It has been a couple of very busy weeks for myself and my family as we take advantage of the bounty of produce that summer brings. We put up green beans and beets in the pressure canner, and we made applesauce for the freezer. My mom, aunt, and grandma also made apple pies to freeze, but I decided to just can apple pie filling in a water bath since vegans require a special crust that I would rather make fresh when we want a pie. I also found a local deal on u-pick green bell peppers, and at 4 for $1, I couldn’t pass up stocking up for the year. Since pictures sometimes speak louder than words, here are some photos of all of the processes...
These were 15 pound boxes and we bought 4 of them at $16 a piece. We ended up with 80 pints of green beans, which calculates out to 80 cents a jar (each pint is 16 ounces of beans).
We snapped both ends off and washed the beans in a water bath. This is where you throw out any bad or discolored beans. We had to throw out quite a bit this year, and probably could have ended up with a total of 90-100 jars if we hadn't lost so many. What we learned: can the green beans the same day you bring them home, if at all possible, to avoid losing some of them.
We snapped them into fairly uniform pieces...
and stuffed them into our pint jars. We added a half teaspoon of canning/pickling salt to each jar.
They were then filled with boiling water, leaving one inch of headspace. The clean, boiled lids and rings were then assembled.
They then went into the pressure canner. I have always been afraid of my pressure canner, but once I learned how to use it, I found it to be pretty easy. Just be sure to read your directions carefully before you begin. And also, steam burns are painful... oops.
We processed at ten pounds of pressure for 20 minutes.
The finished product. We covered them and let them cool completely in Grandma's garage before moving them into our pantries.
Here are most of the jars of beans.
For the beets, we bought a 20 pound bag for $17. We ended up with 28 jars, which breaks down to about 61 cents a jar. First, they needed to be sorted into fairly uniform size groups, and then boiled for about 20-30 minutes to remove skins.
Then they are peeled and cut into smaller pieces to be stuffed into pint jars.
Each jar gets a half teaspoon of canning/pickling salt, and filled to a one inch headspace with boiling water. The clean, boiled lids and rings are then assembled, and they are processed at ten pounds in the pressure canner for 30 minutes.
The finished product...aren't they a beautiful color? We also made one batch of pickled beets for my grandma because she loves them. We used a simple recipe of salt, sugar, water, and vinegar, and cut the beets into about 1/4 inch slices. We processed them in a water bath instead of the pressure canner, and they turned out great. We are planning on making more pickled beets next year.
We had the privilege of watching my niece overnight while we did all of this canning. My husband was more than happy to rise to the occasion of getting her to take an evening nap so we could finish up. We also learned that she does not like beets... at all.
The next day was apple day. This is a picture of my grandma's Golden Delicious apple tree. There are more apples than leaves on it right now. I asked my mom how long these apple trees have been feeding our family, and learned it has been about 50 years. We did not use any of the Golden Delicious apples for our applesauce and pie. We will save those for another day.
Instead, we used Gravensteins.
These apples photograph so well. Here are two sitting on my grandpa's old wooden ladder.
I love how this picture looks like the tree is just holding the apples in it's hand.
Here are some of the bunch we collected as we were getting ready to start the peeling.
I see you!
First we cut...
Then we peeled. These are Grandma's hands... she has been doing this for decades.
Then we cut into smaller pieces.
They went into a pot with water, and we boiled until the apples became soft. We then used a potato masher to turn them into sauce of the right consistency. We like our applesauce a little chunky around here.
We don't really use a recipe. We just added sugar and cinnamon to taste, which was about a quarter cup and 1 tablespoon, respectively. Applesauce is not a science- just make it the way you like it. Remember, it is easier to add more than to take away, so add slowly and taste often.
We then filled our pint jars and left about an inch and a half of headspace since the sauce will expand once frozen. Finding a broken jar in your freezer is such a disappointment, so be careful not to overfill.
We let them cool entirely before popping the jars into the freezer. No processing required for freezer applesauce. Applesauce holds its texture after being frozen, so that was a few extra steps we could eliminate. You can process your applesauce in a water bath if you would rather have shelf stable sauce, or if you don't have the room in a freezer. We made about 34 jars, and since the apples were free from the backyard, it only cost us the price of the new lids we put on them.
Cooling... I just liked this picture.
Here are some apples that I went home with for my apple pie filling. They are sitting next to a giant zucchini that someone brought to church for me. That is a nickel sitting on the zucchini to give you a reference of how big it was. I am so grateful for this family's generosity.
With flowers from a dinner guest and friend.
The zucchini was washed and peeled.
Then it was seeded.
Then cut into smaller pieces, put into three separate freezer bags, and put into the freezer. I plan on adding it to soups during the cold fall and winter months.
The apples for the apple pie filling were washed, peeled, and sliced. I filled three quart jars with them to be processed.
The pie sauce was a mixture of 4 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup cornstarch, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and 10 cups water, brought to a boil while it thickens.
The jars were filled to about a half inch headspace with the sauce and processed in a water bath for 20 minutes.
I also ended up with 4 pints of just the pie sauce to freeze for later use.
These are the green bell peppers that I picked from a local farm. I picked 28, and at 4 for $1, it only cost me $7. I only use green bell peppers in my homemade marinara and sometimes in our veggie fajitas. Otherwise, I typically use red because that is what my husband prefers. I have yet to find a u-pick farm that has red bell peppers in our area. But if I do find one, I will probably pick more than 28. The green bell peppers that we usually see in our local stores run about $1 to $2, so 25 cents a piece and only ten minutes to pick all of them was a great deal. I think I have enough to last the whole year. First I washed them in a vinegar and water solution.
Then I let them air dry for a few hours.
Then they were each seeded and diced, and put into FoodSaver bags.
The air was then sucked out of the bags.
Here they all are, ready to go into the freezer. I decided to do one pepper per bag because that makes a lot of sense for our cooking purposes. You may want to put all of yours into one bag and just take from it as you need, which works great too.
Here are some other photos from my grandma's backyard:
Crocosmia in bloom.
These are the hydrangeas that I used in my wedding two years ago, and they are blooming in the same color again now. My mom and aunt picked them the morning of our wedding, and my mom and mother-in-law delivered them to a local woman that makes wedding bouquets and centerpiece arrangements. I loved that extra personal touch, and I was very grateful that I could share that experience with my grandma, who went home with my bouquet at the end of the day...
How cute is she?!
And at the end of the canning marathon, a little agave wine margarita to celebrate. Next up is corn and pears this weekend. Thanks for reading!
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