Preserving Your Harvest

[WthrLady]

7 pounds of mixed veg made 7 trays and filled 1 quart and 1 pint to the brim when dry.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I dried a gallon baggie full of cut up, Joe's Long Cayenne peppers today, so far and have 5 trays of Genovese basil drying now.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm finally going to actually make pickle chips (or start at least). Going to slice the last of our cucumbers from the garden today and pack them in pickling brine and keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. I think slicing now will be easier then slicing after they are pickled in case they soften at all which would make it difficult to use the mandolin. Then I'll dehydrate them they are pickled. How thin should I slice them though?

 

[Birdsonghill]

I had big plans for today, but they fizzled with the contrary weather and resulting conditions. I will continue some dehydrating asst. tomatoes after I empty the herbs from earlier. I planned, to make chipotles this week, again. Maybe, tomorrow. I am just lazy today!

 

[Sally PB]

I'm finally going to actually make pickle chips (or start at least). Going to slice the last of our cucumbers from the garden today and pack them in pickling brine and keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. I think slicing now will be easier then slicing after they are pickled in case they soften at all which would make it difficult to use the mandolin. Then I'll dehydrate them they are pickled. How thin should I slice them though?

I go for about 3/16" when I slice stuff. Though often it's closer to 1/4".

With really wet stuff (like cukes and cherries and bananas), I find it helps to turn them over about half way through. For cherries and bananas, you have to peel them off the tray, because they're gummy when they're half done. But that way they dry thoroughly.

 

[BReeder!]

I had big plans for today, but they fizzled with the contrary weather and resulting conditions. I will continue some dehydrating asst. tomatoes after I empty the herbs from earlier. I planned, to make chipotles this week, again. Maybe, tomorrow. I am just lazy today!

You smoke jalapeños to make chipotles right?

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

We have a garden that had produced very well this year. In fact, it's our best garden in 6 years and two homes. I have a real passion for growing food we can eat. It's always great to have a salad fresh picked form the garden or cook a meal with fruit and vegetables, and even meat, harvested right from our backyard. Over the years we found ourselves faced with small abundance that we sometimes gave away. With our first garden I started making homemade pickled cucumbers and zucchini and canning them. Then two years ago we got a killer deal on flats and boxes of berries and grapes at a local store, so I ventured into making jams and jellies and canned those. Now that our garden is producing incredibly well this year, we have (or "have had" in some case) abundance of peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, kale, radishes, potatoes, onions, garlic, peaches (less abundant, but still too many to eat within a few days) and herbs such as parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro/coriander and dill. We also expect to have a decent harvest of corn, brussel sprouts, and Jerusalem artichokes/sunchokes, dried corn, dry beans as well as a few sunflower heads. I might even plant a lot crop of peas and radishes. We have so much harvest this year, we had to find ways to preserve the fruits of our labor. We began canning homemade salsa, pickled peppers, pickled cucumbers (whole, halves, spears, chips and relish), and I'm preparing to make pepper jelly for the first time ever. We also have hung onions and garlic to cure for dry storage for the first time ever. There's so much more food coming out of the garden still though. What to do with all this harvest? Certainly we could just give it away, but we want to keep as much as possible for those months when we cannot garden (we are in zone 5). So preserving has become our focus.

How do you preserve your harvest?

I want recipes, pics, ideas, etc. Whatever you have, tell me all about it!

Besides, canning, jams, honey, and maple syrup, I make sauce and freeze it, and do a lot of dehydrating. Here are some cherry tomatoes, yellow brandywine, green beans and apples. Very easy and keeps for a long time. Great for stews and soups, or just to snack on.

 

[Happy hen lover]

View attachment 2794698I canned for the first time today. It went well. Our peach tree had quite a lot of peaches that we weren't going to eat in a couple days so I figured out can the rest. I will probably be canning peaches for the next several days.

They look great. Glad you tried canning. That's the first thing I canned as an adult. (I always helped my Mom with them every year) there my favorite thing in middle of winter. Bonus that they came from your tree! I get mine from local club that sells for profit so I figure I'd donate the money so in my MIND mine are free too . At least that's my story.

 

[Happy hen lover]

Last year we got over 8 five gallon buckets of peaches off of two trees, this year we got 5. Not buckets 5 actual peaches....

My Mom's tree only produced good fruit every other year.

 

[Happy hen lover]

Today my husband happily cut up cucumbers for dill pickles. (I usually kick him out of the kitchen.) I think I've only made pickles one time so many years ago, so I'm trying again. I used Mrs. Wages but also some dill seeds and sprigs from my plants. I made 9 pints, but I want to taste them before I commit to making any more. They sure do look pretty though...
Before:
View attachment 2795805
After:
View attachment 2795807

I tried that mix this year and I really liked the Kosher dill one, used it all up. They look great.