Huge vegetable glut!

Spudsey

Neglected the allotment for a few days and now have a mega glut of french beans (purple ones), and runner beans plus two cabbages which have split and won't last very long as have gone a bit slimy on the leaves.

Also approx 31 courgettes and 15 cucumbers! These appear to be keeping fairly well at present thank goodness!

Have ran out of people to give away too!

floss2

I too have a glut of purple french beans - have decided not to pick any more and will leave them to dry & turn into haricot beans for cassoulet in the winter

ditsykitchen

For the cucumbers, I'd make some cucumber gin ready for christmas gifts

Courgettes - make some into chutney, make courgette cake (like carrot cake)

Make something like this with the beans and some of the cabbage.

Maybe make coleslaw as well with some of the cabbage. Eat stir fries for a few days - lots of cabbage and you can shave the courgettes into ribbons and toss them in near the end of cooking. They're also good like that in salads.

caitybabes

Ooh, what are you going to do with them all?

I've got a glut of carrots and spring onions and cabbages.

I'm thinking:

• stir fry (will use all together)
• coleslaw (already made some, it was yummy - sauce was a mix of nat yoghurt, mayo, salad cream and wholegrain mustard)
• carrot and coriander soup

For your cucumber, perhaps raita for curry, as crudites with dip, in sandwiches, Pimms, or - my favourite - in Elderflower cordial made up with sparkling water with cucumber and mint.

Courgette: I'm dying to make a courgette cake but don't have any yet - our courgette plant seems to be growing very slowly.

The tomatoes are ripening though

Enjoy your glut!

patchwork_cat

Put them at your gate with an honesty box.

Any

also roasted pickled courgettes are nice if you are ever having antipasto boards..

Oh I wish I had cucumbers!! I can eat cucumber a day, jsut with little salt, but 15...
Or grated, salt, pepper, small sour cream, let sit for 30 mins... refreshing salad.

I agree - honesty box!!

Allegra

Pickles and chutneys ? Bread and butter pickles for the cucumbers, piccalilli for much of the rest ? Batch cook courgette pasta sauce, and stews with runner beans and French purple beans.....

Happy cooking and preserving - I suspect your grocery bills will be tiny for a few months to come !

Seakay

courgettes can be frozen or dehydrated for storage and later use.
Cucumbers don't freeze well as they are but their juice could be frozen

Spudsey

Gosh I wish I was as excited and enthusiastic as you all are! I admit to being very disheartened when after managing to use up 4-6 courgettes in one dish, another 6 arrives to replace them!

Unfortunately I was looking forward to everything at the beginning of the season, gathering recipes ready then all of a sudden find myself completely over whelmed by the amount of veg being picked daily. My own fault really, I was trying to do too much staying at the allotment until darkness and then coming home with thoughts of my bed only....

Have been struggling with stress for a few months unfortunately and can't seem to think straight, I spent at least an hour yesterday stressing about what to make for dinner, what i should use first etc. I then opted for a vegetable curry which my o/h thought was delicious. Bit of everything went in so that was good. Hoping it will be good frozen as ideally thats what I would like to do.

Cabbage being used tonight!

Thanks for all the helpful ideas, the only one I won't take up is the honesty box....I love the idea but wouldn't do it where I live. Good idea though thank you.

RAS

Hi

May be give yourself a break? Or try to go to the lottie on alternate days and have a day processing stuff the other day.

Having said that a lot of thing like pickes need 24 hours soaking in brine (do that before you go to the plot) and then draining rinsing and putting in bottles with vinegar the next day.

Courgettes and cucs will keep well for a couple of weeks and courgettes could just be chopped and frozen. for winter use.

Spudsey

RAS wrote: »

Hi

May be give yourself a break? Or try to go to the lottie on alternate days and have a day processing stuff the other day.

Having said that a lot of thing like pickes need 24 hours soaking in brine (do that before you go to the plot) and then draining rinsing and putting in bottles with vinegar the next day.

Courgettes and cucs will keep well for a couple of weeks and courgettes could just be chopped and frozen. for winter use.

Trying! I went on Monday with o/h and got to work harvesting all the beans and was so disheartened. We put a lot of work into the plot this year at the beginning but other things have got in the way. We now have food coming out of our ears and there were so many weeds I could have cried! My o/h does all the growing and I normally go round weeding but as I haven't been up for days they have gone crazy.

Cucumbers are keeping very well wrapped in cling film in the fridge, I have put date stickers on all of them just incase my rotating fails! Given quite a few away too but not everyone I know likes cucumbers or wants more than 1!

Courgettes I have no room in the fridge for so am keeping in a basket in the kitchen, again they seem to be keeping ok so trying not to panic too much.

I have already made courgette chutney sometime ago, and hoping to make some courgette tea loaf or something for the freezer.