anyone preserving their harvest???

[SamGroom]

this is the first year I will be canning. I did dill pickles the other day but we will have to wait to see how they turned out. I am going to do salsa today to use up some of our tomatos that are taking over my kitchen counter

[Erinz]

I don't have anything but beets and boysenberries to can at the moment but I've done a batch of the berries every day for a week now! Very excited at the harvest of those this year. I plan on canning all our tomatoes for the year, that is if I figure out my virus/fungus issue going on. I plan on lacto fermenting salsa and katsup too!

here's a neat link on the katsup/ketchup thing if you want to try it
http://onceuponaplate.blogspot.com/2...fermented.html

[Chicky2]

Yup. This is what I've had to work w/so far:

12 gallons of peaches that were dumped off at my house by a neighbor. Dried a bunch in solar dehydrator, made loads of peach leather in electric dehydrator, froze some.

About 10 more gallons off of one part of one of my 2 trees. Did same as above w/harvest.

7 gallons of blackberries picked by my dd. Some is jam, some in freezer.

5.5 gallons of brazos berries picked by all of us. All in freezer.

30 lbs of sand plums picked by my dd. Jam and preserves.

Several batches of mixed veggies for pickles (onions, bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, patty pan squash), one batch of cucumber relish, 2 batches of salsa (a friend and I did it together w/toms from each of our gardens). And a batch of dried cherry and grape tomatoes.

[Katie T]

Our harvests aren't ready yet but last year I canned tomato's, green beans, chicken broth, a mix of tomato's, peppers, and onions. Apple sauce.

I am hoping to do the same depending on how my carpel tunnel surgery heals up. I also froze chopped onion and green peppers. That worked great!

[Linzie2]

Not alot yet for us either, but I've done loads of strawberry and strawberry rhubarb jam. Going to do pickled beets shortly.....

...the rest is yet to come!

[KristyDi]

Not my harvest yet (but tomatoes are coming soon).

But we picked up a bushel of peaches from a farm when we drove through peach country on the wat home from visiting my grandfather last week. I've made and canned Peach BBQ Sauce, Peach Salsa, and today I'm going to can the rest as sliced peaches.

[workjw]

We've done a little canning...strawberry jam, and pickled cucumbers, peppers, and okra. We are still a ways out from anything else.

Originally Posted by KristyDi

But we picked up a bushel of peaches from a farm when we drove through peach country on the wat home from visiting my grandfather last week. I've made and canned Peach BBQ Sauce, Peach Salsa, and today I'm going to can the rest as sliced peaches.

Those peaches sound so yummy! Care to share the recipe for the BBQ sauce?

[lunarlady]

I'm a canning fiend, but our harvest doesn't really start until August/September, so we are still in the grow and wait stage. Although, I did make berry jam from the berries that were on sale a couple weeks ago. At the rate my family is eating it, we'll be lucky if it makes it through the summer!

If you are going to get serious about preserving, I reccomend a pressure canner. They can be a bit pricy, but it really opens the door to preserving more things, like veggie pasta sauce (with more than tomatoes, and no extra vinegar needed!), soups, and non-pickled veggies.

I also use the freezer quite a bit. So I do things like dice and freeze bell peppers, prep and freeze green beans, peas, etc.

Last year I also dried some peppers and herbs. Yummy!

[bandgeek]

I have a small garden so I don't generally have a lot to can and freeze, but I did manage to get some pickles made (first for me too!) and I blanched and froze some green beans, zucchini, and squash (after eating a TON!). If my tomato plants do well, I'll be able to can plenty of those too. My friend gave me a bunch of rhubarb and I blanched and froze half and might try some rhubarb-strawberry jam with the other half.

[Lady Mayapple]

So far we've done strawberry and black raspberry jam this year, and I hope to get more black raspberries this weekend and do some more. I dedicated half of my garden to cukes this year, so we are anticipating to put up at least 40+ quarts of pickles.

[Katie T]

I forgot to put that I also canned sweet, dill, and bread and butter pickles last year. I have enough left over for this next winter but I am going to try to do a different recipe for dill pickles this year.

[Erinz]

Originally Posted by Lady Mayapple

So far we've done strawberry and black raspberry jam this year, and I hope to get more black raspberries this weekend and do some more. I dedicated half of my garden to cukes this year, so we are anticipating to put up at least 40+ quarts of pickles.

did someone say black raspberries?