Grow Your Garden Radio

Introduction

Host: Hello and welcome to ‘Grow Your Garden Radio Where It’s Easy to be Green!’ Today, we’re diving into a timely topic that’s crucial for every home gardener, especially for beginners and those gardening with children. As we rush headlong into the end of summer and the beginning of fall, it’s harvest time for many products.

Today, we’ll talk about preserving your harvest so you can enjoy your garden’s production all year round. Whether you’re growing to empower yourself, boost your food security, or just share a fun activity with your kids, preserving produce is a wonderful skill! So, let’s get started.

Segment 1: Introduction to Preserving Harvests

Host: First, let’s talk about why preserving your harvest is important. It allows you to enjoy fresh, nutritious food long after the growing season has ended. Plus, it can save you money and reduce waste. Preservation methods include canning, freezing, drying, and pickling. Each method has its own benefits depending on the type of produce you’re working with, and the environment you wish to store your product.

For instance, if you have a lot of freezer space, freezing is a very simple and productive method of preserving your food for quite a while. That’s the upside. The cost for maintaining a frozen harvest, however, is the fact that you need freezer space which can be very expensive initially to obtain. You also need to have electricity, which is an expense to keep your freezer going.

Another thing to add to your calculations is the reliability of electrical service in your area. If you’re susceptible to frequent power outages and you don’t have a backup generator you could lose all of your food. With weather patterns becoming far more severe than they were in areas that were once relatively safe from power outages, it is something to add to your calculations.

Alternatives are various methods of canning and pickling. Canning and pickling can preserve food at a very high quality for a considerable time, without the need to put a lot of energy into maintaining an Appropriate environment. Essentially all you need to do is protect the canned food from light, very high temperatures or from freezing. this amount of temperature latitude reduces your long-term energy costs considerably.

But nothing is free unfortunately.  The cost for this method of preservation is found in the beginning of the process. You typically have to preprocess your food a little bit more by thoroughly cleaning your produce, containers, the area in which you are processing your food and utensils. Many of these methods involve some hot or even boiling water as part of the process. Energy required to heat water is a real expense.  Although it may not be very significant compared to the cost of the amount of food you are producing. The storage containers and some ingredients you may not have available from your garden must also be accounted for.

It also can be extremely dangerous because of the temperatures involved. The weight and difficulty of moving large kettles of boiling water around your production area. To compound this even more  if you’re working with children you have to take some very careful precautions.  Kids will always get in your way at the wrong moment and the last thing you want is to trip over a child with a boiling bucket of water  

Most of the resources I have cited for you have very extensive discussions on safety. Please follow that advice very very carefully.

Host:  we’ll start off focusing on some simple, kid friendly methods to get you started, like freezing and making fruit preserves. These are great activities to do with children as they see the fruits of their labor being saved for later enjoyment. Yeah, I did that, didn’t I!

Freezing is one of the most simple and quickest ways to preserve your harvest. Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing. What is blanching? That just means briefly boiling them and then plunging them into ice water to stop the cooking process.

Why go through this extra step?  Blanching helps to preserve the color, texture, and flavor of vegetables, ensuring that they maintain their quality even after being frozen.

 Why does blanching work?

1. Vegetables contain natural enzymes that can cause loss of flavor, color, and nutrients over time due to decomposition, even when frozen. Now, for the most part, decomposition is slowed down almost completely, but does still degrade food quality over time. Blanching deactivates these enzymes, in a natural way, which helps to maintain the produce’s quality.

2. The process helps cleanse the surface of dirt and microorganisms that might be present, making the produce safer to eat.

3. Reduces Bulk: Blanching slightly softens the vegetables, making them more manageable for packaging and preserving in the freezer.

4. Preserves Nutrients: By quickly halting the enzyme actions that degrade produce after harvest, blanching helps retain vitamins and minerals.

So, what can you preserve by freezing?  You can freeze green beans, peas, zucchini, berries and more. I have a list of many items you can freeze you can get for free on the growyourgardenradio.com website. 

Have your kids help by washing the vegetables and laying them out on baking sheets before putting them in the freezer. Once they’re frozen, transfer them to freezer bags. Be sure to label them with the date and the contents. It’s that simple!

If you’re looking for a way to cut down on your future meal preparation time, cut up your zucchini or carrots into quarter inch rounds, and just pour them into the pot or frying pan when you start  your recipe. Since you’ve already washed and prepped your ingredients, they can go directly into the pot Without additional prep. You don’t even have to thaw them out. They will heat up quickly because they’re in small pieces. I find that in my recipes, tossing them directly into the pot will additionally preserve their texture.

 Just be sure to account for some additional cooking time that may be required that may be required because you’re putting in something that’s frozen into your meal to thaw them out and bring the rest of your meal up to a safe temperature.

Alright so how do you blanch?

The process is simple:

1. Boil Water: Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil.

2. Blanch: Add the vegetables to the boiling water. The blanching time varies by vegetable, typically from 1 to 5 minutes. Once again consult your recipe, it’s gonna give you an optimum time to blanche for each different vegetable you use.

3. Ice Bath: Immediately plunge the blanched vegetables into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

I use a crab boil basket, or a pasta basket in a large 5-gallon pot. I fill the cool basket with the veggies and carefully lower it into the boiling water. This makes it easier to remove the blanched veggies without having to move a huge pot of boiling water to the sink and muscling it around to drain it into a colander before the ice bath.

Also, the water keeps boiling to be ready for another batch of veggies. Because who has just a single basket of veggies to blanch?

Work smart and safe, not hard.

Host: Now, let’s talk about making fruit preserves, like jams and jellies. This method is not only fun but also a creative way to involve kids in the kitchen. Start with your favorite fruit – strawberries, blueberries, or apples work well.

Host: Have your children help by mashing the fruit and adding sugar. Then, with your supervision, cook the mixture until it thickens. Pour it into sterilized jars and seal them. This is a wonderful way to enjoy the taste of summer fruits even in the depths of winter.

Look for recipes that will describe the process and give you some necessary ingredients and their suggested quantities such as fruit pectin which is a natural occurring polysaccharide or group of sugar molecules stuck together. This can aid in setting up your jam or jelly if the fruit you are using is low in its own pectin content, such as strawberries, peaches and cherries.

Host: Preserving your harvest isn’t just about saving food; it’s about empowerment. It gives you control over your food supply and connects you to the cycles of nature. By involving children, you’re teaching them valuable skills and a sense of responsibility.

Host: Plus, growing and preserving your own food contributes to food security. You know exactly what’s in your food and can avoid preservatives and extra sugar often found in storebought options. It’s a small but significant step towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Host: Here are a few quick tips to wrap up today’s session. Always label your preserved foods with the date so you know when to use them. Store them in a cool, dark place to extend their shelf life. And, most importantly, have fun with it! Experimenting with different flavors and methods can be a rewarding experience.

Host: I hope you feel inspired to preserve your harvest and share these wonderful experiences with your children. Join us next week when we’ll dive into fall planting tips to take advantage of some incredible late season foods. Until then, happy gardening and happy preserving!

If you want to learn more about today’s topic, or if you have missed any previous episodes, go to growyourgardenradio.com.  There you will find show notes, recipes, detailed instructions, references, and links to other resources.  Feel free to leave me an email if you have comments or suggestions or would like to suggest a topic. 

That’s all for today’s episode of ‘Grow Your Garden Radio Where It’s Easy to be Green.’