Preserving the Harvest 2009

[9anda1f]

Drying Apricots:

It's taking about twenty-four hours to dry the halves.  Took about eighteen hours for eighths.  Soaked in lemon juice/water @ about 1:8, then dried at 135F.  Yummy!

[haggismudpie]

Saw the u-tube on dehydrating blueberries.  Do you all do the prick each berry before drying?  I usually just freeze them but may have a hire a speed freak to prick 50 pounds
for dehydrating.  Or not.

[paulko]

a quick blanch or freeze prevents then from getting a too crunchy skin. I dod the blanch on a second batch and they seemed better than no blanch or no freeze (my first batch I just threw them in the dehydrator.)

Paul

[GypsyCat]

I did blueberries for the first time last weekend and I just washed them and threw them in the dehydrator.  I do not reccommend that method!  It took DAYS for them to dry and when they did, some of them remained kind of blown up (but dried of moisture).

I blanched our grapes last year and that was quick and easy (used a strainer to dip them in boiling water).  I'll probably do that with my next batch of blueberries.

[madison]

When it's cooler in the evening (it's in teh 100's here in Oregon this week, ugh), I've been dehydrating my herbs.  I may also dry some of my garlic, and the ginger I've had in the fridge that I haven't used.

[Annie Oakley]

I've done cherries so far,blueberries should be ready here in a couple weeks.
Tomorrow I am taking last years moose meat out of the freezer and bottling it up.

[nicekitty]

Went down to a local U-Pick and got ourselves 20 lbs of strawberries...sliced them up for freezing...nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon...

In conjunction we tried out our new food saver which was a wedding gift earlier this summer...what a fun tool!  I can see that it is going to get a lot more use...except for that frustrating little bit where it overheats after sealing just 6 or 8 bags...

[Grower]

You have to kind of get a rhythm going with the food saver. After sealing 2 or 3, fill the next 2 or 3. Then it'll cool down enough to do those. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

[cygnus]

It's cherry season here.  So far I've processed about 25 pounds of Nanking Cherries into cherry juice, and bottled it, and about 45 pounds of dark sweet cherries into cherry juice for making wine later this year, frozen pitted cherries for fruit salads and desserts, Cherries in Merlot Syrup for spooning over pound cake or ice cream, and a nice big batch of sweet cherry jam.  I'm also picking the first of the raspberries, and putting them in the freezer till I have enough to do something with. 

Tomorrow it's back to picking the rest of the Nanking cherries, which are tiny with rather large pits for their size, and have watery flesh and only a mediocre flavor - unless you run them through a steam juicer.  Then they come out with a lovely slightly tart cherry flavor that is great as a juice drink over ice, or for mixing with green or black tea.  It's also nice hot, like a sort of toddy.  The steaming seems to concentrate what flavor they do have.  Oh, and the leftover pits are great for stuffing those flannel warmer things that some folks use rice or beans in.  After steam juicing, they are pretty easy to clean.  I expect to have around a gallon of them by the time the harvest is through.

[Grower]

What a good idea for the pits! Every cherry tree I planted has died, but the nanking cherries, new this year, seem to be thriving. I order mine from a local nursery that gets them in 10# buckets from Michigan. I canned 4 buckets this week. I still have them on the counter -- they are so pretty!

[kats]

Also, gotta build a canning kitchen for outside, maybe use the old coleman. It's way too hot
for indoors.

YES! Gotta build a canning kitchen outdoors. I'm postponing canning because it's too hot to do it indoors.

So far this year:
Frozen vast quantities of greens, peas, blueberries
Rhubarb jam
Strawberry jam

[Grower]

We're in the process of putting together a spot, with a sink, prep table, and a gas camp stove. I will be so great to get this out of the kitchen!!

[heathenmom]

Mom and I canned 25 lbs. of tomatoes Saturday:  7 quarts of diced tomatoes and 2 pints of tomato juice.  Not NEARLY enough for even one of us, but it's a start (I use at least 1 pint of canned tomatoes a week). 

I'm drying oregano this week, and made my very first batch of pesto ever yesterday.  Holy shite, that's good stuff!  My plan is to make a huge batch, freeze in ice cube trays, then transfer the cubes to Zip-Locs.  I've got loads of basil, but I was surprised at how a big bowl of leaves only made a little container of pesto.  Ah, well ... more reason to plant a TON of it. 

I harvested coriander this weekend, too.  That was interesting ... and I have no idea what to actually do with it.  Any ideas?

[kats]

I harvested coriander this weekend, too.  That was interesting ... and I have no idea what to actually do with it.  Any ideas?

Was it just the leaves? In which case it is cilantro and vital to many Mexican dishes. I make a delicious salsa fresh, with chopped up tomatoes and onions, chopped cilantro, and just a squeeze of lime juice.

The seeds are coriander, as used in Indian cooking and VERY valuable as a flavoring for all sorts of bean dishes.

[Katiecakes]

It's cherry season here too:  I did 7 quarts of whole cherries, 11 half-pints of brandied cherries, 10 half-pints of cherry vanilla jam,  I dehydrated some too, ending up with about a quart when dry.  

I did 5 pints of pickled radishes too, something I've never tried before but I hope will be good.  They sure do look beautiful (though I tend to think all home canned goods are).

I froze 5 pints of snow peas too.  I've never frozen them before, we've pretty much eaten them as they came ready in the past but this year, we can't keep up.  

Heathenmom - you can use your coriander seed in your pickles...