Does anybody have any experience of growing lentils and pulses? What
climate do they work well in? Of the hundreds of varieties do any suit a
warm temperate region with hot humid summers? How about soil type?

--
David

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Corporate propaganda is their
protection against democracy

On 25/02/2015 11:47 AM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Does anybody have any experience of growing lentils and pulses? What
climate do they work well in? Of the hundreds of varieties do any suit
a warm temperate region with hot humid summers? How about soil type?


I too would be interested in any advice or information anyone has to
offer.

On 26/02/2015 1:21 AM, Derald wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Does anybody have any experience of growing lentils and pulses? What
climate do they work well in? Of the hundreds of varieties do any suit a
warm temperate region with hot humid summers? How about soil type?
Not directly responsive _but_.... I asked a similar question in
the NG a few years back and the consensus of qualified responses was
that lentils' yield does not warrant the space required and the
difficulty in extracting them from their pods so I stopped considering
lentils for my (small) home garden.

:-)) That lack of space wouldn't worry David or I since we are both on
acreage. The lack of yield would be of more concern. So thanks for
that bit of info.

OTOH, a significant number of the
planet's human population depends on lentils as a protein source and,
surely, they don't all just pick them up in little bags at the
supermarket?
However, it seems to me that after lentils are dried extraction and
separation should be fairly straighforward so the challenge is to find a
variety that works in ones growing conditions. If you decide to try a
test planting, I'd be interested in learning your results.

It sounds like a group project might be a good plan. :-))

David Hare-Scott wrote:

Does anybody have any experience of growing lentils and pulses? What
climate do they work well in? Of the hundreds of varieties do any suit a
warm temperate region with hot humid summers? How about soil type?

they grow a lot of lentils in Canada so i would guess
they'd grow in a wide range of climates. my own one year
attempt at them didn't get any results. i think they
were overgrown by the surrounding plants. i liked the
plant itself though.

i've grown a large variety of dry beans.

most seem to need pretty good soil and regular
moisture (shallow root structure) to produce well and
i don't think they do particularly well at high
temperatures. too much late season rain is a real
bugger for dry bean production (sometimes i have to
pick them when they are close to being done and dry
them inside).

the pinto bean works well here. it seems more
tolerant of poorer soils.

if you have enough moisture through the summer to keep
plants alive then you could try adzuki, edamame soy, mung,
chick peas, blackeyed peas, as i think these will all
out-produce lentils for the same space. these need a
little longer season than what i have here and will like
a dry spell to finish.

if you want to try to get a crop in before the hot
season hits i'd try field peas, some are edible at pod,
seed and dry stage making them a very useful alternative.
i have some soup peas that will finish that quickly too
but the pods aren't as good.


songbird

On 1/03/2015 4:35 PM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

:-)) That lack of space wouldn't worry David or I since we are both on
acreage. The lack of yield would be of more concern. So thanks for
that bit of info.
I have plenty of room to expand but no motivation to do so.

Wise man beign so sensible!

I can't stop myself, but the end of my expansion will be when I ask
Himself to move the fences out. He'd say no, however.. .......... we've
just been advised that there are new rules to apply to our septic tank
leach field and we have to fence it off so that stock can't walk over
it. To include that area, we'll have to enclose another acre at least
so that it forms a logical shape with the rest of the area around the
house so I might just have to have more productive area - this tiem it
will be productive bushes though such as gooseberried and Blueberries
and some dwarf stock apples or peaches.


Currently have nine (nominally) 3ftx8ft raised beds plus a variable
number of containers, primarily consisting of halved 60-gal.
olive/pickle barrels. Enough to keep two old farts in seasonal fresh
veggies with a few for the freezer.

:-)) I find my biggest challenge in the veg garden is keeping up the
supply of the fresh greens. We too are two old farts but I do a
delivery to the offspring. Today it was apples, plums, tomatoes and
eggs. What produce do you generally feed your freezer? I've fed mine
plums, raspberries and tomatoes in the last few days but it will get a
few more feeds of apples in the next few days.

I'm on 4+ acres with only enough
cleared to accommodate two dwellings, a small barn and the attendant
flotsam that seems so necessary to human beings. The remainder (as well
as most of the surrounding similarly-sized tracts) has remained
unmolested since the middle 1960's at the latest. I am allowing more of
the area to naturalize over time with certain knowledge that,
ultimately, it will be paved parking lot (car park? what do you call
them in Oz?) equivalent.

