TOTM August 2016- Beyond Farm to Table: Preserving the Harvest

I have come across this digital book called Lost Ways. It is full of recipes of how our forefathers lived. What we call survival they called daily life. I have attached the link
http://bit.ly/1ST9vt7. Do let me know your thoughts.

 

Would you mind expanding on your cool storage? I have a closet that maintains a cooler temp then the rest of the house. I have often thought of using the crawl space under the house, not sure if that is a good idea.

 

Glad to! When I built my home, I built in a large pantry in the center of the house and it has top and bottom ventilation fans to maintain temps of around 45 deg F. Summer time, the top fan is pulling air out of the space, and winter times the foor fan is pulling air in from the rest of the house. It has a large crawl space under the home that it pulls from to maintain cooler temps! I also have a "root cellar" where I keep my brewing's and cheeses and hanging meat! That space is more secured, but isn't really temp controlled, Below ground temps usually stay in the 40's F. year round!

 

Smart @Ura-Ki like that design.

 

Ura-Ki What type of cooling system. I see you have ventilation on both ends, is the cooling system your root cellar?

 

I have been canning all my life my grandparents tout my parents a they showed us, my apple trees got taken out by a twister but the man next door said I could have all his so I will be picking them soon, making pie filling and apple butter. we canned what we got from the garden this spring and still getting some stuff. but I will till it under soon for fall garden. we had also got a few wild blackberry's and made some good Jam. will be making a bigger garden next spring some raised beds. we also can our fish that we catch. it is like a never ending job for us but we are retired and love doing it.

 

Willing to post some pics? I would love to see this design,

 

Correct, the two are linked via a grate in the floor that doubles as an access in case I need to get down there and the snow is piled up outside blocking the normal access! The lower fan is a low speed unit that gently pulls air up, the upper fan pulls the air out, and I can shut the floor access fan off! To root cellar also has a small low speed fan to pull ground level air into the cellar! The best part is the constant air flow keeps mildew and condensation to a minimum in both places!

 

I will see if I can get pictures of my blue prints! I don't know if any pictures of the pantry or cellar will help but I will try and get some and post them up! Basically what I did was excavate out a 20X20 hole in the ground and pored the floor and walls, then built the house on top and that's it. there is an outside ramp tothe lower storage area, and the pantry is smack dab center of the house with the kitchen to the right and dinning area in front of both, the back wall of the dining room it the side wall of the pantry!

 

What is your favorite way to dry and store herbs? I have some mint in my closet but it is not getting the airflow that I think it needs. The door is always open and I chose the closet because it is out of the household smells and cooking grease and scents that float around. I burn candles and I wonder if that will get on them. Do people use oxygen absorbents when storing herbs?

 

I just hang mine. the small leaf like oregano I hang inside a mesh laundry basket. I suppose if you were hanging them in the attic you could place paper under them to catch the smaller leaves as they shed. But I dry mine on the porch, tied to the rafters up next to the house.

herbs | Survival Monkey Forums

Mesh bag, cheap to make get marine netting from Walmart for 99 cents a yard and add draw string
Amazon.com: Whitmor Mesh Laundry Bag, White: Home & Kitchen

You can find these for 1.99 this time of year
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007CXQQ6/?tag=survivalmonke-20

 

We have canned so much we're out of room for jar's. We are now dehydrating all kinds of stuff. Peaches, Peppers, Tomatoes, blueberries, Okra.....
There is a spice called Slap Yo Mama my wife sprinkles it on the cherry tomatoes (cut in half) cucumbers slices and okra, then eats them for a trail mix.
I really like the peaches, we got about 50 lbs. this year. The blueberries go into vacuum sealed Mylar bags.
I am currently watching video's on salted cured meat. Got a lot of meat on the hoof out there and more on the way. I have to figure out something.

 

The work of sucess! @Gopherman gratz!

You gonna smoke any meat?


Anyone have a good garlic salt recipe?

I've dried garlic in salt, dried it before I put it in the salt and still coming up with clumpy salt with garlic lumps

 

Interesting. Did you add whole cloves? That is odd that it would make the salt clump. You are not in a high humidity. Grandma always had rice in her salt to keep it from clumping.

 

I sometimes think I collect canning jars. How many do I need? No clue but I keep adding to the inventory. I do not know when enough is enough. They are re-usable. But then I see charts like this and I think I need more wide mouth pints or more quarts.



But I also find myself storing dried goods in canning jars. Has anyone dehydrated fruit and stored in a jar for long-term (1-2 years)?

 

We are making this right now and it's a great way to store the excess hot peppers.
Jalapeno' Jelly
12 oz jalapeno's
6 cups sugar
2 packages liquid pectin
2 cups cider vinegar

Puree' peppers well with 1 cup of vinegar.
Mix 2nd cup of Vinegar with Sugar in large pan.
Add puree' mix and bring to boil for 10 minutes stirring constantly.
After 10 minutes add Pectin and bring back to a boil and stir for 1 more minute at rolling boil.
Skim foam only if required.
Place in jars and boil for 10 minutes with 1 inch water cover. Removed from heat and cool.
If its not Spicy enough for you add 1-2 Habenero Peppers.
Yields 6 pint's per double batch

Process takes less than an hour not counting clean up.
I never count clean up, my wife does it!

 

try putting several grains of rice in your salt cellar...the rice tends to absorb the ambient atmospheric moisture, allowing the salt to pour freely through the salt cellar holes. This method may not work so well with rock salt grinders. In a salt cellar with large holes, you may have to put the rice into a little muslin sachet at the bottom of the salt cellar.

 

For salt, I use Cheese cloth ( I use cheese cloth for EVERY thing) and this keeps the rice separate from the salt!
For making Garilc salt, What I do is grind the garlic in a stone Mortar ( Marble) and get it to a pretty fine paste, then add in my salt ( plus any other herbs) and gring a little bit, then remove to a sauce pan, mix in a little olive oil and simmer to condense the oils, then let sit in the sun, or on a steel tray on the wood stove to dry it all out. You may have to simmer this a few times to get the oils to saturate the salt. once it's dry, package how ever you intend to use, or store and go from there. If you have too much oils, try blotting with cheese cloth to remove the oils, then take the cloth and put in the sauce pan and add in a little water and boil. after a few minutes, remove the cloth and wring out over the pan. Set the cloth out to dry and continue to simmer on low until the water is all gone. Bottle your oil mix for use later for pickling or other! My hanging Herbs I do in my pantry wrapped in cheese cloth to catch and contain what falls off, plus, it makes the pantry smell like an Italian Restaurant. Mint I do in the cellar, or I let it dry in the living room over the stove. I usually keep my mint separate to keep it from taking on odors/flavors! I actually grow quite a bit of mint and I crush it and heat to get the oils out and have pure mint extract, the remaining leaves is what I am usually drying for use later!

 

@Ura-Ki where do you get your cheese cloth and what grade do you use?

 

This is the tip I have been waiting for. To keep berries longer, wash them in vinegar. I always run out of time with my berries. They start becoming mushy so fast and I have waste before I can process.

The key to preventing moldy berries? Vinegar!

 

We got another pressure canner so we have 2. One didn't even look used and it was given to us. Looking forward to pears and apples ripening locally over the next month. Tried the blueberry leather we did earlier this week. Excellent!

Brutus Out