Canning, freezing and food preservation: Bringing the taste of summer into the dead of winter.

As the fall weather is upon us with the days shortening I have some time to sit back and take a breath.  The canning and freezing season is winding down with the approach of winter.  My cabbage is fermenting waiting to become sauerkraut. Some of my tomatoes have been oven dried and packed in oil, while others were canned and still more frozen as sauces.  The carrots, beets, peppers and beans are nesting with my zucchini in the freezer.  Some jams were made as well.  Pear freezer jam was a first for me as was the carrot cake jam pictured later.

So, which is the best option for food preservation here on the hill; freeze or can?  I guess it depends on what I want to preserve and how we want to eat it.  I like to can things but freezing is a quick and much simpler method that works just as well. I chose to blanch and freeze my beans, peppers, carrots and roasted beets.  Blanching and then cooling quickly allows for the bright colors and a semi cooked veggie. Those are the veggies that froze very quickly for me when I was running short on time and needed to get them while the getting was good. Roasting the beets and cooling was a slick way to get the skins to slip off easily. The freezer jam above was a success and if you like strawberry or even peach freezer jam then you will probably like the pear.  Same method as the others but with pears.  The Sure Jell pectin has many recipes to follow inside the box. The fresh pear flavor is amazing.  I did a batch with cinnamon too.  I also canned some pear jam with and without hot peppers.

         
The sauce was another story for freezing.  I made three batches of tomato sauce: a marinara sauce with tomatoes, onions, and parsley. I also did a batch of sauce with tomatoes and basil for pasta and one for pizza with tomatoes and oregano. Don't forget the garlic.

Once the sauce was cooked down and cooled I transferred it to plastic freezer containers.  Each batch made about 4-5 quarts. I added a little tomato paste as well to the two sauces.  I have already used one of the marinara quarts and it was yummy.

Canning tomatoes reminds me of canning with my mom.  She always had at least two bushels of tomatoes to put up each year.  Peeling and coring the tomatoes starts with a hot water bath to help with removing the skins.

It doesn't take long at all for the skin to loosen for easy removal.

Once you have them all peeled then you will need to slice and pack into the prepared jars.  My suggestion is to follow the directions from the web or any canning book.  I always have my computer open as a reference.  You really don't want a bad batch of tomatoes.

Following the directions from my research, including how much canning salt is needed the processing begins.  I used the water bath method and below is the end result. Canning really is a beautiful art, and edible.

The cabbage fermenting on Grace right now is another chapter in my fall canning saga.  I had six very large cabbage plants in my garden.  I have shredded and prepped three of them for sauerkraut, I have three left. The fermenting is happening now and the canning will take place in about four more weeks.  The entire process takes about six to eight weeks total.

And yes, I did use the cabbage slicer you see hanging on the wall in the background.  I used a knife while my husband was sharpening the blades on this 'fancy' piece of kitchen equipment. But it did work quite well when he was done.

It all started with cutting these very large heads of cabbage in half and then in quarters so I could easily handle them. This is the canning that I was looking forward to all summer. The first time I made sauerkraut I wasn't sure, but the results were yummy so I tried it again as you see here.

The trick to the fermentation processes is salting the cabbage so it creates its own brine to use in the jars. I let the salted cabbage sit for about an hour or so and then I packed my jars and covered them loosely and stashed them in the large kettles on Grace to finish the fermentation process.  I check the jars occasionally to make sure the cabbage stays covered in brine.  If it needs it I will add a little salt water.  They will be processed for about 45 min in a hot water bath when the time comes.

My other canning adventures this fall included our usual salsa, at least two batches were made,

a salsa verde made from green tomatoes and yep I made two batches of this as well,

 and a carrot cake jam from a recipe found on Pinterest with carrots from my garden.  (Not all of the carrots made it to the freezer.)

I have a basement area full of home canned goods and a freezer full of goodies as well.  Our winter eating will be full of the splendor of summer.