Either of those would be be acceptable, but more people would probably
say 'car park'.

On 3/03/2015 3:51 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:



I can't stop myself, but the end of my expansion will be when I ask
Himself to move the fences out. He'd say no, however.. .......... we've
just been advised that there are new rules to apply to our septic tank
leach field and we have to fence it off so that stock can't walk over
it.

To include that area, we'll have to enclose another acre at least
so that it forms a logical shape with the rest of the area around the
house...
Why?

Because if we just fence off the leach field, it will be a long skinny
rectangle sticking out like a finger into a paddock that is about 20
acres in size and that would make it unusable. It's not a sensible
thing to do whereas a larger rectangle is able to be used even if it is
only as garden and not as grazing.

snip

:-)) I find my biggest challenge in the veg garden is keeping up the
supply of the fresh greens. We too are two old farts but I do a
delivery to the offspring. Today it was apples, plums, tomatoes and
eggs. What produce do you generally feed your freezer? I've fed mine
plums, raspberries and tomatoes in the last few days but it will get a
few more feeds of apples in the next few days.
No fruit (well, tomatoes, sometimes), berries, or the like.
Neither my mate nor I has much taste for them—not enough sugar, I
guess.... Many tree fruits, even citrus, need some amount of coddling
(primarily protection from cold, heat, sun), which I'm not willing to
do, and those that "vernalize" easily get badly confused, bloom 'way too
early only to have blossoms and nascent fruit freeze in February (I just
watched my neighbor's peaches do that dance for the third consecutive
winter)

That's interesting about the peaches. We can grow peaches here well out
in the open and even though we get heavy frosts, I am starting to get
lemons to grow close in to the house and put in a spot where the sun
doesn't reach them in winter till about 10am so that the frost is
thawing before the sun hits their leaves.


and the varieties purported to do well in this climate just
don't deliver the goods. Too far south for many ("good" apples,
peaches, pears) and too far north for others.

That is most interesting as we grow supperb apples and pears here and
although we have peaches they are more marginal and citrus are all
reputed to "not grow"in this climate as we are considered a "cold
climate". Climate variations and what is achievable in certain areas
always interests me.


I'd enjoy beng able to
grow avocadoes, mangoes, papayas or hassle-free citrus, as when living a
little further south, but it won't happen.
As far as the freezer goes and without bothering to go look: Okra,
green peppers (julienne and diced), hot peppers (whole),

Do you use those in cooking? I assume they go squishy which is why I
ask about cooking.

young yellow
squash, eggplant (aubergine?), "English" peas, cowpeas, green beans,
mustard greens, collard greens. Items that do not freeze well in their
native state or that require parboiling will, in general, be par-cooked,
fully cooked, or ingredients in prepared side dishes to be cooked or
heated. Ironically, I garden in order to enjoy a diet of thaw-and-gnaw.
Ain't technology grand? Truth is, I'd rather pay the electricity
provider to keep the stuff better than I could do (have done) with a gas
stove and pressure canner.

LOL. You freeze much more than I do in it's vegetative state. If I was
going to freeze a lot of those things, they'd be included in cooked
meals (stews/casseroles etc). I'm trying to think what veg we eat that
has come out of the freezer and the only thing that comes to mind is
peas. Most of my preserving is also designed to later be incorporated
into cooked items (eg apple crumble or pie or even just to add to
cereal in the morning). Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country so we don't have a tradition of
preserving and eating the sort of food that Americans have tended to eat
after pressure canning.

Thanks for an interesting post.

In article ,
Fran Farmer wrote:

Wise man beign so sensible!
....
What produce do you generally feed your freezer? I've fed mine
plums, raspberries and tomatoes in the last few days but it will get a
few more feeds of apples in the next few days.

I'm still using some of the bumper crop of apples from 2013, which I
dried a vast number of. Good in pies, crumbles or porridge, or straight
out of the keg (I'm using 2Kg olive kegs to store them, once I figured
out how to get the olive smell out of those with baking soda and water.)
Also much more compact dried than wet.

