I no longer do home canning, but I've been busy dehydrating and dehydrofreezing (only partially dehydrated and then frozen to prevent bacterial growth), which is my preferred method of preservation these days, along with fermentation. These methods are very cost effective compared to heat process canning.

I start dehydrating herbs as soon as they appear in the garden in the spring, when they are at their best. In the fall I'll use them for herbal vinegars (used for gift giving as well as in the kitchen) and large batches of herbal butters destined for the freezer. All summer the herbs are used fresh and many of the plants brought indoors for a winter source for fresh food high in nutrition.

We eat lots of dehydrated zucchini and cucumber slices instead of potato chips - for as long as they last. So I'm in full swing now dehydrating them. With this extreme heat and lack of moisture, it's not going to be a good year for much of my garden produce, but I'll put aside as much as possible.

As soon as new-crop apples and pears are ready, I'll be dehydrating them almost non-stop for a couple months. Dehydrated apples are used as a snack food as well as being made into applesauce, pie filling, added to homemade baked goods and granola, and so many other things. Almost any fruit, or combinations of them, are made into fruit leather, which are used to make fruit sauces during the winter. I freeze my fruit leathers, and vegetable leathers as well.

I cook, mash, and dehydrate our sweet potatoes just like making fruit leather, and make them into sweet potato powder for "instant" mashed sweet potatoes. Add hot water and you've got mashed sweet potatoes.

I'm also doing more traditional fermentation and lacto-fermentation as another good-for-you method of food preservation. It's a really low-costing preservation method. The first wave of green beans will be ready in about a week and I'll be fermenting them. I've been pickling cucumbers and gherkins using lacto-fermentation. Sauerkraut and preserves will also be fermented. I don't can my sauerkraut because heat processing kills all the good bacteria in this healthy food.

-Grainlady

I've made a half gallon jar of kraut, stored in the fridge, one qt. of pickled banana pepper rings, also for the fridge, two qts and a pt of tomato juice (processed), stewed tomatoes for the freezer, and am freezing beans. The first cukes have come in, so I'll be making fermented dills soon in half gallon jars to store in fridge.

sayhellonow, I know that recipe sounds delicious and that many traditional recipes have been made for years like that, but I think that if you run it by the Harvest forum, you'll be told that it isn't safe.

I made too many beets and dills, and banana peppers last year, so I won't be doing those. But I need to restock whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, peaches, and salsa.

I have herbs from the garden for drying. Using EVOO is not a method I'm comfortable with.

I'm curious. What is the problem with the OO? I've been told by several people that they have been doing this in Italy for generations.

I've made garlic dill pickles, salsa, and peaches.
That's all for now.

Linda

What's so bad with using the olive oil? It's not the olive oil, it's the low-acid ingredients in the olive oil which may be a source for Clostridium botulinum bacteria when mixed in the oil.

Similar commercial products have been acidified, homemade ones may be too low in acid and the perfect growing ground for food-borne bacteria. Oil is an oxygen-free environment perfect for growth of this anaerobic bacteria. Even refrigerated, these mixtures can promote the growth of this bacteria fairly rapidly. And often they are suggested to be stored at room temperature, and therefore even more dangerous in the realm of food safety.

You aren't assured enough acid from the tomatoes in the mixture to make it acid enough. Not with the low-acid varieties of tomatoes available today; and tomatoes are boarder line for being acid enough for canning without the addition of an acid ingredient. We don't know if the pH of these mixtures are low-acid or enough acid.

We are contending with more varieties of bacteria, and stronger varieties of bacteria, than even 15-20-years ago, which is why it is recommended to follow up-to-date and tested information for home food preservation of all kinds (canning, dehydrating, fermenting, etc.). "We've always done it this way and it hasn't killed us yet." is often an invitation for a food borne illness under the right conditions.

-Grainlady

I have canned green beans, made Roasted Garlic Tomato soup for the freezer, a little cream style corn for the freezer and today I am making a slightly different Roasted Garlic Tomato soup which will also go in the freezer. I don't dry any herbs except sage because my oregano, thyme, marjoram, chives and rosemary stay green through the winter. The sage does too but I like dried sage in some things.

This finishes our current tomato crop and it will be a little while before the second crop of green beans and tomatoes are ready.

No jellies/jams/preserves this year because I have ample from the last 2 years. That is, unless I break down and make some lemon verbena jelly. My plant really needs to be cut back.

jude

We went to the farm stand this morning & got 6 dozen freshly picked (while we waited) ears of corn. I helped DH shuck & now it's nicely tucked in the freezer with some made into creamed-style with bacon & the rest off the cob & sealed in one cup vac-packs. We'll do that again next Saturday & that will be enough corn to last until next season.

Jude, our rosemary, oregano, & sage stay green through the winter also so I don't dry those either. They're still good even under a bit of snow. Our chives go dormant though. We have lots of basil dried & tucked away but still buy fresh during the winter 'cause we just like fresh better.

Found clam packs of figs today at the farm stand...Black Mission this time rather than the Brown Turkey of a couple weeks ago. Perfectly ripe. Delicious. We splurged & got 10 packages. They are on the stove now simmering down. Will freeze for oat-fig bars this winter. YUM! I'm delighted. A real treat for us.

/tricia

Mango Raspberry Jam, Salted Watermelon Jelly, "Pickled" Watermelon Rind (really is Preserves), Gold Heirloom Tomato Jelly, Earl Grey Blackberry Jelly, Asian Pear Preserves, Peach Preserves, Peach Raspberry Jam, and Peach Mango Jam.

Dehydrated corn on the cob (the kernels easily come off when perfectly dried), kale, tomatoes, garlic for powder, sweet peppers, zucchini, summer squash, pineapple, and flax seed vegetable crackers.

Canned Bloody Mary Mix, Sweet Pickle Relish, fermenting white cucumbers for dills, and last month a whole bunch of Pickled Beets and Onions.

My 12 fig trees should have ripe figs in a couple of weeks for fresh and jams, and I have a bushel of Damson Plums to make into jelly waiting in the cooler. And, I still have 3 pecks of peaches left to make into jam.

Nancy

Tomato sauce, peach jam, fig jam, dill pickles here.

"Canned Bloody Mary Mix"? Please do share that recipe!

So far I have frozen about a quart of green beans. That's it! Nothing here is ready for harvest yet so the local farmers market pickin's are pretty limited. Everything is 3 weeks to a month behind because of the cold spring and weird start to summer we had.

But it's hotter than the dickens now, so we'll have fresh local veggies soon! I am out of salsa so that will be my top priority, and then after that it will depend on what looks good!

Linda

We had a cold, wet spring, too. I had to replant carrots and bush beans. Last weekend harvested my spinach, put a couple of pkgs. in the freezer, dehydrated the rest, and left it to go to seed. Dried greens are so handy...I'll do some kale and chard tomorrow.

Also froze a bunch of garlic scape pesto, and we picked huckleberries this evening. I'm thinking a batch of huck preserves, and next picking will go into the dehydrator (like little zingy raisins...mmmmm).

I have a 20 lb. box of apricots coming Monday...haven't decided what to do with those...

Small batches. White peach/white Merlot and white peach/Malbec low sugar jams. Well received thus far. I make gifts for friends. 'Tis all.