Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.” – Thomas Paine

Cold Steel Extra Large Espada, by Pat Cascio

We get a lot of requests at SurvivalBlog to test and review many products. Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of these requests, we simply can’t review every product, or we’d have a website full of product reviews each and every day. I personally take as much time as I possibly can with each product I test to make sure I give it a fair test, in that the product does what it is expected to do. When it comes to firearms, I shoot them a lot, and in the case of a handgun I carry it, too. I’m not going to recommend a handgun to someone else if it isn’t something I’d carry myself.

We get a lot of emails, at least I do, personally, for knife reviews. I’m happy to say I have some of the best contacts in the knife industry, and they are happy to send me their products for testing. Still, I can’t review all of the knives I’d like, because there isn’t enough time! I also get requested, or should I say readers asking me what is the “best” knife! I simply can’t answer that question; there is no “best” when it comes to anything, if you ask me. Each knife (and firearm) is designed for specific tasks. While knife “A” might be a fine example of a survival knife, it isn’t up to the task of an every day carry folder. Knife “B” might be an outstanding every day folder, but it falls short of being an outdoorsman or hunting knife. The list is endless, as you can imagine. Some readers get frustrated when I can definitively say that “this” knife is the best knife; ditto applies for firearms or any gear I test.

A number of our readers asked me to do a review on a big folding knife. Okay, but what defines “big” to me might be small to someone else. I personally like a folding knife with a blade between 3½ inches and 4 inches in length for most tasks. However, I don’t think this is what our readers were looking for. I turned this question over to long-time friend and without a doubt the man who knows more about cutlery than anyone else I know– Lynn C. Thompson, who owns Cold Steel knives. He is the true expert when it comes to cutlery, designing it as well as using it. Yeah, I’ve designed a lot of knives over the years, and as a martial artist I’ve also taught knife fighting as well as knife defense to some of my students, but I’m just a serious student myself. I don’t claim to be an expert in anything. However, I do think that Lynn Thompson is an expert, when it comes to anything in the cutlery field.

An email was fired off to Thompson telling him that our readers wanted me to test a “big” folding knife, and in short order Lynn sent me the Cold Steel Extra Large Espada folder. A quick email was fired back to Lynn explaining I wanted a big folding knife not a folding “sword”. Well, needless to say, when it comes to knives Lynn Thompson is “the” man, and the Extra Large Espada is “the” folding knife of big folding knives, period. Thompson isn’t afraid to step outside of the box when it comes to cutlery. A quick look at his website will prove that. While some knife companies feature a “big” folding knife with a 4-inch blade, the Extra Large Espada comes with a massive 7½ inch blade made out of CarpenterCTS XHP alloy steel, which is super stuff. You read that right; the blade on this massive folder is 7½ inches long. It is longer than many survival knives I’ve reviewed over the years. When opened, the Espada is 16¾ inches long. WOW!

A little history is in order. The Extra Large Espada is based on the Spainish Navaja knives of Spain. However, the Cold Steel version is the result of a collaboration between Lynn Thompson and custom knife maker, Andrew Demko. Demko is famous for the Tri-Ad locking mechanism, and it has been tested to hold the blade open when 600 lbs of hanging dead weight was applied. There is no way this hummer is going to accidentally close on your fingers. However, Thompson and Demko took this test a little farther and had the knife support a free-hanging engine block! Demko is also famous for his thumb plate that allows the knife to be opened as it is drawn out of the pocket. When the knife is fully out of the pocket, the blade opens fully and is locked in place. It just takes about 5-10 minutes of practice to master this. However, once mastered, it is faster than any automatic opening folder.

The Extra Large Espada has a nicely curved handle that is fully capable of allowing a two-handed grip on it. The handle material is polished, high polished, G10 material, which is almost bullet-proof stuff. And the bolsters are highly polished aluminum. There is a pocket clip on the handle for pocket carry. The blade is a Bowie style, and the clip point is strong and sharp. The entire blade is super sharp; one of the attributes of the Carpenter steel is that it holds an edge a good long time, too. I’ve said it hundreds of times, when it comes to sharp knives, Cold Steel set the gold standard, many years ago.

