Preserving the Harvest - Juicing, canning, Freezing

This time of year we have some surplus and some blemished produce.  We preserve it for later use.  Each person has favorite ways to preserve foods;  some people like frozen beans and some like canned for example.  Usually I blanch and freeze the following when we have surplus: greens, green beans, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and winter squash.

We use a steam juicer for fruit like grapes, raspberries, cherries, and certain varieties of apples.  Then I can the concentrated juice in quart jars.  

Some apples are best made into applesauce, and some varieties that are good keepers go into cold storage.

Tomatoes get processed into many forms.  Ken likes to core, cut up, and bring to a boil, pour in a colander and let the juice drain.  Then he runs the pulp through a food mill to separate out skins and seeds.   Now he cans the sauce  and juice separately.

I tried making paste for the first time.  I used the ingredients I found by googling tomato paste recipes and included the sauce.  I ran it through a food mill and rather than using the oven in the heat of summer or worrying about scorching on the stove I used a crock pot with the lid off set on low.  Other people use those large electric roasters.

Then I canned the tomato paste in smaller jars.