Cleaning Up the Garden and Canning Sauce
It’s been a busy week in the garden as we’ve started transitioning our raised beds for fall and winter. First up was the cleanup: I spent time trimming and pruning our tomato plants and pulling out any dead or dying vines. Since the frost will likely hit before the smaller tomatoes ripen, I went ahead and picked them all. The pepper plants had also stopped producing, so they came out too.
In total, we ended up with around 15 pounds of green tomatoes and a gallon of peppers. Rather than let all those green tomatoes go to waste, I found a recipe to can them into a delicious green pasta sauce to use throughout the winter (recipe at the end of this post). It’s a great way to make use of produce that would otherwise be in the yard waste bin.
With the beds cleared, we turned our attention to planting for the colder months. I’ve never done a winter garden before, so this year is definitely an experiment. We planted beans, radishes, cabbage, broccoli, and kale, hoping to squeeze in a crop before the harsh winter sets in. Honestly, I’m not expecting huge results since it gets so cold so quickly here in northern Indiana, but I’m excited to see what happens. Even if the yields are small, the learning experience will be well worth it.
If you’re thinking about starting a winter garden, timing is everything. Hardy vegetables like kale, broccoli, and cabbage are great for cooler temperatures, while fast-growers like radishes and beans might just beat the frost if you plant them early enough. It is bit of a gamble, but if you’re like me and love experimenting, it’s a fun way to keep your garden going a little longer!
Now, onto what I did with all those green tomatoes! Instead of letting them go to waste, I found a delicious way to turn them into pasta sauce by roasting them. This recipe made 10 pints.
Pomodori Verdi
Ingredients:
15 pounds green tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 jalapeño peppers (optional)
8 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 T salt
3 t dried oregano
1/8 cup granulated sugar (optional)
1 t black pepper
Bottled lemon juice
Instructions:
Core and cut all tomatoes in half, roughly chop your onions, peppers, and garlic. Add the veggies to a roasting pan and roast at 400°F for an hour.
Once roasted, add all veggies to a large pot and blend using an emulsion blender until you have a thick sauce. If you don’t have an emulsion blender, you can use a standard blender or food processor.
Add oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and sugar to the sauce. Allow the sauce to simmer for an hour. This allows water to evaporate from the sauce, decreasing the likelihood of separation after canning.
Ladle your hot sauce into sanitized jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice to each pint or 2 Tbsp per quart. Screw on your lids and rings until finger-tight. Water bath pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes.
This sauce is a great way to save your green tomatoes and have some fresh pasta sauce ready for those winter nights!