Does anyone preserve their food?

Barb, Where did you get that AWESOME pot?

 

I have many pots like that. Most of them are brand new. This one I have had for many years and had only used it once till I water bath processed in it. I saw it in a local store and the price said $19.99. I asked the guy if this was correct and he insisted it was. I should have bought a few more but I didn't think I had any use for more of them. I am sure you all know they run from 90 to 140 and mine is much thicker than those kind. Of course it has a lid with it.

I just love my pots and all my kitchen gadget and my kitchen for that matter. And I love to save all kinds of food for future use especially when you find it at good prices.

Barb in Pa.

 

Hi barb,

i've just installed the final touch to the root cellar which is a pipe from the outside to the bottom of the cellar with the aim of creating good air circulation.

So that this year i can cap it and have some kind of control over it. Typically it is running between 5 and 15c

I currently have my homemade wine in there plus all our jams, pickles, chutneys, sauces and other preserves. As its a cold dark room. it aids the canning. We also store bulk dry ingredients in there. And currently testing apples from the local orchard to see how they do.

I would like to say we store other veg in there but for now i haven't had enough root veg to store.

My suggestion is take a close look at your cellar specifically where the racks are compared to the air flow.

remember the higher up the rack the warmer, closer to the inlet air line the greater the air flow and likely hood of dehydration.

Thats a great pic lukeypukey, might have to print it out and put it on our root cellar door

 

Barb, What an awesome bargain, I agree that he didn't price it correctly. there is no way that pan was a 20.00 pan. I wish I could find one like that for 20.00. the closest store we have that would sell something like that is Lehman's down in amish country, but never for 20.00.

 

Have you tried food dehydrating? That is so easy to do, saves a lot and keeps the great tastes on the table or for snacks year round.

I especially like to take that type of food on camping trips. Just add water and soon there is hot soup by the campfire and those great dehydrated fruits are tasty for a sweet dessert. Easy clean up too.

Lee

 

Danjensen, Please add some photos to your "my garden" of your root cellar??? I would love to see what you have done.

Mine is going to be opposite of yours as I don't have much insulation on top of it, maybe only about a foot. Another point, it has a common wall with my greenhouse. So, if the top allows it to get cold the one wall will, hopefully, keep that chill off. Also I have a vent in the top already but just this last week I learned it leaks a little. So I have to address that. It has cement block and sand on the floor so it drains easily and quickly but I really don't want it to leak at all. I also have a waterproof outlet in there so I can run a fan for air circulation if I want.

This year will be my test year, even though my root cellar is 5 years old. It has just sat there unfinished and untested for all that time.


Carolyn, Yes and my sister was angry with me about it. Saying, "where would I ever store such a useless thing." Yes it always has been hard to store but I made sure I found a nice little spot tucked away in my pantry. Now I have a very good thing to do with that "useless thing".:-D

Barb in Pa.