If you’re lucky enough to live in a warm climate where you can grow fresh produce all year long, then you may not have to worry about keeping your goods for later. But for the rest
of us who can’t grow through the cold winter, you can try your hand at preserving fruits and vegetables. You have several methods to choose from to keep your June peas ready to eat
in January.
Root Cellar: This is the simplest method of food preservation, though you have to have the right conditions to make it work. A cold and humid area in your basement can work, providing it stays pretty constant in temperature and doesn’t actually freeze. Under these conditions, you can keep boxes of carrots, potatoes, turnips, squash and apples. They can hold on to the freshness for months. It’s limiting but is a technique that can help preserve your food with nearly no effort on your part, and it takes no power to keep running. Just check your stock every week or so, and use up anything that is starting to get soft.
Freezing: Next for ease comes freezing. In these modern days, it’s one of the most popular ways of preserving fresh food from the garden. It’s less work compared to canning, but you do have to keep the freezer running all the time and space is going to be limited.
To successfully freeze your produce, you have to get everything cleaned up and sliced or chopped the way you want it. Some foods can just be frozen in large zip seal bags, but they stay fresher over time if you blanch first. A quick dip in boiling water (just a few minutes) will kill many enzymes that lead to spoilage, but it doesn’t actually cook your food. Dunk immediately in ice water, pat dry and you’re ready to bag and freeze.
Canning: Canning is the most labor intensive way to save your food, but your finished jars can be stored anywhere and won’t require any power usage to stay fresh. You’ll need to get a book on canning to learn all the details as it’s too lengthy to teach everything right here.