Pickling veggies

When we run out of room in the freezer we started pickling our veggies.  We also can some.  It is important to note that you should plan what you are going to do with your veggies in the winter and plan accordingly.  Frozen and canned and pickled all have different uses. 

To pickle start by washing the veggies you are going to use and then soak them for an hour in an ice bath.

Then fill sterilized jars with the vegies and any spices you wish to include in your pickles.  (Sterilize jars by boiling them for 10 minutes or put it through your dishwasher in the sterilize setting).  Make sure to fill your jars completely, as they pickle the vegies will get smaller. 

 Make pickling brine by bringing 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water and 3 tablespoons of pickling salt to a boil while stirring constantly.  Fill the jars up to the part where the ring will attach, this will leave some space on the top.  Put the tops on and tighten the rings completely.  Seal the jars by placing them submerged and upright in a pot of boiling water and let them sit in the rolling boil for ten minutes.  Take them out carefully and let them cool.  As they do so you will hear a popping sound when the lid compresses.  If the top does not compress (when you push it in it will pop back out) you cannot store these as pickles and should refrigerate them and eat them within a week.  If the jars do seal set aside for at least 6 weeks and up to several years. 

Please note that the rolling boil method of sealing cans cannot be used for any type of canning other than pickling, if you wish to can and not pickle you must use a pressure canner. 

Creative Uses for Zucchini

Our garden is largely disappointing this year, however we have got a lot of zucchini. 

As our  freezer is getting overly full we needed to find another use for them, so we made zucchini chips.  Start this by cutting the squash into quarter inch wide slices and place them on the drying racks. 

Dry in dehydrator at 115 degrees for 24-48 hours until they are as dry as you want them to be.  Serve with home made humus and enjoy.

 

Harvesting Summer Honey

Honey should be harvested in the first week of September.  At this point most of the honey will be ready, but it is before the bees start eating the honey themselves.

The first thing to do is remove the honey from the hive.  First you must get the bees out of the part of the hive you will be removing (the honey super).  This is done by using a smoker to make most of the bees tired and eliminate their need to defend the hive and then placing a bad smelling top on the hive so that the remaining bees will move to the bottom portions.  Then remove the supers. After removing the suppers cut the caps off of the honey. 

Put the de-capped comb in the centrifuge and spin the honey so that the force will push the honey out of the comb. 

Put the caps and drippings into the capping station and put a heat lamp over it.  Wait for the honey to drip out and down so that it can be poured into the filter. 

 

Poor honey into the filter, first from the centrifuge then from the capping station.

 

  While doing this place the equipment outside for the bees to clean.  Do not go out near them while this is happening.  This is the most likely time to be stung as the bees are threatened by your taking the honey right before winter.  The bees will be aggressive and out in force. 

 

From the filter poor the honey out and into jars or food grade plastic. 



Making Tomato Sauce

Our tomatoes have been disappointing this year.  We are only now really starting to see them come in.  We froze some, eat some and more are being put into sauce.  I believe that the best foods are simple but made with good ingredients, such as our tomato sauce.  This sauce comes almost entirely from our garden and we can or freeze it to eat all year (next week we will discuss pressure canning). 
We start with our garlic.  Instead of cutting it we crush the garlic.

Sauté it in garlic oil until it is golden brown.  This will also cause it to fall apart somewhat. 

 

 

Put the garlic and oil into a crook pot and set aside.  Then take your tomatoes, here are ours, fresh from the garden.



 

Put the tomatoes in boiling water for 60 seconds.  Then put the tomatoes into ice water.

This will cause the tomatoes to split.  This will allow you to pull the skins off the tomatoes, and crush the tomatoes into the crock pot (we feed the skins to the chickens, who love them).  Then add any dried herbs you wish to use.  Fresh herbs should be added when there are only 5 minutes left to cook.  Cook down the sauce until it is as think as you want (we like it relatively thick) and serve, freeze or can.