Preserving food

[Don Alaska]

I know @Marie Mallory has posted about her canning and freezing of some things. Does anyone else preserve food? I think @Yvonne Smith does some fermenting as well. We have been drying herbs, making jelly, jam and syrup, pickling all kinds of stuff, and pressure canning beans and salmon. We still have a lot to harvest and a lot to process. I pickled 6 half-pints of jalapenos today and my wife did 17 pints of cherry jelly. I hope to do cowboy candy relish either tomorrow or Monday. We picked 4 gallons of cherries yesterday at a friend's place, and wife collected 4 1/2 gallons of tomatillos this afternoon, and there are still many to pick. We have oodles of tomatoes to process, although there are many that are not yet ripe. My wife is processing a big pot of V-8 juice, but it has not been canned yet. We froze 15 galloons of raspberries, most of which will go into my wife's morning smoothies, but we also made 2 batches of jam.
We had the grandkids over today to help pick early apples. The first apple pressing will be on September 8th I think, but we may miss it due to scheduling conflicts, but the orchard folks said they would have a pressing just for us if we miss the community gathering.

I harvested two buckets of potatoes as part of my "research" into intensive potato culture in containers. The regular container yielded 4 pounds of potatoes and the intensive one yielded 7 1/2 pounds--almost double the yield, but the intensive method used 4 times the resources. I may tweak it a little next year and try another trial. We still have two more comparison containers, and 3 rows of spuds in the ground to dig. We might have the grandkids back over to help harvest potatoes, carrots, beets, and rutabagas. Potatoes especially are a treat for them as it is a bit like a treasure hunt

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Cindy was almost a Chef she was that good of a cook. Once she came in the kitchen and I was eating a frozen pizza. (Suitably doctored, of course.) She says "Don't you know what stuff if full of Preservatives?" I replied "Yeah, that's why I eat it. I want to be preserved."

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I'm seeing a lot of praise for freeze-drying. The equipment doesn't sound inexpensive but if you have a lot of things to preserve it seems to be a great option.

 

[Don Alaska]

I'm seeing a lot of praise for freeze-drying. The equipment doesn't sound inexpensive but if you have a lot of things to preserve it seems to be a great option.

Freeze-drying is a good preservation method if you can afford the equipment (or can justify buying it). The upside is that it will keep food for years, up to 20 or 30 if properly done. The only real downside is that it doesn't reduce the volume of the food being preserved as regular drying does.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Freeze-drying is a good preservation method if you can afford the equipment (or can justify buying it). The upside is that it will keep food for years, up to 20 or 30 if properly done. The only real downside is that it doesn't reduce the volume of the food being preserved as regular drying does.

True, but a lot of things like fruits might be post-processed by crushing and grinding.

Berry powder, peach powder, etc. could be used in cooking and baking or maybe making light confections.

Raspberry or blackberry added to those peanut-butter/cocoa no-bake oatmeal cookies sounds interesting.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I know @Marie Mallory has posted about her canning and freezing of some things. Does anyone else preserve food? I think @Yvonne Smith does some fermenting as well. We have been drying herbs, making jelly, jam and syrup, pickling all kinds of stuff, and pressure canning beans and salmon. We still have a lot to harvest and a lot to process. I pickled 6 half-pints of jalapenos today and my wife did 17 pints of cherry jelly. I hope to do cowboy candy relish either tomorrow or Monday. We picked 4 gallons of cherries yesterday at a friend's place, and wife collected 4 1/2 gallons of tomatillos this afternoon, and there are still many to pick. We have oodles of tomatoes to process, although there are many that are not yet ripe. My wife is processing a big pot of V-8 juice, but it has not been canned yet. We froze 15 galloons of raspberries, most of which will go into my wife's morning smoothies, but we also made 2 batches of jam.
We had the grandkids over today to help pick early apples. The first apple pressing will be on September 8th I think, but we may miss it due to scheduling conflicts, but the orchard folks said they would have a pressing just for us if we miss the community gathering.

I harvested two buckets of potatoes as part of my "research" into intensive potato culture in containers. The regular container yielded 4 pounds of potatoes and the intensive one yielded 7 1/2 pounds--almost double the yield, but the intensive method used 4 times the resources. I may tweak it a little next year and try another trial. We still have two more comparison containers, and 3 rows of spuds in the ground to dig. We might have the grandkids back over to help harvest potatoes, carrots, beets, and rutabagas. Potatoes especially are a treat for them as it is a bit like a treasure hunt

Hubby just pickled some eggs in hot sauce ,they should be ready to eat in a few days.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I'm seeing a lot of praise for freeze-drying. The equipment doesn't sound inexpensive but if you have a lot of things to preserve it seems to be a great option.

Learning new things can be a real job for me now. So much to do as it is. I don't comprehend like I used to. Plus, I added a new job 10 months ago with these two huge dogs we adopted!

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

This one is a little off-topic... or maybe not.

