Author Topic: Preserving the Harvest  (Read 41417 times)

MelodysMustache

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Preserving the Harvest
« on: June 13, 2014, 08:02:27 AM »
This summer my goal is to preserve a substantial amount of food by canning, drying, and freezing while the good stuff is in season and cheap.  My aunt and I are splitting a vegetable CSA share.  It is turning out to be too much to eat and I don't want any of it to go to waste.  I have a little herb garden growing and I am also buying quantities of fruit at Costco and farmers markets.  I had forgotten that homemade jam was so much better than store bought.  Made blueberry cinnamon jam last week, and it is so good.  :)

Does anyone want to join me to talk about the stuff we are putting up this summer?

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2014, 08:31:37 AM »
Sure! I do a ton of canning every summer. The keys are to preserve what you are going to REALLY use. Because that jar of green tomato mincemeat from 2010 is never getting opened at this point. I just have to admit it and move on. I do about 300 pounds of tomatoes every year. This yields about 100 quart jars of canned tomatoes.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2014, 08:43:37 AM »
Probably going to do some water bath canning this year. If we get the $, we'll buy a freezer for the basement, as a lot of the stuff we use most would taste best frozen (tart fruit, spinach for smoothies, etc). It's what I typically buy at the store when stuff isn't on sale/season.

I also plan to do some small lactofermentation experiments to see if I actually like the flavor developed. I'm not usually a big vinegar/pickle fan.

I'll +1 to what Erica said. A great book I'm reading right now is called "Independence Days" by Sharon Astyk. She really, really stresses that you STORE WHAT YOU EAT.

Most of my own garden will probably go straight to the dinner table, unless yields are far bigger than I expect.

exceljunkie

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2014, 11:38:02 AM »
I'll make a big batch of kimchi later in the fall.

MicroRN

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2014, 12:56:16 PM »
I'm hoping to do some water bath canning this summer.  If I decide I like it, I'll consider a pressure canner.  By the way, if anyone is looking for good resources, see if your area has an agricultural extension office. 

TrMama

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2014, 01:20:44 PM »
I usually do a few big batches of things we eat a lot of. Last year was, pickles, jam, a few big jars of peaches and a single jar of heavenly cherries.

This year I'll do:

pickles (this is a really good one to do with kids since the cucumbers, garlic and dill go in cold)
pickled green beans
blackberry jam
as many cherries as I can get my hands on (also super easy, since I don't pit them)
DH wants salsa, but won't help with the endless chopping of tomatoes . . .

Worsted Skeins

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2014, 01:23:53 PM »
I'm hoping to do some water bath canning this summer.  If I decide I like it, I'll consider a pressure canner.  By the way, if anyone is looking for good resources, see if your area has an agricultural extension office.

Yes!  My extension office is gearing up to run preservation classes for newbies.

One of the things that I do is freeze prepared items that use our CSA produce overrun. For example, I have several zip bags of egg rolls made with bok choy, scallions, kale, etc.  The other day I made zucchini bread and froze the excess zuke shreds for future baking endeavors.  More zucchini has arrived.  I think that I will probably make more zucchini bread, freezing some small loaves for future picnics or weekend getaways.

Another thing we like to do is roast both sweet and poblano peppers that we freeze in small packets for future use.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2014, 02:43:01 PM »
Rhubarb chutney sounds interesting. Care to share a recipe?

Worsted Skeins

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2014, 03:23:31 PM »
We too do not own a separate freezer.  Quite honestly, a standard freezer compartment of a refrigerator can hold a lot--if you are not buying frozen food in inefficient cardboard boxes. 

We dehydrate berries for use in oatmeal or baking. I will freeze some for pies or cobblers but reduce the overall volume by dehydrating. 

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2014, 10:29:25 PM »
I'm up late tonight, canning 5 quarts of green beans that I picked this week. It's only about half of what I've picked- I ended up selling a bunch of Mason jars in our garage sale last summer because I was tired of storing them, and now I don't have enough :/

I typically don't like to pressure can. Our gardens aren't big enough to make it worthwhile, and it's hot and time-consuming. But we are having a bumper crop of green beans, which are horrible for freezing! So we borrowed the pressure canner from a neighbor and we' re putting it to work.

