What method(s) do you use to preserve food?

[headfullofbees]

Well, I must first say that @Durgan and I are not on the same culinary dance floor. Food to me is not just for nutrition. I like taste and I like texture in my foods so juices/slurrys are at the bottom of food sources for me. However, everything else he says about processed foods and foods in general I agree with. When we buy a can of green beans at the store we have no idea what all is in that can. All we really think/know is that the government says it is just fine. I for one do not believe a word of what the government says, about anything. I guess I have been a skeptic for too long to ever change. Properly canned foods taste just as good and many times much better than their government approved counter parts and over time a lot cheaper too.
About the only food preservation method most folks are familiar with is freezing. Freezing, to me is the only good option for some fresh foods and meat is at the top of the list. But freezing meat has its own problems such as what happens when the electricity is out for an extended period of time or what happens to meat that is forgotten in the bottom of the freezer. Many people can their own meats for these very reasons but I for one do not. Canning meats changes its texture and to some extent its taste also no matter if the meat is fresh or in a cooked and finished form such as beef stew. Just compare any canned item in the grocery store to the same thing homecooked on the stove and you can feel and taste the difference.
Not to put a damper on any would be future canners out there but getting set up to can is not a cheap process. A large canner such as mine costs over $100 but will last as long as the person using it. The jars, rings and lids cost about $12 per case. You can use the rings over and over. Some people reuse the lids too but that is dangerous no matter how carefully they are removed. One good dose of botulism is usually the cure for being unwilling to spend $0.15 for a new lid. I think the only foods that I buy from the store and can are dried beans. A pound of dried pinto beans will make 3 1/2 pints of canned beans. I buy 5lbs and that equals 18 pints which is what my canner will hold. 18 pints of pintos costs at least $1.00 per can at the store. Five lbs of beans cost less than $5.00 so I have saved at least $13.00. Think of green beans where they are always at least $1.79 per lb at the store or $.69 per 12 oz can and you have 25 lbs on plants in your back yard. Think of the costs of tomato products. Sauce, stewed, diced, whole, all of them expensive and you have a garden full of them. Canning/preserving is NOT a money maker but it is a money saver and just about anything you see in a can or jar at the store you can make at home
I dehydrate some things, mostly fruit and I make beef jerky from some of the deer I kill. Dehydration is something that I consider specialized, not run of the mill food preservation. I have dehydrated tomatoes and peppers but I have not mastered the process and don't do it very often.

If you are my side of the Atlantic, you can double Chuck's costs.

How do you get beef from a deer???

 

[Chuck]

If you are my side of the Atlantic, you can double Chuck's costs.

How do you get beef from a deer???

IIRC I think I had a senior moment

 

[MaryMary]

Thank you all for your answers!

Baby carrots are excellent frozen

Do they need blanching first? I have a vacuum sealer that I use to freeze meats, I'm assuming that would be better than a zipper bag...

Greens should be blanched and put into freezer bags and covered with water before freezing.

I half cook (blanch) and freeze in bags with a little of the processing water to cover them.

What is the purpose of the water? (It's hard to read tone into text - I am not doubting you, I'm truly curious.) Does it help keep air from getting to them and resulting in freezer burn? Using the processing water would keep more of the nutrients.

Not to put a damper on any would be future canners out there but getting set up to can is not a cheap process. A large canner such as mine costs over $100 but will last as long as the person using it.

Not to depress any current canners out there, but if you are willing to visit a lot of yard sales, you can find them much cheaper than that. Use tact, and don't ask the person holding the yard sale any questions about the canner; they don't know, and don't want to talk about it. They will often be selling the jars, lids, and bands, too. Chuck, the canner often lasts longer than the person using it.

 

[Durgan]

25 August 2017 Ginger Juice
http://durgan.org/2017/August%202017/25%20August%202017%20Ginger%20Juice/HTML/ 25 August 2017 Ginger Juice
A pound of ginger was juiced and placed in freezer trays. One compartment is a daily serving. It is melted in my morning coffee and ingested.

 

[Chuck]

Thank you all for your answers!



Do they need blanching first? I have a vacuum sealer that I use to freeze meats, I'm assuming that would be better than a zipper bag...





What is the purpose of the water? (It's hard to read tone into text - I am not doubting you, I'm truly curious.) Does it help keep air from getting to them and resulting in freezer burn? Using the processing water would keep more of the nutrients.





Not to depress any current canners out there, but if you are willing to visit a lot of yard sales, you can find them much cheaper than that. Use tact, and don't ask the person holding the yard sale any questions about the canner; they don't know, and don't want to talk about it. They will often be selling the jars, lids, and bands, too. Chuck, the canner often lasts longer than the person using it.

