7 Easy Ways to preserve food at home
The world is now facing severe economic crisis and in the coming months food shortages and inflated prices is to be expected. It is during such turbulent times like now, that we are looking to extending the shelf life of our food. If you are like me cooking all meals from scratch, then you are in the right place. In this blog post, I am sharing 7 easy ways to preserve food at home during times of crisis and food shortages.
Top 10 Sea Buckthorn Recipes
Did you know that Sea Buckthorn berries are a power house of antioxidants and vitamins especially Vit C and Vit A ? Sea Buckthorn is a miracle plant that gives us one of the best types of berries in the world. These berries are too good to be wasted with just jellies, so I have compiled together top 10 Sea Buckthorn Recipes in this post. I will also be giving you tips on harvesting them easily.
Applesauce using Kitchenaid Foodstrainer
Homemade Applesauce using Kitchenaid foodstrainer Homemade applesauce using Kitchenaid food strainer attachment is easy to make. I will show you how its made in this tutorial. I will be using simple home canning techniques. We were lucky to pick fresh organic apples ourselves straight from the tree opposite to our house end of August this year.
Sea Buck thorn berries Harvest & Preserves
Sea Buckthorn Berries Harvest & Preserves Ingredients Cooking Instructions Jump to Recipe September was a busy time for us in preparing for the winter planting after the summer holiday break and harvest season of Fall Garden . Sea buck thorn berries was one of the first on the list of September harvests in addition to some butternut squash and the remaining summer vegetables. As a result of the good harvest we had, I had to find a quick way to preserve them. Due to lack of time we decided to make them into jams. I will get to that in the second half of this blog post. Table of Contents What are Sea Buckthorn Berries? These berries are also called as Sandthorn or Sallowthorn. The German word is Sanddorn. These common shrubs have dense and stiff branches and are very thorny. The leaves on these shrubs are a distinct pale silvery-green color. “The buckthorn berry plants are dioecious with separate male and female plants. The males produce brownish flowers which produce wind distributed pollen to the female plants. The female plants as a result of the pollination produce orange berries which are oval and are about 6 -9 mm in diameter. The sea buck thorn berries are soft, juicy and rich in oils.” More information about the sea buckthorn berries and shrubs can be found in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippophae Harvesting Tips For harvesting the berries you will need a good pair of thick gardening gloves as the branches are laden with thick and sharp thorns and a good pair of very sharp shrub cutter. Cut the branches with the berries. Then carefully pick the berries from the branches for use. Uses of Sandthorn Berries These berries are made into jams, teas, liquors and cosmetics. I have personally bought hand creams, and body lotions made out of sandthorn berries. Because I had very little time to try out other ways to preserve these berries, I choose to go for the easiest and fool proof option. I made a jam out of it. The jam would make an ideal Christmas present since I love giving gifts made personally by me. Check out also my post on Top 10 Sea Buckthorn Recipes. How to make Sea Buckthorn Berry Jam? Ingredients List 1000g of Buckthorn berries 500g of pectin sugar 75 ml of water. Clean sterilized glass jars Cooking Instructions Add the water to the berries and cook the berries till soft and the skin starts to crack. Mash the berries using a sieve or a food mill. You can also use the puree attachment of your mixer. Add the sugar to the fruit puree and cook it down to thicken the jelly. This takes about 20 min. To test if its ready for bottling , drop a few drops on to a plate and tilt it. If the jelly is still flowing when the plate is tilted, therefore its not yet ready for the bottling process. Repeat this process till the jelly stops flowing and fill into sterilized jars immediately. Close the lids tightly. Watch the Video Recipe Card Sea Buckthorn Berries Jam Servings 50 servingsPrep time 60 minutesCooking time 20 minutes Ingredients 1000g of Buckthorn berries 500g of pectin sugar 75ml of water Clean sterilized glass jars Directions Add the water to the berries and cook the berries till soft and the skin starts to crack. Mash the berries using a sieve or a food mill. You can also use the puree attachment of your mixer. Add the sugar to the fruit puree and cook it down to thicken the jelly. This takes about 20 min. To test if its ready for bottling , drop a few drops on to a plate and tilt it. If the jelly is still flowing when the plate is tilted, therefore its not yet ready for the bottling process. Repeat this process till the jelly stops flowing and fill into sterilized jars immediately. Close the lids tightly. Frequently Asked Questions Accordion Tab Title 1 Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Accordion Tab Title 2 Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Accordion Tab Title 3 Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Leave a ReplyPlease enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *Email *Website / URLMessageCheckboxes Yes, add me to your mailing list. Submit Popular Recipes Subscribe Signup for our NewsletterUnlock a world of flavor, creativity, and green living. Subscribe for exclusive recipes, DIY tutorials, and gardening advice.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *Email * Submit Popular Recipes
3 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes
3 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes Ingredients Cooking Instructions Jump to Recipe Tomatoes in ripening from the summer heat and sunlight are the sweetest and best. Enjoy your summer harvest longer using these 3 ways to preserve tomatoes. We had a really good harvest of tomatoes from our Organic vegetable harvest this year because of the green house and a really warm summer so far. We cannot use them all up so quickly at once due to the sheer volume of our produce. Even as I am writing about the star of our produce this year they are growing and ripening on the plants. They taste the best in summer and when you grow them yourself you have a better control on when best to harvest them. Its good to let them ripen a little on the plants itself before harvesting them. This way they taste the best and sweet too. I had to find different ways of preserving summer tomatoes to make it last longer till the next season. There are other ways to do it too. I am writing about the 3 easy ways to preserve summer tomatoes at home easily. You can look up in this site for more information. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8116.pdf Table of Contents Ingredients List Tomatoes Instructions 1. FreezeThis was a trick my aunt used to do. Pick good tomatoes which are ripe yet firm. Wash and dry them and pack it into Ziploc bags.These tomatoes are good for soups but cannot be used for salads. I still have a couple of frozen tomatoes from last year in my freezer. I used them up for small soups till now.This is probably not effective if you have constant power cuts and not enough freezer space. Hence the 2nd method is probably for you. 2. CanningThis is an age old way of preserving any fresh produce to make it last longer. There are many advantages to canning your fresh produce. By canning you can make your produce last throughout the year till the next season. Before the advent of globalization and refrigeration this was the way most people ate a variety of foods especially in colder climates. For a one time investment you can reuse the jars and avoid wastes and thereby save costs.https://www.ehow.com/list_7286825_advantages-canning-food_.html Method for canning summer tomatoes Boil a big pot of water and drop the tomatoes gently into it. This process is called Blanching which helps to peel the skin of the tomatoes easily. While the tomatoes are cooking sterilize the glass jars. I used up cycled glass jars from previous sauces and condiments. These jars had already undergone a dishwasher cycle and I heated them in the oven at 100 deg. centigrade hot air. Sterilize the lids separately in hot water in a separate pot. Dry the lids thoroughly without any trace of moisture. Cook the tomatoes till it softens and the skin starts peeling off. Transfer them into a food mill and puree them. The food mill is useful for de -seeding and peeling the tomatoes and can used for other fruits and vegetables. Boil and thicken the tomato puree for about 30 minutes before transferring them into sterilized jars. Watch the Video Recipe Card Pin Print 3 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes Servings 4 servingsPrep time 30 minutesCooking time 40 minutesCalories 300 kcal Ingredients Tomatoes Methods Freeze This was a trick my aunt used to do. Pick good tomatoes which are ripe yet firm. Wash and dry them and pack it into Ziploc bags.These tomatoes are good for soups but cannot be used for salads. I still have a couple of frozen tomatoes from last year in my freezer. I used them up for small soups till now.This is probably not effective if you have constant power cuts and not enough freezer space. Hence the 2nd method is probably for you. CanningThis is an age old way of preserving any fresh produce to make it last longer. There are many advantages to canning your fresh produce. By canning you can make your produce last throughout the year till the next season. Before the advent of globalization and refrigeration this was the way most people ate a variety of foods especially in colder climates. For a one time investment you can reuse the jars and avoid wastes and thereby save costs. Method for canning summer tomatoes Boil a big pot of water and drop the tomatoes gently into it. This process is called Blanching which helps to peel the skin of the tomatoes easily. While the tomatoes are cooking sterilize the glass jars. I used up cycled glass jars from previous sauces and condiments. These jars had already undergone a dishwasher cycle and I heated them in the oven at 100 deg. centigrade hot air. Sterilize the lids separately in hot water in a separate pot. Dry the lids thoroughly without any trace of moisture. Cook the tomatoes till it softens and the skin starts peeling off. Transfer them into a food mill and puree them. The food mill is useful for de -seeding and peeling the tomatoes and can used for other fruits and vegetables. Boil and thicken the tomato puree for about 30 minutes before transferring them into sterilized jars. Fill the jars to the brim. Add about half a teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoon or lemon juice before closing the jars. Wipe off any traces of the sauce around the rims with a kitchen paper towel. Open the jars slightly to release the pressure and close it back tightly again. Place all the jars into boiling water for about 10-15 minutes. You will hear and see the lids popping up which is a sign that the jars have sealed well. Making Sauces -another way to preserve summer tomatoes I made pizza sauces to use in case of emergency. Moreover tomatoes taste best during the summer months. Since last year I make some extra pizza sauces ready to use. Just a few jars not more. Scroll down for the printable