Author Topic: Bottling  (Read 1155 times)

Borderers1951

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Bottling
« on: August 19, 2018, 07:02:41 »
After a bumper year for most, though not all, my produce, We are running out of freezer space and are thinking of bottling some fruits and vegetables.  Specifically blackberries and possibly raspberries, although the raspberries tend to be eaten quickly.  On the veg side we have French beans, runners, carrots and tomatoes.  We have jams and pickles in plenty so we don't want to make any more, but things we can use from their jars is the way we wish to go.  Has anyone any experience of bottling their fruit and veg and if so is there anything we should avoid?

Vinlander

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Re: Bottling
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2018, 11:49:22 »
Firstly, if - like me you prefer fresh fruit to cooked then Rumtopft is best - pickling raw fruit in strong spirits. https://www.quick-german-recipes.com/rumtopf-fruit-preserved-in-alcohol.html

I would mash the raspberries with the blackberries and freeze it as lollies - absolutely delicious but even better with strawberries in the mix.

You can make the room they need in the freezer by removing stuff that doesn't work well (like green beans) and dealing with them as B) below.

Anything you can buy bottled is good bottled - generally better than canned stuff (because they know you can see if they've used rubbish).

The problem is avoiding botulism during bottling - you need to know more about it than I do - look it up - I always refresh my memory before doing it.

I am not an expert - the main points are simple but you MUST do your own research.

If you get the acidity pH right - either it's already sharp fruit or you add vinegar or citric - then you can just boil enough to cook them well & it can be OK, but with veg the slightly sour taste you notice can be offputting (canned or bottled mushrooms are the pits).

If you don't want veg slightly sour you have to boil them for hours or you are literally gambling with your life and anyone you give them to. The texture will suffer (if that bothers you) - see stews below.

Just like with freezing, bottling as veg stew (or halfway to a stew) can be a way of solving the problem:

A) You won't notice if you add a little sharpness to a stew before you bottle, so IF you get it right you can just use the water bath (look up the right temperature) to cook it well in the jar before tightening the lid.

B) A stew can come out delicious even when it's got virtually no texture left - if sharpness would ruin it then heat it long and hard according to the rules before tightening the lid. Then just add a few frozen peas and sliced onion as it comes out of the bottle, heat it up and nobody will notice anything odd about the texture.

Do the research!

Cheers.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 11:58:25 by Vinlander »
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Plot 18

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Re: Bottling
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2018, 15:56:03 »
In Italy, and Greece, they take anything that is left at the end of the year when they are clearing the garden, typically carrots, peppers, chilli, green tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower and any late mini tomatoes, one teaspoon of salt, one dessertspoon of sugar, one shot glass of white wine vinegar (50ml) a sprig of dill and a clove of garlic are optional additions.

Arrange whole veg and chunks of cabbage/cauli in a large jar, push herbs in, add salt and sugar and vinegar and fill to the top with (preferably, chlorine free) water and shake things up a little to distribute.
Waterbath for 20 minutes once you have slowly brought the bath up to simmer, cool till jars can be lifted out of pan, dry the jars and tighten lids down. Leave 'tll cold, by then the buttons in the lids should have popped down, to prove they've sealed properly.

These are eaten before most meals once the fresh salads stop growing, they're only very mildly acidic.

 

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