Inauguration of the new canning pot
I'm a bit behind on processing the garden produce.
The pumpkins were clearly ready.
Even though I'm getting more efficient at breaking down the pumpkins into pieces for baking and seeds for toasting, it always takes longer than I think it will. Since I can't can it (water-bath or pressure), I freeze it in small jars. It only took me that one time to realize freezing pumpkin puree in large jars only wasted it. Now I freeze it in something more like serving sizes. I've got a whole pile of 4-oz jars, a couple of half-pints, and two pints of pumpkin mash, mostly because I ran out of smaller jars.
The cucumbers were also quite ready.
Some of them are on the white side, but that's only because they were shaded out by nearby foliage. A bit of handling told me that they were definitely good to go. I wish I'd weighed them before cutting them up. After scooping out all the seeds and cutting the cukes into spears, I got about 16 tightly packed cups. I added a couple of small onions from the garden plus one giant onion from the store. I adapted this recipe.
(for personal reference: about 16 cups of cucumber spears, 1 large plus 2 small white onions chopped large, 3/4 cup or so of pickling salt, 3 cups of apple cider vinegar plus 1 cup of rice wine vinegar plus 1 cup of white vinegar [I ran out of both ACV and RWV!], 3 1/4 cups sugar, plus 5 tbsp mustard seed, 3 tbsp coriander seed, 1 tbsp fennel seed, 2 tbsp red pepper flakes, 1 1/2 tbsp whole cloves, 2 tbsp celery seed)
I ended up with 7 pints, 4 half-pints, and 2 12-oz jars of pickles. I've discovered a couple of local food swaps, so I'll probably take some of the pickles there. I'll probably make another batch of jam or two as well. I'm toying with the idea of making a bunch of chicken or beef broth to trade as well, but I'm not sure because it would have to be frozen instead of canned. I could take it in a cooler, but the recipients would still have to get it home before it thawed. I'll have to talk to the organizers about that. I'm already looking forward to future trades!
Next up for processing, potatoes!
The pumpkins were clearly ready.
Even though I'm getting more efficient at breaking down the pumpkins into pieces for baking and seeds for toasting, it always takes longer than I think it will. Since I can't can it (water-bath or pressure), I freeze it in small jars. It only took me that one time to realize freezing pumpkin puree in large jars only wasted it. Now I freeze it in something more like serving sizes. I've got a whole pile of 4-oz jars, a couple of half-pints, and two pints of pumpkin mash, mostly because I ran out of smaller jars.
The cucumbers were also quite ready.
Some of them are on the white side, but that's only because they were shaded out by nearby foliage. A bit of handling told me that they were definitely good to go. I wish I'd weighed them before cutting them up. After scooping out all the seeds and cutting the cukes into spears, I got about 16 tightly packed cups. I added a couple of small onions from the garden plus one giant onion from the store. I adapted this recipe.
(for personal reference: about 16 cups of cucumber spears, 1 large plus 2 small white onions chopped large, 3/4 cup or so of pickling salt, 3 cups of apple cider vinegar plus 1 cup of rice wine vinegar plus 1 cup of white vinegar [I ran out of both ACV and RWV!], 3 1/4 cups sugar, plus 5 tbsp mustard seed, 3 tbsp coriander seed, 1 tbsp fennel seed, 2 tbsp red pepper flakes, 1 1/2 tbsp whole cloves, 2 tbsp celery seed)
I ended up with 7 pints, 4 half-pints, and 2 12-oz jars of pickles. I've discovered a couple of local food swaps, so I'll probably take some of the pickles there. I'll probably make another batch of jam or two as well. I'm toying with the idea of making a bunch of chicken or beef broth to trade as well, but I'm not sure because it would have to be frozen instead of canned. I could take it in a cooler, but the recipients would still have to get it home before it thawed. I'll have to talk to the organizers about that. I'm already looking forward to future trades!
Next up for processing, potatoes!