Preserving

[KimmyMarkks]

What are some ways you preserve your vegetables for the winter? I pickle a lot of veggies. I also make a puree out of my left over tomatoes and freeze it. Although the flavor isn’t all there I think it tastes better than the canned versions. I also try out my outdoor herbs. What other ways do you make your produce last?

 

[Durgan]

What are some ways you preserve your vegetables for the winter? I pickle a lot of veggies. I also make a puree out of my left over tomatoes and freeze it. Although the flavor isn’t all there I think it tastes better than the canned versions. I also try out my outdoor herbs. What other ways do you make your produce last?

I have done a lot of work on the preserving methods. My mainstay is pressure canning. I have around 500 liter jars of various foods and ingest one to tow liters per day as a juice but more a soup. If you are deeply interested here are my efforts over several years. http://durgan.org/2011/
There is very little interest on preserving at home. The junk food is king.

You will observe that this forum does not even have a preserving section.

 

[Rosyrain]

I am just getting into preserving now and have made some freezer purees and cut up vegetables that I place in freezer bags in the freezer. I would love to start pickling and canning some vegetables at some point in the near future. I am learning to get things like produce in bulk wherever I can get them.

 

[marlingardener]

Now is a great time to stock up on canning jars, lids, and rings. Stores want the space for more seasonal things, and often have sales on canning supplies. I just got three boxes of lids at half price.
I also freeze a lot of vegetables that just don't lend themselves to canning (like asparagus, green beans, etc.). I also freeze some herbs, and dry others. Having vegetables that you grew waiting for you in the pantry or freezer is a wonderful thing!

 

[claudine]

We freeze plums, strawberries, cherries, and black and red currants. My mom used to make jams, fruit syrups and pickles, I loved eating them. I also dry some of my herbs.

 

[KimmyMarkks]

I always wondered how freezing vegetables would turn out? Do they have the same flavor when you go to cook them? I feel like broccoli and string beans would be easiest to freeze (figuring that you can buy frozen vegetables). However, I can’t imagine freezing peppers or tomatoes would taste very good.

 

[Durgan]

I always wondered how freezing vegetables would turn out? Do they have the same flavor when you go to cook them? I feel like broccoli and string beans would be easiest to freeze (figuring that you can buy frozen vegetables). However, I can’t imagine freezing peppers or tomatoes would taste very good.

Freezing to me with most items becomes unpleasant mush when used. Acceptable but not very appetizing. A few plant produce freeze well. Meat always freezes well, but meat is not a large item in my diet. Freezing is also very useful for preserving some cooked dishes.

There are basically a few methods of preserving for the home preserver. Root cellar,dehydrating, water canning, pressure canning, freezing. All have their uses. I use all methods and for all intents and purposes am almost self sufficient for food in the off season. I eat very little meat, a bit of purchased sea food, sardines and mussels.

I use all a the beans, soy beans daily, most of the grains. These are cheap and store well.

It took a complete change from the conventional diet to my present method.Plus a bit of experimentation. For better or worse.

 

[claudine]

I always wondered how freezing vegetables would turn out? Do they have the same flavor when you go to cook them? I feel like broccoli and string beans would be easiest to freeze (figuring that you can buy frozen vegetables). However, I can’t imagine freezing peppers or tomatoes would taste very good.

In winter, I often eat frozen broccoli, cauliflower, zucchinis, beans and carrots. They taste really good, almost like fresh ones. I've never tried frozen tomatoes though.

 

[arthnel]

We freeze them too. we freeze basically everything in ziploc bags. We love to pickle cucumbers but it's only done every now and then because we don't always have a cucumber crop coming in. But we like eating as fresh as we can so we gather whats available when winter comes over and freeze them. They still taste really great when they thaw.

 

[marlingardener]

Kimmy, I wash bell peppers, remove the seeds and that white ridge inside, cut into 1/4" strips, and freeze (no blanching.) I find that they have great taste and can be chopped while frozen if you need chopped peppers in a dish. It isn't the same texture as fresh, but the texture isn't slick or off-putting.
I wash, core and freeze tomatoes on a cookie sheet, then put the frozen ones in a freezer bag. When thawed, the skins slip off as if they had been blanched, and they work very well in soups, stews, and sauces. Again, the taste and texture are fine--comparable to canned, but so much easier to do, especially if you just have a few end-of-season tomatoes that don't amount to a canner's worth.

 

[IcyBC]

I only freeze tomatoes and later on making soup with them. I dried basil for seasoning during the year. I just love the smell of basil and flavor its give when marinate the protein.

 

[Corzhens]

Preserving vegetables in a tropical country like the Philippines is not a common thing because we have the fresh vegetables in the market any day of the year except when there is a typhoon or other calamity. Unlike Koreans who make kimchi to save vegetables for the rainy day, we really don't have preserved vegetables. But let me think, I remember that my mother used to make preserved radish although it is also pickled in vinegar and sugar.

 

[Trellum]

I like to read some of my veggies, certain veggies do great when you freeze them for green smoothies Sometimes you can make a soup of something like that, freeze it in individual portions and keep them handy (only good for 2 weeks). That way I use all the veggies that might go bad and end up getting several portions of soup ready to go in case of emergency

 

[prose]

What are some ways you preserve your vegetables for the winter? I pickle a lot of veggies. I also make a puree out of my left over tomatoes and freeze it. Although the flavor isn’t all there I think it tastes better than the canned versions. I also try out my outdoor herbs. What other ways do you make your produce last?

I usually wash, cut up and freeze in quart bags my vegetables, such as green beans, summer squash, and carrots. I have made homemade slow cooker salsa with tomatoes and froze it, which worked out pretty well.

This year, we had a ton of apples from our two apple trees. I made a ton of slow cooker apple sauce with just diced apples and cinnamon. I also made homemade freezer apple pie filling with our home-grown apples. I plan on doing the same apple products next year, in addition to apple butter.

For pumpkins, I bake the pumpkin in the oven, then freeze it in freezer bags to be used in recipes later. I also roast pumpkin seeds in the oven, both salted and cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds.

 

[KimmyMarkks]

I usually wash, cut up and freeze in quart bags my vegetables, such as green beans, summer squash, and carrots. I have made homemade slow cooker salsa with tomatoes and froze it, which worked out pretty well.

This year, we had a ton of apples from our two apple trees. I made a ton of slow cooker apple sauce with just diced apples and cinnamon. I also made homemade freezer apple pie filling with our home-grown apples. I plan on doing the same apple products next year, in addition to apple butter.

For pumpkins, I bake the pumpkin in the oven, then freeze it in freezer bags to be used in recipes later. I also roast pumpkin seeds in the oven, both salted and cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds.

Freezing green beans is a good idea, as is making a salsa out of left over veggies. How does summer squash taste after it has been frozen? I know you can buy frozen carrots, string beans and broccoli but I’ve never seen squash frozen.

As for hot pepper I usually dry them out and crush them up into flakes.