Preserve the Harvest

2015 Journal

Finally able to get back into rhythm after several off-years. Still haven't set up the canning station, but should have it up and running next year.

Rhubarb Relish - 9 half-pints
We picked this at one of our local growers King Orchards . This is another attempt to recreate a canning recipe of my grandmother's simply from the memory of the taste - 60 years ago! Whatever she made, it was definitely not this. We'll try another recipe next year and see.
Frozen Strawberries - 5 quart bags
We actually still have some berries from last year's harvest so we only froze 5 quarts worth. These were early berries - the weather has been weird and most places don't have any strawberries in yet. But our friends at Verdant Ground were able to get us 10 quarts.
Strawberry Puree - 10 half-pints
This is a new recipe for us. Rather than make jam, which has a LOT of sugar, we tried this one. Absolutely no sugar. In fact, the recipe calls for a little salt and lemon juice and we didn't even add those. Pure strawberries. Delicious!

Zucchini Soup - 17 quarts
This is one of our favorite soups and is extremely cost-effective when zucchini are plentiful. It is not hard to make at all and you can vary the amount of cilantro to your tastes. We got 15 pounds of Zucchini from our friends at Providence Farms . We were not able to set up our new canning station and so cooked this in the house.

Apricots - 38 quarts
We got a litle carried away this year. Apricots, though, are so easy to can we couldn't help ourselves. 3 half-bushels from King Orchards which was about 75 pounds of apricots. Weather was very hot, ugh. We did set up our new canning station but it didn't help much with the heat.

Pesto - 8 half-pints
Basil fresh out of our garden, nothing beats it. We like the half-pints as that is the perfect amount for the two of us when making pesto pasta or a pesto, pinenut and artichoke pizza! (Although we put these in jars, we freeze them as the oil would go rancid no matter how we processed it.)

Pepper Water - 26 quarts
We got 175 pounds of tomatoes today. We have a lot to process. This batch of Pepper Water went really well, but its a slow process to cook them down. This batch is hotter than last years.

Tomato Soup - 27 quarts
This is a new recipe and I like it. She's not a huge fan of tomato soup, but there are a lot of ways to modify it so we should be good. Ended up making twice the amount as I had planned.
Chili Sauce - 12 pints
Several years ago we made chili sauce and it was great. However, we lost the recipe! This was an attempt to recreate it, and I have to say, it's pretty good.

Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce - 21 pints
This is a new recipe. It has a ton of garlic and cooked down nice and thick. Lots of work, but it should be tasty. We're going to try some later this week and we'll let you know how it came out. Update: It was delicious.

Tomato Chutney - 23 half-pints
A favorite. We did half-pints this years as we don't eat it that often. Also, going to be gifts this holiday! It's a nice change for our usual Apple Chutney - which we will be making later on.

Corn Relish - 18 half-pints
Another attempt to create grandmother's recipes. This was a success, unlike the rhubarb relish. We don't eat this very often but everyone likes it!
Peach BBQ Sauce - 10 half-pints
This is a new recipe and smelled wonderful. Can't wait to try it out. We didn't make a lot as we want to wait until we see how we like it.
Corn Chowder - 21 quarts
A standard. This is delicious in the dead of winter. It's a bit of work shucking 60+ ears of corn and then getting the kernels off. Other than that, it's easy.

Peaches - 10 quarts
As we overdid it on the Apricots, we thought we'd cut back a little on the peaches. Nothing better, though, then sweet juicy peaches throughout the year.

Whole Tomatoes - 13 quarts
One of the easiest things to can. One of the local farm markets, King Orchards , is overflowing with really good tomatoes so they are on sale! We may can some more.

Onion Soup - 21 quarts
This takes a long time to skin, thinly slice and slow roast 25 pounds of onions, but it is so worth it. Nothing better in the depths of winter.

Chicken Soup - 14 quarts
These year's batch is different. We had leeks instead of onions, brussel's sprouts instead of green beans. We also had some kale which we threw in for the heck of it. Smelled wonderful, though.

Applesauce - 24 quarts
Every year cook 'em up for the folks. Last year we made 12 quarts and they went through them before August! So this year - 24!

Apple Chutney - 35 half-pints
Mostly for ourselves, but we are pairing some half-pints of Tomato Chutney with these as gifts. Hope they like 'em.