I just had my first fresh sweet corn tonight. Most will be ready to pick and freeze in another week. Fortunately, corn on the cob freezes very well! The freezer will be packed when the corn comes in, and just in time- we are down to our last bag of last year's :)

deedeezee

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2014, 07:13:39 AM »
I ordered a Recap and airlock to experiment with lactofermentation as well.  I am a huge pickle/sauerkraut fan, so I'm hopeful (but a little scared I will mess it up!).

That is a great reminder about zucchini.  My CSA has been fabulous so far and I have been keeping up, but I don't love zucchini so it will be the first to pile up.  I will add shred & freeze to my to-do list.  I am also going to try making & freezing scape pesto.


Worsted Skeins

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2014, 07:23:05 AM »
I ordered a Recap and airlock to experiment with lactofermentation as well.  I am a huge pickle/sauerkraut fan, so I'm hopeful (but a little scared I will mess it up!).

That is a great reminder about zucchini.  My CSA has been fabulous so far and I have been keeping up, but I don't love zucchini so it will be the first to pile up.  I will add shred & freeze to my to-do list.  I am also going to try making & freezing scape pesto.

The Recap is a Kickstarter project, right?  I am not a huge pickle fan which is why I ordered it!  I like the idea of making a small quantity of pickled carrots or whatever--not the massive crocks that my Dad made of kraut!

deedeezee

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2014, 07:31:19 AM »
I have a boatload of jars, so I just ordered a ReCap and airlock and was going to follow Erica/NWEdible's fantastic instructions:

http://www.nwedible.com/2012/07/how-to-turn-a-mason-jar-into-a-fermenting-crock.html

FarmCurious is a great Kickstarter project to support, though, and you are far less likely to mess it up.  I'm far more likely to screw it up, but I like the experimenting aspect of it.

MelodysMustache

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2014, 01:11:26 PM »
Well, I just blew my monthly food budget at Costco.  But.... Copper River salmon, and cherries, and peaches and apricots.  It all looked so good!  I am going to freeze the salmon since that is a treat that is only available for a few weeks of the year.  The cherries and peaches will get canned.  The apricots will get dehydrated.  I just got a dehydrator from craigslist for $15.  I have been wanting a dehydrator for a couple of years.  I also picked up some canning jars at Goodwill cheap yesterday.

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2014, 01:54:03 PM »
I have a boatload of jars, so I just ordered a ReCap and airlock and was going to follow Erica/NWEdible's fantastic instructions:

http://www.nwedible.com/2012/07/how-to-turn-a-mason-jar-into-a-fermenting-crock.html

FarmCurious is a great Kickstarter project to support, though, and you are far less likely to mess it up.  I'm far more likely to screw it up, but I like the experimenting aspect of it.
The gal with the Kickstarter for this concept is a friend. So I threw $50 towards the kickstarter even though I have all the reCAPs and airlocks I really need. For mustachians, I think it's actually cheaper to DIY. And there isn't anything to be afraid of - lacto-fermentation is honestly the easiest food preservation technique except maybe drying. I highly recommend Sandor Katz's website for lots of info, but it's designed painfully so start here:

http://www.wildfermentation.com/2012/04/

and then just search for what you want (Ie, "pickle recipe" etc.) Sandor's books are good too, especially "Wild Fermentation" which is far better than "The Art of Fermentation" if you are a beginner to all this.

deedeezee

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #15 on: June 14, 2014, 08:18:00 PM »
Thanks!  I plan on trying my first batch in the next week or so.  I appreciate the rec and am headed to check out the site.

