oem Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Hi Guys and Gals, As most of you know from previous posts the Shrimp Gods have not been kind to me. Twice all shrimps have passed on and I decided I needed to start from the substrate up this Fall. SOO ,,, It has been a great growing season for my market garden and Amaranth experiment. Early this morning I harvested a large bunch of Amaranth leaves and decided to dry them in my gas oven set at 130 degrees. So after putting leaves between layers of non coated butcher paper to keep them flat I put them in the oven at 9am. I checked them at 1pm and all was fine and they were still a little pliable. About 4pm Lisa said it smelled like someone was "burning one". Turns out I was burning "90". Amaranth leaves that is. Smoke was pouring out of the oven and when I opened the door the paper and leaves were on fire! All I could say was SHIRT, SHIRT, SHIRT, over and over as I sprayed water on the paper. After the smoke cleared out and a few other choice words, I started laughing at what had just happened. The only thing I could think of as to why the paper caught fire was my "Angelic" Grandson turned the knob as he had seen Pap do when I turned my back. (their good at that!) So it looks as though my early reverse birthday gifts may actually happen by by B-day in December. On a good note my mushrooms I was also drying are now fully smoked for a full mellow flavor. Wish I could really make this stuff up. ohmiko, Shrimple minded and Wygglz 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
35ppt Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Glad you caught it before it got worse; sorry about the loss. (Try a metal cooling rack to flatten next time. Even a pair of solid cookie sheets might work.) I knew a master painter. She would dry her pieces in the oven; I don't think she heated it. Her husband was known to turn the oven on to cook something, without checking it first. Many painted pieces were ruined that way. I think they eventually figured out to put a sign on the oven so he would remember to check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oem Posted August 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Thanks 35ppt. I've dried hundreds of pounds of food and herbs before and this was my first fire. Never even happened in my smoker before. I do have four 10x20 inch racks but I picked too many leaves. I'm used to veggies and fruit in large amounts. My wife too has preheated the oven for cookie's and turned veggies into charcoal. Did another batch at 4:30 this morning and everything turned out great. Christmas in July (August) is still on the horizon ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 Ya know, I have to admit, I love stories like this. They let me know that I'm not the only one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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