Selfsufficientish.com

This is the consolidated pictures of the preserving of fruit and vegetables for the off season. I have been basically living on this, almost as my main diet.Of course,I eat other food as required. I have lost 15 pounds in three months (205 to 190) and am full of energy and very active. With experience, I have ascertained that one can preserve almost any fruit and vegetable, only limited by the availability and imagination.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XGNVK 14 November 2011 Leeks Processed into Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GNDRO 10 November 2011 Crosne Picked and Processed.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DRUXI 5 November 2011 Brussels Sprouts (Jade Cross)Juicing.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TBTTZ 29 October 2011 Pumpkin Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AEYVU 27 October 2011 Apple Juice Processing
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AZQUW 16 September 2011 Concord Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FPYQP 15 September 2011 Tomatoes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DKBJT 14 September 2011 Boca Noir Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XLGIU 12 September 2011 Pear Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SASIO 31 August 2011 Niagara Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SASIO 31 August 2011 Niagara Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?HZDXN 15 August 2011 Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) Extracting Raw Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SFCQC 10 August 2011 Tomato Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VCUHI 10 August 2011 Purslane Cooked and Pressure Canned.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UFAQJ 6 August 2011 Green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers made into Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DXAYD 6 August 2011 Making Vegetable Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YBOFM 29 July 2011 Tomato Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UVVUJ 26 July 2011 Blueberry Picking and Gooseberry
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UVVUJ 26 July 2011 Blueberry Picking and Processing into Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TNNHT 26 July 2011 Sour Cherry Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YPNWO 25 July 2011 Yellow Beans
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DRAPP 22 July 2011 American Gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum)
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RRZRJ 21 July 2011 Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?MIJXM 10 July 2011. Bing Cherry Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QSQWT 6 July 2011 Carrot Juice

What I like about the method is, the product is ready to serve by opening the jar. There is no added sugar.

I don't eat sugar added to anything, and consequently find most of the products sweet to some degree, except for some of the vegetables. I have several jars on the go in the refrigerator simultaneously, and mix in the glass sometimes.

Everything in the garden can be utilized. I got some surprises. Cucumbers for example, simply juiced are most pleasant and filling.

The point being that maybe the old methods had some short comings.

Canning was hard work. The equipment available today make the process much easier. The hand blender, the screens, the mechanical hand strainer, and of course the modern juicers to extract the ultimate from the strainer residue.

Over the years we have given food preparation to commerce, and I believe we are suffering due to this, evidenced by the obesity epidemic and the general ill health of people as they age. No, this is not the only issue, but one that can be addressed by the individual.

Amazing amount of work, Durgan. What happens to the last remaining bits of sludge - hens, compost or something else? What do you do with the very bitter juices?

Henwoman wrote:Amazing amount of work, Durgan. What happens to the last remaining bits of sludge - hens, compost or something else? What do you do with the very bitter juices?

There is so little sludge that I discard it. There is an effort to extract all possible nutrients, depending upon the product being processed. In many cases after straining, the residue is put through the juicer to extract as much nutrient as possible.

The bitter juices are often mixed with some of the more sweeter. Quince, cranberry are probably the most sour. All the vegetables are neutral. Pear and apples are sweet. Almost all the bush fruit is acceptable as is. There are usually three or four jars open in the refrigerator and the various juices are mixed in as glass before drinking.

The juicer was given to me, and I find it to be a marvellous device. It is easy to clan so I am not reluctant to use it, even on as small process run. I am still experimenting.

you dont need to juice everything.

i make jars of veg for the winter by cutting up a whole load of mixed veg ( tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, okra, french beans, broccili, anything that you've got basically ) bung it into a huge pot with a few cups of water and cook it for an hour. you can add herbs as well and experiment with whatever combinations that you like. make sure you dont put in any onions or garlic though because this will make it go off.
when the veg are getting soft just jar them up in big jam jars, put the lid on tightly and wrap them in cloth ( we use socks ) to prevent them breaking, and put them into the biggest pot you've got, filled with water and boil them for about 20 minits to steralise them.

and hey presto, youve got your preserved veg for the winter!

you can make sauces like this too, whatever combination you want eg. tomato and basil, rosted pepper and sun dryed tomatoes, pesto, and different variations of veg in a tomotoe based sauce.

all you need to remember is never use anything from the onion family, and make sure you boil them well to sterilise them so they last the winter.
then you can just fry you onions and meat and add a jar of veg, simples :)

demi wrote:you dont need to juice everything.

i make jars of veg for the winter by cutting up a whole load of mixed veg ( tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, okra, french beans, broccili, anything that you've got basically ) bung it into a huge pot with a few cups of water and cook it for an hour. you can add herbs as well and experiment with whatever combinations that you like. make sure you dont put in any onions or garlic though because this will make it go off.
when the veg are getting soft just jar them up in big jam jars, put the lid on tightly and wrap them in cloth ( we use socks ) to prevent them breaking, and put them into the biggest pot you've got, filled with water and boil them for about 20 minits to steralise them.

and hey presto, youve got your preserved veg for the winter!

you can make sauces like this too, whatever combination you want eg. tomato and basil, rosted pepper and sun dryed tomatoes, pesto, and different variations of veg in a tomotoe based sauce.

all you need to remember is never use anything from the onion family, and make sure you boil them well to sterilise them so they last the winter.
then you can just fry you onions and meat and add a jar of veg, simples :)

My comment is somewhat philosophical.

