Well I just charged our friendly resort chef $4/pound for baby chioggia beets with tops. What was I thinking? I was thinking how it took three plantings to get any - the first two were eaten by slugs - and then slug bait, wood ashes, hand picking, beer and cloches to salvage half the third planting. But I think the chef thought I overcharged. Really not sure I'm cut out for this business. I just heard that some local people are suspicious of this thing we do called 'composting', as if it's unsanitary.. Yes, we've thought about value-adding, but don't have enough time. Plus we're not jam makers in this family. (Now raspberry schnapps....that would be good...) And all sorts of regulations kick in when you start preserving on a scale to make it worthwhile. Freezing's relatively easy and I haven't bothered looking into regulations. My reasoning why frozen raspberries should be more expensive is because they're not 'seconds' - they're just as good as the fresh, and frozen within an hour of picking. But no, you can't get around the fact they're not fresh. People here aren't used to paying for fresh raspberries, period. In good summers they pick them wild. Nobody in their right mind would pay 4/pint at the supermarket let alone a half pint. The mentality here among local people seems to be that they should be getting local produce cheaper than what they'd pay in town. They take it personally if you charge the same or more. It's an isolated place and rugged so there's a survivor mentality. I should be helping them survive by selling food cheap, they seem to think. The fact that they have the cash to drive 2 hours to buy produce in the farmer's market or supermarket is unrelated. Sorry to be so cranky. It's been great to find this site where people discuss pricing etc. I'll think about getting smaller boxes next year and charge more. People who pick and sell wild blueberries seem to get away with that. 'flea market prices' - I'll be using that term, thanks. bmoser I enjoyed your website and learned something from your description of growing raspberries. I like the portable greenhouse.

I also defrost chicken wings before using them, if they are frozen. I also put them on a rack inside the pan to keep them up out of the fat that drains out and to make the skin crispy as it seems that the side that sits in the pan stays soggy from the fat. In addition, if I'm putting some kind of sauce on them, I don't want the wings to stick to the pan because of the sauce. Annie

Whay would you freeze them? Eat them now....wow that sounds good!! I am sure they will freeze just fine....I mean what is it but raspberry cheese cake in bar form! My only change to the recipe would be to reduce the almond extract to 1/4 tsp and add half ( or more) tspoon of vanilla and to add a few drops of almond extract to the crust mix. Linda C

Oh San, I think you know this is coming........ Mix it with a little sugar (only if you think it needs it) and then a little vodka in an aperitif glass - either before or after dinner! Okay - here's another idea - I know I'm spelling this incorrectly but what about Berlineweisser - I had this once in a German bakery on 86th Street - pure raspberry syrup (not sweet) with this special German beer (it was very light, not like normal beer) and they served it in special glasses and it tasted like Champagne!