Archives for the 'canning and preserving' Category
Be my baby bok choy
Remember those green beans I put in the freezer last summer? The technique of freezing them fresh without blanching them first was absolute perfection. But alas, those beans are gone and I’m in need of something green. I grabbed some bok choy at the Co-op and it was flavorful and delicious…stir-fried with garlic, tons of ginger, a dash each of rice wine, soy sauce, and chili oil.
What are you eating for vegetables?
Seeing red
I purchased 140 pounds of roma tomatoes and yesterday I processed them into 80 quarts of ground tomatoes and tomato halves to be used over the next year. Alex helped by riding with me to get the tomatoes and then loading and unloading them in and out of the van. GH helped me round up my supplies and made an emergency trip to the hardware store for canning domes. Powered by extra espresso and a well loaded iPod I managed to make short work of these babies and finished the job in 6 hours.
For those of you that haven’t canned tomatoes and are curious I’ll give you a quick overview of my technique*.
- Load dishwasher with jars and lids and run on the sanitize cycle with heated dry.
- Wash the tomatoes.
- Cut their heads off.
- If processing as ground tomatoes run them through the food processor, skin and all. Fill jars. Add a dash of lemon juice and salt.
- If processing as half tomatoes, cut them in half and stuff them into the jars and top off with a mixture of water, salt, and lemon juice.
- Clean the rims of the jars and place a hot dome lid on top of each. Screw on the ring.
- Using a steam canner load 7 jars in and bring to boil.
- Once you’ve got a good boil, set the timer for 30 minutes.
- When the timer goes off remove the jars, refill canner and process another batch.
*NOTE: my technique is not similar to the USDA or FDA methods or recommendations…I’ve done it this way for years with great success.
Recent comments...