Utilizing the bounty of Summer for off season use is the aim. People preserve produce and the product is only desirable for short periods. I know a lady who has a basement with many jars of preserves that never get used. They preserve (keep) but are palatable in small amounts. For example, How much sauerkraut, dill pickles, salsa, etc. can your eat and is it sufficient.

After musing about this issue for some time I decided to experiment with juicing and pressure canning. I find the end product to be desirable and it is probably nutritional. I add nothing to the produce except water. Preparation time is minimal, since I basically take the produce as is and process. This year I have about 150 litres of wholesome food and ingest about half a litre or more per day.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DXAYD 6 August 2011 Making Vegetable Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UFAQJ 6 August 2011 Green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers made into Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SFCQC 10 August 2011 Tomato Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?HZDXN 15 August 2011 Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) Extracting Raw Juice.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BEGVV 26 August 2011 Elderberry Twenty pounds Processed.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SASIO 31 August 2011 Niagara Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XLGIU 12 September 2011 Pear Juice
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DKBJT 14 September 2011 Boca Noir Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FPYQP 15 September 2011 Tomatoes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AZQUW 16 September 2011 Concord Grapes
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WXDUB 4 October 2011 Ground Cherry. (Physalis Pruinosa) aka Aunt Molly Ground Cherry

Reflect on it.

yes, i understand what you're saying.
my point was, however, that there are also ways of preserving veg without the need to juice, concentrate, pickle or whatever, where you can preserve the whole food in a cooked state, ready to use.
the veg are simply sliced or diced and cooked until soft, then jarred and sterilised. that way you are still getting 'chunks' of vegetables in your meals.
for example, i often use sliced peppers and carrots, diced courgettes, aubergines and tomatoes, and some chopped fresh parsley and fresh ground black pepper. everything is just thrown into a big pot with a cup or 2 of water and boiled until the veg are soft ( parsley added at the end). then it gets jarred up and boiled to sleritlise and its ready to store, without the need of salt/vinigar/jucing ect. i use a jar for spagettie bolognaise, chilli, meat stews, currys or anything with a tomato base sauce. quite often i will put a jar in the liquidiser and blend it into a sause for pasta.
i also make tomato passata and jar it this way. its really simple, and when you have a glut of veg in the summer and your freezers overflowing, its a really good way of preserving veg in a 'whole food' state.

reflect on that

My thrust is that most vegetables when canned become mush, and are not too palatable when served as a vegetable on the plate. The method I propose is easier to consume, since they are juice or a thin soup if you like.

The old methods of preservation were usually vinegar, salt, drying, and sugar to ensure long term storage. Freezing is fine for meat, but find most frozen vegetables and fruits leave a lot to be desired.

Also, the pressure canning means all processed products are absolutely safe with the addition of nothing except water. One must take some precautions when only canning at boiling water temperature.

What a great thread! Durgan your leg-end, seriously.
Great pics! Such a lot of work has gone into that.
Kudos

Since I have been consuming the juice and removing all added sugar from my diet, I have gone from 210 pounds down to 189 in four months or slightly less. (21 pounds.) My aim is 185.I feel wonderful and have energy to burn, and don't have high and low moods, probably due to the removal of the added sugar. I was using about two pounds of white sugar per week on cereal and drinks.

Meal prep is quick, which is simply a glass of juice periodically along with small quantities of other stuff as required. The juice inhibits hunger pains, hence less food intake.


My Juicer. Believe it or not I got mine for nothing. My son brought it to me from a friend who didn’t use it. At first I was not impressed, since I had a centrifugal juicer years past and found it such a misery to clean that I gave it away, also it didn’t leave enough of the microscopic fibre.
http://www.championjuicer.com/
These units have to be heavy. (The cheap plastic is junk.) I keep mine on a table in the dining room and move it into place in the kitchen as required. The Champion appears to be indestructible, and does a marvellous job, and is easy to clean. I am finding more uses for it as I get more experience.

Usually depending upon the product I cook the product and beat it into a mash http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AJMWT then strain http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CPBLL then put the residue from the strainer through the juicer. Then if there is enough I pressure can for storage, otherwise it is put in the refrigerator for immediate use.

For making juice raw, I simply beat the product into a juice in the blender.I use whatever is available. You get all the fibre this way. This is a raw product, but I feel a lot must be lost digesting, but at least one can ingest a lot of fresh produce. It will keep in the refrigerator if sealed for about 8 days.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YTLUO 5 June 2011 Juice

I might add making these products a portion of your diet, weight control is easy and weight loss is relatively rapid at first even without noticing, since appetite is reduced. And certainly one is getting all the necessary nutrients. My view is there is no sense losing weight by dieting and still eating the same food that made one heavy. Further there are few people in our modern society who do not have a weight problem.

Durgan http://durgan.org/2011/