It's time to stock the larder

[koyote]

It's time for another WSS food thread.


Well, I know that here in the Central Valley it is almost vegetable
planting season- another month or so for peas and greens and second
crop strawberries. But most of you live in areas where seasons follow
the normal approach.

Right now we are in between the beginning and 'middle' harvest dates-
August second and the fall equinox- with the traditional end of
harvest coming late October.

Given the economy, it might be a good idea to think about preserving-
whether or not you do it on a regular basis- and foraging.

Almost anywhere you live in the US or canada, there are probably
seasonal tree fruits approaching. Walnut season isn't on yet, but
some nuts are bearing, grapes are ripe and even starting to dry on
the vine, you can see the apples. Have you culled your foraging tree
to make sour jam?



We are getting ready- our basic stock of larder for preserving
includes a few gallons of brandy, 50 pounds of coarse salt (rock salt
is fine), a 6 gallon bucket of sugar, 5 gallons of cider vinegar, and dozen upon dozens of
jars. We also have 2 dehydrators (one is technically for the knife
shop)




Tell me what's local to you and I'll tell you if I can find a way to
preserve it


Some of our favorite things are vinegar pickled carrots and herbs,
brine pickled root veggies (even TURNIPS taste good), brine pickled
seed pods (radish, arugula, etc), sun dried tomatoes and canned tomato
sauces, canned chilis, and relishes. Lactic fermentation is great stuff.

What do you have going on, and what can you find? If you've never
canned before, some of it is easy.

If you want a good guide for old school non-heat preserving, check out

Preserving Food without freezing or canning
by
the gardeners and farmers of Terra Vivante


A note on the chili- if you are hunting this year, you can do a lot with canned chili and stew - especially with mixed small game added to a decent stock of venison. It does require a pressure canner, but I bet you know someone who has one.

 

[PayetteRucker]

This weekend I ate ripe walnuts, roasted. I also found craploads of fresh ripe wild blackberries. Living in idaho, produce is soooooo cheap, it's not really worth it to me to grow produce especially since I don't own my own land... but I do take advantage of the potatoes, onions, corn on the cob, carrots, cantelope and all the other in season produce right now. I guess it's what I eat on an everyday basis, it's amazing what some vegetables, a cut of beef or pork and a small frying pan on the rangetop can do, and with not alot of money.

 

[koyote]

This weekend I ate ripe walnuts, roasted. I also found craploads of fresh ripe wild blackberries. Living in idaho, produce is soooooo cheap, it's not really worth it to me to grow produce especially since I don't own my own land... but I do take advantage of the potatoes, onions, corn on the cob, carrots, cantelope and all the other in season produce right now. I guess it's what I eat on an everyday basis, it's amazing what some vegetables, a cut of beef or pork and a small frying pan on the rangetop can do, and with not alot of money.

well, now it's time to save some of it It does get cold up in your parts, I imagine a real winter scenario could get a bit iffy without 4 months of food.

 

[PayetteRucker]

Not too cold, though the winter is when the deer and elk come out of the high hills and graze on the lawns in my neighborhood... maybe I'll look into some preservatives though, what can it hurt, right?

 

[JCavSD]

The term cold is relative. When I visit my brother in Boise, anytime other than summer, I just about freeze my nads off. We have avocado down here (North San Diego County). Be sad to preserve something that's so perfect fresh, mashed with a little garlic, and slathered on a chip.

 

[MSCantrell]

We've been canning tomatoes, chili, green beans, pickles, and a number of different jams and jellies, (all from the garden except the chili, where only the corn was ours). I made a gallon of wild grape wine and 1.5 gallons of wild apple cider this week.

The walnuts here in Michigan are getting close to ready. Almost time.

Mike

 

[koyote]

With the nursing school thing and my kids being so young, I'm not getting much hunting done this year- I'd love to pack the larder with 40 quarts of venison chili and stew, dry out some jerky, and make some landjaeger sausages.

We do, fortunately, have plenty of other stock to do home preserving- even buying it doesn't suck.

Have you SEEN the prices of the emergency food supplies?!?!? We've canned chili for under 50 cents a quart, a lot of lactic fermented stuff and pickles are nearly free. Canning and pickling doesn't give you the light weight of freeze dried, though.


In our dehydration larder, we've found some things work really well to add joy to boiled goop- rice, lentils, oats, etc. dehydrated strawberries go a long way, as do blueberries and lingonberries- whatever is local and good for your budget. We grow pleny of herbs and make some spice mixes from dried mints, nepitella, oregano, rosemary, and such.

There's a fair number of mormons in my family and I've always lived with at least a 6 month, better a year or more, of food on hand- and it's mostly regular food- if you eat it, rotation of stock becomes a less important problem.

Density is a big deal- a while back there was a discussion where I suggested storing whole grain wheat berries and buckwheat, rice, etc. Very basic simple fact- the less you process grain, the better it keeps. In our larder, grains are a supplement, not the main ingredient of anything. The density of a 50 pound bag of wheat grain is pretty high, and it will keep a long time.

