Do many of you can any veggies??

[myakkagldwngr]

After hitting the berry patch for the last time my brother and I picked me so tomatoes for putting up in jars.
This has been a very bad season for tomatoes,, low prices and not much help to pick them.
We ended up picking about 60 pounds of big tomatoes and 30 pounds of plum tomatoes in less than 45 minutes.
There was enough red tomatoes there to pick a truck load in no time, but they just never open for u-pick.

 

[arcticsid]

My neighbor grows lots of tomatoes.

They will blanch and freeze well. I proved it to him

Google, "freezing tomatoes"

Otherwise Julie and Allie have the answer to canning them.

Salsa will freeze well.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I do make up some sauce and preserve it in jars. I cook mine down just like grandma did. I can't even eat store bought spaghetti sauce anymore. The store bought stuff tastes so flavorless now. I also can a lot of soups which makes for some great hearty winter meals prepared in a hurry. I usually make soups you don't find on the shelf often. Carrot soup, pototo soup, bean & ham, etc. It's a great way to use up the bounty coming out to the garden.

Our favorite way to do tomatoes is to sun dry them. Very little effort, they take up much less space, and they pack a powerful taste. They can be added to just about anything you're making: soups, casseroles, salads, pastas, stir-frys, etc. We dry them, bag them, and store them in the freezer.

 

[Racer]

Lon can you give us a step by step on how you sun dry your tomatoes? I was hoping to try to do that with some of my tomatoes this year.

To get back on topic for the original poster yes my wife and I can peppers and she also cans tomato juice and sauces. I just help her clean and prep the tomatoes. The peppers I help from beginning to end.

 

[IQwine]

Looking for salsa and spaghetti sauce recipes... lots of tomatoes this year

 

[Julie]

I can and freeze veggies, green beans are so much better home grown and pressure canned than what you buy in the store. I usually just can tomato sauce then use it whatever way I want. I also grow a lot of my own herbs.

IQwine, here is the link to my salsa, it is very good

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6337

 

[twistedvine]

Lon is dead on.

My wife and I make our own sauces as well. We even sneak in some spinach, pureed cauliflower, pureed brocolli and pureed beets. I know it sounds bad but when you add the garlic and italian seasonings, you can't tell that those extra items are there.

There are companies that are making millions by pureeing vegetables for people to sneak into food. It is a great way to get all of your daily servings of fruits and veggies.

After the sauce is made, we place it into a vacuum seal bag and seal them, then let them sit flat in the freezer. When its time to cook, just place the bag with sauce in it into boiling water and cook. Not so messy this way.

Happy canning

 

[myakkagldwngr]

I try to "put up" some tomatoes every year. If I'm lucky I put up enough to make it every third tomato season. We have two growing seasons here in Florida.
I've done my own spaghetti sauce and salsa too. This year I didn't do a garden worth anything and didn't have any green beans to put up.
My "canning" goes back all the way to my grandmother.
Little granny as we called her was in her 60's when I was born.
I remember in the late 50's and early 60's putting up tomatoes in actual "cans". I clearly remember all the sisters getting together with a truck load of tomatoes and doing enough to spread around. I can still see them using a device like an opposite can opener that you hand cranked to put the lid on the cans.
They put up everything. When the chickens quite laying, they went into the cans!
Canning is much safer here in Fl. being I don't have a generator yet. During hurricane Charlie we were without power for 15 days and lost everything in the freezer.

 

[arcticsid]

Excellent thread.

Glad to see valuable info like this shared.

Looking forward to learning more.

 

[St Allie]

My salsa is zucchini based mostly.. with about a third tomatoes.. cans well, keeps a couple of years ... beans, I blanch and freeze.. yellow beans get turned into a dilly bean, canned in a dill vinegar. Tomatoes, I generally turn into pasta sauces for the winter.. your basic spaghetti bolognese style.. with garlic, basil, cracked pepper, couple of bay leaves, oregano, italian parsley etc.. make as for fresh, then can into warmed sterilised jars and waterbath for about 15 minutes, allow to cool, check seals and store in a dark cupboard.

