12 June 2016 Vegetable Juice

[Durgan]

http://durgan.org/2016/June%202016/12%20June%202016%20Vegetable%20Juice/HTML/ 12 June 2016 Vegetable Juice
Garden vegetables which were mature were processed into seven liters of juice. Process is harvest, weigh, wash, cut into small pieces, cover with water, cook until soft about 20 minutes, blend into a slurry, stain through a food mill 2mm mesh screen, put residue from food mill through a Champion Juicer to extract maximum nutrients. Place product in liter jars and pressure can at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. The products used were two romaine lettuce 2 pounds, kale one pound, celery one pound, and one half pound of basil.

 

[headfullofbees]

How nice is it?

 

[Durgan]

I mix about four different juices in the drinking glass and ingest. I am looking for convenient nutrients. I have adapted the taste buds, such that I simply drink a glass with no effort. About a liter a day, as an addendum to other foods, keeps one reasonably healthy, .

The processing is a relatively simple method of preserving pristine plant food for off season use. In my area Zone 5, there are about three to four months only for growing. The growth is prodigious as is the waste due to lack of preserving.

I use no condiments in the method. The juices could be Americanized by saturating with salt or sugar to meet the current perceptions of desirable taste. Commercial interests have the taste racket down to science. There are few common preserved (junk) foods that don't have a wonderful taste.

 

[headfullofbees]

It's certainly a method of preservation, and since blanching and freezing doesn't really, in most cases preserve the original texture, certainly a valid means of getting your greens. ( I know that comes across as condescending, but I don't mean it to)

I love the individual flavours of fruit and veg though, and, because I am used to the traditional Scottish balance of a meal (although I do cook a variety of foreign cuisines) I like veg on my plate, even if it has been frozen.
I am also fortunate enough to live in a climate temperate enough that I can grow at least some winter veg (mostly brassicas which I love), meaning that, with clamp-stored root veg, frozen veg is just a supplement to my meals.
I prefer all veg raw to cooked, meaning that I add very little in the way of salt, and absolutely no sugar, to cooked veg and none at all to raw, fresh.

 

[Durgan]

Cooked versus raw. For many years I use to eat most vegetables raw. Often as blended juices. Since I got serious about juicing and pressure canning, I am of the opinion that absorption is far greater when cooked. Of course there are many foods that cannot be eaten raw. Also preservation raw is decidedly limited.

As to vegetables on the plate, or course, this is probably the desired method, but highly dependent upon season and availability.

In my area-highly productive, I suspect most grown produce is discarded due to no practical preservation or storage method at the home consumer level. People enjoy a few vegetables and fruits in season and rely on commercial food for the off season with a few exceptions.

My solution is pressure canning as a slurry or juice. Other methods when suitable, like cold room storage, freezing, lacto fermenting, pickling, drying or dehydrarion, fat preservation (pemmican), and sometimes a combination of the methods. But my main method is pressure canning, applicable to all produce. No matter what the preservation method, it must be not too labour intensive and easy to implement.

Food is too important to be left entirely to commercial interests. IMO.

 

[headfullofbees]

Cooked versus raw. For many years I use to eat most vegetables raw. Often as blended juices. Since I got serious about juicing and pressure canning, I am of the opinion that absorption is far greater when cooked. Of course there are many foods that cannot be eaten raw. Also preservation raw is decidedly limited.

As to vegetables on the plate, or course, this is probably the desired method, but highly dependent upon season and availability.

In my area-highly productive, I suspect most grown produce is discarded due to no practical preservation or storage method at the home consumer level. People enjoy a few vegetables and fruits in season and rely on commercial food for the off season with a few exceptions.

My solution is pressure canning as a slurry or juice. Other methods when suitable, like cold room storage, freezing, lacto fermenting, pickling, drying or dehydrarion, fat preservation (pemmican), and sometimes a combination of the methods. But my main method is pressure canning, applicable to all produce. No matter what the preservation method, it must be not too labour intensive and easy to implement.

Food is too important to be left entirely to commercial interests. IMO.

Certainly your preservation is both economically and nutritionally efficient, and, especially if you are not too fussed about texture, is a smart way around your climate limitations.