Putting Up Fresh Vegetables: Hot Pickled Okra

Recently I was given a copy of the Farm to Fork cookbook by Emeril Lagasse. This book is especially dear to me because it came to me at a time when I'm doing just that, buying from local farmers to put on our table, some by way of my pantry.

It's been a goal of mine to feed our family healthy unprocessed food. If any processing is going to happen, I'm going to be the one processing it using only natural ingredients. It just makes sense to me. Besides, I enjoy it!

Putting Up Fresh Vegetables: Tomatoes

Container Garden

We are blessed to have such a long growing season in Florida. I'm still getting tomatoes and hot peppers from my garden, both my container garden and those in the ground! As the cooler air comes through I know that if I'm going to get some fresh veggies put up, I'd better do it now. Along with my homegrown produce, we purchased other vegetables from the local farmer's market as well. So far, I've washed, blanched, stewed, chopped, peeled, chilled in ice water, vacuum packed, pressure canned, water bathed, pickled or frozen: 35 lbs of tomatoes, 15 lbs of zucchini, 15 lbs of okra and 22 lbs of asparagus. My fingers are wrinkled like prunes and I know I looked a little wild there for a few days!