🧅 Preserving your harvest 🧅
Around the world we celebrate our harvests with various feasts and festivals, it is easy to see why when you start growing as you suddenly have an abundance of amazing food that you want to show off and share with everyone before it starts to get sad and go off.
There are also different ways to preserve those harvests to save food for later in the year, some methods are more modern like bunging everything in the freezer and others are much older.
Leave it in the ground
Most roots crops can actually be left in the ground through the winter months, many will even benefit from a little frost as it will increase the sweetness and flavour of many crops. You can just tuck them in with a thick mulch of straw or leaves, at least 12 inches. Adding a tall and sturdy marker will help guide you when it is time to find them again.
Pantry Storage
Some vegetables can be safely stored in a cool, clean location for up to 12 months. Vegetables suitable for storing include winter squash, potatoes beets and carrots. One method is to fill a container with moist sand and layer the vegetables in, this is particularly good for carrots. Other crops prefer to have good airflow to prevent mould forming, you can use shelving units and space everyone out so they aren’t bumping up together. This is especially good for pumpkins and winter squash.
Freezing
Freezing is one of the easiest ways to preserve vegetables for winter and almost all fruits vegetables, though they may need some processing first. Avoid freezing produce with a high water content, such as cucumbers or lettuce as they'll be really soggy when you thaw them. Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing, this will stop the bacteria and other beasties present on the veg from breaking down your food. I've found having a double layer of packaging can reduce freezer burn so I will wrap in cling film and then put in a freezer bag. With berries you can freeze them in a single layer on a lined sheet tray and then after a couple of hours you can lift them off and in to an appropriate container or freezer bag.
Dehydrating
Drying or dehydrating foods removes water, which inhibits the growth of bacteria. It is worth bearing in mind that because you're losing the water dehydrating tends to concentrate and amplify flavour. The quickest way to dehydrate is using a dehydrator. You don't need to use one though as long as you have good airflow and some patience. Warm, dry air can speed the process up which reduces the chance of things getting gross and mouldy before you have dried them so using an oven on a really low setting or cracking open the instruction manual and checking out which of those special settings has a low temperature (60°C is good) will help you out.
Drying out beans either for use through the winter or to save seeds is one of the easiest ways to dry your own food. Wait for a dry spell, a couple of days without any rain and check any over matured pods. They should be dried and you should hear the beans rattle inside if you shake the pod. If rain is due then you can always harvest a bit early and let them finish drying out inside on some trays or even a dehydrator but it's probably a good idea to shell them first.
