Q and A: Preserving juice, growing tomatoes, and preserving by confiting
Preserving juice
What would be the best way to preserve juice in wine/sparkling cider bottles? I’ve been a winemaker for several years, and would like to be able to make non-alcoholic juices to share with my non-drinking friends. I’m assuming it would have to be processed in a water bath. Would pop bottle crown caps hold up, or would I need to use metal screw caps?
In making wine, it is common to use sulfite as a preservative. Could this alone be enough to preserve juice, if kept in the refrigerator?
Larry Curfman
Oakville, Washington
A long time ago, I used to bottle both fruit juice and ketchup in used beer bottles I’d picked up along the road. After washing and sterilizing them, I filled them with boiling juice/ketchup, then capped them with a press-on bottle capper (hand machine). This worked fine, but I didn’t water bath them and don’t know how you’d do that with press-on lids. Any readers with more information for us? — Jackie
Growing tomatoes
I know I read this in BHM but can’t find it. What kind of tomatoes do you grow that ripen pretty much at once for canning. I have all your books and garden every year, but never get enough tomatoes at once to can.
Lorraine Dingman
Fulton, New York
Some of the varieties that we grow that tend to ripen heavily, more or less at one time are: Oregon Spring, Punta Banda (Native Seeds/SEARCH), and Silvery Fir Tree. You might consider using a hoop house for your tomatoes. We had your problem with peppers, so last year Will built a cheap, easy hoop house out of PVC pipes and plastic. We harvested bushels of huge peppers! No heat, no special treatment! Wonderful. I’d also suggest starting your tomatoes out in Wallo’ Water plant protectors. This not only lets you plant earlier, but it also develops a very strong, vigorous root system and the plants consistently bear heavily and ripen much sooner so you can get to canning. — Jackie
Preserving by confiting
Long time since I have written but I read your blogs like clockwork every week. I am writing to tell you that I recently discovered making my own bacon (smoked and non-smoked and other charcuterie like terrines/pates and confit) – I have a quick question – have you been confiting at all – (preserving in fat) and if so have you tried preserving in pork fat? (If you wrote about it before sorry as I guess I missed it). By the way hope weather has been treating you better this year as it has up here in Ontario Canada – we’ve had a glorious (non cold) December and picture perfect Christmas when it finally showed on Christmas Eve/Day
farmgirlwanabe from Ottawa Ontario
No I haven’t been confiting. My husband, Will, fights high cholesterol, and I’m getting pretty high, so I really watch the fat in my cooking and preserving. I do know about it, and have for years. My grandmother used to preserve pork chops (lightly cooked) in lard, and they kept that way all winter and into the spring months. They had no refrigeration.
We’ve also had a strange winter; January temps varying from -30 to 45 above! Up until yesterday, you could do chores in tennies! But today, we’re getting clobbered and it really looks like winter out there! — Jackie
January 27th, 2012 at 9:49 am
I think Lorraine in NY needs to know that determinate varieties tend to produce their main crop at the same time while indeterminate varieties continuing growing,vining and setting fruit until frost kills them. Most seed catalogs give this information. I’ve been growing tomatoes for 45 years and like to have 4-5 different varieties as it seems some years are better for one variety. Some do better in heat/humidity, they all need enough heat and sun and blight resistance could be a factor. It seems interesting how one year nobody can seem to grow a good crop of tomatoes. Last year all my gardener friends had few tomatoes but their peppers wend wild. That’s waht makes gardening fun!