Basil garlic salt is an easy way to preserve your basil and add extra oomph to your cooking all year long. Plus it makes an excellent hostess gift! For me, basil is the flavor of summer. I love making tomato and basil pizzas on the grill. Pesto is my best friend and oftentimes I’ll pluck a few leaves off my … Read More
Preserving Summer: Freeze Extra Berries
It’s summer and the berries are delicious. I frequently get over zealous and buy way too many berries for what we can consume. When that happens, I just spread them out onto a rimmed cookie sheet, freeze for an hour (flash freeze) and then dump into a freezer bag and back in the freezer they go. Then we have frozen … Read More
How to Can Tomatoes
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to can tomatoes from your garden to preserve them. This guide explains both the tools and technique for home canning. Once you have blanched your tomatoes, now is the time to can them. Canning doesn’t require a lot of equipment but it is somewhat specialized. The good news is it is all fairly inexpensive … Read More
How To Blanch Tomatoes
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to blanch tomatoes. Blanching tomatoes loosens their skin for easy peeling so you can can or freeze them for the future! Is your garden bursting with tomatoes? Mine seemed to get a slow start, but now every day I am bringing in 5-7 tomatoes from my 15 plants. I like to can my tomatoes, … Read More
Uncle Al’s Sweet Pickles
This summer, I decided to grow a garden. For the past four summers I have attempted unsuccessfully to grow a container garden. But this year, I put it in the ground. And miraculously, it grew. One of the things I had to have was pickling cucumbers. I love love love pickles. It was my goal to learn how to can … Read More