Harvest Time

Autumn is great; time to get the sweaters out, anticipate a crackling fire in the fireplace, and reap the benefits of all the summer work.  But, when it’s time to gather and can, it’s like a tidal wave of work.  The weekend was spent in nonstop preparation for the winter.  I made 3 quarts of tomatillo sauce, 6 ½ quarts of tomato sauce, 4 jars of quince jam, two trays of dried quince pâte (It’s like a thick fruit bar without the cereal jacket.), and 4 jars of blackberry jam.  When it’s time, it’s time and sometimes that means a marathon course in the kitchen.  If not, the blackberries go moldy from a sudden rain storm, the tomatoes rot on the vine, and the quince get devoured by worms.

And what was Christophe doing the whole time I was toiling away in the kitchen?

Chopping wood because you don’t do that after it gets cold either.



1 bucket of tomatillos



This is one of three buckets, plus the onions and eggplant for the sauce.



So far, I've only gotten half way through the box of quince.

Finally, a finished product: cooling blackberry jam.





The 2012 Tomato Line-Up

I gave a run down last year on the tomatoes we planted, so I think it’s only fitting to give this year’s crop its props.  Here we go, in no particular order:

Gardener’s Delight:  (heirloom) Small and grows in bunches; very sweet.  They are also very productive.

Great White Beefsteak: (heirloom) Last year we got a plant from our neighbor, who thought she forgot seed them this year.  Luckily, she was wrong.  We have at least two in the garden.  Mild, sweet and has meat that can look like a peach.

Caro red: (heirloom) Another, “Opps, I forgot seed this”, but “wrong”!  We ate the first one last night and it was delicious.

Cornue des Andes:  (heirloom) Shaped like peppers, these tomatoes turn bright red and can be pretty heavy.  An excellent sauce and cooking tomato, but a little too mealy to eat raw.

Noir de Crimee: (heirloom) From the “purple” tomato family.  Excellent raw, thin skin, and lots of meat.

Prince Noir: (heirloom) Another purple tomato, but smaller than the Noir de Crimee. Rich and sweet.

Roma: Well-known Italian tomato use for sauces.  Many of my Roma seedlings got sick, so we only have two plants that I am fiercely coddling.

Russian: (heirloom) This is a very large, tasty, and juicy tomato.  These seedlings fared well, so we have many in the garden.

Beefsteak: Classic round, and red.  This doesn’t have as much character as some of the other tomatoes, but it works when mixed in sauces.

Tomatillos: This green Mexican tomato is used to make salsa verde.  I don’t like them raw in salads, which is how Christophe ate them until I came along.  They are very rustic and grow well with other plants.  I’ve never seeded them; they sprout from fallen fruit the previous year.

Know Your Vegetables!

Patisson

Species: Cucurbita pepo (meanings gourds and squashes)

Seen listings also calling it Pattypan squash, the Spanish artichoke, and bonnet-de-prêtre.

Size: 3-5  inches in diameter

Patidou

Species: Cucurbita pepo

Much sweeter than the patisson and has a slight nutty taste, also called the sweet dumpling.

Size: 2-3 inches in diameter and 3-4 inches tall

Tomatillo

Species: Physalis philadelphica

The fruit is encased in the outer husk that needs to be removed.  Also called the green tomato  and is essential in the Mexican cuisine.

Size: 1-2 inces in diameter

Lemon Cucumber

Species: Cucumis sativus

Heirloom Russian variety; very crisp and sweet, not bitter.

Size: 2-3 inches in diameter

And the bonus:

Round Zucchini

Species: Cucurbita pepo

Similar to the everyday zucchini, but much easier to stuff.

Size: 3-10 inches in diameter depending on when it is harvested

There’s a monster in my kitchen

The monster takes over the entire stove.  Translation: sandwiches for dinner.

It’s that time of year again- canning.  As usual, our first run in the sterilizer is salsa verde, made from tomatillos.  The sterilizer holds up to 15 half-pint jars and boils for 2 hours on the first day and 90 minutes on the following to make sure any lingering bacteria is killed.  Just what I want on a hot August day…

Salsa verde