I think the kickstarter is awesome, glad your friend is doing so well with it!

horsepoor

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #16 on: June 15, 2014, 10:19:25 AM »
Once you ferment cucumber pickles you will never go back.  Just warning you that you'll never want to eat a store-bought pickle again.  :)  Mine made it through winter beautifully in a half gallon jar in the fridge, and I just ate the last one a few days ago.  Now anxiously checking the little cucumber plants for signs of fruit.  One thing I learned, slicing the very tips off of the cukes is a good thing, cutting them into spears is not (turn into mush).  Another thing that is amazing is fermenting peppers and making your own lactofermented hot sauce.

I have never had much luck with freezing zucchini - if anyone has a good method, let me know. 

This is the first year that my garden is in full production, with all of the raised beds in, so there will be lots of preserving to do.  Just ate the first raspberry yesterday, but expect to have enough blueberries, raspberries and blackberries to do some freezing.  Growing acorn, spaghetti and Australian butter winter squash, potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes and carrots which will get stored in my basement "root cellar".  Garlic storage has been a problem, so this year I will probably just mince most of it and freeze it in oil for cooking.

With 21 tomato plants, including 8 paste tomatoes, I expect that lots of canning and drying is in my future.  Want to try making my own ketchup this year.  My other goals are to do a better job of drying and preserving herbs, freezing lots of okra for gumbo next winter, and to can mixed veggies as a soup base.

With the mention of freezing corn, I'm now thinking of hopping out and throwing some corn in the ground.  I didn't grow any because with just two of us, having 15+ ears all at once is kind of pointless, and cutting it off the cob to freeze is kind of a pain and a mess.  Freezing on the ears would be perfect though.

As far as preservation recipes, each year I make a batch of what's become known in our house as "pizza magic" - Melenzana Ali Olio or eggplant preserved in olive oil.  Really good to add to pasta dishes, pizza and so on, for a nice umami flavor.  It will keep in a jar in the fridge all year as long as you keep it covered in enough oil (the oil will taste really good for cooking too)


Stachesquatch

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #17 on: June 15, 2014, 12:00:09 PM »
As we are moving to a place soon that will allow us to garden on a small scale I look forward to catching up with the gardening efforts of horsepoor, her life sounds delicious! 

For now can only give advise to apt. dwellers- the one thing that has returned beyond it's price for us has been a potted mint.  We cut fresh mint and steep tea that is more refreshing than the most expensive bags.  It seems silly to pay the high price for a box of mint tea when it grows quite literally like a weed.

Rezdent

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #18 on: June 15, 2014, 12:17:16 PM »
Made a big batch of Puerto Rican style Sofrito yesterday and making another batch today with mixed peppers from the garden.  I throw bags of this in the freezer to use as needed (if there's any left! ).  This is a mix of peppers onions,  garlic, olives and capers that we could eat as a dish but it's a great add to rice/eggs/beans/whatever.  Our peppers tend to the hotter side but you can adjust the heat by the type of peppers used.
Also made a giant yellow squash casserole that should last a week of lunches and suppers.

cdttmm

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2014, 04:33:41 AM »
Harvested loads of rhubarb yesterday and made it into rhubarb freezer jam.

Impatiently waiting for blueberry season -- my favorite!!!

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #20 on: June 18, 2014, 06:56:33 AM »
I am so excited to do some preserving this year.  I still need to finish some of the things I saved from last year.  I am hoping to can many tomatoes, cherry pie filling, peach pie filling and peppers.  We also will make some hot sauces with peppers from our garden and vinegar.  I also want to ferment some sauerkraut and pickles.  I would also love to fill our cellar with some potatoes and garlic.

MelodysMustache

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #21 on: June 18, 2014, 07:40:15 AM »
I made nine jars of honey spiced peaches last night, and there is more in the fridge to be enjoyed this week.  I have used up all my one pint jars and need to get more now.

deedeezee

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #22 on: June 18, 2014, 08:02:08 AM »
Honey spiced peaches?  I am intrigued.  Is it for pie filling?

MelodysMustache

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #23 on: June 18, 2014, 07:58:14 PM »
Honey spiced peaches?  I am intrigued.  Is it for pie filling?