Sort of a "Mr. Wizard Does Herbs" and in the process he shows one way to get more out of fresh herbs and use them in new ways. As a side-effect, the end product can likely be stored in a freezer for years.

To save you the time, basically he uses alcohol to extract the goodness from green herbs and concentrate it. The result can be used with a dropper or even a spray bottle.

I'd imagine it works for things like hot and sweet peppers, garlic, onions, celery, etc. as well as green herbs.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

We have one of those FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer gadgets that Cindy bought at Costco. But we had one before and I personally feel they aren't worth the cost of the bags. They cost more than Ziploc bags and while the FoodSaver bags do keep food fresh a little bit longer, maybe four months instead of three, it's cheaper to just eat the food you buy soon after purchase. Everything is better when it's really fresh. And what we do freeze is never in the freezer for very long. I date everything so I know when stuff is put in there.

A box 152 Ziploc bags costs about $17 at Costco when they have a coupon in their coupon book. A box of assorted sizes of FoodSaver bags costs about $40 at Costco with a coupon. My son and I just bought a new box of Ziplocs after the one Cindy bought almost three years ago finally ran out. Since the box was open and a few bags were used, I'll say the box lasted two years and call that about $8.50 per year. So if we then say that half of a box of FoodSaver bags costs about $20, that is still more than double the price for a short amount of additional time food will stay fresh in the freezer.

 

[Marie Mallory]

We have one of those FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer gadgets that Cindy bought at Costco. But we had one before and I personally feel they aren't worth the cost of the bags. They cost more than Ziploc bags and while the FoodSaver bags do keep food fresh a little bit longer, maybe four months instead of three, it's cheaper to just eat the food you buy soon after purchase. Everything is better when it's really fresh. And what we do freeze is never in the freezer for very long. I date everything so I know when stuff is put in there.

A box 152 Ziploc bags costs about $17 at Costco when they have a coupon in their coupon book. A box of assorted sizes of FoodSaver bags costs about $40 at Costco with a coupon. My son and I just bought a new box of Ziplocs after the one Cindy bought almost three years ago finally ran out. Since the box was open and a few bags were used, I'll say the box lasted two years and call that about $8.50 per year. So if we then say that half of a box of FoodSaver bags costs about $20, that is still more than double the price for a short amount of additional time food will stay fresh in the freezer.

We use glass containers, when possible, but also use Ziplock bags too.

 

[Don Alaska]

This one is a little off-topic... or maybe not.

Sort of a "Mr. Wizard Does Herbs" and in the process he shows one way to get more out of fresh herbs and use them in new ways. As a side-effect, the end product can likely be stored in a freezer for years.

To save you the time, basically he uses alcohol to extract the goodness from green herbs and concentrate it. The result can be used with a dropper or even a spray bottle.

I'd imagine it works for things like hot and sweet peppers, garlic, onions, celery, etc. as well as green herbs.

My wife is something of an herbalist. She does the tinctures using the strongest Ever Clear she can find, and she makes other stuff like liqueurs using simple cheap vodka. We also dry and freeze culinary herbs, such as basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary, etc.

 

[Mary Stetler]

We have one of those FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer gadgets that Cindy bought at Costco. But we had one before and I personally feel they aren't worth the cost of the bags. They cost more than Ziploc bags and while the FoodSaver bags do keep food fresh a little bit longer, maybe four months instead of three, it's cheaper to just eat the food you buy soon after purchase. Everything is better when it's really fresh. And what we do freeze is never in the freezer for very long. I date everything so I know when stuff is put in there.

A box 152 Ziploc bags costs about $17 at Costco when they have a coupon in their coupon book. A box of assorted sizes of FoodSaver bags costs about $40 at Costco with a coupon. My son and I just bought a new box of Ziplocs after the one Cindy bought almost three years ago finally ran out. Since the box was open and a few bags were used, I'll say the box lasted two years and call that about $8.50 per year. So if we then say that half of a box of FoodSaver bags costs about $20, that is still more than double the price for a short amount of additional time food will stay fresh in the freezer.

I bought many boxes of zip freezer bags years ago. Boy were those a good investment considering what they cost now. I have all my canning equipment but mostly all I do are beans and tomatoes. I dry a lot and freeze a lot. This year, because of garden failure, I guess we will just have to starve. (I am glad we normally have extra.)

 

[Mary Stetler]

My wife is something of an herbalist. She does the tinctures using the strongest Ever Clear she can find, and she makes other stuff like liqueurs using simple cheap vodka. We also dry and freeze culinary herbs, such as basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary, etc.

Hubby always has me put up dewormer (black walnut hulls, wormwood...) I don't know why. He does not ever use it. I put up teasel in vodka for lymes and use it.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

A box 152 Ziploc bags costs about $17 at Costco when they have a coupon in their coupon book.

