just for me.  It is just to easy to do it this way when cooking for groups.

How to Make a Zeer Pot

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Today’s project on how to make a zeer pot is something I wanted to do for some time, it is a cheap way of providing some level of refrigeration in very hot climates.

It is also an example of how preppers can learn from appropriate technology supporters as well as missionaries to third world countries.

Zeer Pot technology is used in some very poor countries to reduce food spoilage. It is also the technology behind Latin American ceramic water crocks called Olas which provide cool drinking water in hot arid conditions.

All a zeer pot is a simple fridge made of local materials. It is one earthenware pot set inside another, with a layer of wet sand in between. As the moisture evaporates it cools the inner pot, keeping up to 12kg of fruit and vegetables fresher for longer.

When I saw my local co-op had ceramic pots on sale, I grabbed a few and went to Lowes for some play sand.

My nephew and I stopped up the hole in the large pot with some tape, threw in a layer of sand, inserted the smaller pot, and had a good time filling the space between with sand.

We then put a thermometer in the small pot, poured some water in the sand, and covered the whole thing with a wet towel.

We did get a measurable decrease in temperature, but as it was very humid (and began to rain) we just could not get enough evaporation to make a huge difference. I have seen many people get temperature differences of up to 20 degrees using such a simple device.

During the Crusades, Saladin were able to use this technology (along with specially designed shade buildings) to get ice in the desert which greatly impressed King Richard.