In the Pantry, 2012

Last Fall, I made a list of what I had canned. Some of it remains on the shelf, testament to the facts that I do not particularly like pepper relish and that there are limited uses for rose hip syrup. 

This year, I have these things:
18 quarts - tomato
17 quarts - dill pickles (4 from last year)
5 quarts - sweet pickles
4 quarts - sour (fermented) dills
1 quart - dill pickled beans
1 quart - dill pickled red cabbage
9 pints - pickled beets
7 pints - plum syrup (to be re-processed into jam)
4 pints - pepper relish
5 pints - blackberry jam
2 pints - strawberry jam
2 pints - marmelade
2 pints - smokes salmon
1 pint - serviceberry
1 pint - sauerkraut
1 pint - "hot jam" marmelade
1 pint - pineapple-mandarin marmelade
1 pint - pickled pimento
3 half-pints - rose hip syrup
2 half-pints - serviceberry
2 half-pints - cranberry sauce
1 half-pint - hot jam
1 half-pint - cranberry-blood orange marmelade 

In the freezer:
2.5 quarts - nettle
2 quarts - spot shrimp
2 gallons - hops

Sitting in boxes in the garage:
A few pounds of homegrown taters
A year's supply of homegrown garlic
A grocery bag of black moss
A smaller bag of homegrown tomatillos

On the herb shelf:
2 gallons - dried mint
1 quart - dried oregano
1 pint - dried thyme
1 half-pint - tarragon
1 half-pint - poppy seeds

This is not so different form last year, except that I obviously did not get to freeze a salmon, and I got a deal on beets. Also, I moved into fermentation, which reminds me that the list should include:
>1 sesqui-gallon of sauerkraut in the works, bubbling desultorily until it's time to jar it up. 

If I can get some Chinese cabbage at the farmers market, I may add kimchi to the list by year's end.

This year was no good for mushrooms, and I still didn't get a fishing license, so I don't see the larder getting any fuller. Circumstances did not allow a real garden this year, so mostly I canned stuff that other people grew. I am about as far from being self-sufficient as ever (which is to say, for garlic and oregano alone), but once again I can look forward to pickles and tomatoes fairly regularly without exhausting my stash. And probably kraut. 

Not sure in which way I will expand or experiment next year, but there's plenty of Winter yet to figure that out...

In the Pantry

This year, I stepped up efforts to preserve food myself, even if I didn't grow it all. This may be the most contemporarily boring but historically interesting post about food, an inventory of what's on hand now:
7 quarts - tomato sauce
16 quarts - tomato
9 pints - spiced apple rings
4 pints - pepper relish
2 pints - apple butter
4 pints - serviceberry
8 half-pints - serviceberry
4 half-pints - rose-hip syrup
4 pints - peach butter
1 pint - strawberry jam
1 pint - pickled cherry peppers
4 pints - ripeberry jam (salal-serviceberry-currant)
4 pints - Cara Cara orange marmelade
4 pints - Blood orange and cranberry marmelade
2 quarts - sweet pickles
18 quarts - dill pickles
1 quart - dill pickled beans
1 quart - dill pickled cabbage
1 quart - cinnamon syrup
1 quart - apple butter


Frozen, there is:
8 pounds salmon
1 quart - currants
1 liter - serviceberry
2 quarts - rhubarb
1 quart - spaghetti sauce
2 pints - nettle leaf
2 pints - lomatium root
2 quarts - green beans
3 quarts - corn chowder


So, I can survive on pickles, tomatoes, and salmon for a little while. Not exactly set through the winter, though. Next year, I'd like to can more, and have more of what I canned be stuff I grew. There are still maybe 20 pounds of tomatoes that I may manage to ripen, or use somehow in green form. Various greens have begin their Autumnal volunteering. The farmers market is open for a couple of months yet, and I may manage to add some kraut and pickled something-or-other to this year's list. Divestiture from the corporate food supply continues...