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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 26, 2017 11:31:44 GMT -5
The end of the season is upon many of us- or has arrived already for some. Today's question is: What do you most look forward to consuming from your garden in the off season? Is there something you've frozen or canned or some preserve that you've made that you can't wait to dig into? Do share. Bonus points if it's something that has a recipe. ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/3247375/images/1O7SOWgs0dheN6ogmHMC.png)
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whistech
Pro Member
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Posts: 300
Joined: April 2013
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Post by whistech on Oct 26, 2017 11:48:09 GMT -5
For me it is canned green beans, canned tomatoes, frozen purple hull peas, and frozen okra.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 26, 2017 12:22:07 GMT -5
I should answer my own question!
Last year cooking up my dried runner beans for chili gave me the most satisfaction ever. It helped that they turned out great!
Raspberry Jam, though. Every time we open a new jar, I have to take a tiny spoon and eat just a small bit of it straight up. It's like summer sunshine all year round. I use the normal sugar recipe on the pectin I happen to have at the time.
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Post by paulf on Oct 26, 2017 13:18:32 GMT -5
Frozen tomatoes and peppers. Most looking forward to the blackberry jelly.
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Post by meandtk on Oct 26, 2017 16:27:25 GMT -5
I think this year it is the humble, yet glorious potato.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 26, 2017 17:00:01 GMT -5
Pickles and preserves are great items for the off season. Frozen or canned vegetables aren't the same as fresh picked, but in the off season, two puréed soups I have give me a taste of summer - Ratatouille Soup, which is a cooked soup, and I have frozen many pints of, and Gazpacho, which I will make with some of the frozen tomatoes. Long ago, I would freeze the gazpacho, but I have found that raw onion and garlic do not keep well, even frozen, so I just make it with frozen tomatoes, which taste much better than any storebought. Also good in guacamole, along with those frozen peppers!
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Post by september on Oct 27, 2017 9:37:43 GMT -5
Frozen sweet corn! Picked and blanched quickly within an hour of being in the garden, it retains the sweetness and tastes as good as fresh. Can't buy an commercial corn like it.
Any of my frozen green beans, sugar snaps, broccoli, are better than commercially frozen.
I wish I had the patience to can tomato products, but I'm not a person that likes to putter in the kitchen so my both my waterbath canner and pressure canner have not seen action for years. If I can't freeze it, it doesn't get done.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 27, 2017 9:49:50 GMT -5
Frozen tomatoes and peppers. Most looking forward to the blackberry jelly. I made Blackberry Jelly last year for the first time. I was SO excited that I had enough blackberries to do so, only... I don't love the jelly. I didn't love the blackberries either though, so that was a lesson learned for me. They were a thornless variety grown at a farm near me. They were very floral tasting, though when I added enough sugar and spices they made a decent pie.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 27, 2017 9:50:17 GMT -5
I think this year it is the humble, yet glorious potato. I agree that potatoes are glorious! I wish I could grow them well!
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 27, 2017 9:51:15 GMT -5
Pickles and preserves are great items for the off season. Frozen or canned vegetables aren't the same as fresh picked, but in the off season, two puréed soups I have give me a taste of summer - Ratatouille Soup, which is a cooked soup, and I have frozen many pints of, and Gazpacho, which I will make with some of the frozen tomatoes. Long ago, I would freeze the gazpacho, but I have found that raw onion and garlic do not keep well, even frozen, so I just make it with frozen tomatoes, which taste much better than any storebought. Also good in guacamole, along with those frozen peppers! I've yet to develop a taste for gazpacho, but ratatouille soup sounds absolutely brilliant!
