I will get a photo up I promise but not today..
So here is what has been added to the house X2
- six red apples
- six oranges -Who’s peels are going into vinager to make a orange cleaner
- six grapefruits-Ditto on above
- 1 extra large Mango
- 5 banana’s
- 1 avacodo
- 1 head of calflower
- 1 big head of romane
- 2 large purple onions
- 2 pds of carrots
- 3 pds of potato’s
I am pleased for sure..to have it in the house is wonderful, it will certainly open up meal planning for me, I did however had to laugh, the veggie of the month was beets and not a beet to be found in the box 🙂 o well, i have a good amount of them in the cellar, and a fair amount in the freezer to boot.
Just another Day on the Farm 
Sounds like a nice haul to brighten up a January day: )
Speaking of beets… Have you ever made refrigerator beet pickle?
it was awesome, nope on the beet, i just make regular pickled beets canned kind
If you had just a few beets to do up, and not enough to bother doing a full canner, you can do the normal (cook, clean, cut and brine) and then just throw them in the fridge… They’re ready in a couple of weeks – no canning necessary – and keep for months: )
THE most important thing about making awesome beet pickle though? My Grandma told me to be sure to reuse the gorgeous ruby-coloured water that’s left behind after cooking your beets (instead of plain tap water) when making up your brining liquid (water, vinegar, salt and sugar). I also fortify it by throwing in the beet peels as I remove them; then just put the whole thing through a fine seve
Ah, but you see, I roast my beets, no leftover water to use.. i roast them, slip the skins when can handle them, dice, jar, and cover in hot brine and then process them, I call them my Rub Red Beets, the roasting gives them a sweetness, and depth of color to the jar that is very hard to get any other way. then the roasted peels and ends go to the chickens who adore them..
Still for those that clean and then boil their beets, that’s a great tip.
Hm, that sounds very interesting –
I’ll have to give it a shot next time.
SO many questions here… Do you alter the amount of sugar in your brine then, or no – and any idea how long that would take – to roast the beets, I mean? But also a good way to take the chill off of the house on those nippy fall days: ) can’t wait to get some fresh beets and give this a go!!
Hi Deb,
I give them a good cleaning and if super fresh, I take off the greens, I leave the top bit and the bottom attached as I don’t want them to bleed, I sort them into sizes for working in batches and into the oven at 350 with just a touch of water to start with and bake till a couple are done in the sense the fork will go in, then I take the pan out and allow it to cool enough that I can handle the hot beats (on top of the stove, I have gotten my boiling water ready, made my brine and have cleaned and got my jars and lids ready (but the lids have not been simmered yet, I don’t start them till I am peeling, the skins will just slip off with a touch of rubbing, if needed have bowl of cool water to do the last finish touch of getting the skins off, ideally you want to slip the skins on warm beets but if you start with cold ones, you can do them in a sinkful of water to help.
Then ideally you can hand them off to someone else to dice, but if not peel enough for your first batch, then cover the roaster with lide and a heavy bath towel to keep them warm and dice and fill your jars with the beets and brine and process like normal (if you want a spicy beet, add in a small peice of peeled horseradish to each jar). Then go back to peeling to get the rest done while still warm.
Its awesome and it was one of thsoe “forgot” I have done the boiled beets when I started canning on the farm and was really unhappy with how my beets were turning out, they were ok, but not my grandma or mom’s beets but I had the right brine so I didn’t see why, they were so dull in flavour and color, then one day mom was here and she wanted beet pickles and said.. are you baking your beets??
Needless to say, I went right back to baking them and now have my fullbodied sweet ruby red beets back in the pantry.. but you know, no where on any of the books, do they say how to cook the beets, they just say, take cooked beets and etc, and all the canning books are the same in boiling the beets. enjoy them, you will love them, I don’t reduce the sugar
P.S. I LOVE slipping beet skins; how it feels so neat when they suddenly let go and you’ve instantly gone from this really gnarly outer stuff to the gorgeously smooth inner flesh… almost like a butterfly coming out of it’s cocoon: )
Wait wait: You use the peels for orange cleaner?! I’ve been buying the essential oils. Can you explain what you do please? Thank you!
Its not as good as using the oils but it sure is cheaper.. just dump your peels in jar, cover with vingar, throw a cinnamon stick in and shake once a day for a couple days to a week while the peels lose color, strain and bottle and use as normal.
Now why didn’t I think of that? Thanks!
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