You can freeze just about anything, but there are just some things that won’t taste good pickled or turned into a jam. That’s why there are so many different methods of food preservation when you’re a gardener. In the articles below, we cover lots of food preservation basics and the specifics of preserving various fruits, herbs, and vegetables.
Unfortunately, there are just as many ways to improperly store and spoil your vegetables as there are ways to preserve them.
For example, did you know you should not store white or sweet potatoes in the fridge? The cold can injure them. You also shouldn’t store them with fruit. Gas from the fruit makes potatoes sprout. And unless you’re cooking, keep your potatoes away from onions; the two in close proximity will make the potatoes sprout.
Or how about storing corn? Once the ear leaves the stalk, the corn starts converting its sugar to starch. The longer you wait to cook and eat it, the more it will taste like grocery store corn rather than fresh-picked. If you store it in the refrigerator, you have about a week.
And did you realize that berries need moisture to stay crisp? If you pick a few bushels of strawberries or blueberries, it’s a good idea to rinse them before storing them because the moisture will keep them plump longer. Blueberries can last over a month in a device like a berry box, which allows you to rinse the blueberries and keep them in a strainer inside an air-tight box, which keeps the berries crisp without sitting in water.
And we haven’t even gotten to our posts on canning, freezing, making jams, and all the ways you can preserve vegetables for the much longer-term so you don’t have to risk storage spoilage.
In the articles below, you’ll learn about everything from canning apples to freezing squash, storing potatoes, and drying herbs. We welcome you to also read our Recipes from Your Garden freebie. Enjoy!
When it comes to buying or picking apples, I always end up with way more than I actually need. The giant basket of apples taunts me from my countertop, knowing that I will never get through them fast enough before they start to go bad. Freezing fresh apples is one way of keeping them from going bad, but I also love pressure canning apples and storing them in my pantry for later use in pies, breads, apple butter, and apple sauce.
We’re a pretty easy-going bunch here at Food Gardening Network. Heck, we get to grow vegetables and cook and write about it. What’s not to enjoy? But there is one thing that we are very serious about: food safety. And that, my friend, is why I want to address how to safely preserve vegetables in […]
I’m sure some people believe it’s ridiculous to think about ways to preserve jalapeños and other hot peppers. Why wouldn’t you just eat them fresh? Add jalapeños to your pizza. Use habaneros in your fresh salsa. Get that awesome curry heated up with some Thai hot peppers.
Hooray! You Pumpkin-Spice-latte’d your way through your own apple trees and/or every apple orchard in town and found yourself barricaded in your kitchen with no less than 20 pounds of apples. You already baked everything in your recipe book and your family can’t eat another apple pie, crumble, sauce, or turnover.
I’ll be the first to say that I love looking in my pantry and seeing jar after jar of canned garden vegetables. Like many gardeners, I enjoy sharing the abundance of nature with friends and neighbors. I also appreciate being able to open a jar of homegrown green beans in February when temperatures are well […]
Fresh apples are divine but what if you can’t eat them fast enough? At room temperature, fresh apples will last about a week. Then they start to get bruised and mealy. Stored in the fridge, apples will keep for about a month or two depending on the variety.
Thanks to partner planting and some easy homemade fertilizer, my tomato plants tend to take off each season and I always end up with more than I know what to do with. If you’re like me, you enjoy garden tomatoes in your favorite recipes or even just snacking on a fresh tomato with a dash of salt. If there’s still an abundance of tomatoes sitting on your counter, canning may be a good preservation option.
All hail the mighty (and versatile as heck) onion! From subtle flavors to sharp zings, onions can add so many dimensions to your recipes. Being able to use your own homegrown onions all winter long is the ultimate Little House on the Prairie dream. It’s also super cost-effective and adds peace of mind knowing that you’ve grown and stored your onions without chemicals or other variables coming into the mix.
Cabbage is pretty easy to grow, especially if you live in a cooler climate. One only needs to think of a traditional Irish garden to understand how much cabbage you can grow if you live in areas with shorter summers and long temperate spells with high temperatures in the mid-60s. That means it’s entirely possible […]
There’s a true joy in going to the garden and picking some ripe eggplant, tomatoes, and herbs for a late summer dinner. I love walking friends through my garden in the spring and handing them a ripe zucchini or two. Since I live in New England, though, there’s no chance I’m going to step outside […]
