Sorry to say, but a colder temp in the basement and some inattention on my part doomed the sauerkraut. It stopped fermenting and got a little dry. That led to a disgusting aroma emanating from the corner of the mud room. Too bad I didn’t think to grab the camera. It was some of the most colorful garbage I haver dumped outback. Making sure to avoid any area that wouldn’t benefit from all that salt. It was the most gorgeous pink and purple mess you ever saw. Oh well,clean everything and try again. Soon??
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Sauerkraut R.I.P.
Sauerkraut
With all the jammin’ done I decided to add sauerkraut to the mix. Wait a minute!! I mean add to the widening range of foods that we can. We went to our favorite farm equipment store Big Acre to buy a crock. I picked up a 3 gallon Crown for this.
Momma ordered the lid, stomper and inner disc from Lehman’s to complete the equipment needed.
Then I started slicing 11# of green cabbage and 5# of red cabbage. (I shouldn’t shop for cabbage in low light) I become color blind. However, all isn’t lost, sauerkraut can be made with a mix of colors.
After adding 3T canning salt to each 5# of sliced cabbage, I started pounding it down. Each time I added it to the crock it would almost fill it. When it was all loaded and stomped down there was only a half filled crock. Then I put in the follower with a 1 gallon Baggie on it. At that point there was only about a 1/2 inch of brine over the cabbage. Tuesday morning there was about 3 inches.
The STOMPER. Without this I would have to use a potato masher, I don’t think so.
Now to wait about 6 weeks.
Way to start this new venture
Woke this morning to Momma saying"Someones at the door”.I said"I didn’t hear the driveway alarm” We hustled to the door, no one there. Then Momma noticed a large box beside the door. We brought it inside and opened it to discover the new pressure cooker/canner we had just ordered.
The reason for no alarm. The
trash cart fell off the truck on the way up last night and I didn’t notice it in the dark. It landed in the middle of the driveway right in line with the alarm sensor, which is the dark box and tie-wrap on the tree. The UPS driver carried that thing all the way up. these delivery men are saving me a lot of carrying and miles driven.
Momma has also ordered thje sauerkraut stomper and follower board for the crock.Now to get the salt and cabbage when they arrive.
Feeling the pressure
Out and about today, shopping. On the way to Bed,Bath and Beyond we remembered some needed shelving. Stopped at Home Depot, Sam’s Club and finally Lowe’s where we found it. Onward to BBB. Ordered a pressure canner/cooker, because that way you can use their 20% coupon on the sale.
All this to get to what I really wanted to post. We have a new Sonic drive-in under construction in Flint at Miller Rd and I-75. Finally I will get to sample these taste tempting treats they have been bombarding my TV with, knowing there were none located anywhere near me,. Now, if we could only get an IKEA.
We then continued our tour to Big Acre to get a pickle crock to make sauerkraut, as my present crock has a chipped interior. They were closed, try again Monday. In the mean time, does anyone have ideas on patching the chips?
Oh, yes, the pressure cooker is for a new venture, canning low acid foods, Meat, vegetables, soups. We’ll see.
Ground hog
While writing the previous post, we were interrupted by a ground hog coming out from under the shed to sun for a while. Then it went to the barrel planters to inspect the tomato and melon plants. It went back under the shed when I tried to get a better picture. Any one know how to photograph through a door screen?
More canning
Just when you think all the canning is done—Edna drops in with a 1/2 bushel of pears off of their yard tree. We turned those into 20 pints of Cinnamon Pears. Took some jars over to Edna & Bob’s in return.
That got the fun going again, so we went to the farm stand and got a 1/2 bushel of Roma tomatoes. We made 11 pints of Tomato Chutney and 18 pints and a 12oz jar of Low Salt Tomatoes.See more pics at Momma’s corner
Tomato Soup
It’s amazing how a 1 inch incision on the inside of an elbow can drag you down. Between naps today I helped Momma put up 10 pints of tomato basil soup for the freezer.Tasted pretty good, too. Tomatoes thanks to Phylis (next door) and the stupid deer thar couldn’t figure how to get them all off the bushes.
