It has started, the freezing of the bounty.

Today, I froze 6 bags of broccoli, and have plenty more to come. Had some fresh steamed for supper tonight, with butter, salt and pepper, and oh so good. I choose to harvest mine at about softball size for the most tender great tasting broccoli. Also have broccoflower this year, but have never grown it, and can't wait to see how it will do. Peas will be ready to harvest by the end of the week. I always cook a great big pot of them the first harvest, and sit and gourge myself until I cannot eat another bite. I then say dirty words the next morning in the bathroom! LOL

So what have you got ready for freezing or canning?

Sounds wonderful! We're waiting on peas here... this cool weather's slowed things down a bit this year. Harvesting lettuce only.

So far we have had onions, and the broccoli, the peas will be ready at the end of the week, and cabbage is about soft ball size so will start using that soon.

The only thing we have even close is peas, and the girls have been raiding those so badly there isn't much left over half an inch.

Sounds like a bounty, Bonnie! I'm hoping for a small fall garden after we move, but there is much to do. I will put what I can in the spring house and root cellar, plus I have several plans for a solar dryer for summer vegetables. Near the top of the list is either a cold frame or small GH for late fall and early spring lettuce, etc. I doubt I will can much, or freeze anything this year.

Planning to sell my freezer here and buy a new one for the new place when money permits.

Darius we have 2 chest type freezers, and 1 upright, plus the one on the refrigerator. All are full now, don't know what I am gonna do, I don't have much room to put fresh stuff in there. I guess, I can drag out all the fruit and berries and have a jam making marathon. That would free up some room.

So what do you do in an extended power outage?

Never had one, guess we would do the dry ice, or run to purchase a generator.

Defoe,

Can you freeze the broccoli fresh from the garden, or do you have to steam or can it before freezing? I'm in zone 5 so my peas are only about 4 inches from the ground, but my lettuce from seed is starting to get ready to pick. I had my girls start mesculin mix in their own containers. Can't wait to start harvesting things.

Megan

lafko, I gather it from the garden, bring it in, soak it in salt water, this will get rid of any bugs, then put it in boiling water for about 2 minutes, rinse it in cold water. Cool thoroughly, then package and freeze.

I have lots of sugar snap peas, yellow wax beans, blue lake beans, bronze leaf lettuce and romaine lettuce and cucumbers. Not enough to freeze, but enough to have for dinner and lunch for a couple of days.

kanita

Don't you just love the taste of fresh vegetables. I freeze and can extras, so I know where my stuff comes from.

Here I've been eating broccoli, spinach, chard, green onions and peas. My cabbages are huge, and, fingers crossed, not a single worm hole anywhere! This is the first time in almost 40 years of gardening that I didn't have worms of any kind on my coles. I haven't sprayed with anything but they are heavily mulched with wheat straw. I may celebrate and cut a cabbage over the weekend.

Does canning make green beans mushy? Is freezing better than canning? I hate mushy veggies, and kind of went overboard a little when planting the string beans.

kanita

No if canned according to the Ball Blue Book, they are not musy. They are just about right when I open a jar, add a little seasoning, and cook for just a few minutes.

kanita: My canned green beans have about the same texture as the ones out of a can from the store. My family doesn't like frozen green beans. They claim they taste *funny*. We are from a southern background and like our beans real well cooked anyhow.

Defo,

Would your directions for freezing broccoli be the same for squash? And do you dry each piece or freeze and let become 1 frozen chunk???

Usually, I put it on a cookie sheet/pizza pan, stick it in the freezer, and when relatively hard, then drop into a freezer bag. That way, I can take out what I need, and don't have to thaw the whole bag. Saves space in the freezer too.

This is for broccoli only. I have found that freezing squash usually turns out watery. It is all right for making a casserole, but not for any other purpose I have found. Qualifying that, the above is for yellow summer squash. I do freeze zuchinni in a cup measure. Most of the zuchinni is used for bread, or cakes.

Kanita--if you like green beans crispy (and I do) I freeze them.
Debbie

Debbie,

Do you blanch them as well?

You might want to consider getting Ball's Blue Book. You can order it from an address on their canning jar lid box. May also be able to order it online, I haven't checked yet. It gives you complete instructions for putting up food, with lots of recipes. Also, many cookbooks are out that have the information that can be helpful. Good luck.

The newest edition, 2004:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972753702/sr=8-1/qid=1148822221/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-8166390-3905438?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Thanks,

I do have the Ball Blue Book, was just lazy, wondering if anyone else had done it already. =) I'll have to reference my book I guess.

aloaimee, yes, you'll need to blanch them. I like to freeze bean as well. And when you first pick them you should also hydro-cool them (fancy word for plunging them in cold water!). Blanch them for only a couple minutes at the most, then plunge them into a sick filled with cold water to quickly cool them off.

If you'd like to grow any of the purple snap beans they have a "built-in blanching signal"! When you put them in the hot water to blanch, in a matter of minutes they'll turn green...once they turn green they are perfectly blanched so proceed with cooling them off in the cold water, dry, bag, and freeze. Voila!

For butter beans, I sometimes can a few jars, just for fun! Other times I prefer to cook a big pots of them, perfectly seasoned, the divided the cooked beans into quart freezer baggies and freeze. This way you can easily remove one bag at a time, heat it up and you're ready to chow down! To me, it's much less fuss than canning, much less time-consuming, and very little clean-up!

Enjoy the bounties, Folks!
Shoe