Preserving Seasonal Veg
With the recent expansion of the kitchen garden, it has created a surplus of vege that can't be utilized immediately prior to seeding. A sensible way to take advantage of this is to preserve as much as possible for times when we can't grow some crops.
Recent volunteers Anna and Terry got busy preserving onions for pickling, tomatoes for relish and strawberries for jam. We also had all the Celery ready at one time along with Kale and Silverbeet so we harvested as much as we could, stripped the leaves and stems and blanched separately before bagging and then freezing. We also drained the blanching liquid and kept it for stock.
This was a great opportunity to test the outdoor kitchen for processing large quantities of garden resources. There are 3 gas burners in the kitchen along with a deep twin washing basin. I have also obtained large stock pots for course catering which came in handy during the cooking part of the process. The kitchen has been retro fitted to fit into the car port of the tool-shed and is continually being improved upon to be utilized fully by volunteers when visiting.
Recent volunteers Anna and Terry got busy preserving onions for pickling, tomatoes for relish and strawberries for jam. We also had all the Celery ready at one time along with Kale and Silverbeet so we harvested as much as we could, stripped the leaves and stems and blanched separately before bagging and then freezing. We also drained the blanching liquid and kept it for stock.
This was a great opportunity to test the outdoor kitchen for processing large quantities of garden resources. There are 3 gas burners in the kitchen along with a deep twin washing basin. I have also obtained large stock pots for course catering which came in handy during the cooking part of the process. The kitchen has been retro fitted to fit into the car port of the tool-shed and is continually being improved upon to be utilized fully by volunteers when visiting.