One would think, rightfully so, that such a huge folding knife would weigh a lot. Well, this baby comes in at 16 ounces– one pound. However, when clipped in your pants pocket, it simply doesn’t feel that heavy. Now, as a word about clipping this massive folder in your pants pocket, it isn’t going to work with some pants that might have shallow pockets. Also, it doesn’t work with many jeans that are designed for women. Sorry! The pockets aren’t deep enough. It is a trade-off. If you want a massive folding knife, you have to have the right types of pants with deep front pockets.

As is my wont, I take a lot of knives I test to the local gun shop to show off to the boys (and girl) who work there. They are all into knives. Needless to say, when I started to draw the Extra Large Espada out of my right front pocket, their eyes were just glued to my hand. The knife just kept coming and coming and coming before it was fully out of my pocket, and it was, of course, fully opened and locked when I completed the draw. It was mpressive to say the very least.

The Extra Large Espada is a custom-made folding knife in every respect as a matter of fact, I’ve owned some very expensive folding knives in the past from custom knife makers whose knives weren’t nearly as nicely executed as this one. It is fit and finish is absolutely perfect in all areas. The knife deserves to be displayed on a desk or in a knife collection. It just looks too good to be used. However, Lynn Thompson doesn’t have knives made as wall hangers. His knives are meant to be used and used hard.

Most folding knives are not meant for any sort of chopping, as the locking mechanism just won’t hold up and will fail. The Extra Large Espada is the exception to this rule. I used the knife to chop some fairly large tree branches off fallen trees, and the lock held tight. As I mentioned, you can hold the handle of the knife in two hands if you want to, or you can choke-up on the handle or move the hand down to the bottom of the handle for a longer reach. I’m here to tell you, if someone were attacking you and you pulled this knife out of your pocket, I can assure you that the attacker will sure wish he picked another victim. The sheer size of this folder is enough to give a bad guy a heart attack.

I used the sample knife to easily, very easily slice through free-hanging hemp rope that was an inch thick. There was no contest at all. The knife could easily shave the edge off a piece of copy paper with aplomb too. For such a massive knife, it performed quite well. I just don’t think I’d pull this knife out in public and start cleaning my finger nails with it. LOL!

The Espada was carried in my right front pocket for several weeks, and I used it for all manner of cutting tasks. Even my UPS driver was impressed when I opened a package he delivered to me one day. He couldn’t believe such a huge knife was in my pocket and came out so fast, and he’s very much into knives, too.

I’ve seen bigger folding knives, but these were “display” knives. They were just for show in hardware stores or sporting goods stores. They had no function other than to “look” big and bad. There were not something you’d ever want to carry for any purpose. The Cold Steel Extra Large Espada is one massive folder you can count on, in the city or in the boonies, to do what it is called upon to do. Nothing comes close to this folder, and needless to say, there is a “Large” Espada that has a blade that is “only” 5½ inches long.

I believe that Lynn Thompson hit a home run, all bases loaded, when he came out with this massive folder. If this knife, doesn’t fill the needs of those SurvivalBlog readers who wanted me to review a “big” folding knife, then I don’t know what will. These are hard to come by. They aren’t always in stock, because they are popular with knife collectors. Full retail on the Extra Large Espada is $629, which is not within reach of many budget, but you can save up and get one. You won’t be disappointed in the least. You can also shop around and see if you can find the knife for less money on the ‘net. In any case, this is one “big” folder that won’t let you down.

21st Century Tradecraft: Discreet Transport of Documents

I have had many of my consulting clients ask me for advice about how to maintain their privacy. One of their greatest concerns is the interception of e-mails in the now ubiquitous global Surveillance State. The sad truth is there is now no such thing as “secure” e-mail, even when using high level encryption. If a government wants to know what you are communicating and they are willing to invest sufficient time and energy, then they will eventually be able to read your encrypted e-mail. This is known as brute force decryption, wherein massive computing power is dedicated to breaking an encryption scheme. It also goes without saying that telephones, faxes, radio communications, and in fact virtually all other electronic communications systems are vulnerable to interception, decryption, monitoring, and long-term database archiving.

