Using excess veggies

[MrsBlue]

<span style="color: #3333FF">Nanook's thread made me think of this. For anyone that grows their own vegetables, what do you do with the excess? As far as I can tell, the options are canning or freezing but those don't seem to be great options for everything. I doubt if tomatoes freeze well and I don't know how they would turn out after at home canning.

The canning process seems complicated. I think everything has to be done at a certain temperature to avoid spoilage. I need to find out more.

It seems great to grow vegetables, but once harvesting is over I guess that means no more fresh veggies until the next season.

What do you know?</span>

[Suesumba]

Re: Using excess veggies

blanch and freeze.

[Nanook]

Re: Using excess veggies

Ohhhh tomato's freeze awesome! I throw them in the freezer in a couple of ways. If I'm in a hurry I just throw them in. If I have a bit of time I skin them first by throwing them in hot water and them pull the skins then freeze. This works especially well right out of the freezer.

Oh, I don't eat raw veggies of any kind so i can't tell you what it is like to cut up a frozen tomato but my feeling is it will be mushy.

If I have an afternoon I'll cook the tomato's and then put them in freezer bags so they lay flat and don't take much room. Sometimes I just throw them in the freezer and take them out and cook them up &amp; bag when I have more time. They come from nowhere sometimes and I haven't bought a tomato in years! I wait to season them when I use them for cooking but that would be a great time saver for later to actually finish the cooking then freeze.

Corn, I take it off the cob. I get the sweetest that I can find. Usually I order ahead of time so it is fresh picked that morning before the farmers market, I go early to get it and just make a day of it. I blanch it first before I cut it off the cobs. Take hardly any room in the freezer that way!
So far every time I've tried freezing it on the cob it is soggy.

Broccoli can go straight to the freezer but wash it first!

I prefer frozen veggies to canned so I can't offer any canning tips.

[loops]

Re: Using excess veggies

there's so much acid in tomatos....you don't need a pressure canner for them....boiling water bath works fine. just make sure your jars and lids are scalding clean.

[Suesumba]

Re: Using excess veggies

i remember one year when i had a bumber crop, i made tomato sauce just like a real italian person. kept all through winter and everything!!!

bay leaves. i remember using bay leaves.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Using excess veggies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: loops</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there's so much acid in tomatos....you don't need a pressure canner for them....boiling water bath works fine. just make sure your jars and lids are scalding clean. </div></div> Pressure canner, ah ah.
It is the opposite, like vaccium canning process. Incidentally when you can with heat to achieve the same as using vaccium.
What happens is that as the hot air cools it contracts, and in the process creates a vaccium in the cans.
It is true that it is highly acidic though,you are right with that
.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Using excess veggies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SueSumba</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i remember one year when i had a bumber crop, i made tomato sauce just like a real italian person. kept all through winter and everything!!!

bay leaves. i remember using bay leaves. </div></div>
Next time try it with vinegar and sugar.