Put It Up!

I have no idea what I would do if I didn't have my canner.  Both my pressure canner and water-bath canner see constant action this time of year.  Between tomatoes, pumpkins, apples, various meats, and other fruits of the season, there's always something to put away for future meals.

This weekend, I've got one more pie pumpkin to process.  The most challenge part of dealing with pumpkins is removing the thick peel and chopping them into cubes.  It doesn't take too long to do this, generally, but it takes a lot of oomph to break the squashes apart.  I have some Cool Old Squash to deal with as well, but that can wait for another weekend or two.  They are enormous squashes...I can hardly wait to try them and see how they taste!

I need to make some room in the fruit & veg freezer, so I plan to take out the last of last season's cranberries and make a batch of homemade cranberry sauce.  If you've never made your own whole berry cranberry sauce, you haven't lived.  Well, that's a little dramatic, but its true.  Homemade cranberry sauce is a million times better than any store-bought gloop in a can.  It's worth taking a little time to make a batch, whether you decide to can it or freeze it.

There's other stuff that needs to be put up for the season, but I'll tackle that as I can.  I think the potatoes and beets can hang out for a little while longer, thankfully, so I'll just deal with the plentiful produce gazing at me from the kitchen table.  It's going to be a weekend full of preparing for the colder months, in any case!