Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Kitchen Natter => Topic started by: New shoot on August 12, 2014, 17:02
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It just dawned on me its that time of year again.
My kitchen is starting to look like a production line. Piles of produce everywhere all washed, packed and lined up for the dehydrator, sauce making (remembering to keep the skins for tomato skin powder - done 1 batch already ;)), blanching ready for the freezer ............. and I've not even done any serious pickling or preserving yet :lol:
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It's really slow here, I've done one batch of runners for the freezer but that's all. :( I looked at the courgette plants earlier and there's just nothing on them :wacko: Im about to lose the battle with botyrtis in the bottom GH which will see off the tomatoes very early this season. >:(
Still there's always next year....
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The end worktop of my kitchen is covered in harvested stuff, and green toms hopefully ripening (if they're not quick about it - they'll be green tomato chutney :D )
Ratatouille portions are in freezer, passata in freezer, French beans in freezer, bags of cherry toms in freezer, sliced peppers in freezer - so I'm doing well, so far :)
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Some of the toms have blight. :(
And since discovering courgette crisps in the dehydrator, we don't have enough courgettes! :ohmy:
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What worktops I cant see them. :lol:
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Some of the toms have blight. :(
That's why I have so many green ones - I'm turning them all each day, and throwing away any that develop the brown marks. It's 4 days since I chopped the plants down and I only found 1 dodgy 1 today :)
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Its a showery day today, so some serious squirrelling away is planned.
I have a pile of tomatoes for sauce making and loads of french beans to deal with, plus the first batch of peppers from the greenhouse. I'm contemplating Italian style preserved peppers as I have a recipe for these I've been wanting to try :) The other option would be a mixed garden pickle as I have cucamelons and courgettes as well - decisions, decisions :wacko:
The dehydrator has just finished doing raspberries and pineapple. The pineapples were 65p Aldi ones, so have got a whole jar full for just £1.30. It tastes just as good as I had hoped, having read rave reviews from others 8)
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I've just taken out 2 courgettes I sliced and put in the dehydrator only to find I binned all my coffee jars in a fit of 'must clean-up' madness last week ::) They're not bad as crisps, perhaps a little seasoning is needed but certainly munchable.
.. The pineapples were 65p Aldi ones
I saw a recipe for sweet pineapple and habanero sauce yesterday ... 65p makes it tempting.
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Today there's a big pot of pasta/chilli sauce bubbling away and I've chopped a bagful of purple beans for blanching in a mo.
I forgot the white vinegar for the sweet peppers, so they'll wait on the plants for another day or 2
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Know what you mean. I'm just taking time out from the veg factory to catch up with you guys. I spent yesterday morning on the allotment and the kitchen surfaces are all covered with bags of veg, plus a carrier bag full of windfall cooking apples. My freezer is absolutely rammed, and the neighbours run and hide when they see me coming with yet more veggies. I have just finished clearing out and re-organising the freezers so I can get some more stuff in, and I'm due to go to the allotment again in the morning. My husband is always asking why I grow so much, but you always have to put in a bit extra for insurance, don't you, and I can't bear throwing any plants away once they have struggled to germinate and grow. It's the same every year, but I bet if I only sowed and planted exactly what I thought we'd need, it would be a dreadful year, and we'd end up not having enough. Has anyone out there cracked it yet?
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I've just taken out 2 courgettes I sliced and put in the dehydrator only to find I binned all my coffee jars in a fit of 'must clean-up' madness last week ::) They're not bad as crisps, perhaps a little seasoning is needed but certainly munchable.
I sprinkle mine with a little lemon, salt and a good twist of black pepper. Yum. Goes amazingly well with homemade tzatziki.
The dehydrator has just finished doing raspberries and pineapple. The pineapples were 65p Aldi ones, so have got a whole jar full for just £1.30. It tastes just as good as I had hoped, having read rave reviews from others 8)
The pineapple is gorgeous. Have come back from the market with a loaded bike. Have you tried watermelon yet? That's next on our list. Small Child is eating my produce as fast as the dehydrator can churn it out.
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Do you season the courgettes before they go in the dehydrator? How thick are your slices? My first lot shrivelled up a lot.
Currently I am dealing with the raspberry mountain: dehydrator going and a vat of jam boiling too. Dehydrated raspberries are just amazing -- winter porridge springs to mind there :D :D
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Have you tried watermelon yet?
No I haven't, so consulted the dehydrator book. It is recommended you cut the flesh into chunks, as slices dry paper thin and can be difficult to get off the trays :)
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I sprinkle mine with a little lemon, salt and a good twist of black pepper. Yum. Goes amazingly well with homemade tzatziki.
I was of a mind to sprinkle some Cajun seasoning over them to give them a bit of a twang :tongue2:
Do you season the courgettes before they go in the dehydrator? How thick are your slices? My first lot shrivelled up a lot.
I tried both with the box grater on the slice side and with a knife about 2mm thick. The thicker ones were more cougettey the grated ones could have been anything as they were too thin to taste and no use for dipping.
