Pesto Making and Freezing

I had never even heard of pesto until maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I had been growing herbs for a few years and started looking into different ways to use and preserve what I was growing. Someone gave me my first taste of pesto, spread on a piece of homemade bread, and I was hooked. I started looking into ways of preserving it and found this idea, and I do this every year now.
We have frost warnings for tonight so I cut all of my basil, here is about a third of what I grew this year. Yes, it's a lot!


First you strip the leaves from the stems


I make my pesto by sight and taste and really don't follow a recipe. But if you need some measurements, I found a recipe that is probably close to what I do:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I use walnuts, much more inexpensive!)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

If you want to freeze your pesto, don't add the cheese until you thaw it out and it is ready to serve.

Place reasonable amounts of the basil into your food processor, in other words don't cram it full. Add olive oil, garlic cloves, cheese (if not freezing the pesto),salt and pepper and process until smooth. Add the nuts after you obtain the consistency of pesto that you want, then process until the nuts are ground well but not so small that you don't notice them. If you put them in with all the other ingredients at first they will get ground too much.

Now here is a trick for freezing pesto in manageable amounts. Remove pesto from food processor and spread into ice-cube trays


Place trays in freezer until it is frozen well, then break pesto out of trays


Now you can place the cubes in freezer bags


I put some of my cubes in freezer bags, but also placed some in vacuum bags. These are for a longer storage time, I want it fresh in February!


I make this by sight and taste, slowly adding ingredients until I like how it looks and how it tastes to me. It is really good on a homemade French or Italian bread. It is also fantastic when mixed with pasta. I cooked enough pasta for 3 people the other day, added about a tablespoon of the pesto to it and that was all. It was fantastic and well received here at home.

Try growing a larger patch of basil next year. You will have fresh basil from midsummer on, and pesto for the winter!

Canning Applesauce

Making applesauce is very easy if you have a Victorio Strainer in your kitchen arsenal. I think the Victorio company went out of business(?) and the new product that replaced it is the Roma, there may be others out there. Here is an example of the kind of food mill that I am referring to, on Lehmans.com

To make approximately one canner full of quart jars you will need about 20 lbs of a good cooking apple. Normally I use the ones on my tree, which I believe are Golden Delicious, but I am not sure since the trees were here when I moved to this house. However, my tree produces fruit about every other year, and this was the off-year. I went to an orchard in our county, Buckingham Orchards and bought 20 lbs of Cortland apples. This variety was recommended to me by the owner as a good cooking apple, and I was not disappointed. The applesauce had a great flavor and a pinkish color to it.

First we need the apples sliced up, I use an apple wedger like this



Don't throw the core away, the whole thing will be run through the strainer. After you wedge them, place them immediately in a large bowl of cold water and Fruit Fresh. Fruit Fresh is ascorbic acid(vitamin C), citric acid and sucrose. This prevents the apples from browning, and the Cortlands will start browning in a few minutes if not treated.

Now we want to soften the apples by cooking them in a pot of with about an inch of boiling water.



Cook them in batches that are just a few inches deep of apples in the pot. It only takes a few minutes to soften them, test them by poking them. Try not to cook them too long or they will fall apart in the cooking water. I found that using my pasta ladle was perfect for scooping the apples from the pot.

Next run the cooked apple wedges through the strainer. The Victorio makes this so easy. Place the apples in the hopper and start cranking. The seeds and skins come out of one chute and the sauce comes out another chute.


Run the scrap that comes out of the scrap chute through the strainer, this will get you quite a surprising amount of sauce. After it has been run through the strainer the second time, I dump the scraps into the compost area near my garden.


Place the sauce that comes out of the strainer into a pot and heat it on low to medium heat, almost to a boil. You have to heat it slowly or it will bubble up and make quite a mess on your stove.



Fill your heated jars with the applesauce and leave 1/4 inch of headspace, then place your boiled lids on, then the band, and place them in your canner.




Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the tops of the jars. Process pints for 15 minutes, quarts for 20 minutes.

