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As fall approaches and you’re in the heat of your garden harvest, make sure you reapall of the fruits of your labor this year. Preserving fruits and vegetables is one of the oldest ways we have discovered to safely store food longer. In order to enjoy your hard work for months down the road, check out the different ways to preserve your garden bounty as well as some ways to continue growing food over the winter!
There are a few different ways to make your food last longer. Before choosing one (or a few!) of these methods, you’ll want to do a bit more research to make sure it fits with your plan for how you will use them over the winter!
Freezing is one of the fastest and simplest ways to keep your fall harvest foods edible through winter. Remember that the process of freezing and then thawing foods can change some of the textures and tastes depending on the food, so do your research before choosing which fruits and veggies to freeze.
Tips for freezing:
Canning involves sealing food in an airtight, sterile container. Canning is most effective with foods with a high-water content!
Tips for canning:
•Wash the food really well
•Make sure the fruit or veggies are disease free
•Always use clean jars and new seal lids
•Process the foods in boiling water or in a pressure canner for specified amount of time (find recipe!)
You can also preserve fruits by canning jams and jellies! This process is a bit more time consuming, but when spreading your hard work over a piece of toast it will be worth it!
Tips for making jams/jellies:
This method involves removing the water content from the fruits or vegetables. This can be done using a dehydrator, but if you don’t have access to one, your oven can work as well. Just keep in mind with the oven the results are a bit less consistent!
Tips for drying:
Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in the fast-paced, consumerist world we live in.
Preserving fruit allows you to take a step back from the world of technology and into a simpler time.
Although it can be a bit time consuming depending on your method of preservation, keeping your hands busy allows your mind time to unwind and destress.
Unplug a bit and focus on providing yourself with fresh fruits and veggies all year around!
Preserving is not only great for your palette, it is great for the environment! On average, over two million tonnes of food is thrown out in Canada. Preserving your food is a great way to eliminate waste from your garden and use up all of the produce you’ve grown. You can mitigate your household waste by extending your food’s shelf-life! Preserving also allows you to reuse old jars or bottles the next season as opposed to filling the trash! If you’ve preserved your foods, you can avoid buying frozen or pre-packaged food at the store. This not only helps your wallet, but it also cuts down on the amount of waste from packaging!
Although winter is approaching, that doesn’t mean your green thumb has to go into hibernation. There are plenty of options for you to plant now that will be fresh and ready to eat in the spring! Make sure to know your growing zone and check out some of these over-winter options:
As you are transitioning from the warmer temperatures into the chilly winter months, take the taste of summer with you! Preserving food is becoming a lost art, and can be a great way to embrace a simpler lifestyle for a bit.
At Back to Earth, we are focused on embracing nature and using natural products in all that we can. We strive to provide you with handcrafted, earth-friendly products to support your health and well-being!
For more tips on connecting to the earth and finding information on our products, check out our website and blog!
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