Juices
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IJANT[/url] 19 July 2012 Blueberry Fruit Leather
Three litres, about three pounds, of blueberries were made into fruit leather.The selected berries were hand blended into a slurry. The hand blender allows one to beat into a fine slurry, whereas a typical canister blender will not allow this unless water is added, which complicates the dehydration process. After experimenting with the various sold sheets sold by the dehydrator companies, I determined that they were relatively useless and not required since a teflon sheet is far more convenient. It is necessary to get the product onto open screen mesh for efficient dehydration. This is impossible with a slurry until sufficiently dry so the liquid does not run into the mesh. About ten hour at 125F dries the underside so it can be flipped over to complete the dehydration on the open mesh. Also the tefon pans enclose the thick slurry and make for a nice shaped leather.After the fruit sheet is on the open mesh dehydration is rapid and must be checked regularly to determine when the process is complete and the desired result is obtained.
Note. The end product was perfect after a further three hours of dehydration on the open sheets. The end product is a bit soft (desirable) and was vacuum packed and will be kept in the refrigerator or frozen for longer storage. To store at room temperature the product must be as hard a shoe leather.The commercial fruit leather and dried fruit if soft as is the usual case, has to be packed with bacterial inhibitors, since it cannot be soft and kept on the open shelves of supermarkets without some inhibiting chemicals. I never buy the stuff.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KSWVC[/url] 20 July 2012 Blueberry Fruit Leather(Logistics)
Fruit leather in general is not a cheap item to produce.Each large sheet in the photographs requires about two pound of berries, which presently cost 3.00 per pound. If the sheet is cut into typical serving size of 20 from a sheet. The cost per piece is about thirty cents just for the ingredients. Other issues are storage and softness of the finished product.To store at room temperature the product must be thoroughly dehydrated until hard, which is not conducive to casual eating.But is ideal for camping and the like lifestyles.For casual eating the product must be relatively soft and palatable. This means moisture is present and the product must be refrigerated or it will mold in a few days.Vacuum packing extends shelf life at room temperature considerably and is ideal for freezing. I envision this product along with other dehydrated fruits as a healthy, nutritional snack food replacing the typical supermarket junk food.The product presented is only blueberries with nothing added.Annotated photographs depict the process.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RHIND[/url] 25 July 2012. Blueberry Fruit Leather.
Eleven litres or about ten quarts of blueberries were dehydrated into fruit leather.The procedure is simple and the end product makes a quality, nourishing snack, or child treat. Each sheet contains about 1.7 litres of berries.I make it slightly pliable with some moisture present and store in the refrigerator or freezer. To store at room temperature it must be dried to a very hard texture, with no moisture present.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DIZER[/url] 19 July 2012 Blueberry Juice
Twenty three pounds of blueberries were picked ($2.60\lb) at a commercial farm (Kent Kreek, Norfolk County, ON). The berries were as perfect as they can be. About fifteen pounds were made into ten litres of juice. Each litre of juice contains about 1.5 pounds of berries.Blueberries contain no roughage, so straining was not necessary. Some were set aside for fresh use, and about four pounds are being dehydrated into fruit leather. Annotated photographs depict the effort.
Note: 20 July 2012. Another 15 pounds of blueberries was made into nine litres of juice. That is enough for this season.

Cranberry. Utilizing.
 

Cranberry are touted to be beneficial so this is my method of utilizing.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KYQUO[/url] 9 October 2012 Cranberry.
Twelve pounds of cranberries was processed into 10 litres of juice. About five litres of water was added to make drinkable.Cranberries are in season in several places throughout the country. A few apples were added to reduce the sourness of the cranberries. The product was pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RLTDZ[/url] 5 September 2012 Cranberry Juice
Eight litres of Cranberry juice was made from frozen 4800 grams of frozen berries. There is little juice in the cranberries, therefore they must be processed with about one litre of water per 454 grams of berries.Cranberries are sales hyped as to health benefits. Annotated pictures depict the juicing process.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QHYJU[/url] 28 November 2011 Cranberry Juice
Cranberries are not local to my area, so I have to use purchased berries from the supermarket. The fresh cranberry berries are not in the stores yet, so I decided to do a dry run on frozen berries.When the fresh berries become available in December,I will make more juice. Cranberries are usually used as a garnish in jelly or whole cooked form with sugar for turkey on festive occasions. The juice is touted as having beneficial effects.The juice is tart to some degree, but acceptable.

Method is typical. Wash,add water to thin as required, boil, beat into a mash, remove all air, strain, Pressure can at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature.

