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.