food Preserving peppers & other veggies

R

Richard Pwnsner

I apologize if this is slightly lazy; I have to file a brief by midweek, but this question is bugging me, so I figured I'd delegate it to the more knowledgeable. How do y'all preserve your peppers and other veggies? Should I consider investing in a dehydrator? I ask ironically not because of my peppers, but because I've been growing some determinate tomatoes that are starting to set, and it looks like I'll have hundreds of tomatoes in a few weeks; since I don't eat tomatoes all that often, I'm a little perplexed. Long term, however, the peppers will take priority; for these, as mentioned, I'm considering a dehydrator, or perhaps canning. Sorry for the newbie question; this is my first time growing anything at all, and I can see that my yield while dismal relative to that most on here will pull is still going to be more than I anticipated when I initially planted.

Thanks in advance, and if there's already a thread on this, don't hesitate to RTFM me. Thanks!
 
A couple inexpensive or free resources to get you started are the Ball Blue Book....

http://www.amazon.com/Jarden-Home-Brands-21400-Ball/dp/B001DIXG9A

....and the National Center for food Preservation website.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

~Dig
 
well, congrats on your successful growings!

You're on the right track with drying or canning. Here's the Ball canning website, which is probably everything in the Blue Book but online for immediate access.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/home.aspx

You can dry the tomatoes also, but personally, I love canned tomatoes, and they can usually be done with just a hot water boiling bath, not necessarily pressure canned.

Most extension services nowadays are saying to pressure can tomatoes because the new hybrid toms have been bred to be lower in natural acid, which could produce problems if they are so low they can't be safely processed. Most heirloom toms have the higher acid content. I'm not an expert, just sharing info.

Have fun and Post Pics if you can. We'd love to see your garden and your harvests, etc.
SL
 
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