As I posted earlier in July, we made the commitment this year to eat locally all summer while the produce was fresh and in season. At some point we also made the decision to stock up on all the beautiful, fresh, local stuff and try to save some of it for the winter. (This decision came shortly after we noticed that the pickles we were buying were grown in India, and the tomatoes we depended on all winter were from California...) Our Wiens Farm CSA share gave us our veggies for the week, but we also made it out to the St. Norbert Farmer's Market almost every Saturday morning this summer to supplement the frenzy to 'put food by'.
And yes, it became a frenzy. Lots of food made its way into the freezer, which is currently full of kale, swiss chard, beet greens, corn, strawberries, freezer jam, gooseberries, raspberries, apples, and sorrel, but the most time intensive effort was devoted to canning preserves.
The diced zucchini, peppers and onions pictured above were diced by hand. As was everything else processed in my house. I don't know why I keep resisting a food processor - I'm paranoid that everything is going to be sliced down to mush, I think. If you're going to make everything from scratch, let it have some character! Yay for chunks!
My kitchen was continuously filthy. Simmering pots on the stove for hours and hours at a time... boiling pots of water going for hours and hours at a time... All I can say is, thank God August wasn't as hot as July was this year. This project would definitely not have come to fruition if it that 30+ heatwave would have continued.
Slowly but surely, the little batches of tasty things collected up...
In the end, this was the approximate final tally:
- 2 pints zucchini and pepper relish
- 4 pints curry pickles
- 3 pints bread and butter pickles
- 4 pints pickled baby carrots with oregano
- 4 pints pickled cauliflower
- 8 pints baby dills
- 3 quarts big dills
- 12 pints tomato salsa
- 10 quarts diced tomatoes
- 10 quarts tomato sauce
- 9 pints carrot ikra
- 10.5 pints green tomato chow (all from Stiles Street tomatoes!)
- 1 quart apple cider
I'll keep ya'll posted to see how long all this stuff lasts us!
3 comments:
are you still around? i found this blog when googling 'manitoba apple cider'. your quest last year was a lot like mine this year. i'd like to hear how things worked out for you. (and if you know of a cheap place to get a pressure canner)
I'm still around - I've just been lazy with posts. As soon as my computer fills up with too many food pictures, I've got to post again.
As for the pressure canner - no! I've been trying to find one myself. Although everybody is telling me to just freeze stuff instead because it's easier and you lose less nutrients. Doesn' look as satisfying as a full pantry shelf, though!
HI
Love the photos of your treasures.
I 'm in the middle of a MN frenzy, trying to keep up with tomatoes, beets, cabbage and eggplant. Anybody have a good borscht recipe for canning?
CMI
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