I bought 20 lbs of the Cortland apples and the applesauce yield was 14 pints and 2 quart jars. I love using these Cortland apples for sauce, they soften nicely and give the sauce a nice color. These directions are basically the same directions for making pear sauce also. I think I hand cut the pears instead of using the wedger. If you've never had pear sauce you need to try it, it is outstanding!

Easy grape juice

I used to make grape juice by cooking the grapes then filtering through cheesecloth. It was a long process but it made great grape juice. Then someone told me about a way to make juice with a LOT less effort and a LOT less time. In a nutshell you put the grapes in the jar with a little sugar (or none if you want) filling up the rest of the way with hot water, and processing in a water bath canner for 25 minutes. THAT'S IT, you are done! I've been making it this way now for about 10 years now, and don't plan on going back to a longer, harder process.
I grow concord, Catawba and Thompson Seedless but use the Concords and Catawbas for juice.

Ingredients per jar:
1 1/2 to 2 cups of grapes (I use 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar (I use 1/4 cup)
Boiling water to fill jar the rest of the way.

First wash your grapes well, I do it in the kitchen sink. Remove grapes from vine, and sort out bad grapes, stems, leaves, leaving just the good-quality grapes.

Prepare a pot of boiling water to use to fill the jars. You will need a little less than a quart for every quart of juice you are going to make.

Prepare your lids by boiling in water. I heat my washed jars in the microwave by placing a half inch of water into each jar and microwaving until the water boils. Then I use my 'hold warm' function on my microwave to keep them warm until ready to use. Or you could microwave them for a minute every few minutes to keep them hot.

Pour 1 1/2 cups of grapes and 1/4 cup of sugar into each jar.



Now pour the boiling water into the jar, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace, and place in water bath canner.


Process in boiling water bath for 25 minutes and you are done. This is so simple and makes great juice. When serving, pour slowly and usually the grapes will stay in the jar. Or you could pour over a strainer to keep the grapes out.

Bad recipes online; I'm venting, sorry.

I was just browsing around for good recipe ideas, and I just had to vent about something. For one thing, I was reminded of sticking to USDA-approved recipes. Yes, I can hear some of the black-helicopter-fearing folks now, and how the US government is in the pockets of this, that and the other groups. However, I want to live a long and happy life, and there is a LOT of research and data behind their recipes. There are some very dangerous canning recipes online. "But Marty, my ma and her ma used this recipe and nobody ever got sick." Yeah, and a few people live to be 92 years old and smoke 2 packs per day.
Another bad-recipe finding I have seen is bad measurements. "Use 3 onions". Uh, duh, is that 3 onions-the-size-of-Buicks? Is that 3 small onions? The difference can be huge, and costly in the results.
How about recipes where the author doesn't know the difference between a 'T' and a 't', or a TS and a ts. It would be nice if they all used TBSP or tsp, or TB and ts, or simply TABLESPOON and teaspoon.
I just saw a recipe online where the person said 'fill a bowl with sliced cucumbers'. What's a bowl? Sliced how thick?
Proofread, people! 13 TBSP of turmeric (instead of 1 or 3 TBSP) is enough to taint the waters of a large swimming pool, and not to be used in a recipe.
The worst offending website is cooks.com, where anybody can post anything. It's almost funny, some of the recipes; "Cook until done", "Hete on hi heet til it looks like itz about reddy" "Add enuf habeneros til you think yu have enuf"
OK, I'm not perfect, but things like this really drive me nutso, and I will strive to never post anything like these examples. If you see me straying off the beaten path of common sense and proper English usage, PLEASE post a comment and whack me upside the head.

Next: bread and butter pickles

Thanks
Marty

Sauerkraut-making pictorial

Last year I posted a how-to for making sauerkraut (Here), but I didn't post any pictures. Since I made a new batch of kraut today, I wanted to show some pics of the process.

This was a 13.5 lb cabbage I picked. Honestly, I waited too long to pick it, I should have picked it a week ago.

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A big'n, 13.5 lbs. The variety is Late Flat Dutch

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Coring the cabbage

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Cutting/shredding the cabbage

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Shredded cabbage

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Work in batches of 5 lbs at a time. Add 3 Tablespoons of CANNING SALT to each 5 lbs of cabbage. Iodized salt(table salt) will discolor the kraut.

