We enjoy eating what’s in season, fresh from our garden, as much as possible. But sometimes, when you’ve got an abundance of fresh, delicious produce coming in, you turn to preserving. In years past, we’ve primarily focused on canning tomatoes. Last year, we also experimented with freezing some of our nadapenos {and having “fresh” stuffed peppers during the winter was amazing}. This year, we expanded our preservation efforts a little more.
In spite of an abysmal year of tomato growing, we did manage to can 5 quarts. With the few left over from last year, hopefully this will get us through to next year – and a better tomato harvest.
We also decided to try our hand at making strawberry jam, and it turned out so very delicious. There were plans to also make blueberry and blackberry jellies, but life happened and we misjudged the timing of berry ripening – so that will have to wait until next year. I feel certain we’ll make more strawberry jam too. Since the jam is processed in a water bath canner, it’ll stay fresh and tasty all winter – a perfect treat.
Although we try to avoid freezing much {nothing worse than going through the work of putting it away, and having a power failure ruin it all}, we froze some fresh peas to mix into the winter “green veggies” rotation. Blueberries, blackberries, and China Pearl white peaches also found their way to winter storage in our freezer, for a taste of summer sunshine when winter arrives.
How do you preserve the harvest? Are you a fan of canning? Freezing? Another method entirely? What is your favorite seasonal flavor to preserve and savor later in the year?
Firstly, I’m so jealous of your five quarts of tomatoes, lol. I had visions of homemade tomato soup, salsa, etc. but nature had other ideas this year. Normally I freeze my soups and salsas to enjoy all winter. I do have a freezer full of gallon bags of peach and apple slices and black raspberries that I will pull out for some yummy desserts!
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Last year we got 14 quarts of tomatoes, so our 5 this year was a little sad, lol … We had also planned to make salsa and as you said: nature had other ideas this year. Ah well. More time to plot and plan for next year! 🙂
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I really want to try and make jam one day (although the whole sugar thermometer element scares me 😅) although I have made chutneys in the past. There’s a bell pepper one that tastes delicious, although it does make the kitchen smell of vinegar all night 🙈 I hope you enjoy all the tomatoes & jam and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get the harvest you hope for next year 🤞 I don’t grow any fruit or vegetables to preserve , but I love that you can get ripe mango year round where stores sell it frozen.
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We use a “quick and easy” jam recipe that does NOT require a thermometer! 😀 Because truly, those things require a lot of mental preparation 😂 We just follow the directions/recipe included with the pectin and it’s worked like a charm so far 🤞
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I don’t produce enough to actually preserve anything I’ve grown but certainly have canned peaches, made jellies and jams etc. I love a homegrown tomato though!
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Homegrown tomatoes are the best! There’s nothing like a fresh tomato on a BLT 😋 I wait for that first sandwich every summer, haha
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