The Garden Chronicles

Yesterday I picked another batch of cukes from the garden and figured I now have enough to begin canning my infamous crispy crunchy sweet and dill pickles.  

The pickle barrel has been fetched and delivered to the kitchen for use later today.  All I have to locate is a big head of fresh garlic for the dills.  And another bottle of spices for the sweet.

In further news there are these ripening on the vine.

An heirloom tomato called a Striped Stuffer.  It seems somewhat hollow.  Do you stuff it with something?  I'll cut one open to check.  The interweb likely has a stuffing solution.

Finally, the kitchen counter is home to these delightful snacking tomatoes - two kinds of red and one yellow variety.

When the winter winds of February howl and Ma Nature is flinging freezing rain and sleet at my windows the memory of these would drive an ordinary man to commit high crimes and misdemeanors.  I resolve to remain strong as there is homemade Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice in my bunker.

Bottled, liquid sunshine.

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice

Just about every family has an eccentric or even a crazy uncle.  You know – the kind of uncle that is a couple cards short of a full deck.  The uncle you dread appearing at your Fourth of July cookout with his wild conspiracy theories and fringe politics.  The sort of embarrassing uncle you wish would just stay away.  Then there is the favorite uncle.  Most families have a favorite uncle or two.  These are the elder statesmen, the role models, the guy that you identify-with and look up-to.  

Uncle Dick's family and mine grew-up at opposite ends of the block.  We were close.  It was almost like having additional siblings that lived in a house of their own.  Richard was my pop's little brother and my favorite uncle.  He's been gone more than forty years now and I still think about him from time to time.  Especially when making homemade tomato juice. 

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my favorite Uncle Dick making tomato juice.  That's an odd memory for sure isn't it?  Growing-up in the 1960s I think most every family had a Foley Food Mill for grinding-up all sorts of stuff like apples and tomatoes.  A few years ago I discarded the ancestral food mill that had been languishing in the basement.  It was dented and rusty and the paint was flaking from the wooden handles – likely lead-based paint too.  I have a newer, stainless model of the Foley mill that I purchased at Fleet Farm.  The home canning aficionado's all-purpose resource - Fleet Farm has everything you need.  But I digress. 

About the juice.  

There is no written record of Uncle Dick's tomato juice recipe but since I’ve been making the stuff for as long as I can remember.  It’s a simple and fail-safe process that you can do from memory. 

I fetched a bunch of jars of canned tomatoes from a couple of years of Covid gardening.  The tomatoes had already been peeled and cooked when they were previously canned.  Simply pop the lid, dump them into the mill and go about grinding them into juice.  The mill can easily handle up to a couple of quarts at a time.  It's old-school as far as juicing goes but it works just fine. 

Do you have any idea how lip-smacking yummy canned homegrown tomatoes are when you open a jar?  WOW!  It sends you right back to August and September.  

As you process your tomatoes thru the mill all you have to do is periodically remove the residual pulp and seeds for the composter.   

Grinding away I filled my largest stainless stock pot.  

 

The canned tomatoes already had salt but I added some additional sea salt along with a generous dash of white pepper and onion powder to taste.   Gently raise the heat until just shy of a boil and fill sterilized quart jars with the hot juice leaving 3/4 inch of headspace.  Top with lids and bands. 

Process in the canner for another thirty minutes, remove and set aside to cool.  When the lids pop they're good to go.  You have a shelf-stable pasteurized juice product.  No need to refrigerate unless you wish to chill before serving or you have an opened and unfinished jar. 

Fifteen quarts of bottled sunshine.  

Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Dick - you're the best! 

* A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measuring cup of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.

 

Preparations

Wisconsin's bow deer hunting season is only about five weeks away so it is none too early to begin advance preparations for the hunt.  Including the brushing of trails, shooting lanes, inspection (and repair) of deer stands and more.






Last weekend was a working weekend for me and some of the guys to attend to the foregoing.

The armpit stand received an extensive rebuild to make it safe a secure.

click on Swamp Gas toenlarge

With the frails and shooting lanes cleared it now has a terrific view of any quarry careless enough to traverse this way within the steady aim of a lurking hunter.

And afterwards there was time for porch-setting and adult beverages and grazing thru a Saturday dinner that started with duck liver pâté with cognac, artisanal cheeses, Bloody Marys built-upon a foundation of homemade tomato juice from the garden and ended with burgers from the grill. 








There was even grilled side pork.  Lawyer put a twist on it with a glaze of Ivan's Door County honey and Dijon mustard. 

Very yummy and a nice warm-up to the pleasures of deer camp....

Bottled Sunshine

Just about every family has an eccentric or even a crazy uncle.  You know – the kind of uncle that is a couple cards short of a full deck.  The uncle you dread appearing at thanksgiving dinner with his wild conspiracy theories and fringe politics.  The sort of embarrassing uncle you wish would just stay away.  Then there is the favorite uncle.  Most families have a favorite uncle or two.  These are the elder statesmen, the role models, the guy that you identify-with and have an affinity-for.  

Uncle Dick's family and mine grew-up at opposite ends of the block.  We were close.  It was almost like having brothers and sisters that lived in a house of their own.  Richard was my pop's little brother and my favorite uncle.  He's been gone thirty-eight years now and I still think about him from time to time.  Especially when making homemade tomato juice. 

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my favorite Uncle Dick making tomato juice.  That's an odd memory for sure isn't it?  Growing-up in the 1960s I think most every family had a Foley Food Mill for grinding-up all sorts of stuff like apples and tomatoes.  I recently discarded the ancestral food mill that had been languishing in the basement.  It was dented and rusty and the paint was flaking from the wooden handles – likely lead-based paint too.  I have a newer, stainless model of the Foley mill that I purchased at Fleet Farm.  The home canning aficionado's all-purpose resource - Fleet Farm has everything you need.  But I digress. 

