September 14, 2008

Preserving: Now what do we do with all of this stuff?




Added to the list of "things learned" is preserving. We are trying various ways to preserve some of the produce that is either surplus or too big to sell. We blanched and froze broccoli and cauliflower until our freezer was stuffed. We pickled garlic and beans, made blackberry and rasberry jam, and juiced carrots. All of this jarring is being done in an ancient pressure cooker that was given to us. Thus the pickling as opposed to canning because we have been warned multiple times about the seal and have heard too many horror stories of canning-gone-wrong to try to use the pressure cooker part. So, our pressure cooker with the art-deco gauge has served us well as a boiling-water canner. I think we have finally got the timing down a little better now, can pull the jars out of the water without burning ourselves, and only spatter a little berry juice on the walls. After all, as one experienced canner told us, "you don't just can, you learn to can." And for that, we are grateful for recipies with step-by-step instructions and the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Now, if only we had a place to store all of these jars...

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