Of course, that was after they got frozen in the blossom stage 2012 and
did nothing, and last year they were exhausted from 2013 and did nearly
nothing, so they are in a biennial pattern now...if the blossoms don't
get frozen off this year.

Wise woman planning on planting more fruits that only need to be planted
once. Even though they do need maintenance, it's less work than planting
is.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

On 3/3/2015 11:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

On 3/03/2015 3:51 AM, Derald wrote:

Many tree fruits, even citrus, need some amount of coddling
(primarily protection from cold, heat, sun), which I'm not willing to
do, and those that "vernalize" easily get badly confused, bloom 'way too
early only to have blossoms and nascent fruit freeze in February (I just
watched my neighbor's peaches do that dance for the third consecutive
winter)

That's interesting about the peaches. We can grow peaches here well out
in the open and even though we get heavy frosts, I am starting to get
lemons to grow close in to the house and put in a spot where the sun
doesn't reach them in winter till about 10am so that the frost is
thawing before the sun hits their leaves.
The on, off nature of our winters and the long near-tropical
summers make it nearly impossible for peaches, apples, pears to cope.
Although, within my memory, serious attempts were made to introduce
hybrid peaches, apples, "improved" blackberries, "improved" wine grapes,
and "improved" table grapes commercialy in my immediate "neighborhood",
all failed and I never have seen any of those, save for Pierce-resistant
table grapes, grown as "dooryard" fruit.
Citrus is less common now than in past years but still popular,
although, it requires protection or strategic siting, as you mention.
We have one tangerine tree, from a volunteer seedling, that bears
sparsely because it's shaded but the trees that shade it are protective
so.... Commercial orange groves (In the US Southeast, oranges and
pecans live in "groves", not in "orchards". Who knows why.) once
abounded where I live but several successive freezes between 1984-1989
were major factors in the eventual death of that industry in these
parts. Nowadays, many former groves now sustain introduced planted
pines or houses but a fair amount of it is being allowed to naturalize.

We have a fig and a kumquat, both young, growing in the backyard. The
kumquat fruits in the fall and we have been picking them up until late last
month. We have a young pear tree in the front yard, blossoms last year
got frost bit, this year it looks as though we may escape a late frost
and may, maybe, I hope, get a few pears this year.

We moved back to Texas after 24 years in SW Louisiana, town called
Sulphur. Had a very large backyard with a mature fruit trees, two
kumquat trees generally gave us about ten gallons of fruit, fig tree
almost that much, Japanese persimmon, two plum trees, one Ponderosa
lemon tree that was very fruitful too. We were basically one step up
from sub-tropical, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) heat
zone 9b, we're one zone down here at the new place so get a bit more
frost. In 8b our last frost date was generally around mid-February, here
it's mid-to-late March.



snip

Climate variations and what is achievable in certain areas
always interests me.
I'm continuously confused by the phase differences among regional
climates in the two hemispheres. Although we have had March surprises,
for practical purposes, "winter" is over where I live. Only had
overnight freezing temperatures two or three times. One night, temps
remained at or below freezing for almost nine hours, which is
unusual—two nights like that are a cold wave. One sparkling frosty
morning and no ice, at all. Haven't made a fire for a couple of weeks,
at least. Looking for a high today of 26-27 real degrees; low tonight
15-16. The window for planting veggies that demand cool temperatures is
closed, or nearly so, and it's time to think about beans, eggplant, etc.

snip

As far as the freezer goes and without bothering to go look: Okra,
green peppers (julienne and diced), hot peppers (whole),

Do you use those in cooking? I assume they go squishy which is why I
ask about cooking.
The okra is frozen either whole or sliced, the slices being alread
breaded and ready to cook (fry). The diced/sliced "bell" peppers keep
their texture very nearly as well as the flash frozen commercial
products. The hot peppers (mostly jalapeño) are frozen whole and, yes,
they do get squishy and are suitable only as ingredients. Slicing, if
needed, is done while peppers are still nearly frozen. Although we keep
a stock in the freezer, with a little effort, I can grow jalapeño
peppers as perennials, which keeps fresh green peppers available almost
year 'round but we use enough ripe (red) ones that we keep some in the
freezer.

