What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

My sealer to vacuum seal requires channeled material, pre made bags or the roll of endless tube, which is what I use.
It will seal any bag though, chips, baggies, bread bags. It just cannot vacuum seal them.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Well, I was thinking a person could just take out some chunks or slices of frozen zucchini and pop them into a soup or stir fry a little bit with the other veggies.



I just learned about blanching beans before freezing them. It's supposed to lock in the flavor and prevent the beans from continuing to ripen in the freezer. I did not know that was even a thing. But if we end up freezing any beans this year, I'm going to blanch them for the first time and see if it makes a difference. In the past, we just washed and froze the beans. They tasted good later on, but not garden fresh. I am told that blanching them makes them taste like fresh from the garden without that slight freezer taste.

I have never tried to freeze zucchini, blanched or not. But I think chunks or slices would be a whole lot better for the way we use our frozen food. This year I froze about 8 quart baggies full of cherry tomatoes. I am told they will be great in soups or sauces this winter. Of course, we only have to take out as many cherry tomatoes as needed at the time. That is what I would like to do with the zucchini.

FYI, Dear Wife has been freezing lots of her bitter melon (ampalaya) and white gourd (upo) that we grew in the garden the first time this year. She cuts them up into thin strips before freezing, but no blanching. I would think you could do the same with zucchini. Or maybe everything should be blanched first. I really don't know.

Well, answering my own question, I found a couple of articles on the Taste of Home that says vegetables should be blanched before freezing if you are storing them longer than 4 weeks in the freezer. Here is their suggested times for blanching...

View attachment 3630631

I will have to talk to Dear Wife about maybe blanching some of her veggies on the next batch, then later in the winter we can compare the blanched food with the non-blanched food to see if we can taste a difference.

This was a new thing for me this year too... I have tons of frozen veggies from last year that tasted super bitter. Now I know why. I didn't start blanching veggies until halfway through the summer which means things I collected early (broccoli, cauliflower, etc) were not blanched.

I will not make this mistake next year.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Someone here posted something about blanching green beans in the microwave. You might research that to see if it's something you'd want to try.

I tried that and my beans exploded. It has worked for others though....

 

[TJAnonymous]

Anyone have a recommendation for a vacuum sealer? I need to buy one

 

[jerryse]

First pic morning glories Grandpa Ott the purple one and the wild triloba = 3 part leaf. Pic 2 todays harvest. Pic 3 is one I missed it is my breeding and a sibling to the yellow ones. It will be saved for seed. Pic 4 the vines of project. No help and no SVB some mildew but still going strong. Pic is hand pollinated for seed crossed to zuke.

 

[akroberts1085]

Anyone have a recommendation for a vacuum sealer? I need to buy one

Vacuum sealers are awesome for meats. You can keep the meat fresher longer because it doesn't allow air to get into the bags.

 

[igorsMistress]

Woke up this morning to light rain.... Well that was unexpected but delightful. Not a lot but enough to wet the ground, at least. And looking at the extended forecast, it's going to cool down!
View attachment 3630827

Nice! Enjoy that

 

[igorsMistress]

Anyone have a recommendation for a vacuum sealer? I need to buy one

The ones that Walmart Carrie’s are good. I’m on my third, but the last two lasted years and years.

 

[igorsMistress]

I just realized I ditched the water bath canner at some point, or it’s out in the garage and I have no idea where.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Vacuum sealers are awesome for meats. You can keep the meat fresher longer because it doesn't allow air to get into the bags.

I need it because the plastic wrap that the store uses often gets punctured in the deep freezer and I end up with freezer burned meat.