Holler Homestead Sourdough & Tomato Sauce Short Cut
I decided to try my little sourdough starter "pet" on a loaf of bread and it worked, it worked! Since I started it in the Holler, we are calling it Holler Homestead Sourdough. It was so good that the loaf was gone before I could take any pictures. I have safely put my "pet" in a jar in the fridge.
This time of year, tomatoes are coming on. We have a tomato hedge growing (read: oops they planted the tomato starts too close together).
Harvesting tomatoes out here requires a stealthy approach. You have to carefully crawl in between and behind the tomato vines without breaking any branches, then look for flashes of red. When you see a flash of red, you carefully plan how you will get to it without damaging surrounding plants or not-yet-ripe tomatoes. Then you very carefully pick the ripe fruit/vegetable. At the end of the process, when the entire 20 foot section has been harvested, there are little piles of tomatoes in the grass at the edge of the hedge that get picked up and brought inside for processing.
Note: They really DID mean allow 2 feet between plants and you really SHOULDN'T try to space them 14 inches apart.
With all these tomatoes coming on, I have been canning tomato sauce. At first, I simmered 18 pounds at a time for about 6 hours to reduce the water, then canned them. This yielded about 3 quarts of sauce. Seem like too much work for 3 quarts? Well, you haven't tasted the stuff, but then I agree with you!
After reading about making sauce in many places, I found a cool tip in the Encyclopedia of Country Living, by now-deceased Carla Emery. In the book is outlined a way to reduce simmer-down time. You puree the tomatoes, then strain them through a jelly bag overnight and discard the water that comes out (or use it for stock). If you don't have a jelly bag, you can sew the bottom of a white undershirt, pour the puree through the neck, and hang the t-shirt via a rope through the sleeves, over your sink.
Guess what? It works! Actually, it worked too well. Luckily, I had collected the "water" and added some back in for simmering. With the above method, I only had to simmer for about 60 minutes to prepare the sauce for canning.
...and you know, SAUCE is my favorite word.
This time of year, tomatoes are coming on. We have a tomato hedge growing (read: oops they planted the tomato starts too close together).
Harvesting tomatoes out here requires a stealthy approach. You have to carefully crawl in between and behind the tomato vines without breaking any branches, then look for flashes of red. When you see a flash of red, you carefully plan how you will get to it without damaging surrounding plants or not-yet-ripe tomatoes. Then you very carefully pick the ripe fruit/vegetable. At the end of the process, when the entire 20 foot section has been harvested, there are little piles of tomatoes in the grass at the edge of the hedge that get picked up and brought inside for processing.
Note: They really DID mean allow 2 feet between plants and you really SHOULDN'T try to space them 14 inches apart.
With all these tomatoes coming on, I have been canning tomato sauce. At first, I simmered 18 pounds at a time for about 6 hours to reduce the water, then canned them. This yielded about 3 quarts of sauce. Seem like too much work for 3 quarts? Well, you haven't tasted the stuff, but then I agree with you!
After reading about making sauce in many places, I found a cool tip in the Encyclopedia of Country Living, by now-deceased Carla Emery. In the book is outlined a way to reduce simmer-down time. You puree the tomatoes, then strain them through a jelly bag overnight and discard the water that comes out (or use it for stock). If you don't have a jelly bag, you can sew the bottom of a white undershirt, pour the puree through the neck, and hang the t-shirt via a rope through the sleeves, over your sink.
Guess what? It works! Actually, it worked too well. Luckily, I had collected the "water" and added some back in for simmering. With the above method, I only had to simmer for about 60 minutes to prepare the sauce for canning.
...and you know, SAUCE is my favorite word.
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