With those capabilities in mind, this leaves us very few options other than traditional face-to-face meetings, mailing well-sealed hardcopy letters, or handing off USB memory sticks via live drops (couriers) or dead drops. (For the sake of brevity, I won’t describe live drop and dead drop methodologies in this article. Those are both Old School tradecraft tricks that have been well described in books and web articles on espionage.)

Postal Mail Cover Now SOP

Since 2013 the exterior of all envelopes sent through the U.S. Postal Service are to have been scanned both front and back and these scans are available to both law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This is the equivalent of what was known as a Postal Mail Cover—something that formerly required a court order. But in the aftermath of several anthrax-through-the mail scares, Congress mandated it. But in our post-9/11 world, it is now Stand Operating Procedure for all domestic mail and all international mail that either originates or terminates inside of the United States. So it is important that you also print the recipient’s address as the return address. This is a legal and common practice. Also keep in mind that the origin post office cancellation town or city location is part of what is routinely scanned. It is noteworthy that court tests on this routine Postal Mail Cover surveillance have failed, because the courts at the Federal level have held that there is “no reasonable expectation of privacy” for information that is contained on the outside of an envelope.

Oh, and since handwriting can be analyzed and cataloged, it is important that you use computer-printed adhesive labels for both the address label and the return address label. Don’t hand-write them! And if you are a total Secret Squirrel, don’t lick envelope seals, since that leaves DNA traces. Use a sponge, instead.

A New Twist- Going Micro

One fairly new method of physical transport of electronic files that I haven’t seen described much elsewhere is the use of Micro Secure Digital (SD) removable flash memory cards. (They are sometimes referred to as “µSD”, “uSD”, or simply “Micro” cards. These cards were first marketed in 2005 and are incredibly small and light. They measure just 15 mm × 11 mm × 1 mm– about the size of a fingernail. That is about one-fourth the size of a standard SD memory card. A Micro SD card weighs only one half a gram. They can be taped onto a couple of sheets of paper and sent through the mail and go un-noticed unless very closely examined. These tiny cards are presently available with capacities ranging from 64 Megabytes (MB) to a whopping 128 Gigabytes (GB). As this article goes to press, low capacity micro SD cards are amazingly inexpensive: 64 MB cards are as low as just 95 cents each, postage paid, when bought in bulk. Plastic protective cases for these cards cost just a few pennies each, if bought in bulk. (You can buy 100 of them for $95, postage paid, on eBay.)

Micro SD cards can be read by a laptop computer several ways. Typically this is done either with a Micro-SD to SD card adapter (aka “card reader”) or with a Micro-SD to USB adapter. These are both very compact and inexpensive adjuncts. And of course you only need to keep a couple of each available at both ends of your courier route. Only the Micro-SD card itself needs to be transported.

Even though they are considered semi-obsolete, even 64 and 128 MB Micro SD cards are still quite useful as a transport mechanism for documents. 662 pages of uncompressed plain text (“.txt”) or 63 pages of a MS-Word file fit in just ONE megabyte. Hence, a 64 MB Micro SD card can theoretically hold 42,368 pages of text! (But because of formatting, from a practical standpoint, you should deduct about 15% of that figure.) If greater capacity is required–such as for transporting JPEG photograph files–you can simply step up to using cards in the low gigabyte range, albeit at greater cost per memory card. (An 8GB Micro SD card presently costs around $7.)

Another Proviso

It is important to note that for greater security, the laptops used at both ends of the courier route should NOT be connected to the Internet. This is in intelligence and information security circles referred to as “air gapping”. Any computer that has ANY network connection should be considered an open book. Only air gapped computers can be considered fully secure, and only air-gapped ones that are also either running from battery or from isolated power are FULLY secure since unintended computer emanations can be tapped from power lines by sophistication intelligence agencies.

