Putting away for later, and something else.

I've already started putting things up this year - the garden is early, and productive.

These are sour cherries, soaked in a sugar solution, then dried.
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This syrup is a by-product of soaking the cherries.
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So is this jelly...provided the pectin kicks in and it actually turns it into jelly. Right now, it's more of a 'sauce', hee hee.
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Seven quarts of green beans.
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Seven pints of dillys.
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Finally, a dehydrator full of zucchini...except that it's sticking to the grilles, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get it off in pieces. I may have to try again with thicker slices. They are tasty, though - we sprinkled them with just a little seasoned salt beforey drying. Yum!
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And in completely unrelated news - this is our next-door neighbor's out building.
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Look who is on the roof!
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Comments

TofuRanch said…
I just need to comment...you can send any of that cherry stuff to me--just kidding...I so love cherries.They look great, I bet that they taste great too.

I have canned salsa,spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce this year so far--it is looking to be a good year for canning here
Toni said…
You are my hero.
stacey said…
omg that pic made me laugh!!!!!
Laura said…
Gretchen, where did you get the recipe for the canned pizza sauce? I would love to do that if my tomatoes come through. (Is it in the Blue Book?)

Toni - love you, as always! (Is he here yet?)

Stacey - we kept hearing bleating...bleating...bleating...and finally saw him up there! Too funny. Goats are entertaining, for sure!
Anonymous said…
Cat, Sky and I bought a bunch of cherries today...do you know if I would be able to dry them the way you did? I'm going to check my blue book, but I figured I'd ask too. :)
Laura said…
Are they sweet cherries or sour ones? If they are sweet you can just pit them, cut them in two and dehydrate them. If they are sour ones, then you do the whole glace' thing. It's sort of long and drawn out, but not at all difficult. Let me know and I can get you the instructions. I got them from a book called How to Dry Foods by Deanna DeLong. Let me know, here or at PH! :)
Anonymous said…
Can I come and spend a week at your farm sometime in the future? It would be like going away to camp as a kid only way, way better!

:D
Laura said…
We'll have to make it a palooza - Musi is coming some time too! :) Kamper too, methinks!
Anonymous said…
Cat, they are just the sweet kind that you get at the store. If I don't need to do anything else to them but dehydrate, I think I can figure that out. Thanks so much, Cat! You're a gem!
Laura said…
I have never dehydrated sweet cherries - you may want to dip them in a little lemon juice first. Also, if you feel you have some to try it, consider pitting and then just freezing some - we do that with them, and they are soooo good, still frozen. Just pop them in your mouth one at a time, let them thaw a little, and it's like little cherry popsicles! :)

Hugs!
-L

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