We freeze a lot of vegetables. Generally I will slice and dice then put
on a bun pan and into the freezer for 1 hour, then vacuum bag. Do that
with peppers, okra, green beans, etc. For greens I blanch them for three
minutes in boiling water, drain the liquid off, put on a bun pan in a
serving size for two, vacuum pack and into the freezer again. Pulled
some Swiss chard out the other night from 2011, still like new

snip

LOL. You freeze much more than I do in it's vegetative state. If I was
going to freeze a lot of those things, they'd be included in cooked
meals (stews/casseroles etc). I'm trying to think what veg we eat that
has come out of the freezer and the only thing that comes to mind is
peas.
Well, as noted, many of the veggies named _are_ pre-cooked or are
in finished side dishes. Eggplant, for example, frequently will be in a
casserole or vegetarian lasagna, although DW has learned a technique for
preserving its texture well enough for other uses; the collards and
other greens are only par-cooked so that they can finish cooking without
getting all mooshy. Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

We puree a lot of eggplant and/or zucchini, turn into fritters, let
cool, vacuum bag and freeze, handy to get out for dinner in the winter.
Lots of zucchini and other summer squashes get either sliced for
casseroles, or shredded to make bread or fritters during the winter.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.

I would not be without my pressure canner and assorted menagerie of
boiling water bath canners. We put up a lot of beans and peas by
pressure canning plus we make lots of jams and jellies for our extended
family there's about 21 of us around the area now, all descendants or
married into the family. We both learned to pressure can and otherwise
preserve food in the late forties, early fifties from our parents. Hardy
farm folk in the main. I have a small closet in my office that is full
of canning jars, lids, rings, full jars of this and that, and most of
our canning pots and pans plus extra rolls of vacuum bags, etc. Once you
learn how to do it and do it the proper way so no one dies from eating
your stuff it becomes easy and, I think, saves lots of money instead of
buying more stuff that you don't know where it comes from. I have become
one of those who avidly reads food labels. I don't buy food canned in
certain countries and try not to eat anything that comes out of those
countries. I don't visit certain American restaurants because most of
their food comes from one or more of those countries. Home made is best.

On 3/3/2015 9:19 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:



We moved back to Texas after 24 years in SW Louisiana, town called
Sulphur. Had a very large backyard with a mature fruit trees, two
kumquat trees generally gave us about ten gallons of fruit, fig tree
almost that much, Japanese persimmon, two plum trees, one Ponderosa
lemon tree that was very fruitful too. We were basically one step up
from sub-tropical, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) heat
zone 9b, we're one zone down here at the new place so get a bit more
frost. In 8b our last frost date was generally around mid-February, here
it's mid-to-late March.
The most recent USDA remapping changed us from 9a to 9b. However,
the white shirts neglected to tell the weather sprites and nothing
really has changed.


We freeze a lot of vegetables. Generally I will slice and dice then put
on a bun pan and into the freezer for 1 hour, then vacuum bag. Do that
with peppers, okra, green beans, etc. For greens I blanch them for three
minutes in boiling water, drain the liquid off, put on a bun pan in a
serving size for two, vacuum pack and into the freezer again. Pulled
some Swiss chard out the other night from 2011, still like new
Yours is basically the procedure that I follow except for the
vacuum. I spread the stuff out on cookie sheets so that individuals are
separated. They freeze quickly and remain separate when packaged. I do,
however, vacuum pack dehydrated foods such as onion or celery but don't
use any of those "systems" that use plastic bags. In the 1990's DW&I
purchased and tested every countertop vacuum appliance that we could
find at retail. 100% of the bags, even brand name bags, failed within
just a few months. In many cases the failure was undetectable until one
opened the package. Most failed along the factory seams. I obtain a
higher vacuum than the Tilia ever achieved by using a high quality
bicycle pump (the repairable kind from a bicycle shop, not a Walmart
throwaway) with reversed valving (Had to add an external check valve
because the stock valve does not seal when reversed). Tape tabs over
piercings in the lids of the same Mason jars we used for canning makes
touching up the vacuum from time to time easy. The last time I used the
Foodsaver was to remove excess fluid through the fill tube of an
automatic transmission in '03 or '04; really.
I'm still using the FoodSaver but I don't buy bags from them. Find 50
foot rolls online and have only had two fail in service recently. My
main gripe with the FoodSaver is that the new ones eat about an extra
two inches of bag each time you seal one due to setting the vacuum
channel back that much. My first FoodSaver only used about a quarter
inch of bag but it croaked after several years due to bad construction
of hinges on the lid. Super glued that and it kept working until some of
the internal plastic died too. I'm looking on line for a better vacuum
sealer without all the foibles of Tilia.