Please keep your privacy in mind, as you go about your daily life. Even if you have absolutely nothing to hide, using secure methods of communications is wise and should be exercised, just for the sake of principle. There is an old saying: “Gentlemen do not read other gentlemens’ mail.” Let’s keep it that way! – JWR

Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato / Squash Casserole, by Polly in MO

I have served this on Thanksgiving every year for over 21 years. It is my granddaughter’s favorite, and she comments EVERY year at the start of dinner, “Sweet Potato / Squash Casserole! MY FAVORITE. I ate it as a baby on my first Thanksgiving!”

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups mashed butternut squash
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup Brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup melted butter (not margarine or spread)
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Mix all together. ( I use a hand mixer.)
  2. Put in 9×9 baking dish.
  3. Sprinkle with topping and bake at 350? for 35 minutes

Topping:

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons flour
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon (I use a Tablespoon, but I LOVE cinnamon; you can reduce cinnamon if you like.)
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

  1. Mix ingredients together.
  2. Sprinkle on top of casserole prior to baking.

For my family of 10, I double this.

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Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Two Letters Re: Coffee

Hi Sarah,

I took great interest in your article about coffee, as I am one who loves a good cup or two of coffee daily. My concerns in a SHFT would also be how do I ensure that coffee would be available. Currently, I keep 10 lbs on hand of whole bean coffee. I do not refrigerate or freeze as I thought that would destroy the flavors. The coffee is in 2.5 lb bags and rotated. I purchased a hand grinder and also bought a French Press, which makes delicious coffee and uses no electricity. My setup is fine for the short term. I don’t know why I never heard of green coffee beans but found your article very interesting for my pursuits of something long term. I’m definitely going to look into this. I’m wondering, however, about the storage for long term. You said you put your green coffee in mason jars and used your sealer. Does the green coffee have oils in it like roasted? It is my understanding that anything with a moisture content could not be sealed and have no oxygen (the idea being that botulism could grow in an environment with no air and moisture present). Please clarify this for me as I think storing green coffee for the long term is an excellent idea! Thank you, K.

Sarah’s Response: Coffee ages a bit differently than what we are used to. With most foods, oxygen destroys flavors and nutrients through oxidation while bacteria needs moisture to propagate. While the oxygen can degrade the flavor of ground coffee, the whole bean is fairly well protected from this degradation, in much the same way that whole grains are. As long as the seed (whole coffee “bean”) is not compromised, it can have a decent shelf life. However, coffee is further degraded through a process called outgassing. Once the beans have been roasted and the sugars caramelized, the bean starts giving off CO2 gas. It is this offgassing that changes the flavor and results in the short shelf life of coffee. Some offgassing is desirable for optimal flavors, and your fresh ground roasts will gain their best flavor after about 24 hours. The flavor slowly degrades as the gas escapes, until at about seven days is becomes stale. At about 14 days, it pretty well stabilizes again, but with a very flat stale flavor. This is the product that comes in canned coffees. Because of the supply chain issues, grocery stores usually can’t get coffee to you any sooner than about 7 to 14 days after being roasted. Who knows how long it sits in the bins at the store. This, of course, is the reason they sell “flavored” coffees. They are disguising the stale flavor with additives. Even coffee boutiques, once renown for their ability to serve fresh roasted coffee, have succumbed to the supply line issues of getting it from the roaster to your kitchen in a timely manner. Green coffee, on the other hand, degrades very slowly and if protected from oxygen through vacuum packing, can be stored for years. Even without the vacuum packing, it will last for several years. While green coffee does retain some moisture, it is not enough to sustain bacterial growth unless there is something wrong with the coffee. During the roasting, the coffee is raised to nearly 400 degrees F (or higher), driving off all of the moisture and killing anything that might have grown on it.

We have roasted coffee that has been in storage for as long as five years and have had no issues with it. We have also heard from other readers who have done the same quite successfully. I’m glad to hear that this article was helpful to you and others, and I encourage you to look further into it as the answer for your long-term coffee storage solution. There are many people who have successfully purchased, stored, and roasted their own green coffee over the years.

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Sarah,

COSTCO sells green coffee beans by the case in #10 cans. They have regular and organic. The regular sells for about $5 a pound. Shipping is free if you are already a member. – DesertDawn

Economics and Investing:

Peter Schiff Show (Audio): Ep. 235: Fed Hikes Rates To Feign Confidence.

