Yesterday, after canning 2 quarts of tomatoes, 6 pints of bread & butter pickles and 3 pints of tomato sauce, I thought maybe I had finally caught up with the garden produce. But it was not to be, I just picked a bunch more. We ate some of the beans for dinner, and I cooked the rest to mix with Annie and Otto's chicken. The cucumbers were refrigerated for the next pickle making session, and the tomatoes were the next day's canning project.
Later that evening I took my stroll around the garden, and found a tiny cantaloupe had fallen from the vine. It's a Hales Best, and should be much larger than the 10 ounces it weighed. I sliced it up and served it to Mr. H...and Mr. H said "It's not very good". It was a pretty and juicy little thing, so I couldn't believe it wouldn't taste delicious. I took a bite. It was tasteless and mealy. It went into the compost. I was expecting deliciousness like we got with our Petit Gris that was harvested earlier this month.
Today I used up some of the tomatoes, some fresh picked bell peppers and jalapenos (from the hot plant), and the last of my neighbor's peaches in a batch of Spicy Sweet Georgia Peach Salsa. I thought this was the recipe Ribbit said was so very delicious, but after I made it I found out the recipe she had blogged about was Peach Barbecue Sauce! I hope my salsa is as good as her barbecue sauce. If anyone else wants to try the salsa recipe, I did the version without celery, and I added a tablespoon of hot pepper flakes for extra heat. Of course, I had to go out to the garden for the evening picking, so there are more tomatoes.....
To add to the ones I had leftover from yesterday.I'll never catch up.
All your canning should pay dividends this winter with much lower grocery bills. I just finished making 7 quarts of baby dill pickles. I have enough cukes left for two more quarts so I am now in the process of making bread & butter's. They are on ice as we speak. To bad about the Hales Best melon, I had a honey dew the other day form the market and it was awful too.
ReplyDeleteDan, I have enough syrup left over for one more small batch of bread & butter pickles, which I'll try to get done tomorrow...after I buy more jars. I only have 2 pint jars and 11 half pints left, but lots of quart jars. With the two of us, pints are more practical. If I get enough cucumbers, dill pickles will be next. Unfortunately, it wil all sit on the shelves all winter, as we won't be taking it to AZ with us. It will taste good next spring, though. Of course the kids will talk me out of a lot of it!
ReplyDeleteInundated with riches are you? I wish I had so many tomatoes to can. If you get tired of it you can always send them to the nearest food bank (if they take fresh food) or shelter.
ReplyDeleteYou're too funny, Granny! I'm sure the peach salsa will be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteYou sure do rake in a hoard of food there!
Granny - there's no whining involved in canning! Ha! Ok...I know that you really have been working hard lately. You'll really enjoy that stuff this winter. BTW, I've never seen a fat jar like the ones you put pickles in. Interesting...My cantaloupes weren't very good either, and I hope the lone honeydew is different. I'm just now getting little cucumbers on my 28 new plants. More pickles will be made later, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are a just on a canning role! That will be on my goal list next year! In one of your upcoming blogs can you give a run down of all your canning you have accomplished this year?
ReplyDeleteI think that canalopes are a hit or miss type of crop. I got three all from the same plant, two were absolutely great, but the third was not so much. But I will tell you, my rabbit LOVED the one that we didn't care for. He must have thought that was a treat.
I plan on attempting a little hot sauce today (I think I have a small pint jar here somewhere) as my jalapeno plant and hablinero (yes I know I can never spell it) plants are producing tons of peppers that I need to harvest.
I love your blog!!!
Hi, Granny:
ReplyDeleteAll your canning has inspired me. I made a couple quarts of refrigerator dill pickles. They came out pretty good. I even used a piece of my home-grown habanero to make hot dill pickles.
I got fresh dill weed from the farmer's market. Boy, was an eye-opening experience. With the prices they charge, my little "salad bar" garden has saved me some bucks. With everything you've gotten out of your garden, your harvest is worth a small fortune.
