Preservation of Food or What To Do With The Extras And Have Some Awesomeness Next Winter
This page has to do primarily with preserving plant things. If you're interested in preserving animal things (like bacon, ham, etc) please visit the recipe pages for that particular animal. If you don't see what you're looking for, drop us a line.
Don't forget to check out the food preservation bookshelf, too.
And here are several sites that I hope will help.
National Center for Home Food Preservation
Ball's Fresh Preserving - this site also contains links to a plethora of other places.
Organic Gardening Harvest Techniques - there are also some recipe ideas here.
Organic Gardening Food Articles - lots on preservation, recipes ...
Don't forget to check out the food preservation bookshelf, too.
And here are several sites that I hope will help.
National Center for Home Food Preservation
Ball's Fresh Preserving - this site also contains links to a plethora of other places.
Organic Gardening Harvest Techniques - there are also some recipe ideas here.
Organic Gardening Food Articles - lots on preservation, recipes ...
Saving Up for Winter
Works for fruit, too!
The following article was featured in the Dorothy Lane Market Farm 2 Fork Fresh CSA newsletter (1:4) July 9, 2009.
Here at the height of summer, we’re in the times of plenty, with so much good stuff coming out of the ground, every meal is a treat. But, as hard as it is to even imagine winter right now, now is the time to be acting like an ant rather than a grasshopper if you want to have your own local produce to eat in the lean times of winter.
If in January you’ll be yearning for a taste of summer, now’s the time to get cooking—and freezing. The best way to preserve vegetables’ taste and nutritional value involves both cooking (blanching, actually) and freezing. Both are very simple. If you just stick your squash in a baggie and chuck it in the freezer, you’re probably not gonna like what you defrost months later. The problem is, freezing alone won’t stop the enzyme action in vegetables which causes them to deteriorate over time. Blanching the vegetables first will deactivate those enzymes, and allow you to preserve food up to a year.
Blanching is super-easy. All you need is a large, several-gallon pot, a big bowl of fresh ice (although cold water works as well), and either a wire basket or one of those large scoop colanders. Bring one gallon of salted (salt optional) water per pound of vegetables to a full rolling boil, or 2 gallons for leafy greens. Drop the vegetables in, and leave them in just until they change color. What’s happening is that that gasses that obscure the chlorophyll in plants are being forced out, bringing the chlorophyll to the surface of the vegetable and making it appear greener and brighter.
Here are suggested times for different kinds of vegetables:
• Green / Yellow Wax Beans: 3 minutes
• Broccoli, chopped or stalks: 3 minutes
• Beets (small): 25-30 minutes; (medium): 45-50 minutes
• Carrots (tiny, whole): 5 minutes; (slices): 2 minutes
• Cauliflower, 3 minutes
• Corn on the cob on the ear: (small) 7 minutes; (medium) 9 minutes; (large) 11 minutes
• Corn on the cob (to cut for whole kernel corn): 4 minutes
• Kohlrabi (whole): 3 minutes; (cubes): 1 minute
• Peppers (halves): 3 minutes; (slices) 2 minutes
• Spinach, other leafy greens: 2 minutes
• Shelled Peas: 1½ minutes
• Snow or Sugar Snap Peas: 2-3 minutes
• Summer Squash: (slices or chunks): 3 minutes; (grated): 1-2 minutes
The water should return to a boiling within 1 minute of adding the vegetables.
Stick to these times (recommended by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.) Over blanching will rob your vegetables of flavor and color, but under blanching is even worse than not blanching at all: under blanching will actually stimulate the enzyme action you’re trying to inactivate.
Take the vegetables out after the recommended time, and plunge them into a large bowl filled with ice water (more ice than water). This is shocking the vegetables, and it keeps them from cooking any further. Keep them in the ice bath for the same number of minutes you blanched them. Then, drain the vegetables of all excess moisture, and put them into freezer bags or plastic containers. Remove as much air as possible from bags, but leave an inch of head space in any rigid containers. Label and date right now—you’ll be thankful when you’re looking for it later. Put them in the freezer!
Your freezer also matters. This is one of those times when the deep freeze in the garage really comes in handy, but you can use your regular freezer provided you don’t overload it. To preserve food for up to a year, your freezer needs to remain at 0 degrees. Don’t try to freeze more than 2 pounds of frozen food per square foot of freezer space; more than that will slow the freezing process and might raise the temperature of other frozen food. (We chuck our packets in the little freezer in the house just to get things going then we take them to the deep freeze for long term. I try to keep one or two of most things in the house freezer most of the time.)
