I have received a lot of messages asking what can one do with over abundance of Cucumbers? Or Parsley? Or Beets? Sometimes you just want to know the best way to save your vegetables and what to do with those bugs eating your produce. Well I will try to answer some of these questions in this post, so lets get started.
What do you do if you have too many Salatgurken, (Cucumbers) or Parsley or even Beets?
I have looked far and wide for a solution to an over abundance of Salatgurken. You can only eat so much cucumber salad before you get sick. Unfortunately, Salatgurkens are not made for pickling. They will absorb all the liquid and get soggy not crunchy like you want your pickles. I will post some recipes in the coming days for Cucumbers and I hope that helps.
For Parsley that is easy. This year I have a whole row of Parsley and it is just growing like crazy. I cut some off each time I am there but it just grows right back. Besides adding to dishes for some garnish or to your salad I love to make Pesto with it. That’s right, pesto! I found a great recipe for Parsley Pesto. It goes like this: Take your Parsley, Pine Nuts, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil and salt and throw it in the food processor. It’s that easy and you will love it. It taste fresh and is great with just about any kind of pasta.
With Beets I have two solutions for you. The first is an easy fix. I take Beets, Apples, Cucumber, and if I have some Oranges I add all them to my Juicer. It makes a really great, healthy juice that will give you all the energy you need to get back out there in the garden. The other solution is a recipe I will post later ;-) but it is a Beet Ice Cream. You read that right. Beets are sweet and they make a great flavored Ice Cream. Trust me!
What do I do when I get home from the garden with bags of produce?
The obvious thing is to wash them of course. But I actually like to set up a whole station for this. I start by filling up my sink with cold water. I have a strainer next to my sink and moving on to the next “station” I have some towels laid out. The last station is where I have my freezer bags. I start by first washing any leafy produce since these tend to have the less amount of dirt. I put them in the strainer and then dry them with the towels or salad spinner. If I am not using it right away I wrap them in a paper towel and put them in a plastic baggie and directly into the fridge. I then move onto the Cucumbers, zucchinis, etc. I wash and dry them and put them into the fridge. The Zuckererbsen (Peas) and Green Beans I will wash and put them into a plastic baggie and put into the freezer. My root vegetables I wash really good and dry them. I then have a plastic tub that I have filled with sand and I place the root vegetables into this tub or box. The sand will keep your root vegetables for a long time and they wont go bad after a few days. It is a great little trick to make them last longer. Just make sure you are using sand and not dirt from your backyard.
I hope I answered some of your questions. For Pest such as bugs and worms I am learning what to do with these as well and I am currently testing some methods so as soon as I know if they worked or not I will let all of you know. Remember you can view more info and even pictures at www.aaronscheuerman.com under the Garden section of the website. Until next time…
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