There's been quite a gap in posts -- I was hoping the next post would be all about our new farm and how we found it and how gorgeous it is and when we get to move in etc. Nope, not to be. Its not as easy as all that! We've found a few places, but they've all fallen through for one reason or another (one was snatched away from us, after it should have been ours, by a guy willing to pay cash in the black...that so sucked!) so we just keep on looking. And now I'm resigned to the search taking its time, I can't wait until we have a farm to make the next post!
But, you don't need a farm to eat local all year round, though. I don't have my farm yet, but lots of other folks have theirs, and the abundant harvests of late summer and autumn make for cheap and plentiful veggies and fruits by the case or by the crate, so now i trawl the farmers markets looking for good excess harvest deals in bulk.
I was really expecting the canning and preserving and such to be a horrid nightmare of work and sweat and tomato peels in everything, but actually its lots of fun. I've so far put up 20kg of tomatoes, 11kg of apples, and 6kg of figs. And its so satisfying to see the shelf in the cellar fill up with jars of delicious fresh local and cheap food that I made myself and that will sustain us through the winter. Well, its not anywhere near enough to sustain us through the winter, but its a start!
To can tomatoes, boil them first, about one minute. Then dump them in a sink full of cold cold water, and the peels just slip right off. The flesh kind of pops out of the skin, easy peasy. Then cut them in chunks and heat to boiling. Boil for about 3 minutes, then put them in jars. Make sure the mouth is clean, and twist on the lids. At this point the recipes differ -- most people I know turn them upside down, and the air is pushed out and the seal pops in as the jar cools down. This is usually enough for tomatoes because they are pretty acidic, but not all tomatoes are acidic enough, so it could be risky. You could add citric acid to bring up the acidity if you are not sure how acid they are, or you could proceed with the totally sure hot water bath canning method instead of turning them upside down. Plop the jars into a canner with water covering them by at least a couple of centimeters over the lid, then boil continuously for about 40 minutes. Ugh, that's a bit of a pain, but its not actually work, just waiting. John Seymour has an alternative method using the oven instead of the boiling water, but I haven't tried that yet, and honestly i find it a bit scary...
For the apples, I made half into apple sauce and the other half into apple jam. I was going to make jelly, and then I read the recipe...ugh! you have to let it drain all night in a jelly bag, that's a pain in the butt! And I like jam better anyway! The apple sauce is really easy, just peel, core and section the apples (this would be hard without an apple corer sectioner thingy, I bought one right away before starting!), then cook 'em. A bit of water in the bottom of the pot so they don't stick, and cook 'em till they're soft. Then if you like it fine, whizz 'em or put them through a mill, but i like it chunky, so just squish with a potato masher. Then can as with the tomatoes. Apples are more acidic than tomatoes, so the upside down should work better, but I boiled em in the canner for 40 minutes just to be safe.
The jam was just 4kg cored, peeled, sectioned apples cooked with 1kg of sugar and 200gms of brown sugar, a big shake of cinnamon, and cook and cook and cook. I used a candy thermometer and brought it over 200f (it will splat everywhere, so I used a splatter guard cover thingie -- dishtowel works too, but is a bit cumbersome), then in the jars and upside down, and away it went. I like to use less sugar in my jam, and find that, depending on the fruit, I can substitute cooking time for sugar and pectin. If I cook it longer and hotter, it boils down and thickens enough anyway, even with little sugar and no added pectin. Not that there's anything wrong with pectin -- its a naturally occuring thing, not an icky chemical additive, i just have trouble finding it here so do without.
Now its coming up on pumpkin time, so I'm getting ready for soups and pies. We made a huge batch of pumpkin gnocchi this weekend, deeeeelicious! I prepare pumpkin puree by baking the pumpkin until its good and soft, then i just scoop it out, and its ready to use or put in plastic bags in the freezer.
Gab's off to see another property this afternoon, so still keeping optimistic, but in the meantime, there's still plenty to learn and do and experiment with...all will come in its own good time!
