I'm settling into a daily routine. Every morning we pick the days vegetables.
Then bring them in and wash and slice them. Then they are blanched for the required amount of time and cooled.
Then laid out on cookie sheets to freeze. Then the ones from the day before are taken out of the freezer and bagged. The cookie sheets washed and ready for the next mornings picking. By the end of the growing season my freezer will be full of vegetables not with huge pickings but just a few bags at a time every day or so. Those of you that have followed me for years know the drill.
Pick, Blanch, Flash Freeze, Bag
Regardless of the vegetable the procedure is always the same.
This was yesterdays baggings. This morning I have squash, broccoli, okra, and zucchini to bag. Sometimes I feel like the tortoise. Slow and consistent but I guess I get the job done.
This is so much easier than those marathon 8 hour canning sessions that I did when I was younger. Buying or growing bushels at a time to feed a family of 5 kids. Now that we are down to just the three of us I can relax and grow less and just can for a few hours every morning and still get the job done. Once Baby O leaves the nest (She is almost 17 ) we will probably go down to just one freezer and can much less. Gracious what will I do with my time. Maybe make more quilts : )
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
What do you use as a guide to know how long to blanch?
ReplyDeleteThe Ball Blue Book has a guide on how long to blanch the different vegetables. I am sure you could find on the net also.
DeleteThat's a lot of veggies! Nice work.
ReplyDeleteDo you dehydrate any of your veggies? If so which ones?
ReplyDeleteI dehydrate many of my vegetables. Squash, zucchini, potatoes, onions, okra, and carrots.
DeleteFor instance I can carrots to eat at meals but if I am making a soup and want carrots I use dehydrated ones. If I have carrots in the fridge that are starting to get outdated I blanch them and just throw them in the freezer. I can new potatoes and dehydrate hashbrowns and also sliced potatoes for casseroles.
After freezing your squash, how does it come out when thawed? Is it mushy? Isn't it wonderful to settle into a harvesting routine? I love it! Your veggies look great!
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures! Looks a bit like my kitchen (except I am overloaded with hot peppers and okra right now). As for when the baby leaves the house..I am facing such things as well..quilting sounds good, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou make me tired. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
What do you use blanched/frozen squash for? Isn't it all mushy when you thaw it? I always have TONS of zucchini and I generally just chop it rather finely and freeze it to use in muffins, chili, etc., where texture doesn't matter as much.
ReplyDeleteIf the squash are not blanched too long and were drained properly they should not be mushy when defrosted. There are lots of casseroles that require cooked squash which the frozen squash work fine for. They make great squash patties with onion, salt, egg, pepper and flour. Then roll in cracker crumbs and fry in egg. The secret is to squeeze out all moisture for patties. We like our with just some onion and garlic sauteed in olive oil and the the squash added and sauteed until cooked them serve with a little shredded cheese on top.
DeleteThanks for sharing!!! Great tips and guides!
ReplyDelete