What's left In your basement/cupboard/etc?

[JasonFrishman]

So, last night we had our weekly neighborhood potluck and many jarred items came out of people's basements.  On the appetizer table and our pizzas, we found:

Canned Dill Garlic Cucumber Pickles, Lacto-Fermented Kim Chi, Defrosted Pesto, Canned Italian Pickled Vegetables, SauerKraut, and Canned Tomato Sauce

The conversation smoothly moved from daily events to other things we'd kept in our basements throughout the winter. To my surprise, I am not the only one who subtly hoards the items that I've put up for the winter.  We've still got 2 large butternut squash(es), a handful of carrots, a bunch of beets and some apple cider vinegar in the basement.  (Not to mention the stuff that is still in jars!)  Anyway, my wife was teasing me and the other 'basement hoarders' about wanting to make it through the winter with our put up food and then having so much left over right as we are about to be overwhelmed with the farmers' market, CSAs and home gardens. She's got a point, but it's fun, right?

A quick story: 2 years ago, I dried 3 bushels of apple slices to have over the winter,  and I would get upset at family and friends who ate them while we could still go and get fresh apples from the orchard.  It wasn't time for dried, right?!  Of course as winter came on, these apples were sort of forgotten and as we were cleaning out the pantry the following fall, Shana found two large bags of apple slices! we were soon going to be picking new ones! Oh well. I quickly came up with some fun recipes for dried apples. Win-Win!

So, It's May, what's left from the things you put up last year?

[Suzanne Podhaizer]

I have a tendency to hoard things, from fancy bath products that seem too expensive for "everyday" use to foods that I'm afraid to run out of. This trait will serve me admirably if I ever move to the wilds of Saskatchewan.

Right now, I've still got at least five pounds of parsnips from my Pete's Greens winter share; three jars of spicy dilly beans I made in the fall of 2007 (they still taste good — we ate the fourth jar a few weeks ago) and 25 pounds of pork I bought a few weeks ago. I also have a stack of kombucha mothers living in my fridge, and the brine from my first big lacto-fermentation project — also from 2007.   

Sounds like I need to have a pork, parsnip and pickle party!

[JasonFrishman]

We could get some trading going. that would be fun. i have a great recipe for a horseradish parsnip soup...
(and why did you keep the brine from lacto fermenting?)
I mean, i understand not wasting, but it is good to use for marinades, salad dressing and such, but holding onto it for 2 years? 

also, are the kombucha mothers still the ones from jenn's from mine?
Kombucha generations! 

I wonder if we can get a Kombucha giveaway/tutorial thing going on here, especially once lots more people are reading it?  I once posted kombucha mothers on freecycle, and got some many replies that i was overwhelmed.

anyone out there want kombucha mothers?

[Courtney McLaughlin]

    This will be my first time putting food away for myself, as this season I have my very own garden for the first time.  I used to work at a large organic farm in Maine and we did a lot of food processing/canning there.  Scapes are amazing! If you do grow garlic, and don't use the scapes or want some new ideas, I highly recommend pickling them.  I also had some incredible garlic scape pesto twice last summer, made by two different farmers I met in Maine.  I suppose it could be frozen/stored, just like regular pesto.  Also, I'm growing some beets this summer and hope to pickle those (also check out my chocolate beet cake recipe in the recipe section!).  Also, has anyone had success growing tomatillos? I'm really interested in making salsa verde.  I can't get enough of it!
    I would definitely be interested in a kombucha mother!  I've made kombucha in the past, but would like to give it another try. 

[Suzanne Podhaizer]

Jason - I'm not sure why I kept my brine...I think there are still some cloves of garlic in there I wanted to use, but since the jar is always in the very back of the fridge I forget!

And yes, the kombucha mothers I have are the grandchildren of yours! I think it would be great to start a separate thread about sharing kombucha resources, both suggestions and cultures.

Courtney - Pickled garlic scapes sound great. I made some pickled ramps last weekend and they turned out admirably. We used some of the liquid to make martinis! I haven't grown tomatillos, but my friend Chris grows them on her farm, and a few other farms in the area grow them, too. I don't know for sure, but I imagine they like lots of heat and sun, because they're related to tomatoes and peppers. Maybe put a post in the gardening section seeking tomatillo suggestions?

[JasonFrishman]

Courtney,
i can certainly pass along a kombucha mother for you. The best thing that i've found for continual brewing is one of those sun tea jars with the spigot (spout?) at the bottom... they are usual on sale all over the place this time of year...

as for the tomatillos, my good friend and neighbor grew a bunch of them last summer and they went crazy, we had so many that we didn't know what to do with them all.  We did do some great salsa verde, and even some lacto-fermented salsa verde, which, in my opinion was even better! also, they are great grilled!

I love scape pesto! (they can also be lacto-fermented.)

what are you planning for your garden this summer?

[Courtney McLaughlin]

That's really exciting about the tomatillos.  My starts look just okay, especially compared to my tomato starts.  I'm excited to see how they grow!
I don't have too much of a plan per say, but I know what I'm going to grow/am growing: beets, kale, arugula, mesclun, chard, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, peas, beans, carrots, zucchini, maybe fennel and turnip.  I think that about covers it.  I'd like to make salsa verde, pickles, pickled beets, definitely some fried squash blossoms with the zucchini flowers (!), maybe pickle some beans and can some tomatoes.  I have a huge plot, and it's just me, so I hope to share a lot of the food with friends, neighbors, and donate some to the food shelf. 
Any tips for a first time gardener?

[malpaflea]

My pantry is a little on the sweet side.  Pear-ginger butter, wild apple jelly, and strawberry rhubarb jam.  I think I made too much. 

However, onto things that age well--last year's batch of dandelion wine is superb, and the blackberry brandy is quite smooth. 

Once I realized I had more than I needed before the next season, I started giving these to friends and family who came up for a visit.  Now I'm wondering how to reclaim the jars 

[JasonFrishman]

I always return jars... (Hint Hint)
I have a decidely not sweet pantry; yours sounds wonderful!
blackberry brandy?! dandelion wine!!
whoah! hooray!
i missed the dandelions again this summer so no dandelion wine for me this season.
i will be making a bloodred beet wine later in the summer though!

[malpaflea]

Next time I make it to Burlington for the Farmers' Market, I'll bring you a bottle of the wine. 

[Mark Krawczyk]

I just had a chance to re-visit my winter neighbors root cellar last week and to my own pleasant surprise, I found a box full of beets from last season's harvest still crisp and mold free! 

I'm also still plugging away on a vast array of experimental ferments - most of which I simply refer to as 'kimchi' but probably a far cry from anything  you might find in Korea.  One of the more interesting ones I've unearthed is the sweet corn, onion, jalapeno ferment which has a nice tart kick to it! 

I've got a lot more eating to do!

[JasonFrishman]

that sounds great, and yummy. i haven't tried fermenting corn - usually i don't have enough lying around. during corn season it goes right to the grill!

what other fun ferment experiments do you have?
and how were the beets kept? i had about 60 pounds of beets put away in my basement and they kept nice and crisp for a long time, but certainly not this long!  we had beets right until about march....

[slaphappiest]

Considering that our city lot is oh so very shady our tomatos frequently don't quite make it to maturity.  So I have a neverending supply of green tomato chutney and pickled green tomatos.