It's the middle of September already and I believe it's safe to say the gardening season is almost over, there's not much left in the garden, unless I count the cleaning and the preparations for next year. Unfortunately it wasn't the best year but it wasn't bad either, I have no reason to complain. I'm not the type anyway as I was brought up to appreciate everything I get instead of complaining.
So today I'd like to show you what we've been working for the whole gardening season. I've been showing you the photos of fruits and vegetables during summer, but today I'd like to show you what we've been canning for winter.
Pickled cucumber is number one on the list. This is an absolute must and we have to have plenty, to last till the next season starts.
Pickles, what else? :) Here there's cauliflower and red pepper, plus some hot pepper occasionally, for a better taste.
Tomato juice is always a must, every year we have around 50L if things go well. When I want to make tomato soup in the winter, or tomato sauce, I just take a bottle out of the storage room and enjoy a healthy tomato juice.
What you see here is red pepper and plum pickles. It' may seem strangle to see plums pickled, but it's actually a good thing, very delicious. We make some every year. The ingredients unfortunately is not from the garden as we don't have plums and red pepper ripen later.
Green beans with tomato, also for soup. This is also a must as it saves you from spending an hour cooking a soup. This is already cooked, so it takes about 10 minutes to cook a soup.
This is a strange one you don't see very often. There's a dish in Hungary and Transylvania, called lecsó.
Lecsó (English: Lecho) is a Hungarian thick vegetable ragout or stew which features explicitly yellow pointed peppers, tomato, onion, salt, and ground sweet and/or hot paprika as a base recipe. The onions and peppers are usually sauteed in lard, bacon fat or sunflower oil. Garlic can also be a traditional ingredient. It is also considered to be traditional food in Czech, Slovak and Former Yugoslavian cuisine and is also very common in Poland, Austria, and Israel. source
This is the base for the ragout, made of red and white pepper, tomato and spices. The rest you can buy all year round but what it is in he jars is essential to be of good quality, therefore we're canning it during the summer.
You can also buy tomato and pepper all year round but what you can get during the winter is not only expensive, but also of poor quality.
More pickles! This is a mix or cucumber, onion and pepper, especially those cucumbers that got hit by the hails storm. This is damage control, salvaging what it can be salvaged. Why throw it away when you can still use it to get something good out of it?
This is the currant-raspberry jam I posted about when I made it. I have also made pear jam, from fruits I got from he neighbor as he did not need it.
These are the main products we usually make every year. I have asked told repeatedly, why bother as it's a lot of work and you can buy everything at the grocery store. That is all true but I like to know what I'm eating, health always comes first and till we have this garden and can grow a few things to have during the year, I don't see why not take advantage of it. This is natural medicine.
Originally posted here: https://hive.blog/hive-120078/@erikah/this-is-what-weve-been-working-for-this-gardening-season
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