Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Fletch24 on September 09, 2021, 10:27
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Hello, Im very new to all this, having got my allotment only a few months ago. Im also no dab hand in the kitchen either so bear with me!
A few weeks ago i had managed to grow a great crop of beetroot and i was over the moon. I boiled and sliced them and popped them in kilner jars with vinegar...all good so far. ive not eaten any yet, but whilst looking up online about whether they needed to be put in the fridge once opened i came across all sorts of terror stories about botulism etc! A chat with my 80 year old mum suggested its all nonsense, but from your own experience over the years are we really at risk of such things?? Id never given it a thought to be honest! And is it the same for items like green beans that i have blanched and put into the freezer? My aim with the whole allotment idea was to grow surplus to freeze or pickle and store, but this info has unnerved me a little. Id really welcome your opinions.... thank you in advance!
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IMO there's really no need to worry about peas/beans etc stored in the freezer, some of us don't even blanch them before freezing ;)
Stuff preserved in vinegar is usually safe because of the acidity (worth checking the acidity of the vinegar you are using, you need at least 5%)
Val's thoughts on Botulism in a few articles here https://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/?s=botulism&submit=Go
Where you may run into trouble is when bottling tomato sauces, as tomatoes are generally low in acid and if you then add garlic/onions/peppers you could run into trouble. Best to stick to just tomatoes and use a known recipe/method for bottling - and then add the extra veg when using the sauce.
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I would have thought if you used a decent pickling vinegar it will be fine.
We've eaten home made pickle etc for years and my grandparents never had a refrigerator and stored all their pickles in the pantry.
I loved when they used to make egg and chips with beetroot on top with some of the vinegar poured over the top. Best of food.