Last Chance to Appear in GYO's September Issue

[susieq100]

Invested in a chest freezer this winter for just this eventuality - last year I gave so much stuff away because I could not 'deal' with it all. My neighbours and colleagues benefited from my glut of veg. I was often making jam at 10.00 pm because I did not want to waste the fruit. Had a go at bottling fruit too - that was really nice but Kilner jars are expensive. Did an enormous amount of pickling, chutneying and jamming - have already had 'orders' for more this year!

[Bramble_killer]

I made loads of chutneys and jams last year, so much that I was contemplating a bulk order of sugar! Gave away a whole loads of produce and people mostly enjoyed. Next door got a bit of the glut too.

We froze what I could manage to fit in the freezer but with shopping going up so much this year, we've crammed it full of reduced items so not sure how much we can freeze this year.

I'm going to buy a dehydrator and make fruit leathers and dried vegetables.

[vicky]

I've been saving up jars since october for the glut!
I pickle, make jams and chutneys and fruits preserved in boozy syrup. Sloe and damson gins or vodkas and I will experiment with other fruit liquors too this year - pear brandy and blackcurrant vodka!
I make up huge batches of pasta sauce with tomatoes, onions, basil and garlic and freeze these in portion sizes (in those clear takeaway plastic dishes as they stack neatly in the freezer)
Chillis get strung onto threads to dry - these look really decorative around the kitchen.
As I grow in my garden I have a stall at the front gate and sell excess produce too, usually it makes enough money to pay for the compost...I use a lot of compost!

[cupcake]

I freeze my chillies tho I take the stalk off first, the rest I string up. and I've become a dab hand at chutney! It's such a satisfying hobby! Blackberry whisky, sloe gin, fatalli vodka! I didn't really have a glut last year, as it was only my first season, but I shall look forward to whatever nature sends me this year! The elderflowers look good at the moment! Elderflower champagne?


Is there a tendency here?

[Scottishnewbie]

i put a box down at the recycling centre about 6 months before i need jars asking people to donate their old ones into my box, so by the time jam and chutney season starts, I'm well prepared!

We eat as much as we can fresh and this year I'm also planning to start up a 'barter table' - the idea being that I'll put out my excess with a request for what I'd like in return. we live in a safe coutry area so i'm hoping stuff wont be stolen - even if it is, i hope it will be appreciated!

as for the rest - freeze, dehydrate, wrap and store in basement, pickle, chutney, jame, soup - etc. etc. etc

[Sara]

Thanks for the wonderful tips, everyone. Do you have a general fruit and veg glut or do you have a single crop that's particularly over-productive?

[vicky]

I have to admit I grow too much of most things! And I need to be stricter with my successional sowing...lettuce I can manage but I can't eat 30 pak choi in 3 days before they bolt!
Corgettes and beans are very prolific and the tomatoes always seem to be ready at the same time - although this works to my advantage when cooking batches of them.
I never have a glut of peas - they rarely make it to the kitchen (children)

[Snadger]

My 'Drowning in veg' time is yet to appear! Bit later than the rest upt north!

[T8Ter]

So far this year I'd say I'll have a glut of Strawberries (picking pounds of them each week at present) blackcurrants and gooseberries (the bushes are drooping with the amount of fruit on them), veg yet to be looked at,although runner beans are always a good bet along with garlic and chillies - also I don't seem to have much trouble with the birds eating the fruit, (and there are a lot of blackbirds here), apart from the odd pecked cherry, but I put that down to the fact that there's always food out for them throughout the year?

[Llamas]

Freeze baby, freeze! Also, canning is such a breeze, I'm looking forward to having jars of yummy yellow tomatoes to brighten up those dreary winter days. I dare you to be grumpy at yellow tomato soup on a cold day!

Drying chillies is also a great way to store them, though they need to be either thinly skinned or sliced. String them up with a thread through their stalks and hang them up in a dry breezy spot in the house.

[Alison]

The easiest way of dealing with gluts is to avoid them in the first place, I find that this is best done by growing lots of different varieties in small amounts. Also, you need to eat what you're growing not necessarily what you want, not a problem if you grow things you like. In addition, I make loads of jams, chutneys etc, freeze, dry and salt to preserve as well as using clamps, hessian sacks, onion tights etc.

[vegetable-gardener]

I wish we had a glut - we eat it all! Though we have got fed-up eating rhubarb and rhubarb crumble is getting boring (children don't like it any more!) So have put some rhubarb in the freezer and made some rhubarb jam this week. And last year I made rhubarb chutney lovely with cold meats.

[newbieveggie]

I always make jams and chutneys out of gluts and give them away as Christmas presents. I think my family and friends would be very disappointed if they didn't get their annual stash of homemade goodies now. Apart from that if we can't eat it all then I freeze and preserve as much as possible and give lots away. It's lovely to see the look of pleasure on someones face when you hand them a fresh lettuce after a coffee morning natter !

[maytreefrannie]

Freeze freeze freeze. there was only so much calabrese and caulies we could eat or give away.

I didn't freeze courgettes as I reckoned they'd go mushy but I found they kept in the fridge for a while.

Last year I froze some courgettes (the only glut crop we had) - some I lightly fried in very little oil, then cooled and freezed. They did get mushy but were quite usable, I usually mixed them in with something else, like a stir-fry.

I also did some in a kind of ratatouille 'base' - I lightly cooked courgettes, onions and tomatoes, all chopped with a little tomatoe puree, cooled and frozen in meal-size portions. When I later thawed and used them, I added garlic, peppers or whatever was to hand (didn't have any aubergines to make a 'real' ratatouille! Though obviously not like the delicious fresh courgette that's picked and straight away cooked with garlic, these worked very well and I'd definitely do this again this year if we have loads.

Love this thread.

[Phyllis Smith]

Freeze some, dry some, pickle some, chutney some, jam some, give some away! I've found the easiest way to preserve courgettes is to roast them lightly with onions, mushrooms, peppers (and sometimes tomatoes) allow to go cold and then freeze.

I'm American, living in the UK, and I love to make courgette bread (a tea bread which is cake-like) in the winter. I use the food processor to chop or shred the courgettes, which I bag in 2 1/2 cup portions, and freeze. When I'm ready to bake, I just take out a bag, put in in a strainer to thaw & drain off the excess liquid, and I get courgette bread made from our home-grown courgettes (we call them zucchini in America!) I love your roasted courgette with onion, mushroom, peppers, and tomaotes idea, though! I'll have to try that.