Home Preservation: Cucumber, Summer Squash, and Green Beans

The University of Illinois hosts a great website on home gardening that includes basic vegetable information, recipes, and other tips.  I have included some preservation techniques from this site below.  Many more can be found at http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/index.cfm.

Cucumber

Pickling cucumbers from Harner Farms, Eau Claire, MI

Refrigerator Dill Chips
Pickled cucumbers add spice and texture to sandwiches and meals. For highest quality pickles, use cucumbers that are no more the 24 hours from the vine. Use "pure" or pickling salt in this recipe. Table salt contains additives that make a cloudy brine and off color pickles.

• 2 to 2-1/2 cups sliced cucumbers, about 1/4 inch thick
• 2-1/2 teaspoons pickling salt
• 2 springs fresh dill, about 6 inches long or 1 tablespoon dry dill seed or 1 head of fresh dill
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Prepare the jar, lid and screwband. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse well and drain. Combine the sliced cucumbers and 1-1/2 teaspoons of the pickling salt. Toss well. Cover with cold water and let stand for 2 to 3 hours. Drain.
In a clean, hot, 1 pint jar, put the dill, garlic, and remaining 1 teaspoon pickling salt. Add the cucumbers slices leaving 1/2 inch head space. Push slices down and firmly pack. Combine water and vinegar and bring to a boil. Pour hot vinegar solution over cucumbers.
Use a plastic knife or spatula to release air bubbles. Insert knife down the side of the jar and gently push cucumber slices toward the center so that the vinegar solution gets between the slices. Pour on more hot vinegar solution if necessary. Leave 1/2 inch headspace (the space between the rim of the jar and its contents). Wipe the rim. Put the lid and screwband in place. Refrigerate for six weeks before eating.

Summer Squash

Summer squash grown at Twin Maple Orchards, Galien, MI

Canning is not recommended because the tender summer squash will simply turn to mush during processing, unless you are making pickles. Zucchini can be substituted for cucumbers in some pickle recipes. The results are especially good in your favorite recipes for Bread and Butter Pickles.
Blanch and freeze cubes or slices of summer squash or grate and freeze Zucchini, unblanched for making Zucchini bread. The best way to use over grown (10 to 12 inches) zucchini is to grate it and use in zucchini bread. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and cut away the seedy middle section. Wash, grate and freeze in one cup portions. Use zip closure freezer bags or rigid freezer containers leaving 1/2 inch head space. Over size zucchini can also be used to make canned zucchini chutney. The over 12-inch monsters should go on the compost heap.

Green Beans

Green beans, also from Twin Maple Orchards

Green beans can be frozen, dried or canned. Immature beans retain more color and undergo less texture and flavor loss during freezing. All vegetables must be blanched before freezing. Unblanched vegetables quickly become tough and suffer huge nutrient and color loss. Vegetables naturally contain an active enzyme that causes deterioration of plant cells, even during freezing. Blanching before freezing retards the enzyme activity.
Freezing does not improve the quality of any vegetable. Freezing actually can magnify undesirable characteristics. For instance, woodiness in stalks become more noticeable upon thawing. Select vegetables grown under favorable conditions and prepare for freezing as soon after picking as possible. Vegetables at peak quality for eating will produce best results in the freezer.

1. In a blanching pot or large pot with a tight fitting lid, bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil.
2. Meanwhile, wash beans, trim stem ends and cut into1-inch pieces or leave whole.
3. Blanch no more than one pound at a time. Add beans to boiling water and immediately cover with a tight fitting lid.
4. Start timing immediately and blanch for four minutes.
5. Prepare an ice water bath in a large 5-quart container or the sink.
6. Remove beans from water with slotted a spoon or blanching basket.
7. Immerse in the ice water bath for five minutes or until cooled. If you do not have ice, use several changes of cold water or running cold water. Remove and drain.
8. Pack cold beans in zip-closure freezer bags or freezer containers. Squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing bags.
9. Label and date each container or bag. Immediately place in the freezer, allowing an inch of space around each container until it is frozen. Freeze for up to one year at 0 degrees F. or below.
10. Blanching water can be used over and over again. Add more water if necessary. Remember to always bring water back to a rolling boil before blanching more vegetables.

Supplies are building steadily

An active Market today should result in the best day of the year (so far) tomorrow.

Blueberries are surprisingly sweet, plump, and tasty, but blueberries don't have the same hatred of rain as do other berries. Volume is building...Weymouth, Bluetta, Early Blu, Duke, and next week, maybe the first Bluecrop. Excellent size this year.

Sweet cherries from the North will arrive tomorrow, maybe a few strawberries from Alpena.

Black raspberries, red raspberries...don't buy more than you can sell in a day or two.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the first local peaches of the season tomorrow. 

