- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #861
Picked some roma tomatoes today to start dehydrating. I like to dry a bunch as they are easy to use when you don't need a whole pint or quart of canned. Different taste as well.
What's Growing in the Garden
- Thread starter trc65
- Start date
We've got okra and weeds. Everything else burned to a crisp. Even the okra is looking kinda puny...
This week I'm going to start spreading compost and tilling (if it'll go ahead and rain). Get things ready for mid Sept and try for a fall crop.
Alan
This week I'm going to start spreading compost and tilling (if it'll go ahead and rain). Get things ready for mid Sept and try for a fall crop.
Alan
Tim, dehydrating tomatoes to use later on in dishes/cooking is something I've been wanting to explore and I've been planning to dehydrate some this year. Do you leave them whole? Grind them up into a powder? I've seen suggestions for both and just trying to get a feel for how they could be used before I dry some.
Really needed to get into the garden yesterday to harvest, but it rained, so it had to wait until today. More beans - they're producing good right now. A few poblano peppers and a whole bunch of shishito peppers. Pulled up a few carrots. Cucumbers are coming in slowly, but that's honestly a good pace - we're currently at the stage where we're able to eat them as we get them and aren't overrun with them yet.
Picked up 5 dozen sweet corn. 4 dozen will become freezer corn and the other dozen we'll eat on the cob over the course of this week.
Picked up 5 dozen sweet corn. 4 dozen will become freezer corn and the other dozen we'll eat on the cob over the course of this week.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #865
I just use roma/ sauce type tomatoes for dehydrating, regular slicers have too much moisture/lower solids.
A lot of these are 6-8oz tomatoes, so most of these are quartered for drying. Smaller ones may just be halved. I cut the stem end off, cut in half lengthwise and remove any green/white core, then quarter them. Before drying, I'll sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt on them and mix well. Let them sit for 30-60 minutes and a lot of moisture will be drawn out and shorten time in dehydrator. Drain, and place on dehydrator skin side down. A full load takes between 24-30 hours on my dehydrator which is an old American Harvest with 4 circular trays ~ 13" interior (useable) diameter. A full load will just about fill up a quart jar when dried.
You don't need to salt them if you are concerned about sodium, it just speeds up the process a little. I rotate trays a couple times to keep things more even. Don't ever place them with the cut side laying on the trays. If you do, those pieces will be next to impossible to remove and you'll spend a lot of time soaking and scrubbing the trays.
In addition to using them in soups and stews, I'll often break up a few pieces in a bowl of Ramen along with some leftover meat for a quick lunch. Also use them with pasta dishes. Most of the time I just break them up and toss them in whatever, but you could rehydrate them and add to a salad, cold pasta dish, ect.
Here's a picture I just took, about 3 hours on the dehydrator. The tomatoes were just touching each other when I loaded trays.
Last edited:
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #866
When it rains it pours. Just got in from picking the first pears this tree produced. They are 'StarKing Delicious'. Bartlett type pear that is a couple weeks earlier maturing.
Squirrels always got the few that my tree produced.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #868
In spite of backing up to a timber, really don't see any squirrels. Have lots of barn cats that help keep them away.
Anyone ever make corn stock before?
It's been a few years since I've made some, so I decided to today after cutting corn off the cobs for freezer corn. Real easy to make. Put the cobs in a pot, fill up with water, put in a little salt (optional), and bring up to a low boil for about 30 minutes. Cool and strain. Nice way to get a little bit extra out of something that is just going to get tossed.
Really captures that fresh corn flavor. Great for adding a little taste of summer in soups during winter - especially in potato soup. I didn't make a lot, certainly didn't use even half cobs I had from today, but made 6 quarts, which is what I thought I'd maybe still have room for in the freezer after everything else eventually makes it in there over the next couple months.
It's been a few years since I've made some, so I decided to today after cutting corn off the cobs for freezer corn. Real easy to make. Put the cobs in a pot, fill up with water, put in a little salt (optional), and bring up to a low boil for about 30 minutes. Cool and strain. Nice way to get a little bit extra out of something that is just going to get tossed.
Really captures that fresh corn flavor. Great for adding a little taste of summer in soups during winter - especially in potato soup. I didn't make a lot, certainly didn't use even half cobs I had from today, but made 6 quarts, which is what I thought I'd maybe still have room for in the freezer after everything else eventually makes it in there over the next couple months.
Man, that has become my favorite pepper. A little oil in a pan and a quick blister with a little sea salt...yummy.... or just 45 -60 seconds in the microwave if I'm feeling lazy
Yup, they are awesome and blistering them in a pan and finishing with a little coarse sea salt or lava salt is how we usually eat them too. Our whole bunch today was almost 50 peppers - with lots more to come! I grilled them up today as it was quicker to do a big batch on the grill. Whatever didn't get eaten with dinner got chopped up and is in the freezer and will be good for adding into dishes during the winter. I've also pickled a couple pints of them cut into rings and hope to pickle more - I did a refrigerator pickle on them since I'm not sure how well they'd hold up to the heat and time of hot water bathing them. We have found shishito plants to be very prolific producers and get lots of peppers from just 5 plants.
Dinner tonight was all done on the grill and was good eating - shishitos, yellow squash, corn on the cob, and filet mignon. (For the record, I don't go out and buy filet - or any steaks! - we get our beef by the quarter, so there's all kinds of good cuts in our freezer.) We ate good and the steak was perhaps the best steak I've ever grilled.
Last edited:
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #873
Never heard of that pepper before, but it's going on my seed list for next year!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #874
An option for delicate things that are pickled is pasteurization. Instead of a rolling boil, temp is kept between 180-185° for 30 minutes. Here's a page that talks about it. https://twiceastasty.com/canning/techniques/#:~:text=Pasteurizing,F and 185°F.
I've only done this with some small whole pickles that were lacto fermented. They were definitely crisp, but didn't run a comparison with BWB for a real test.
I did my last batch of pickles that way after you had mentioned it, so well see.
Do you typically order seed from the same place each year or mix it up depending on availability? We’ve ordered from a few places but seem to run into the fact that there’s always a few things out of stock.
I was thinking about ordering these off of ebay, but wonder about reliability.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #879
I try to minimize the number of places I order from to keep shipping costs down. Two main sources for flowers, and one for veggies. I get catalogs from about 10 different places.
What’s your recommendation on supplier for veggie seed if you don’t mind?