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Squishing down the cabbage until each batch is covered in its own liquid. I use an inverted flat-bottomed coffee mug that is made of pottery. A glass could break in your hand! There are some tools that are made specifically for squashing down cabbage, but a mug works fine for me.

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I use an oven roasting bag with a half-gallon of salt water (3 Tbsp of canning salt to a half-gallon of water) to cover the mixture

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Then let it set at room temperature for 4-6 weeks, until no bubbles rise to the top when the side of the crock/bucket is tapped. Then its just a matter of processing in a water-bath canner. See recipe post HERE.

Waiting for the 'storm'

I'm in 'hurry up and wait' mode for the tomatoes and the Great Annual Salsa-Making Event. In the meantime there have been a few things to harvest. All of the garlic has been pulled, see previous post on Pickled Garlic.

I got my first tomato this year on July 16th, I think that is my record:

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Zucchinis have been coming on religiously. I had read where you can freeze zucchini, grated or sliced, and have frozen some. You can also blanche and freeze grated zucchini for winter bread making. Freezing zucchini, like many vegetables is easy. First you slice it:

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Then blanche for 3 minutes in boiling water:

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Cool it immediately in a sink of cold water. Ice water is nice, but I usually don't have much ice on-hand:

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Then place in freezer bags and immediately place in your freezer.

Eggplant has been coming on strong, and I will be experimenting by blanching and freezing it also. I have never done it, but have read that you can freeze this also.

Peppers are coming on strong too. I haven't had much luck in getting peppers to ripen at the same time as the tomatoes, so I chop and freeze those also. I will keep some fresh for making stuffed, grilled peppers and hope to post that soon.

After a couple of good rains recently, I looked in the garden this morning and I got a these goodies:

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I still have to pick some green bell peppers, and I have some "Fooled You" peppers. These look just like a jalapeno but are mild. I also have some oh-my-goodness sized cabbages and need to start a batch of sauerkraut.

Soon the 'maters will be coming on strong and it will be time to make salsa. Plus I will have all the fresh tomatoes I want for eating fresh! Yum! There is nothing like a simple burger graced with a slice or two of fresh garden tomato.

Pickled Garlic

I grow a lot of garlic, much more than I could ever use in a year. Like many things I grow and make, however, it makes GREAT gifts. Whether it's simply giving a bulb away or a jar of pickled garlic, people appreciate home-made/grown things.
Pickling garlic is a good way to store garlic for gifts throughout the year, and it is really easy.

Here are my ingredients:

About 10-12 large bulbs of garlic
3 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp canning salt (don't use table salt in canning, the iodine will ruin your product)

First I break the cloves from the bulb

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Then you want to blanch the cloves, dropping them in boiling water for about one minute. I used my tomato basket that I use to blanch many other vegetables with.

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Immediately drop them into a sink or large pot of COLD water, to stop the heating process. When you do this, the outer skin slips off of the garlic fairly easily

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Slip all of the skins from the cloves. Heat the vinegar, sugar and salt in a pot to boiling and boil for one minute. Place the cloves in the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace (space between top of product in the jar and the rim of the jar.)

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Now process in a boiling water-bath canner for 10 minutes (at least it is 10 minutes at my Ohio elevation of 900 feet.)

After 10 minutes of boiling in the canner, remove from canner and allow to cool on your counter.

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I still have a LOT of garlic left. I will probably braid some together, give some raw bulbs away, and keep some for myself. I will also keep a few bulbs for planting more in the fall for next year. To give you an idea of how long some garlic varieties will keep, my garlic from last year kept well, at room temperature, until this past April. That's about 9-10 months!

Hot Dog Relish

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The zucchini is coming along strongly, as it normally does this time of year. Personally I get tired of fried or steamed zucchini easily, and am always searching for new ways to use zucchini. So about 10 years ago I started making homemade hot-dog relish. I have tried several recipes and they have all been fantastic. This year's recipe goes something like this, with a little improvisation thrown in here and there, see notes.