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 27, 2017 9:53:09 GMT -5
Frozen sweet corn! Picked and blanched quickly within an hour of being in the garden, it retains the sweetness and tastes as good as fresh. Can't buy an commercial corn like it. Any of my frozen green beans, sugar snaps, broccoli, are better than commercially frozen. I wish I had the patience to can tomato products, but I'm not a person that likes to putter in the kitchen so my both my waterbath canner and pressure canner have not seen action for years. If I can't freeze it, it doesn't get done. What kind of sweet corn do you plant? I keep thinking that I should try growing it in my community garden. But then I think I could better use that space and I can just buy the corn, but then we have a year like this year where I just didn't have time to go hunt down a corn stand. We literally had sweet corn twice- and once it was bad corn. ![:(](//storage.proboards.com/3247375/images/NVJWsLkJnfi619MwuIqb.png)
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Post by september on Oct 27, 2017 10:14:59 GMT -5
We always plant Ambrosia, which is a hybrid bi-color. It freezes really well. We used to plant a couple of different varieties with staggered maturity dates, but now we just make three plantings of Ambrosia about 10-14 days apart to extend the season.
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Post by paquebot on Oct 27, 2017 18:34:12 GMT -5
There's little new which hasn't been grown or eaten before. Every tomato sauce batch is different but each one this year has already been tested. One thing that hasn't been fully tested are the first 3 batches of kraut. First one was great when fresh but hasn't been tested since it was canned. Next two batches still fermenting and fourth batch still in the garden.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 27, 2017 21:49:23 GMT -5
Pickles and preserves are great items for the off season. Frozen or canned vegetables aren't the same as fresh picked, but in the off season, two puréed soups I have give me a taste of summer - Ratatouille Soup, which is a cooked soup, and I have frozen many pints of, and Gazpacho, which I will make with some of the frozen tomatoes. Long ago, I would freeze the gazpacho, but I have found that raw onion and garlic do not keep well, even frozen, so I just make it with frozen tomatoes, which taste much better than any storebought. Also good in guacamole, along with those frozen peppers! I've yet to develop a taste for gazpacho, but ratatouille soup sounds absolutely brilliant! I got hooked on gazpacho in Spain, as a kid, and learned how to make it very close to what I remembered from there. I almost barf when I see recipes calling for a can of tomato juice! And nothing makes it like that Vitamix, which totally purées the skins and seeds, and emulsifies the olive oil in it, like nothing I have used before! Here is the recipe for that ratatoille soup. The original recipe was from one of the Union Square Cafe cookbooks, with some changes to it. The soup is good either hot or cold. I serve it hot with some fresh baked bread, or cold with some croutons. Ratatouille Soup 2 lbs tomatoes; very ripe 2 tb extra virgin olive oil 1 small onion; chopped 2 cloves garlic; minced 1-2 small hot chiles; (optional) 3/4 cup(s) red bell pepper; chopped 3/4 cup(s) zucchini; chopped 3/4 cup(s) eggplant; peeled, chopped 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves; OR 1/2 tsp dry 2 tb basil (fresh); chopped 2 tb parsley (fresh); chopped 2 cup(s) chicken or vegetable stock 1/2 tsp salt; to taste 1/4 tsp black pepper; to taste 1 tb snipped chives; for garnish A. Peel tomatoes (unless using Vitamix), core, and cut into 3/4 in. chunks. Heat oil in a 3 qt saucepan over med. heat; add onion and garlic and cook 1 min. Add zucchini, eggplant, and pepper (and chiles, if used) and cook until soft, but not browned, about 5 min. Add tomatoes, stock, herbs, salt and pepper, and chiles, if used. Bring to a simmer, and cook 15 min., or until all is soft. B. Purée in a blender until smooth. Serve hot or cold, garnished with a few chives if cold, and a small sprig of basil if hot. Note: I often make a version of this recipe using leftover ratatoille and a little stock or water - one of the "hot soups" I make in the vita-mix from cold ingredients, since they are already cooked. The eggplant, squash (if used), and pepper amounts are approximate - I usually just put in one small EP and squash (or two eggplants, since I can't grow squash!), and a good sized bell pepper., in 1/2 or 3/4 in chunks.
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