Preparing for a Bountiful Season
This time of year the pickings get slim in our freezer and basement pantry. The longer I garden and preserve food the better I get and not ending up with too much food come spring. The only things that remain in the freezer from last summer are: 4 gal. bags of wild black raspberries, 1.5 gal. bags of strawberries, 9 pints of corn, 2 cups of peas and 1 gal. bag of roasted tomatoes. Since the freezer is as empty as it will get, I defrosted it yesterday. I always defrost it during April or May.
I pulled everything out, put it in coolers and the fridge freezer, then I turned off the freezer, opened the door, lined the bottom with a bunch of towels and turned on a fan. In an hour or two it was completely defrosted (one reason to do this yearly is because the frost doesn’t build up and take as long to thaw). I wiped out any excess water and turned in on. When it was cold once again, I put everything back in.
I have a specific method for organizing my freezer. The worst thing ever is finding things that have gone bad because they get pushed to the back of the freezer and you forget they’re in there. When you have a big deep freeze it’s important to keep it organized and keep a list of what’s in there. That way you’re never suprised either by finding something you forgot was in there, or by reaching for something that isn’t there.
I organize the freezer shelves into types of food:
top shelf – berries, fruits, and veggies
middle shelf – whole chickens, ham, prepared food, and bread
bottom shelf – chicken, meaty bones, organ meats, and lard
bottom compartment – venison: steaks, roasts, and ground
door – nuts, grains, things frozen in jars: stock, corn, etc
I like to keep track of what’s in the freezer so I know exactly how much of each thing I have inside without having to open the door. I do this by keeping a list of what’s inside on the front door written in dry erase marker. When I remove something, I update the total for that item. This is a quick and easy way to keep track of what’s in your freezer. I organize my list by type of item, but you could also write on the area of the door that corresponds to the shelf inside.
We do have a lot of venison in the freezer since hunting season was in late November and Mr Chiots got three deer. I also just ordered 150 lbs of meaty bones, chicken feet, beef liver & heart for Lucy, which will take up a lot of the available space. By the time I start freezing summer berries and other vegetables we’ll have just enough space for them. Keeping your freezer full helps make it more efficient since your not cooling huge unused areas, and the cold food helps keep the freezer cold. If your freezer is more than half empty simply fill with plastic milk jugs filled 3/4 of the way with water. They’ll freeze and can be used to keep coolers cold in the summer, and they’ll help keep your freezer from using so much electricity!
Do you have a deep freezer? How do you keep track of what’s inside?
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A Busy Weekend and a Winner
On Thursday afternoon the mail lady honked her horn in the driveway to deliver a few packages. When I went out to get them I realized it was 10 lbs of meyer lemons from the Lemon Ladies Orchard and 20lbs of organic olives from Chaffin Family Orchard. We had plans on Thursday night and yesterday was spent working and getting my taxes ready to go. I also spent some times reading up on brining and preserving olives.
That means today I’ll be spending my time cutting olives, soaking them, salting them and working my way through the entire box (most likely I’ll be doing it again tomorrow as well). I’m planning on using three different preservation methods, water curing, brine curing, and dry salt curing. That will help me decide which kind of preservation method I like. I’m a really big fan of Kalamata olives, so I’m thinking I’m going to like the water cured olives the best. I’ll post more about the process later next week, although sadly I won’t be able to talk about the outcome for quite a while, olives are a definitely a SLOW food! Just in case you’re interested in information about brining your own olives at home here’s the link to a great booklet from UC Davis Home Curing Olives.
Are you doing anything exciting this weekend?
We have a WINNER!
Congratulations! Head on over to Morgan’s blog Grounded and read about things like: making your own seed balls, how to build a worm bin and what life is like in Southern California.
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Friday Favorite: Home Canned Tomatoes
One thing I do enjoy about winter is that I have more time to cook. I really love to cook and enjoy spending the winter days making big pots of stews, tender roasts, trays of lasagna and baking fresh sourdough bread. One of my favorite things about gardening is the fresh fruits and vegetables that it provides for the kitchen. Since I live in NE Ohio, the winter months prove to be a little more difficult when it comes to gardening and fresh vegetables harvests. Since I’m still in the learning stages of winter gardening, I supplement with things I canned and froze during the bountiful months of spring/summer/fall.