Patience

No one wants the season to get going more than I do. But at the end of the day, Mother Nature controls. Natural events (heat, rain, wind, etc), play a significant role in agriculture; they always have, and until we can control the growing conditions completely, they always will.

Nonetheless, I'm seeing an increase of product available almost every day. Volumes are still way low, but I can see light...and soon, if this year's bizarre weather pattern gets back to an historical norm, we'll take flight.

So patience is the watchword now....

Sweet Cherries

I admit my favorite fruit depends upon the season, but it's hard to beat a SW Michigan sweet cherry, and our strawberry season wasn't the best--too much rain and too hot. I had some really good strawberries though, and I'm reminded that elsewhere in the country, growing conditions have been far worse.

And that's one of the competitive advantages of our Great Fruit Belt: year in and year out we're going to have better growing conditions than most other agriculture production regions.

Now, we're on the cusp of sweet cherry season, and a few are beginning to trickle onto the Market. By the end of the week, we should see some volume.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention red raspberries are being harvested now, along with zucchini squash, sugar snap peas, English garden peas, and I expect new red potatoes any day now.

The season is early, way early, and it looks like the weather may straighten out for a long-term period of "dry and seasonable." That's what we need...and want.

Activity on the Market is building

With the addition of another wholesaler on the Market yesterday, and a steadily increasing number of buyers, we are building momentum for another successful season.

The season is an early one, and  I had a reliable report of sweet cherry harvest. If true (and I think it is), these will be the earliest sweet cherries in my lifetime. My source told me he's picking one cherry out of every three or four clusters. In other words, he's spot picking, and spot picking is about the only way I know to insure a consistent quality of fruit. I expect a premium price, maybe $3.00 lb?

On another note, tomorrow should be a very telling day in terms of our morning trade. Fridays are always busy, but a very busy Friday June 11, would be unusual. I'll post again tomorrow and let readers know the extent of the early season. Hint** "Phil's Pride" the very early but very sweet white peach may break a record this year for earliness of harvest.

Until next time, "Support your local everything."

Maybe some sun to dry things out...

It's unusual to be this wet this late into June. The extra moisture may be good for those who planted trees late, but it is not the best thing for those harvesting strawberries. To say nothing of how rain and sweet cherries get along....

Anyway, there's absolutely nothing we can do about the weather, and it's better to be sanguine about it than stressed.

As I write this at about 10:00 AM, the sun is actually shining, and it's given me pause, as I haven't seen it in a while....

Cool, sunny...and dry for a change.

     That's what we need now to salvage our strawberry season. Will it happen? Who knows, but one thing is known: No matter what the weather, SW Michigan strawberries will always be hands down, a better choice than anything shipped in from 1500-2000 miles or more.
     I'm predicting a few raspberries and sweet cherries will be harvested by week's end. A very early start, indeed. But remember, we had apple blossoms open on April 21rst! That's the earliest in my lifetime, and earlier than anyone I know can remember. If someone can tell me an earlier season, please let me know.
     This bodes well for growers, wholesalers, Day Buyers and consumers, for it allows us to be weaned off the industrialized food of these past six months, and onto our superior local foods. Very soon, we'll once again have knowledge of who grew the food we're eating, where it was grown, how it was grown, and when it was harvested. Won't that be nice? Yes indeed. 
     For more than a decade now, I've been advocating a concept I call "Harvest dating." It's really a simple concept, yet it's one that is long over due. It would replace the ubiquitous and insane system of "Sell by dating," and "Best if used by dating." For the current system keeps consumers in the dark as to the critically important date of harvest. And the harvest date is closely correlated to nutritional value and flavor.
     Still, "Harvest dating" is only one component of a transparent food system. Consumers should have a right to know how many food miles their dinner traveled. They should be able to tell how many times the food was transferred (in other words, how many times it changed hands--often an indicator of food safety problems).
     They should not only have access to the Country Of Origin Label (COOL), but also, who grew the food--an industrialized farming corporation, or a small grower-owned cooperative? (Almost 200 countries are exporting food to the U.S. now.) Consumers should also have ready access to the varietal name, for often times, the variety indicates quality for a specific use.
     We're all trying to do our part to reestablish our once vibrant local food system and help restore our once vigorous local economy.

Strawberry Season...and a crop update

Strawberry quality varies with rainfall amounts experienced at individual farms. Those who stayed drier have sweeter berries with longer shelf life. Those experiencing heavy rains are picking berries with "watery" flavor and shelf life like a ticking time bomb. All berries suffered from the recent unseasonal heat. Call me at 269 925 0681 for more information.

 It looks like we'll have the usual crops. Apples volume in SW MI will be down from last year. Give me another week or so and I'll have a better handle on the tree fruit situation.

For now, annual fruits and vegetables look good. Plants are growing and a few producers are actually picking summer squash and broccoli. The season is early this year.

Sample Post

The Benton Harbor Fruit Market provides fresh, local produce to Southwestern Michigan.