It is like regular canned peaches, but with a more interesting flavor.  The recipe is from the Ball home preserves book.  I had some of the leftovers in a yogurt smoothie for breakfast, and it was wonderful.

Eristheunorganized

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #24 on: June 18, 2014, 09:15:48 PM »
I've never really frozen zucchini for any other purpose than making zucchini bread. For that I just shred 'n' freeze. 

I just made a batch of rhubarb citrus butter from my brother's homegrown rhubarb. Probably give some out for Xmas.

Tempe

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #25 on: June 19, 2014, 12:05:59 AM »
I would like to get into it. Posting to keep track of the thread :)

keepitsimple

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #26 on: June 19, 2014, 08:26:56 AM »
Sure!  I love to talk about my adventures in canning/freezing/dehydrating.  My CSA just started up and I am going to pick my first round of strawberries this weekend.  Loading the freezer with them and then making plain strawberry freezer and canned jam are top of the list.  I made a lot of fancy flavors last year, but nothing goes quicker than traditional.  Is it bad that I packed Strawberry Margarita jam in my kids lunches today?  It needs to be used up and it only has a small amount of tequila in it...:)

stripey

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #27 on: June 19, 2014, 08:35:06 AM »
Trying to get back into it- in my current place I have much less of a garden than I did. The last year I have done:

- Bread-and-butter vegetables (one based with zucchini, one based on cucumber). (As an aside, why do Americans call pickled cucumbers/gherkins 'pickles', as if there aren't any other sort of pickles?)
- Kimchi
- Preserved lemons
- Preserved limes
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Tomato kasundi
- Tomato relish
- Basil pesto (I have a ridiculous amount in the back of the fridge, enough to last all winter)
- Strawberries in gin. Yes, you read that correctly. The resulting syrup is AWESOME and makes very nice cocktails too.
- Olives- the 'wet' way, with a bucket under a dripping tap then pickle in brine



Simple Abundant Living

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #28 on: June 19, 2014, 11:29:15 AM »
I want to be in!  It's still early here in the season.  What I have ready right now is kale, lettuce, and peas.  The peas will get eaten raw before there's a chance to freeze any.  Is there anything I can do with more kale and lettuce than I can eat raw?  Thanks!!

SisterX

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #29 on: June 19, 2014, 12:15:03 PM »
Probably going to do some water bath canning this year. If we get the $, we'll buy a freezer for the basement, as a lot of the stuff we use most would taste best frozen (tart fruit, spinach for smoothies, etc). It's what I typically buy at the store when stuff isn't on sale/season.

I also plan to do some small lactofermentation experiments to see if I actually like the flavor developed. I'm not usually a big vinegar/pickle fan.

I'll +1 to what Erica said. A great book I'm reading right now is called "Independence Days" by Sharon Astyk. She really, really stresses that you STORE WHAT YOU EAT.

Most of my own garden will probably go straight to the dinner table, unless yields are far bigger than I expect.

Haha, I just finished reading "Making Home" and "Depletion and Abundance" by Sharon Astyk.  It's amazing how closely related, and yet not, her message is to Mustachianism.

As for me, I usually put up a fair amount of food, considering that I'm in an apartment.  We'll see what bebe lets me do, but I tend to freeze a lot of it anyway and do less canning (takes up too much space).  I'm hoping I can can diced tomatoes (from my own plants), though, since we eat tons of those.  I'll definitely be freezing some wild blueberries (I usually have the goal of 4-5 gallon bags, usually only find time to pick 1-2 bags), some wild cranberries, wild raspberries, pumpkin (from my garden), zucchini (from my garden), pesto (from homegrown basil), and peas.  I've got some banana peppers growing, so we'll see if I get enough to can some.  I'll be making my rhubarb into gingered rhubarb jam.  I've also got potatoes and carrots growing, which I'll just ghetto root cellar.  From the farmer's market, I'll buy some carrots to supplement what I grow and put those up, also some crabapples and make those into applesauce and can that.

