What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Seeds will easily slip through the colander which is actually what I want to filter out. Oh well. I ended up with 6 pints of crushed tomatoes and a gallon of juice from the first batch of tomatoes. I'm putting them in the canner and then calling it a night. I will do the 2nd batch of tomatoes tomorrow night. Maybe by then I'll figure out how to filter out the seeds. Or maybe I'll just put them through the blender and simmer all day.

remove the seeds and extra pulpy squish jelly with your fingers before cooking and squishing

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Seeds will easily slip through the colander which is actually what I want to filter out. Oh well. I ended up with 6 pints of crushed tomatoes and a gallon of juice from the first batch of tomatoes. I'm putting them in the canner and then calling it a night. I will do the 2nd batch of tomatoes tomorrow night. Maybe by then I'll figure out how to filter out the seeds. Or maybe I'll just put them through the blender and simmer all day.

You can line the strainer with cheesecloth and put the blended stuff through it.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

OK peeps... I need some advice. Since my food mill has COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED, I gotta figure out a way to process these tomatoes to can for spaghetti sauce. I started to simply mash them through a strainer (see below) but that seems to leave behind a lot of pulp that I imagine I'd want in the sauce, right? So should I just put the boiled tomatoes in the blender to mash them up and forget about trying to strain out the seeds? Should I continue using the mesh strainer? If so, what to do with all the pulp left behind?

View attachment 3589161

I cut my tomatoes through, shake out the seeds and put them in the food processor

 

[jerryse]

Tomatoes I would drink the clear juice and seeds from the empty plate of sliced tomatoes growing up. For sauce I just blend and strain. A lot of flavor in the seed gel IMO. Blending removes that from the seed. I do not simmer to thicken. I share this every year. I use a cider bag to separate the clear juice and pulp. I can the clear juice for drinking. I can some of the paste and some goes to thicken the sauce. A much better flavor IMO. I do not use the drier paste type tomatoes as I feel they have less flavor. My favorite for taste are pink tomatoes. I will juice any type from cherry to slicers.

 

[Sally PB]

I use a cider bag to separate the clear juice and pulp

Some info on this? I googled and got a lot of different things, cheesecloth to nylon bags.

 

[littledog]

You have to keep checking and remove the board as soon as it germinates and keep it moist until it gets some size going. It can be difficult germinating seed in really hot direct sun.

Thank you, that makes sense. When I stick my finger in the soil, it's still moist a couple inches down, but that's not where the seeds are.

 

[littledog]

Can’t you just throw them in the food processor?! I don’t peel my tomatoes, among others, the good stuff is in the peel!

Same here, I don't bother blanching or peeling. Skins, seeds, they all go in the cans, then I just cook it down for hours in the crock pot with herbs, onions, spices, when I go to make sauce.

 

[littledog]

How come cucumbers last a few days in the fridge when purchased but go wrinkly within a day or two in the fridge when from my garden?
also, can i still pickle them slightly wrinkly?

I agree, the ones from the supermarket often are sold with a layer of wax to make them appear better for longer.

To make them last longer in the fridge, put them in the "crisper" drawer, rather than the "fruit" drawer. Most fridges have little vents on the drawers you can adjust to make them have different humidity, depending on what you're storing in each drawer.

That said, go ahead and pickle the slightly wrinkly cukes. As long as they're just wrinkly from slight dehydration after picking, and not from being too old and seedy with tough skins, they will plump up from being stored in the brine and taste good.

 

[littledog]

I hope that weather next year will allow me to plant on time. almost all plants are stunted due to heat. the good thing is we have 2 days more of brutal heat than we shall get back to reasonable heat.

We've been hearing about such horrible wildfires on some of the islands in Greece, I really hope you're not affected.

 

[Ponypoor]

That's why I put up my own hay. We used to be at the mercy of a square bale contract baler. He never showed up when I needed horse quality hay done. It would get rained on. Bales were poorly tied, etc.
I do it all, but DH does help me stack it in the shed, as I cannot lift them above my shoulders. It is my least favourite job on the ranch. By design it on the hottest most miserable days of the year.

Ya tell me about it, at my age it’s a real struggle, in the end here I left it to my niece and her man-friend to finish up - I just couldn’t do it - those last 50 bales were brutal, each one almost my height and at least 60lbs.

Hay and water my worse chores.

I need a stable boy