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Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice

Offline TWP

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Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« on: August 11, 2017, 05:46:02 PM »
Posted only partly in jest:

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/106-year-old-Antarctica-fruitcake-looks-good-11751157.php

Let me state, for the record, that I don't really like fruitcake, but will eat it in a pinch...

I do see a problem with replicating the storage conditions which resulted in this archaeological discovery - Antarctic weather is moderately extreme, even for hardcore prepping.  Plus, my spell checker insists that that is the correct spelling...  Computers, can't live with them, hard to do without...
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Offline 230gr

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2017, 02:42:18 PM »
I have never understood why people don't like fruit cake....oh well more for me.

I think I know the secret of fruit cake preservation: pouring enough brandy on it to sterilize it!
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Offline TWP

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2017, 03:51:25 PM »
Or drink enough Brandy that you can't taste the fruitcake... ;D
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Offline 230gr

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2017, 03:59:57 PM »
Cynical but true.
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Offline TWP

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2017, 04:14:50 PM »
I hate to waste good Brandy... :'(
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Offline 230gr

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2017, 04:51:46 PM »
Well, if you put the fruit cake wrapped in cheesecloth and twist real tight you can recover some of it.
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Offline TWP

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2017, 05:53:37 PM »
Aha!  That would work.  And the recovered Brandy will, of course, be used only for medicinal purposes... ::)


Ok, now I'm open to Fruitcake recipes.   Can it be made using prepper food stocks?
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Offline Jerry D Young

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2017, 12:40:44 PM »
Yes, it can, actually. Not quite the same, but can be very close. Especially if fruit is rehydrated partially with good alcohol.

Much of the problem with many fruitcakes is they are not good recipes to start with, particularly for prepper use. Many are too dry to start, do not include the alcohol for various reasons, and are too 'cakey' rather than 'fruity', and are not packaged and then stored properly.

Well soaked with a very good cognac/brandy or rum (I do not like the whisky versions), wrapped in cheesecloth or muslin, soaked a bit more, and place in a tin with a tight fitting lid, the tin boxed, and then stored in a cool, mid-humidity area. They will last for years, and still taste good.

The commercial one I prefer:
http://www.harveysgroves.com/fruit-Grandmas-Old-Fashioned-Fruit-Cake-30.cfm

This type and quality of fruitcake is packed with nutrition, and has nutrients that can be difficult to get from stored food in a PAW.

Just my opinion.
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Jerry D Young

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and always remember TANSTAAFL

(TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch - Robert A. Heinlein)

Offline 230gr

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2017, 01:38:23 PM »
Fruitcake from Storage Food

2 cups            Fruit Galaxy fruit mix    (blend of dehydrated peaches, apples, grapes, apricots and maraschino cherries). Hydrated within 1/2:1 sugar to water syrup 5 cups by bring to a boil then simmer, covered until fruit is hydrated.
1 cup              gold rum
1 cup              sugar
10 tsp             dehydrated butter mixed into 5 oz of melted coconut oil.
1 cup              rehydrated apple juice
4                     whole cloves, ground
6                      allspice berries, ground
1 teaspoon      ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon      ground ginger
1 3/4 cups        flour (from freshly ground wheat grain)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon       baking soda
1 teaspoon       baking powder
 4 tbls               powdered whole eggs, raw rehydrated with 8 tbls of water 
1/4 to 1/2 cup   toasted nuts, broken (if available)
 Brandy* for basting
•   
•   Add rum and macerate overnight, to the re-hydrate fruit. Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices.
•   Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes.
•   Heat oven to 325 degrees.
•   Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in rehydrated eggs until completely integrated, then fold in nuts.
•   Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake another 10 minutes, and check again.
•   Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack and baste top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan.
•   When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, baste with brandy. The cake's flavor will enhance considerably over the next two weeks.

Making your own rum:
Making Rum
8.5L fermentation vessel
¼ oz          yeast nutrient (can substitute tomato puree)
3 ¼ lb        blackstrap molasses
3 ¼ lb        white sugar
5 g pkt      EC-1118 or other Dried Wine Yeast
•   Using the sanitized measuring cup, pour 4 cups of water into your 6 quart larger pot. Bring water to a boil, and then remove from heat.
•   Add the sugar, and keep stirring until all dissolved then add out molasses and stir it in to the mix.
•   Fill fermenter with cold (40 to 55°F) water to the 4-liter mark on the back.
•   Pour the wort into the keg, and then bring the volume of the keg to the 8.5-liter mark by adding more cold water.
•   Wait for the temperature to drop below 90oF then sprinkle ½ of the yeast packet into the keg, then screw on the lid. Do not stir.
•   Let it ferment 8 to 10 days at 73 to 90oF (you can use a 50w aquarium heater to maintain the temperature).
•   Once it stops bubbling, you can turn off the heater and move it to a cool place (50ºF to 60oF) so that the yeast settles to the bottom and leave it for 2 days.
•   Siphon the wort out in to the still, leaving the yeast behind (place the yeast in to a jar and refrigerate for your next run of rum) and distill, discarded the first 2% of the run.
•   This is white rum, if you want golden or dark rum; you need to age it using charred oak sticks.

Oaking
 

•   Toast the sticks to get the flavor you want as that depends on the temp in which you toast the wood.
•   Look on the diagram, spiced rum needs the vanilla flavors, so toast the sticks at about 400oF.
•   Wrap the sticks in foil and place them in the oven for about 2 hour until toasted and smell of vanilla when you open the foil.
•   Age the rum for at least 1 month, shake it every day, to pick up the flavors.
•   Then just strain out the chips and put it through a coffee filter for the small pieces.

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Offline TWP

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Re: Forget Rice and Beans. Fruitcake is the proven LTS choice
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2017, 02:03:54 PM »
230gr
Good recipes, added my docs.
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