12 cups shredded zucchini, core but do not peel (I peeled about half of them before chopping. I also substituted 2 of the 12 cups with 2 cups of chopped cucumber)
3 large onions, chopped fine (I used 5 medium-sized onions)
2 large green peppers, chopped fine
2 large red peppers, chopped fine
1/2 cup pickling salt
3 cups sugar
1 quart vinegar (you can use white or cider)
2 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons mustard seed (recipe called for seed, I used dry mustard powder)
2 tsp. turmeric

I chopped the zucchini, peppers and onions in a food processor until it was the consistency that I liked in a relish, some people like it a lot chunkier than I like it. Combine the chopped zucchini, onion, green and red peppers, sprinkle with the salt and cover with cold water, let stand at least 2 hours (I have done it overnight in the fridge.) Drain well and press out excess liquid. I did this by pouring the pot of chopped veggies into a couple of colanders that were placed in the sink, then running cold water over them for several minutes. If it is not rinsed well it is too salty.

In a large (6-8 quart?) pot boil together the sugar, vinegar, turmeric, celery and mustard for 3 minutes. Add the chopped vegetables and bring to a boil again. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then spoon into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, tighten caps.

Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield: I got 8 pints, a half-pint jar and one quart jar. I did the quart jar just for kicks and giggles. Hopefully I can take the quart jar to a church event or a large picnic sometime.

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Freezing Broccoli

I cut broccoli tonight for the first time this year. It really is growing well this year; one of the heads was at least a foot across!

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Last fall I bought a FoodSaver vacuum sealer and it is really going to come in handy with freezing vegetables. I have already used it to freeze meats, and did some pea pods with it a couple of weeks ago.
The first thing that you need to do before you freeze broccoli (and many other veggies) is to blanch it. This is simply dipping it into boiling water for 3 minutes, then plunging it into a clean sink full of very cold water. The cold water stops the cooking process immediately. Blanching stops the action of the natural enzymes in the vegetables, enzymes that could cause discoloration, off-flavors and toughening of the vegetables.
The vacuum sealer is fun and easy to use too. The bags come in rolls and you cut off the amount that you need. Then you have to seal one end of it:

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Then I place the amount that I will use in one or two meals, any more will probably end up being wasted.

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Then the remaining open end of the bag is placed over the sealing strip of the sealing unit.

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Then close the lid and turn it on.

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In just about 20-30 seconds it sucks all of the air out of the bag and seals the open end with heat.

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I always mark the bags before I freeze them with the date and contents.

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Without much air in the bag, the contents will last much longer and without much danger of freezer burn.

Still Planting In The Veggie Garden

I ran out of room in the garden. I think no matter how much room I will ever get, I will fill it up. This is not unlike the fact that as people make more money they will spend more money also. I even have a 'second addition' to the garden that I started last year behind my shed. That is where I grow my melons and such, the things that really spread out and take up room.

I had planted a row of 25 red raspberries on the edge of my property, close to my 2 lines of asparagus. I noticed that the one row of asparagus was way too close to the raspberries and decided to till that line of asparagus in and remove it. That left a wide (5 feet?) area in between the asparagus and raspberries. I was thinking that will be a waste of space, until the raspberries grow up in a year or two, so I decided to use it more effectively.

I made a long narrow hill of dirt about 20 feet long and planted the carrots on the top of the hill. I've done this before and the carrots grow easier in our clay soil this way, in fact they grow GREAT this way for this type of soil. I grow the Danvers Half Long variety which don't grow nearly as deep as other varieties. In the area next to the hill I broadcast the rest of the carrot seed over a wider area. I wanted to experiment and compare growing them in the hill, versus broadcasting them on a flat piece of ground.

That was about half of the open area I decided to use. In the other half, I planted 2 varieties of beets; Cylindra, and Detroit Dark Red. I would have planted all of it as Cylindra but decided to use the seed that I had on-hand. Cylindra makes a wonderful bet that is in more like the shape of a carrot than the typical round beet. This makes for very uniform slices and is nice to use in pickling.

So here it is June 7th and I am still planting away. I will post some recent pics of the garden process very soon.