Fritz's garden 2020

[fritz_monroe]

Repost from the tomatoes thread.

So tonight most of dinner was from the garden.  We had a quart of green beans that didn't seal and 2 of the spaghetti squash I harvested last week.  I didn't have time to make up a sauce, so that came from a jar.

But I found that the spaghetti squash was fully ripe, so I harvested a bunch more.  I also counted the squash still on the vine and there's at least 16 that have plenty of time to ripen.  There's also a couple more that might not have enough time.  We also have at least 8 pumpkins turning orange.  I'll probably be harvesting the first of them in a week or so.

The mandatory shot of the spaghetti squash harvest.  The striped type is what we ate tonight.

[fritz_monroe]

Had the tropical storm come through today.  All I harvested was a couple zucchini.  One was really weird.  It had the flower on the end still.  The flower was really wide and completely covered the end of the zucchini.  When I pulled back the flower, it looked like the skin didn't grow over the end of the zucchini.  There were seeds visible like in the pic.  Anyone seen something weird like this?

[Stwood]

Weird

Wow


No

[LvsChant]

maybe a relative to corn smut? https://images.app.goo.gl/iZMQ524XoRTyemnCA

haha

[fritz_monroe]

Harvested the spaghetti squash today.  I brought in 17 spaghetti squash and we had 4 from previously, ate a couple and gave a couple away.  So those 3 plants produced 25 squash.  Also brought in a bunch of tomatoes, a couple peppers and a couple zucchini.  We've never had zucchini plants make it this long, usually the squash vine borers have taken out my plants.



My wife didn't like the dill pickles that we put up previously.  So we ended up dumping them.  But we made a different recipe.  Canned 14 pint of dill pickles using the Ball dill pickle package.  We had left over brine, so made up 4 jars of dill pickle relish with the brine.  Also processed some of the tomatoes I froze last week.  I made up 9 half pints of pizza sauce using the Pick Your Own pizza sauce recipe.  This is the first time I've made pizza sauce.  The UGA site says that it needed to be acidified, so used the citric acid.  The sauce ended up a bit sweet and a bit acidic, hopefully we'll like this recipe.



Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
62.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
4.5 pounds chopped and frozen green peppers

[fritz_monroe]

Picked some green peppers and jalapeno peppers, but just as part of the salsa I made today.  I usually use the Annie's Salsa recipe/  The whole family really loves this recipe.  I did things a little differently this time.  We've been cleaning out some junk in the basement and I came across the accessory kit for my Roma food strainer.  I had completely forgotten that I had this thing.  I use the strainger regularly to make sauce and paste, but this kit has a "salsa screen" with 1/4" holes to make chunky puree.  I put half the tomatoes through the strainer and chopped the other half.  I think I'm going to put all the tomatoes through the strainer next time I make it.  I had forgotten the texture of the salsa.  I don't end up with chunks, just a  chunky texture.  I may try putting the peppers through this as well.

So I ended up making 12 pints of Annie's Salsa.



Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
62.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
4.5 pounds chopped and frozen green peppers
12 pints Annie's salsa

[LvsChant]

Is this the type of food strainer you have? WESTON STRAINER

[fritz_monroe]

Is this the type of food strainer you have? WESTON STRAINER

Nope, this one is what I have.  Hand crank only.  I also have an "expansion" kit for it.  That has a berry, a squash, a salsa screen and a grape "screw" for squeezing the juice out.

Put 10 pounds of Roma tomatoes into the freezer.  I decided that since I usually take out the seeds, I might as well do that before putting them in the freezer.  I've found that  1 gallon Ziploc bag holds right around 5 pounds of Roma tomatoes without the seeds.

I'll pull them out in a couple of days to make another batch of salsa.  My daughter loves it and has it just about every afternoon for a snack.  A batch of salsa uses about 5 pounds of tomatoes.