Right now I've got lettuce going gangbusters, so we're eating a big salad at least once per week, plus lettuce on sammiches and whatnot.  I'll be able to bring in at least one of my buckets of lettuce when it gets cold, so hopefully we'll have lettuce all winter too, at least enough for sandwiches.

From my in-laws we'll get wild salmon (caught by them and frozen), probably some moose meat to fill up the freezer, and some home-canned salmon.  We still have plenty of halibut.

If they ever get to a decent price at the store, I might freeze some cherries and peaches, but that's a big "if".

Just listing all of this is making me very happy about how much food we'll be able to put away for winter.  :)  I always think it's such a paltry amount until I actually list it all.

horsepoor

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #30 on: June 19, 2014, 03:17:08 PM »
I want to be in!  It's still early here in the season.  What I have ready right now is kale, lettuce, and peas.  The peas will get eaten raw before there's a chance to freeze any.  Is there anything I can do with more kale and lettuce than I can eat raw?  Thanks!!

I can't think of anything for the lettuce, but you could make kale chips or freeze the kale (probably blanch quickly and freeze?).

deborah

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #31 on: June 19, 2014, 03:25:32 PM »
Vietnamese Braised Lettuce and Peas - YUM! You can also make lettuce soup, but I like braised lettuce so much that soup doesn't make it.

MayDay

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #32 on: June 26, 2014, 06:19:17 PM »
Just saw this thread.  I am all over this!  I started canning about 10 years ago, and have slowly ramped up to the point that we don't purchase jarred tomato products, pickles, or jams. 

Notes from last year:
Need more diced tomatoes and tomato sauce
Have plenty of tomato soup and salsa
Have a lifetime supply of pickles and applesauce and apple butter

One thing I have trouble with is predicting what the kids will eat.  They went on a tomato soup kick, so I canned 24 quarts.  Now they don't like it.  Same with pickles.  Apples I have tons of because we had a bumper crop last year. 

Things I won't be doing again:
Freezing kale (we just don't go through much of it)
Freezing zucchini chopped/sliced/diced (will do shredded only for baking)

I need to freeze more basil leaves.  I also make pesto but use plain basil for adding to sauces.  I need to do some jam- didn't get to strawberry pick this year, so hopefully will get blueberries.  If not, we can always fall back on the lifetime supply if apple butter :)

Sadly the Ohio peach crop was decimated due to our harsh winter.  Peaches are the most popular thing I can.   

Probably the most useful thing I can is vegetable soup (do it in a friend's pressure canner, but I might freeze some, too, this year.  It is basically a ton of veggies, plus Lima beans.  We use it year round as our emergency dinner when we don't have time to cook, and also bring it camping. 

MayDay

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #33 on: June 26, 2014, 06:22:46 PM »
I want to be in!  It's still early here in the season.  What I have ready right now is kale, lettuce, and peas.  The peas will get eaten raw before there's a chance to freeze any.  Is there anything I can do with more kale and lettuce than I can eat raw?  Thanks!!

I can't think of anything for the lettuce, but you could make kale chips or freeze the kale (probably blanch quickly and freeze?).

I have frozen a ton of kale.  Either Blanche or just freeze straight.  If you freeze straight, it will crumble up once frozen which could be good or bad.

We then theoretically use it for smoothies or to add to other things like pasta sauce or a crock pot meal, things you wouldn't notice a handful of crumbled kale.  In reality we never remember too, which is why I have gobs of kale in my freezer.  Oops. 

Lettuce, I don't think there is anything you can do except eat salad three meals a day. 

Eristheunorganized

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #34 on: June 29, 2014, 04:00:31 PM »
You can make soup from lettuce, which I would assume you could then freeze.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/lettuce-soup-recipe2.html#!

I've never made it, but I'm sure it's good.

Annamal

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #35 on: June 29, 2014, 04:13:50 PM »
Not nearly in the league of anyone here (since we only make a month's worth and store them in the fridage)  but Mexican pickled onions and carrots are awesome!

Great for throwing in salads, felafels or guacamole.

