[gardeners] Putting it by
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:40:39
Spent a good part of the day today putting up limed sweet pickles and a
batch of herbs I had dried. Ended up with seven quarts of the pickles,
chilled a few in the refrigerator and had them for dinner tonight. Turned
out with the right amount of sweetness and crispness.
Ended up with 7 dryer trays of herbs, 2 of oregano, 2 of epazote, 1 of
thyme, 1 of Mex. Mint Marigold, and 1 of winter savory. A whole lot of
drying for the small batch you end up with but a good way to prepare
culinary herbs. Tomorrow I will make another batch of purple basil jelly
and then dry the rest of the basil. The basil has bolted big time in the
heat here and is ready to put away.
Heard from a fellow on rec.food.preserving newsgroup that cucuzzi kept well
if you sliced it into rounds, froze them on a cookie sheet, and then bagged
them for later use. So far I've done 4 good sized cucuzzi that way and then
vacuum bagged them with my Tilia Foodsaver. I'm going to wait a month and
try some of the frozen cucuzzi in a dish of some sort and see how they do.
This is the time of the year when I enjoy the garden the most. I really
like the part where you get to put the fruits of your labor away for later
use. Miz Anne and I don't can and preserve the amounts Allen and Judy do
but we probably get the same amount of satisfaction out of it. Friends and
family seem to enjoy the stuff we grow, preserve, and give as gifts more
than a pair of socks from Walmart. ;-) Besides that I just traded about an
eighth of a pound of dried culinary herbs, a half pint of hot chile jelly,
and a half pint of basil jelly for 5 pounds of homemade cured and smoked
sausage. Heckuva deal there. Should have seen the look on the face of the
postal clerk when I told her I was shipping some herbs Priority mail. Bet
two bits they got the dope dog to sniff the package before it went out. I
know the folks at our post office pretty good but they still have a duty to
perform. Hope their dog isn't allergic to basil, thyme, Mex. Mint, and
oregano.
George, tired but happy, Life is good