Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joseph McGrath on September 3, 2010 at 1:44pm

I'd like to learn more about this. I have a book and have done some jelly, but I'm still intimidated. . . The CSA we belong to supplies lots of fresh veggies each week - better to preserve than to let it go bad!

Permalink Reply by Diane Blust on September 3, 2010 at 2:16pm

Joe - Study your book! I'm terrified of poisoning myself or someone else, so I have tried to stick to pickles so far. Next year, I'll graduate to something more challenging. I also put away lots of things by freezing: blueberries, summer squash and peaches this year.

What prompted my idea for this group was my experience with freezing peaches. A few weeks ago, I blanched, peeled, sliced and gave an ascorbic acid/water bath to the peaches. Then I had to freeze them on sheets because they were too damp to put into my vacuum bags and seal - the vacuum seal didn't take because so much liquid was pulled out of the bag. It was kind of tedious process.

So, this morning, I blanched and peeled the peaches, then cut them in half before tossing them into the ascorbic acid (slows darkening) bath. I drained the halves on paper towels, blotted them dry, THEN sliced and bagged them. This process was much quicker with no need for a prefreezing step and no liquid preventing the vacuum sealer from doing its job.

Permalink Reply by Elise Woods on September 3, 2010 at 5:31pm

I never bother with ascorbic acid when I freeze peaches. They look fine. I slice them and then freeze them on cookie sheets and once frozen, pack them into vacuum sealer bags. They look nice and yellow in the bags.

Permalink Reply by Karen F on September 3, 2010 at 4:54pm

If there is enough interest, I could do a cheese making workshop.

Permalink Reply by Joseph McGrath on September 4, 2010 at 4:41pm

I've only done a couple, but I like it. Unfortunately, I don't have a good place to store the harder aged cheeses. If you have done much of this, I'd like to discuss it with you! A class would be great!

Permalink Reply by Karen F on September 3, 2010 at 5:01pm

I could also do pickling, waterbath canning, lactofermenting, dehydrating, winemaking/liquor (Jennifer?) with a little help from Laurel and Jennifer. Are you there Laurel? We could do a basic overview. I have done it and so have Laurel and Jennifer (?) Poisoning is an issue and needs to be absolutely understood but having said that it is still pretty easy after you get the dangers.
Karen

Permalink Reply by Joseph McGrath on September 4, 2010 at 4:42pm

Yes! This sounds like fun. I'm interested!