Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Preserving the Harvest

Two new experiments this year: dill beans and smoked peppers. The gods of green beans have been flexing their muscles & recruiting worshippers with an impressive harvest this year. The freezer is full and more just keep coming. Peppers are more challenging for us. We have tried drying and freezing, but with mixed results. Jalapenos don't lend themselves to either, so Dan wanted to try smoking for our very own chipotle. On a hunch, I contacted an expert gardener, homesteader, jack-of-all-trades friend and asked if he happened to have a smoker. He did - of course - from his days of smoking salmon in Alaska. Score! So, for several days, the house & Dan reeked of smoke while he smoked his first serranos! The photo below includes the serranos (pre-smoking) chilis, cayenne, & a paprika (or a mutant bell?) on the screen where I'm drying sage.

Dill Beans
Dilly Beans

Peppers
Peppers

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1 Comments:

Blogger Beth Caroline said...

I, too, have been experimenting with our smoker. I was lucky enough to NOT lose my San Marzano paste tomatoes to blight (lost all the other tomatoes) , so I smoked a couple dozen, along with 2 heads of garlic. I got the idea from a visiting chef at Turkey Hill Farm in Cape who was cooking for a MOFGA dinner Peter and I attended, and made a smoked tomato soup. Anyway, I slipped the skins off the smoked tomatoes (at medium heat for about 2 hours until they were gelatinous), squeezed the seeds out, smashed and chopped the smoked garlic, cooked it down a bit in a pot with some salt and pepper and fresh parsley and canned it (35 minutes in a boiling water bath). DELICIOUS!!!!I am going to take Dan's lead and smoke some Anahiem peppers as soon as they are ripe.

September 24, 2009 9:08 AM  

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