Gearing up for a glut?

[Holly]

Morning everyone!

Could you give me some lovely grape-tips for coping with an excess of fruit and vegetables later in the summer? Other than simply storing the glut, any imaginative ideas for making sure nothing is wasted would be hugely appreciated!

Do you hold sales, give veg to friends, pickle everything or simply have a good old feast?

All tips gratefully received!
Holly


Your comments may be edited and printed in the August issue of GYO magazine

[VirginVegGrower]

I tend to do all of the above! I make preserves with fruit gluts which are so easy to do. I pickle making dill pickled gherkins, cornichons and cucumbers. I also make my own chutneys and piccalilli. The former generally because I sow too many tomato seeds! Green tomato chutney is a favourite as our Summers can be so unpredictable! We have a large freezer too which gets stuffed to maximum capacity. When all this is done, I donate veg to my mum and also our elderly neighbours. Last year after spotting a well known organic van in the village I started putting veg boxes together and selling them to other neighbours. We do this with our eggs too. My two children deliver them, getting to keep the money as extra pocket money!

[Jelliebabe]

One good tip - Save your old jars and bottles! I never have enough ) But I do the same - chutney, jam and freeze. Im hoping to have enough tomatoes this year to make sauces for the freezer to see us through some of the winter too!

[VirginVegGrower]

One good tip - Save your old jars and bottles! I never have enough ) But I do the same - chutney, jam and freeze. Im hoping to have enough tomatoes this year to make sauces for the freezer to see us through some of the winter too!

I tried to do that last year with my plum tomatoes but didn't grow enough to freeze. Have seven plum plants this year so will be oven roasting them (the tomatoes) with a little drizzle of olive oil, herbs, salt and pink pepper. Once roasted I will pulp and bag for freezing. Hopefully creating enough sauce to make pasta dishes twice a week throughout the year! I had forgotten this one! Well done Jelliebabe x
You can also store some root veggies in boxes of sand in your garage or shed - have never done it but would appreciate advice from anyone that has:-)

[JamesM]

Last year i always sent people away with veg- my mum alwys ended up taking a load of carrots, lettuce and spring onion as we did so well. When i worked as a carer I was always taking rhubarb around as so many of my clients had a taste for it!

[perkin]

I save glass jars throughout the year - hopefully enough to store all the green tomato chutney I make in the late summer. My favourite recipe is a spiced one that goes brilliantly with curry. Excess courgettes go to friends and family, excess salad to the chickens as treats, and excess plum toms are made into passata and then frozen. Surplus chillies go straight into a bag in the freezer - giving us a years' supply of 'fresh' chilli for all kinds of meals. My lovely hubby can't tell any of them apart so mealtimes become a wonderful occasion of chilli roulette!

[Potstubsdustbins]

My significant OH looks after this side of things,

She makes chutneys, relishes, strawbeery jam and hopefully this year blackberry jam, freeze's runner beans plus a mix of calabrese, cauliflower courgette & cheese sauce. Cherry toms are frozen whole and used throughout the year for a variety of sauces. Spuds are stored in the shed and usually see use through to March.

Then of course the yearly phenomena starts about now. You are no longer an odd ball, you are now everybodies best friend and funnily this friendship will only start to wain in the autumn.

Colin

[solway cropper]

Depending on the time of year no visitor ever gets out alive without taking either a plant or some spare veg. I've still got jams and chutneys from two years ago and apple and peppers in the freezer so gluts are no problem for me. One useful thing I did find regarding home preserves is that you can pick up screw tops for pickle jars on ebay which is great because they tend to rust from the vinegar. The jars don't wear out but the lids do.

[Incy]

Our friends and neighbours give us jars and in exchange they get chutneys, pickles, piccachilli, relishes and jams. Oh makes and freezes plenty of curries and soups which we can then use as ready meals throughout the year.

[Aberdeenplotter]

My favourite for using up surplus tomatoes particularily cherry varieties is to roast them with a dressing of sea salt and garlic infused oil in the oven until the skin is almost charred . Absolutely delicious with fresh chunky bread and as a sauce for use with pasta and it freezes brilliantly too.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I have six blackcurrant bushes variety Ben Conon which produce massive berries, much more than we can use. My favourite recipe for using the surplus is to half fill a bottle or jar(a chicken tonight jar is ideal) with berries-no need to top or tail, fill the remainder of the jar with sugar, then pour in vodka until the jar will hold no more. Replace the lid and shake every few days until the sugar is melted. Leave for a few months to mature but you will then have some lovely liqueur that tastes like ribena(but does funny things to your legs

[Aberdeenplotter]

Last year, for some reason I had a surfeit of green tomatoes and decided to try making green tomato chutney. I read the recipe and for a batch I think it said allow 40 minutes boiling. I had enough tomatoes for four batches. I was still there stirring four hours later . Mind you the chutney is great and still adorning my cheese sarnies.

[craftyslh]

Loads of preserving here too, I also take spare veg into work, colleagues who don't garden, love popping in to see what is available.
Try to get adventurous too with your produce. Courgettes are amazing, don't forget you can stuff them, the flowers are amazing in a very light batter dipped in chilli jam. I grate one, then mix with some beaten egg and self-raising flour until a soft dropping consistency, again shallow fry until golden brown on both sides, serve with chutney or chilli jam, these are great for breakfast, you can also add some grated cheese to them.

[chris]

We've harvested over 3kg of strawberries already (theres only so many you can eat) so have already been making a lot of jam (this week it's been strawberry + gooseberry [thinnings]), last week was strawberry + rhubarb.

We've recently bought a few books on preserving/bottling, etc - which I'm hoping will come in useful, as I've 20 courgette plants (!), and a few more seeds popping up in the greenhouse. Apologies if you know me, as you'll be getting chutney for Christmas!

[VirginVegGrower]

Loads of preserving here too, I also take spare veg into work, colleagues who don't garden, love popping in to see what is available.
Try to get adventurous too with your produce. Courgettes are amazing, don't forget you can stuff them, the flowers are amazing in a very light batter dipped in chilli jam. I grate one, then mix with some beaten egg and self-raising flour until a soft dropping consistency, again shallow fry until golden brown on both sides, serve with chutney or chilli jam, these are great for breakfast, you can also add some grated cheese to them.

Sounds delish! Wouldn't mind your recipe for the chilli jam ;-)
Pleeeeeeese