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The tedium of food preservation.


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Ugh, I'm only halfway through my elderberries for the season. I'm tired of all of those pesky little stems! I've also got to get my herbs into the dehydrators. Everything is ready at once and preserving it takes so much time. But I've committed myself to doing a better job of preserving what I grow for future use, but it is so much repetitious work. How do you alleviate the tediousness of de-stemming gallons of elderberries?

 

All I can say is that I wish there were more seasons of Dr. Who! We have Amazon Prime so I've been streaming Dr. Who on my kindle in the kitchen. How do you motivate yourself?

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I've only heard of juicing them, by heating them so that the berries pop and the stems just come off. Strain out the stems, use the juice.

 

But I've only made elderberry juice for jelly once, and that's what I did.

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We miss Dr. Who too! I cry so hard every time we lose a doctor... :(

 

Most of the time, my husband and I work together on a bigger project...as in, one will prep the fruit and one will can the fruit. Most of the time we listen to an audiobook so that we are not looking up from the project the whole time. Either way, it's time consuming! At this point, most items get dehydrated, which is lighter, simpler, and uses less jars. Our greenbeans, pickling cucumbers are all being fermented and we are making mega batches of kimchee. It's a very simple preserving method, and sure beats heating up the kitchen with a canner!!!

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Canning season can be overwhelming! The first thing I do is to be sure I'm comfortable. I wear loose fitting clothing and put a fan on me. I love a fan. The first two things that usually 'go out' on me is my back and feet so I always sit as much as possible. I have a bar type stool that sits me up to the counter at just the right height. Then I either turn on the radio, pop in some CD's, listen to a book on type or stream something on the laptop.

 

If I'm canning something like soup, I usually peel and chop up the veggies one day, refrigerate them and then can the next day. It helps to space out the work. I also try not to bite off more than I can chew. That's a hard lesson for me.

 

I also get a lot of inspiration by coming here. It helps to know I'm not the only one sweating over a hot stove and kitchen sink. Misery loves company I guess. Looking at all of those full canning jars is my best inspiration though.

 

Canning is like child birth. It's a lot of hard work but after you see the beauty you've created, the hard work and suffering is soon forgotten.

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When I butchered the pig several months ago I ended up sticking most of the meat into the freezer in large trash bags because I had to at least try to keep the house decent for showing. Now I'm trying to grind up the meat and flatten it in zip lock bags so that hopefully I can get it all into the small new freezer. It uses less power and the big one is 14 yrs old and makes funny noises. Trying to get the load lightened too, for the move. Anyhow, I've been at it all day except for breaks to let the processor and myself cool off. Nowhere close to done. I'll have to dig more out of the freezer to thaw for tomorrow.

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That's what I usually do. I can't carry a tune in a bucket but that doesn't stop me from singin' it loud and singin' it proud. A few dance steps thrown in there and before I know it I'm hearing chhhh-chhhh-chhhhhhhhhh. PING!

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I'm finding I don't have the stamina to do marathon cooking and canning, anymore. So, I cooked a large batch of spaghetti sauce (with tomatoes from the garden) on Sunday afternoon. Refrigerated it, then used some for family night dinner on Monday (served 9), and canned the rest this morning ( 6 quarts and 1 pint). We should have more ripe tomatoes tomorrow, so plan to make another large batch of spaghetti sauce tomorrow afternoon, refrigerate it, then can it on Friday. While babysitting the canner, I play on the IPad, make lists,etc. I really need to start getting organized for canning for winter and also for Christmas gifts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I also turn on the radio. Usually country music while canning. Might listen to a movie I've seen a number of times. I always have my dogs to keep me company so I also talk to them. :happy0203: They help keep the floor clean when I drop stuff.

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I don't completely destem the elderberries because I only use them for jelly. The little stems on each berry don't necessarily all have to be removed if you are going to juice and strain.

 

You can take them off the big stems and then freeze the elderberries if you don't have time to juice them. Or juice them and freeze the juice until you have time to make jelly or whatever with them.

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