Today's canning list is brought to you courtesy of the vegetables: celery, onions, carrots, and rooted parsley....all of which were excised from the rich black composted earth in my garden boxes to take up new residence in my fridge, freezer, and almost two dozen canning jars on the shelves.
I found a wonderful recipe last year in Mother Earth News for "Roasted Root Vegetables" which is pretty much nothing but chop 'em, toss 'em in olive oil, and roast 'em in the oven till they taste fantastic. This cannot, of course, be canned; but it freezes very well for later. I've done various combinations of all the above mentioned veggies, along with potatoes, parsnips, and turnips. (The turnips I accidentally baked almost crunchy....and they were the best batch so far! But I'm one of those weirdos who likes black hot dogs too, so...) Since my children are impervious to the deliciousness of this mess, I have done single servings for me to eat at work.
All of the carrot tops, parsley greens, and some of the onions, along with the celery "fringe" went into my biggest stock pots to be boiled down into the most beautifully green organic veggie stock imaginable. I had gotten the celery on special buy at the local farmer's market (49 cents a head), so I chopped up most of it, dug out one of the onion beds, and heated up a dozen pint jars of veggies--which were then canned in my wonderful stock. I then filled my "little" canner with 7 quart jars of stock...and this post is brought to you courtesy of a gorgeous summer sunset on my back deck as my two canners "gurgle" away on the outside stove.
This would not have been possible without the combined effort of all the Men in the House--since our deck roof was just finished over Memorial Day Weekend, and it would simply have been too stinking hot in the sun to can without it. I love my Manlings! (And their father too...) LOL
Next up...green beans...and yellow beans...and scarlet runner beans...oh my...
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