JWR’s Comment: In my estimation, the Fed’s interest rate changes will probably be driven more by their reaction to President Trump’s policies than they are by inflation data. Never forget that the Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel, NOT a Federal Agency. Interest rate hikes are weapons that can be used by the bankers to counter White House policies that they dislike.

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Demand for physical gold is collapsing – H.L.

HJL’s Comment: Gold price and customer demand are not correlating this time around. It’s important to remember that the price of gold on the markets does not represent physical gold. Paper gold represents the vast majority of market trades, and at some point physical gold will be recognized as valuable while paper gold will not.

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China’s Crude Oil Production Falls 8% Year Over Year. China’s crude oil production dropped 8 percent year over year in January and February, as high domestic production costs led to increased oil imports.

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Roughly one third of college students spend their loans on spring break and partying. Excerpts: “There is absolutely value in going to college if done right. Yet using debt to act out a cliché spring break party scene for one week is just nuts.”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Five Ninth Circuit Judges Issue Rare Dissent Rebuking The Panel In Immigration Ruling – J.A.

HJL’s Comment: Interesting to note that the fairly liberal/progressive 9th circuit is writing a scathing dissent to the Hawaii judge’s ruling against Trump’s immigration ban.

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Denmark on the Brink? – An Interview with Iben Tranholm. Thoughts on Christianity in Europe as Islam seeks to take over. – K.B.

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The wealthy are going underground as luxury doomsday bunkers sprawl across Kansas. For those with too much disposable income? – DSV

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“Are You Paranoid Enough?” The dangers of “The Internet of Things” – B.B.

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Paris airport attacker was ‘ready to die for Allah’

HJL’s Comment: Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “Investigators are still trying to understand what motivated Saturday’s assault…” and “…saying he wanted to ‘die for Allah’ “.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“A serious problem in America is the gap between academe and the mass media, which is our culture. Professors of humanities, with all their leftist fantasies, have little direct knowledge of American life and no impact whatever on public policy.” – Camille Paglia

Notes for Sunday – March 19, 2017

On March 19, 1649, the House of Commons of England passed an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it “useless and dangerous to the people of England”. Perhaps it’s time Americans did the same with our Senate–or better yet return our Senate to its proper role–representing the individual States rather than electing Senators by popular vote. – JWR

Household Basics in TEOTWAWKI- Part 7, by Sarah Latimer

I’m continuing my journey to consider some of the pantry basics (beyond meat, eggs, dairy, grains, fruits, and vegetables) that I will want to have available in the event of TEOTWAWKI. While I am working on a couple of major projects that are proving more difficult than expected, I will write on something this week that is ever so sweet and appealing. We’ve covered other pantry essentials, including baking soda, yeast, vinegar, salt and pepper (and other spices and herbs), and coffee to determine how we will provide them for our families in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Some of these we will have to have stock piled, barter for, or find alternatives for until they are manufactured again, but others we can make or produce for ourselves. This week’s subject is sugar.

Sugar

In a TEOTWAWKI scenario, when the electric grid goes down, fuel is not available for mass transportation, and ships are only sailing rather than running by engine, we will not be the beneficiaries of the massive amounts of sweeteners that are imported to or transported within our nation and across our continent to reach our local markets. The United States, almost exclusively the states of Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Texas, produces about 8.5 metric tons of sugar cane, which is less than 5% of the world’s production and significantly less than the nearly 11 metric tons of sugar cane consumed in the U.S. annually. Furthermore, if you’ll notice, only three state producing sugar cane are in the contiguous United States. It’s true that Mexico also produces sugar cane, but once again we have transportation issues to overcome in obtaining it, unless we happen to live in or very near Louisiana, Florida, or a small area of south Texas and have a source who is transporting it.

