Putting up

[perc-o-prince]

Who here "puts up" food, and what? I've been making refrigerator pickles the last few years and they last months and months in the fridge; half-sours, dill and bread/butter. Froze grape juice from the Concords last year. San Marzano and Roma tomatoes canned for winter use. Unfortunately I lost the quart jar right after the picture was taken. I thought it had sealed but when I went to move it after taking the picture, the button popped up. I looked inside and there was white mold- it didn't seal properly. Damn!

Chuck[this post was last edited: 9/10/2020-17:39]

 

[parunner58]

I make tomato sauce and freeze it. This was last falls batch. I just bought an attachment to my Kitchen Aid to puree the tomatoes, will try it soon.

 

[kevin313]

Rich,

I put up bread & butter pickles and bread & butter jalapenos. Occasionally, I'll also can pickled beets and giardiniera.

 

[dermacie]

I purée tomatoes and jar them. Probably do them on Saturday.

 

[mattl]

I usally can a bushel of tomatoes, give half to a relative in GA, but I still have a fair amnt from last year ans no trip to GA this year. Had intended to make "Tomato Dust" out of the skins I toss but not this year.

May dehydrate a half bushel of Romas, love dried tomatoes in dishes.

 

[appnut]

Mike, let me know how that new attachment works.

 

[xraytech]

I can the following:
Garlic dill pickles
Hot garlic dill pickles
Whole tomatoes
Tomato purée
Tomato sauce with peppers and onions
Apple sauce
Black raspberry jelly
Plum jam
Strawberry jam
Peach jam
Occasionally I’ll can green beans

 

[circlew]

Haven't lately

I used to make black raspberry jelly every summer, and hope to again in the future.

My sister however cans (and freezes) all sorts of things, as they have a very large garden on their farm. Tomato sauce, juice and salsa, pickles of various types, pickled beets, okra, beans, corn, and other things.

 

[retro-man]

Better sealing?

I haven't canned in years but I remember doing it with my mother a lot. After the water bath she would take them out and put a towel on the counter and turn all the jars upside down for 3 or 4 hours while they cooled. Never had a seal leak. Don't know if this helped or not but never loosing a jar except once when I bumped them and one fell over and broke. She was not happy with me. lol

Jon

 

[washerboy]

It's becomming a lost art

I "put-up" a lug of tomatoes, usually green beans and a few purple hull peas every summer. We have a chest freezer and there's really no need to can anything. A friend taught me a few years ago to freeze tomatoes; which I've done and for cooking they are just a good as canned. But I enjoy the process of canning and it brings back wonderful memories of days gone by and loved ones that are no longer here. BTW: I remember my grandmother canning green beans in the oven. There was a process to it and she would place a chair in front of the oven so it wouldn't be opened until the jars had processed and cooled. Apparently if the door was opened during the oven time the jars would bust from the air hitting them...just what grandma said.

 

[gizmo]

"putting up"

I have never heard the term "putting up" to mean preserving.

Here we tend to use the term "preserving" or "bottling."

I make tomato chutney and tomato-based pasta sauce (more or less a Napoli sauce) most years.

I used to make jams but haven't for years.

I didn't do any last year - lost both my parents last year, then had a bad tomato season, so a combination of not enough of a crop and low motivation, it just didn't happen. Hopefully better this year - will be planting tomatoes in a few weeks. (Southern hemisphere...)

[this post was last edited: 9/11/2020-10:32]

 

[perc-o-prince]

Chris,

"Putting up" is an older term for it- something referencing, IIRC, putting things up on a shelf for storage. Nostalgic for me.

Mike- I too freeze some sauce or puree, but it's usually when I've stumbled across a big #10 can of it somewhere and need to portion it out. I like the whole tomatoes because we like some chunks in the sauce, plus there's nothing like stewed tomatoes on a cold winter night!

Jon- I always use the towel so the jars don't hit a cool counter and the draft doesn't get to them. I used to flip the jars over- I forgot about that little bit of finesse! Thanks for reminding me!

Mark- please share the frozen tomato method! I will put stuff (chili, stew, sauce) in jars and freeze it, but they're always cooked.

I may make grape jelly this year depending on how many grapes the birds leave me. I tasted one the other day and they're not quite there, plus there is still a good number of light-colored ones hanging out.

Chuck

 

[iheartmaytag]

From my small garden this year

I canned 15 pints of green beans and 16 pints of carrots.
I wanted to put up some tomatoes, but they just didn't make well this year. There was such a shortage of tomato plants this spring, I was running late in getting things put out. The Roma tomatoes I got turned out to be smaller, more like pear shaped cherry tomatoes. Very good flavor not enough to can.

I planted beets late, hoping for a fall harvest but they didn't come up. I do have some radishes that will be ready for picking in a week or so, cuks are gone, Okra looks about done after that big hot spell we had 102 last Sunday, and then 48 the rest of the week this week.

 

[firedome]

In New England it's "putting up" or "putting

As in Ruth Hertzberg's well known book: "Putting Food By".

We've been canning for 45 years. With 3 kids we had to!
Here in the North East with our good moisture gardening is very fruitful even if the season is short in VT ("Land of the Polar Tomato") and Central NY (we have gardens in both places).

Canning: green beans, carrots, beets, sauerkraut (5 gal crock worth), Roma tomato sauce, Better Boy whole tomatoes, apples.

Root Cellar: potatoes, carrots, onions, Japanese turnips, garlic.

Freezing: minced onions, tomato sauce, pesto, blueberries that birds don't get first even through netting - damn Jays), store bought'n strawberries.

Pickling: cucumbers, red & green cabbage (sauerkraut)

Eaten fresh: all the vegs above plus: summer squash, snow peas, Swiss chard,
fresh mint for Mojitos, all the herbs we also dry (below):

Dried herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, tarragon, chives.

Our record was 40 quarts of greens beans in 1 day when 3 kids were in the house!

We never grow corn since it's cheap, available, and takes a lot of space in our raised beds.

The USDA bulletins on gardening and preserving have been our "bible" since 1975!

 

[firedome]

oops...

the title should have said "putting up" or "putting by".

PS: My wife Sue is a Cornell Master Gardener, she really gets most of the credit, I just get the beds ready in the spring!

 

[petek]

Haven't in 15 years now. Back on the acreage in Calgary would can a couple of dozen jars of pickled beets (my fave) and baby carrots. I still have all my canning pots etc but just last week gave away my last carton of mason jars and lids to a neighbor . Some people refer to it as putting up, others like me, canning and sometimes "jarring" Maybe a regional thing. As a kid when I heard someone was canning something I imagined them actually putting it into cans, not jars

 

[perc-o-prince]

It was always "canning" with my mother when we were in a suburb of Buffalo (Cheektowaga); I guess I picked up on the "putting up" after I moved to MA in 1987. She always did tomatoes, pickles, peaches, pears, some jams/jellies. Always bought by the bushel at an open-air market.

I was at the store today and grabbed some low-sugar pectin... just in case the grape harvest cooperates!

Chuck

 

[xraytech]

Freezing tomatoes:
In addition to putting up tomatoes I’ll also freeze some for use in vegetable soup.

It’s very simple, just core your tomatoes and put in gallon or 2 gallon Ziploc bags and freeze.
When you want to use simply pull the bag out let it thaw and the tomato skins slip right off.

When I have more tomatoes than we can eat, but not enough for canning I start a bag in the freezer and just add to it as I have the extra tomatoes.

 

[mattl]

I once tried freezing tomatoes and ended up with a lot of tomato water, little if any tomato flesh.