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Have you tried watermelon yet?
No I haven't, so consulted the dehydrator book. It is recommended you cut the flesh into chunks, as slices dry paper thin and can be difficult to get off the trays :)
I start the watermelon on baking paper and put them onto the tray once they have shrunk a bit as they are very juicy and sticky at first.
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I have pickled so many gherkins and cucumber that I could feed the street for a year.
I have 14 jars of piccalilli, four carrier bags of beans, 2 of cucumbers, 1 of courgettes, a carrier bag of apples in the dining room keeping another bag of cucumbers company and the second fridge is full of plums.
I managed to defrost 2 of the 3 freezers after my son's 30th BBQ party that good old mum threw and cooked for, and made an inventory, so know what is in there at last. I now have 1/2 a freezer empty to work with.
I have 25lb of blackberries, 5 bags of broad beans and the same of French beans and a couple of bags of plums in the freezer, along with oodles of Seville oranges, this years goosgogs, jostaberries and blackcurrants.
I picked up a tray of peaches for £2.50 and have peach chutney, pickled peaches and peaches in brandy in the preserves cupboard.
I am only getting a day out of the kitchen tomorrow 'cos I am out with stall at an event.
And on top of it all I have a wonky ankle so I am doing all this flamingo style on one leg. :(
Note to self must go to cash and carry for more mustard, turmeric and vinegar. We really need a little icon of an exhausted cook.
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.......... and a partridge in a pear tree :lol: :lol:
Blimey you lot have worn me out just reading what you got. I can't remember all I have but it's along the lines of others. Will be looking for freezer space soon :wacko:
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Trust me, I have worn myself out. :(
I am being bullied by all the produce sitting in bags looking at me.
Have told OH that he is on no account to let the gherkins grow bigger than 3 and a half inches ever again. >:(
I am going to have to buy some more jars. :ohmy:
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Do you season the courgettes before they go in the dehydrator? How thick are your slices? My first lot shrivelled up a lot.
Currently I am dealing with the raspberry mountain: dehydrator going and a vat of jam boiling too. Dehydrated raspberries are just amazing -- winter porridge springs to mind there :D :D
2-3mm thick, same as Lardman, and 12ish hours at 50C. Am v envious of the raspberries, I don't have any.
Lardman, a twist of cajun sounds brilliant.
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Busy morning here again :)
I found some dried beetroot and the remnants of the dried tomato skin powder from last year, while stashing some jars from this year :blush: Beetroot and tomato soup now made and on stand by for lunch.
The tomato skin powder is fab 8) You dry what usually goes straight in the compost, then put it through the food processer and it adds so much flavour to things. Its a great thickener as well, so you aren't messing around with flour and butter trying to thicken soups or stews :)
The dehydrator is currently doing more french beans and tomato skins and I have just finished a massive batch of tomato sauce. There were so many tomatoes, the big stock pot had to come out to hold them all. Now just got to find some freezer space to stash it :unsure:
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The tomato skin powder is fab 8) You dry what usually goes straight in the compost, then put it through the food processer and it adds so much flavour to things. Its a great thickener as well, so you aren't messing around with flour and butter trying to thicken soups or stews :)
That's a good idea! Sadly I don't think I have enough tomatoes this year for some reason.
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Most definitely :). Everyday I'm getting fresh tomatoes, tomatillos, blackberries, and red and gold raspberries (which are working on their second flush of the season!) Freezers are filled to capacity with strawberries, blueberries, red, gold and black raspberries, peaches, tomatoes and tomatillos as well. My pride and joy though has to be my "root cellar" or basement pantry. The shelves are stocked with strawberry, sweet cherry, raspberry and red gooseberry jams, 24 quarts of peaches in light syrup, pint and a half jars of blue lake green beans, several dozen quarts of tomato sauce, quarts and pints of applesauce-from plain to strawberry, peach and raspberry flavoured, several pints of sweet corn and salsa verde and 50 quarts of cubed potatoes. So yes, the good life effect has definitely taken hold. I find that I turn into such a grocery store snob about this time of year and find it fascinating how infrequently I go to the grocery store for "fresh produce" lol. ::)
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That's amazing, LotuSeed! Where do you grow all that stuff? Do you have a good sized garden?
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That's amazing, LotuSeed! Where do you grow all that stuff? Do you have a good sized garden?
It certainly seems like it's a good size when I'm weeding on a hot summer day, but it isn't really all that big. I have tomatoes, tomatillos, green beans, hot peppers, parsley, basil and strawberries distributed among several raised beds. I grow the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries along the fence line as edible landscaping and then I squeeze whatever else I can in wherever I have room for it. I'm sure the neighbours thought me mad for putting up a wigwam for cucumbers smack in the middle of the lawn :tongue2:
I pressure canned the green beans when I had collected enough and when the plants slowed down production toward the end of July I pulled them up and sowed more. The new bushes have just started flowering :) My yellow pear and Costoluto Genovese toms will keep getting added to the freezer/but not to be used in sauce/ that's for my Roma, Amish paste, San Marzano, dad's yellow sunsets and oxhearts. My red and yellow raspberries are fruiting again this season so I'll be making jam with those once they're done doing their thing. I planted garlic last fall and red onions this spring. When the were done they were replaced with more tomato plants.
