I had a busy day in the kitchen canning vegetable broth and black beans. I save all my scraps from vegetables in the freezer until I have enough to make a batch of broth. Then I use my pressure canner to preserve it for future recipes.
I have the scraps of onion, celery, garlic, carrots, broccoli, and corn cob in a large stock pot. I fill it with water and let it simmer for about 6 hours.
It takes a long time to release all that goodness from the veggies. Meanwhile, the kitchen smells wonderful while I prepare the black beans and onion broth at the same time.
I rinsed the dry beans and soaked them in water overnight. They plumped up nicely and I drained and rinsed them well. In a large stock pot, I added one large onion chopped, the rinsed beans, and covered them with 6 cups of water. After coming to a boil I lowered the heat to a simmer and cooked them for 40 minutes.
I jarred the beans with the onion broth and processed them for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Now I have black beans to add to the pantry instead of purchasing them in cans from the grocery.
These are the vegetable scraps from the stock that will be added to the compost pile. I drained the stock twice through cheesecloth before putting it into the jars.
The veggies make the broth a lovely amber color, probably due to all the carrot peels.
These were processed for 1 hour and 30 minutes in the pressure canner. I ended up with 7 quarts of vegetable stock for the pantry shelf. Now I will start saving the scraps for another batch in the future. I mainly use the stock for making a variety of soups, bringing a whole new dimension when using homemade.
Pantry Tour
Per request by @goldenoakfarm I am sharing my pantry with you all. I had never considered doing this until Pam suggested I do so. I do a lot of canning, drying, and stocking up on different items throughout the year. I like to have everything I need on hand. I guess you would consider me a prepper of sorts.
This pantry in my laundry room is right off my kitchen and where I keep things I use all the time. It makes my life easier to have easy access to whatever I need.
The rest of the items are in a spare room which works nicely for me. With this extra storage area, I can keep all my canned and dry goods organized. After taking the photos, I realized some items I need to restock.
I hope you enjoyed my little tour and it inspires you to be well-prepared for your family too.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
Sun. Scape. Ing Your Day
