Kudos to Farm Girl. My basil always gets spotty when I dry it and have not gotten any oregano this year.
I do hang dry nettles, cat mint, and peppermint to use for tea. It is raining today, though so it is not a good day to get more mint.
Let me start by saying that I am a canner, both waterbath (fruits and pickles) and pressure canning (meats and vegetables), so today’s activity is not a challenge in itself.
However, the last two days I did try something new! I grew cabbage this year and decided to try and preserve it. So, I canned coleslaw, it is basically pickled cabbage. I used a strong vinegar and honey syrup and, while probably overkill, also used the pressure canner because I was a bit paranoid about canning cabbage, so the slaw should be fine. For pickling, you only need a water bath. But, since the slaw was so full of veggies, I decided to pressure can it for 15 minutes just to be safe.
One batch of 8 pints is regular slaw: cabbage, carrots, some red bell pepper, and red onion with celery seed and mustard seed in the vinegar and honey pickling syrup. Another four jars substituted the last two vegetables with pineapple tidbits and golden raisins and green onions, plus some pineapple juice and no mustard seed. I tried that one and I really like it. The third batch (four jars) was an experiment. Besides the cabbage, I used red onion, a Granny Smith and a Gala apple, plus Craisins, and fennel seeds.
After I open a jar, we can eat it as is, with the pickling brine, or drain it and add a mayo based dressing. I am looking forward to the two fruity ones, in a mayo dressing on a bun with pulled pork.
The next thing I hope to can is an “Unstuffed Cabbage Roll”. Basically, just cut the cabbage into smaller pieces, and put the tomato sauce and hamburger in a jar and pressure can quarts for 90 minutes.
i started canning when I realized that the food I bought at the larger grocery store was grown on depleted soil, lost nutritional value during transport, had too many additives (sugars and salt) and the cans were lined with BPA. The vegetables are from the farmer’s market or our garden.
So, now I create most of the dinners we like to eat into large batches so I can can them. I was surprised at how easy it is to can dinners. Personally, I have more trouble dehydrating foods to the proper temperature so they are dry enough to store. Yes, the pressure canner and jars are an investment, but they do not depreciate. A case of jars here, and another there, and pretty soon you have a thousand jars and a pantry full of jewel tones of fruits, jellies, pickles, vegetables, plus meats and complete dinners! My grandchildren are happy to pick out their favorite to take home with them after a visit. (They know to save the jars.)