If I could only preserve one thing from the summer it would definitely be tomatoes. My pantry is filled with home canned tomato soup, jars upon jars of crushed tomatoes, roasted tomatoes fill the freezer, and dried tomatoes stock the kitchen pantry. Cracking open a jar of canned tomatoes brings back all the joy of summer gardening.
Of course they’ll never take the place of an heirloom tomato picked while it’s still warm from the sun, but they make the nine fresh tomato free months here in Ohio more bearable.
If you could only preserve/can/freeze one summer vegetable what would it be?
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Making Yellow Tomato Preserves
This year I started 2 small yellow cherry tomato plants just to make a recipe from Preserving the Taste. I checked it out of the library a few years ago and bought a copy when I found an old version because I loved the recipes so much.
It’s a small cookbook packed with delicious recipes like: caramelized apple marmalade with thyme, rose geranium jelly, pear ginger jam, cranberry ketchup, and more. I made the apple marmalade last year and it quickly became a favorite of all who tried it. My favorite thing about this cookbook, is that she uses herbs and spices in almost every recipe.
This little cookbook really takes canning recipes to the next level and makes them healthier as herbs and spices are packed with vitamins and minerals. I’m always trying to find ways to incorporate herbs into my food and this is a great way.
Yellow Tomato Preserves
(makes 4 half-pint jars)
from Preserving the Taste
4 cups sugar
5 cups very small yellow pear shaped tomatoes
3 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
In a 4-6 quart heavy nonreactive pan, stir together the sugar and 3/4 cup of water. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil. Wash down any sugar crystals that accumulate on the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.
Insert candy thermometer and continue boiling until until the syrup has reached 234 degrees F, the soft-ball stage.
Immediately stir in tomatoes. The mixture might seize up, but after a few minutes will again become liquid. Stir in the chilies, basil and lemon juice and turn heat to very low. Continue simmering for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The mixture will have thickened and darkened in color.
Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, wipe rims clean with a damp towel, and seal with new lids and metal rings. Process in hot-water bath canner for 10 minutes. Preserves will continue to thicken as they cool.
I’ve been waiting for enough little yellow tomatoes to ripen so I could make this recipe. I didn’t get enough (must plant a few more next year) so I had to settle with a half batch. Since I only ended up with a few handfuls of tomatoes, I only got two small jars of preserves. It was well worth the effort to fire up the canner though, I’ll be happy to have a jar for the winter.
These preserves have a wonderful sweet tomato taste with a hint of spice from the jalapeño and the basil really adds a wonderful touch. The little tomatoes become almost candied in the sugar syrup and the peels seem to melt into the preserves (so don’t be worried about leaving them in). I enjoyed some on toast and now am trying to figure out where I can tuck in a few more yellow cherry tomato plants next year!
Have you discovered any new canning recipes this year? Do you like herbs and spices in your preserves?
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Making a Piece of History
Earlier this spring I collected a bunch of my grandmother’s and my great grandmother’s recipes from my mom’s side of the family. I’m hoping to make them, take photos and make up a family heirloom cookbook. I’ve been waiting for the time to harvest green tomatoes so I could make this recipe, it’s one of my great grandmother’s.
I cleared out a raised bed in the back and pulled out all the tomatoes to make room for fall spinach. I ended up with 7 pounds of green tomatoes, the perfect amount for this recipe. Last year I made green tomato chutney with all the green tomatoes and we’ve been enjoying that on sandwiches and on burgers.
I had to make a special trip out to find pickling lime. I thought about making my own with some wood ash, but decided for my first try at pickling with lime I’d rather buy actually pickling time. Perhaps in the future I’ll try making my own.
I finished up the recipe yesterday morning. So far I’m not loving the flavor, we’ll see how they age. I think I may add some mustard seeds before canning them as I thought they could use a little more flavor. If we don’t end up liking them I’ll probably turn them into chutney.
Do you have any heirloom canning recipes you use?