Additionally, even for those areas producing it, there is the matter of processing sugar cane. I assumed that sugar processing factories relied solely on electricity or natural gas to provide energy for their massive boilers and processing equipment, but I was pleasantly surprised to go to an informative website that describes how sugar is made and processed and to read that many factories burn the pulp of the sugar cane as fuel for their factories, thus being fairly self-sufficient for power and using renewable energy. Of course, the website emphasizes the renewable energy and environmental benefits, but you and I recognize the benefit this offers at TEOTWAWKI. Our only issue will be in obtaining it, and that is a significant issue for which we need to look at alternatives, since our stocked sugar won’t last indefinitely.

We use sugar for baking, canning, making syrups and jams, and also for making treats that comfort us. I’m sure we’d be healthier if we overcame our addictions to it. I have a few friends who have done this, but I haven’t yet been motivated in this direction. We just limit the extra sweets, yet still enjoy them. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, I believe that sweets will have greater meaning when we are living in the stress of TEOTWAWKI, as these special treats will remind us of kinder times and reward our efforts as well as provide some much needed calories for the extra labor we will certainly face.

I am happy to report that there are quite a few sweet alternatives available to us, depending upon where we live, for producing sweeteners that we can use for baking and making treats.

Honey

Honey is an obvious sweetener that many of us already have and use regularly. It is available to most people in North America. It stores indefinitely, and bees can be raised most everywhere. My parents even raised bees deep inside a medium-sized city and my in-laws managed more than 100 hives in the country at one time. SurvivalBlog has some outstanding articles on raising bees! Go back and look through the archives and know that you, too, can have access to wholesome homegrown honey. Honey is wonderful in baked goods and can be used in canning, syrups, and treat-making, too. It requires some investment and time in getting things set up, but after you’ve learned the process it isn’t too difficult. On top of obtaining honey, you get bees wax and honeycomb, too! These are nice added bonuses that can be used for candles, healthcare products, and more!

In using honey for recipes, you just have to reduce the amount of honey used as compared to the sugar called for in the recipe by about 23%. (That’s about 3/4 cup plus 1 tsp of honey for every cup of sugar called for in your recipe.) I use honey regularly in my challah bread, which we enjoyed this very week, and in other baked goodies.

Maple Syrup

For those who live among maple trees, this is an obvious option. Tap into the tree, drain the sap, and boil it down. Again, look back at SurvivalBlog’s articles for details from those who have great experience in managing their maple trees, syrup production, and processing. Maple syrup can be canned but once opened requires refrigeration, so it has a limited life span; however, the trees are renewing the syrup each year. Maple syrup can certainly be used for baking, canning, syrups, and treat-making. When used for baking, use 2/3 cup of syrup and reduce other liquids by 3 Tbsp for every cup of sugar called for in the recipe.

Sugar Beets

On our family farm we briefly grew sugar beets when I was a child. I was not a beet fan at that time. To say I was not excited about growing hundreds of acres of beets was an understatement; however, I was pleasantly surprised with how good these beets tasted, even raw. They are packed with sweetness. Again, the website on sugar shares about sugar beet processing too. Of course, this website tells about major factory-size production processes that are not what we’d do in our homestead kitchens. In our kitchens, we should scrub these beets thoroughly to remove dirt and then slice the beets thin, like potato chips, to expose the maximum surface. A mandolin slicer would be useful. Boil/simmer the beet slices in water (using almost enough water to cover them but not quite), cover the pan with a lid, and cook until the beets are very tender, about one hour. Then, remove the beets to a press or if you don’t have a press to a cheesecloth-lined colander in which you press to expel the sweet liquid and capture it into a bowl. Return the expressed sugar water to the water in which the beets were boiled and continue simmering this sweet water (with the lid off) to reduce this sugar-water until it become thick, like a syrup or honey. (Feed the cooked turnip mush in some feed to your livestock and they’ll think it’s a treat.) Once your syrup has cooked down and become thick, pour the hot syrup into sterilized jars and cover. It may crystallize over several months, or you can just use the syrup in your cooking. Beet crystal sugar is equal in sweetness to cane sugar and can be used identically in recipes. I prefer cane sugar when it is available because I have difficulty caramelizing beet sugar in some recipes, but that is a rare use for sugar, so generally there is no difference. In the vast majority of recipes, I can use beet sugar just as easily as cane sugar. Many bags of sugar at the store are produced from beet sugar, unless they specifically state cane sugar.

