Preserving Your Harvest

[BReeder!]

Your right there @WthrLady no tomato ever has the flavor of home grown Do not think others veggies are so certain

There's something about homegrown potatoes too. What you get in the store was harvested a week or two ago. Fresh potatoes right out the ground are crisp and a bit sweet sometimes. Once they sit for a few weeks they're just like the store bought potatoes, but those first few days are magic.
Also, you have more access to variety when planting a garden than when buying produce at the store. I can plant one of hundreds of varieties of tomatoes and peppers while the store tends to just have a few varieties at best.

 

[Sally PB]

Since I grow everything organically, I'd have to figure in the cost of all organic canned/frozen stuff to buy. I've also started saving seed, and growing things that "grow their own starts," like garlic and potatoes.

I guess I just like knowing where my food has been. ("Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been!")

 

[BReeder!]

Since I grow everything organically, I'd have to figure in the cost of all organic canned/frozen stuff to buy. I've also started saving seed, and growing things that "grow their own starts," like garlic and potatoes.

I guess I just like knowing where my food has been. ("Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been!")

I'm not a nut about organic or not, but I do practice organic gardening in many ways. It's mostly because I don't want to have to think about washing chemicals or my food before eating it and I don't want to spend money on chemicals when I could use free (although labor intensive) methods like composting and mulching with leaves and grass clippings. It also doesn't feel like gardening when I'm just spreading a bottle - I want to get my hands dirty and use gardening tools. Also, I have a (going on very soon) 2 and 5 year old who love to pick and eat produce, so the chemicals are really scary when I think of the kids in the garden.

 

[Sally PB]

Yay for kids in the garden!

And, like you, I want to get my hands in the dirt. Or my gloves, anyway. When I mix in the compost or mulch by hand, I think I'm in touch with my inner child who wants to make mud pies.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I love playing in the dirt or picking peas or beans eating them we did get the raspberry canes but was given walking onion I have a empty pot with dirt can I grown them in the garage ?

 

[ladybrasa]

I don't recall a ketchup recipe... Can you send again?

Yes, please!
What is the taste like?
I want to freeze some green tomato casseroles, but I suspect will have more green tomatoes.

I finally figured out a fruiting bush we have to be a Washington hawthorn bush. I want to try making hawthorn ketchup. Anyone made this or tried it? I’m guessing the flavor will be somewhere along the lines of sweet and sour sauce or fruit bbq sauce or something?

 

[BReeder!]

Yes, please!
What is the taste like?
I want to freeze some green tomato casseroles, but I suspect will have more green tomatoes.

I finally figured out a fruiting bush we have to be a Washington hawthorn bush. I want to try making hawthorn ketchup. Anyone made this or tried it? I’m guessing the flavor will be somewhere along the lines of sweet and sour sauce or fruit bbq sauce or something?

That's recipe is from @muddy75 . I haven't made it just yet, so I can't comment on it.

 

[BReeder!]

Right now we are in the middle of processing 24-26 quarts of green tomato salsa. Worked this morning, then a side job this afternoon and then canning at home - I'm exhaust right now. The good news though is I'll have a year's supply of salsa. I think I like my red salsa better, but this green salsa is very tasty still. I will certainly enjoy it for months and months to come.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I found lids online at Walmart at the normal $2.98 priced. I know you needed some now but maybe order some for next season.

I still have tomatoes and strawberries some, 1st potential freeze may be this Friday but then back in the 50s so I am just going to cover as I still have 12 green tomatoes out there.

We don't have lids at our Wal-Mart.
I was at Wal-Mart shopping one day a month or so ago and they had 2 huge displays of canning jars. 2 days later I went and they were gone. All of them...
The freaking Amish buy them all and then resell them!
My mom told me that the Amish store had canning jars. (I only really need lids) I told her that was because everything they sell in their store is from Wal-Mart. People literally call their stores the "Amish Wal-Mart". I refuse to go in there to buy anything it makes me so mad.
The Aldi's store had to put limits on how much food you could buy in their store because of them and their reselling....

 

[BReeder!]

2 jars (out of 26) of green tomato salsa blew out on me yesterday in the canners. I was using a pressure canner and hot water bath so I could process 13 quarts at once rather than just 6 or 7. 1 blow out happened in the pressure canner and 1 happened in the hot water bath. The jars were temped and hot packed and went into warm (not boiling but not cold to avoid shock to the glass) water in the canners and were brought to boil/pressure gently - I start at medium heat on the burners and increase it to high over 10-15 minutes. High is necessary to boil such a large pot of water as well as create enough steam to pressurize the pressure canner properly. Heat is lowered a bit (gently again) to maintain boil or pressure. Checking the lids on the blown out jars and the other (not blown out) jars there's no excessive bulging or denting (outward) that would indicate too much pressure in the jars. There's also no sign of damage to the lids on the blown out jars. The cracks extended through (or possibly started from) the bottom edge/corner of both blown out jars. There's a natural weak spot in the curve at the base of the jars but that's also a place where a chip or hairline crack could easily occur from impact. These jars made the trip from TN to Chicagoland as I purchased them while visiting my in-laws last year or two years ago and this is their first use. I'm thinking that rattling during the drive may be the issue and led to hairline cracks in these two jars. Of course I'm paranoid now and checking all the jars for cracks or chips. It could have been a manufacturing fault also. I'm not thinking it was a canning process issue though.

Anybody have any thoughts?