If you have ever gardened with the goal of preserving vegetable and fruits for future use, you have confronted the dreaded GLUT.
This is when your garden decides you have waited long enough for the first tomato or cucumber and begins to produce with MANIC abundance. You trip over bushel baskets filled to overflowing with garden produce at the peak of ripeness. You know if you don't do something with it, it will be over ripe and start to degrade in quality. It needs processed today.
But you don't have time for a full-on canning session.
There are alternatives.
*Using a root cellar. The cool, humid darkness of the root cellar will act as a temporary storage facility and keep your produce in good form. The lower temperature and darkness slow down the ripening action and will give you an extra day or two. I did a previous blog about our cold storage room. I used sweet potatoes from last year's harvest for dinner recently. They are still very good.
*Fermenting. This is a new process to me. I've done carrots this way and enjoyed the taste. Usually it requires processing raw vegs in a brine. Cover them and wait. There are some good books out there to explain how to do fermenting.
*Pickling. An acidic environment preserves the produce. Used in combination with your refrigerator, your produce will last a very long time. I have pickles from last years garden which are still crispy and delicious.
*Dehydrating. I use my American Harvest dehydrator for some of my vegetables, but not many. Usually a little prep, pop them on the trays, and turn on the dehydrator to the recommended temp. Then wait.
I have talked to some folks who are curious about making refrigerator pickles and thought I'd write a short blog about it now that the cucumbers in our garden are ready for processing. I did a small batch of kosher dills this morning - it took about 20 minutes.
Bob picked a dozen 4" long pickle cucumbers for me to process. This will give me 4 quarts, or 1 gallon. This would be a great time to use those 1/2 gallon canning jars Aunt Mildred left you.
I ended up using 2 packets for the gallon jar of pickles.
I use Mrs. Wages packets for some of my canning recipes, including pasta sauce and, as you can see, refrigerator pickles. I want a consistent product and know that seasonings, herbs, and spices lose potency sitting on the shelf between canning seasons.
I washed the cucumbers under running water (we don't use pesticides or herbicides in our garden) and rubbed the sharp nubs off them. The ends are in good shape - clean breaks at the stem - so I didn't trim them. Personal preference.
You can also slice the cucumbers into circles or length-wise. Make the slices thicker than you want your final pickle. They dehydrate a little in the hypertonic pickling solution.
I am using an old gallon pickle jar for my container. I prepped it by washing it in hot soapy water and rinsing well.
Cucumbers are in the jar. I had a lot of top space but couldn't put any more whole cucumbers in. I decided to slice up one of the 2 remaining cukes. and added the slices to the top.
The other one went into my salad at lunch..
I am filling the sink with hot water. I don't want my jar to break when I pour boiling brine over the cucumbers. I filled it about 1/2 way.
Here is a closer look at the seasoning. I added 2 cups of water and 3/4 cup of 5% vinegar for each packet (instructions on the back of the packet). Bring it to a boil, stirring the entire time, then pour over the cucumbers. My jar was sitting in hot water. I also poured the brine directly onto the cucumbers, not the side of the jar.
You can see the sliced cucumber - note the thickness.
After I finished the refrigerator pickles I decided to make a quart of marinated mixed garden vegetables. It's one of our favorite sides during the summer.
I use red wine vinegar for this recipe, though I used raspberry vinegar last year and it was better than anything! Now, if only I could find it again....
Here is the process:
*I use fresh garden vegetables including, firm tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, red onion, a garlic clove. I want to try blanched or steamed carrots when they are ready.
*I rough-cut up and trim the vegetables, layering them into a wide mouth quart jar. The tomatoes soften after a couple days so I only make what we will eat in that time. I could also leave the tomatoes out, adding them as we eat the salad.
*Mix up the brine (recipe below), bring to boil, making sure sugar is dissolved. Pour over vegetables.
*Keep the clean jar hot by placing it into a sink of hot water.
*Fill the jar to the top, making sure all the vegs. are covered.
*Put lid on the jar and invert several times to mix the brine through all the veg. Be careful, the jar is quite hot.
*Store jar in the refrigator for 12 - 24 hours for best flavor.
*I don't reuse the marinade - it gets watered down from the vegetables.
These are stored in the refrigerator. We turn the pickles over and give them a good shake every few days to make sure the. brine and spices cover everything evenly.
I have made bread-and-butter pickles which were delicious! I added thinly sliced onion to the cucumbers and it's so good on a sandwich.
We purchased a good, used refrigerator just for our pickles and shrubs. It's in the basement in our pantry area.
After 24 hours in the refrigerator, you can see the vegetables have shrunk and are floating in the marinade.
Vegetable Marinade Recipe
IN CASE YOU DIDN"T KNOW.......
Mayonnaise jar lids fit on small mouth canning jars perfectly. I use them when storing opened jars like applesauce in the frig.
Grated Parmesan cheese (the kind you use on spaghetti) lids also fit the small mouth jars. They are really convenient for drinking out of - you can slip a straw into one of the holes and it will stay in place. I also have some that have a pour spout. I use those for salad dressing I have mixed up. Be careful if you shake them - there is no seal around the inner lid to prevent leaking.
Use the juice from pickled beets to pickle that abundance of summer eggs, too. Hard boil and peel the eggs. Put them into a jar, cover with the hot beet juice. Store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or more before using. Shake it gently every day. These are great on salads or as snacks with cheese and crackers.
Whenever I am making batches of applesauce, apple pie filling, or any apple product (including cider), I use at least 3 varieties of apples. This makes a more complex and delicious final product. I ask for 'Applesauce Apples' at the orchard when buying them by the bushel for canning.
Enjoy your summer.
Check out some of our earlier blogs for information about your ponds, raising wild kids who love the outdoors, prepping for Fall, creating and using a cold storage room when a root cellar isn't practical, and more.
Stay Cool!
Polly
A few of our wild kids:
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