Goja Berry and Blueberry Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BXFRZ[/url] 17 July 2012 Goja Berry and Blueberry Juice.
Five pounds of Goja berries and ten pounds of Blueberries were made into juice. Both berries were freshly picked. Goja berries cost $30.00 per pound and the five pounds came to $150.00.The blueberries cost 3.40 per pound for a total of $34.00 for ten pounds. Twelve litres of juice was obtained for a cost of $13.80 per litre.The berries were purchasd near Langton, ON [url]http://www.gojiontario.com/index.php[/url]
Processing was normal,berries added to pot, and water added to cover the berries, boiling until soft (15 minutes), blending into a slurry (three minutes), straining using a food mill. There was almost no residue, but what was present was put through the Champion Juicer to extract any nutrients.The extracted juice was then pressure canned at 15 PSI. Annotated photographs depict the process.

Blueberry and Gooseberry Juice.
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KEDKH[/url] 15 July 2012 Blueberry and Gooseberry Juice.
Seventeen pound of fruit was made into juice. Seven pounds of gooseberry and ten pounds of blueberry were picked from the garden. Twelve litres of juice was obtained. Each litre of juice contains about 1.4 pounds of the mixed fruit. The juice is natural with only water added to thin for drinking and to insure enough liquid for cooking.

Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KRKOL[/url] 4 July 2011 Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)

The one blackcurrant bush in the garden furnished four pounds of perfect berries. All the berries were black, every single one,almost of uniform size, and about one in 100 was ripe enough to fall when touched. My new criteria for deciding when to pick. Juice was made by covering with water (two litres), boiling for about 15 minutes and beating into a mash using the portable blender. I did not strain since there was little roughage in the berries. The three litres of juice obtained was pressure canned for long term storage at room temperature. I used 15 PSI for 15 minutes. The end product is rather thick, a bit tart, so half a glass is probably a reasonable amount for a serving.

Garden Vegetable Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VENWO[/url] 2 July 2012 Current Garden Vegetable Juice. All the current garden vegetables were made into juice and pressured canned for use in the off season.Seven litres of juice was obtained.Annotated photographs depict the procedure.

Ah yes! Veggie juice! One of my favorites!

[QUOTE=Redbaron;334793]Ah yes! Veggie juice! One of my favorites![/QUOTE]

How do you preserve your garden produce? I see a lot of people growing plants, but little information on serious preserving.

Wow that looks good and healthy. ~Alfredo

[QUOTE=Durgan;334802]How do you preserve your garden produce?[/QUOTE]

I freeze or can it. But mostly I eat it! During peak production I can go days eating nothing else but what my garden supplies. If there is too much to eat and my freezer full, and all the shelves in the pantry full, I sell or give away the rest.:D

[QUOTE=Redbaron;334805]I freeze or can it. But mostly I eat it! During peak production I can go days eating nothing else but what my garden supplies. If there is too much to eat and my freezer full, and all the shelves in the pantry full, I sell or give away the rest.:D[/QUOTE]

I am still living on my produce preserved during the season of growth. There are only 113 litres of produce left from about 450 canned. I ingest two or three litres per day, often mixing in the drinking glass.

why do you discard the residue from your juicer, wouldn't it be good for burying in the garden.
That's what I do with mine or is that what you meant by discard it.

[QUOTE=Gavriil;334852]why do you discard the residue from your juicer, wouldn't it be good for burying in the garden.
That's what I do with mine or is that what you meant by discard it.[/QUOTE]


check captions. food for the horses

We can about 80 quarts of tomatoes, and a few jars of pickles, though we don't really eat that many pickles; we just like to experiment. Mostly we freeze stuff, but last year I got an Excalibur dehydrator, and had it going almost full time at the end of summer. Best luck came from dried tomatoes - all kinds - and peppers, hot and sweet. And of course apples. Sweet corn dries nicely, and makes a nice crunchy snack, but grind some up and add it to your favorite corn bread or muffin recipe, and the result is eye-poppingly good. Of course we root cellar what we are able to. Carrots I leave in the ground, mulch heavily with leaves late in the fall, and dig all winter, after shoveling the snow off, despite twenty below temps. They get sweeter than ever.
We somehow just have not yet got into drinking our vegetables, though.
Shawn

Not sure what the point of the thread is, but it surely brought tears to my eyes just
thinking of my favorite pie....gooseberry pie...which I can't seem to find at any pie shops
anymore.

