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We have a freezer, a canning pot, a pressure canner, canning tools, an apple peeler/corer/slicer, knives, chopping blocks, a mandolin slicer, a pressure cooker, jars of various sizes including wide-mouth quart jars and sealing lids, a kitchen stove, a barbecue, a dehydrator, a pantry, dry, dark, cool drawers, a compost pile, sealable plastic sacks and a vacuum packaging device. All of these things have been used this summer to put food away. The mention of the barbecue reminds me of the amusing sign we found in a Gold Beach motel patio.We don't have an outdoor kitchen (yet), we still need more understanding about pressure canners and one day we will have a root cellar. We do have lots of food growing around us and find it has become a daily opportunity to either plant, tend, harvest or put food by. So what foods have been put away this summer and in what form? Time to make a list, perhaps in no particular order but organized by food family.
- Fruit and Berries:
- Strawberries were made into jam that we had leftover from last year in the freezer. They were ready for the last steps in the jam making process. The sack of frozen strawberries, already partially processed, were like found gold, they were so valuable.
- Raspberries were made into jam from the bushes out back. We ate most of the berries fresh or in our summer breakfasts, so only a tiny amount got into jam this year.
- Blueberries were found in the neighborhood, picked, washed, sorted and frozen on trays and then placed in quart bags in the freezer. They are so good for breakfast and snacks and we put up 40# but I don't know if they will last! Blueberries were also dried in the food dehydrator and seemed to have lost their flavor. Freezing is better for us this year.
- Peaches were purchased from a neighbor and once fully ripened, pits came out, skins off and cut into quarters to be canned in the pressure canner without the pressure gauge. These 21 quarts will be appreciated over the next 11 months.
- Pears were picked from our tree and individually wrapped in paper and stored in a dry, dark box in the pantry.
- Apples were harvested from our trees, peeled, cored and sliced and cooked down into applesauce and frozen in jars. We still need more apples and perhaps some apple butter. We still have some jars of dried apples from last year in the cupboard.
- Our Asian pears are still not quite ripe and we still wonder what is the best thing to do with them. Last year we gave them all away but recently we learned that they can make a good sauce. Hmmm.
- Our table grapes are ripening fast and last year we froze some and they are enjoyable over the winter. More will be washed, frozen on trays and then placed in quart bags next month, once they get their sugars up.
- Vegetables
- Zucchini seemed to never end this summer and it started early. Almost every day we picked zucchini and once we had enough for processing, we began. Sometimes we sliced them the long way, oiled and salted them, put on barbecue for 10 minutes, placed them individually on trays in the freezer and then in quart bags in the freezer once frozen. Other times we filled the dehydrator and ran it for hours in the sun and then put the almost paper dry chips into jars. We usually choose to suck the air out of the jars after putting the dried zucchini inside. Sometimes we put them in plastic sacks and vacuumed the air out. Sometimes we just eat them... heheheh.
- Eggplants came this year with a vengeance. Thanks to our new ColdFrame (which is more of a hotframe in the summer) we got Asian Eggplant to set fruit in early September. We treated it just like the zucchini.
- Tomatoes are going mainly for sauces this year and how the sauces are made depends on the variety of tomato and how we want to work in the kitchen. To me, the tomatoes take a lot of work and they, as with most of this work, have been Karen's speciality.
- Peppers are still ripening and I expect we will harvest them, cut out the centers, cut into strips, dip in olive oil and barbecue them before freezing. This worked great last year.
- Squashes are still ripening but we have a dry, dark drawer (or two) waiting for their harvest in October. We have butternut, acorn and delicato for sure (maybe others?)
- Cauliflower was harvested, washed, cut up and dried in the dehydrator and also it was blanched, placed on trays in the freezer to freeze separately and then put into quart bags in the freezer.
- Broccoli was harvested, cut up and blanched, frozen on trays and put into quart bags in freezer.
- Root Crops
- Onions are drying in the shed and some are still in the ground. I am not sure how we are going to process them - perhaps dry them separately, and then store in porous sacks somewhere dry, away from mice.
- Shallots are still in the ground and probably will go into dry storage after we dry them and wipe off the dirt.
- Leeks are still in the ground and will go the route of shallots and onions I believe.
- Potatoes have been dug and eaten all summer. New, fresh, baby potatoes are so awesome with the translucent skins and creamy taste. Butter just confuses the lushness of these powerhouses. The rest of the crop will be dug in October and put into dry storage. We had trouble last year keeping them from sprouting and gave away a fair amount of our harvest. We need to start digging on the root celler any day now! Oh yes, we also sliced potatoes with the mandolin, placed on cookie sheets to freeze and then bagged them last year, no cooking. These slices made great potato dishes with lots of fresh flavor and I bet we do something that again in mid-winter as they start to sprout again.. sigh.
