Well Preserved The Well Preserved column is prepared by Lancaster County Cooperative Exten sion. It includes food preser vation information and ques tions. Preserving Unusual Vegetables Have you grown any of these vegetables in your garden? Here are some suggestions for pre serving some of the less com monly grown vegetables. Eggplant can be frozen or dried. It should be harvested be fore the seeds become mature and when the color is uniformly dark. To prevent oxidation, wash, peel and slice '/-inch thick only enough eggplant for one blanching at a time. For freezing, water blanch 4 minutes in one gallon of boiling water to which cup lemon juice has been added. Cool, drain and package, leaving -inch headspace. Seal and freeze. Pack the drained slices with freezer wrap between the slices if you plan to use it for frying. Red beets to be canned are commonly pickled because the added vinegar allows them to be processed in a boiling water 2003 Gratz « Sun., Sept 14 thru Sat., Sept. 20 Admission $6 (six dollars) ■ includes parking small stage shows fireworks midway shows carnival rides & all mam stage shows except as noted below Gales Open Sun at 11AM Mon & Tues at 4PM Wed at 3PM, and Thurs thru Sat at 9AM Fair generally ends each day between 10PM and midnight IPM Queen Contest 3PM STEVE HALL/SHOTGUN RED & The Shotgun Red Band (country) - "free" sponsors Big Country Radio-WYGL FM The Gratz National Bank 7PM DEMO FIGURE 8 RACING (grandstand $5 bleachers $3) sponsors - Allen B Chubb Ins Agency Big B Mfg P&M Candle Shop Klinger Chevrolet added special feature - school bus demo MONDAY. SEPT. 15 1 PM.. .Breeding Sheep Show 6:3OPM Market Lamb, Market Swine Shows 7:30 PM... DEMO DERBY (grandstand $5 bleachers $3) sponsors Engles Rentals Pine Creek Structures Troutmans Chevrolet/Buick (Mbg ) & Pontiac/GMC (Halifax) Mackleys Limestone Products TUESDAY. SEPT. 16 10AM Dairy Cattle Show (all but Holstein) 6PM.. Rabbit & Guinea Pig Shows 6:3OPM Dairy Cattle Show (Holstein) 7:3OPM. . THE HICKORY PROJECT (bluegrass)- “free" WEDNESDAY. SEPT. 17 Exhibitors’ Nile 3PM Harness Horse Racing 6PM... •Goat, Dairy Beef & Beef Cattle Shows 7PM... . .Exhibitor Awards 7:3OPM TALENT NIGHT - “free ” THURSDAY. SEPT. 18 Free admission to Seniors age 60 & over until 4 PM sponsor - Michael Foods - Egg Products Co 1 PM.. .Harness Horse Racing (music by Dan & Gaiia) 7:3OPM JIMMY STUFF and His Orchestra (polka)-“free’ sponsors - Bill s Toy Shop Valley Ag & Turf Zerbe s Refuse Highspire Homes FRIDAY. SEPT. 19 IPM. . .HIGH SCHOOL BANDS (grandstand-$3, bleachers-"*ree”) sponsors The Gratz National Bank, Halifax National Bank Mid Penn Bank The Citizen-Standard Tulpehocken Spring Water 7:3OPM Rabbit, Lamb, Swine, Goat, Dairy Beef, Steer Sale (4-H, FFA) 7:3OPM .RYAN PELTON (Tribute to Elvis) - “free” 10PM FIREWORKS sponsors - Wengers Feed Mill Ml Home Products SATURDAY. SEPT. 20 SAM. .. Stockyard Sorting “free” 7:3OPM DEMO DERBY FINALS (Grandstand-SS. Bleachers-S3) sponsors • Engle-Rissmger Auto Group Lisi Texaco (Gratz) Valley View Auto collision Frank Krammes Excavating DAILY MIDWAY SHOWS (times subject to change) Steeples Wild West Beers sponsors Shade Electric Klinger Lumber Co Sun 230530 & 8 30 Mon Tues Wed 68* 10 Thurs 1 5&830 Fn 11 330* 7. Sal 14*7 Giraldo Family (high wire) sponsors Kroh Wood Products Ml Home Products Sum 1 4 *7 Mon Tues Wed 5 7 & 9 Thurs 12 3 30*7 Fn 12 s*B 30 Sal 230 530* 8 30 “small” StagG acts sponsors Tower Sales Wiest RV C Sitlmger & Sons Deppen s Farm Sun. - TBA 2 s*B Thurs. - Dan & Galla (variety) 12 30 5*7 Fn -TBA -2 4 & 6 Sat -The Wehry Family (gospel) 3 5 * 730 bath. Plain beets must be processed in a pressure canner at II pounds pressure for 30 minutes