What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2006 - 2016)

[Wayne]

 

A few recent pickles:

White onions in cider vinegar with a few allspice berries.

Zucchini and kohlrabi with garlic, ginger and allspice berries.

 

 

 

[kayb]

I picked up three dozen ears of sweet corn and half a peck of peas (purple hulls and crowders) at the farmers' market this morning; will cut off the corn and freeze it, and the peas simply get shelled, measured out in meal-sized portions in a plastic bag, and tossed in the freezer. 

 

I've done the freeze-corn-in-the-husk thing, and it's good enough, but it's a space issue for me. I use square plastic tubs which stack neatly in the freezer compartment of the extra fridge.

 

 

[ChocoMom]

Well, it is strawberry season in these parts...so....my daughters and I went a pickin'.   We managed 23 quarts in a couple of hours.  Some were given away fresh. Others went right into a few desserts. And the rest ended up in 12 pints of strawberry-lemon jam, and some are canned in simple syrup to enjoy during the dead of winter. 

 

Next up are my made-at-home "Lara" type bars. I guess dehydrating is a form of preservation, right?   So, with this torture diet my doc put me on, there are very very VERY few things I can grab off the shelf at the grocery store, tear open and munch on. Lara Bars and That's It bars are the only two I've found without all the taboo'd added sugars, oils, soy, peanuts, blah blah blah.  However, to me, $1.99 seems a little pricey for a 1.2oz / 35g bar.  Now that I have procured my newest toy...the Nesco GardenMaster dehydrator....I have set about trying to making my own bars. 

  To start, I used the main ingredients for the Lara Bars that I have here:  Dates and Cashews are first.   For more flavor, I added in some blueberries, cherries, a plum, a little coconut, a few figs, etc.  I then blasted it into a paste -puree in the Cuisinart, spread it onto the solid circular surface that came in the box, and set it in the dehydrator. My guess is in about 12 hours, I will have something to form into bars that will hold their shape. Should save a few bucks, and I can add whatever I like (within the confines of this diet.)  I'd like to toy around with some veggies mixed with fruits too. Pineapple-coconut-carrot, maybe? 

   My next experiment will be making Apple-Pear bars. The ones I tried from "That's It", are fantastic.  Like fruit leather on steriods.  I have all kinds of apples growing at the old house location, but I'd like to try finding some locally grown pears. (If I can't, then I shall purchase trees and grown them myself!)   

 

As for canning, I will green and yellow beans coming in soon enough.  I weeded a 90ft section of beans yesterday, plus  a couple partial rows of squashies, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and watermelons.   Got a new pressure canner, so that should come in handy when the time comes. 

   

[huiray]

I might as well put this in here.

I found a bag of "forgotten" ramps in a corner of my fridge recently...the green tops were mush, of course, but the bulbs had survived, although with some stains and brown areas on the outside. So I trimmed them, removed the outer layer of the bulbs, and pickled the remaining cores of the bulbs.

 

Momofuku pickled ramp bulbs.

Using this recipe.

It took quite a few days for the bulbs to absorb liquids etc and sink to the bottom. Was at room temp, currently held in the fridge.

Yes, I've been eating some of them. Eh, can't say I'm enraptured by them.

[kayb]

Peas, packaged for the freezer. I do nothing but shell, let them dry for an hour or so in the bowl, and scoop into plastic bags. My grandmother contended they froze best in a pillowcase. 

 

Three half-pints of tomato sauce (just tomatoes and sauce) from the garden.

 

 

[Wayne]

 

Started this lacto-fermentation 3 days ago. Pickling cucumbers and baby zucchini flavoured with jalapenos, garlic, mustard seed, black peppercorns and garlic in a 6% w/v brine.

 

 

Should be ready in another 7-11 days.

 

 

[Toliver]

4 hours ago, Wayne said:

 

Started this lacto-fermentation 3 days ago. Pickling cucumbers and baby zucchini flavoured with jalapenos, garlic, mustard seed, black peppercorns and garlic in a 6% w/v brine.

 

 

Should be ready in another 7-11 days.

 

 

I did a double take when looking at your picture. At first glance, I thought is was okra! 

Hope it all turns out well.

[kayb]

About half a peck of peas, ready for the freezer. The brown ones are crowders, the others are purple hulls.

 

 

Corn in the process of being cut off before being blanched and frozen.

 

 

Next week, I go out in search of cucumbers to make some pickles.