This sounds like a lot of work, but really, all the description and explanation is just in the interest of food safety. The process itself is very simple: blanch, shock, pack, freeze. If you do a couple of pounds once a week during these flush summer months, you’ll find your options far more heartening in the frigid winter ones. (Although I find that once I have the materials gathered, the pot boiling, and the sink full of cold water, I might as well do a bunch.)
Here at the height of summer, we’re in the times of plenty, with so much good stuff coming out of the ground, every meal is a treat. But, as hard as it is to even imagine winter right now, now is the time to be acting like an ant rather than a grasshopper if you want to have your own local produce to eat in the lean times of winter.
If in January you’ll be yearning for a taste of summer, now’s the time to get cooking—and freezing. The best way to preserve vegetables’ taste and nutritional value involves both cooking (blanching, actually) and freezing. Both are very simple. If you just stick your squash in a baggie and chuck it in the freezer, you’re probably not gonna like what you defrost months later. The problem is, freezing alone won’t stop the enzyme action in vegetables which causes them to deteriorate over time. Blanching the vegetables first will deactivate those enzymes, and allow you to preserve food up to a year.
Blanching is super-easy. All you need is a large, several-gallon pot, a big bowl of fresh ice (although cold water works as well), and either a wire basket or one of those large scoop colanders. Bring one gallon of salted (salt optional) water per pound of vegetables to a full rolling boil, or 2 gallons for leafy greens. Drop the vegetables in, and leave them in just until they change color. What’s happening is that that gasses that obscure the chlorophyll in plants are being forced out, bringing the chlorophyll to the surface of the vegetable and making it appear greener and brighter.
Here are suggested times for different kinds of vegetables:
• Green / Yellow Wax Beans: 3 minutes
• Broccoli, chopped or stalks: 3 minutes
• Beets (small): 25-30 minutes; (medium): 45-50 minutes
• Carrots (tiny, whole): 5 minutes; (slices): 2 minutes
• Cauliflower, 3 minutes
• Corn on the cob on the ear: (small) 7 minutes; (medium) 9 minutes; (large) 11 minutes
• Corn on the cob (to cut for whole kernel corn): 4 minutes
• Kohlrabi (whole): 3 minutes; (cubes): 1 minute
• Peppers (halves): 3 minutes; (slices) 2 minutes
• Spinach, other leafy greens: 2 minutes
• Shelled Peas: 1½ minutes
• Snow or Sugar Snap Peas: 2-3 minutes
• Summer Squash: (slices or chunks): 3 minutes; (grated): 1-2 minutes
The water should return to a boiling within 1 minute of adding the vegetables.
Stick to these times (recommended by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.) Over blanching will rob your vegetables of flavor and color, but under blanching is even worse than not blanching at all: under blanching will actually stimulate the enzyme action you’re trying to inactivate.
Take the vegetables out after the recommended time, and plunge them into a large bowl filled with ice water (more ice than water). This is shocking the vegetables, and it keeps them from cooking any further. Keep them in the ice bath for the same number of minutes you blanched them. Then, drain the vegetables of all excess moisture, and put them into freezer bags or plastic containers. Remove as much air as possible from bags, but leave an inch of head space in any rigid containers. Label and date right now—you’ll be thankful when you’re looking for it later. Put them in the freezer!
Your freezer also matters. This is one of those times when the deep freeze in the garage really comes in handy, but you can use your regular freezer provided you don’t overload it. To preserve food for up to a year, your freezer needs to remain at 0 degrees. Don’t try to freeze more than 2 pounds of frozen food per square foot of freezer space; more than that will slow the freezing process and might raise the temperature of other frozen food. (We chuck our packets in the little freezer in the house just to get things going then we take them to the deep freeze for long term. I try to keep one or two of most things in the house freezer most of the time.)
This sounds like a lot of work, but really, all the description and explanation is just in the interest of food safety. The process itself is very simple: blanch, shock, pack, freeze. If you do a couple of pounds once a week during these flush summer months, you’ll find your options far more heartening in the frigid winter ones. (Although I find that once I have the materials gathered, the pot boiling, and the sink full of cold water, I might as well do a bunch.)