Preserving
Ideas for how to preserve the produce you have.
-
Black Raspberry Jam
When our fruit starts to ripen it seems like it is all we can do to keep up with the harvest. To give myself a little breathing room I have discovered that freezing raspberries is a big time saver. When my raspberries are ripe I try to get out and pick them every morning. That is the way to get the raspberries at their peak of freshness. I don’t always have enough raspberries in a single day to make much jam with. And the times I have tried to save up two days worth, the first day’s pick either gets soggy or it gets eaten, which isn’t necessarily a bad…
-
Apple Chips
My kids love apple chips! In fact, I have yet to meet a kid that didn’t like my apple chips. It is a great way to use apples. A bucket full of apples will fill up my dehydrator. How to make apple chips the short version : clean the apples peel and slice apples rinse make them taste delicious: (these are all optional, but might make the difference between stored and devoured, just say’n) Lemon juice (so they don’t turn as brown) Sugar Cinnamon Nutmeg Cloves lay them out on dehydrator tray or baking sheet dry the heck out of them, in other words, wait try not to eat them all at…
-
Tomatoes!
I love tomatoes! There is nothing like a juicy red tomato on your sandwich. The sad pale pink things you get at restaurants just don’t compare to what you get out of a garden. Plus there is the added feeling of accomplishment of eating something that you grew. However if you do have your own tomato plant chances are you have more tomatoes than you can eat on your sandwiches. Soooo… What can you do with tomatoes? Here is a list of things I have tried and enjoyed: Salsa (canned or fresh) Spaghetti sauce (canned or fresh) dehydrated, you can use as “sun dried tomatoes” tomato powder: put dried tomatoes in…
-
Grapes
What do I do with grapes? This was actually my first year really harvesting a good batch of grapes. They were so overgrown when we got here that it was hard to find them and there were not very many. As I may have mentioned previously, this is my grandma’s yard and she loves every growing thing in it. So, even though the grapes were terribly over run and an unrecognizable variety, I resisted the urge to just tear them out and start over. It turns out that that was the right decision. When we moved in I didn’t know a lot about grapes so I scoured the interned to…
-
Give Thanks!
This week we celebrated Thanksgiving. It is great to be reminded to give thanks for all that we have. I got so busy toward the end of the summer that I just didn’t do anything on the blog. I put up a lot of fruits and vegetables. I took a lot of pictures and videos; but, I haven’t post anything for a long time. Now that it has started snowing I will take a break from working outside. I got a little bit overwhelmed at the end of the summer/fall. I had so much produce that I was trying to take care of, I just couldn’t do it all. I…
-
Peaches;When you have extra.
What else to do besides can them? If you have already bottled all the peaches you could ever want. You gave away as many as you could and you still have more. What would you do with the rest of the peaches before they go bad? Try freezing them! They are great in smoothies or baked goods. You could even use them for jam later. I recommend putting some lemon juice on them first to keep the color nice. I like to fill a bowl with water and a tablespoon of lemon juice that I drop slices in as I cut them. I just pull them out when I have…
-
Pear Fruit Leather
If you have three pear trees you end up with a lot of pears. I needed a way to use up a lot of pears at once. Our family’s favorite way to eat pears, besides fresh, is fruit leather. I pack it in lunches and share it with friends. It is so great we eat it like it’s candy. Except I feel much better about giving my kids homemade fruit leather instead of candy. It is a pretty simple process, although it does take some time. But if stored correctly it will last over a year. The dehydration process preserves it. I usually wash mine just to get the dust…
