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!
Can we talk for a minute not just about how to make fermented vegetables, but also what it is and why it’s a good move? If you remember way back to your human biology class, you may recall that there are bacteria in your intestines that help with digestion and nutrient absorption. In addition, these […]
I get it. You worked hard on preserving those fresh garden veggies, and you’re looking forward to enjoying them on a cold, dark winter evening. You pull a glass jar from your pantry, and you notice the signs of food spoilage. It’s disappointing. If the spoilage isn’t too evident, you might even be tempted to […]
Losing power always makes me think of orange sherbet. It was 1991, and Hurricane Bob had wiped out our electricity and all my mother was worried about was how we needed to eat all the food in the refrigerator before it went bad. There I was, sitting on the couch next to my grandmother, each […]
In the days before I knew the best way to freeze fruit and berries, I put around five pounds of fresh blueberries in my freezer. We had gone blueberry picking, and they were so perfectly plump and ripe that in seemingly no time, there were more blueberries than I knew what to do with.
There’s nothing better than fresh parsley from the garden. Not only does it taste exquisite, but it also saves you a pretty penny instead of buying it fresh from the grocery store. Garden fresh herbs will always be my preference when cooking, but what happens if you grow them faster than you can use them? There are different ways of preserving parsley and other herbs that allow you to enjoy homegrown herbs days, weeks, and even months after leaving your garden.
No sugar freezer jam? Yup. I know the first year I had a bumper crop of strawberries, I didn’t know what to do with them all. There was no way I could use them all before they went bad, no matter how many strawberry-rhubarb pies I made and gave away to friends.
If I had to choose the most mysterious flower in my herb garden, it would be lavender. How to dry it, use it, and cook with it are all questions I asked myself once I started growing lavender instead of buying it fully prepared for my every whim.
Squash gets overlooked for its versatility and overall yum-factor when it comes to garden vegetables (okay, technically a fruit). Always a bridesmaid, squash is often relegated to “side dish material,” and the general public doesn’t give it a second thought. But we’re not the general public. We’re gardeners and we know how amazing squash is!