I would not be without my pressure canner and assorted menagerie of
boiling water bath canners.
We still have ours, too, along with a motley assortment of pressure
cookers none of which ever gets used. However, a five or six quart
weight-regulated pressure cooker makes a fine retort in which to
evacuate multiple small jars at once. Attach the pump onto the cooker's
vent tube and let'er rip.

snip
I have a small closet in my office that is full
of canning jars, lids, rings, full jars of this and that, and most of
our canning pots and pans plus extra rolls of vacuum bags, etc. Once you
learn how to do it and do it the proper way so no one dies from eating
your stuff it becomes easy and, I think, saves lots of money instead of
buying more stuff that you don't know where it comes from. I have become
one of those who avidly reads food labels. I don't buy food canned in
certain countries and try not to eat anything that comes out of those
countries. I don't visit certain American restaurants because most of
their food comes from one or more of those countries. Home made is best.
Ironically, even at upscale restaurants the fancy dishes could come
frozen in a bright white box bearing the "Sysco" label.

Not many upscale restaurants where I live, mostly TexMex, sandwich
shops, etc. Do better cooking everything myself.

My kraut is working, made its own water and is doing well. Hit 81F here
today and if it stays hot there goes the kraut. Unless I put it in the
old fridge in the garage and keep it around 60F, if possible. What the
heck, it was only two five lb heads of cabbage, turn it into compost if
it fails as kraut.

On 4/03/2015 4:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

:-)) On the few occasions I've bothered to look at sites online that
showed the prices of food in the US, I can't believe how cheap it is.
You would not like the prices we pay in Oz.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.


I'm sure the pressure canners haven't been available here because really
there has never been a real need for them. Most of our country is snow
free all year round and only a small part of the country gets any snow
at all and so our shops all stock large quantities of fresh fruit and
veg all year round. It's all affordable even the tropical stuff when in
season. Our climate generally allows keen gardeners to produce fresh
product all year round to some degree. For example, I live in a cold
climate but I still can eat something out of my garden even in the
depths of winter. David H-S who live sin amuch warmer climate can grow
far wider range than I can but perhaps he is too warm and humid for
growing good apples.

Australia also des't have the sort of hunted animals that USians often
'can'. Any Australian who did shoot a kangaroo is far more likely to
use it for dog food than for eating himself and if you told him that he
could probably 'can' it as USians do for deer, he'd think you were
trying to pull his leg.

The common preserving method used here was known as the Fowlers Vacola
method (hot water bath) and that covered the sort of preserved food most
households ate here ie fruit. Preserved veg was never popular when home
preserving was a big hobby/domestic habit.

On 4/03/2015 5:27 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 3/3/2015 11:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

On 3/03/2015 3:51 AM, Derald wrote:

Many tree fruits, even citrus, need some amount of coddling
(primarily protection from cold, heat, sun), which I'm not willing to
do, and those that "vernalize" easily get badly confused, bloom 'way
too
early only to have blossoms and nascent fruit freeze in February (I
just
watched my neighbor's peaches do that dance for the third consecutive
winter)

That's interesting about the peaches. We can grow peaches here well out
in the open and even though we get heavy frosts, I am starting to get
lemons to grow close in to the house and put in a spot where the sun
doesn't reach them in winter till about 10am so that the frost is
thawing before the sun hits their leaves.
The on, off nature of our winters and the long near-tropical
summers make it nearly impossible for peaches, apples, pears to cope.
Although, within my memory, serious attempts were made to introduce
hybrid peaches, apples, "improved" blackberries, "improved" wine grapes,
and "improved" table grapes commercialy in my immediate "neighborhood",
all failed and I never have seen any of those, save for Pierce-resistant
table grapes, grown as "dooryard" fruit.
Citrus is less common now than in past years but still popular,
although, it requires protection or strategic siting, as you mention.
We have one tangerine tree, from a volunteer seedling, that bears
sparsely because it's shaded but the trees that shade it are protective
so.... Commercial orange groves (In the US Southeast, oranges and
pecans live in "groves", not in "orchards". Who knows why.) once
abounded where I live but several successive freezes between 1984-1989
were major factors in the eventual death of that industry in these
parts. Nowadays, many former groves now sustain introduced planted
pines or houses but a fair amount of it is being allowed to naturalize.

