Cantastic!

Since I could not do this post justice myself my counterpart Kaili is going to share her experience this time.

Canning holds somewhat of a special place in my heart. It is something that I bonded with my step mom over and something I look forward to passing on to the next generation. I remember weekends chopping vegetables, brewing brines, filling jars, and of course the excitement of tasting our creations. We also had a grapevine growing up and every year it was a challenge to put more grapes in the bag than in our mouths! But the jelly was always worth it. Homemade pickles, salsas, and jams make great gifts and they allow you to control exactly what goes into your jars. I hope to one day be an expert canner on the level of my step mom!

As we've become more experienced with hydraculture, we've found ourselves with a surplus of vegetables. A logical solution had me turn to canning. It's a great way to not only preserve your harvest but also put a twist on the same old vegetables or fruits.

Now, I'll be honest, I am absolutely no expert at canning but having my own garden has allowed me to delve into experimenting with different recipes and methods.

My first stab at canning was actually making pickles. I found a few recipes online and altered them to more of our liking. I made 3 different varieties, dill, dill (no sugar), and bread and butter. Interesting fact is that the key ingredient in bread and butter pickles is tumeric! I allowed the cucumbers to sit in a brine of salt and water over night and then continued the traditional pickling process the following day. A couple weeks later they were a big hit! Next time I will play even more with different flavors.

||

The next vegetable I tried my hand at were our jalapenos. These were even easier than the pickles and did not require the overnight brine. The recipe I followed also called for a little bit of honey and this made the flavor pop even more! The only downfall I had with these peppers was the texture. When we opened a jar a couple of weeks later they had lost their firmness. I think this was a result of the canning process I used and plan on trying some different techniques with our next harvest.

|

And last but not least we have found ourselves with a plethora of banana peppers from two plants that we have in our auquaponic system. I grew up eating banana peppers with cottage cheese so I am very much looking forward to having some homemade peppers to try! I tried 4 different recipes for banana peppers including with and without salt and with and without celery and mustard seeds. We'll find out in two weeks during the taste test which one wins!

|

If y'all have any canning tips or cool recipes you'd like to share let us know, we'd love to hear from you! Follow us or message us at any of the links below!

Website: www.triviumtech.co
Twitter: @trivium_tech