Sunday, June 17, 2012

Learning you can can – a good survival skill!


One of the old saying that have always stuck in my head was the one that states, ‘give a man a fish and feed him for one day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.’ Not sure if that is the exact quote, but the meaning is sure clear. If things get rough and food at the grocery gets scarce, having canned goods put by (and the knowledge of how to can) can make all the difference. Can-can??

To that end, I bought just a few of the bare essentials and gave canning a batch of homemade salsa a go. For this, my first ever foray into the world of canning, I decided to make something that would not be easy to screw up. After all, I reasoned, salsa is not much more than some chopped tomatoes along with a few other veggies that are mixed with seasonings. I mean how hard could it be? Hmmm?

I also picked choose to use a high acid item (like tomatoes) as it would allow me to forego the purchase of a pressure cooker in favor of a simple hot water bath – much less expensive. My total expenses for everything you see here was about $35 which ain’t too bad. And, I must admit I was a little excited to see how it would all work out! For my first effort, I elected to make just two eight ounce jars. That way if things didn’t go well, I could cut my losses.

To begin with, I secured the following list of needed ingredients to make a custom blend:

1 pound of Roma tomatoes (less water and more meat)
1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/3 cup of onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
¼ tsp dried oregano
1 banana pepper (about 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp of parsley (fresh)
3 pinches of black pepper
1 tsp of dried red cayenne pepper, crushed
2 tbsp of diced celery
3 ounces of tomato paste (adds extra body)
4 tbsp of lemon juice (increases the overall acidity)
1 tsp chili powder (for some added heat)

The most involved thing I had to do in making this salsa was to remove the skins from the tomatoes. This was accomplished by dunking them into boiling water for just a minute then fishing them out and placing them into a bowl of ice water. After they’ve cooled, the skin slips right off!

Next, I used a mini food processor to dice up half the tomatoes and all the celery, onion, garlic and banana pepper. (The other half of the tomatoes were roughly chopped up to give some body to the salsa). This mixture went into a pot, to which I added the rest of the ingredients. Finally, everything was heated to a very low simmer for about 30 minutes to kill any bacteria and to render the natural enzymes inoperative (prevents spoilage). This mix was then poured immediately into the canning jars that had been sitting in a bath (along with the lids and tops) for about ten minutes. After filling each jar to within a quarter inch of the top, the lids were affixed with the bands to assure a good seal and then they were lowered into the boiling water for fifteen minutes (the time will vary according to your height above sea level). Once the time was up, I removed the two jars and placed them on a rack to cool overnight. That’s it! Not very complex after all.

How did the salsa taste? Well, I had some left over which sat in the fridge overnight. I tried it the next day with some tortilla chips and was astounded at how much better it tasted than the store bought stuff! I decided to label my jars ‘Salsa mei Balza’ as eating this stuff really takes some major cojones!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Vegetable gardens in small spaces!



It’s always amazed me how easy it is to set up a miniature vegetable garden in a very small space! Just clear some ground, plants some seeds, water and let er go! Pictured here I have a good number of vegetables growing in a space that measures about 2 by 3 feet. The cucumber vine (Straight Eight) is already producing (it’s only mid June) and just off to the right I have a pole bean plant (Kentucky Wonder) loaded with plenty of great tasting beans now ready to be picked!

These small areas are in addition to my more formal raised beds that are located out back. But, since I planted these guys so close to the front door, it’s easy to grab something off the vine when I get home after a day away!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Mini harvests that match a person’s needs!



Everything here is from my garden!
One of the few talents I’ve developed with time concerns my ability to plan and plant out the right proportion of vegetables such that, during the summer months, I always have enough mature veggies each day to satisfy my needs. It’s a talent, because I also don’t have much that doesn’t get used. (Any leftovers get tossed either into a compost pile or they’re placed right back into the ground in an unused spot in the beds).

Pictured here is a day’s harvest the contained some carrots, an onion and a cucumber that will serve to make a couple of salads. I’d already harvested some lettuce which was stored in a crisper a couple of days before. I also added some raw snow peas to the mix to complete a nice set of salads. Throw on a little oil and vinegar and I’ll enjoy produce that came out of my ground and which is also very nutritious to boot!

Speaking of those snow peas, I’m letting quite a few pods mature so that I can replant them next spring and not have to worry about the cost of seed. Interestingly, I’ll also have more plants than this year and they’ll be free!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

First potato harvested!



While it’s definitely on the smallish side (3” x 2”) and only about 95 grams, it still will make a nice side to my dinner this evening! It’s a Russet and was grown from some old store bought Russet’s I planted earlier this spring. Since potatoes offer up about a calorie a gram, this one will come in at about 90 calories after it is nuked in the microwave.

Potatoes grown this way are the gift that just keeps on giving! As long as the plants survive that is. I’m hoping to have a modest harvest this season and will plan to grow more next year. While I am not in a survival mode, I am getting prepared as best I can for tougher economic conditions in 2013!