Rezdent

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #36 on: June 29, 2014, 05:19:53 PM »
Not nearly in the league of anyone here (since we only make a month's worth and store them in the fridage)  but Mexican pickled onions and carrots are awesome!

Great for throwing in salads, felafels or guacamole.
Hi Annamal
Sounds like we are in the same league - I do Kim Chi one month a time - care to share your recipe?

Annamal

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #37 on: June 29, 2014, 06:35:29 PM »
Not nearly in the league of anyone here (since we only make a month's worth and store them in the fridage)  but Mexican pickled onions and carrots are awesome!

Great for throwing in salads, felafels or guacamole.
Hi Annamal
Sounds like we are in the same league - I do Kim Chi one month a time - care to share your recipe?

It's drifted quite a way from the original over time
At this point it is:

2 red onions
some chopped carrots
a handful of jalapenos
4 cloves of garlic
cumin seeds
a pinch of oregano

I dump everything into a pot, fill 3/4 with vinegar and 1/4 water, heat over an element until near boiling, let it cool and then decant into a container and store in the fridge (it's not sterile so does need to be used up relatively quickly).

Technically it is ready to eat after 4 hours but I prefer to keep it overnight.

There's a lot of other recipes out there with oil and sugar (budget bytes has one I think although that one is more about the carrots) but I love vinegar so vinegar it is, some recipes also use lime juice which I suspect would be awesome too.


horsepoor

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #38 on: July 08, 2014, 10:34:19 PM »
Started the first half gallon of fermented pickles today.  They'll be spicy garlic dills.  DH asked about sweet pickles, so I might do a quart of those next.  The cucumber plants have exploded in the last week.  Hoping to have enough cabbage for a quick kraut within the next couple weeks, and will be harvesting garlic before too long as well.

Today I bought a few fancy pants ice cube trays that have lids and are silicone on the bottom so that it's easy to pop out individual cubes.  I'm thinking I'll make frozen cubes of pesto, garlic, hot peppers and an herb mix.

I also need to dry a bunch of Tarragon. Last time I bought it in bulk I didn't realize until after I'd paid that it was $42/lb!  Bought less than an ounce, but still.  I need to dry that shit and save it.


Worsted Skeins

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2014, 05:57:42 AM »
Reminder that pesto can be made from things other than basil.  Carrot tops, for example.  Yesterday I made pesto from fennel fronds, fennel being one of those things that showed up in my CSA box.  We had some for dinner and the rest is frozen for a future dish.

I also added to our frozen shredded zucchini supply.

MayDay

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #40 on: July 09, 2014, 06:25:24 AM »
We have been eating everything so far, but this week may be the end of that!  I have carrots out the wazoo and the zucchini is galloping closely behind.

I know carrots cellar for a long time, but 1.  I have no cellar, and 2. Fridge space is at a premium.  So i don't know what I will do with all those other than make H eat them!  For some reason the kids are currently off carrots and only want to eat cucumbers.  This always happens.  They levels carrots last year so I plant a bunch this year.  This year they want none.  Ask me why I have about 30 quarts of tomato soup in my basement!

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #41 on: July 09, 2014, 06:39:49 AM »
We have been eating everything so far, but this week may be the end of that!  I have carrots out the wazoo and the zucchini is galloping closely behind.

I know carrots cellar for a long time, but 1.  I have no cellar, and 2. Fridge space is at a premium.  So i don't know what I will do with all those other than make H eat them!  For some reason the kids are currently off carrots and only want to eat cucumbers.  This always happens.  They levels carrots last year so I plant a bunch this year.  This year they want none.  Ask me why I have about 30 quarts of tomato soup in my basement!

Has anyone tried making pickled carrots, a Mexican condiment? 

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #42 on: July 09, 2014, 08:08:47 AM »
So far this year I've done cherry preserves, pickled beets and apricot bbq sauce. LF dilly beans and something with the zucchini on the agenda today.

horsepoor

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #43 on: July 09, 2014, 08:32:14 AM »
Reminder that pesto can be made from things other than basil.  Carrot tops, for example.  Yesterday I made pesto from fennel fronds, fennel being one of those things that showed up in my CSA box.  We had some for dinner and the rest is frozen for a future dish.

