Best cultivar for preservation tips

[hiven]

I need tips and suggestions about best cultivars for canning, freezing and drying according to your good experiences.
Harvest season is still months away, but I would like to get ready from now . Share me your experience please ?

I know only a few types of good choice they are:

For drying:
Principle Borghese tomato.
Peppper and chilies :
Chimayo, Lemon Drop, Goat Horn, Anaheim, Chimayo, Aji Angelo, peri peri, Tepin, Aji yellow/ Aji amarillo.
Herbs: sage, thyme, mint, spring onions, parsley, leaf celery, etc.

For Freezing:
Yellow Crookneck summer squash, aubergines (all types), precooked marketmore 76 cucumber, chires baby corn, Paloma french beans, KY bush yard long beans and red noodles yard long beans, acochas (all types), all sweet corn, most asparagus (presteamed), most herbs (basil, coriander, terragon, mint, oregano, thyme).

For canning:
Opalka tomato (cooked into paste or whole), Red Swan beans (Michel's tips), acochas in tomato paste/sauce, Judia granja beans.

Any other good suggestions for instance for peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas or any other vegetable garden product ?

Thanks in advance !

[rockguy]

I'm curious about the "precooked Marketmore cucumber". I can't imagine a cooked, then frozen cucumber being tasty. What am I missing? How are these eaten?

[kathm]

I save a lot of climbing french beans (pole beans) for drying. I don't really like the texture of frozen green beans but the variety of colour, texture and flavour of the dried beans is amazing. I grow Cherokee Trail of Tears for a fresh bean and the others I grow (with somehwat bigger seeds) are all used either fresh as shellies, frozen as shellies or dried.

[hiven]

As I said this is an experience I find nice from trying several times, I surely don't know what your perception of tasty (,but I know what I like) and I won't know what you are missing either !
What did you do with your cukes ?

I am back again, had a check the specifiek recipe for the cukes.
I cooked it in curry and also sauteed it with some garlic and beef stripes.
The cuke was peeled, cut in lengthwise in 4 sections and then thinly slice them (up to 0.5cm). The cukes must not be overcook !
Thawing has to be done slowly (overnight) the night before by setting them in the refrigerator part.
As for eating, I like mine on top of boiled noodles or eat them with cooked rice.
I had several funny experience thawing the frozen cukes in microwave, they were so limp and loose their texture, eek !
Green house cukes are also very nice, but unfortunately I don't know what cultivars as they were bought as seedlings.

Mar 11, 2010 6:44:47 GMT -5 rockguy said:

I'm curious about the "precooked Marketmore cucumber". I can't imagine a cooked, then frozen cucumber being tasty. What am I missing? How are these eaten?

[hiven]

I also dislike supermarket frozen bean, but if freeze your own, make sure you pick the beans young and don't blanched too long.
I blanched mine whole for only 20 seconds and coll them dowm immediately in cold water, pat dry, bag and into the freezer.
I believe certain cultivar of beans will freeze better then other.

I also shelled matured green beans (not at dry stage), blanch and freeze them. At this point the beans are sweet and tender and somehow not startchy.
I only shelled dry Judia Granja beans at this point and Adzuki beans (more a pulse then beans), but will be growing Pinto and several other beans for drying this year.

Mar 11, 2010 6:50:32 GMT -5 kathm said:

I save a lot of climbing french beans (pole beans) for drying. I don't really like the texture of frozen green beans but the variety of colour, texture and flavour of the dried beans is amazing. I grow Cherokee Trail of Tears for a fresh bean and the others I grow (with somehwat bigger seeds) are all used either fresh as shellies, frozen as shellies or dried.