Safe Food Storage for Fruits and Vegetables

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Start with produce fresh from your garden. Lori Dunn

Preserving garden and orchard bounty is an easy way to save money while packing away some very good food for wintertime eating. Through the years I have canned thousands of jars, dried just about everything under the sun and filled my freezer many times over with our own homegrown produce. Why? For the simple reason that home-preserved foods from garden-fresh fruits and veggies are healthy, taste wonderful, and you know the exact
conditions in which that produce was grown. 

Canning and Preserving Recipes:
Two Herb and Walnut Pesto
Whole-Grain Asian Pear Muffins
Spiced Blackberry Preserves
Crispy Dill Pickles
Garden Fresh Salsa 

Pick your preference

Canning, freezing and dehydrating are three tasty ways to preserve the garden’s bounty from season to season. The method you choose depends on the type of food you’ve grown, your eating preferences, and the type of equipment that you buy, borrow or already have on hand.

Some foods are fantastic when canned, especially pickled foods (pepper relish, dill pickles and sauerkraut, for example), prepared foods (such as fruit sauces, homemade pasta sauces and soups), certain vegetables (particularly tomatoes, green beans and corn), and fruits (especially peaches, apricots, apples and Asian pears).

Freezing is great for retaining the color, texture and nutrients of many fruits and vegetables. The amount of prep time involved depends on the produce – certain vegetables need to be blanched before freezing in order to preserve the texture. You might need a bigger freezer to accommodate the results of your freezing endeavors.