[LvsChant]

Is this the type of food strainer you have? WESTON STRAINER

Looks good... I haven't gotten one of those yet... but was thinking it would be nice to add to the canning apparatus preps. I typically raw-pack tomatoes as diced tomatoes... just blanch, remove skins and chop up. I had been water bath canning, but went ahead and pressure canned this year and it has worked very well -- not a single jar that didn't seal properly. I haven't had the type of big crop yet this year to make me want to make sauce this year, but maybe next year

[fritz_monroe]

Early harvest today, they are expecting a lot of storms all day, so figured I'd get the tomatoes harvested so I can use them today.  The bin on the left is about 5 pounds of Roma tomatoes.  There's a couple of okra that are pushing the limit on edible.  A couple of really good looking tomatoes in the back.  Those are the last of the peppers on the green pepper plants.  They may be fully ripe, so the plant thinks it doesn't need to produce more.  The yellow, orange and red bell peppers are covered with fruit.  Same with the jalapeno peppers, the plants are just covered.



I like to grow jalapeno peppers, they are just so prolific.  Here's a close up of one of the biggest I've ever gotten.  That's a AA battery for scale.  The one on the right is about the biggest that I usually get.  I'm going to make these into poppers and freeze them.  I've found this works fantastic.  I'll end up with a big container of them that I'll pull some every time I grill over the Winter.

[Stwood]

  Nice haul.

Try some habanaro's. You think jalapeno's go to town.......4-5 plants, and you can share with your whole county. 
Course they don't fit the picture of usefulness as the jalapeno's do.
They're mainly good for burning the hair off yer arse.

[fritz_monroe]

Nice haul.

Try some habanaro's. You think jalapeno's go to town.......4-5 plants, and you can share with your whole county. 
Course they don't fit the picture of usefulness as the jalapeno's do.
They're mainly good for burning the hair off yer arse.

No habaneros for me.

Made a mistake on the Roma peppers, that's about 12 pounds in there.  It will end up being 5-6 pounds if I take out the seeds and goo.

I got a new Ball canning book.  I made up a batch of the Garlic-Basil tomato sauce.  Ended up with 10 pint jars.  I also cut up the peppers to make up more salsa tomorrow.  Also cut up the rest of the peppers and froze them, I won't know what they weigh until I bag them up tomorrow.

Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
62.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
4.5 pounds chopped and frozen green peppers
12 pints Annie's salsa
10 pints Garlic-Basil tomato sauce

[fritz_monroe]

The peppers from the other day ended up being about 1.5 pounds.  I was going to make salsa yesterday, but found that I can't use the frozen tomatoes with the salsa screen on my food mill.  The skins clog up the holes.  So I just ran them through the sauce screen and froze the puree.  I'll use that to make sauce when I get enough puree to make it worth my while to cook down.

I used the pizza sauce to grill some pizzas tonight.  It turned out pretty good.  It's a little sweet to me, but it was good.  Here's my pizza with turkey sausage and basil and oregano from the garden.


Harvested a bunch of jalapeno peppers.  Made up 6 dozen poppers.


Finally, this is the first time that we grew watermelons.  We found one split.  My guess is that the skin hardened up a bit and we've had rain every day for the past week.  Not overly wet, but a little rain every day.


Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
62.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
6.0 pounds chopped and frozen bell peppers
12 pints Annie's salsa
10 pints Garlic-Basil tomato sauce

[Stwood]

Never seen a green striped Pac-Man before

[fritz_monroe]

Made up 27 pints of salsa today.  Also grated and froze more zucchini.

Gave the neighbor zucchini and tomatoes.

Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
78.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
6.0 pounds chopped and frozen bell peppers
39 pints Annie's salsa
10 pints Garlic-Basil tomato sauce

[Stwood]

 


We're doing salsa tues or wed.
Currently covered up in green beans and okra.

[fritz_monroe]

We're doing salsa tues or wed.

This is the recipe I've used for the past 10 years or so.  It's the best.

Annie's salsa

[Stwood]

Thanks. That one looks good. Not too vinegary.
Red sent me one to try also.

I have 4-5 different recipes I've used. Not totally happy with the ones I've done.
Usually do 3-6 dozen pints each year.

[fritz_monroe]

I leave out the cilantro because it tastes like soap to me.  I've only tried 4 or 5 recipes, and this was the best for me.  It's fantastic.

