So, I broke a few of my own rules, or procedures, or just messed up, period.
I grew this beautiful Semois leaf this year. I've been able to smoke samples of this as it was processed. It has tasted exactly like Tabac Manil's product since the first leaf was dry. A semi-sweet burley with a lingering barnyard aroma. I did flue cure it, but that didn't really give me anything different tasting than just a dry greenish leaf from after the first day of picking it. It would take a very, very sensitive tongue to differentiate it at any point from green to cured, IMO. I am pretty good at discerning flavors, and I get the exact tastes from all points in processing...
My mistake was in leaving the leaf sort of damp from steaming it after curing it, and then bagging it to store. I shouldn't have let any moisture of stayed in the leaf. It got a thick yellow coating, so I quickly laid the leaf out to dry from the baggie.
Now, after a few years of doing this, I am of the belief that the potential for mold is on all leaves, like cabbage grows with the bacteria needed to potentially making sour kraut. Dead leaves on the ground, mold just as easily as a leaf stored in a barn or in a jar. So, I am not exactly afraid of mold.
My dilemma is do I go ahead and process this, or stop and just clean up my kitchen really good and throw this away.
This is some of the remnants of the yellow mold stuff on some bone dry leaf...
Here is the leaf all splayed out and dry now...
I have always lived such a "waste not, want not" life that I just hate to toss it. I have just samples a bowl in a corn cob, and it is tasty, but not more so or less than if I had ordered some Tabac Manil "Semois". I know that some molds can cause respiratory problems, while some might be safe. The problem is knowing the difference.
Ugg, I'm torn. Heck, in all likelihood, the stuff produced in Belgium may have had that yellow film. I may just process it, and then decide whether to keep it, spray it with some calcium propionate to prevent any further mold, and smoke it; or toss it, and just buy a couple of bricks to smoke. Uggg...
I know that some organically grown burley cure with a mold along the stems, and they process that... but, not having an expert to turn to...
What does the peanut gallery think? What would you do?
I grew this beautiful Semois leaf this year. I've been able to smoke samples of this as it was processed. It has tasted exactly like Tabac Manil's product since the first leaf was dry. A semi-sweet burley with a lingering barnyard aroma. I did flue cure it, but that didn't really give me anything different tasting than just a dry greenish leaf from after the first day of picking it. It would take a very, very sensitive tongue to differentiate it at any point from green to cured, IMO. I am pretty good at discerning flavors, and I get the exact tastes from all points in processing...
My mistake was in leaving the leaf sort of damp from steaming it after curing it, and then bagging it to store. I shouldn't have let any moisture of stayed in the leaf. It got a thick yellow coating, so I quickly laid the leaf out to dry from the baggie.
Now, after a few years of doing this, I am of the belief that the potential for mold is on all leaves, like cabbage grows with the bacteria needed to potentially making sour kraut. Dead leaves on the ground, mold just as easily as a leaf stored in a barn or in a jar. So, I am not exactly afraid of mold.
My dilemma is do I go ahead and process this, or stop and just clean up my kitchen really good and throw this away.
This is some of the remnants of the yellow mold stuff on some bone dry leaf...
Here is the leaf all splayed out and dry now...
I have always lived such a "waste not, want not" life that I just hate to toss it. I have just samples a bowl in a corn cob, and it is tasty, but not more so or less than if I had ordered some Tabac Manil "Semois". I know that some molds can cause respiratory problems, while some might be safe. The problem is knowing the difference.
Ugg, I'm torn. Heck, in all likelihood, the stuff produced in Belgium may have had that yellow film. I may just process it, and then decide whether to keep it, spray it with some calcium propionate to prevent any further mold, and smoke it; or toss it, and just buy a couple of bricks to smoke. Uggg...
I know that some organically grown burley cure with a mold along the stems, and they process that... but, not having an expert to turn to...
What does the peanut gallery think? What would you do?