Last summer, I socked away a gallon-sized zip top bag full of handpicked blackberries in my freezer's ice bin (that side of the kitchen isn't plumbed, so we can't hook up the ice maker). Those berries have been there since August, a visual reminder that it was once summer and that warm weather really does exist.
Just about every summer, I manage to squirrel away at least one bag of fruit for winter use, be it peaches, blueberries or blackberries. However, every year, I waste an awful lot of mental energy trying to find the exact right time to actually use my frozen bounty. I finally broke down this weekend, using my berries to make a big, bubbly cobbler with a biscuit-y topping.
I'm curious, does anyone else struggle with using the foodstuffs they've frozen or preserved?
Goodbye summer -- today is the first day of fall. The warm air is is being pushed out by harsher, cold winds, and fresh produce is starting to become a little harder to come by.
As wonderful as it would be to freeze our veggies and fruit in time and eat them at our leisure, the best we have is freezing and canning. Freezing isn't the most ideal option, so that leaves canning -- the way to store and preserve vegetables and fruits for those long, dark, and cold winter nights. The above video is part of a series that details the basics of home canning -- all you need to rush out to your local produce stand or farm and buy up the last tasty bushels of summer to preserve for the months ahead.
It's a really simple process, and once you do it, you'll wonder why you haven't before.
Last weekend, my friend Angie handed me two plastic bags that were bursting with fresh herbs from her garden. This Saturday, after lunch at my cousin Amy's, she led me outside with scissors and a bag and asked that I "please take all the basil you can carry!" I am currently awash in an embarrassment of fresh herbs.
Last night, as I was rearranging the fridge to make room for the remains of the chicken I had roasted for dinner, I came across these multiple bags of herbs, seemingly undiminished despite active use and thought to myself that I better find a way to preserve them soon or I was going to have to add them to the composter (I now have a indoor composter in my living room, more on that later).
As I was reading through my feed reader this afternoon, I came across this tip on The Kitchn and realized that it was the answer to my herbal abundance. Emma recommends chopping herbs and then freezing them into cubes in an ice tray. Each well gets half filled chopped herbs and then is topped off with stock, wine or water. When they're frozen, she pops them out of the tray and stores them in a plastic zippered bag for future use. Much like how people are always recommending freezing stock into ice cube trays, only with more of verdant kick. I'm looking forward to saving some of the thyme Angie gave me for the fall.
When I talked to my mom yesterday, she had just finished picking the last of the tomatoes off the plants in the backyard. The weather in Portland has made the seasonal shift from Summer to Fall (unlike here in Philly where it is still gorgeous and warm, with only a hint of autumnal crispness) and so it was time to get any remaining produce out of the garden and transformed into states that store well. She made a huge batch of tomato sauce which got frozen in quart sized ziploc bags.
However, she's still got mountains of tomatoes and is in the market for some additional ways to use them. I think that there might be others of you who are in the same predicament. If so, you could turn some of your bounty into a batch of tomato paste like they did over at the Apartment Farm. If you don't have a food mill, don't let that stop you from making this recipe. You can use a fine mesh sieve and a rubber spatula instead. Another option comes from Nicole at Farm to Philly, who transformed the sea of red covering her outdoor table into two pints of homemade catsup. I'm especially tempted by this recipe, as I hate the fact that most ketchup includes a (not so) healthy does of corn syrup.
If yesterday's post on canning piqued your interest in food preservation, then you might want to check out this post over at Farm to Philly. Nicole took some of the Daikon radish that came in her CSA box, mixed it with ginger, garlic, Korean ground chile paste, salt, sugar and Swiss Chard and turned it into Kimchi. She skips out on the step in which you bury the jars underground for the Winter and instead just tucks them into a cool, dark place until the fermentation process is complete.
Despite the fact that I grew up in a house in which my mom regularly canned jam, I find that most methods of canning and food storage to be mysterious and slightly intimidating. I have a fear that anything I can will end up infused with botulism and will kill my loved ones and myself. So I don't can (fears don't have to be reasonable). However, I am intrigued by the process and am in awe of people who tackle the task (especially when it includes the scary water bath portion).
It seems like these days it is becoming increasingly popular to can your own food, as it's a good way to keep some of the summer bounty available for winter, especially if you are trying to eat a local diet. The Daily Green has put up a terrific and helpful (and fear calming) post, written by Alisa Smith of the 100 Mile Diet, chock full of tips and information about canning technique. It's enough to make me put aside my fears, buy a case of jars, obtain a flat of tomatoes and start canning.
While fresh and in-season is always the best, sometimes you want to make a strawberry muffin in the dead of winter, right? It's a little late now for strawberries and some other fruits that reach their peak in early summer, but you can still freeze time for some of the season's later fruits and vegetables. It doesn't take a genius to do it, just a freezer and some good storage containers. CD Kitchen has a good summary of what types of fruits freeze well, and what do not (like pears and bananas), though HGTV would disagree with that. BBC's Food site also has some tips for vegetables, as well.
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