for pints and 35 minutes for quarts. Younger red beets that are 1 to 2 inches are preferred for preserving be cause they are tender. Beets larger than 3 inches in diameter are often fibrous. To prepare beets, cut off tops, leaving an inch or two of stem and the root to reduce color loss. Scrub well and cover with boiling water. Boil about 15 to 25 minutes or until skins slip off easily. Cool, remove skins and trim off root and stem. Do not use the cooking liquid for canning or in the pickling solu tion—that water is dirty. Use clean water to fill jars or in the pickling brine. For canning or pickling, small beets can be left whole. Larger beets can be cut into slices or -inch cubes. Halve or quarter very large slices. Cooked beets may be frozen but most people prefer them canned. Make a test batch to see Fair 2003 Fair Schedule 'T. 14 INDAY. if you like the texture before freezing a large quantity. To freeze them, cook the beets as you normally would, skin, slice or dice and freeze. The thickened base of the kohlrabi stem is the edible por tion that is used. Select stems when fully grown but tender— about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Cut off tops and roots. Wash and peel off the tough bark. Leave whole or dice in inch cubes. Water blanch whole kohlrabi 3 minutes and cubes 1 minute. Cool, drain, and pack age, leaving '/2-inch headspace. Seal and freeze. The smooth varieties of okra Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 6, 2003-B freeze as well or better than the ridged varieties because they do not split as easily. Wash and re move the stems at the end of the seed cells, being careful not to expose the seed cell. Water blanch small pods 3 minutes and large pods 4 minutes. Cool promptly and drain. Leave whole or slice cross- wise. Package, leaving -inch headspace. Seal and freeze. To freeze okra for frying—after blanching, slice crosswise and dredge with cornmeal or flour. Spread in a single layer on shallow trays, freeze just long enough to be come firm, and package quickly, leaving -inch headspace. Seal and freeze. Turnips can be pres sure canned by hot packing slic ed or diced turnips that have been boiled 5 minutes. Allow 1-inch headspace. Process pints 30 minutes at 11 pounds pres sure and quarts 35 minutes. Turnips can be frozen by water blanching -inch cubes for 2 min utes. Don’t forget the turnip greens. They can be frozen by water blanching the young ten der greens for 2 minutes. All the above vegetables can be dried with fair results. Select young tender produce the same as for canning or freezing. Pre treat the vegetables by steam or water blanching (except the beets, which are already cook ed.) Slice eggplant '/2-inch thick and steam blanch 2 to 3 minutes or water blanch minute. Dip ping the eggplant in an ascorbic acid or lemon juice mixture will help to maintain its color. Cook ed beets can be sliced into '/«- inch strips. Kohlrabi that is cubed or sliced '/2-inch thick should be water blanched 3 to 5 minutes or steam blanched 5 to 8 minutes. Okra that has been blanched for 3 to 4 minutes can be sliced '/« to '/;-inch thick. Most of these vegetables will take 8 to 12 hours to dry in a de hydrator set at 135 F. They are dry when they are leathery or brittle. Store these dried vege tables in an air tight container because they will draw moisture from the air very quickly. If you have food preservation questions, a home economist is available to answer questions on Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., call (717) 394-6851 or write Penn State Cooperative Extension, Lancaster County, 1383 Arcadia Rd. Rm.l, Lan caster, PA 17601. 15
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