Monday, August 30, 2010

Harvest Monday 8/30/10

I picked 3.75 pounds of grapes from our green grape vine. The photo of the bowl full of grapes didn't make it on the camera card so this photo of more on the vine will have to suffice. I used them to make grape juice and canned 4 pints of juice.
The tomato harvest has picked up with over 12 pounds this week. We used some to make a ketchup and barbecue sauce recipe, but it made less than a quart so I didn't can it. I'm still waiting for more of an onslaught so I can make salsa and sauce. The tomatillos are collecting on the counter and I need to make a salsa with them. However, they are the tiny pineapple tomatillos so I think it will just make one batch of fresh salsa. The cherry tomatoes were beginning to build up on the counter too so I dried some in the oven this week. Then they went in the freezer for later. I harvested over three pounds of cherry tomatoes this week.




We collected all the green zebra that were ripe and cooked them down with some onion and basil to make a tomato sauce. The zebra tomato sauce came out a pale green color with a bright flavor.Other larger harvests include 3 pounds of yukon gold potatoes we dug up this week to compliment some meals.
I picked some of my pole beans but found I'd let some of them go to long and they were tough. It is hard to find them among all the different vines as they are wrapped around my sunflower plants.

Total this week: 28.68 pounds
Total this year: 157.4 pounds

You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Green tomato sauce - that is a new for me! Did you make it before?

Your grapes are beautiful. Ours are also ripening, but I think that we will make wine with them.

kitsapFG said...

I don't think I have actually eaten a green (ripe) tomato before - let alone a sauce made from them. Do they really have a true tomato flavor (balance of sweet/acid)?

The grapes are beautiful. Lucky you to have them in your garden!

Sense of Home Kitchen said...

Your soup sounds delicious. I just planted a grape vine this year. It has grown very well, but the few grapes it had the birds got to before me. I am looking forward to making and canning grape juice in the future.

-Brenda

Anonymous said...

I am intrigued by the idea of the green Zebra sauce. I too have those planted, but they seem to be taking forever to ripen. When they do, though....

Prairie Cat said...

Nice harvest!

Do the green tomatoes taste similar to ones that turn red when they are ripe? I've been toying with the idea of growing some of that variety next year, but I'm not sure if I'll end up liking the flavor.

Emily said...

In response to all the questions/comments:

I hadn't made the green sauce before but got the idea from 101cookbooks.com where she made a yellow tomato sauce. The green zebras have true tomato flavor , though we detected a citrus hint also. It was a bit confusing to the senses while I cooked it because before pureeing it looked like green tomatillo salsa but the smell was that of tomatoes.

I can't compare them well to the red variety because my red zebras haven't done too well and have produced small fruit with Blossom End Rot.

Dave @ HappyAcres said...

I love the Green Zebras, but our vine died this year. We like them in salsa, but your sauce sounds interesting too. Nice harvests!

Angela said...

Lovely harvest. Nice to have potatoes as a counterpart to all this tomato goodness.

I love green zebra tomato sauce! As you say, they have a citrus touch to them that I think makes for a good saucing tomato. I also like to mix them with sweeter tomato varieties to contribute some acid to the sauce.

Dan said...

Looks good Emily. The zebra sauce is a neat idea. I am still waiting on mine to ripen. I keep squishing them and they are still hard.

Daphne Gould said...

Love the green tomato sauce. I made some really weird colored sauces last year. I mixed, yellow, black and red. It turned an unappetizing brown. Ick. It tasted like heaven though.

meemsnyc said...

I can't wait until our grapevines produce grapes like this! How do you can juice??

thyme2garden said...

Add me to your list of readers impressed with your green zebra tomato sauce! Would it look similar to pesto when tossed with pasta? It's interesting how most of us have preconceived notions of how a "red" food would taste like compared to a "green" food. I'm trying to imagine in my head what green tomato sauce would taste like, and it's nothing like what I know red tomato sauce to taste like, but I'm sure they are more similar than not!

abigail said...

grapes! I'm so jealous. I'm hoping that the blueberry plants we planted will be more productive next year because I so wish we grew more fruit.

I made yellow tomato sauce that is so beautiful and sweet! I love the idea of a green tomato sauce too.

michelle said...

Beautiful grapes, I'm envious, the critters get all my grapes before they get ripe enough for me. I love tomato sauce made from green tomatoes, it has a wonderful unique flavor and color.

Thomas said...

Green Zebra tomato sauce? What a great idea! I should have thought of that!

Stephanie from GardenTherapy.ca said...

I love that you made sauce from green zebra toms - I have lots as well and may just borrow that idea!

Wendy said...

Congrats on the harvest and really nice photos!

miss m said...

Great harvest ! Sauce looks delish ! I can't wait to pick a 'bowl full of grapes' from my vines. In a couple years, maybe. Splendid !