One of the best things to remember about sugar beets is that they can be grown in the northern states, where sugar cane cannot. They only need about about 65 days from planting until harvest and can be started just four weeks after the last frost.

Stevia

For several years, I have grown stevia plants and enjoyed the sweet flavor of these leaves. With our cold winters, of course, this plant is one that has been grown in pots indoors or as an annual outside. Still, it has provided a nice small amount of sweetness to beverages or even just as a morale booster as I picked a leaf and popped it onto my tongue while doing yard work. The leaves themselves cannot be directly crushed and used for directly for baking or canning. The sweetness is contained in the oils in the leaves. Once that sweetness dissipates on your tongue or in the liquid in which they’ve been placed, the leaves are bitter, so chewing them or grinding them is not desirable. However, a stevia tincture can be made at home. I’ve made many tinctures and infusions with fresh and dried herbs. It’s pretty simple really. With your homegrown stevia, just cut the fresh stevia leaves off the stem (as the stem is not as sweet as the leaves and can be more bitter), and place the leaves in a clean jar along with enough consumable alcohol (not isopropyl, rubbing alcohol) to just cover the loose leaves; I usually use vodka alcohol, because it has no flavor and has a good preserving alcohol content. Put a lid on your jar. (You may know how much I love Mason jars! This is just another use for them.) Then, shake your jar to stir the vodka around the leaves well. Do this shaking several times a day for two days. Then, strain the alcohol and leaves through a fine mesh colander and catch the sweet alcohol in a sauce pan. Put the sauce pan over low heat (not medium or high heat, as boiling this liquid will ruin it). Let it gently heat for 25-30 minutes to concentrate it and reduce some of the alcohol content. It will turn golden, and there may be some bits of stevia that become apparent. After heating, strain the liquid through a coffee filter and use a funnel to put it into a dropper or extract bottle. This tincture can be used in recipes with 1- 1 1/2 tsp of the tincture extract replacing 1 cup of sugar.

For sweetening sun tea, it is easy to just add a few stevia leaves into the jar and have a sweet tea in a few hours.

Fruit Juice Concentrate

Crushing fruit to produce juice and then cooking it down to a concentrate has long been used as a means for sweetening in canning, jelly making, and even baking. I often substitute apple sauce and apple juice concentrate for oil and some of the sugar in recipes. If you read the ingredients list of many canned fruits and juices, you will see pear juice listed high in the list because it has a great sweetening capability without adding a strong flavor, especially when cooked down to a syrup. Our household is not big fans of cooked pears by themselves, mainly because they have little flavor other than “sweet”, so when the pear trees produce we make pear juice concentrate and can in order to have this sweetener available to us. It works great!

If you have an apple press, you can use it to produce juice that is then cooked down on low heat for several hours to increase the sugar content in the concentrated liquid. If you don’t have a press, then you can add a small amount of water to cut or chopped apples or pears and steam them over medium heat. After they have softened, strain the contents of the pan (pressing them, too) through a colander. Return the juice and water to a pan and boil down further to concentrate the juice and remove the water. The sweetness of the fruit juice concentrate depends upon the sweetness of the original fruit and how much it is cooked down, so there is no substitution measurement for it in recipes calling for sugar. You will have to experiment on your own with your individual juice concentrate, by taste. However, this is a great option for us as well, if we have fruit trees. I hope you do!

Sorghum

Like sugar cane, sorghum cane is a hefty plant that must be cut, crushed, and its juice cooked and processed before it is useful. More than a year ago I came across a 2013 article of Mother Earth News called “Sweet Sorghum Revival: How to Grow Your Own Natural Sweetener” and became fascinated with the idea of growing sorghum and making sorghum syrup. I’d never thought about this option before.

Making sorghum syrup or molasses, as it is sometimes called, is quite a process, but it can be done in the homestead. In fact, there are many families who grow and process their own sorghum using a variety of crushers and methods. Just take a look at youtube and you’ll find quite a few options for home-built sorghum crushers. Some are humorous, but others are impressive. Additionally, there are some elaborate and expensive pieces of factory-produced equipment for this production process as well, for those who are serious about making sorghum syrup in large quantity.