PS.. I have moved this conversation into the preserves and canning, sub forum.. the recipes mentioned above are available in that forum


Allie

 

[arcticsid]

Good move G, it is a great thread. I hope we see more contributions to it.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

For sun dried tomatoes, I slice them open and use my thumb to remove the watery guts and seeds. This leaves you with the red flesh and skin. I then cut them into slices about 1/2" to 1" thick. I have 8 wire shelves that I place them on. The shelves go into a wooden rack I tacked together so the whole thing ends up looking like a bookshelf with removable wire shelves. The bookshelf has a thin wood back and the rest is covered in plastic. The sun shines through the plastic which raises the temps (like a car sitting in the sun on a hot day). I have a small opening at the top and bottom. The air draws in the bottom, rises as it heats and picks up moisture, and exits out the top. The tomatoes are done when they are a bit leathery. Since I freeze mine after drying, I don't have to worry about getting the moisture content exactly right to prevent mold.

This year I'm working on a revised solor heat panel which will allow me to heat more air and pass it over the tomatoes and shorten the drying time.

 

[arcticsid]

Thats soundsgood Lon. wil passs that idea along to my bddy next door. I never thought about dring them like that. I imagine they dont get to mushy after thay are thawed and added to your favorite recipe.

I suppose if you wanted you could seasn them with something first.

Would a light dusting of salt help to increase the drying process?

 

[myakkagldwngr]

Down here the bugs would give you fits. Do you screen the bottom to prevent them from getting to the tomatoes?
If I leave a bucket with the fruit bag in it for any length of time a have a gazillion little nats that come from no where.
I've always wondered with the talk of the flys and other nasties being so bad in Alaska, how did the Inuits dry their fish on those open racks?

 

[myakkagldwngr]

My mom is now 81 and I remember her talking about going to the only store in town when she was very young to buy a block of ice for the "ice box". They kept thing like their milk and butter in it.
She has told me stories of how they would take fresh pork they had butchered and put in a wooden open top barrel.
They would put down a layer of salt, then pork, then salt, until they filled the barrel.
Finally they would seal it off with the Lard from the hog.
Months later, they would take out a piece of meat, wash the excess off and then fry it or what ever they decided to do with it.
Said it would keep for a very long time.

 

[arcticsid]

smoke. Not alot like you think of smoking.

Just enough to keep the bugs off.

I helped dry an entire Mosse like this. I "accidentally" shot her out of season, we simply put it on a low rack witha low fire. Took a few days but never had a problem with bugs or spoilage.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I do screen the bottom, and it is just warm enough in the "case" that bugs don't really think it's a fun place to be.

 

[St Allie]

I've got one of those plug in dehydrators..( harvest maid brand) with lots of separate trays.. halve the tomatoes, remove the seeds, salt them and leave on paper towels face down for 5-10 mins to encourage as much liquid out beforehand. Place in trays and dry.Fill your clean ( sterilised) glass jars with dried tomatoes. Use a good quality olive oil. Herb and spice the oil to your taste.. garlic/rosemary..whatever works for you. Fill jars to the brim with oil, seal and place in a dark cupboard for at least a month before using.

Allie

 

[LarryW]

I've got one of those plug in dehydrators..( harvest maid brand) with lots of separate trays.. halve the tomatoes, remove the seeds, salt them and leave on paper towels face down for 5-10 mins to encourage as much liquid out beforehand. Place in trays and dry.Fill your clean ( sterilised) glass jars with dried tomatoes. Use a good quality olive oil. Herb and spice the oil to your taste.. garlic/rosemary..whatever works for you. Fill jars to the brim with oil, seal and place in a dark cupboard for at least a month before using.

Allie

It sounds like the oil would be good, but how do you use the tomatoes??

 

[millwright01]

I also can about 30 quarts of tomatoes a year. Last year I dried some and put in olive oil and seasoned. I eat them just on a tirscuit cracker. I also do a dip that we reallt like. I get a good quality brie cheese and put it in a baking dish. I use about 8 cloves of garlic sqeezed through my "ricer" thing to cover the brie. Smother that with chopped sundried tomatoes in oil and cover that with chopped fresh parsley to fill dish. Bake at 350 untill brie is soft in center. I then mix it all together with a fork and serve as a hot dip for your favorite craker. I know some people peel the brie first but I don't suggest it.