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

[HungryChris]

I picked up a 1 1/2 pound salmon fillet on sale a few days ago, brined it overnight in the fridge, let it drain, uncovered on a rack, also in the fridge, on a cookie sheet overnight and this morning, put it in the smoker for 2 hours @ 210 F with a combination of hickory and apple. I basted every 30 min with a 50 / 50 mixture of maple syrup and water. 

HC

[kayb]

Nice, @HungryChris. Have you ever smoked shrimp? CAN one smoke shrimp? I've never heard of such, but I'm curious.

 

I picked up three three-pound bags of Bartlett pears at Aldi this morning. Pear preserves coming up. Hurts to have to buy pears, but for the last two years, the 50-year-old tree on the "home place" has yielded none. It may or may not come back; it had been alternating between a bumper crop and very few pears every other year for several years.

 

Still looking for Arkansas Black apples.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

Nice, @HungryChris. Have you ever smoked shrimp? CAN one smoke shrimp? I've never heard of such, but I'm curious.

 

I picked up three three-pound bags of Bartlett pears at Aldi this morning. Pear preserves coming up. Hurts to have to buy pears, but for the last two years, the 50-year-old tree on the "home place" has yielded none. It may or may not come back; it had been alternating between a bumper crop and very few pears every other year for several years.

 

Still looking for Arkansas Black apples.

 

 

I recall my Clapps Favourite had good years and bad years - and the similar trees in the neighborhood followed suit. We lived in an area that used to be orchard

 

 

[HungryChris]

2 hours ago, kayb said:

Nice, @HungryChris. Have you ever smoked shrimp? CAN one smoke shrimp? I've never heard of such, but I'm curious.Still looking for Arkansas Black apples.

 

 

You got me thinking and I don't see why you couldn't smoke shrimp, then I found this:    https://masterbuilt.com/recipe/emans-smoked-shrimp/

Edited October 5, 2017 by HungryChris (log)

[kayb]

Huh. How 'bout that. I've got two pounds in the freezer. May thaw them out and try it. Sound a great deal like Mr. B's barbecued shrimp.

 

[ChocoMom]

Back to the blessed apples again today.    Made apple pie filling.  Canned it in the waterbath canner.  One exploded, 4 of the 5 others oozed but sealed anyway. The unsealed one got used in an experiment to test a Pinterest recipe hack.    Pillsbury cinnamon "rolls" get smashed into muffin tin cells. Filled with apple pie filling, bake for 15 mins, then drizzle with the icing.   

Tested it out on the kids after school.... excellent use of pie filling. 

 

I'm going to leave more headspace for the next round of pie filling.  That's all I can think of that would cause the oozing. 

[ChocoMom]

@kayb.... I found this online, in case you'd like your own private orchard.    https://www.starkbros.com/products/fruit-trees/apple-trees/starkspur-arkansas-black-apple

 

For the low, low price of $27.99.  

[kayb]

They're worth it when it comes to making apple butter. Trust me on this.

 

[kayb]

An uncommonly long and warm fall here means some folks' tomatoes are still producing well, albeit smaller tomatoes than in midsummer. I bought some at the farmers' market and got gifted a big bunch by my neighbor, so I made tomato soup.

 

 

Today, I'm going to try to get the pears started; they need to be peeled and cut up, and then they sit in sugar overnight for cooking and canning tomorrrow. And I've found a source for Arkansas Black apples who promises they'll be in near the end of the month, so it'll be apple butter time. And then, perhaps, I'll be through canning for the year. 

 

[kayb]

Pear preserves. Bought three three-pound bags of Bartlett pears from Aldi for $1.99 a bag. Six pints of pear preserves, and a pint of pear syrup, because those were some juicy pears.

 

A moment of silence for the beloved old pineapple pear tree on the home place, which I fear has borne its last pear.

 

 

 

[HungryChris]

Here are the very last tomatoes of this season. These refrigerator pickles take a few months to "mature", so I'll be checking them just after Christmas.

HC

[kayb]

Very possibly the last of the tomatoes. I made Vivian Howard's Stewed Tomatoes from Deep Run Roots, through the stage where one adds the bread crumbs. Theoretically, one could open a jar, add the crumbs, and simmer for a few minutes to thicken. I purely love eggs baked in these.

 

 

10 quart mixing bowl full of tomatoes from my 85-year-old neighbor across the street. She can grow tomatoes much more successfully than I.

 

 

10 pints of crumbless Stewed Tomatoes.

 

A few of the tomatoes went into bolognese sauce I made Sunday and never ate, as I had to cut those plans short due to a medical issue that put a good friend in SICU. Today, I fetched it out of the fridge and froze three quarts, leaving a bit for dinner. Then we ordered Chinese, so I guess it'll be dinner tomorrow.

 

It's the IP bolognese recipe from Serious Eats.

 

Will be picking up some Arkansas Black apples and making apple butter week after next.

 

 

 

[cakewalk]

Etrog (citron) marmalade. I used four citrons and one orange. I've made jam before, but never marmalade. A lot of soaking and dumping the water, and it is still somewhat bitter, but it is quite nice.

[Shelby]

I underestimated my mother-in-law's relish intake.  She really likes this zucchini relish and has eaten the three pints I made...so I did a full batch with some of the last zukes of the growing season.

 

This should keep her relished up for a while 

 

[kayb]

Don't you love the sound the jars make when they come out of the canner, cool and seal? Sounds like accomplishment.

 

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

Zook's  ->  MIL

 

nice one !

[Shelby]

5 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby

 

Zook's  ->  MIL

 

nice one !

LOL....it really does taste good.  I bet'cha you wouldn't know it was zucchini if I didn't tell you 

 

 

[rotuts]

I have no doubt about that .

 

Im sure its Mighty Fine.

[HungryChris]

22 hours ago, Shelby said:

LOL....it really does taste good.  I bet'cha you wouldn't know it was zucchini if I didn't tell you 

 

 

A few years ago, a girl I used to work with said that her plants had all gone south and heard that I grew zucchini. She asked if I had any that were just too big to use, which I did. I brought in four whoppers that I was going to toss. A few days later she brought in a jar of the absolute best relish I have ever tasted which she had made from them.

 

[Shelby]

23 minutes ago, HungryChris said:

A few years ago, a girl I used to work with said that her plants had all gone south and heard that I grew zucchini. She asked if I had any that were just too big to use, which I did. I brought in four whoppers that I was going to toss. A few days later she brought in a jar of the absolute best relish I have ever tasted which she had made from them.

 

That's exactly what I used--a couple of whoppers that I wouldn't have eaten otherwise.  They work perfect.  I do slice off the seedy insides.

[JohnT]

My stock of pickled onions is nearly depleted, so last night I skinned 3 kg of them and this morning they were bottled - 5 x 750ml bottles for putting away for summer.

[Shelby]

4 hours ago, JohnT said:

My stock of pickled onions is nearly depleted, so last night I skinned 3 kg of them and this morning they were bottled - 5 x 750ml bottles for putting away for summer.

So pretty!!!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Anyone have experience preserving sage leaves in salt?  I ask because while it has been a mild autumn so far, things will come to an end eventually.  The small sage I plan to bring indoors for the winter but that still leaves a lot of leaves.

 

[Okanagancook]

I made made garlic scape salt.  Dried the scapes, ground then mixed with salt.  You could do the same with the sage.

but then again that’s not what you asked.

[Anna N]

 

 Just a small quantity of pickled mushrooms. Can only hope they are better than the ones I purchased!