I took some rhubarb sauce in with me to S.E. Michigan Surgical Hospital for Dr. Webb. He had said “Why don’t you guys make some rhubarb sauce, I haven’t had any in years”. Turns out his grand mother had an unorthodox recipe for it. She would stew the rhubarb and then throw in a large amount of candy orange slices. Has anyone heard of this method? I’m off hunting for it. Please help. That was quick. http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/2000m.htm has 2 recipes just right (HAH) for us diabetics. We’ll try it soon.
What we can’t eat we can
Well, while I was lolling in front of THE POWER BLOCK shows, Momma put up 20 jars of Pluot (plum apricot X) jam. Then I got in there & cut up pickles and onions to start the bread and butter pickles.Five and a 1/4 hours later we had 17 jars ready to label
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In process
Last 3 jars ready for a bath.
Tiny ‘maters
in the sun. Picked the first of many small pear shaped tomatoes to add to the medium sized ones from the “cheater” plant.
Looking good,no bug or animal damage. It really helps to grow them 2’ off the ground in my homemade containers
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Dilly of a day
I should be in dialysis more often. Momma gets more done that way. Yesterday it was 3lb of green beans turned into 10 jars of Dilly Beans.
Meanwhile the search for apricots and peaches and raspberries continues.
Beets me
We got the final 1/2 bushel of beets Thursday and got them canned.
Washing station
Sorting sizes
18 more pints to store for 6 weeks to develop flavor.
Last Tuesday while I was in thrall to the dializer machine Momma headed out to Blueberry Lane and picked 9 1/3 lbs. By the time I got home she had put up 4 1/2 pints of pie filling and 17 1/2 8oz jars of jam.See Momma’s site for pics.
Next up,apricots, peaches and raspberries. Got our eyes open.
AND MORE PICKLED BEETS
We stopped at McDanials farm stand and picked up a 1/2 bushel of beets on our way home Sunday. That was after having dinner with Bob and Edna Hittel. Edna was our letter carrier for years.
This morning Brandy helped Momma clean the beets.
This year Momma sorted out the small ones to put into the new Ball Elite jars.
We ended the session with 20 pints of ruby goodness.
Labeled and ready for at least 3 weeks to “age”
Possible road trip coming
We started to search for the next fruit for canning, apricots. Unfortunately the crop froze in this part of the state. After searching the interweb I have found a possible source. If i don’t find another it looks like we will be making a day trip to Northern Lower Michigan. King Orchards are located North of Travers City, about 198 miles from here in Central Lake . Ah, what I won’t do to get Michigan fruit. Plus, we haven’t been North of Bay City since we retired to Otisville.
Tart Cherries here again.
We picked up 20 lbs of tart cherries yesterday.Didn’t do the U-Pick,we both tire easily. Got going today finished rounding up supplies and equipment. Started cooking at 11:43 and jarred up 14 jars of jam and 14 jars of chutney with apples, onions,brown sugar, vinegar and spices. We had to stop and re figure the pie filling recipe because we ran low on cherries. Should have made it first and then do just 1 batch of jam. Oh well, hindsight and all that.
Guilt trip
You know? Nothing would get posted here if Momma didn’t say anything to remind me to. So, 2 weeks ago we started jammin’ again. 36 jars of strawberry and 14 jars of rhubarb strawberry. Next up, apricots, cherries, and raspberries.
Next door neighbor Phylis asked if we could do a repeat of 2 years ago when we made tea sandwiches for a Master Gardeners garden party.That one was for about 50 to 75 people. This was a wedding shower with about 24 to 30. So, back to the Food Network and Epicurious for more recipes. We did Raisin Sandwiches,Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches, Herbed Vidalia Onion Tea Sandwiches, Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches snd Salmon Dill Eggs. We shared a selection for our lunch, saving the filled eggs for supper.
UPDATE: Just got pictures from Phyllis & had Les upload them.