[fritz_monroe]

Dinner last night was almost completely from the garden.  Spaghetti squash with homemade tomato sauce and zucchini tots and green beans.  I found the sauce is not thick enough and is lacking on anything outside of tomatoes.  So I'll have to figure out if I'm going to dump them or try re-cooking the sauce.  I'll need to add a bunch more garlic and basil.

[Stwood]

Depending on much you canned, I would add spices and cook it on down.
Maybe add some corn starch.

Your Annie's sauce is fabulous. I've made 35? pints. 3 was just the juice I skimmed off of one batch as I didn't drain the tomatoes well.
First 2 batches I left the cilantro out as you suggested. Last batch (today) sheboss demanded we add it. Had some dried and ground, no fresh.  We'll see on that.  . Cook taste test, I tend to agree on the soap taste. 

[Redman]

Cilantro is good stuff. I've never seen dried cilantro. Coriander is the seeds of the cilantro plant whole or ground. The whole plant including the roots is used in some Asian and Pacific island cooking.

[fritz_monroe]

I tend to agree on the soap taste. 

I'm one with the gene that makes it taste like soap.

Why Does Cilantro Taste Like Soap to Some People?

[Redman]

Well I learned something so today isn't a total loss.

[LvsChant]

soapy to me, too.

[Stwood]

Well I learned something so today isn't a total loss.

10-4

[fritz_monroe]

The zucchini and yellow squash has pretty much run its course.  My wife decided to pull the plants today while I was out.  We've had a ton of squash bugs lately and this will certainly help.

Been harvesting a lot of the smaller orange peppers.  I'm a big fan of these "lunch box" peppers.  They are very prolific and quickly turn orange, unlike the red bell peppers.  There are several BIG bell peppers that are starting to ripen, but it's taking a long time.

The Roma tomatoes are pretty much done.  There's a few more left on the vines, but not a lot.  I still have a bunch left on the "regular" tomatoes.

I canned up 24 more pints of Annie's salsa.  We're pretty much set for the year.  It will likely last us until about June of next year. 

Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
78.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
6.0 pounds chopped and frozen bell peppers
63 pints Annie's salsa
10 pints Garlic-Basil tomato sauce

[Stwood]

Amazing how fast a garden goes down when it starts turning.
My grean bean leaves have been drying and shriveling, and the lower okra leaves/stems are drying and falling off. Cantaloupe plants are yellowing
Fall is coming

[fritz_monroe]

I grow okra just because my wife and daughter like them.  She mainly breads them with cornmeal and fries them up.  Since that's mainly her thing, she's been blanching and freezing them.

We also cut and froze another 1.5 pounds of bell peppers.

I also had a bunch more Roma tomatoes and wanted to try something that I have done before.  So I made up a batch of a tomato and chiles thing, sorta like Rotel.  I canned up 13 half pints of them.  I had 11 of them seal just fine within about 10 minutes.  The last 2 ended up sealing, but it took at least 30 minutes.  I'm not really sure why some take so much longer to seal than others.

Canned Tomatoes and Chilies

Preserved harvest 2020
14 pints dill pickles
4 pints dill pickle relish
60 pints bread and butter pickles
18 bags of blanched and frozen summer squash (1 bag = 1 meal)
19 quarts green beans
9 half pints pizza sauce
2 bags of blanched and frozen green beans  (1 bag = 1 meal)
78.5 cups shredded and frozen zucchini
3 pints chunky cucumber relish
12 pints zucchini relish
4 pints dilly beans
7.5 pounds chopped and frozen bell peppers
63 pints Annie's salsa
10 pints Garlic-Basil tomato sauce
13 half pints tomatoes with chiles (Rotel clone)

[Stwood]

When I get a jar that lags behind and seems it isn't going to seal within 5 minutes of the others, and fairly sure there hasn't been a boil over, I snug the ring good, flip the jar over and let the product heat the seal and lid. Sometimes they will seal upside down. I leave it for 5, then upright it. Most usually it will seal.