Yes, baby carrots should be blanched for 5 minutes before freezing. The only vegs that do not require blanching, IIRC, are peppers, okra and corn on the cob in the husks. I, too, have a vacuum sealer. I use it mainly for meats as I tend to keep loosing meat in the freezer and it freezer burns more easily in the zip lock freezer bags. The bags are easier and quicker so I use them on vegetables as I eat more vegs. than meat. For instance I will cook one roast and have 2 or 3 different vegs. Then I will freeze the leftover roast, if any, and the next time I eat roast I will pull out 2 or 3 more different vegetagbles.
And yes, a canner will last longer than the person using it IF the person using it doesn't have a senior moment, leave the canner on the heat, steam all the water away and warp the whole thing so it doesn't pressurize anymore. Been there, done that.
Before buying a used canner make sure that the gasket and emergency pop off valve are still available. There are a lot of brands of canners out there that one cannot get parts for anymore.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

just freezing things. veggies, or baked goods. I have also experimented with raw cookie dough. I freeze it in a tube shape, then slice and bake a batch. then in 6 months slice and bake another batch, then in a year. and it all tastes well, rises well, and I am not dead yet. Its all in good wrapping I believe. I also wrap my baked fruit breads well, slice off a 1/4 of it, put back and enjoy the 4th. all is good tasting. again, not dead yet.

 

[Chuck]

just freezing things. veggies, or baked goods. I have also experimented with raw cookie dough. I freeze it in a tube shape, then slice and bake a batch. then in 6 months slice and bake another batch, then in a year. and it all tastes well, rises well, and I am not dead yet. Its all in good wrapping I believe. I also wrap my baked fruit breads well, slice off a 1/4 of it, put back and enjoy the 4th. all is good tasting. again, not dead yet.

Yep, freezing is an excellent way to preserve many types of food. IIRC you are a flower person. What about when you go grocery shopping and something that you don't normally see is in season and reasonably priced and you really would like to enjoy it all during the year. Freezing works very for a moderate period of time but freezer space is limited. Well, canning allows you to do this. Many people are leery of canning due to the fact that in years past it was somewhat dangerous, you could contract botulism or some other disease. It is basically fool proof these days. Sure, it could be dangerous if you don't follow simple directions but both pressure canning and hot water bath canning are safe today. I am not trying to talk anyone into racing out and buying a pressure cooker/canner or a water bath pot. I am just trying to give everyone a little food for thought. Todays canning techniques are simple and easy to do. Remember that almost everything in a grocery store is canned. The food that they process is processed in the same basic way. About the only difference is in the size of their canning machines and in all of the junk that they add to the food.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Just freezed up bags of lima beans and green peppers. Have to tell you--- just two weeks ago used the last bag of lima beans---from way last year, and they tasted fine. and I am still alive. There are only the two of us. So I really don't go crazy with preserving food.

 

[Purrfluff]

I do most of my preserving through canning. Primarily fruit. It is possible to can vegetables but if you do this you must get a steam pressure canner. Almost all veggies are low in acid and you cannot safely can those in the standard boiling water canner.

The reason for this is botulism. This is very nasty stuff that loves to sporify in an airless environment with little acid. Precisely the conditions inside a jar of green beans, for example. It can and has killed people.

A pressure canner will run you around $100. Please do not can vegetables in a water bath canner.

A exception would be pickling. Pickling involves adding a ton of vinegar which jacks up the acidity enough to make it safe to use a boiling water canner. You can pickle veggies other than just cucumbers. If you have a ton of turnips, for instance, you could find a pickling recipe and can them.

Canning has the advantage of not giving you freezer burn or structural damage to food due to ice crystals (when water freezes it expands and forms crystals which rupture the cell walls of plants). Canned foods also last almost indefinitely. And last but not least you don't have to thaw canned food.

On the other hand, you can freeze just about anything (leafy greens do not freeze well), Blanch veggies before freezing them to slow down decay.

Dehydration does work but you will probably need a food dehydrator. They are somewhat expensive and eat up a lot of electricity. But they work. I once dehydrated a ton of tomatoes and they did keep in dry form for a very long time. You generally need to cut up the veggies into smaller slices for dehydration.

If it's hot where you are right now you could try sun drying some stuff. I found it hard to keep the bugs off the food when I did that.

