What have you preserved/bottled/dried so far?

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What have you preserved/bottled/dried so far?

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gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8945
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 7:51 am Post subject: What have you preserved/bottled/dried so far?

I've dried strawberries so far, not enough pears to do and waiting on the apples for drying and juice.
Just pickled shallots and beetroot.
Beetroot chutney and green tomato chutney made as neighbour's tomatoes were not going to ripen further.
Shared their plum harvest for jam, not enough for bottling/canning as well.
Made blackberry cordial, but our usual patches of blackberries and elderberries have had thin harvests, so no jelly or jam yet.
Keeping an eye on the local hazels...at least one crop that is looking good. Am I right in thinking that they are wind pollenated?

How is everyone's larder looking?

Is climate change and lack of pollenators affecting you?

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 7:52 am Post subject:
Not been around much so I’ve only dried some chillis and tomatoes. I’ve roasted , skinned and frozen peppers.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 10:30 am Post subject:
Dunno, maybe 150 kgs jam? 10 ltrs elderflower cordial, 20 kgs chilli sauce? Will be doing more chilli sauce yet, and mince.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 10:39 am Post subject:
Re climate change, huge impact on everything; plums ripened in a much shorter window. Apples ripened weeks earlier, this affects flavour the key thing that creates flavour in English apples is a differential in daytime and night time temperatures this year last week was the first time we've had that

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 11:44 am Post subject:
People around here have seen more pollinators than in years! No clue why now

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46240
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 19 4:30 pm Post subject:
7 kg of blackberries made into bramble jelly i am watching for ceps

yummersetter

Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 19 2:53 pm Post subject:

I have an esteemed plum tree that I should be finishing picking in right now, or at least when the rain stops. It's called Anna Spath and the fruit has a really rich flavour, think prune brandy. In fact they do make delicious prunes and that's what will happen to a lot of them, but this year I've blanched about 50 plums in boiling water, skinned, halved and stoned them and dried them overnight for twelve hours.

They are now tacky on the outside, soft like Fruit Jellies in the middle, and really delicious. I expect they'll go mouldy as they are, so I'll bag them up into packs of about twenty halves and freeze them. Good supplies for long car journeys.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 19 2:56 pm Post subject:
Good for prunes? I haven't got a single variety that's any good for them, surprising how acid they become. I'll have to hunt it out

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 19 9:15 am Post subject:

the apples and blackberries are noticeably earlier every year.

I've made apple chutney, loganberry jam, I have apples stored in the shed - the squash will be joining them soon.

I mostly freeze to preserve though: raspberries, blackberries, apples, plums, blueberries, pears, courgettes, runner beans, french beans, butter beans, gigantes, haricot beans, baby sweetcorn, tomatoes...oh god all the tomatoes... and the cucumber mountain is steadily being processed into pea and cuke soup - into the freezer.
I guess freezing is less eco than bottling or drying.. though im not sure I would have a lot of use for masses of dried stuff.. and bottling things scares me a tad...

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 19 9:23 am Post subject:
I semi-dehydrate tomatoes and freeze them. Takes up less space and can be soaked in hot water.

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