As a young mom, I served in my ward's Relief Society Presidency. It was an amazing learning experience and I loved the sisters I served with. Our Relief Society President used to talk about her past "lives" and how she used to do things, but had let go of them to do other things. It is crazy to think that now I am about the same age she was when I first knew her. It is a little humbling to realize that I am an "old mom" and that now I also think about my past lives and have to make a decision every day how to spend my time.
In one of my past lives, I was a canner. Every year we would coincide our summer Utah trip so that we would come back home to Denver in the height of peach/pear season on Colorado's Western Slope. We would stop and buy boxes of peaches and pears, squishing our kids into the smallest possible spaces to make room for fruit. Then we would spend the next several days canning, usually while trying to help babies and small children resume a regular nap routine.
Fast forward to now when we have our own fruit trees and a bunch of fruit that needs processing. We canned a bit our first couple years in California, but then soon realized that there is always something growing, so fresh fruit is always available. We did not eat our canned fruit because who wants canned when something else is fresh?
Living on our "farm" with 200 fruit trees, grapes, blackberries, and a garden usually gives us a pretty good variety of food year-round. We try to eat as much as possible, process some, and give away some too. Today, I thought I would share some of our "preserving techniques" in what we have learned the last few years.
Canning: Ok, we still do a little. We can pickles with our home-grown cucumbers, and I have canned pickled beets. These are 2 things you do have to can to get the right flavor.
Jam: In June we pick blackberries like crazy, just over a gallon a day at their peak. We freeze some in ziploc bags to make pies and have on top of our oatmeal in the mornings, but the majority get made into freezer jam. My kids love it and if we have especially yummy pancakes, we can go through a pint in one meal. We also put up guava freezer jam in the fall as that is usually when our guavas hit peak production and our blackberry jam is running low.
Saucing: Our Applesaucer definitely gets the most miles at our house. It is a hand-cranked contraption that separates seeds/skins from fruit. I used to use it when I canned applesauce (in another life), but now we use it to sauce our soft guavas. We put the sauce in ice cube trays, freeze it, and use the guava to make smoothies. Many of our babies have loved eating the guava sauce. My nephew used to clammor for "globa." I also use our saucer to puree our pumpkins (post-Halloween--after they are cooked) and if we have an abundance of cherry tomatoes, I will also make them into tomato sauce. (Freezing both after processing)
Juicing: The grapes and hard guava we can't eat gets juiced. It is usually a weekly event and we have produced up to 5 gallons of guava juice in one week. We drink it for about every meal until it is gone, then it's about time to juice some more!
Citrus Juicing: We tend to pick most of our citrus just as we need it, but there are times when the lemons and limes get a bit overloaded. We juice a bunch at a time and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. It makes for a quick pitcher of lemonade or limeade!
Freezing: With our own trees and garden, it is often hard to get a big quantity of something to can. The freezer has become our friend. As tomatoes are ripe (and too much for us to eat), I wash them, cut out the stem part and any bad parts, and throw them in the freezer in Ziploc bags. When it is time to use them, I just run them under hot water and the skins come right off...awesome for use in soups or spaghetti sauce. I have also frozen zucchini, though it doesn't freeze great. If I grate it, I can make zucchini bread. If I slice it, It doesn't taste too bad in soups.
I know I haven't covered everything, but these are some of the methods we use to preserve our food past its season. I rarely buy fruit or vegetables at the store and with our awesome growing climate, it isn't too hard to grow something, even if it is only in a little pot.
I challenge you to find something to grow...plant more than you think you will need and find a way that is easy for you to preserve the excess. You will be amazed at the satisfaction you will feel when you pull it from the freezer or your shelf. It's a great feeling!
