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

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby 

 

very nice

 

wat is the clear covering

 

in pic # 5 ?

 

It's a ziplock bag filled with extra brine to keep the cucumbers submerged.  Not fancy but it works.  If you make extra brine you don't have to worry about the bag possibly leaking water and diluting everything.

[FauxPas]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

You guys have seen this before, but I took pictures so you get to see it again

 

I never get tired of seeing these processes! Will you show us your taste test in 2 weeks?  🙂

 

[Shelby]

25 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

I never get tired of seeing these processes! Will you show us your taste test in 2 weeks?  🙂

 

Thank you so much--I feel like I'm a rerun lol.

 

I will    

[FauxPas]

@Shelby, how are your tomatoes coming along? Will you be doing the usual canning (whole, I think) with them? 

 

I was just reading about making sauce from the skins/cores. I'm sure someone has talked about this here but this is new to me. I hadn't thought of making sauce from the 'waste' bits. 

http://nwedible.com/stop-throwing-away-free-tomato-sauce-making-sauce-from-tomato-skin/

[kayb]

I learned about this process from an online acquaintance. Been doing it ever since.

[Shelby]

12 hours ago, FauxPas said:

@Shelby, how are your tomatoes coming along? Will you be doing the usual canning (whole, I think) with them? 

 

I was just reading about making sauce from the skins/cores. I'm sure someone has talked about this here but this is new to me. I hadn't thought of making sauce from the 'waste' bits. 

http://nwedible.com/stop-throwing-away-free-tomato-sauce-making-sauce-from-tomato-skin/

We are getting one or two grape tomatoes a day....picked a couple very small Early Girls that weren't very good.  We've gotten so much rain that I think they need more time to really get going.

 

I believe it was @kaybthat told me about making sauce from skins but I had forgotten about so thank you!

9 minutes ago, kayb said:

I learned about this process from an online acquaintance. Been doing it ever since.

 

[SLB]

Shelby, I've been swinging through here looking for what's doing in your preserving kitchen.  I find the reruns riveting!!!

 

Last year I realized that, basically, I want to come out and help your Putting-Up like with Ronnie and The Hunter.  

 

 

[Shelby]

10 minutes ago, SLB said:

Shelby, I've been swinging through here looking for what's doing in your preserving kitchen.  I find the reruns riveting!!!

 

Last year I realized that, basically, I want to come out and help your Putting-Up like with Ronnie and The Hunter.  

 

 

So nice of you!  The best compliment is when someone takes time to go back and read older posts because they enjoy them  .

 

Hunter already has plane tickets for September so you might as well book yours too  

[heidih]

51 minutes ago, Shelby said:

So nice of you!  The best compliment is when someone takes time to go back and read older posts because they enjoy them  .

 

Hunter already has plane tickets for September so you might as well book yours too  

Hunt or garden to table food tour sessions? A side biz

[Shelby]

On 6/25/2022 at 3:31 PM, Shelby said:

Picked enough cucumbers to start a batch of crock pickles.

 

You guys have seen this before, but I took pictures so you get to see it again 🤣

 

 

Dill heads from the garden.  Grape leaves that Ronnie picked for me from the field.

 

 

 

 

Extra brine to weight it all down.

 

 

 

 

Now we wait for 2 weeks and check.  If they aren't done they will go for another week.  

Fished a cucumber out to test and they are done!!!  I didn't do anything different but this batch is really good.  Decided not to can them...they keep a long time in the fridge.

 

 

Strain the pickles reserving the brine.  Rinse the pickles well.

 

 

Bring the brine to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes then let cool completely.

 

Pack jars with more dill heads and pour brine in.

 

Pickles!!

 

[heidih]

@Shelby Nice! Those cukes look like the perfect size. 

 

I am continuing with pickling cherries. I find myself using them wherever I want a punch - raw and cooked dishes. The liquid is nice in salads. And I've stopped pitting them - just a slit in cheek for penetration of liquid. Only me usually eating them so it works. Maybe the pit adds something and no flesh gets wasted.

Edited July 8, 2022 by heidih (log)

[FauxPas]

We were talking about how to use garlic scapes on the Farmers' Market thread and I decided it was time I pickled some. I love pesto and usually use up my scapes that way, but I ended up with extras this week and thought I would try some quick fridge pickles. 

 

Basically used Marisa McClellan's recipe at Serious Eats (also in her book, Preserving by the PInt (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), which I happen to have), but used a Thai chili pepper instead of pepper flakes and some fresh dill in place of seeds. And I added a really tiny bit of sugar. 