It's a Good kind of being behind though, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteI'm FINALLY starting to get produce out of this frozen tundra!
Yesterday I started digging potatoes and I've already frozen several gallons of beans. And lo-though I thought I'd NEVER get one, I see a tomato actually ripening. I might get a BLT before we leave after all!! YEA!!!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and get caught up!
Daphne, there's an apartment building in our town that rents to low income and disabled. They have a big table in the foyer for such donations, and they are very appreciative. They and my kids get what I can't get canned.
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Ribbit, I had both recipes in my file, and took the wrong one! That will teach me not to rely on my memory.
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EG, those are common wide mouth pint jars. I kind of like them, as they stack.
I have three more melons from the seeds Dan sent, I'm sure they will be heavenly...and I'm saving seeds!
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Eric, sure I can do that. I haven't canned a lot. Not even enough to haul out the big canner. I've just canned a few jars nearly every day for a while, as I get stuff fresh from the garden. Today I'm going to try Annie's Salsa, a recipe found in the harvest forum on GardenWeb.
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Cheryl, I'm going to try the Mrs. Wages dill pickle mix. According to the harvest forum on GardenWeb, it's a good one. I hear you about the prices. I'd say my garden has paid for itself this year!
Sue, Yes it is. I admit it. But I have to have something to whine about, it keeps EG happy ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'll just whine about your not blogging recently. Hurry and catch up with that sewer work...I miss you!
Oh how I wish I were not quite so far away... I would help you out with the surplus of tomatoes! :D I appreciate how you make good use of them though. I used to give my surplus cantalopes to the local senior center when I was in central Washington. They grew so abundantly that I was overwhelmed by them - but they were so delicious that it was shameful to waste them.
ReplyDeleteYour canning efforts are "county fair exhibit" pretty!
KitsapFG, thank you! I like pretty ;-)
ReplyDeleteI just drool every time I look at your blog! Love it!!
ReplyDeleteI'm finally making a start on my potato beds today (if back pains permit) and slowly but surely the rest of the vegies are developing in their new backyard so hopefully I'll have something to blog about soon haha!
Oh - beautiful fork by the way :D
Thank you, Marrissa. I'll be looking forward to hearing about those potatoes!
ReplyDeleteThat fork is probably older than you, LOL.
No, you will actually never catch up. That's the fun of the garden. There is always, always something to do. Wheee! it's like life, only more so. I tried a spicy peach salsa recipe and I'll blog about how it tastes after I try it! In the mean time, I'm just funning as fast as I can. nice pictures, though. Your pantry must be a lovely display.
ReplyDeleteStefaneener...pantry? I have no pantry! The laundry room has been filled, I'm storing top shelf items from the kitchen in boxes in the garage so I can fill the shelves with jars. I'm running out of room! I'll have to get some of those under-the-bed boxes! Oh, how I miss my last house with its full basement and floor to ceiling shelves that were built just for jars of preserved foods.
ReplyDeleteGranny, ketchup with whom??? You are so far ahead of everybody; all we can see is a cloud of dust and hear a Hi Ho Annie. ;o)
ReplyDeleteJohn
LOL, John. I'm about to catch up, because I'm out of jars. All I have left are quarts, so I'll do a batch of dill pickles and everything else will be eaten fresh or given away. I don't want to buy more jars, because I'm really not planning on growing all these tomatoes next year!
ReplyDeleteJust a correction. My little yard produced enough cukes for me to make two pints, not two quarts. (Shows you how much I know about canning jars.)
ReplyDeleteCheryl, just say "two jars" and let 'em guess what size they were!
ReplyDeleteI planted mine in dollar store waste baskets with holes drilled in the bottom, two seeds to a container. Put them next to the fence and let them climb along the wires. I've picked nearly 50 pounds from those three containers of Spacemaster cucumbers!