Extend the summer-to-fall harvest for months to come using one of the following methods.
Freeze
Done properly, many fruits, vegetables, and herbs can be frozen for as long as six months without compromising their taste and texture.
To prevent clumping, first spread fruits or vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet before freezing. Once the produce is firm (after about an hour), transfer to resealable bags, label, and freeze.
Freeze whole berries and pitted cherries; cut pitted plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and mangoes into slices (toss with 1,000 milligrams ascorbic acid or a crushed vitamin C tablet for every pound of fruit to prevent browning). Citrus can be peeled and segmented, bananas peeled and left whole or cut into chunks.
Tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, mushrooms, and corn kernels can be frozen as is, but green beans, okra, summer squashes and zucchini, and eggplant should first be blanched for three minutes, then plunged into an ice-water bath (to stop the cooking) and drained well; then cut beans in half and okra into pieces, if desired.
Chop a bunch of fresh basil, mint, parsley, or cilantro, mix with a splash of olive oil, and pour into an ice-cube tray; once solid, pop the cubes into resealable bags and freeze for three months.
