Remembering a disaster

Writing by Lois

I was thinking about preserving food and I remembered a disaster I had some while ago… here is what happened:

In my efforts not to waste anything, especially food I try and preserve what we have which is excess to our needs… so into the freezer goes lots of lovely home-grown fruit and vegetables, on with the preserving pan to make jams and pickles and chutneys (even though we don’t eat a great deal and end up giving it all away!) and this year I bought a dehydrator to preserve things in a different way. All these schemes of mine have been fairly successful… but I have had one disaster.

With a glut of runner beans I decided to try salting them as it suggested in a book I have on preserving and storing. I followed the instructions so carefully, topping and tailing, slicing and blanching… I put down a layer of salt and carefully put them to bed, pressing down more salt between the rows so there were no air bubbles. It took me ages, ages and ages… the container was sealed… and I waited…

I don’t think I can bring myself to describe what I found when I took off the lid… There was no doubt that it had to be thrown away, no doubt at all, but in the interests of research I did rinse and taste a little bean… Oh how I wished I hadn’t…

This is one method of preserving I will not try again! I’m not sure what went wrong, but even if it had gone right I don’t think the results would have been edible, not to our twenty-first century tastes, anyway!

I’ve used a nice picture as my featured photo… to take my mind off what I found when I opened the lid of the container!

27 Comments

  1. Julia
    Reply

    Oh dear! How disappointing after all that effort! We take freezers so much for granted these days, I do find it interesting to hear about different ways of preserving. I am without a freezer at the moment and managing very well without one. It has made me think about preserving methods which is why I’ve enjoyed reading your posts about this. I do miss frozen peas. I’ve been eating fresh ones when they’ve been available to buy in the supermarket (bought still in their shell) but it is more expensive and down to chance whether I can get them or not.

    Like

      3. Rosie Scribblah

        Here’s a lovely one for a sweet gingery pickle
        Pickled Runner Beans – simple recipe

        Ingredients

        About 1Kg of young runner beans – enough to fill 2 big jars (large jars that you get pickled onions in are ideal)
        Salt
        Cider vinegar – enough to cover (usually about 300ml – or 1 small bottle will be enough)
        250g granulated sugar
        Small knob of ginger for each jar (about 1cm chunk) – bashed
        Sprig of mint for each jar
        (although you could experiment with the herbs and spices you use… I think the original recipe I saw used some juniper berries)
        Method

        Trim the beans and cut the ends off – you should pick these young so there should be no need to ‘de-string’ them.
        Cut them all to length so that they fit in your jars comfortably (with plenty of room at the top to cover with vinegar.
        Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil and boil the beans until tender – about 5-8 minutes should do it.
        Meanwhile heat the cider vinegar and sugar in a pan until the sugar has dissolved.
        Put the bashed ginger and a sprig of mint in each jar.
        When the beans are done, strain them then add to the jar (in an upright potition).
        Then pour the still warm vinegar into the jars to cover the beans.
        Seal and leave for a couple of weeks before using.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Rosie Scribblah

        And the Delia one
        Spiced Pickled Runner Beans – Delia Smith
        METHOD
        First of all put the chopped onions into a preserving pan or large casserole or saucepan with 10 fl oz (275 ml) of the vinegar.

        Bring them up to simmering point and let them simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the onions are soft. Meanwhile cook the sliced beans in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, then strain them in a colander and add to the onions.

        Now in a small basin mix the cornflour, mustard and turmeric with a little of the remaining vinegar – enough to make a smooth paste – then add this paste to the onion mixture.

        Pour in the rest of the vinegar and simmer everything for 10 minutes. After that stir in both quantities of sugar until they dissolve and continue to simmer for a further 15 minutes. Then pot the pickle in warmed, sterilised jars, and seal and label when cold.
        Keep for at least a month before eating.
        INGREDIENTS
        2 lb (900 g) runner beans (weighed after trimming and slicing)
        1½ lb (700 g) onions, chopped
        1½ pints (850 ml) malt vinegar
        1½ oz (40 g) cornflour
        1 heaped tablespoon mustard powder
        1 rounded tablespoon turmeric
        8 oz (225 g) soft brown sugar
        1 lb (450 g) demerara sugar
        salt

        EQUIPMENT
        You will also need six 0.5 litre jars, sterilised as described above.

        Like

      11. Lois

        That definitely sounds lovely – I’m not a fan of chutneys where it’s just a smooth goo like a vinegary jam, I really like bits of actual veg – which is why I like piccalilli! (and one day I’ll spell it correctly without spellcheck’s assistance!)

        Like

      15. Lois

        Oh crumble… another thing for some reason never works for me… How can it not work? I have no idea, tried everything, but it’s still a soggly clump… tastes alright but it’s the texture…

        Like

      21. Lois

        I wonder if self-raising is the key? I only use plain – except one disaster when I used oats… not to be repeated! I’m usually good at puds, even things like lemon meringue pie, so its disappointing I can’t do crumble!

        Liked by 1 person

      22. Rosie Scribblah

        Husband uses only self raising but that becomes a bit cakey, which is nice but not crumbly enough for me. I find the mix is best. Oats! So many recipes use oats now in a misguided attempt to be healthy! Puddings are not healthy.
        Puddings are a treat.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.