Home canned goods can have a really high storage density, prepared and packaged foods tend to be lower.

 

[MSCantrell]

Density is a big deal- a while back there was a discussion where I suggested storing whole grain wheat berries and buckwheat, rice, etc. Very basic simple fact- the less you process grain, the better it keeps. In our larder, grains are a supplement, not the main ingredient of anything. The density of a 50 pound bag of wheat grain is pretty high, and it will keep a long time.

I read somewhere that they sprouted some wheat berries from an ancient Egyptian pyramid. Now THAT'S keeping a long time.


We buy wheat, sugar, black beans, oatmeal, and some other staples by the 25-lb bag. It's amazing how much more space it takes for 25 lbs of oatmeal vs. 25 lbs of black beans!

 

[udtjim]

This was a good year in ND. for choke cherries and plumbs, we have been out picking some the last few days. We always can Stew and Chilli for our fishing and hunting trips and yes , we can them without a pressure cooker and have for fifty plus years. We also can chickens.

A few berry picking snap shots, the berry picking knives and the old truck that cost me several custom knives worth of money to fix up this summer

 

[kgd]

This year we are buying a couple of bushels of tomatoes (that will cost about $7), peppers and onions for canning. My wife agreed to dust her old recipes. I'd like to can the tomatoes with onions and peppers - more of an unflavored salsa I suppose for direct use in tomato sauces etc.

Most years we blanch the peppers, a quick dip in boiling water, cut them up into slices, spread on cookie sheets and freeze them as individual slices on the cookie sheets in our big freezer. The next day after they are frozen, we bag them up in freezer bags. I know this isn't a SHTF scenario, but it is an economic solution to having great tasting peppers most of the winter without paying $3/lbs for the red peppers.

My mother likes to do the zucchini relish and other pickles. I like dill pickles, but not the relish so much and I don't think pickles actually have much nutrition. I'd love to do pickled or canned beats this year!

 

[koyote]

Cantrell- they did. I think the trade name is Kamut.

Ken- try adding double the peppers to the zucch. relish and a touch of something spicy- it really makes a good savory spiced relish if you doctor it. I dislike zuch. preserves normally.

One thing we do with tomatoes is 'sun dry' them- or use the dehydrator, then grind them up into a coarse powder and dry a bit more. lasts forever and makes a really good chili thickener or tomato paste substitute.

Jim- we don't get choke cherries much out here, unfortunately.

 

[hollowdweller]

I just put about 5 lbs of home made Feta in the fridge yesterday, and also about 2 lbs of chevre'

My wife froze about a gallon of pesto too. This year has been great for basil.

Also have 5 gallons of raspberry mead brewing.:thumbup:

I have one goat to put in the freezer and about 15 roosters. I'm going to take the goat to the slaughterhouse cause I want ground meat but we've been trying to do the roosters in about 2 per weekend.

HEREis my technique for chicken killing(not PETA safe)

 

[udtjim]

Some years the choke cherries don't do well but this was a good year, we have about a half mile of plumb and choke cherry bushes.:thumbup: I am afraid that the most of the plumbs might freeze before they get ripe. We are probably only a couple weeks from our first hard frost. Goodby bugs:thumbup:

 

[koyote]

can't you ferment the sour plums? before they are fully ripe. Make a mead or something?

Hollowdweller- I'm waiting for pomegranate season and laying down 10 gallons of mead, and I'm seriously jealous of the feta

 

[PayetteRucker]

can't you ferment the sour plums? before they are fully ripe. Make a mead or something?

Hollowdweller- I'm waiting for pomegranate season and laying down 10 gallons of mead, and I'm seriously jealous of the feta

InsaneMachine knows all about this. It is called Tuica, it is a traditional Romanian alcohol made from fermented plums. It can get as potent as 180 proof. I have to say, for hard alcohol it ranks with my favorites.

 

[hollowdweller]

can't you ferment the sour plums? before they are fully ripe. Make a mead or something?

Hollowdweller- I'm waiting for pomegranate season and laying down 10 gallons of mead, and I'm seriously jealous of the feta

Koyote,

Feta is one of the easiest cheeses to make and it will keep a long time if you brine it.

I'm milking 4 saanens right now so I have plenty of milk. Also I make a gallon of yogurt at a time.

 

[MSCantrell]

Tonight, drying tomatoes! Some in the over, some in the dehydrator. (Some still on the counter.)

Ever seen a tomato this manly?

 

[udtjim]

We can cook the plums and can the juice for jelly and syrup.

 

[kgd]

Okay, I bought 90 lbs of tomatoes at a cost of $18. Tomorrow - let the canning begin. Also a great time to patina the hell out of these two carbon blades

 

[Shore08]

So you are able to do chili with a water bath style canning setup? I was doing some googling and it seemed like all the recipes called for a pressure canner due to risk of contamination. I know growing up we always did all the veggies with a water bath, but never did anything else. Am I missing something?