Preserving Your Harvest

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Seriously, I cannot find my blender! Tearing the house apart I also cannot find the gallon ziploc bag with all the food processor blades in it. Where on earth??? I have things to powder! Grr.

Did you accidentally store them away with your canning supplies?

 

[WthrLady]

Did you accidentally store them away with your canning supplies?

No.

 

[WthrLady]

15 pound cushaw powdered down (via food processor) to 1 pint of powder.

 

[BReeder!]

15 pound cushaw powdered down (via food processor) to 1 pint of powder.

Sounds interesting. Do you rehydrate that as mashed squash or use it to make a base for a squash soup?

 

[WthrLady]

Yes, and yes, and pies, and added to breads,

 

[Sally PB]

Does anyone else here dry and then pulverize fruits or vegetables to make powders? What do you use it for?

I'm thinking powdered fruits would be fantastic additions to baked goods. And vegetable powder would be great to thicken soups or stews.

 

[WthrLady]

I do, which is why it's such a big deal that I cannot find the blender.
You have to be careful with it, just because there is a LOT in each tablespoon.
Kind of like when DH sits down and eats a whole bag of freeze dried or dehydrated apples. It's the equivalent of eating 5 apples. LOL.

I mostly just do beet powder for breads and hiding in things like meatloaf.
But I have also done greens to hide in other things too. But I haven't grown greens in a while, we get too hot too quickly for greens.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I dehydrate some figs, and a variety of peppers every day until frost. My little freezer is packed full year round, so I dehydrate and can more, than freeze. Also, we have frequent power failures and the freezer is a less secure storage method long term for us. dehydrated foods stay good up to 7years. I canned 10 pints of candied jalapenos and 4 jelly jars of fig preserves from fresh figs (brown turkey). I almost forgot, the 5 pints of red hot sauce made from my cayenne's. I will make more fig preserves later from the dried figs I have been stockpiling. We got a frost last night, a bit early for us! Soon, I will be looking for the pecans that made it past the tent caterpillars and etc. I covered most of my garden rows and beds, so most everything is still rolling along. My backdoor snack Red Pearl tomatoes and Tommy Toe salad tomatoes did fine and will keep on for a while longer. I did not cover all of my four foot high pepper plants and they bit the dust ( the uncovered ones). My main crop tomatoes all gave it up to blight a few weeks ago and have been burned already. Blight once in your garden is a devil to control organically! The copper soaps and such, only are effective a week or two, at best, in holding off the disease, and get expensive over the season! I am tired of shelling crowder peas! I need a machine!

Does anyone else here dry and then pulverize fruits or vegetables to make powders? What do you use it for?

I'm thinking powdered fruits would be fantastic additions to baked goods. And vegetable powder would be great to thicken soups or stews.

Yes, I make my own paprika, asst.chili powders, and seasoning mixes of herbs , chiles and spices. I usually dehydrate most other fruits and vegetables as diced or sliced and store in recipe sized vacuum sealed bags, but find it intriguing to make powders out of the squash and other vegetables and fruits. Great for additions to smoothies and all kinds of things. I , also, have been powdering kale some for the health drinks, I mix up sometimes. Will do some experimenting coming up with next years crops on more items.

 

[BReeder!]

Does anyone else here dry and then pulverize fruits or vegetables to make powders? What do you use it for?

I'm thinking powdered fruits would be fantastic additions to baked goods. And vegetable powder would be great to thicken soups or stews.

The chipotle chili flakes I made could just as easily be made into a powder. Great for adding that smoky, spicy flavor to all sorts of things. I love the flakes on pizza. Great flavor to add to my bowl of chili too, especially since I cannot make the whole pot spicy because of kids. Chili powders are great for aiding high blood pressure too if consumed regularly or swallowed in pill sized doses.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I like ot make tomato powder for thickening soups and stews.