About the juice. 

There is no written record of Uncle Dick's tomato juice recipe but since I’ve been making the stuff for about a dozen years it does exist out here on the interweb because I blog about it from time to time.  Other than that it’s a simple and failsafe process that you can do from memory. 

I fetched a bunch of jars of canned tomatoes from last year's garden.  The tomatoes have already been peeled and cooked when they were canned a half a year ago.  Simply pop the lid, dump them into the mill and go about grinding them into juice.  The mill can easily handle up to a couple of quarts at a time.  It's old-school as far as juicing goes but it works just fine. 



Do you have any idea how lip-smacking yummy canned homegrown tomatoes are when you open a jar?  WOW!  It sends you right back to August and September. 

As you process your home-grown, canned tomatoes thru the mill all you have to do is periodically removing the residual pulp and seeds for the compost bin. 

 

 

Grinding away I filled my largest stainless stock pot. 

The canned tomatoes already had salt but I added some additional kosher salt along with a dash or white pepper and garlic salt for taste.   Gently raise the heat until just shy of a boil and fill sterilized quart jars with the hot juice leaving 3/4 inch of headspace.  Top with lids and bands. 

  
Process in the canner for another twenty minutes, remove and set aside to cool.  When the lids pop they're good to go.  You have a shelf-stable pasteurized juice product.  No need to refrigerate unless you wish to chill before serving or you have an opened and unfinished jar. 

Sixteen quarts of bottled sunshine. 

Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Dick - you're the best! 




* A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measurer full of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.

Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my favorite Uncle Dick making tomato juice.  That's weird isn't it?  Growing-up in the 1960s I think most every family had a Foley Food Mill for grinding-up all sorts of stuff like apples and tomatoes.  I recently discarded the ancestral food mill that had been languishing in the basement.  It was dented and rusty and the paint was flaking from the wooden handles – likely lead-based paint too.  I have a newer Foley mill.  It is identical in design to the old one except it is 100% stainless steel.  I purchased it - along with additional canning supplies - at my favorite retailer.  The home canning aficionado's all-purpose resource - Fleet Farm - has everything you need.  But I digress.

About the juice.

There is no written record of Uncle Dick's tomato juice recipe but since I’ve been making the stuff for almost a decade if you follow these directions you can make juice too.

I fetched a bunch of jars of canned tomatoes from last summer's garden.  This year was a bumper year for tomatoes and I have something on the order of fifty quarts of canned tomatoes stored in the bunker.  The tomatoes have already been peeled and cooked via the canning process so it is a simple matter to dump them into the mill and merrily go about grinding them into juice.  

click on images to enlarge

It's rather old-school as far as juicing goes but it works just fine.  Do you have any idea how lip-smacking yummy canned homegrown tomatoes are when you pop the lid off? Wow!  It transports you right back to August and September.

Periodically removing the pulp for the compost bin and grinding away I filled my largest stainless stock pot. I seasoned the juice with some additional kosher salt and a dash each of white pepper and garlic salt.

 Gently raise the heat on your juice and simmer until just shy of a boil. 

Fill sterilized quart jars with the hot juice and top with a sterile lid and screw down the band finger tight.  Process in a boiling water bath in the canner for another fifteen minutes.  Remove and set aside to cool.  When the lids pop they're good to go.

Fourteen quarts of bottled liquid sunshine. 

Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Dick - you're the best!
_____________________________________________________________________

* A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measure full of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.

How To Make Homemade Tomato Juice

Just about every family has an eccentric or even a crazy uncle.  You know – the kind of uncle that is one card short of a full deck.  The uncle you dread appearing at thanksgiving dinner with his wild conspiracy theories and fringe politics.  The sort of embarrassing uncle you wish would just stay away.

Then there is the favorite uncle.  Most members of a family have favorite uncles as these are the elder statesmen that you identify-with and have an affinity-for.

Uncle Dick's family and mine grew-up at opposite ends of the block.  We were close.  It was almost like having brothers and sisters that lived in a house of their own.

Richard was my pop's little brother and my favorite uncle.  He's been gone three dozen years now and I still think about him from time to time.  Especially when making homemade tomato juice.

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my favorite Uncle Dick making tomato juice.  That's weird isn't it?  Growing-up in the 1960s I think most every family had a Foley Food Mill for grinding-up all sorts of stuff like apples and tomatoes.  I recently discarded the ancestral food mill that had been languishing in the basement.  It was dented and rusty and the paint was flaking from the wooden handles – likely lead-based paint too.  I have a newer, stainless model of the Foley mill that I purchased at Fleet Farm.  The home canning aficionado's all-purpose resource - Fleet Farm has everything you need.  But I digress.

About the juice.

There is no written record of Uncle Dick's tomato juice recipe but since I’ve been making the stuff for more than a half-dozen years it does exist in the ether of the world wide web.

I fetched a bunch of jars of canned tomatoes from last year's garden.  The tomatoes have already been peeled and cooked via the canning process so it is a simple matter to dump them into the mill and merrily go about grinding them into juice.  

It's rather old-school as far as juicing goes but it works just fine.  Do you have any idea how lip-smacking yummy canned homegrown tomatoes are when you pop the lid off?

Wow!  It sends you right back to August and September.

Periodically removing the pulp for the compost bin and grinding away I filled my largest stainless stock pot.

Gently raise the heat until just shy of a boil, fill sterilized quart jars and process in the canner for another fifteen minutes.  When the lids pop they're good to go.

Thirteen quarts of bottled red sunshine. 

Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Dick - you're the best!
_________________________________________________________

* A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measurer full of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.