Keep It!
Five Methods for Making Fall’s Bounty Last Well into Winter
by Torrey Douglass
The prolific bounty of gardens in the Fall is one of the true joys of the season. But what if you have more of an item than you can use? What if you are drowning in squash/tomatoes/plums, etc., and the neighbors you usually gift excess produce to have started ducking behind lampposts when they see you coming? That’s when you might want to consider one of the following methods of food preservation to stretch that harvest into the fallow months that lie ahead.
Dehydrating — Dehydrating is one of my favorite things to do with extra apples or tomatoes, but pretty much any fruit is game for this easy preservation technique. It concentrates flavor and leads to a satisfying chewy texture that adds a punch to dishes or just makes a delightful snack. For apples, I like to use an apple peeler/corer for fast peeling and slicing, and then dip the pieces into lemon juice before laying them out on a dehydrating tray. I love my dehydrator with four trays, but you can also go old school if you don’t have one. Lay out slices of whatever fruit you want to dry onto a clean cookie sheet, place outside in the sun, and turn them every few hours. It’s advisable to have some screens on hand to cover them and prevent flies and other bugs from inserting themselves into the process. Once they are dry, store in a sealed bag or jar in a cool place. In fact, unless they are bone dry, keep them in the fridge, as the remaining moisture can produce mold eventually—though our dried apples rarely stay uneaten long enough for that to happen.
Canning — Nothing makes me feel more like Ma Ingalls than breaking out the mason jars and getting some canning done. (Yes, I know, Ma Ingalls never did her own canning, but I never claimed my homesteading fantasies to be historically accurate.) Canning is possibly the most complex of the techniques included in this list, as it requires a bunch of specific equipment and some reading up if you want to be safe—and, believe me, you want to be safe. There are lots of excellent books out there. My canning companion is Canning for a New Generation by Lianna Krissoff. In it, she explains how canning conserves your garden goodies (or derivation of, like jams, chutneys, salsas, etc.) by storing them in an oxygen-free environment. Provided the contents are high acid, canning allows it to remain at room temperature, so you are not confined by your limited fridge real estate. Can to your heart’s content, or until you run out of pantry space.
Pickling — A subset of canning, pickling extends the viability (or more specifically, the edibility) of your veggies. Since canning is only suitable for high-acid foods, and vegetables are notoriously low acid (not a Dorothy Parker quoter among them), the pickling process supplies that acidity by adding vinegar or lemon juice. One could also ferment the veggies in salt water to eliminate the bad bacteria that cause decay and encourage the good ones that acidify and, as a result, preserve the food. Cucumber pickles can be fermented in a saltwater brine for several weeks prior to canning, or they can just be canned immediately in vinegar. When it comes to your personal blend of pickling spices, let your culinary creativity go wild. Peppercorns, dill seeds, coriander seeds, crushed dried chili, and mustard seeds are obvious, but I was surprised to find cinnamon, star anise, and nutmeg are often added as well. We do a shortcut pickling at home by keeping a large jar of vinegar and spices in the fridge. Any aging beets, onion, and cabbage that we have on hand get chopped up and thrown in, then the mixture is used on tacos, fish salads, or as a tart side on its own.
Smoking — Like dehydrating, you can buy an appliance to smoke meat, chicken, or fish, or you can cobble together your own from salvaged or cheap items like a large clay plant pot, old wood pallets, or a retired wine barrel. The main idea is to keep the temperature low and consistent over many hours. Using a base layer of charcoal (for its long burn time) and then sprinkling hardwood chips soaked in water for the smoke is a good way to go. Hardwood options in our area include applewood, oak, and cherrywood. Soak the chips for at least an hour. Keep the temperature at 200-225˚F for at least 6-8 hours. Both smoke and steam are necessary, so add charcoal and chips and include a water pan and refill as needed. Your meat is done when the internal temperature reaches 145˚F for red meats and 165˚F for chicken. Keep your meat flavorful and tender by soaking it in brine for 10-12 hours first, or it will feel like you’re eating a saddle.
Freezing — The downside of freezing is that it requires, well, freezer space. The upside is it is easy and fast. Strawberries are infamous for their blink-and-they’re-gone moment of ripeness, so wash them well, spread them out on a cookie sheet so they are not touching, and stick them in your freezer. The cold, dry air will ultimately damage any food exposed in your freezer, so as soon as they are frozen through, drop them in a freezer bag, push out the air before sealing, and stick them back in for long-term storage. Almost anything out of your garden will freeze well, with the exception of foods with a high water content (sorry, cucumbers). For veggies, wash them well and cut them into whatever shape you’ll use when you thaw them (carrot coins, broccoli florets—you get the picture). Blanch them in salted-like-the-sea boiling water for a quick minute before dunking them in ice water. Dry them thoroughly, then follow the same steps as above from the cookie sheet to the freezer bag. Frozen berries are ideal for smoothies or homemade ice cream, while frozen veggies are a healthy shortcut for a quick stir fry or a sauté in olive oil and garlic with a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
Preserving your garden’s glory can be as involved as building your own smoker (and babysitting it for hours), or as simple as arranging some apple slices on a screen-covered cookie sheet and placing it in the sun for an afternoon. Whatever approach you choose, you’ll be grateful for the investment of time and energy down the road. When the temperature drops and you’re missing the sun, breaking out a jar of your own marinara sauce or dropping some homegrown strawberries onto ice cream can evoke warmer days by delivering the flavors of your garden long after harvest time.
Image, opposite page, courtesy of Brook Lark on Unsplash.
Image, this page, courtesy of Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash.
Torrey Douglass is a web and graphic designer living in Boonville with her husband, two children, and a constantly revolving population of pets and farm animals.
