What are you canning now?

[dkosh]

I have a question about freezing greens. We had a hard freeze here in New England and before it happened I pulled and gathered as much as I could. Now I have tons of Swiss Chard and Beet Greens. Has anyone had luck with maybe freezing them. I was thinking I could blanch them for a minute or two then ice bath them. Dry them off and then bag and freeze. That is how I put up my corn. Any thoughts?

 

[silkensunlight]

I'm not sure about beet greens but I have done kale in the freezer and it worked great. I just washed it well and chopped it and put it in freezer bags. It worked great for soups and stews. I didn't lose any color or flavor that way.

 

[MooseOnTheLoose]

i haven't canned much lately! Yesterday I did 12 - 4 oz. of salted caramel apple butter and 8 - 4 oz. of lemon blueberry jam for gift baskets this year. I used Scrambled Eggs' apple butter recipe and replaced half the sugar with brown sugard & added 3 tsp. canning salt towards the end. It wasn't overly caramelly or salty, but still good!

I also cleaned out the green tomatoes from the garden before they freeze. I plan to make Chow Chow like my Canadian grandmother used to make.

 

[galanie]

I have a question about freezing greens. We had a hard freeze here in New England and before it happened I pulled and gathered as much as I could. Now I have tons of Swiss Chard and Beet Greens. Has anyone had luck with maybe freezing them. I was thinking I could blanch them for a minute or two then ice bath them. Dry them off and then bag and freeze. That is how I put up my corn. Any thoughts?

I've frozen all sorts of greens just that way. They come out like frozen spinach does and great for quiche or something. Just blanche them till they change color then pull them out and put them in the ice water right then.

 

[dkosh]

Great! I think I'll give it a try.

 

[rancher hicks]

Not canning anything these days. Getting ready to go to AL for a month.

But I have a question. There is some garlic growing from last year. Small leaves. Can I leave it til next year? Can't imagine there is any bulb worth pulling it up for.

 

[redneck4life27]

Yesturday i canned some chicken and chicken stock from the cornish cross chicken carcasses it turned out great. Got the extra chicken cuz i quarted the birds into wings, legs, thighs, tenders, and sknless breast. Ended up with 3 quarts with meat and broth and 2 quarts and a pint of chicken stock of six birds not bad. Will be great for soups and gravys.

 

[Pozees]

Not canning anything these days. Getting ready to go to AL for a month.

But I have a question. There is some garlic growing from last year. Small leaves. Can I leave it til next year? Can't imagine there is any bulb worth pulling it up for.

Should be fine - fall is often the best time to plant garlic, and it usually does send up a few shoots before the ground freezes. Certainly can't hurt to try, right?

 

[mickey328]

I believe garlic is a biennial...takes 2 years to really produce. So if you plant in the fall, it should be ready not the next spring/summer, but the one after that. You can pull it sooner but you get little bitty bulbs hardly bigger than marbles.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I believe garlic is a biennial...takes 2 years to really produce. So if you plant in the fall, it should be ready not the next spring/summer, but the one after that. You can pull it sooner but you get little bitty bulbs hardly bigger than marbles.

That's if you plant the bulblets. If you separate a large bulb and plant the cloves, you'll have nice size garlic next summer if you set it out after the first frost for your area.