I’ve recently heard about a man living in our area who drives all the way to Kentucky every year to buy gallons of sorghum syrup, as he uses it exclusively as his sweetener because he prefers it over honey and sugar. When using sorghum syrup in baking, substitute 1 1/3 cup of sorghum syrup for each cup of sugar called for and reduce other liquid by 1/3 cup.

Well, hopefully I’ve given you a taste of some sweet ideas for sugar substitutes that will get you started in looking at what will work for you at your homestead in a TEOTWAWKI situation and still keep your sweet tooth satisfied. God is so good to give us many natural sources of sweetness! Explore some of these before TEOTWAWKI!

I wish you well, until we meet again on SurvivalBlog!

Letter Re: Coffee

Mrs. Latimer,

Thank you for your contributions to our survival knowledge. In regard to roasting your own coffee, we have been doing this for years and I thought I might share … Firstly we buy our beans green by the 150 pound (plus) burlap bags from Royal Coffee Co. and have it shipped to us. We have kept our beans in 5 gallon buckets in a cool place and have never had a problem with spoilage. Like you, we have gone through multiple evolutions of roasting techniques from cast iron pan to electric hot air popcorn popper, which I will add needs to be preferably a 1500 watt popper. The smoke from roasting is quite acrid and I have read (though can not verify) is carcinogenic so any thing that one does use to roast the beans in must be dedicated to that sole purpose and obviously should be done in a well ventilated area! (Read that as “outside”!) Now bearing in mind that a hundred-fifty pounds of coffee is a lot of coffee; one might choose to find others to share the purchase with, but we drink one pot of coffee a day. We always eventually have to buy more! Hope this helps. Yours in Faith and Liberty, From the Redoubt, – DB.

HJL’s Comment: While Royal Coffee does have some pretty good prices on their coffees, SurvivalBlog reader G.T. alerted us to this statement on their website. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend doing business with a company that is so blatantly supporting policies that are destroying the very foundation of America.

Economics and Investing:

Philadelphia Soda Tax Forces Local University To Hike Student Costs By $400,000 – Reader H.L.

HJL’s Comment: Typical of liberal progressives, Philadelphia can’t face the fact that their actions have consequences. More collectivism at work.

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These US States Entered A Recession In 2016 – Notice that the economies of nearly all of the states presently in recession depend heavily on oil production. Oil makes the world go round, or at least lubricates it.

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Management doesn’t escape the axe: Remington Laysoff Senior Directors And Management – Link sent in by DSV

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Wall Street Bullish On Oil Prices Despite Saudi Warnings. The majority of investment banks appear to be unfazed by the recent fall in oil prices, claiming that the outlook for oil over the year is no less bullish.

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How Central Bankers See Themselves Excerpt: “One of the consequences of living in an unfree world is the aggravating subjection to condescending Official Narratives. It’s not just that our Monetary Saviors get to make money supply and interest rates decisions on our behalf, it’s also that we are being saved from our own over exuberant actions.”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

A 50 State Guide – Is night vision legal to use for hunting in my State?

JWR’s Comment: Be sure to check the current Fish &Game regulations in your own state. Laws do change frequently!

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U.S. Air Force Buying Special Drone-Snagging Shotgun Shells – G.G.

HJL’s Comment: I’m not too thrilled about their choice of a name for the product (Skynet), but it is an intriguing concept. I’m also curious as to how the laws against shooting drones will be applied to this product.

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In a continuation of disturbing trends, a man was arrested for tweeting a seizure-inducing GIF to a reporter with epilepsy. I’m not sure which is more disturbing– the weaponization of Twitter or being arrested for a free speech issue.

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US State Dept. warns college students against spring break travel to Mexico – D.B.

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As the dust settles on the Dakota Pipline protest, we are starting to find out just how peaceful the protestors were: Officers’ spouses terrorized by threats of murder, rape during Dakota Access pipeline protest – Link sent in by B.B.