 

I just made one jar. Added dill and chili to jar, then poured hot vinegar brine over and will keep in fridge for a week or two before sampling. 

 

 

Also made a very small batch of raspberry-strawberry jam. Probably about 3 parts raspberries to 1 part strawberry with some lemon zest, lemon juice and 1 part sugar. A tiny bit of Grand Marnier. Cooked until thickened to spreading consistency and will store it in the fridge. I usually make a raspberry-only jam, but the addition of some strawberries was really tasty in this case. I think I'll keep doing that, if I have them both on hand. 

 

 

Speaking of Marisa and her recipes, she has a website called Food in Jars as well as a few books on canning and preserving. 

 

[jedovaty]

I always forget the process when making fermented cucumber pickles.. is the salt based on water weight only, or water weight + cucumber weight?

I tried a small batch, 2.5% salt of water + cucumber, and the pickles were way too salty after a couple weeks when I tasted them.  Something seems off, internet suggests people go 3-4% with cucumbers and I can't imagine that would taste good

[lemniscate]

BIG batch of Biltong.  Eye of round cut in strips, marinated in vinegar/soy sauce/Red Boat salt/Marmite.   Rolled in toasted coriander and cumin roughly ground.   Hanging in the Excalibur until done to my preference doneness, on the softer side.

 

 

[Shelby]

Busy busy over here.  Not canning any tomatoes yet....going to do a big batch of sauce today.  I'm totally out of frozen and that scares me lol

 

Lots of corn being shucked/blanched/cut off the cob/frozen.  Bring large pot of water to boil.  Throw the corn on the cob in.  Blanch for 4 mins.  Out and into an ice water bath.  Cool/cut off the cobs/vac pack/freeze. @rotutssuggested putting a pat of butter in with the corn and then vac packing.  Will try that today on my next batch.

 

 

 

Been making a lot of Vivian Howard's corn stock with the leftover cobs.

 

 

Misfits had tomatillos so I bought another 3 lbs and made more green enchilada sauce/salsa

 

 

 

 

Lots and lots of pickles

 

 

Had a TON of cherry tomatoes so I made a batch of @ElainaA's Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce .  That cooled off overnight in the fridge so I'll bag it up and freeze it today.

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

Busy busy over here.

 

Wow, you really accomplished a LOT! I feel like a sloth. Does your kitchen get hot with the canning/boiling and cooking? Looks so good though! I did manage to make a couple of small jars of apricot jam though, I guess that's something, right?  🙂

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[Shelby]

15 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

Wow, you really accomplished a LOT! I feel like a sloth. Does your kitchen get hot with the canning/boiling and cooking? Looks so good though! I did manage to make a couple of small jars of apricot jam though, I guess that's something, right?  🙂

 

I had a one day burst of energy lol.  I am feeling way lazy today......  don't feel sloth-like (I think sloths are so adorable).  Jam seems like a daunting task to me!!!!

[lemniscate]

More meat preservation.   I think this is the last of it.  Beef Jerky.   This is a 4 qt Cambro filled to the top and there's another one like it.   Eye of round, marinated in soy, marmite, white pepper, Red Boat salt and liquid smoke.   I freeze the eye and then slice it thin using a manual meat slicer (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  

[Shelby]

Put up the last of the corn yesterday.  As per @rotutsinstructions I added a pat of butter.  Because butter makes everything better

 

 

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

were you able to try a few 

 

that were not blanched ?

 

just right off the cob , w juices if any ?

[Shelby]

8 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby 

 

were you able to try a few 

 

that were not blanched ?

 

just right off the cob , w juices if any ?

I'm a blancher.....I've done it before  without blanching (no butter) and I just didn't like it as well.  

[Smithy]

9 hours ago, Shelby said:

Put up the last of the corn yesterday.  As per @rotutsinstructions I added a pat of butter.  Because butter makes everything better

 

 

 

Wait...the LAST of the corn?? Minnesota's hasn't even come in yet!

[Kim Shook]

Wow, y'all!  I'm impressed!  All I've got is purchased BBQ sauce that I canned:

🤪

[MaryIsobel]

Our nephew is staying with us for the summer and between him and my husband, I have been making pickled onions two or three times a week. My sister gave me this great 1.89 litre jar so I filled it up today. Should last at least a week (fingers crossed.)

[Shelby]

Got enough jalapeños from the garden to do something with, but not enough to get the canner out for.  So, I did a quart of refrigerator pickled jalapeños.  Will last for months.