We did a very small vegetable garden this year, putting the plants in the front bed along with the flowers. We just picked our first batch of produce.
What you see here are green bell peppers, some sweet Hungarian peppers, a couple jalapenos (hiding in there somewhere), along with a bunch of basil.
We planted nine tomato plants – six good for sauces and three for slicing tomatoes. The tomatoes in the bowl are sauce tomatoes. I’m going to blanch them quickly so I can remove the skins, then get rid of the seeds and much of the liquid, then throw them into the freezer. Once they’re all ripe (and the weather is cooler) I’m going to make a huge batch of tomato sauce and can it. Most of it will be for pasta, though part of it will be seasoned for pizza sauce and stored separately. I’m not sure if I’ll can the pizza sauce or put it in the freezer in the Bell freezer containers.
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Cool! The farmers here generally put in 3 crops in a year since our growing season is so long. We’re on the second one now. Let me know how the freezer containers work out. I saw them this year, but being new to the whole canning thing, didn’t want to go overboard.
I’ve got some blueberry butter in the freezer in the containers and they seem to be working well. They’re small (only about 1 cup – or at least the ones I’ve seen in the stores I shop) so it’s not a good option for larger amounts. However, the glass jars you use for regular canning are supposedly okay to use in the freezer as well. Regardless of how you preserve the stuff (freezer or regular canning), it all lasts about a year, so try not to go overboard in what you do. Unless, of course, you intend to give stuff away as gifts.
I do want to get a proper water canner pot with the rack. I’ve decided I enjoy canning, and look forward to being able to pull stuff off the shelves in the winter.
That reminds me. I think I’m going to try and fire roast some of the tomatoes and see how they come out. I roasted half a plastic shopping bag full of jalapenos a week or so ago and tossed them into the freezer. I’m going to use them in chili and such.