smgardener

So you grow the food, and now you're hunkering down for the winter. How do you preserve the veggies throughout the winter. I saw this nice photo from the library of congress collection on flickr and it made me think of this question.

fygar

Wow, all of that food still looks edible! I wasn't too creative last summer, as our yeild was about enough to feed two through the summer. It was also my first experience canning on my own. I canned most of my cucumbers as pickles, but that's about where canning stopped. I froze some spinach, green beans, pesto, etc. and put my potatoes and squash in a cold dry room in the basement. Everything still tastes allright so far!

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ejagno

Canned foods do hold their color and texture beautifully in jars. Each food item is different and must be handled in a specific manner for safe canning. You may want to pick up a few great books such as Preserving the Harvest or if you can find it "The Ball Blue Book". Both explain in detail how to preserve or can everything from potatoes to strawberries as well as some great canning recipes such as spaghetti sauces and preserves.

SugaredViolet

I have the ball red books, but I didn't know there was a blue set! I'll have to look into that!

(edited) lol whoops. Different ball company. Though it's interesting that they both are "The Ball Red Book" and "The Ball Blue Book"
The Ball Red books are a set of two books, one on crop production and the other on greenhouse operations. They're kind of standard "go to" books in the industry. Although now I'm definitely interested in canning! I've got so many veggie seeds coming in for this spring, I bet learning about it will come in handy!

ejagno

One thing that I wanted to add to this thread was the fact that you should really consider canning your veggies in a manner of "heat and eat". In other words, if you are going to go through all of the labor and time to can your wonderful harvest then make sure to prepare it the way your family eats it.

For instance, I can my green beans. My family does not care for bland plain grean beans so I sautee' my vegetable blend of chopped onions/bellpepper/celery/garlic, cajun seasoning, and pepper bacon. I mix this with my fresh green beans and fill jars to 1" below rim and process. Now remember to process at the time required for the bacon since it takes the longest. Tip-canned foods require much less seasoning than that of food which is prepared and consumed quickly because it is absorbed and gets stronger after being canned over time.

Of course I always save one or two handfuls of fresh beans, carrots, potatoes, and anything else to add to my "Vegetable Soup" mixture that I keep in the freezer. When I have enough I prepare my soup with not only the veggies but chunks of stew meat and cubed brisket, seasonings and such. I put back enough for dinner and can the rest.

My boys love reaching in the pantry and grabbing a quart of soup, gumbo or spaghetti meat sauce for a quick and fullfilling meal after school.

imp

Also remember to store your canned goods in a cool or stable temp., and either cover them or have some doors so the light stays off the items. I have seen some canned goods wrapped in newspapers to make sure the veg's kept their pretty colors.