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