Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Autumn Work

Some of this year's peaches

Autumn is here! 

At this time of year, my mind always turns to CANNING.

My favorite (and my family's favorite) things for us to can are:

  • Salsa
  • Zucchini Relish
  • Peaches
  • Apple Pie Filling
  • Jelly
  • Apple Sauce
When I was growing up, my mom's house was "the place to be" in the neighborhood every late Summer and  Fall. Our friends would gather with us kids and my mom in the kitchen, where my mom had set up an assembly line along the breakfast bar and on the kitchen table. She put everyone to work, peeling peaches or tomatoes, and stuffing them in shiny glass jars.

You would think that our friends would avoid our house during this time. But in reality, they would bug us and beg us to let them know when our mom was ready to can each year.

There's nothing like good old work to bring a community together! :-)

Of course, there are other ways to preserve nature's bounty.
  • Freezing- We freeze the juice from our citrus trees.
  • Drying- My mom makes some killer fruit leather, and my husband's grandmother dries lots of vegetables to put in soups.
  • ???
How and what do you preserve in your home?

I'd love to hear all about your traditions in the Fall. :-)

Last year's Zucchini Relish

4 comments:

  1. I'm so sad to say that this year we have done nothing! :-( Hopefully that will change next year. Of course, it's not too late to get something going.

    Last year we did peaches, applesauce, and we dehydrated lots of vegetables. I attended a class where the lady dehydrates things and jars them up in recipes. Then she just adds the dry ingredients with meat and the wet canned foods and had some of the most delicious soups and casseroles. It was amazing! I've been meaning to do it myself. I only have dehydrated onions and carrots left. She basically prepared 3 months of meals in one week.

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  2. pickled beets--easiest canning ever! Next, plain canned apple slices (2nd easiest canning ever) and when I get a modern food mill/strainer thing, I'll do applesauce, only because I have so many boxes of free apples to do up and hardly any freezer space.

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