over the last couple of months i have spent hours in the kitchen preserving the harvests of our garden & surrounding farms. freezing pesto, pickling vegetables, making jam & canning tomatoes are among the many tasks on my to do list during the summer months. i particularly enjoy the act of preserving food; i feel a strong connection to the generations before me when i save food for the winter months.
above are several jars of herbed seasoned tomatoes made last night. my recipe came from ball's complete book of home preserving, by far the most helpful source i have found. do you have any sources for home preserving that are particularly helpful (& delicious)? i would really love to hear about your adventures in home preserving.
My favorites right now are Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz (offering alternatives to canning) and Pamona's Universal Pectin, which makes it possible to create jam from local berries and honey (no sugar needed!). Your tomatoes are beautiful!
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ReplyDeleteI'm just starting down this journey of beautiful food preservation.
My Uncle gave me the same book, Complete Book to Home Preserving. When I've watched others can pickles and jams - I have never seen them water process it - my first batch of pickles last year, I tried to do the same, and they didn't seal properly. It is interesting to me that it appears every recipe in this book involves water processing the final product. I'm willing to try, even though it seems like a bigger job!
I also enjoy fermented creations - I've heard of a book that deals with old fashioned food preservation, which I am on the look out for.
Thanks for sharing!
We are shifting away from the sugar component of canning, and so look to recipes that are health giving and not nutrient destroying, and don't require sugar. I will make one batch of jam for special occasions, but even my boys are not sweet-smitten. Tomatoes are great canned as the canning (heat) makes the nutrients more easily absorbed by our bodies. Freezing is my greatest way to put by, though I might dabble in some dehydrating too. Wild Fermentation is a book I'm eager to look at too. I love the idea of lacto-fermented pickles and hope to try those when the dill cukes are in at the FM.
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