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

chromedome · September 26, 2019

11 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I've never heard of nor seen dehydrated onions. Did you dry them in a dehydrator and how do they reconstitute?

It's the homemade version of the dried minced onions in the spice aisle at your supermarket. I plan to try some in a couple of weeks, when I harvest the onions from my garden (and - an important point - not until *after* I've finished drying apples, cranberries, rose hips, etc in case I need to soak the trays in bleach for a while to get the onion smell out).

lindag · September 26, 2019

14 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I've never heard of nor seen dehydrated onions. Did you dry them in a dehydrator and how do they reconstitute?

Here you can buy them in the spice section of the grocers. I keep them on hand all the time, they're invaluable for bread-making.

IowaDee · September 26, 2019

Penzy's has them.

**ElsieD** · September 27, 2019

I guess I've never seen them because I've never looked for them since they are out there. Thanks for bringing me up to speed.

Okanagancook · September 28, 2019

I dehydrate onions to make onion powder for rubs and marinades. An onion powder that actually smells and tastes like onion. The commercial stuff went in the bin.

Margaret Pilgrim · October 2, 2019

We have on our olive trees many immature (and never to mature) tiny, 1/4 - 1/3" olives.

Here you can see the comparison in size with a normal, say "large" olive at top, near center of the pic.

I can't believe that in the old countries these fruits were left to rot. Any ideas on what to do with them and how? I have the feeling that they could be used to make inferior oil, but that is not worth our time and effort.

Thoughts?

ninagluck · October 7, 2019

Pickled green tomatoes, a recipe from my granny, for sure more than 100 years old as she took over from her mum.

lemniscate · October 8, 2019

I put up my Thanksgiving crock of sauerkraut on Saturday. 4 medium heads. The cabbage I found was very heavy for its size, so that's a good start.

**Smithy** · October 8, 2019

2 hours ago, ninagluck said:

Pickled green tomatoes, a recipe from my granny, for sure more than 100 years old as she took over from her mum.

Would you please tell more about your pickled green tomatoes? A recipe would be welcome, especially if it were to go into RecipeGullet where people could find it easily. I have been playing with fried green tomatoes lately, but I think a pickled version would go over well in our household.

eugenep · October 8, 2019

I've been stalking NYC's Chinatown stores for fermented red wine lees to make all sorts of exciting Southern Chinese dishes but no luck

The closes I got were white wine lees and I found out that it's used for a lot of desserts etc. and not for savory but I bought this fermented stuff and marinating it with chicken tonight

I hope to eventually find those red wine lees so I could do my own fermenting. Maybe will buy on Amazon

here is the link https://carolynjphillips.blogspot.com/2011/08/scarlet-rice-wine-of-northern-fujian.html

If anyone can advise on whether or not I can substitute white lees for red lees in these dished that would be helpful

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**Shelby** · October 8, 2019

Ditto @ninagluck I'd love your recipe too--you are an amazing cook

I'm gearing up to make your eggnog soon.

liuzhou · October 8, 2019

2 hours ago, eugenep said:

I've been stalking NYC's Chinatown stores for fermented red wine lees to make all sorts of exciting Southern Chinese dishes but no luck

I'm not surprised. I live in southern China and wouldn't know where to start looking for it. It's pretty rare here, too.

TicTac · October 8, 2019

12 hours ago, ninagluck said:

Pickled green tomatoes, a recipe from my granny, for sure more than 100 years old as she took over from her mum.

Would love to hear more about your process!

Guessing you are salting them in that bowl? Anything else besides onions and chili? What are your next steps and is that oil being used to preserve?

I have about 10lbs still on the plants waiting to be picked and am debating what to do with them...

eugenep · October 8, 2019

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I'm not surprised. I live in southern China and wouldn't know where to start looking for it. It's pretty rare here, too.

I heard Italians (in Italy) don't know what Chicken Parmesan is and I think Alton Brown said it was invented in America.

I wonder if it's still eaten in China - the red wine lees dishes?

But - damn - I'm like super astounded by the amount of fermentation, drying, preserving of Chinese cuisine. It's like pork but also duck, chicken, beef, seafood like scallops, shrimp, sea cucumbers etc and a crazy amount of vegetables.

I read Noma's fermentation book but it doesn't compare to traditional Chinese cuisine in preserving and fermenting. It's like everything under the sun. Super good too. And the amount of knowledge is super vast

liuzhou · October 9, 2019

11 hours ago, eugenep said:

I wonder if it's still eaten in China - the red wine lees dishes?

