wrenb | Food Preservation

Summer is coming to an end. Our tomatoes and tomatillos are going berserk. So last night I canned the first 3 quarts of our tomatoes. There are another 2 quarts of tomato juice & bits; those will wait until I have pint jars. Putting Food By says not to can quarts of juice.

I also bought pickling cucumbers last week. I must remember to make pickles this weekend. I picked most of the kale from the garden. That needs blanching and freezing.

It's interesting, the actual canning and freezing is easy. It's the prep that takes forever. Like peeling 15 pounds of tomatoes (drop 5 in boiling water for 3 minutes, put into cold water bath, put 5 more in, peel the tomatoes in the cold water, repeat), and then chopping them. Once they were in the cookpot (PFB said to boil for 5 minutes before packing) it was easy.

If you're looking for a resource for food preservation and you have a scientific bent, definitely look at Putting Food By. There are nice scientific explanations of why to do X, Y, and Z. I feel a little safer following these instructions since I understand why to do what.