We have a fig and a kumquat, both young, growing in the backyard. The
kumquat fruits in the fall and we have been picking them up until late last
month. We have a young pear tree in the front yard, blossoms last year
got frost bit, this year it looks as though we may escape a late frost
and may, maybe, I hope, get a few pears this year.

We moved back to Texas after 24 years in SW Louisiana, town called
Sulphur. Had a very large backyard with a mature fruit trees, two
kumquat trees generally gave us about ten gallons of fruit, fig tree
almost that much, Japanese persimmon, two plum trees, one Ponderosa
lemon tree that was very fruitful too. We were basically one step up
from sub-tropical, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) heat
zone 9b, we're one zone down here at the new place so get a bit more
frost. In 8b our last frost date was generally around mid-February, here
it's mid-to-late March.



snip

Climate variations and what is achievable in certain areas
always interests me.
I'm continuously confused by the phase differences among regional
climates in the two hemispheres. Although we have had March surprises,
for practical purposes, "winter" is over where I live. Only had
overnight freezing temperatures two or three times. One night, temps
remained at or below freezing for almost nine hours, which is
unusual—two nights like that are a cold wave. One sparkling frosty
morning and no ice, at all. Haven't made a fire for a couple of weeks,
at least. Looking for a high today of 26-27 real degrees; low tonight
15-16. The window for planting veggies that demand cool temperatures is
closed, or nearly so, and it's time to think about beans, eggplant, etc.

snip

As far as the freezer goes and without bothering to go look: Okra,
green peppers (julienne and diced), hot peppers (whole),

Do you use those in cooking? I assume they go squishy which is why I
ask about cooking.
The okra is frozen either whole or sliced, the slices being alread
breaded and ready to cook (fry). The diced/sliced "bell" peppers keep
their texture very nearly as well as the flash frozen commercial
products. The hot peppers (mostly jalapeño) are frozen whole and, yes,
they do get squishy and are suitable only as ingredients. Slicing, if
needed, is done while peppers are still nearly frozen. Although we keep
a stock in the freezer, with a little effort, I can grow jalapeño
peppers as perennials, which keeps fresh green peppers available almost
year 'round but we use enough ripe (red) ones that we keep some in the
freezer.

We freeze a lot of vegetables. Generally I will slice and dice then put
on a bun pan and into the freezer for 1 hour, then vacuum bag. Do that
with peppers, okra, green beans, etc. For greens I blanch them for three
minutes in boiling water, drain the liquid off, put on a bun pan in a
serving size for two, vacuum pack and into the freezer again. Pulled
some Swiss chard out the other night from 2011, still like new

snip

LOL. You freeze much more than I do in it's vegetative state. If I was
going to freeze a lot of those things, they'd be included in cooked
meals (stews/casseroles etc). I'm trying to think what veg we eat that
has come out of the freezer and the only thing that comes to mind is
peas.
Well, as noted, many of the veggies named _are_ pre-cooked or are
in finished side dishes. Eggplant, for example, frequently will be in a
casserole or vegetarian lasagna, although DW has learned a technique for
preserving its texture well enough for other uses; the collards and
other greens are only par-cooked so that they can finish cooking without
getting all mooshy. Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

We puree a lot of eggplant and/or zucchini, turn into fritters, let
cool, vacuum bag and freeze, handy to get out for dinner in the winter.
Lots of zucchini and other summer squashes get either sliced for
casseroles, or shredded to make bread or fritters during the winter.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.

I would not be without my pressure canner and assorted menagerie of
boiling water bath canners.

I don't own a pressure canner and can't see that I would ever use one.
I do own three water bath preserving outfits but these days the 2 stove
top ones are in retirement and I only use my Electric outfit.


We put up a lot of beans and peas by
pressure canning plus we make lots of jams and jellies for our extended
family there's about 21 of us around the area now, all descendants or
married into the family.

I make lots of jams and jellies but of course I don't need any of my
water bath outfits when I make them. I did recently do a very
extravagant thing though for my jam and jelly making. I've always
wanted a big copper jam pan and when we cam back form an overseas trip
and i still had a few hundred unspent dollars, I lashed out and bought
myself the biggest copper jam pan I could find. It IS beautiful but
TBH, I don't believe it improves my jam and it IS a pig to clean, but I
feel like such a good little hausfrau each time I use it.


We both learned to pressure can and otherwise
preserve food in the late forties, early fifties from our parents. Hardy
farm folk in the main. I have a small closet in my office that is full
of canning jars, lids, rings, full jars of this and that, and most of
our canning pots and pans plus extra rolls of vacuum bags, etc. Once you
learn how to do it and do it the proper way so no one dies from eating
your stuff it becomes easy and,

:-)) Botulism will do that. That is probably why most people in this
country who are into preserving only do fruit and use the freezer for
long term keeping of veg or meat.

Fran Farmer wrote:
On 4/03/2015 4:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

:-)) On the few occasions I've bothered to look at sites online that
showed the prices of food in the US, I can't believe how cheap it is.
You would not like the prices we pay in Oz.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.


I'm sure the pressure canners haven't been available here because
really there has never been a real need for them. Most of our
country is snow free all year round and only a small part of the
country gets any snow at all and so our shops all stock large
quantities of fresh fruit and veg all year round. It's all
affordable even the tropical stuff when in season. Our climate
generally allows keen gardeners to produce fresh product all year
round to some degree. For example, I live in a cold climate but I
still can eat something out of my garden even in the depths of
winter. David H-S who live sin amuch warmer climate can grow far
wider range than I can but perhaps he is too warm and humid for
growing good apples.

We should get together and compare sin where we live sometime.

I have just harvested most of my pomes. The medar will be another two
months if the possums don't get them.

I have one producing apple tree, it gave a little less than one crate of
granny smiths, they are very tasty, I just love the tart-sweet crispness.

I have one quince that gave one and half crates of fruit.

I have two pears. The Josephine Dumaurier (sp?) gave one crate this year,
in years past more. The Packhams Triumph had a good year and gave 7 crates.

Despite the hot summer we still get frost in the winter. We selected
cultivars that do not require high chilling. Why do they vary so much from
year to year? I don't know. The hot humid summer doesn't seem to do any
harm, the pomes don't appear to get fungal diseases. They do get birds,
bats, possums, chooks, fruit fly and rats however.

These are milk crates that hold about 20kg (45lbs) of fruit. So the Packam
had about 140kg (310lbs) of fruit, some branches were broken.


The common preserving method used here was known as the Fowlers Vacola
method (hot water bath) and that covered the sort of preserved food
most households ate here ie fruit. Preserved veg was never popular
when home preserving was a big hobby/domestic habit.

I will bottle some and freeze some and try to give away most of the pears
before they rot.

--
David

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Corporate propaganda is their
protection against democracy

On 3/4/2015 4:41 PM, Fran Farmer wrote:
On 4/03/2015 4:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

:-)) On the few occasions I've bothered to look at sites online that
showed the prices of food in the US, I can't believe how cheap it is.
You would not like the prices we pay in Oz.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.


I'm sure the pressure canners haven't been available here because really
there has never been a real need for them. Most of our country is snow
free all year round and only a small part of the country gets any snow
at all and so our shops all stock large quantities of fresh fruit and
veg all year round. It's all affordable even the tropical stuff when in
season. Our climate generally allows keen gardeners to produce fresh
product all year round to some degree. For example, I live in a cold
climate but I still can eat something out of my garden even in the
depths of winter. David H-S who live sin amuch warmer climate can grow
far wider range than I can but perhaps he is too warm and humid for
growing good apples.

Australia also des't have the sort of hunted animals that USians often
'can'. Any Australian who did shoot a kangaroo is far more likely to
use it for dog food than for eating himself and if you told him that he
could probably 'can' it as USians do for deer, he'd think you were
trying to pull his leg.
Actually most US hunters preserve their catch by freezing the meat. I've
been a hunter since I got my first rifle at five, that's about 70 years
ago. We never canned meat, took to long in the pressure canner and
wasn't all that tasty when opened.

Worked with a number of folks from Oz back in the eighties in the Middle
East, none of them appeared to have hunted anything but several were
avid fishermen. Their main hobby was hunting for beer. G Good workers
and, generally, good people. Passed through Oz once when I was a young
man in the flying Navy, good beer there.

The common preserving method used here was known as the Fowlers Vacola
method (hot water bath) and that covered the sort of preserved food most
households ate here ie fruit. Preserved veg was never popular when home
preserving was a big hobby/domestic habit.

A friend tried to explain the Vacola method but I never understood it
completely. We hot water bath fruit, jellies and jams here but use a
different jar, one with a ring and a self-sealing lid when boiled.
Here's a website that has all the info on that: http://nchfp.uga.edu/

On 3/4/2015 5:48 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:
On 4/03/2015 4:18 AM, Derald wrote:
Fran Farmer wrote:

Green beans don't freeze well in home freezers but
they're tolerable in January, when there's not a fresh bean in sight
unless one is willing to pay exhorbitant prices for those things the
grocery stores sell.

:-)) On the few occasions I've bothered to look at sites online that
showed the prices of food in the US, I can't believe how cheap it is.
You would not like the prices we pay in Oz.

snip

Pressure canners have only fairly recently
become available int his country...
Goodness; I find that surprising but I do remember seeing, in an
online catalog, types of containers no longer used here. Seems to me
the lid-sealing arrangement differed.


I'm sure the pressure canners haven't been available here because
really there has never been a real need for them. Most of our
country is snow free all year round and only a small part of the
country gets any snow at all and so our shops all stock large
quantities of fresh fruit and veg all year round. It's all
affordable even the tropical stuff when in season. Our climate
generally allows keen gardeners to produce fresh product all year
round to some degree. For example, I live in a cold climate but I
still can eat something out of my garden even in the depths of
winter. David H-S who live sin amuch warmer climate can grow far
wider range than I can but perhaps he is too warm and humid for
growing good apples.

We should get together and compare sin where we live sometime.

I have just harvested most of my pomes. The medar will be another two
months if the possums don't get them.

I have one producing apple tree, it gave a little less than one crate of
granny smiths, they are very tasty, I just love the tart-sweet crispness.

I have one quince that gave one and half crates of fruit.

I have two pears. The Josephine Dumaurier (sp?) gave one crate this
year, in years past more. The Packhams Triumph had a good year and gave
7 crates.

Despite the hot summer we still get frost in the winter. We selected
cultivars that do not require high chilling. Why do they vary so much
from year to year? I don't know. The hot humid summer doesn't seem to
do any harm, the pomes don't appear to get fungal diseases. They do get
birds, bats, possums, chooks, fruit fly and rats however.

These are milk crates that hold about 20kg (45lbs) of fruit. So the
Packam had about 140kg (310lbs) of fruit, some branches were broken.


The common preserving method used here was known as the Fowlers Vacola
method (hot water bath) and that covered the sort of preserved food
most households ate here ie fruit. Preserved veg was never popular
when home preserving was a big hobby/domestic habit.

I will bottle some and freeze some and try to give away most of the
pears before they rot.

Sure wish you were several thousand miles closer, our pear tree needs
another three or four good years before we can really pick a crop. And,
with many pick-your-own farms and orchards nearby, none have pear trees.
I make a very good pear jelly, pear sauce (like apple sauce but better),
and boiling water bath can lots of quarts of pear slices for pies,
cobblers, and just eating with ice cream on top.

George Shirley wrote:
A friend tried to explain the Vacola method but I never understood it
completely. We hot water bath fruit, jellies and jams here but use a
different jar, one with a ring and a self-sealing lid when boiled.
Here's a website that has all the info on that: http://nchfp.uga.edu/

The vacola system is quite simple. The jar has a shallow slot around the
top. You stretch an annular rubber seal into that slot. You then pack the
jar and put a metal lid on it that sits on the rubber seal. You add a metal
clip that holds the lid down tight and process in the normal way. When cool
you take the clip off. The lid now magically stays on as the processing
drives out the air from the jar but as it cools the seal prevents it from
re-entering. So you have a sterile vacuum sealed jar. In the case of fruit
it will last for years.

--
David

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Corporate propaganda is their
protection against democracy