Using the harvest, part 1

Woot! My new canning storage area in the basement is up!

I put this on DH's "Honey Do!" list to be created since I purchased my 23 quart pressure canner/cooker way back in July 2006. Although I had a rack that held 8 jars deep I did not have the width to see what jars were behind others. If I wanted a certain jar I had to move many others to get to it... not convenient at all. I also had zero space to store the jars once they were emptied until they were to be used again, so a corner of my kitchen had a box full of jars needing to be moved somewhere. However all these problems have been solved with one little purchase and Saturday assembly - DH and DS found it to be a good project for a frigid winter day.

Finally, I can show you canned goods that I have left from last years harvest, minus some tomato based pasta sauces and apple sauce or butter (I haven't decided yet) that I intend to make with the fruits stored away in my freezer. I still have broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, greens , and some corn in the freezer that we have been chowing on. Fortunately I can get to this easily now also, previously the rack I had canned goods on made my time getting to and using the freezer in our basement difficult.

Foods on my shelf - - - -
Yearly favorites (links to my previous blog entry about these foods):

Onion curry relish, piccalilly: a dutch pennslvania treat, caraway pickled beets, dilly green beans, dilly cauliflower, dilled cauliflower carrot red pepper mix, bread and butter pickles (stevia sweet), "sushi" ginger carrot cucumber pickles (stevia sweet), salsa, strawberry rhubarb very low sugar (stevia sweet) jam, low sugar orange marmalade, apple sauce, apple butter, pear butter, pumpkin butter, and diced apples (just the whole fruit in a light lemon juice and stevia sweetened water) and cinnamon that reminds me of diced pears, zucchini relish (my purple ribbon county fair winner).

The pressure canner gave me the ability to can russet and red kinebec potatoes, green beans, corn and sweet potatoes. Previously I used a cold storage for these (which I still did for some), but it is so much nicer now to have these veggies ready to open a jar and go.

New in 2006:

• Plum Sauce (made with 2# purchased plums from a farmer's market I went to), nicely seasoned with oriental five spice powder ....kind of like a sweet and sour sauce, but definitely made with fruit. I sweetened mine with stevia. The recipe I based it off of came from the book Summer in a Jar.
• Avjar (link to recipe)- Balkan red pepper relish, a recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan. Although she doesn't can it I used the same canning time that animal meat takes (1.5 hours under 10 pounds pressure). My thinking was that if the time and pressure can allow animal meat to be preserved then surely it kill the bacteria in this sauce. I opened a jar of it after four months and it had a wonderful consistency and was very good.... just as good as when I made it fresh and refrigerated it.
• Cranberry Chutney (link to the recipe) - I found this recipe in a book called Gifts from the kitchen. I made mine sugar free (using stevia instead) and added apple sauce to measure the quantity of the sugar originally called for. I added this to a sandwich using sliced seitan to resemble some of the after thanksgiving sandwiches I have seen in recipes.... yum. I also used it on crackers and soy cream cheese as well as toast one morning that I wanted to finish up the last of it from the jar. This recipe will make it to the yearly list. I did use marked down cranberries from the grocery store (2 / $1). My recipe says this chutney can be made using frozen cranberries also, I stocked up on that sale so I could make it again if I want but I will most likely use the remaining cranberries in smoothies.
  
• Stevia sweet apple pie filling - our tree gave us nice abundance this year. I adjusted a recipe from our state extension office family hotline. They actually emailed me the recipe I requested (sugar free apple pie filling) and canning requirements. I made mine sugar free however it does use apple juice so it is not watered down sweetness. The family LOVES this recipe. It is a fast dessert to take some of this, sprinkle it with granola and top it with some soy yogurt or ice cream for a fast dessert.
  
• Sweet corn relish - this is delightfully different from Chesman's book, but pretty yummy to dress up a taco salad or wrap. It adds a sweet and sour type flavor combo.
  
• Legumes and home canned soups.... Money saver and time saver. This has been my favorite use. Canned convenience soups can be so expensive. The fact that I can use my own veggies (sometimes I purchase them) and organic legumes makes the whole hassle of learning how to can like this worth it.
  

A garden / preserving resource I added to my side bar is author Andrea Chesman. I love her canning book called Summer in a Jar because of the small batch recipes (one quart or pint at a time). Another one is the Ball Blue Book, it is the canning "bible" if there is one and I use it as a reference on low acid and other food times, but I rarely use these recipes. It is nice because it includes dehydrating and freezing preservation also.

While I am on the topic of garden produce and canning I also will let you know of low-acid soups and legumes I have pressure canned and LOVE.

• Dori's COOP Black Bean Soup (link to recipe)
  
• Sicilean Style Spilt Pea Soup (Bryanna's Fiber for Life Cookbook)
• White Chik'n Chili (my own recipe, but inspired by a Taste of Home magazine recipe)
• Basic white navy beans, black beans, black eyed peas ... (not seasoned, just to open and use), and some seasoned ready to use TVP chunks, ground taco TVP meet, and Louisana style red beans to serve over rice.

This is long enough for now, but since I have access to my preserved food I am totally inspired to use it, which I definitely did. If I mentioned a "my own recipe" food here and you would like me to post the recipe, let me know and I will.

Part 2 using the harvest (coming soon)
It will include pictures of :
Dori's canned potato mash with Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy
Stuffed Mushrooms with bread crumbs from the freezer
Bryanna's Fiber for Life Quick Chili with more garden harvest vegetables