Quarts of potatoes and pints of sweets.
I've been canning potatoes and sweet potatoes for the last couple days, in between all the chaos and mayhem that's been going on around here, of course.
I found some great deals on both just before Thanksgiving at my local grocery stores. Unfortunately one of the stores put a "10 pound limit" on their $0.25/pound sweet potatoes - or I would have walked out with 40 pounds of them. At least. Maybe more.
Why would I can potatoes? Mostly because they are insanely expensive back here.....and they just don't keep well. And we are out of our home grown taters. So when I saw a great deal going on, I scooped them up.
Processing is easy - clean, chop, cook, and process in your pressure canner. Getting all the processing done in one fell swoop makes it so easy to make a fast supper. At any moment you can just reach out and grab a jar of potato-loveliness and fry yourself up a skillet of taters in lard. What could be better?
I actually like sweet potatoes as a savory, not a sweet dish. No mini-marshmallows here, friend. But olive oil, sea salt, lots of ground black pepper, and some rosemary are just the ticket. And I'm just crazy for hash these days - especially with sweet potatoes.
If we had a cold storage area or root cellar than maybe it wouldn't make sense. But our basement is finished and heated (and dry thanks to our trenching project!) and I'd need a bulldozer to dig out a proper cellar. So until then, I'm cannin' taters like a fool - both regular and sweet.
Happy Thursday everyone! When I get tired of savory sweet potatoes I'm gonna make sweet potato pie! Who wants some?
Editor's note.. Oh for heavens sakes, how did it get to be December already?
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15 comments:
You are going to enjoy those taters for sure! I really hope that Santa brings me a pressure canner!
Can I have piece? ...and that sweet potato hash sounds mighty good too.
I have never thought to can potatoes. How does the texture hold up?
I do like sweet potatoes savory too. I like them baked with salt, pepper, and sour cream. Hash is awesome with some sweets and we always pump up the nutritional content of mashed potatoes by including some sweet potatoes with the regular.
Ohhh, this is a project I need to get onto. I have 2 bushels of sweet potato's in the garage, waiting to be canned. I WILL get them done...I will get them done...
That's my girl, grab up those bargains when you see them..we had the same deal here for $.27 cents..I got 30 lbs :o) this time I wrapped them each in tin foil, baked them and when they cooled I then put them into a large zipplock bag..when i was ready I'd take one out to defrost (just cooking one for the two of us they were the cubs (large size) and half was more than enough for one meal. microwave and that's part of dinner :o) Last year I canned white and sweet and still have some left..the quarts were too much for one meal for us.
Can you roast canned potatoes when you go to use them? I'm a huge fan of roasted potatoes, and I think canning's a pretty great way to keep them (we always end up with some going bad when we buy a 5 lb bag) but if my only options are to mash them then it might not be for me.
Bring on the taters. Yup them canned taters some in handy. Try them roasted too with some olive oil and salt. They also mash really nicely. We canned something like 100 pounds this summer. Loving it.
I've been canning meat for years but have never tried potatoes, go figure, lol. I got a deal on several bushel of sweet potatoes (in the cellar) and would take advantage of deals on white potatoes if I could can them. What time and pressure do you use?? I've got squash to can, too:)
I did the same thing you did with the sweet potatoes....they were on sale for 33 cents though, and bought twenty pounds. Wish I had bought more. I was just thinking the other day that it would be interesting to try canning the sweet potatoes, but it seems that we'll be through them before long.
I picked up some $.25/lb sweets too, but I parboiled then dried mine. It was the first time I'd dried instead of canned, and they turned out pretty good. I only have one quart of potatoes left :( I guess I better watch the sales!
Hi there, Just wanted to say I enjoy reading your page. You are so very animated. I am slowly working on building up a lil farm of my own, only have two goats and 3 pigs. Waiting on spring to get my chickens, although I have to build me a coop first. Thanks for the info and laughs.
I feel like such a slacker! Maybe this weekend...
I'll hope for you also, Robin! Whoot!
Yes, Mr. H, swing on in for hash and pie.
Hi Rachel! Actually they do pretty well. Not like fresh but better than anything frozen I've ever had. ps tonite I'm OFG(Hounds in the living room).. ha!
Yes you will Heaven's Door! Yes you will.
What a great idea, Ginny! And yep I go for pints around here also. Quarts of somethings are just to much.
Hey Big Onion - yep we had the same problem..we'd buy a bag and they'd go bad. Sure you can roast them. I had some extras when I was canning so instead of firing up the 2nd canner.. I made gnocchi. What a taste sensation! And you can freeze them for later use.
A hundred pounds! GREAT WORK, Sonja! wow... what an inspiration!
Hi Kim! I used the instructions here:
http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_potatoes.htm
There's a big difference between sweet and white taters tho - be sure to look them both up.
Hi Carolyn, I'll be searching for more. This was such a great project - getting the prep work out of the way is a huge time saver when we are "too busy to cook."
Hi Anony! Dried them!? Really - what a great idea. I have a pal who loves the drying approach to preservation. Great work!
Thanks, Sarah! And welcome - swing on in anytime and let me know how I can help. :-)
Hey Dave, we'll give you a break. For now, then you need to get to work! ha! Tell all them corporate monkeys I said hi. I've got a funny for you for later.. hee hee hee
I like the sweet taters boiled and stirred up with a bunch of melted butter, chopped green onions, squeeze of lemon, sprinkle of chili powder. We had that just last night. It was YUMMMY. I especially like it if you can find the yellow sweet potatoes.
Nice, Jeff! great combo. as foods go i think they are largely under-appreciated in this country. get yourself some tallow (rendered beef fat) and make sweet potato fries! now thats a snack :-)
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