Winter Canning

Oops, I guess this post should have gone before yesterday's post, but that's what happens when your'e as behind as I am in sharing what's been going on around this little ol' homestead. We're just going to roll with it, and hopefully I'll get caught up sooner than later.

Since we've decided to go full on mega gardening season this year, we knew we had to free up some space in our deep freezers. We currently have two fridge/freezer combos and two upright deep freezers. We try to reserve freezer space for venison and produce that doesn't can very well. But, come August when we are all run ragged we often freeze the field peas and tomatoes instead of canning them. So, we often have a freezer full of those two items this time of year.

Now that we're hoping for a bountiful harvest this year, we are acutely aware that our freezer space is critical; so we commenced to have a couple winter canning days. First with our frozen tomatoes and second with our frozen field peas (Mississippi Pink Eye Purple Hull, to be exact). 

We don't do anything special to freeze our tomatoes or peas. Simply shell the peas and put them into freezer baggies, and then freeze. For the tomatoes: we quarter them, making sure all the bad spots are cut off and discarded, and then put them into freezer bags and into the freezer. If it's a cherry or grape tomato we put the entire tomatoes into the bag without cutting. 

To can the tomatoes and peas from frozen, we set them into large bowls to unthaw over night before we plan to can them. I especially like to use my frozen tomatoes to make rich, thick tomato sauce. The frozen tomatoes make a perfect sauce consistency for making pizza sauce, which is why I put these pureed tomatoes into pints. Typically, when I'm making pizza sauce a pint jar of tomato sauce is sufficient.

We had quite an abundance of peas stored in our freezers. I must admit I rarely pull peas from the freezer when I'm wanting to use them in a meal. It's just so much easier to use already canned peas when preparing a meal, because they're pretty much already cooked.

We ended up with 18 pints of tomato sauce and 29 quarts of field peas (one jar of peas is not pictured because we used it for dinner). Not bad for a winter canning session. We've been hugely intentional trying to eat what we have preserved, especially in regards to eating what is in our freezers. After all, we worked really hard to grow the food and to preserve it. Even with life being so uncertain these days, it's such a blessing that another season of gardening to grow our own food is upon is. Normalcy is definitely a positive ray of hope and for that I thank The Good Lord above. 

With Love &Hope,

Jennifer