Process Time

Picking is one thing - turning it into food that will be used is another. The mountainous harvest needed to be sorted and the ripest needed processing before ripeness turns rotten.

First the tomatoes are washed and sorted. The ripe for the pot and the unripe for the window shelf.

 

 Homegrown garlic and onion go in first to be sautéed before the juices of the tomatoes slowly fill up the largest pot we have. Zucchinis add bulk and flavor.

After simmering for a couple of hours the resultant mush is pureed into a sort of spaghetti sauce. Jars are washed and sterilized in the oven. The sauce is poured in, lids applied and the jar upended to ensure the remaining air is sterilized too. Fifteen jars to add to the growing stash in the shed.
Meanwhile the ripest peaches were reduced to puree. Three trays of fruit leather and three large jars of pie filling. The boxes of plums will live in the pantry to ripen further.

 

The apples were sorted into those for the pigs, those for immediate use and those that can be kept for later ventures. Eight dehydrator trays worth of peeled and sliced apples will be used to bolster the lunch boxes and satisfy those ever-hungry between meals. A dessert of apple and plum crumble will also serve as an incentive to ensure the main meal of homegrown chicken, potatoes, broccoli, scrambled eggs and shop-bought carrot is fully eaten. The chicken jostles for space in the oven with the fruit leather and two loaves of bread. A kitchen day, rewarding and productive.