Harvest Monday September 4, 2023

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Tomato season is slowly winding down here, but they are still keeping me busy with harvesting and processing them. I’ve harvested right at 150 pounds so far this year, which is about 50% more than last year.  I also got a big haul of eggplants last week, and I picked a few pole beans and hot peppers to add to the mix.

I’m growing Rose beans for the second year now. This heirloom from the Rose family in Kentucky has large tender pods and lovely blue speckled beans inside when mature.

I also got several more pounds of La Roma III tomatoes from my two plants. This short-vine determinate variety has done great for me this year, and surely earned a spot in next year’s garden.

I used a couple of the eggplants to make Baba Ganoush one day for lunch. I cut the eggplants in half, then grilled them until a bit charred on top but still soft inside. I let them cool, then scooped out the flesh and mashed with a fork. I added tahini, olive oil, garlic and a bit of chopped flat leaf parsley from the garden and seasoned to taste. Sprinkled with a little paprika on top and served with toasted pita bread, it made for a tasty side dish.

The first September harvest had me bringing in more of the same, with lots of tomatoes, Lazy Wife pole beans, hot peppers and a mature Centercut squash. I also harvested some slicing tomatoes that day which were camera shy.

Zenzei tomato is a 2023 AAS Winner that has done very well this year. They have outproduced Granadero, which is has been my favorite vining paste tomato for years. The fruits are large and meaty, and cook up into a tasty sauce. So far I have had no issues with disease, splitting or blossom end rot. Looks like I might have a new favorite with Zenzei!

I made the first two batches of 2023 hot sauce last week. One bottle used Fresno peppers (Hernandez and Flaming Flare) while the other one used jalapenos plus a few Sugar Rush Peach peppers. For both sauces I fermented the peppers for one week with 5% salt added, then followed my basic recipe for a Tabasco-style thin hot sauce. You can read more about the fermenting process here: Fermented Pepper Mash.

I also got a big harvest of two long time favorite tomatoes, Health Kick and Juliet. Both of these have kept us well-supplied this year.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!