Food preservation questions

[88GT]

First issue: I want to dry my onions this year as they never keep long enough to get me through a winter. I have a dehydrator and a resource book on dehydration. But I wanted to ask if anybody else dries his onions and how he does it.

Second issue: I am ready to can the salsa, but I am not completely satisfied with the recipe I have used the past few years. I typically use the recipes out of the Ball book. I have the big one with over 400 recipes. It calls for apple cider vinegar. I hate the flavor the vinegar gives to the salsa. And it only intensifies as the salsa "ages" on the shelf after canning. I know the vinegar is included to lower the pH for safety purposes, so I can't exactly just drop it. Or can I? When I can the tomato sauce I only have to add 2 TBSP of lemon juice to the quart jar. So my question is this: does anyone have a canning recipe for salsa that doesn't use vinegar?

 

[mrjarrell]

I usually just make a batch of salsa the normal way, sans vinegar and then can it. The tomatoes should have enough acid that more is not needed. If it makes you feel comfortable you could probably add some lime juice or lemon, just like you would with sauce. I've never run into any issue with it over the years without vinegar.

 

[PistolBob]

I use Mrs. Wages Salsa mix...and throw in some extra peppers, onions, and maybe some garlic. It uses WHITE vinegar but the end result is a very very tasty salsa.

BTW...the lemon juice in the sketti sauce is to keep it from oxidizing and turning brownish during the canning.

As for onions, we dry a huge pile of onions every year. We peel them, slice them to about 3/8 inch thick. Layer them in the dehydrator and let them dry out...when they look good and dried, we give them one more day. I then bust them up a bit and store in a canning jar with a tight lid. That helps keep out humidity. You can also throw in a few packs of descant to help with moisture as well. Our dried onions last a couple of years.

Try this while you have the dehydrator out. Slice some firm red ripe tomatoes in 1/2 inch slabs. Lay out on the dryer trays and lightly dust them with black pepper, a dash or two of garlic powder, and maybe just a wee bit of salt. Dry them down...they will be under 1/8 inch thick when done. They should not be bendable...they need to break when bent. Then we stack them up in a canning jar with a tight lid. They are good to snack on, or bust up and throw in soup and stew. I like to just crunch them up and add to macaroni that has just been boiled....and a dash or two of cheese.

Good luck

 

[88GT]

I usually just make a batch of salsa the normal way, sans vinegar and then can it. The tomatoes should have enough acid that more is not needed. If it makes you feel comfortable you could probably add some lime juice or lemon, just like you would with sauce. I've never run into any issue with it over the years without vinegar.

Good to know. I always thought the tomatoes would have plenty of acidity for it, but I am not a chance-taker when it comes to things like this.

I use Mrs. Wages Salsa mix...and throw in some extra peppers, onions, and maybe some garlic. It uses WHITE vinegar but the end result is a very very tasty salsa.

BTW...the lemon juice in the sketti sauce is to keep it from oxidizing and turning brownish during the canning.

But it doesn't do that in the couple of hours I boil it down to thicken it up.

As for onions, we dry a huge pile of onions every year. We peel them, slice them to about 3/8 inch thick. Layer them in the dehydrator and let them dry out...when they look good and dried, we give them one more day. I then bust them up a bit and store in a canning jar with a tight lid. That helps keep out humidity. You can also throw in a few packs of descant to help with moisture as well. Our dried onions last a couple of years.

Most excellent. I've always had visions of braided onions hanging from a root cellar. But, alas, I have no root cellar. And never have figured out how to braid them. I pull them too late I think.

Try this while you have the dehydrator out. Slice some firm red ripe tomatoes in 1/2 inch slabs. Lay out on the dryer trays and lightly dust them with black pepper, a dash or two of garlic powder, and maybe just a wee bit of salt. Dry them down...they will be under 1/8 inch thick when done. They should not be bendable...they need to break when bent. Then we stack them up in a canning jar with a tight lid. They are good to snack on, or bust up and throw in soup and stew. I like to just crunch them up and add to macaroni that has just been boiled....and a dash or two of cheese.

Good luck

Thanks. I'll try that. I have a ton of tomatoes left and was looking at new ways to preserve them.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

First issue: I want to dry my onions this year as they never keep long enough to get me through a winter. I have a dehydrator and a resource book on dehydration. But I wanted to ask if anybody else dries his onions and how he does it.

I buy the frozen bags of peppers and onions , thaw them , dehydrate them and vacuum seal them . I think you'd need to slice yours thin first . Last week I ate a bag from 6/2011 and they were just fine .

 

[dirtfarmerz]

We go through a lot of salsa. My wife has made up to 200 quarts in one season. She uses a little Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar. It does not give the salsa that nasty sour vinegar taste that something like Heinz apple cider vinegar does. Heinz also has a raw apple cider vinegar, but it still has that sour flavor we don't like. We have never had any issues with the salsa going bad and if you're family is like mine, your salsa won't last into the second year anyway.

 

[hooky]

We just make salsa and can it. If you're worried, use lime juice as it fits the flavor profile.

On onions, we dice them large and dehydrate them. Just toss them into sauce, soup or whatever has a lot of liquid. If you want to sautee them, just soak them in hot water for 20-30 minutes and drain before tossing them in the skillet.