I noticed a few minutes ago I was wrong about this. There used be 38 bags in 4 individual boxes, for a package total of 152. I just grabbed one of the boxes to pull out a bag and saw that the box contained 34 bags, which only adds up to 136. They're probably still cheaper than the FoodSaver bags, but only because the price on those has most likely gone up as well. I haven't seen any of the larger boxes recently. The ones Costco has at the moment are selling for $30, as the box is smaller and they are not on sale anymore. (The last coupon book expired on the 17th.)

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

How about "anti-preserving" or "counter preserving" i.e. storing dry seeds and later sprouting them to add fresh greenery during cold dark months?

I bought a big bag of mixed-radish seed for sprouting and I store it in the freezer double-wrapped to hinder desiccation. Three years later I am still getting good germination for some tasty spicy sprouts.

I've used alfalfa seed for sprouting, though I've never tried storing those 3 years. But I have mung beans that I kept tightly bagged against moisture without freezing them, and I just started a batch to see if they'll still germinate.

"Mung bean sprouts contain antioxidants such as vitamin C, flavonoids, and various phenolic compounds. Specific antioxidants include orientin, vitexin, isovitexin, and quercetin-3-O-glucoside. Germination increases the total antioxidant content and activity in mung beans."​

​

Beyond sprouts there is also the option to let them run further or even densely seed a thin layer of soil or growing medium but for an early harvest. "Microgreens" is the term, I believe.

I've also seen people planting onion sets within a cylinder with many holes, with the tops growing from those holes. For harvesting they hack off and eat the leaves and then let the onions regrow from there.

All of these will need some light to properly green up, aside from plain old sprouts which don't require much or even any.

 

[Mary Stetler]

How about "anti-preserving" or "counter preserving" i.e. storing dry seeds and later sprouting them to add fresh greenery during cold dark months?

I bought a big bag of mixed-radish seed for sprouting and I store it in the freezer double-wrapped to hinder desiccation. Three years later I am still getting good germination for some tasty spicy sprouts.

I've used alfalfa seed for sprouting, though I've never tried storing those 3 years. But I have mung beans that I kept tightly bagged against moisture without freezing them, and I just started a batch to see if they'll still germinate.

"Mung bean sprouts contain antioxidants such as vitamin C, flavonoids, and various phenolic compounds. Specific antioxidants include orientin, vitexin, isovitexin, and quercetin-3-O-glucoside. Germination increases the total antioxidant content and activity in mung beans."​

​

Beyond sprouts there is also the option to let them run further or even densely seed a thin layer of soil or growing medium but for an early harvest. "Microgreens" is the term, I believe.

I've also seen people planting onion sets within a cylinder with many holes, with the tops growing from those holes. For harvesting they hack off and eat the leaves and then let the onions regrow from there.

All of these will need some light to properly green up, aside from plain old sprouts which don't require much or even any.

Good plan.
I brought in some planters to overwinter last year and put in some sprouting seeds. Got some amazing radishes. Also a lot of good weeds. The chickweeds gave me fresh greens to feed to my chickens. Otherwise I need to slice up cabbages etc.
I have two flats of green beans to bring in for the winter I have a south facing sun room. I do like mung bean sprouts.
I grew tomatoes inside last winter but they grew up the window and made a mess. Not many tomatoes.

 

[Marie Mallory]

My wife is something of an herbalist. She does the tinctures using the strongest Ever Clear she can find, and she makes other stuff like liqueurs using simple cheap vodka. We also dry and freeze culinary herbs, such as basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary, etc.

Don you 2 really have it going on, huh? I wish we could fo more here but these old vehicles and new dogs, hurricanes ,etc,etc,etc, plus saving trees, left us little energy for the garden, which I keep saying we need to plant seeds ,but just don't get to it.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Planting stuff makes you have to weed more.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Growing sprouts is something that I do also, @Jacob Petersheim . One of the easiest things to sprout seems to be lentils, and they are cheap to get from the grocery store.
I also like sprouting fenugreek seeds, which are like an alfalfa sprout on steroids.
Once sprouted, I add them to salads, and sometimes into a scrambled egg or a sandwich.
We do not can or dry much foods, except i do dehydrate some of the mullein and also the comfrey for winter use.

I have pretty much stopped regular gardening because it is too hot for me to be out working in the garden in the summer months, and also because I worry about falling in the yard because the ground is uneven and there are lots of roots to watch out for.
Now, I am trying to grow things that come back each year, like the berry bushes, and I think I will try making a dedicated asparagus patch next year, too.

 

[Don Alaska]

Sprouting is a great way to provide winter greens. but I would caution folks to use seeds meant for sprouting, self-collected, or garden seeds that you are certain were not treated with anything that could be harmful to you. Another thing that can be done is sprouting vegetables like onions ( has been mentioned), turnips, beets, and celeriac, although celeriac, turnips and beets can all be roasted, boiled, or steamed and eaten as well. Plants don't grow when the daylight is less than 10 hours, but they will stay alive, and things light the above-mentioned roots veggies as well as carrots, spinach, kale, leeks, and such will overwinter in the ground in many places in the U.S. and I think in almost all areas of the British Isles and Europe.