What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)

[heidih]

Have you ever considered making tomato paste?  Denser, less space, concentrated flavor?

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

dehydrate ?

 

Tj's has has some dehydrated Romas

 

no oil , in pacts    dehydrate well

 

for a risotto or orzo dish

 

deliciously 

 

ignore the initial wetness 

 

cut in 1/2    

 

gently clear out the seeds

 

slice , to be determined width

 

dry in a dehydrator

 

assuming its not 75 % humidity your way

 

B )  send to Modernist Cuisine Seattle , collect 

 

      there are no garden tomatoes in Seattle

 

     as for 50 % of their solution back , pre- paid.

[Shelby]

30 minutes ago, heidih said:

Have you ever considered making tomato paste?  Denser, less space, concentrated flavor?

 

18 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby

 

dehydrate ?

 

Tj's has has some dehydrated Romas

 

no oil , in pacts    dehydrate well

 

for a risotto or orzo dish

 

deliciously 

 

ignore the initial wetness 

 

cut in 1/2    

 

gently clear out the seeds

 

slice , to be determined width

 

dry in a dehydrator

 

assuming its not 75 % humidity your way

 

B )  send to Modernist Cuisine Seattle , collect 

 

      there are no garden tomatoes in Seattle

 

     as for 50 % of their solution back , pre- paid.

Both great ideas.  I need to branch out and I would like some tomato paste.  These tomatoes are very very juicy though.  I'll do some research.

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

good

 

whatever you do

 

get it done , w reasonable effort 

 

soon .  

 

so , something else will be coming soon !

 

from the garden 

[SweetSymphonybyM]

How does one repackage a large can of Peppadew peppers to last ~ 6 months in the fridge? Would freezing them change the texture?

[jbates]

10 hours ago, SweetSymphonybyM said:

How does one repackage a large can of Peppadew peppers to last ~ 6 months in the fridge? Would freezing them change the texture?

I'd expect that the brine they come in would continue to preserve them. Divide into appropriate size bottles and share the brine between them. 

[blue_dolphin]

@Shelby, saw this recipe for tomato powder and thought of your abundant harvests: https://www.ruralsprout.com/tomato-powder/

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

@Shelby, saw this recipe for tomato powder and thought of your abundant harvests: https://www.ruralsprout.com/tomato-powder/

This will be happening.  Thank you so much!  I gave mom free reign to take as many tomatoes as she wanted back home and it still didn't make a dent lol.  And she took a TON.  I've been needing to can for two days now, but life has gotten in the way.  The temperatures are very much still like summer--highs in the 90's and it doesn't look to end any time soon.  The plants are still loaded and covered with flowers.   Might be a fun Christmas gift to give, too.

[kayb]

On 9/4/2021 at 6:43 AM, Shelby said:

Excellent year for tomatoes.  I have them stacked everywhere lol.  These pictures are from two days ago.  I can't unload the baskets until I do my daily amount of canning.

 

 

 

 

 

So, I've been doing six or seven quarts of just plain tomatoes every day and about every other day I've made spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce and frozen that.

 

Thank goodness for wine.  That helps lol.

 

I'd just about come to Kansas for some of that; tomatoes here just did not do well this year. I canned a few jars of plain tomato sauce, and a few jars of tomatoes and a few of juice, but that's about it.

 

FWIW, I've got a ripe tomato relish recipe I dearly love that I'd be happy to pass on to you. Very similar to the "community organizer" in Vivian Howard's book. Make a vat of that last year and still have plenty. I also dehydrated a lot of tomatoes (Romas, and cherries) last year. I dehydrate until mostly dry, then package in plastic bags and throw in the freezer. I've made tomato paste, but you just about have to have Romas or another paste tomato for that.