What I don't have room to grow I get from a pick-your-own farm about 50 minutes away from here. While I planted over a 100 strawberry plants two seasons ago, they have given me very little fruit, so at the start of the season I picked 60lbs of strawberries at the farm.
I don't have fruit trees, so when the sweet cherries ripened I gathered 20lbs of dark red deliciousness. Then my five blueberry bushes decided to give me only a dozen fruit in total, lol, So I picked 13lbs of them at the farm. Never had a gooseberry in my life until early this summer so of course I had to get those. I picked 8lbs in total and came away looking like the loser in a cat fight! OUCH.
When potatoes were ready to be dug, I collected 50lbs and processed (washed,peeled, cut and pressure canned) them all in three days time. Before I knew it, peaches started ripening around the middle of July and I waited until a specific variety was ready and picked 60lbs of those. Later I went back and got 23 more pounds of another variety because, well, you can never have enough peaches!
And while I am able to grow a decent amount of toms I usually freeze the ones I grow, as they ripen, and use them in dishes during the winter. I like to make pasta sauce but that requires loads and loads of maters so I get those from the farm too. Last year I processed I think 120lbs of them. This year I plan to do the same so I still have 80lbs more to pick.
It may sound like a lot of time, money and effort but,,, I have fun doing it, it costs much less than buying at the grocery store and is waaaaaay more healthy.
Sorry for blathering on so!
Cheers
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Wow, and I thought we were doing well.
How lucky are you being able to pick peaches. I have to get mine from the wholesale market in London.
Do you have a large family to eat all that produce.
Now there are only 2 of us at home we are not getting through all the produce, which is why I sell preserves.
After going through my larder I have found several jars of brandied peaches, and pickled peaches and pears from last year that we haven't eaten.
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Hi there Lotuseed, I'm amazed by that dedication to preserving. Will potatoes not store unbottled in your cellar?
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Wow, and I thought we were doing well.
How lucky are you being able to pick peaches. I have to get mine from the wholesale market in London.
Do you have a large family to eat all that produce.
Now there are only 2 of us at home we are not getting through all the produce, which is why I sell preserves.
After going through my larder I have found several jars of brandied peaches, and pickled peaches and pears from last year that we haven't eaten.
I love being able to pick fresh peaches, but I always end up really itchy afterwards LOL.
There are only two of us for the most part, but I do like to share my jams with friends and family. (It's all low-sugar and it often gets eaten straight out of the jar. Needless to say it goes fast.)
There are a few things leftover from last canning season but that is usually stuff I decided I wasn't too keen on only after I had made it, i.e. the blueberry applesauce :tongue2:
Snowdrops
I've never tried storing potatoes in the cellar in their natural state, but part of me thinks that with my luck they'd all end up rotting. I know it's a common practice to just store them in burlap sacks but the thought of having to clean, peel, chop and prepare potatoes before every use is too much work for me in the middle of winter. It was a lot easier for me to do all of that now during the summer while I actually have the energy for it. Now all I have to do is open a jar, rinse em and stick em in whatever dish I'm making.
Another reason why I canned them was so that my husband could use them when I don't feel like cooking. I think if I handed him a potato to prepare he'd look at me sideways. Lol. Definitely not culinarily inclined. HA!
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One of our biggest pleasures this hot and humid summer has been sitting in the little pool eating warm, sweet and juicy white fleshed peaches straight from the tree. Far too nice to bottle though we will do next year if we have enough. There were a lot more than last year and we also got some fruit from the larger yellow fleshed peach tree which we allowed to re-grow after the previous owners cut it down to the ground for six years.
The shelves in the cellar are groaning under the weight of bottles of fruit and veg, sauces, jams and pickles, chutneys and compots. Loads of squash, onions, garlic and a freezer full of veg. The only things we will need to buy are potatoes and flour for bread, meat for OH and all the usual bits and pieces for baking. Oh, and if the ladies do what they did last year and stop laying for months I will need eggs, which I really detest buying and will not eat as eggs, only in baking.
Just love what we are doing here.
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Tosca100 that sounds absolutely lovely :D
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That's incredible, LotuSeed! I love the idea of a root cellar!
My sister-in-law lives in Richmond VA, and she found it impossible to grow runner beans - even with UK seed!
Do you have any luck with these?
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Talking of the good life.....trying to resist the gift of our very own Geraldine as a friend is going out of goats. Same person got a horse too but that may be going too far!
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Growster- I've never tried growing runner beans before but I did see loads for sale yesterday at the farmers market so they can be grown here. The beans I grow are french climbing beans called Blue Lake and I use the "bush variety" so that I don't have to bother with poles.