 

[Beth_B]

Oh, I forgot about pickling! Have not done that for a couple of years. But have pickled eggs (with beets, turns the whites dark pink), cucumbers, carrots, parsnips, onions...I guess any firm vegetable would work.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Regarding Freezing. A good friend of mine does Freeze a lot. She lives up in New York. So said to her--- do you have a generator. you know the electric can go out, and then what. We have a generator.

 

[Tjohn]

[\QUOTE]What is the purpose of the water? (It's hard to read tone into text - I am not doubting you, I'm truly curious.) Does it help keep air from getting to them and resulting in freezer burn? Using the processing water would keep more of the nutrients. [/QUOTE]





The water prevents the freezer from drying out the veggies. You'll notice if you leave things in too long, there is much less moisture over time. And yes, I do use the processing water to try to save the nutrients, ( I'm not sure if that really works), but better to try than to find out it does work and I've been throwing away the good stuff!

 

[Chuck]

I do most of my preserving through canning. Primarily fruit. It is possible to can vegetables but if you do this you must get a steam pressure canner. Almost all veggies are low in acid and you cannot safely can those in the standard boiling water canner.

The reason for this is botulism. This is very nasty stuff that loves to sporify in an airless environment with little acid. Precisely the conditions inside a jar of green beans, for example. It can and has killed people.

A pressure canner will run you around $100. Please do not can vegetables in a water bath canner.

A exception would be pickling. Pickling involves adding a ton of vinegar which jacks up the acidity enough to make it safe to use a boiling water canner. You can pickle veggies other than just cucumbers. If you have a ton of turnips, for instance, you could find a pickling recipe and can them.

Canning has the advantage of not giving you freezer burn or structural damage to food due to ice crystals (when water freezes it expands and forms crystals which rupture the cell walls of plants). Canned foods also last almost indefinitely. And last but not least you don't have to thaw canned food.

On the other hand, you can freeze just about anything (leafy greens do not freeze well), Blanch veggies before freezing them to slow down decay.

Dehydration does work but you will probably need a food dehydrator. They are somewhat expensive and eat up a lot of electricity. But they work. I once dehydrated a ton of tomatoes and they did keep in dry form for a very long time. You generally need to cut up the veggies into smaller slices for dehydration.

If it's hot where you are right now you could try sun drying some stuff. I found it hard to keep the bugs off the food when I did that.

I agree with everything you said except for leafy greens. Spinach, chard, the mustards and collards freeze very well IF you blanch them first and cover them with the blanching water. If you don't blanch them first they will be ruined. Actually I prefer frozen greens over canned greens as the texture is retained. My favorite green is Swiss Chard and I have some left that has been in the freezer since last year. It is very handy in freezer bags. You can either finish cooking on the stove or you can place the opened freezer bag into a bowl and nuke it. Add a little balsamic vinegar and.......................I think I will drag out a bag and have it for supper tonight.

 

[Purrfluff]

I've never heard of using blanching water. Do you dump the water into a ziploc bag along with the greens and freeze the whole thing? Do you add sugar to the blanching water? Do you put everything in while it's still hot or do you cool both the liquid and the greens first?

This could be very useful because if I am lucky I'll have a lot of chard and kale and I'd like to preserve some of it. Thanks!

As far as getting used steam canners... in addition to probably getting a replacement seal you'll need to have the gauge checked for accuracy. I've read that some extension services will test your gauge but I haven't actually seen this service available. Sometimes the manufacturer will test it for you if you send them the gauge. I believe this applies only to dial gauges.

 

[Chuck]

I've never heard of using blanching water. Do you dump the water into a ziploc bag along with the greens and freeze the whole thing? Do you add sugar to the blanching water? Do you put everything in while it's still hot or do you cool both the liquid and the greens first?

This could be very useful because if I am lucky I'll have a lot of chard and kale and I'd like to preserve some of it. Thanks!

As far as getting used steam canners... in addition to probably getting a replacement seal you'll need to have the gauge checked for accuracy. I've read that some extension services will test your gauge but I haven't actually seen this service available. Sometimes the manufacturer will test it for you if you send them the gauge. I believe this applies only to dial gauges.

What you do is place your servings of blanched greens into a freezer bag and then get a ladle and cover the greens with water. Try not to get the outside of the bag wet. Then completely seal the bag after squeezing out all of the air in the bag you can. Next place the bag upright onto a metal cookie sheet and freeze it. After freezing remove from the cookie sheet and find it a home in the freezer. I just put the hot greens into the bag and then put in the hot but not boiling water over the top making sure to cover the greens completely.
Not all pressure canners have gauges. Mirro for instance does not. The ones with gauges are a bit more difficult to maintain proper pressure IMO