Food Preservation Frolics and Follies

This year was an interesting one for food preservation.  So, let’s get to a few things I did so far.

First off, I did not plant a garden this year due to having to work on the house and deck this summer, so that was a failed goal to be sure.  I really did miss the fresh produce, especially lettuce, over the summer and I lamented the loss of my tomato plants and the potential for even green tomatoes to make into green tomato chutney (a new favorite around here), but it was what it was.

I did, however, want to preserve my rhubarb this year and I found a recipe for rhubarb chutney that sounded good and could hopefully take the place of the green tomato chutney that I had been planning on using this year in recipes.

Guys that recipe was an EPIC fail for me.  I followed the recipe exactly and really don’t know where it went wrong, but boy did it!  The rhubarb (might have been due to our crappy weather changing it’s texture or something, not sure) when it cooked, it turned out WEIRD!  The strings in the rhubarb became the same texture and consistency as fish bones.  It was disgusting and was hard not to gag on as it was like having a hair stuck or something in your mouth every time you tried to taste it! 

I tried to think how to save it.  First thought was to blend it smooth.  So, out came the immersion blender.  It chopped the pieces of stringy nastiness down but not even close to edible.  I then put the mixture through my food mill.  Twice.  Better, but pieces slipped through.  So, finally, I broke down and forced the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.  After tons of work I ended up with some pints of rhubarb chutney sauce instead of actual chutney.  I ended up freezing it versus canning it because I changed the consistency so much and plain had no idea what would be a good safe time to can it for.  I’m going to use it in the Hawaiian chicken marinade and hopefully it turns out okay, but yeah, that was not a fun experience.

Next up was a recipe that did turn out really well for me.  I took the raspberries I had left over from when my husband’s friend gave him some of his bumper crop last year and decided to make raspberry curd with them for cakes and things this winter after seeing Becky on Acre Homestead on YouTube do it.  The raspberries were REALLY tart so I hadn’t used them in much, so I did end up using a bit more sugar then the recipe called for.  But the eggs in the curd really helped to dull the flavor a little bit and it turned out really tasty.  I’m really looking forward to using it in desserts this winter :).  I froze the curd since curd freezes well (pumpkin pie, lemon pie and such for instance) and am hoping it defrosts well.

I took all of the little bits of vegetables, frozen and fresh, I had that needed to be used up but were a bit past their prime and I made a big pot of vegetable stock.  I wanted to make it for the turkey brine this Thanksgiving as vegetable stock is expensive now a days!  I managed to get 12 out of 16 cups out of what I made so now I just need to buy one box instead of 4!  Definite win!

Not really a preservation project, per say, but I did make our yearly aged eggnog and put it in the fridge yesterday to start aging for the holidays.  I used the alcohol I had on hand only again this year and just made the ratios work.  So far it is really yummy so I am hoping it turns out really good for the holidays!  Next year we will have to buy rum and bourbon again, but not this year, so that definitely saved me some money as well this year!

I harvested what chives I could when they were still growing well and froze them to use on baked potatoes this winter.  I didn’t get a ton (aforementioned crappy weather), but I hopefully got enough to last us a bit.

I did make erbswurst as well during a food prep day I did last weekend as well (more on that day later).  My husband loves this pea sausage and makes soup from it tons when sick.  We were nearly out of the last batch I made so I bought a pound of split peas and made him some more.  I used my old coffee grinder to grind up the peas into a coarse flour and it worked great.  So, Erbswurst done for a year or two!

I still have a few preservation projects to do (I got frozen berries yet to process for one...long story, but I'll get into it later), so hopefully I’ll have more to report on the food preservation front soon, so stay tuned for that!

Enjoy!