 

[cyprant]

My secrete salsa recipe:

24 Roma tomatoes
2 white onions
4 jalapeños
2 cups diced cilantro

Boil water, drop in tomatoes till skin wrinkles, remove tomatoes and peel off skin.
Put 1/2 cup water in a skillet and simmer whole jalapeños till skin wrinkles.
Add all ingredients except tomatoes to blender and chop it all up (not too small) add 1/2 tomatoes and repeat. Chop remaining tomatoes by hand and mix with the blended ingredients. Add 1/8 cup salt and refrigerate over night.

Best salsa. Ever.

 

[bwframe]

I use Mrs. Wages Salsa mix...and throw in some extra peppers, onions, and maybe some garlic. It uses WHITE vinegar but the end result is a very very tasty salsa.

I use Mrs Wages Salsa mix also. Following the package recipe with half again as many tomatoes. It seems perfect to me and mine.

I run my onions through a Videlia/Progressive chopper, freeze on a cookie sheet and pack the loose frozen onions into quart zip locks.

 

[88GT]

I use Mrs Wages Salsa mix also. Following the package recipe with half again as many tomatoes. It seems perfect to me and mine.

I run my onions through a Videlia/Progressive chopper, freeze on a cookie sheet and pack the loose frozen onions into quart zip locks.

I may have to try the pre-packaged thing. My only concern is that it wouldn't have the long term preservation conditions (low pH). The Ball recipes are "formulated" to keep the pH low for safety purposes.

I have a friend that freezes her onions as well. But I freeze our corn and green beans and don't have enough room in the freezers for much more.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

My wife has always made up our salsa each season, depending on how many of the various peppers, onions, and tomatoes we end up with. Each season's is different, but we like them all. I still remember the time my son was looking through the pantry and, on the back of a shelf, he found the last jar of 2003 salsa long after we thought we'd eaten it up. 2003 was our best "salsa year" and my son was thrilled to find that jar.

We've never tried to preserve cherry tomatoes, but we have lots this year and we're thinking about it. Does anyone can or dry cherry tomatoes?

 

[hooky]

You could try canning the onions.

Preserving Onions and Garlic : Extension : Clemson University : South Carolina

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Has anyone ever grown Quinoa?

I planted some this year and it was looking good, just starting to get brown, but then the rains knocked most of it over the other day. I'm thinking about cutting it and bundling it together and hanging it up to finish drying, but I'm not sure if it's too early to bring it in.

 

[88GT]

You could try canning the onions.

Preserving Onions and Garlic : Extension : Clemson University : South Carolina

Too much work. And drying lets me store the same amount of onion is a fraction of the space.

I sliced them up yesterday evening and they have been drying ever since. Almost done. Next time I might try dicing them instead of slicing them. Has anybody done that?

Of course, the whole house reeked of it. But I did find a super simple solution to keeping the onion burn/eye water down. So yay there.

 

[hooky]

Too much work. And drying lets me store the same amount of onion is a fraction of the space.

I sliced them up yesterday evening and they have been drying ever since. Almost done. Next time I might try dicing them instead of slicing them. Has anybody done that?

Of course, the whole house reeked of it. But I did find a super simple solution to keeping the onion burn/eye water down. So yay there.

We dice them for the dehydrator.

The only thing we freeze is corn, so everything else is canned or dehydrated. How do the frozen beans keep?

 

[88GT]

We dice them for the dehydrator.

Sweet. I was trying so hard to keep all the slices even thickness but I don't have a mandolin slicer and it was a little difficult for the bulbs that were only as big as a quarter.

The only thing we freeze is corn, so everything else is canned or dehydrated. How do the frozen beans keep?

Pretty good. I never have enough beans at any one time to drag out the pressure canner and drying them seems, well, yuck. I blanch them but I know some people don't. I have found that blanching seems to freshen them up a bit as it may be 24-48 hours after picking before I can get them in the freezer. The water boil helps brighten them up and plump them up. They taste (almost) as good as if they were fresh from the garden.

 

[Expat]

My onions usually make it into the spring, then shortly after that I have green onions to use. I wonder if you just aren't saving them right.

This is pretty much how I do it, except instead of braiding, I put them in mesh bags that you would buy potatoes in.
When and How to Harvest and Cure Onions | Veggie Gardener

 

[Fargo]

Sweet. I was trying so hard to keep all the slices even thickness but I don't have a mandolin slicer and it was a little difficult for the bulbs that were only as big as a quarter.


Pretty good. I never have enough beans at any one time to drag out the pressure canner and drying them seems, well, yuck. I blanch them but I know some people don't. I have found that blanching seems to freshen them up a bit as it may be 24-48 hours after picking before I can get them in the freezer. The water boil helps brighten them up and plump them up. They taste (almost) as good as if they were fresh from the garden.

If you are pressure canning, why are you worrying about salsa ph? It was my understanding that that was only an issue at water bath temps which aren't high enough to kill botulin.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

We grow and can lots of beans. Some years well over 100 qts. This year we've started freezing some for the first time. We just break them and spread them out on a cookie tray to freeze, then when they're frozen, we put them in bags.

We did have a meal last weekend using some frozen beans, and I couldn't tell the difference between them and canned beans.

 

[dprimm]

We've never tried to preserve cherry tomatoes, but we have lots this year and we're thinking about it. Does anyone can or dry cherry tomatoes?

I am trying freezing them this ear. We have an explosion of the cherries and for giggles i have 2 quarts frozen. Thawed 3 to test and the skins popped right off. Will be fun to try in chili this winter. No canning here yet.
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