WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[wyoDreamer]

I cut up 20+ pounds of tomatoes and stuck them in the freezer to be conned on the weekend. The seeds and snot are in a bowl to be cooked down in the crockpot and then used as liquid for canning tomato chuncks.

 

[flowerbug]

It just tastes "cooked" I guess is the only way to describe it. I wouldn't hesitate to use it if I needed it - I just have better alternatives with fresh.

i'd make yogurt or cheese with any extra. can't imagine wanting to can it to preserve it. we do use tons of sweetened condensed milk here though. that's not cheap at the stores either. put some vanilla in it perhaps if the flavor seems odd? i just dunno... i'm quite happy drinking dried milk if needed. it does have a bit of an odd flavor to it yet i don't find it offensive.

 

[flowerbug]

waiting on the first batch of 20 quarts of chunks to finish sealing and then i'm going to juice the rest. a half gallon of juice will go in the fridge for Mom to drink and the rest i'll put into the last few quart jars we have left that we have lids for and those will get put in the pantry with the rest of them. now we're down to three and a half cases of half gallon jars and then it's a question of using pints or seeing if we can buy more jars or give the rest of the tomatoes away.

 

[Hinotori]

Is it similar to the canned goat milk from the store? It works really good for cooking in things like casseroles or other dishes. Kind of has a cheesy taste to me.

 

[flowerbug]

Is it similar to the canned goat milk from the store? It works really good for cooking in things like casseroles or other dishes. Kind of has a cheesy taste to me.

that does sound good to me too (notice the pun, it was intentional )...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I haven't tasted the canned goat milk...

 

[Mini Horses]

i'd make yogurt or cheese with any extra. can't imagine wanting to can it to preserve it.

We do those things. FEM & I both have more goats than we need (shhhh) and we milk them...well, some of them. It is a "gotta try it" thing. Heck, I have so much milk my chickens get it often. Some friends get fresh milk, cheese, yogurt, whatever I am overloaded with! FEM shares her "dairy" also. I average 2 gal a day from each of 3 gals.....yeah, I always have a frig full.

Some days you get a crazy idea! Something to try. Safer than skydiving. You never know who might need this milk. Not something I'd do on a regular basis. This was a "let's try it" effort.

I have never tried the canned goat milk from the store either -- I mean, I have a herd of milk goats! I do know a qt of liquid goat milk is $4 at WalMart. Certain it isn't as good as my fresh!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I might actually do it again. My neighbors/dogs/chickens/pigs get a lot of milk too when I'm milking several. It's a better way to store it when ya run out of fridge space! Pigs fattened on milk soaked corn taste mighty good! I'm only milking one goat once a day now and we've still got extra milk, lol. I'm making kefir for us and for the dogs, lol!

 

[Britesea]

waiting on the first batch of 20 quarts of chunks to finish sealing and then i'm going to juice the rest. a half gallon of juice will go in the fridge for Mom to drink and the rest i'll put into the last few quart jars we have left that we have lids for and those will get put in the pantry with the rest of them. now we're down to three and a half cases of half gallon jars and then it's a question of using pints or seeing if we can buy more jars or give the rest of the tomatoes away.

what about dehydrating the rest of your tomatoes? Even if you don't have a "real" dehydrator, you can get a very acceptable product by laying slices on cookie sheets and putting them in your car in the hot sun. Leave the window cracked so the moisture can escape. Dried tomatoes give you a more intense "tomato-y" flavor when added to dishes, or you can powder the dried tomatoes and then add water when you need them. You can make tomato paste, sauce, soup, or juice simply by adding more or less water to the powder.

 

[flowerbug]

what about dehydrating the rest of your tomatoes? Even if you don't have a "real" dehydrator, you can get a very acceptable product by laying slices on cookie sheets and putting them in your car in the hot sun. Leave the window cracked so the moisture can escape. Dried tomatoes give you a more intense "tomato-y" flavor when added to dishes, or you can powder the dried tomatoes and then add water when you need them. You can make tomato paste, sauce, soup, or juice simply by adding more or less water to the powder.

while i would be ok doing a lot of things with these tomatoes, Mom will not want to, i'm going to try to suggest that i cut up some onions and soften them up a bit and then add those to some tomato chunks and do those for pints so she can use that for goulash or something and then we can use a few cases of pint jars up. we have lids for pint jars. we'll see if that flies...