It is a specialty of north Fujian province - a relatively small area. Very few people have eaten it even there.

Yes, China has a long and wide history of fermenting and otherwise preserving foods of all kinds. This was born of necessity in times of famine.

**Smithy** · October 9, 2019

Sauerkraut, 4 days after the beginning. My good friend gave me a head of red cabbage that came out to 1.81 kg; I added 3% salt for around 54g. I'd have added caraway seeds, but we're all out...either that, or the backup supplies are hiding in one of several backup storage areas.

This morning I punched it down and tasted the broth. I think it's headed in the right direction.

lemniscate · October 9, 2019

On 10/7/2019 at 8:04 PM, Smithy said:

Would you please tell more about your pickled green tomatoes?

I hope @ninagluck does post her recipe also! But it sort of resembles this Italian version I have been eyeing. I cannot get fresh green tomatoes locally, so I can only read and dream.

naguere · October 19, 2019

Sauerkraut,

!. the last of my 2018 batch from August , still fresh and clean.

2. the new batch ready, Polish cabbage, big and hard. I will grate a carrot and an onion in the mix.

**Shelby** · October 21, 2019

I'm set for a bit on pickled jalapeños

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lemniscate · November 2, 2019

I am in the process of making pomegranate molasses. My neighbor left 4 bag of poms in my courtyard, over 100 fruit. I spent the last few days chipping away at getting the arils out. I used my steam juicer to extract the juice. It came out a dark purple color. I was afraid it would taste cooked, but it tasted fine, more sweet than I'm used to.

I am now reducing 7 quarts of juice and 1 quart of lemon juice and adding sugar to balance.

lemniscate · November 3, 2019

I finished the pom molasses. It went well, excluding an end of day incident which I might put in the "I Will Never Again" thread.

I reduced 7 quarts of fresh pom juice (neighbors), 1 quart of lemon juice (my tree, canned last year) and I'm guessing 1 to 1 1/4 cups of sugar to 1 pint of molasses.

It's dark, pungent sweet and sour. I might have went slightly into the caramel range, due to "my incident", but I am happy with the results. This stuff is dense.

I still have another 3 quarts of fresh juice for drinking.

Edited November 3, 2019 by lemniscate (log)

lemniscate · November 3, 2019

I am almost ready to take the next foray into canning: pressure.

Mostly it would be soups that I can't buy in stores anymore (I am looking at you Campbell's, you discontinued Pepperpot😠) like my Mom's Polish Beet Soup (also possibly her Dill Pickle soup), and I like Manhattan Clam Chowder but I don't like the commercial offerings. I'm pretty sure I am the only one in the household interested in these soups, so I'd probably stick to pint jars for smaller servings. My thought is it would be like having a serving size like a traditional sized can of soup in the cupboard.

I think it would be fun and rewarding to resurrect some of my Polish Gma's soups we don't make anymore due to the problem of scale.

Still got my eye on the Presto induction friendly pressure canner, but since I just bought the Vacmaster VP215, I have to money-up a bit again.

chromedome · November 3, 2019

1 hour ago, lemniscate said:

Still got my eye on the Presto induction friendly pressure canner, but since I just bought the Vacmaster VP215, I have to money-up a bit again.

I have the old-school aluminum Presto, but haven't yet used it much. I bought it (barely used) for my dad the year before he died, and so far have only used it a couple of times to can stock (in the interest of preserving freezer space). Interested to see how you fare, once you accumulate the cash.

kayb · November 4, 2019

I've canned tomato soup, back when all I canned was water-bath. I also canned chili base -- tomatoes, peppers, onions, spices; add ground beef, a bottle of beer, and there's chili. (The IP is great for this, because you can thaw/cook a lump of frozen beef, then break it up and brown it off before you add the chili fixin's.) In inherited a pressure canner, so may branch out into lower-acid soups. I recently tried a carrot-sweet potato soup that was really excellent, and might can well.

blue_dolphin · November 19, 2019

Made a batch of David Lebovitz's Cranberry Chutney this AM. He says to use any combination, of dried fruit: dates, figs, raisins, apricots, candied ginger, dried cherries, cranberries, pineapples, or other favorites, including chopped candied orange or lemon peel.

I used candied ginger, dried blueberries and some of those dried, sweetened mandarin orange segments from TJ's. I also followed the head note suggestion to include a branch of rosemary while simmering.