Covid Journal, Day 115: Flowers and Beets

72 again, but humidity was not bad. Clear and hot all day, with a high of 93

I had a mission this morning: get to work on the big flowerbed. There were plants that needed to be cut back, and weeds to be pulled. The little pink primroses (I have called them poppies for years, and only learned that they were actually primroses recently) are an annual that self-seeds--so that means I can't mulch where they grow or I will suffocate the new plants. And that means lots of weeds get a happy place until the primroses are done and I can finally get in there.

Before

So I was up early to get this job done. Larry got up early too, to weed the leeks and get the sprinkler going because we have not had rain now for 2 weeks. Two weeks without rain, at the height of the growing season! I feel for the truck farmers.

After

because I really wanted to be able to see these lilies!

Aren't they pretty? Well, except there's Larry's bucket. He uses it as a stand for the sprinkler. Not pretty, but necessary.

It took me about three hours, and by the time I stopped I was dripping with sweat. I didn't clean up behind myself, so that will be my task tomorrow. The garden does look better for my efforts, though. Next year, maybe I'll move those tall yarrow and coneflower plants to the back of the garden so they don't block the view. Maybe. I kind of like the wild randomness of this plot though.

I mentioned yesterday that I canned a few pints of beets. I tried a couple different things. First, I forgot to tell Larry to leave a couple inches at the top, and not to cut off the roots because when the beets are pre-cooked to loosen the skins, cutting off the tops and roots means the color will bleed out. So, what to do? Because of course he trimmed the beets very nicely for me.

I decided to roast the beets in the oven, and then peel them. And then there was this other thing. The other day Larry dug a few carrots, to see if they were ready to harvest. He washed up the ones he dug, put them in a baggie and put them in the freezer. The next day he dug all the carrots.I didn't realize he'd put the first ones in the freezer that until I went to get them out to clean and cut up with the rest of the carrots. I took them out to clean up, and lo and behold, the skins just kind of slipped off!

So when I was doing the beets, I wondered: could freezing beets be a way to remove the skins more easily than cooking and cooling? That is what most recipes say to do: wash, cook, and peel, then reheat before packing in jars. I took one beet and put it in the freezer while the others were roasting. I figured roasting would keep the color in, unlike boiling them. After about 35 minutes, I pulled the roasting beets out of the oven and peeled them with a vegetable peeler. It wasn't super easy, but I was right--they retained their color.

Then I got the beet from the freezer. The skin was s-o-o-o easy to peel with the vegetable peeler! Much easier than the roasted beets. This one (large) beet was raw though, while the others were cooked. Would that make a difference in canning them?

I went online, looking for answers. And found none. Apparently every single recipe recommends the cooking, cooling, reheating method. So I decided that since the one beet wasn't cooked, I'd just add 10 minutes to the processing time. The pressure canner actually gets to about 240 degrees F, whereas boiling can only get to 212F, so I figured the extra ten minutes would compensate for the cooking time.

So pretty--but the liquid boiled out of the jars more than I'd like. Maybe the canner was too hot?

The beets came out fine. And given that they will be boiled for a few minutes before we eat them I think they're perfectly safe. What do you think?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Cabbage, Cabbage, Cabbage

Yesterday's cabbage-y adventure was borscht. I've seen the recipe in my canning cookbook for years and always meant to try it. Yesterday was the day.

I grow red cabbage every year because it's just so pretty. Most years the chickens end up eating it because really, how much cabbage can two people eat? A head can last four meals, and red cabbage is even harder to use. One year I made red cabbage relish--it was delicious and so pretty, but again, how much relish can two people eat?

So, the borscht. It is a Russian cabbage soup and most of the online recipes I found had beets in it as well, and some had potatoes--these weren't canning recipes though. Others added sour cream and dill, and there were other variations. The recipe I used called for cabbage, tomatoes, onions, apples, beef boullion, salt, pepper and water. Everything was put into the pot and brought to a boil, then into jars and the pressure canner for 55 minutes.

It was pretty when it went into the jars, but after canning not so much.

The jury is out on how we'll like it. We're going to try it today--as it is, with sour cream, with sour cream and dill, and with added cooked potatoes. We shall see. If we don't like it, lesson learned and the chickens eat well, again.

I still have four red cabbages left. Does anyone have a good recipe for using them up? Maybe I should freeze it? Open to ideas!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.