[QUOTE=Alpinejs;334873]Not sure what the point of the thread is, but it surely brought tears to my eyes just
thinking of my favorite pie....gooseberry pie...which I can't seem to find at any pie shops
anymore.[/QUOTE]


You have 50 pounds of berries!. How do you utilize them in the off season. Eat to live not live to eat.

The little bit of residue is not worth the effort to utilize in the big picture. It is mostly cellulose and seeds.

I had no idea that blueberries could be turn in fruit leather! :D fruit leather is great, I discovered it last year and made some with kale and bananas.. But I had a problem with strawberry one, it kinda fermented before it dried:/ I like to roll that sheets and cut it then into a small pieces, like a candies. They keep well in glass jars with good metal lid on.

[QUOTE=loeb;349991]I had no idea that blueberries could be turn in fruit leather! :D fruit leather is great, I discovered it last year and made some with kale and bananas.. But I had a problem with strawberry one, it kinda fermented before it dried:/ I like to roll that sheets and cut it then into a small pieces, like a candies. They keep well in glass jars with good metal lid on.[/QUOTE]

I found anything with sugar makes fine leather. Blueberries are about the best, but dreadfully expensive. The leather must be absolutely dry if keeping long term at room temperature. It can be made more soft if stored in the freezer or for a shorter period if simply stored in the refrigerator. If some produce wont leather then it can be powdered. Excellent for travel and/or camping.

Vegetables as powder are absolutely wonderful. I will make several batches of vegetables this year.
[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?JBAOD[/url] 22 July 2012.Preserving Garden Vegetables by Dehydrating.
All produce currently available in the garden was chosen. Carrots,basil,purslane,green beans,green peppers,parsnips,turnip,tomato,cabbage,egg plant,beets,cucumber,Walla Walla onion,Black Russian potatoes,and okra.Processing was almost identical for all produce, which is, cut into small pieces and blend in a tall cyclinder to a fine mash,then place in the mixing pot. A five gallon pail about twenty litre capacity,was used for the mixing pot. The quantity of material processed was about nine litres. The sample of the chopping, depicts the process for the cucumber. Preliminary preparation done outside on the picnic table, since processing can be messy. No water was added,all the produce was reduced in its own juices. This is possible with the hand blender, but impossible in a container blender.About a litre of material was placed on teflon pans, smoothed evenly, and placed in the Excalibur dehydrator set at 135F\57C initially for ten hours. Time was increased as necessary to get the material dry enough to move to the open mesh for complete dying. Always move to open mesh as soon as the materiel can be handled conveniently. The dried mixture is vacuum packed for storage and is reconstituted by adding boiling water.This particular batch has a most pleasant flavour.Apparently this method of preserving is the most nutrition retentive of all the current conventional methods. The process is relatively simple and straightforward.

Those banana and kale rolls were dry enough but still elastic, so it was easy to cut the roll, it stored just fine in room temperature:) I don't like american type blueberries very much,taste is ok, but just sweet thats all. But I love polish wild blueberries [they are smaller, and purple inside, and more aromatic], and I have few bushes of jagoda kamczacka = kamtschatic berry [[I]Lonicera caerulea[/I] L. var. [I]kamtschatica[/I]], quite popular here, similar to american type blueberries. It's completly non problematic bush :) Mine are small but I think in few years they will produce lots of berries. People are making jams from this, especially with strawberries, or just eat raw, so I think skin leather would be good..

All mentioned vegetables were blended into one mass, right? I have powdered vegetables but never a mix of them, usually single herbs, or mushrooms. Interesting idea:)

Impressive. And I see that you are boiling almond milk after mixing almonds with water, I have never done it, just drank it like it was.. This is needed to canning? I ca see that collard juice is made that way too.. Do you boil all those jars to sterilize the juices? I have made some nettle juice few days ago, but just frozed it or preserved it with alcohol.. What is pilot bread? is it kind of a raw, dried "bread" or baked bread?

We have a similar process down here with our mangoes.We just made up about 10 pounds.It does freeze well.You can add some good rum after the oven part of it for some "flavor"

[QUOTE=loeb;350026]Impressive. And I see that you are boiling almond milk after mixing almonds with water, I have never done it, just drank it like it was.. This is needed to canning? I ca see that collard juice is made that way too.. Do you boil all those jars to sterilize the juices? I have made some nettle juice few days ago, but just frozed it or preserved it with alcohol.. What is pilot bread? is it kind of a raw, dried "bread" or baked bread?[/QUOTE]

Pilot bread is unleavened bread with various ingredients. I make my own flour.

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IFDZK[/url] 16 March 2013 Pilot Bread. Whole grain wheat flour, quinoa, flax, sunflower,poppy.