[KTM]

Funny enough our whole path to being a small candy manufacturer started with an idea of eventually being able to buy as much local produce as we can and convert it into a shelf stable product we could ship across the country. 
We're not quite there yet due to a lack of refrigeration space but that is the overall master plan. We probably need to look for some grant money to build a large processing facility to really make an impact and make sure any local produce that's not getting to peoples plates still has a use. 
That is the dream though!

 

[heidih]

wwht form or format would the fruit be in for candy?

[chromedome]

17 hours ago, KTM said:

Funny enough our whole path to being a small candy manufacturer started with an idea of eventually being able to buy as much local produce as we can and convert it into a shelf stable product we could ship across the country. 
 

One of my local berry growers started a winery with similar motivations, though in his case it was primarily a hedge against the market (berries are a short season crop, so you don't have much margin for error). His fruit wines proved to be both good and popular, and he's now also got vineyards and is one of the mainstays of our small-but-growing local industry.

[MaryIsobel]

First time trying quick pickled green tomatoes. Suffice to say that my husband overplanted and as much as I love a fresh garden tomato, I just want them all to go away now. I have made batches of salsa and frozen gallons of roasted tomatoes. I definitely don't have the Shelby gene. I grow weary of doing the same thing over and over. We are rural here, so practically everyone grows tomatoes, so giving them away is not easy. My daughters have learned to try and leave before Mom hands them another bag of tomatoes. These will have to sit for 24 hours, so the jury remains out until this time tomorrow.

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, MaryIsobel said:

First time trying quick pickled green tomatoes. Suffice to say that my husband overplanted and as much as I love a fresh garden tomato, I just want them all to go away now. I have made batches of salsa and frozen gallons of roasted tomatoes. I definitely don't have the Shelby gene. I grow weary of doing the same thing over and over. We are rural here, so practically everyone grows tomatoes, so giving them away is not easy. My daughters have learned to try and leave before Mom hands them another bag of tomatoes. These will have to sit for 24 hours, so the jury remains out until this time tomorrow.

Ha!  I do love me a garden tomato.  You will never catch me complaining...but a freeze wouldn't hurt my feelings too much LOL.  Looking forward to hearing what you think about the pickled tomatoes.  I have TONS of beautiful green big tomatoes that I will probably pick right before it does freeze.

[chromedome]

My autumnal applesauce binge is underway (I'm pretty sure I spoke about it in detail last year at this time, but I eat a LOT of applesauce "because reasons"). This batch was about 8 lbs of heirloom Dudley apples from one local grower (I picked 10 pounds, but ate some), 10 lbs of Macs from another local grower, and about 5 pounds of "feral" apples from the untended trees growing around my neighbourhood. Many of those are excellent eating apples, rivaling the commercial ones in size and flavor despite being untended.

 

Last night's batch was 17 pints plus a bit left over, which just went into my open jar. I hope to do at least two more batches of similar size while the seasonal glut of apples lasts.

Edited October 14, 2021 by chromedome
repetition (log)

[TicTac]

Been making fried green tomato jam and chutney lately.

 

Our tomato crop sucked this year, no idea why - needs new soil, me thinks.  Oddly enough the one spot that has a ton of sand underneath, the Cherry tomato is about 8' long (i just let it go this year due to frustration!) and still fruiting.

 

Oh, and hot sauce - bumper crop for hot peppers.  Very strange times indeed.

 

I blame COVID (why not, everyone else is!)

[gilbertlevine]

@chromedome -“because reasons “ ?

[chromedome]

43 minutes ago, gilbertlevine said:

@chromedome -“because reasons “ ?

A phrase I've borrowed from (puts on "curmudgeonly old man" voice) those kids on social media... basically it means "...I have reasons, but don't care to get into them right now."

 

If you were questioning the actual reasons, as opposed to the idiom, I went into that in detail last autumn but the TL;DR version is that I eat it on my oatmeal in the mornings as a sweetener (and steel-cut oats are my near-invariable breakfast), have it on toast or with yogurt as a snack, and bake with it when preparing low-everything treats for my mother-in-law, who is in end-stage liver failure because of her (largely uncontrolled) diabetes.

[MaryIsobel]

The green tomato quick pickles are good. Of course I didn't wait the full 24 hours to taste them - more like 20. They retain a pleasant crunch. A bit vinegary, but I suspect that will wane the longer they sit. Going to make another batch or two tomorrow.

 

[haresfur]

I think my green tomato chutney from a few years ago is still good.

 

By good, I mean it won't kill me, but the reason it is still around is that I'm not that fond of it.

Edited October 14, 2021 by haresfur (log)

[kayb]

On 10/13/2021 at 4:26 PM, MaryIsobel said:

First time trying quick pickled green tomatoes. Suffice to say that my husband overplanted and as much as I love a fresh garden tomato, I just want them all to go away now. I have made batches of salsa and frozen gallons of roasted tomatoes. I definitely don't have the Shelby gene. I grow weary of doing the same thing over and over. We are rural here, so practically everyone grows tomatoes, so giving them away is not easy. My daughters have learned to try and leave before Mom hands them another bag of tomatoes. These will have to sit for 24 hours, so the jury remains out until this time tomorrow.

 

On 10/13/2021 at 4:29 PM, Shelby said:

Ha!  I do love me a garden tomato.  You will never catch me complaining...but a freeze wouldn't hurt my feelings too much LOL.  Looking forward to hearing what you think about the pickled tomatoes.  I have TONS of beautiful green big tomatoes that I will probably pick right before it does freeze.

 

I have a friend who cans sliced green tomatoes in brine with a shot of lemon juice. Water bath for 20 minutes, then VERY GENTLY take them out and set them somewhere they can be undisturbed for 24 hours. If you move them too much before that, they'll crumble. But after several weeks, the slices have firmed up enough that you can take them out, drain, bread and fry. Somewhat more delicate than working with a fresh green tomato, but the taste, once cooked, is pretty spot-on.

 

Can them in a wide-mouth jar for ease of getting out.

[lemniscate]

Costco has a rather insane discount again on those giant pork loins recently.  I picked up two.  One is dry brining in my usual back-bacon style, Morton's Tenderquick and sugar.  Oh, I added a bit of liquid smoke into the dry brining bag this time as an experiment

 

The other was parceled into large chops and  is dry brining in a Tenderquick/sugar/juniper berries/bay/coriander/other spices/liquid smoke.  This is my attempt at Kasseler-style meat.   I will probably sous vide them once they are done curing and added some more spices to the bag for extra oomph.

 

I am way behind on my crock of sauerkraut.    I gotta get one going.  

 

I did also get some super ripe prickly pears off a neighbors patch and steam juiced them for syrup.  Steam juicing is the easiest/safest way to handle these evil fruit.  Paid back the neighbor with prickly pear flavored bottle of vodka.  They liked it.  

 

The backyard pomegranates are in a jelly now.

[haresfur]

Made some red cabbage sauerkraut that turned out pretty good. My last sauerkraut batch turned out kind of limp because I bashed it pretty well to get brine out of the cabbage so this time I didn't do that and just made-up more brine with salt. Nice and crunchy. I was going to add juniper berries but couldn't find them in the pantry so it wasn't spiced at all. Nice red colour.

[haresfur]

21 hours ago, lemniscate said:

The backyard pomegranates are in a jelly now.

 

Nice. I started a little pomegranate growing in a pot after I saw a beautiful one like that at our local Stupa. The last couple of years have had a single flower but no fruit.

[Jacksoup]

I used to have access to an enormous amount of Meyer lemons.  I zested them, juiced them and froze both.  Still had too many and freezer was well stocked.  I tried dehydrating them and use them in tea, water and things like chicken piccata.  My relationship with the source ended, but now my friends that I have gifted with the dried lemons are on the lookout for lemons for me.  This was half of today’s haul.  I have a small cheap 5 tray dehydrator so I expect to to be going full blast for a week.