kayskats - Yes, the "police" do show up at farmer's markets and farm stands, the state Dept of Ag can show up anytime (and have for several other vendors) to do a "surprise" inspection at your home kitchen, and yes, I do have to show my certification before I can sell at my quite small market (less than 30 vendors on any Saturday). The state also shows up to ensure that weighing scales have been calibrated within the last year, but that is another story. If you are caught selling BWB canned acidified foods when you do not have the cert. or are selling other stuff you shouldn't be (low acid, pressure canned, refrigerated, etc.), the Dept of Ag and the FDA could inflict very severe penalties on you and your market. We homegrown sellers have to follow pretty much what the rules are for commercial operations. One size fits all, US wide, but some states have lesser rules for farm stands and farmer's markets than my state does. Best to check with your Cooperative Extension office in your county and if they don't know, go on to your State Dept. of Ag. One comment one of my co-student's made was that if he didn't know what the rules were he would be safe from penalties. I don't think I'd buy anything from him, would you? Yes, please ask the sellers HOW their stuff was processed and if their kitchen was inspected, etc. We are consumers and should protect ourselves from bad stuff we might ingest. I even walk out of restaurants with a food grade less than "A". ksrogers - I think dry cured meats are regulated by another mega agency, the USDA. One of the vendors at my market raises cattle and hogs for cuts of meat he sells. He threw up his hands at the regs for slaughtering, curing, and/or freezing and now has a co-packer do it for him and THEY have to handle the USDA inspections and process filings which are really intense. >>I wouldn't go so far as to say that cured meat has no safety issues, because they do!Yes, I know, I make regular strawberry jam that is heated, but sadly it is not nearly as tasty as freezer jam. Horseradish, a low acid food, is not exactly stable and the pH acidification cannot be measured outside a food science lab according to my instructor, and that is why I can't sell it. It is not heated or pasteurized to eliminate bacterias, molds, and toxins, and "sealing" only means screwing on the cap. Refrigeration and acidification keep it stable and unable to grow the bad stuff because of refrigeration. That is also why it is sold refrigerated and you are admonished on the label to keep it refrigerated after opening. Commercial processors ship in refrigerated trucks from refrigerated manufacturing and storage facilities, and they go directly to the refrigerated section of the grocery store. That is something that can't be duplicated in a home processing environment or at an open-air market. Also, adding more vinegar doesn't necessarily make it safer because we can't measure the pH of the horseradish's vegetable interior at home, and with pH meters and test strips all we are doing is measuring the vinegar's pH. BTW - shelf stable jams and jellies are exempt from these regs because they have low water activity and a low pH. Since they are also packed at high temperatures, they are not likely to harbor harmful food borne illness organisms. Molds are the most likely bad thing to form but that is usually from not having sterilized the jars or not heating the lids enough (or, dirty hands packing them, airborne dust in a room with a fan, using overly ripe or moldy fruit, etc. etc.). I can sell as many variations of jelly and jam as I want at market. Without a cert. but with a kitchen inspection. Nancy

I did try this way back when I first posted. I borrowed a friend's dehydrator and dried the sweet potato slices, which I think were par-boiled. I can't quite remember. It took forever to dry them and they shrunk up quite a bit. The only thing I had to grind the pieces was a blender and this was less than satisfactory. A flour mill would have made this task easier and more successful. From four trays of sliced sweet potatoes I think I got about 3/4 cup "flour" which was rather coarse. (Again a flour mill would have helped with texture.) I think I made some muffins using just this flour and they were edible, though not what I would have liked. I might try this again now that I have a better dehydrator and I'd get a grain mill in place of the blender.

Flour. If I use cornstarch it becomes a sauce IMHO. I make a roux for some things. For basic gravy when I make a braised roast I remove the meat, remove any extra fat that I can, add potato and/or vegetable water and any other seasonings or broth, bring that to a boil, scraping loose any browned bit in the bottom of the pan. Then I slowly add my water/flour mixture to the boiling juices, adding more to thicken to the consistency we like. Be careful to keep the gravy boiling while adding the water/flour mixture to avoid lumps and cook the flour. Nancy

I agree with Linda that the potato flakes will work . My first reaction was that I would not saute the fish without some sort of coating but I have no idea why I thought that! I do salmon without any dredging so why not trout ? As a matter of fact when I think of it my Dad used to always fry fresh trout in nothing but butter. In your situation I would saute the trout in a butter/oil mix and use butter to finish off the sauce. You have reminded me of a wonderful Brown Butter and Caper Sauce I use with sole that may have to make it to the table this week.