What did you do in the garden today?

[Sequel]

Dang you guys since looking at this thread I’ve dragged out the pressure canner I Was given after the world didn’t end at y2k but never used bought new gaskets and fuse plugs for it, ordered the manual and now I’m ready to can green beans!
Then I whined about my Foodsaver bags being so expensive and you all made me want to drag that out too! Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[igorsMistress]

I know this is not a recipe forum but: Try fresh sliced or halved cherry/grape tomatoes on Italian style fried eggplant like pizzas. I do that and sprinkle with fresh basil, cheese and olive oil and broil them. My family likes "eggplant pizzas". Of course , you have to like fried eggplants! The same ideas works on larger slabs of fried or grilled zucchini.

That sounds amazing!

 

[igorsMistress]

I’ve mentioned it here before but I really like popping my cherry tomatoes into a freezer bag then into the freezer. They last a good long time in there and it’s great tossing a cup or two of them into a sauté pan with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried herbs from my garden. Do this in the middle of winter and it’s like a breathe of summer air. While watering the garden today I noticed the tips of some of the shallots were getting brown and dry. The big one practically jumped out of the bed. I pulled a few more to thin them out a bit. I’m letting them dry for now.

View attachment 3599495
These were grown from seed.

Wow, those look great! Better than what Insee in the store here.

 

[igorsMistress]

Dug my way into the tomatoes and found some hidden deep within. And by some I mean basically an entire bowl full. some were picked yesterday but still. Most were today. And in doing so I allowed more air to get in.

View attachment 3599545

Nice!

 

[gtaus]

There's a tomato soup from scratch recipe on my blog. Have at it. I prefer acidic tomatoes for my soup and then adjust the acid at the end.

Thanks. I recently learned how to use WebCapture on my computer, so I was able to copy that part of the blog and print the Tomato Soup recipe out. Very nice. Like how you mention how to taste test the soup and make changes to dial in your taste preferences. That is very helpful to me. Again, thank you.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Nice!

Thanks!!

 

[WthrLady]

Thanks. I recently learned how to use WebCapture on my computer, so I was able to copy that part of the blog and print the Tomato Soup recipe out. Very nice. Like how you mention how to taste test the soup and make changes to dial in your taste preferences. That is very helpful to me. Again, thank you.

Most welcome. You have to wait to adjust it, as everyone uses different flavor tomatoes, and all tomatoes have different acidity, even year to year in the same variety.

 

[chickengr]

I blanch my green beans for 2 mins.

@WthrLady has a good tomato soup recipe on her blog.

I just wanted to mention the 4% vinegar issue as canning season is here. Just a heads up to anyone doing any pickles - make sure your vinegar is 5%! I guess they've been selling 4% as 5% & that doesn't work for water bath canning.

I use 9% vinegar.

 

[chickengr]

That's another one I'm trying... again. If it doesn't do well, I'm crossing it off my list.

Strangely, a friend of mine has good luck with Cherokee Purple, and he's about 1.5 hours north of me.

on my 1,5 acres I have 3 different types of soil. it is sloped so the top corner is hard rock, almost no soil. the next is white (calcium?) soil. some parts have some clay and the bottom is nice blackish soil. luckily the nice soil is where I wanted my garden. I need to pick up a lot of stones before I get better soil.

 

[chickengr]

You can also freeze the flour or rice for 72 hours in the deep freeze before dry storage.

I did that at covid lockdown with flour. as I didn't use it all after 12+ months moths got as if it was fresh.