Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by lynda o z4or5. on September 2, 2009 at 3:42pm

look on the internet for ideas. some times they have videos to show step by step.

Permalink Reply by Violet on September 2, 2009 at 6:17pm

Oh yeah! You Tube! Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Kirsten Reitan on October 7, 2009 at 1:22pm

Veggies can be preserved through pickling (but need to use salt and or sugar heavily as well as vinegar), freezing (check a good source book for which ones freeze well and whether to cook first or not), and canning (but you need a special pressure cooker canner). Tomatoes and other high acid fruits can be preserved by cooking and putting in jars for 10-20 minutes of sterilization in a boiling water bath.

Permalink Reply by diana Z9 Houston, Texas on August 6, 2010 at 4:04pm

Go to the library too. They have great books on canning/preserving. Or just simply ask us questions if you don't understand.

Permalink Reply by Anne Chastain on August 13, 2010 at 2:14pm

Researching canning can get overwhelming. I'd start with what do you have in your garden that you can't eat fast enough to keep up with the output, then look into the various ways to preserve that. My favorite resource is Rodale Press' book 'Stocking Up'. It lists by crop the different ways to preserve it and tells you which is best, freezing, canning, drying, cold storage for that particular crop. Your own tastes will enter into it as well. I have a friend who will not eat a canned green bean and freezes all of hers while I can mine and think the frozen ones taste rubbery. So a lot of it will be trial and error. Don't be too hard on yourself if something doesn't come out right the first few times you try it, just think of it as food for the compost pile and keep on trying. Doing it wrong gives you a place to start because you can identify what it was about the attempt that you didn't like and move on from there.

Most of it is a lot easier than it looks and it's a great social event. I do a lot of my canning with friends so we only heat up one kitchen and we all pitch in on the peeling, dicing, labeling, clean up and wine drinking. It can be tough to get someone to volunteer to spearhead the wine drinking portion, but generally someone will step up.