 

[Wayne]

1 hour ago, Toliver said:

I did a double take when looking at your picture. At first glance, I thought is was okra! 

Hope it all turns out well.

 

Does look like a couple of okra pods.

It's two Portugal Hot peppers. Forgot to mention them with the other ingredients. This is a "catch all" pickle for stuff that's not going to be used up in the next few days.

These pickles always turn out well as long as the brine constituents are weighted and they're provided with the right fermentation conditions.

At this time of the year it's great not having to unnecessarily heat something.

 

 

[shain]

Iv'e opened the pickles can from April:

Cauliflower, sliced baked beets, onion, garlic, caraway, mustard seeds, black pepper.

 

 

It's good, but I think that last year's batch was better.

[Shelby]

Sure is pretty, shain.  I love me some pickled beets!

[Okanagancook]

Apricot jam with some gifted apricots made in my copper jam pot.  Here is an article from Bon Appetite about these beauties.  http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/tools-test-kitchen/article/mauviel-copper-jam-pan

It is 15 inches in diameter and 5 1/2 inches deep.  Pictures of it in action and then all cleaned up.  The clean up I do in my dog bath in the utility room.

 

[Okanagancook]

FINISHED!!!!  TWO DAYS OF DEALING WITH PEACHES AND APRICOTS.

9 peach jams

4 BBC Hot Peach Chutney

6 Vegetarian Epicure II Peach Chutney

11 Apricot Jams

5 Peach-Chipotle Jam from Serious Eats, 6th (I added more adobo sauce than called for)

6 Spicy Peach Preserves from FoodinJars, 2nd pic and 3rd

7 Peach-Habanero Jams from Serious Eats, 4rd pic and 5th pic

 

I need a beer

 

.

[sartoric]

2 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

FINISHED!!!!  TWO DAYS OF DEALING WITH PEACHES AND APRICOTS.

9 peach jams

4 BBC Hot Peach Chutney

6 Vegetarian Epicure II Peach Chutney

11 Apricot Jams

5 Peach-Chipotle Jam from Serious Eats, 6th (I added more adobo sauce than called for)

6 Spicy Peach Preserves from FoodinJars, 2nd pic and 3rd

7 Peach-Habanero Jams from Serious Eats, 4rd pic and 5th pic

 

I need a beer

 

.

They look fantastic, go get yourself that beer.

Do you get through that much jam, or give some away ? Just curious....

[ElsieD]

9 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

FINISHED!!!!  TWO DAYS OF DEALING WITH PEACHES AND APRICOTS.

9 peach jams

4 BBC Hot Peach Chutney

6 Vegetarian Epicure II Peach Chutney

11 Apricot Jams

5 Peach-Chipotle Jam from Serious Eats, 6th (I added more adobo sauce than called for)

6 Spicy Peach Preserves from FoodinJars, 2nd pic and 3rd

7 Peach-Habanero Jams from Serious Eats, 4rd pic and 5th pic

 

I need a beer

 

.

 

Have two!

[sartoric]

Sauerkraut help.

This was made about a week ago, my first attempt. The cabbage was salted, drained, then packed in to the sterilised jar, with another jar inside weighted with pebbles. I used a piece of baking paper between them to try and hold most of the kraut down. There have been bubbles.

I'm concerned about the colour difference, should I be ?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

 

[Wayne]

@sartoric 

At the risk of giving advice half a world away:

Fish out a piece of cabbage and feel it. Is it slimy? Taste it (you can always spit it out). Does it taste salty, sour with a clean taste?

Your photo doesn't indicate any mold growth.

Although this is very subjective are there any off odours?

What is the temperature of the fermentation? If over 24 C is where you start getting problems.

I assume it's undergoing fermentation in a dark location.

Otherwise all I can say is the top layer seems not very tightly packed and the bottom layer is. Whenever I do these, be it kimchi or sauerkraut, the follower should be just a fraction smaller diameter than the interior diameter of the fermentation vessel and weighted down to compress all the contents.

That's really all I can say just viewing the photo.

Bon chance.

 

[sartoric]

10 minutes ago, Wayne said:

@sartoric 

At the risk of giving advice half a world away:

Fish out a piece of cabbage and feel it. Is it slimy? Taste it (you can always spit it out). Does it taste salty, sour with a clean taste?

Your photo doesn't indicate any mold growth.

Although this is very subjective are there any off odours?

What is the temperature of the fermentation? If over 24 C is where you start getting problems.