I also added to our frozen shredded zucchini supply.

Yep, a couple weeks ago I made several 4-oz jars of carrot top and garlic scape pesto, and used cashews instead of pine nuts.  Ate some with ground beef and spiralized zucchini the other night.  Delicious.

Fennel frond pesto sounds great, too!

hermoninny

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #44 on: July 09, 2014, 09:37:56 AM »
I did my first water bath canning over the holiday weekend - so exciting for me!  I did 26 pints of cherries (my absolute favorite growing up, and they were $0.98/lb, a total steal for LA), 5 half-pints of tomato-onion spread using tomatoes from my mom's garden, and 8 half-pints of zucchini jello jam using zucchini from my mom's garden.  Hoping to get some veggies into those kids, even if it's through their PB&J! 

I also chopped and froze two green peppers from our garden.  We have about 4 more growing.  This is the second year for our pepper plant (they don't die over the winter here), and we're finally getting some good ones! 

Our tomato plant is finally growing some good ones too.  It's in its second year, as well.  I've frozen about 2 cups of crushed tomatoes so far, but already used it in a soup.  The rest of the tomatoes have been diced and used for guacamole or soup.  I should have enough tomatoes this weekend to make some more crushed tomatoes for the freezer, but we'll see.

I bought about 11 pounds more of cherries that I'm going to pit and freeze for smoothies.  We both drink one every morning and frozen fruit is $2.50/lb for strawberries and $3.33/lb for a raspberry/blackberry/blueberry blend or blueberry/pomegranate/cherry blend.  We go through 7-10 lbs of fruit every 2-3 weeks.   Frozen cherries will definitely cut the bill down for a bit.

I've started watching the produce sales much more closely, now that I'm not scared of my canner anymore.  Well, water bath, at least.  Pressure canning is still a bit intimidating for me!  Problem is that I'm not *quite* sure what the best deal is these days!  Food prices have gone up so much.  I really want to do peaches!

We've still got cucumbers and pumpkins that we're waiting on.  The cucumbers will be diced and frozen for smoothies, and the pumpkins will likely be carved for Halloween.  We got 4-5 cukes last year on one plant, and planted two this year.  We got one pumpkin last year that was perfect for carving, and we planted two plants this year. 

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #45 on: July 11, 2014, 02:23:36 PM »
I went to a blueberry U-pick today and came home with ten pounds.  Some are frozen, some are in our tummies; others await dehydrating overnight.

Simple Abundant Living

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #46 on: July 12, 2014, 08:41:02 AM »
This year, I found out that the two flowering plum trees I bought- are actually fruiting plum trees!  They aren't quite ready, so I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with them?!?

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #47 on: July 12, 2014, 02:34:00 PM »
This year, I found out that the two flowering plum trees I bought- are actually fruiting plum trees!  They aren't quite ready, so I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with them?!?

Make plum jam for holiday gifts?

There is a farm near us that has a bakery which uses their produce.  They make a fruits of the farm pie that has assorted berries, plums, peaches--a tasty mish mosh.

Which leads me to think you could dice and freeze those plums to add to smoothies if you are a smoothie type.

grantmeaname

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #48 on: July 13, 2014, 05:09:58 AM »
Not nearly in the league of anyone here (since we only make a month's worth and store them in the fridage)  but Mexican pickled onions and carrots are awesome!
I'm going to have to try that when I get back to my kitchen. My favorite part of buying canned jalapenos is eating the carrots in the jar.

horsepoor

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Re: Preserving the Harvest
« Reply #49 on: July 13, 2014, 11:26:48 AM »
Made a metric ass-load of pesto yesterday.  Discovered some sundried cherry tomatoes from last summer languishing in the freezer - they were perfect to add some natural sweetness to counteract the bitter note in the basil.