I have a fair idea what it's like to be on KP duty in the armed forces now. Remember that fifty pound bag of potatoes I brought back from Portage last month? It's been sitting in the garage, and I was concerned about the spuds going bad out there. So, I asked Handsome to bring it inside yesterday morning and proceeded to process most of it.
I used my handy dandy Pampered Chef "apple peeler corer slicer", which Handsome calls the "potato lathe". It did a bang up job peeling pears this fall, too. I tossed the few mushy potatoes from the bag, sorting longer ones from the rest of them. Once peeled, I sliced those into french fry spears and then into cold water for four hours (minimum) to pull the starch out of them.
I also cut up the rest into 1-2" cubes for processing for baking, roasting, frying, or mashing. All these potatoes are going to be dry canned, which adds no water to the jars. Each quart gets 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. black pepper, and 1 T melted butter. Once the jars are prepared, they go into the pressure canner to process for 45 minutes. This is now my preferred method of preserving potatoes.
By the end of the day, I'd processed 22 pints of french fry spears. I changed the water that the cubed potatoes are sitting in, and I'll jar and process those this morning. I have two LARGE bowls of those, so I should get a nice quantity of quarts for the pantry.
With all the prepared potatoes, I still had about seven pounds to put into the basket to use as baking potatoes, saving me from running to the grocery store for a while. While the jars process today, I'll be moving a few things around in the pantry cabinets to make room for these latest jars. There's nothing I love more than looking into the pantry and seeing all the filled shelves of food we've prepared ourselves. I guess I really do have a pioneer woman deep down inside.
Wow! That is a lot of potatoes. Good work
ReplyDeleteFunny, I actually saw soliders on the old wood mess hall back porch peeling potatoes, early 1970s. I was so excited, after all the jokes about GIs peeling potatoes, I yelled out, "Look! They really peel real potatoes!" I was laughing, on a hot summer day with the vehicle windows down. The guys didn't look happy.
That's really funny, Salty! I can only imagine how deadpan they must have looked upon hearing your exclamation. lol Thanks for the note.
Deletexoxo
Donna
Oh, how wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy :-)) about your post.
How great is it to process the potatoes so beautifully, i.e. to preserve them and prepare them for eating at the same time.
We have a storage cellar where we store our potatoes in airy sacks and they stay fresh until spring... I buy them directly from the farmer and they are delicious.
I live in Saxony, we usually eat the potatoes peeled and boiled in salt water - with meat with sauce and vegetables or cabbage - fried potatoes or dumplings are also prepared every now and then and especially mashed potatoes :-)))
Yes, it's a feeling of happiness to look into the pantry... which is full of the most beautiful home-made food.
I make a lot of my own jam and blackcurrant liqueur...
a hug to you from Viola.
Dear Viola:
DeleteThank you for sharing your own preservation experiences. I wish we had a root cellar so I could do the same. It gets quite cold here, so keeping the potatoes in our garage would subject them to freezing temperatures - not conducive to long term storage. Keeping them in our basement is too warm, although I might be able to store them in our converted cistern, which is furthest from the boiler. I think I'll put a thermometer in there to see whether or not it would work. Being born in England, I'm familiar with your preparations. I love potatoes as you describe them. Dry canning like this (using a pressure canner) allows me to choose a larger variety for preparation, unlike when they're preserved in spring water. Then the only option is in stews or mashed. Black currant liqueur sounds wonderful, my dear. Thanks again.
xoxo
Donna
Oh, that's a LOT of potatoes!
ReplyDeleteThey will be delicious all winter.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn:
DeleteWith Handsome traveling back to Florida in January, I'll likely have potatoes through to fall next year! Thanks for your note, dear.
xoxo
Donna
Wow - you've been busy! Potatoes here are usually fairly cheap (although with grocery prices rising overall that might not continue to be the case). Really wish that we had a cold cellar though so I could do more canning. Sadly our apartment is just too warm and things don't tend to keep well even after being processed properly.
ReplyDeleteHi MA:
DeleteI wish we had a cold cellar, too. As I told Viola, I'm going to see if the old cistern in our basement might be cool enough to store root vegetables. The garage freezes, so it's not an option. That's mainly why I can as much as I do.
xoxo
Donna
Sherry of createology: You really are Pioneer Woman Donna and your full pantry shelves are proof. You and Handsome and family members will all reap the benefits of your hard work. Blessings…
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry:
DeleteYou're so kind to say so. When I turn out the lights at the end of the day, a good tired sweeps over me, and I sleep like a baby. I find it very rewarding to put my efforts into homekeeping when I'm not in the studio.
Hugs,
xoxo
Donna
Pioneer Woman you are for sure.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to shop from your very own pantry.
Shirley
Hi Shirley:
DeleteThanks, dear. I really do enjoy that. It's also nice to be able to pull things off the shelf, rather than the freezer, and then wait for food to thaw. This process is really spoiling us.
xoxo
Donna