I assume it's undergoing fermentation in a dark location.

Otherwise all I can say is the top layer seems not very tightly packed and the bottom layer is. Whenever I do these, be it kimchi or sauerkraut, the follower should be just a fraction smaller diameter than the interior diameter of the fermentation vessel and weighted down to compress all the contents.

That's really all I can say just viewing the photo.

Bon chance.

 

Thanks @WayneI was hoping you'd chime in.

I tasted a bit, it's crunchy, salty and good !

I need proper jars if I'm going to do this again. The top was populated by bits that escaped the follower. I might try to find one of those Japanese pickle presses.

I didn't realise that light is an issue, it's in the cupboard now !

Cheers...

 

[Okanagancook]

sartoric, no I actually don't eat a lot of jam so these are gifts but I want to use them more to marinates/glazes/sauces for summer BBQ.  

My DH again says  'where are you going put them"?  He had a great idea.  We have two spare bedrooms that are for visitosr and rarely do we need both at once (two bedrooms connected with a Jack and Jill bathroom) and they both have walk in closets with shelves perfect for storing jam....that's where they are going.  I did have more than two beers at the pub and told our neighbour who kindly gifted us with the peaches that if they gave us any more, they were coming back at them ala Monty Phyton castle battle via sling shot!  Ha, ha.  They have been so generous and many at our table said take the extra peaches to them to the local soup kitchen which they will.  Several at the table will be stopping by tomorrow.

 

They mentioned that they will take out some of those trees and then we talked about grafting some plum and apricot branches on the the trunks of the cut down peach trees......that works but you need someone who knows how to do that and there are many at our table who know how to to do that. Sounds like a plan if they plan on cutting down some of the six peach and four cherry trees they have.

[ElsieD]

I would give my eye teeth for a ripe peach.  Even when the Ontario peaches are ripe, they never seem to make it to where I live. Grumble, grumble.

[heidih]

the last of  friend's calamansi went into a single batch marmalade - 

 

[Okanagancook]

26 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I would give my eye teeth for a ripe peach.  Even when the Ontario peaches are ripe, they never seem to make it to where I live. Grumble, grumble.

I lived in Toronto as a child and had Niagra peaches.  Since then , living in Edmonton I had not had a peach until we moved to the Okanagan. oMG, a real, juicy, peach is a thing of beauty. 

[ElsieD]

33 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I lived in Toronto as a child and had Niagra peaches.  Since then , living in Edmonton I had not had a peach until we moved to the Okanagan. oMG, a real, juicy, peach is a thing of beauty. 

 

When we get down to southern Ontario in peach season I eat as many as I can get my hands on.  We have a farmer's market that started 10 years ago and a fruit farmer from Beamsville comes up with peaches,  cherries,  plums, etc.  The first year was fabulous, nice ripe peaches. Then he realized he could sell ones that looked ripe but weren't and could be transported with much less waste due to bruising,  etc. And people would still buy them.  And that was the last of the ripe, juicy, delicious peaches, and I no longer buy them.  At least, not in this city. 

Edited July 23, 2016 by ElsieD
fixed a typo (log)

[Wayne]

10 hours ago, sartoric said:

Thanks @WayneI was hoping you'd chime in.

I tasted a bit, it's crunchy, salty and good !

I need proper jars if I'm going to do this again. The top was populated by bits that escaped the follower. I might try to find one of those Japanese pickle presses.

I didn't realise that light is an issue, it's in the cupboard now !

Cheers...

 

 

Cheers.

You don't really need any specialized equipment to produce lacto-fermented foods. If interested I can post what I use and why.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

11 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

When we get down to southern Ontario in peach season I eat as many as I can get my hands on.  We have a farmer's market that started 10 years ago and a fruit farmer from Beamsville comes up with peaches,  cherries,  plums, etc.  The first year was fabulous, nice ripe peaches. Then he realized he could sell ones that looked ripe but weren't and could be transported with much less waste due to bruising,  etc. And people would still buy them.  And that was the last of the ripe, juicy, delicious peaches, and I no longer buy them.  At least, not in this city. 

 

There's a farmer at the Penticton Farmer's Market who asks you when you want to eat the peaches being purchased.  With the time in mind he goes to a different box of peaches that he has categorized as eat today; eat tomorrow; eat in three days....all depending on the hardness of the fruit.  I just had a beauty for breakfast that we got three days ago so they are ripening fast.