Adventures in Food Storage (photos)

It's summer! How is your garden going?

We have been busy putting up our stuff and are almost through. At our house, we blanch and freeze our vegetables.

Here's what we have been up to.

Sweet corn cut off the cob for making creamed corn. We don't freeze it on the cob since you can buy it that way at the grocer nearly year round now.

Shucked and cleaned



Cutting it off the cob. A sharp knife is needed.



Blanching - add enough water to cover the corn by an inch or more and heat to a low boil for 5 minutes to set the enzymes.



For us, we pack in zip lock bags with about a cup of vegetable and enough liquid to cover the vegetable in the zip lock bag.



This bad photo is one of 37 bags we have put into the freezer so far.



Purple Hull Peas:

Shelled and in pan:



We blanch until the foam stops. As a point of information, the foam pulls away the trash - it is skimmed away.





We blanch for maybe ten minutes and bag a cup in zip lock bags with enough liquid to cover the peas



42 bags so far.



Butter beans

Same method as Purple Hull Peas. 26 bags so far.



Fresh Pinto Beans - Have them this way and it will ruin your taste for dried pintos.





Ready to bag



Texas Cream Peas





Blanching completed after ten minutes and ready to bag after they cool.



I think we have over 40 bags in the freezer.





To blanch vegetables:

- Make certain they are as clean as possible. Rinse several times. Remove any bad beans or peas you see and any debris (stems, leaves, hulls) you encounter.

- Cover with water and bring to a boil. If they foam, skim away the foam and try to blanch until the foaming stops. Remove any trash that floats to the top.

- Blanch peas and beans for about ten minutes to set the enzymes. Blanch corn for three to five minutes.

- We cover our vegetables (peas, beans and corn) with liquid when we bag them for the freezer. Make certain the air is removed to avoid freezer burn. The liquid remains in the beans or peas when they cook. It is full of flavor, minerals and vitamins. Also gives you some goodness to go over your cornbread.

I like ziplock freezer bags. Since there are usually only two of us most of the time, we put our vegetables up in (2) One half cup servings. This avoids leftovers and when guests show up at dinner, we just cook multiple bags.

All my stuff