Another Busy Week Of Preserving.

It is that time of year again, with preserving it is either feast or famine !!
When the produce is there there is no option but to  do what needs to be done so  that you have it  for  everything you want to make or eat   for the rest of the year.
Although we are not dependent on these stores it just makes sense to us to  keep the supplies built up, as we live in a small country town, services are very limited and what  we have available  is rather expensive to purchase.
So, as our tomato crop  was such a failure this year we decided to make a trip to the Narromine Tomato Farm and purchase 50 kgs( about 110) lbs of  tomatoes (cookers or seconds)

We brought them home and got straight into getting them into  my jars.
For about  30kgs of the tomatoes,  we simply  quarter and remove cores or any spots and squash firmly into the jars until no spaces are there( we do not skin these).

I then add a little salt for taste, a squirt of lime or lemon juice  for acidity, wipe rims  and add the rubber ring,lid and clips, and then pop them into my  electric water bath preserver.

The next  15 kgs of tomatoes, I decided that I would make a basil,garlic pasta sauce with. I  Have made tomato sauce and habanero tomato sauce before as a condiment style sauce but not the pasta style.
I decided that the tomatoes I was using for this needed to be  peeled, so I dipped them  quickly in a pot of boiling water and then popped them into iced water in the sink and te peels just  easily slip off.

I then did what I  often do , and didn't read the recipe correctly and processed the tomatoes before cooking them( not sure if it mattered, but will know next time)

Then into the pot with the tomatoes, I added the pre cooked onion and garlic and simmereed until it reduced to the required consistency,

Then  it was bottles, sealed and water bathed  ready to be used when required.

  After the tomatoes were all tucked away safe and sound in their bottles,  I then took all the tomatoe skins that I had removed and  put them into the dehydrator,

 After about 24 hours when they were completely dry, I put them  into the magic bullet processor and powdered them up, this will be a handy   flavour boost for rissoles and meat loaves and soups later on. It doesn't produce much but it all helps.

Another great bi-product was the tomato juice, which we scored a couple of jugs of and enjoyed  drinking ( with added salt and pepper) for a few days.

We ended up with a good supply of tomato products that will see us right through the year hopefully. We are big tomato  eaters and I use them frequently in  meals I make.
My Mum had  told me that the pints of  canned soups that I do for her are really now too large as she is getting older and no longer requires large amounts of food, so she requested that I make her some in smaller jars to reduce waste or the risk of her leaving left overs too long in the refrigerator.

So , I did a big canner load of beef soup in half pints for mum and then the left over in pints for us and topped off the canner load with some chick peas( as they are processed for the same time as  soup with meat) One of these jars of soup, a peice of toast and some fruit  should make a  wholesome nutricious meal for her  with minimal effort.

When we were living on the coast we regularly had a glut of cucumbers and I used to  can a lot of Bread and Butter cucmbers, but out here, this year the  zuchini plants have produced an amazing amount ,

 so I  took a gamble and decided to  use my recipe for the cucumbers ,but to replace them  with zuchini,  but instead of slicing into rings I chose to chop them up a little more rustic and chunky, along with sliced onions.

The  zuchini and onions then went into a large container, salt was poured over,covered with water and left for a few hours.

I then  brought to a boil the  liquid, vinegar,celery seed,yellow mustard seed, sugar and tumeric.
The zuchini,onion mix is then  drained and rinsed and packed into preserving jars and the  hot liquid poured over,

any air pockets or bubbles removed, rubber rings added,lids and clips and water bathed for 20 minutes.

The  zuchini  pickle turned out much better than I had anticipated,  we tried one  yesterday  and  was surprised  to find they were extremely tasty and still retained a fair amount of crunch.

All the   preserving over the last few weeks has been safely  stored away into my pantry, the shelves are once again beginning to fill up.. All the   boxes full of jars that I have been lucky enough to be gifted or purchased cheaply are  finally finding new homes among my other jars, Ball masons and Fowlers Vacola all in together.  There  are not many things as beautiful as rows and rows of glass preserving jars full of colourful food. ( except maybe my grandchildren.) !!!

It hass been an exceptionally busy few weeks, but  things will slow down on the preserving front a little now for a while until the next wave of produce hits .

i will get in and catch up on some house work and a bit of gardening  in the interim, so until I  catch you again down the track,

Take care everyone,

Cheers

Jane.