Forty biscuits of pilot bread was made using whole grain wheat flour, quinoa, flax, poppy seeds and sunflower seeds. Quinoa seeds were cooked in the rice cooker. Flax, poppy and sunflower were beat with water in the blender, then cooked for an hour in a water bath double boiler.This prevents sticking to the pot. The ingredients were them mixed with whole grain wheat flour and kneaded into a ball.The dough was then made into a roll and cut into biscuits and shaped. The biscuits were baked at 375F on one side for 30 minutes,then flipped over and baked again for 30 minutes.The biscuits are softened by microwaving for about a minute. They are stored in the refrigerator and freezer as required.

I make a gruel based on cooked almonds. I use to eat the almonds raw but feel they digest better cooked.
[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VQQXX[/url] 22 March 2013 Breakfast Seeds (Gruel).
A bowl of prepared seeds are cooked beforehand and consumed for breakfast daily. The variety may vary slightly due to what is currently available. This batch consists of quinoa, almonds. flax and sunflower.
Method: Beat the seeds in the blender to a fine consistency adding water as necessary. Quinoa is cooked in the rice cooker. One to two cups of each is the quantity chosen. After being broken up by the blending the seeds are mixed in a pot. The pot full is then cooked for about an hour in a water bath. This prevents sticking to the pot. The cooked product is then stored in litre jars in the refrigerator. One litre produces about five typical breakfasts. It is tasty and nourishing. Pictures depict the process.

You have very interesting ways of processing seeds and grains. I like the idea of that gruel.. never thought about canning grains.. corn can be canned so I should think of it but it never came into my mind.. I like that gruel concept, is this a tradicional dish somewhere? We have few tradicional soups based on grain, one "ritual" one - made from almost whole wheat or barley with poppy seeds, honey, nuts and dried frut - usually raisins now. I'm writing ritual because this is probably from pre-christian times, but now is tradicionally made on a Christmas. I loved it as a child, and still like it so gruel could be nice. i have never planted quinoa, but I have some seeds this year, so maybe i will have some home-grown seeds.I wondered how to use it, now I have at least one good idea, thank you for sharing:) It's like you could write a book on that subject.. how to turn homegrown veggies into homemade ..everything :)

Don't underestimate what we eat is tradition and habit. There is no reason why we should favour bacon and eggs and white toast for breakfast. It is convenient, quick but probably not particularly nourishing compared to what is available. I eat soy beans daily also for breakfast and have been doing so for years.
[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PUFKP[/url] 7 May 2012 Breakfast
My standard breakfast soy beans and oats with skim milk. Simple, quick, nourishing, and palatable. I now also use a tablespoon of black-strap molasses.
[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QIUDU[/url] 22 November 2011 Cooking Soy Beans

It was more about name "gruel" because it reminds me some french friends..:) there were many vegetable dishes that were in use for ages and then dissapeared with growth of commercial foods or became less popular. But some of them still exists and they are usually considered "tradicional" in some way, because of an old ege of that dish in meaning of recipe. Like what you would probably called "sauerkraft soup". Before all that commercial packed foods people knew more about nutrition of vegetables, and they used what was available.. and knew how to preserve it.

Rhubarb
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GPTFT[/url] 3 June 2013 Rhubarb
The rhubarb from six plants was pulled and made into juice, mixing with one pineapple to ameliorate the sour flavour somewhat.The stalks were cut into short pieces, about two litres of water added to the pot containing one pineapple and cooked for about 15 minutes. The cooked mixture was blended using the hand tool to make the mixture homogeneous.Rhubarb is very sour and the pineapple helps modify the sour flavour.I don’t use crystal sugar or its substitutes.The cooked mixture was put through a food mill to separate out the rough cellulose. The output of the food mill was put through a Champion Juicer to extract all the nutrients.Seven litres was pressure canned at 15 minutes at 15 PSI, my typical procedure for long term storage. About two litres was stored in the refrigerator for immediate use. The total rhubarb used was 15 pounds and the pineapple was four pounds. Each litre of juice contains about 1.5 pounds of rhubarb.

Wow, I've never thought to mix pineapple and rhubarb but that sounds like an amazing combination!

[QUOTE=Sharpcheddar;353270]Wow, I've never thought to mix pineapple and rhubarb but that sounds like an amazing combination![/QUOTE]

The combination is still sour but the effect is modified slightly. To overwhelm takes a lot of sugar to which I object.

How about rhubarb/stevia or rhubarb/honey?:?!?: