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Author Topic: Garden updates.  (Read 22437 times)

Offline bwallace23350

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #100 on: April 21, 2017, 12:38:43 pm »
If you want lycopene make sauce and add olive oil.

I have never made sauce. You got a good recipe for that? I would be interested to know the nutrient contents of black, yellow, red, and orange tomatoes. That about covers all the colors that I grow. Canning the different colours together sure does make a good looking jar.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #101 on: April 21, 2017, 01:46:43 pm »
We do it two ways.  One way is to freeze the tomatoes whole in wax cartons.  This allows us to can the tomato sauce at a later date when we have more time like fall or winter.  When you thaw them out the skins just about slip right off the tomatoes so you don't have to precook.  From scratch we rinse the tomatoes off and boil them maybe 20-30 minutes.  Then everything goes through the Squezo which looks like a meat grinder with a screen over the screw.  This separates the seeds and skins from the pulp.  After that they are boiled 3-4 hours reducing the heat over time.  The sauce should reduce by 1/2 to 2/3.  Then they are canned in qt ball jars.
The actual use of the sauce is when we add spices and that is just anything you prefer.  We use basil, fresh when we have it but we dry many jars of basil for future use.  You can put garlic, oregano, salt, pepper any hot stuff if you like it and sugar.  Of course we use honey instead of sugar.  Meats can be hamburg, pork, chicken, veal, venisen, baccon, or shrimp.  And don't forget extra virgin olive oil.  If you like chili then add any of those spices you like.  Experiment, that is what cooking is all about.
lots of times we throw kale, spinach, swish chard or beet greens in our pasta.  These are other vegetables you just wash and freeze usually in zip lock bags.
Brian Cardinal
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Offline bwallace23350

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #102 on: April 21, 2017, 02:20:06 pm »
We do it two ways.  One way is to freeze the tomatoes whole in wax cartons.  This allows us to can the tomato sauce at a later date when we have more time like fall or winter.  When you thaw them out the skins just about slip right off the tomatoes so you don't have to precook.  From scratch we rinse the tomatoes off and boil them maybe 20-30 minutes.  Then everything goes through the Squezo which looks like a meat grinder with a screen over the screw.  This separates the seeds and skins from the pulp.  After that they are boiled 3-4 hours reducing the heat over time.  The sauce should reduce by 1/2 to 2/3.  Then they are canned in qt ball jars.
The actual use of the sauce is when we add spices and that is just anything you prefer.  We use basil, fresh when we have it but we dry many jars of basil for future use.  You can put garlic, oregano, salt, pepper any hot stuff if you like it and sugar.  Of course we use honey instead of sugar.  Meats can be hamburg, pork, chicken, veal, venisen, baccon, or shrimp.  And don't forget extra virgin olive oil.  If you like chili then add any of those spices you like.  Experiment, that is what cooking is all about.
lots of times we throw kale, spinach, swish chard or beet greens in our pasta.  These are other vegetables you just wash and freeze usually in zip lock bags.

I might give it a shot. Do you only use red tomatoes?

Offline Acebird

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #103 on: April 21, 2017, 05:36:14 pm »
We don't normally can blood tomatoes we just eat them.  So yes just red and mostly Roma but my wife doesn't throw anything away so at the end of harvest all the dang cherry tomatoes go in along with any orange or yellow that haven't gone to rot.  Eating tomatoes are more watery so you have to cook them longer to get thicker sauce.
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Offline Captain776

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #104 on: April 22, 2017, 02:09:39 am »
My house has an 8 foot wall around it and on the inside, I stopped the grass 18" back.
In that space we grow a lot of Thai Chili's, 2 kinds of Basil, Corn, Watermelon, Okra, garlic, bell pepper, potatos, some other Thai fruit and veg I don't know the name of.
Very hard to have success here, so many insects and I won't use poison. I do spray with dish soap and lime juice to distract the leaf eaters and I do get natural products from the large commercial farm supplier here.
We have a Malaysian apples, 4 kinds of Mango, coconuts, and I have 4 pineapples planted, they are growing but no fruit yet. The lime tree is prolific, so many limes from a small bush and we have Pomelo's. I love nice cold Pomelo, it is like a cross between an orange and grapefruit. Gets bigger than a grapefruit, very thick skin, hard to peel but the rewards are tasty.
Bought my first NUC April 7, 2016.
Like all you when you first started, I am fascinated with beginning Beekeeping and trying to learn all I can.
I retired May 2015 and have added this to my short list of hobbies.

Offline bwallace23350

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Re: Garden updates.
« Reply #105 on: April 24, 2017, 09:37:58 am »
My house has an 8 foot wall around it and on the inside, I stopped the grass 18" back.
In that space we grow a lot of Thai Chili's, 2 kinds of Basil, Corn, Watermelon, Okra, garlic, bell pepper, potatos, some other Thai fruit and veg I don't know the name of.
Very hard to have success here, so many insects and I won't use poison. I do spray with dish soap and lime juice to distract the leaf eaters and I do get natural products from the large commercial farm supplier here.
We have a Malaysian apples, 4 kinds of Mango, coconuts, and I have 4 pineapples planted, they are growing but no fruit yet. The lime tree is prolific, so many limes from a small bush and we have Pomelo's. I love nice cold Pomelo, it is like a cross between an orange and grapefruit. Gets bigger than a grapefruit, very thick skin, hard to peel but the rewards are tasty.

Pomelos are good. They are selling them in the states now when in season. I would love to hear more about the Thai fruit and veggies you don't know the name of.